282 PERU. 
character has very much deteriorated, and there is little doubt, on the 
whole, that but little capital will be invested in it until there is a 
great change in its rulers as well as in its people, and until govern- 
ment, the laws and good order become as well established as they are 
in Chili. All the friends of Peru, seem, however, to be well satisfied, 
from appearances, that the day is not far distant when she will be 
enabled to sit down quietly in the enjoyment of tranquillity. 
To return after this digression to our party: they had much 
agreeable conversation with the Chilian officers, and passed a 
pleasant evening. As I have before spoken of the accommodations, 
it is needless to say that they were not improved. 
On the morning of the 24th, the thermometer stood at 36° in the 
hut, and on the rivulet there was ice one-fourth of an inch thick. 
Mr. Brackenridge gathered seeds here of a curious species of Cactus, 
which grows plentifully all over the mountains in dense tufts; from 
the quantities of down or fine hair upon it, it has the appearance at a 
distance of a white sheep, so much so that a group of them was 
sometimes mistaken for a flock. 
Although Casa Cancha was a wretched hovel, and had every thing 
in it to disgust, yet the situation was one of great beauty and truly 
romantic. In the stream that flowed near it, were fish of from six to 
eight inches in length, but none of these were taken, as the party 
was not provided with fishing-tackle. 
When the time came for their departure, they were glad to bid 
adieu to the place, and to begin their ascent to the top of the ridge. 
They rode two leagues to the source of the stream, which is near the 
summit of the ridge. At but a short distance from their path was the 
lme of perpetual snow. They found the ground hard frozen as the 
snow was approached, and almost bare of vegetation, only a few 
stunted spears of grass occurring here and there ; even this appeared 
to be wanting in the bare spots above the snow line. The snow was 
but a thin covering, its surface was hardened, and its lower margin 
formed a perfectly unbroken horizontal line, along the face of the 
mountain. This was not apparently the case on the other ridges, for 
the snow lay there in hollows and sometimes descended, as°before 
remarked, below the path. 
In the alpine lakes was a species of Myriophyllum, the same as 
found at Culnai, three thousand feet below. Dr. Pickering picked 
up an ammonite here. ° 
