THE SEPARATION. 



91 



our chincapin. This burr contains a number of small red seeds, the skin 

 or covering of which contains the coloring matter. 



The General gave us some " quinua" the seed of a broom-like bush, 

 "which, boiled in milk, makes a pleasant and nutritious article of food. 

 The grains are something like rice, though smaller, and contain a sort 

 of mucilaginous matter. He also gave us some flower seeds, and valua- 

 ble specimens of silver ore from his mines at Cerro Pasco. He has large 

 flocks of sheep, the wool of which he sends to Lima; and has introduced 

 the Merino, which thrives. He gave us some asbestos from Cuzco, and 

 stalactites from a cave on a sheep farm, which, he says, the sheep are 

 fond of licking, and which Von Tschudi pronounced to contain Epsom 

 salts. I could detect no taste, and thought it a kind of magnesia. We 

 parted from our agreeable host and kind friend with regret. 



July 1. — I started at noon with Ijurra and Mauricio, accompanied 

 by Gibbon and Captain Noel, with one of the Senores, Sta. Marias. At 

 General Otero's gate, Noel left us. A very pleasant gentleman this; 

 and I shall long remember his kindness. Soon after, Gibbon and I 

 lingered behind the company; and at the entrance of the valley of 

 the Acobamba, which route I was to take, we shook hands and parted. 

 I had deliberated long and painfully on the propriety of this separation; 

 I felt that I was exposing him to unknown perils ; and I knew that I 

 was depriving myself of a pleasant companion and a most efficient 

 auxiliary. My manhood, under the depressing influence of these feel- 

 ings, fairly gave way, and I felt again that "hysterico passio" that 

 swelling of the heart and filling of the eyes, that I have so often been 

 called upon to endure in parting from my gallant and generous com- 

 rades of the navy. 



He returned to make the necessary arrangements for his expedition. 

 We crossed the Chanchamayo by a stone bridge, and passed through 

 the village of Acobamba. This town contains about fifteen hundred 

 or two thousand inhabitants; but, like all the towns in the Sierra at 

 this season, it appears deserted — no one in the streets, and most of the 

 doors closed. The road is a steady and tolerably smooth ascent of the 

 valley, which is narrow, pretty, and well cultivated. As usual, the hills 

 facing the north are bare and rugged ; those facing the south present 

 more vegetation, but this is scant. Cactus and long clump grass run to 

 within two-thirds of the top, and then the rock shoots perpendicularly 

 up in naked majesty. 



Three miles above Acobamba we passed the village of Picoi, which 

 has its plaza, church and cemetery, with about one hundred houses. 



Six miles further brought us to Palcamayo, a village of one thousand 



