MOYOC. 



51 



winter nor summer, but one perpetual spring. It is out of the sphere 

 of frosts, and exempted from the raw fogs and sultry heats of the coast. 

 The atmospherical currents of mountain and coast meet here and neu- 

 tralize each other ; the extremes of both disappear ; and the result is 

 a delicious climate for the convalescent, whose tender organs require a 

 gentle, uniform temperature, alike removed from the extremes of heat 

 and cold, dryness and moisture. With this important fact the delicate 

 inhabitants of Lima are perfectly acquainted ; and they are accustomed 

 to resort to the ' Cabezadas,' or headlands of valleys, where these verge 

 on the joint air of mountain and coast, as, for example, Matucana, the 

 favorite resting-place of phthisical and hsemoptic individuals, who find 

 themselves obliged to retire from the capital in order to recover health 

 by visiting those celebrated sites of convalescence, Tarma and Juaxa." 

 We certainly had delicious weather, but did not stay long enough, of 

 course, to pronounce authoritatively upon its general climate. 



At 5 p. m., we arrived at the Chacra of Moyoc, belonging to 

 Ximenes. Here we pitched for the night, having travelled about fifteen 

 miles, which is our usual day's journey, between ten and five. This is 

 a most beautiful little dell, entirely and closely surrounded by mountains. 

 The valley has widened out so as to give room for some narrow patches 

 of com and alfalfa. The Rimac, here a " babbling brook," rushes 

 musically between its willow-fringed banks ; and the lingering of the 

 sunlight upon the snowy summits of the now not distant Cordillera, 

 long after night had settled upon the valley, gave an effect to the 

 scenery that was at once magical and enchanting. 



The nights in the Cordillera at this season are very beautiful. The 

 traveller feels that he is lifted above the impurities of the lower strata 

 of the atmosphere, and is breathing air entirely free from taint. I was 

 never tired of gazing into the glorious sky, which, less blue, I think, 

 than ours, yet seemed palpable — a dome of steel lit up by the stars. The 

 stars themselves sparkled with intense brilliancy. A small pocket 

 spy-glass showed the satellites of Jupiter with distinctness ; and Gibbon 

 even declared on one occasion that he could see them with the naked 

 eye. I could not, but my sight is bad at night. The temperature is 

 now getting cool, and I slept cold last night, though with all my clothes 

 on, and covered with two parts of a heavy blanket and a woollen 

 poncho. The rays of the sun are very powerful in the day until tem- 

 pered by the S. W. wind, which usually sets in about eleven o'clock in 

 the morning. 



The steward of Ximenes, a nice old fellow, with a pretty young wife, 

 gave us, at a reasonable price, pasturage for the beasts and a capital 



