CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY. 89 



been abandoned, except one or two, from which little silver is extracted. 

 In the morning, we visited the church and saw the cura in his clerical 

 robes. To meet him came numbers of Indians, well dressed in blue — 

 their favorite color. Their hats, made of puna grass, and covered with 

 blue cloth, are lined with scarlet. The population here go barefooted. 

 The little town is thickly peopled — about fifteen hundred — but the plain 

 is not, and resembles a desert in many places. Near Ayavire barley 

 grows, but no grain is produced upon it. Potatoes and a little wheat 

 are brought to the plaza, a short distance from the east, and from the 

 valleys among the hills to the west. Corn cannot be raised on these 

 flats. Sheep are the principal animals here ; black cattle and horses are 

 very small. The only spontaneous growth is a short, coarse puna grass, 

 which is not i# the least green. 



November 4, 1851. — At 3 p. m., thermometer, 5*7°; wet bulb, 52°. 

 About the hill tops there is rain, thunder, and lightning; the rain turns 

 into sleet, and the hills are white, while clouds appear after the rising of 

 the sun. On the puna, the reaper cuts his crop and leaves it on the 

 ground during the dry season ; when the rainy season commences, he 

 plants again. 



A strange traveller halted in front of the cura's door, where he and I 

 were standing. The compliments of the day were exchanged, when a 

 long pause followed. Upon invitation, the man dismounted, and his 

 horse was taken away by an Indian. Dinner was ordered by the 

 daughter ; the man ate, smoked, slept, and was off next morning by 

 daylight. The cura said " that is the way we travel in this country ; 

 many a time I have begged a dinner and night's lodging on the road. I 

 never saw that man before ; he is from Arequipa and going to Cuzco." 



One of the cura's daughters had a headache after the dance ; she was 

 cured by one of our Siedlitz powders. 



We journeyed along the lazy stream that winds its way towards the 

 south. Young lambs are staggering after the ewes. Indians of the 

 puna wear thick woollen skull caps. The sheep are sheared at the 

 commencement of the rainy season, when potatoes are planted. De- 

 cember is the first stormy month ; now the sky is of the clearest and of 

 the deepest blue ; the days are warm, and the nights cold. We dis- 

 mounted to drink from a small stream, and shot a pair of ducks. As 

 we mounted, Jose's mule became frightened, kicked at a most furious 

 rate, broke from him and ran across the plain, through the flocks and 

 sheppardesses ; stripped itself of saddle bags, gun, and part of the bridle, 

 but turning into the road, joined the baggage mules. Two days ago, 

 Jose was thrown in the most ridiculous manner over his mule's head. 



