156 



UARAUARA SNOW HILLS. 



neither water-fowl nor fish were seen. The waters are transparent and 

 silent ; nothing was moving except the clouds and the small veins of 

 cold snow-water. Thin sheets of ice lie near the lake, and patches of 

 snow on the brew of the mountains resemble white cloths spread out 

 on the ground to dry. Some of the rocks were broken in such perfect 

 forms that we were almost induced to take them for houses, and hunt 

 up a washwoman. The temperature of the water was 59°; air, 54°. 

 In the valley of Cochabamba the temperature of a spring was 62° 

 Fahrenheit. 



A small quantity of the snow on a peak near this lake remains 

 through the dry season ; in the wet season the snow-line is constantly 

 sliding up and down the sides of the mountains. When very damp the 

 snow appears lowest, and sometimes reaches half-way down to Cocha- 

 bamba ; in the morning, as the sun rises, and his effects are felt, the 

 lower edge of the snow-line is melted off, and to the eye it seems travel- 

 ling up hill. The clouds are regulated by the precipitation. When 

 there is much rain cloudy days follow, and the curtain round the valley 

 arises from the moisture on the mountains. The lower edge of the 

 curtain is lowered down in the morning exactly to the lower edge of 

 the snow, and as it is evaporated the curtain rises in the evening, in 

 time for those in the valley to behold the sun set behind clearly defined 

 snow-peaks. 



The climate, therefore, is very variable in the valley between the 

 months of December and May. I have noted the thermometer in Co- 

 chabamba, 12th January, at 69° ; in five minutes after, it was as low as 

 52° in the same place, in the shade. A man planting tube roses in his 

 garden, without a coat, and in sheeting trousers, would run suddenly 

 into the house for thick cloth clothing ; in the mean time the hard hail- 

 stones destroy his flowers and drive cattle from their, pastures. 



Heavy storms frequently arise in the wet season, and blow violently 

 through the valley, from southeast. The hail beats so hard upon the 

 pear trees that the delicate leaves are broken from the upper branches, 

 and the blossoms are destroyed. The hot sun withers the ends of the 

 limbs, and they die, so that all the pear trees are stunted ; aid instead 

 of large, clear limbs, the under branches are sapped by numbers of suck- 

 ers that shoot out and rob the fruit of its life. Hence it is that not only 

 pears but apples are very indifferent, but might be improved by trim- 

 ming the trees, which the Indian does not seem to understand, and the 

 creole cares less for the tree than for the fruit. 



The willow grows up like a poplar ; its narrow leaves present such a 

 small surface to the hail or sun that they may be said to grow between the 



