GREAT DESERT. 



197 



richest and juiciest kind, which they eat along 

 with cheese and a sour kind of plum. Their ta- 

 bles were placed in a verandah, or in a covered 

 court, left open on all sides, and here and there 

 in the roof also, to allow the breeze to pass freely 

 through. The houses were built of sun-dried 

 bricks, plastered with mud, and thatched with 

 palm leaves; and their external appearance was 

 shabby enough, which we regretted the more, 

 from their being so beautifully situated ; general- 

 ly under the shade of some great tree, and thick- 

 ly begirt with bananas, figs, and other tropical 

 fruit trees, and guarded by hedges of magnificent 

 aloes, and nopals, or prickly pears. The gentle 

 stream of water hissed along the sand in its course 

 through the grounds, which owed all their ferti- 

 lity and beauty to its influence. Ten minutes 

 walk on either side of the rivulet brought us to 

 the edge of the desert, condemned, for want of 

 moisture, to perpetual sterility ; and, indeed, 

 along the whole coast of Peru,, no rain ever falls, 

 though at some few places the soil is occasionally 

 refreshed by mists and dews. 



The tract of country, which is an irremediable 



