148 



EFFECTS OF THE PUNA ; 



the want of which, we were all very much dis- 

 tressed; however^ my not feeling the puna is 

 no criterion that others should not, for it has 

 been severely felt by many travellers. 



Acosta crossed the Andes in 1580, at the pas- 

 sage of Pariacaca in Peru. When he arrived 

 at the top, he says : " I was seized with so 

 mortal and strange a pang, with straining and 

 vomiting, that I thought to have cast up my very 

 heart ; for having vomited up meat, phlegm, and 

 choler, both yellow and green, in the end I 

 cast up blood." He says, that many have lost 

 their lives in this manner, and that not only the 

 passage of Pariacaca, but also the ridge of 

 mountains which runs above five hundred leagues 

 through Peru and Chili, produce the same effects ; 

 but in no place so violently as Pariacaca. Of 

 four gentlemen also whom I saw, that had crossed 

 the Andes by way of the grand pass of Uspal- 

 lata, three informed me, that they felt this strange 

 sickness in a very severe degree. 



Acosta says, the air over these mountains de- 



