ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
low valley was stifling. The scenery continued to be 
beautiful, with magnificent waterfalls and torrents flow¬ 
ing down at a steep angle among rocks. 
I stopped for the night at the charming little hotel 
of Huacapistana, situated at a lower level than the road 
in a picturesque narrow valley, on the right bank of the 
Tarma River. The distance between La Merced and 
Huacapistana was about thirty-five kilometres. 
Between Huacapistana and Tarma the track was ex¬ 
cellent. We went through the Carpapata tunnel, 184 
metres long — very dark and narrow, and extremely 
dangerous if you happened to meet pack animals in the 
middle. The scenery was enchanting and the vegetation 
wonderful until, twenty kilometres farther, I entered, by 
a magnificent avenue of eucalyptus trees, the most pic¬ 
turesque town of the higher Andes, Tarma. The nar¬ 
row, neat streets were paved with cobble-stones. All the 
houses were painted white, and had red-tiled roofs. The 
streets swarmed with quaintly attired Indians and tidily 
dressed Peruvians. There were many Italians and 
Spaniards in Tarma. Two or three hotels existed here 
— a capital one, actually lighted by electric light, being 
kept by a most honest Italian. The elevation of Tarma, 
taken by the hypsometrical apparatus, was 10,084 feet. 
I left Tarma on January twenty-ninth, following a 
well-cultivated valley, fairly thickly inhabited. We were 
travelling over a good mule-track, swarming with Indians, 
donkeys, mules, and horses. The mud houses and land 
on either side were enclosed by hedges of cacti, or by 
walls. We were between barren mountains of a brownish 
colour, against which the quaint, brightly coloured cos¬ 
tumes of the many people on the road were thrown out 
in vivid contrast. Most of the houses were constructed 
of large mud bricks, sun-dried. The crops seemed to 
consist chiefly of Indian corn. As we went farther, 
among dark brown rocks and limestone, we came to grot- 
388 
