ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
made by Mr. D. T . Lee, I was allowed to take the 
journey to Lima in a “ gravity car,” in the company of 
the engineer, Mr. Beverley R. Mayer, instead of by the 
usual train, which ran twice a week. Of course it was 
possible to go only by “ gravity car ” from the highest 
point of the railway, which is not at Oroya, but at the 
tunnel of Galera, 5,356 metres above the sea-level as 
measured by the railway surveyors. 
The scenery was magnificent on that railway. Hav¬ 
ing gone through the Galera tunnel, Mr. Mayer and I 
got on the small “ gravity car,” keeping all the time just 
in front of the train. It was quite an exciting journey, 
the incline being so great that we soon acquired a ver¬ 
tiginous speed — in fact, too much, because our brakes 
would not act any more. With the snow and rain the 
rails had become so slippery that we went sliding down 
at the most alarming pace. Nor did I feel particularly 
happy at having the train only a few hundred metres 
behind us. Whenever we got to a station, we had to get 
off quickly and get our car off the rails to give room to 
the incoming train. The cold was intense. 
The geological formation of the Andes in that par¬ 
ticular region was remarkable, and more remarkable still 
was the British engineering triumph of constructing a 
railway from the sea to so high an elevation. In one or 
two places there were iron bridges of great height and 
ingenious construction. You felt a curious sensation as 
you flew over those bridges on the tiny car, and you saw 
between the rails the chasm underneath you; nor did you 
feel extraordinarily comfortable when, hundreds of feet 
down, down below, at the bottom of one chasm, you saw 
a railway engine which had leapt the rails and lay upside 
down in the middle of a foaming torrent. 
Naturally, in building a mountain railway of that 
type, a great many curves and zigzags were necessary, 
many of those curves taking place inside tunnels. Along 
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