CHAPTER XI

The Cordillera and the Andes--Signification of the terms--Altitude of the Mountains and Passes--Lakes--Metals--Aspect of the Cordillera--Shattered Rocks--Maladies caused by the diminished Atmospheric Pressure--The Veta and the Surumpe--Mountain Storms--The Condor--Its habits--Indian mode of Catching the Bird--The Puna or Despoblado--Climate--Currents of Warm Air--Vegetation--Tuberous Plant called the Maca--Animals of the Puna--The Llama, the Alpaco, the Huanacu and the Vicuna--The Chacu and the Bolas--Household Utensils of the Ancient Peruvians--The Viscacha and the Chinchilla--Puna Birds and Amphibia--Cattle and Pasture--Indian Farms--Shepherds' Huts--Ancient Peruvian Roads and Buildings--Treasure concealed by the Indians in the Puna.

Two great mountain chains, running parallel with each other, intersect Peru in the direction from S.S.W. to N.N.E. The chain nearest the coast of the Pacific is at the average distance of from sixty to seventy English miles from the sea. The other chain takes a parallel direction but describes throughout its whole course a slight curve eastward. These two ranges of mountain are called the Cordilleras, or the Andes: both terms being used indiscriminately. Even the creoles of Peru confound these two terms, sometimes calling the western chain by one name, and sometimes by the other. Nevertheless, a strict distinction ought to be observed:--the western chain should properly be called the Cordillera, and the eastern chain the Andes. The latter name is derived from the Quichua word Antasuyu; _Anta_ signifying metal generally, but especially copper, and _Suyu_ a district; the meaning of Antasuyu, therefore, is the metal district. In common parlance, the word Suyu was dropped, and the termination _a_ in _Anta_ was converted into _is_. Hence the word _Antis_, which is employed by all old writers and geographers; and even now is in common use among the Indian population of Southern Peru. The Spaniards, according to their practice of corrupting the words of the Quichua language, have transformed Antis into _Andes_, and they apply the name without distinction to the western and the eastern chain of mountains.[65]

The old inhabitants of Peru dwelt chiefly along the base of the eastern mountain chain, where they drew from the mines the metal which afforded material for their tasteful and ingenious workmanship: those mountains consequently retained the name of Antis or Andes. In the time of the Incas, both chains were called Ritisuyu (Snow-Districts). The Spaniards, on the invasion of the country, advancing from the sea-coast, first arrived at the western mountains, and to them they gave the name of _Cordillera_, the term commonly employed in the Spanish language, to designate any mountain chain. Most of the earlier travellers and topographists named the western chain the _Cordillera de los Andes_, and regarded it as the principal chain, of which they considered the eastern mountains to be merely a branch. To the eastern range of mountains they gave the name of _Cordillera Oriental_. I will here strictly observe the correct denominations, calling the western chain the Cordillera, or the coast mountains; and the eastern chain the Andes, or the inner Cordillera.

These two great mountain chains stand in respect to height in an inverse relation one to the other; that is to say, the greater the elevation of the Cordillera, the more considerable is the depression of the Andes. In South Peru the ridge of the Cordillera is considerably lower than that portion of the Andes which stretches through Bolivia. The medium height of the Cordillera in South Peru is 15,000 feet above the sea; but here and there particular points rise to a much more considerable elevation. The medium height of the Andes is 17,000 feet above the sea. In central Peru the Cordillera is higher than the Andes. There the altitude of the latter along the body of the chain is 13,000 feet above the sea: on the ridge there are a few points some hundred feet higher. Between Pasco and Loxas the average height of the Cordillera is between 11,000 and 12,000 feet above the sea; and the average elevation of the Andes at the corresponding point is about 2000 feet lower.

The passes do not run through valleys, but always over the ridges of the mountains. The highest mountain passes are the Rinconada (16,452 feet above the sea); the Piedra Parada (16,008 feet); the Tingo (15,600 feet); the Huatillas (14,850 feet); the Portachuelo de la Viuda (14,544 feet); the Altos de Toledo (15,530 feet); and the Altos de los Huesos (14,300 feet). In both chains there are innumerable small lakes; these are met with in all the mountain passes, and most of them are the sources of small rivers.

Both the mountain chains, as well as their lateral branches, are rich in metallic produce; but in the principal mountains gold is rare. Some rich mines on the coast, and in the province of Arequipa, are now nearly exhausted. Wash gold is plentiful in the rivers of North Peru, but it is not carefully collected. Silver, which constitutes the principal wealth of Peru, is found in greatest abundance in the principal chains, viz., in Northern and Central Peru, in the Cordillera; and in Southern Peru in the Andes. It presents itself in all forms and combinations, from the pure metal to the lead-ore mixed with silver. Even in the highest elevations, in parts scarcely trodden by human footsteps, rich veins of silver are discovered. It is scarcely possible to pass half a day in these regions without encountering new streaks. Quicksilver is likewise found, but in such small quantities, that the gain does not pay the labor of the miners. The only quicksilver vein of any magnitude is at Huancavelica. Both mountain chains are very rich in copper-ore; but it is extracted only from the Cordillera, for the distance of the Andes from the coast renders the transport too expensive. The lead and iron mines, though amazingly prolific, are not worked; the price of the metal being too low to pay the labor.

The Cordillera presents an aspect totally different from that of the Andes. It is more wild and rugged, its ridge is broader, and its summits less pyramidical. The summits of the Andes terminate in slender sharp points like needles. The Cordillera descends in terraces to the level heights, whilst the slope of the Andes is uniform and unbroken. The summits of the calcareous hills which stretch eastward from the great chain of the Cordillera are broken and rugged. Large cubical blocks of stone become detached from them, and roll down into the valleys. In the Quebrada of Huari near Yanaclara, which is 13,000 feet above the sea, I collected among other fragments of rock some of a species which is found at Neufchatel in Switzerland. This disintegration, which is the effect of protracted rain and cold, imparts to the mountain ridges the most singular and beautiful forms; their fantastic outlines appearing like the work of human hands. Imagination may easily picture them to be monuments of the time of the Incas; for viewed from a distance, they look like groups of giants or colossal animals. In former times the Indians viewed these masses of rock with devout reverence, for they believed them to be the early inhabitants of the earth whom Pacchacamac in his anger transformed to stone. I may here notice some very curious forms of rock which have long been a subject of controversy among Peruvian travellers. On the road leading from Ayacucho to Huancavelica, on the level height of Paucara, about a league beyond the village of Parcos, there is a considerable number of sand-stone pyramids from eight to twenty-two feet high. They are of a reddish-white color; but in many places the inclemency of the weather has overspread them with a blackish crust. They are detached one from another. Ulloa, in his _Noticias Americanas_, after fully describing these pyramids, declares himself doubtful whether they are the work of man or of nature. He inclines to regard them as human creations, and suggests that they may possibly have been the tombs of distinguished curacas and caciques; but he admits that he is not acquainted with any similar monuments in Peru. As each pyramid consists of only one block of stone, and all are very regularly shaped, Ulloa is not indisposed to believe that the Indians possessed the secret art of melting stone. These blocks are, however, of sand-stone, and their fractures are the result of the inclemency of the weather. They are all pyramidal-shaped, and tolerably equal in size. In several of them the points are as sharp and regular as though they had been wrought by the chisel of the sculptor. These curious pyramids cover the plateau along a distance of more than two miles: sometimes standing closely together, and sometimes at considerable distances apart. The whole line of chalk and slate mountains extending from Ayacucho to Huancavelica is shattered, and presents similar, though less regular detritus.

I have, in my last chapter, observed that the Cordillera is the point of partition between the waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. All the waters of the eastern declivity of the Cordillera--all those which have their source on the level heights and on the western declivity of the Andes,--flow from thence in the direction of the east, and work their way through the eastern mountain chain. Throughout the whole extent of South America there is not a single instance of the Cordillera being intersected by a river; a fact the more remarkable because in Southern Peru and Bolivia, the coast chain is lower than the Andes. This interesting phenomenon, though it has deeply engaged the attention of geologists, has not yet been satisfactorily explained. I concur in the view taken by Mr. Darwin, who observes that it would be too rash to assign to the eastern chain of Bolivia and Central Chile, a later origin than the western chain (the nearest the Pacific), but that the circumstance of the rivers of a lower mountain chain having forced their way through a higher chain seems, without this supposition, to be enigmatical. Mr. Darwin is of opinion that the phenomenon is assignable to a periodical and gradual elevation of the second mountain line (the Andes); for a chain of islets would at first appear, and as these were lifted up, the tides would be always wearing deeper and broader channels between them.

In the heights of the Cordillera the effect of the diminished atmospheric pressure on the human frame shows itself in intolerable symptoms of weariness and an extreme difficulty of breathing. The natives call this malady the _Puna_ or the _Soroche_; and the Spanish Creoles give it the names of _Mareo_ or _Veta_. Ignorant of its real causes they ascribe it to the exhalations of metals, especially antimony, which is extensively used in the mining operations. The first symptoms of the veta are usually felt at the elevation of 12,600 feet above the sea. These symptoms are vertigo, dimness of sight and hearing, pains in the head and nausea. Blood flows from the eyes, nose, and lips. Fainting fits, spitting of blood, and other dangerous symptoms, usually attend severe attacks of veta. The sensations which accompany this malady somewhat resemble those of sea-sickness, and hence its Spanish name _mareo_. But sea-sickness is unaccompanied by the distressing difficulty of breathing experienced in the veta. This disorder sometimes proves fatal, and I once witnessed a case in which death was the result. Inhabitants of the coast and Europeans, who for the first time visit the lofty regions of the Cordillera, are usually attacked with this disorder. Persons in good health and of a spare habit speedily recover from it, but on plethoric and stout individuals its effects are frequently very severe. After an abode of some time in the mountainous regions, the constitution becomes inured to the rarefied atmosphere. I suffered only two attacks of the veta; but they were very severe. The first was on one of the level heights; and the second on the mountain of Antaichahua. The first time I ascended the Cordillera I did not experience the slightest illness, and I congratulated myself on having escaped the veta; but a year afterwards I had an attack of it, though only of a few hours' duration. The veta is felt with great severity in some districts of the Cordillera, whilst in others, where the altitude is greater, the disorder is scarcely perceptible. Thus it would seem that the malady is not caused by diminished atmospheric pressure, but is dependent on some unknown climatic circumstances. The districts in which the veta prevails with greatest intensity are, for the most part, rich in the production of metals, a circumstance which has given rise to the idea that it is caused by metallic exhalations.

I have already described the effect of the Puna climate on beasts of burthen. Its influence on some of the domestic animals is no less severe than on the human race. To cats, it is very fatal, and at the elevation of 13,000 feet above the sea those animals cannot live. Numerous trials have been made to rear them in the villages of the upper mountains, but without effect; for after a few days' abode in those regions, the animals die in frightful convulsions; but when in this state they do not attempt to bite. I had two good opportunities of observing the disease at Yauli. Cats attacked in this way are called, by the natives, _azorochados_, and antimony is alleged to be the cause of the distemper. Dogs are also liable to it, but it visits them less severely than cats, and with care they may be recovered.

Another scourge of the traveller in the Cordillera, is the disease called the _Surumpe_. It is a violent inflammation of the eyes, caused by the sudden reflection of the bright rays of the sun on the snow. By the rarefied air and the cutting wind, the eyes, being kept in a constant state of irritation, are thereby rendered very susceptible to the effects of the glaring light. In these regions the sky is often for a time completely overshadowed by snow clouds, and the greenish yellow of the plain is soon covered by a sheet of snow: then suddenly the sun's rays burst through the breaking clouds, and the eyes, unprepared for the dazzling glare, are almost blinded. A sharp burning pain is immediately felt, and it speedily increases to an intolerable degree. The eyes become violently inflamed, and the lids swell and bleed. The pain of the surumpe is the most intense that can be imagined, and frequently brings on delirium. The sensation resembles that which it may be imagined would be felt if cayenne pepper or gunpowder were rubbed into the eyes. Chronic inflammation, swelling of the eyelids, dimness of sight, and even total blindness are the frequent consequences of the surumpe. In the Cordillera, Indians are often seen sitting by the road-side shrieking in agony, and unable to proceed on their way. They are more liable to the disease than the Creoles, who, when travelling in the mountains, protect their eyes by green spectacles and veils.

Heavy falls of snow in the Cordillera are usually accompanied by thunder and lightning. During five months of the year, from November to March, storms are of daily occurrence. They begin, with singular regularity, about three o'clock in the afternoon, and continue until five or half-past five in the evening. After that time storms of thunder and lightning never occur; but the falls of snow sometimes continue till midnight. As evening approaches, cold mists are drifted from the mountain-tops down upon the plains; but they are dispersed by the rays of the morning sun, which in a few hours melt the snow. The furious tempests in these regions exceed any idea that can be formed of them, and can only be conceived by those who have witnessed them. Some of these mountain districts have acquired an ominous character for storms; Antaichahua is one of the places to which this sort of fearful celebrity belongs. For hours together flash follows flash, painting blood-red cataracts on the naked precipices. The forked lightning darts its zig-zag flashes on the mountain-tops, or, running along the ground, imprints deep furrows in its course; whilst the atmosphere quivers amidst uninterrupted peals of thunder, repeated a thousandfold by the mountain echoes. The traveller, overtaken by these terrific storms, dismounts from his trembling horse, and takes refuge beneath the shelter of some overhanging rock.

In these sterile heights, Nature withholds her fostering influence alike from vegetable and animal life. The scantiest vegetation can scarcely draw nutriment from the ungenial soil, and animals shun the dreary and shelterless wilds. The condor alone finds itself in its native element amidst these mountain deserts. On the inaccessible summits of the Cordillera that bird builds its nest, and hatches its young in the months of April and May. Few animals have attained so universal a celebrity as the condor. That bird was known in Europe, at a period when his native land was numbered among those fabulous regions which are regarded as the scenes of imaginary wonders. The most extravagant accounts of the condor were written and read, and general credence was granted to every story which travellers brought from the fairy land of gold and silver. It was only at the commencement of the present century that Humboldt overthrew the extravagant notions that previously prevailed respecting the size, strength, and habits of that extraordinary bird.

The full-grown condor measures, from the point of the beak to the end of the tail, from four feet ten inches to five feet; and from the tip of one wing to the other, from twelve to thirteen feet. This bird feeds chiefly on carrion: it is only when impelled by hunger that he seizes living animals, and even then only the small and defenceless, such as the young of sheep, vicunas, and llamas. He cannot raise great weights with his feet, which, however, he uses to aid the power of his beak. The principal strength of the condor lies in his neck and in his feet; yet he cannot, when flying, carry a weight exceeding eight or ten pounds. All accounts of sheep and calves being carried off by condors are mere exaggerations. This bird passes a great part of the day in sleep, and hovers in quest of prey chiefly in the morning and evening. Whilst soaring at a height beyond the reach of human eyes, the sharp-sighted condor discerns his prey on the level heights beneath him, and darts down upon it with the swiftness of lightning. When a bait is laid, it is curious to observe the numbers of condors which assemble in a quarter of an hour, in a spot near which not one had been previously visible. These birds possess the senses of sight and smell in a singularly powerful degree.

Some old travellers, Ulloa among others, have affirmed that the plumage of the condor is invulnerable to a musket-ball. This absurdity is scarcely worthy of contradiction; but it is nevertheless true that the bird has a singular tenacity of life, and that it is seldom killed by fire-arms, unless when shot in some vital part. Its plumage, particularly on the wings, is very strong and thick. The natives, therefore, seldom attempt to shoot the condor: they usually catch him by traps or by the laso, or kill him by stones flung from slings, or by the _Bolas_. A curious method of capturing the condor alive is practised in the province of Abancay. A fresh cow-hide, with some fragments of flesh adhering to it, is spread out on one of the level heights, and an Indian provided with ropes creeps beneath it, whilst some others station themselves in ambush near the spot, ready to assist him. Presently a condor, attracted by the smell of flesh, darts down upon the cow-hide, and then the Indian, who is concealed under it, seizes the bird by the legs, and binds them fast in the skin, as if in a bag. The captured condor flaps his wings, and makes ineffectual attempts to fly; but he is speedily secured, and carried in triumph to the nearest village.

The Indians quote numerous instances of young children having been attacked by condors. That those birds are sometimes extremely fierce is very certain. The following occurrence came within my own knowledge, whilst I was in Lima. I had a condor, which, when he first came into my possession, was very young. To prevent his escape, as soon as he was able to fly, he was fastened by the leg to a chain, to which was attached a piece of iron of about six pounds weight. He had a large court to range in, and he dragged the piece of iron about after him all day. When he was a year and a half old he flew away, with the chain and iron attached to his leg, and perched on the spire of the church of Santo Tomas, whence he was scared away by the carrion hawks. On alighting in the street, a Negro attempted to catch him for the purpose of bringing him home; upon which he seized the poor creature by the ear, and tore it completely off. He then attacked a child in the street (a negro boy of three years old), threw him on the ground, and knocked him on the head so severely with his beak, that the child died in consequence of the injuries. I hoped to have brought this bird alive to Europe; but, after being at sea two months on our homeward voyage, he died on board the ship in the latitude of Monte Video.

Between the Cordillera and the Andes, at the height of 12,000 feet above the sea, there are vast tracts of uninhabited table-lands. These are called in the Quichua language the _Puna_; and the Spaniards give them the name of the _Despoblado_ (the uninhabited). These table-lands form the upper mountain regions of the South American Highlands. They spread over the whole extent of Peru, from north-west to south-east, a distance of 350 Spanish miles, continuing through Bolivia, and gradually running eastward into the Argentine Republic. With reference to geography and natural history, these table-lands present a curious contrast to the _Llanos_ (plains) of South America, situated on the other side of the Andes to the north-east. Those boundless deserts, full of organic life, are, like the Puna, among the most interesting characteristics of the New World.

The climate of these regions is not less rigorous than that of the high mountain ridges. Cold winds from the west and south-west, blow nearly all the year round from the ice-topped Cordillera; and for the space of four months these winds are daily accompanied by thunder, lightning, and snow-storms. The average state of the thermometer during the cold season (which is called summer, because it then seldom snows) is, during the night, -5 deg. R.; and at midday, +9 deg. 7' R. In winter the mercury seldom falls during the night below freezing point, and it continues between +1 deg. and 0 deg. R.; but at noon it ascends only to 7 deg. R. It is, however, quite impossible to determine with precision the medium temperature of these regions. For the space of a few hours the heat will frequently vary between 18 deg. and 20 deg. R. The transition is the more sensibly felt on the fall of the temperature, as it is usually accompanied by sharp-biting winds, so keen, that they cut the skin on the face and hands. A remarkable effect of the Puna wind is its power of speedily drying animal bodies, and thereby preventing putridity. A dead mule is, in the course of a few days, converted into a mummy; not even the entrails presenting the least trace of decomposition.

It frequently happens that, after being long exposed to these cold winds, the traveller enters warm atmospheric currents. These warm streams are sometimes only two or three paces, and at other times, several hundred feet broad. They run in a parallel direction with each other, and one may pass through five or six of them in the course of a few hours. On the level heights between Chacapalpa and Huancavelica, I remarked that they were especially frequent during the months of August and September. According to my repeated observations, I found that these warm streams chiefly follow the direction of the Cordillera; namely, from S.S.W. to N.N.E. I once travelled the distance of several leagues through a succession of these currents of warm air, none of which exceeded seven-and-twenty paces in breadth. Their temperature was 11 deg. R. higher than that of the adjacent atmosphere. It would appear they are not merely temporary, for the mule-drivers can often foretel with tolerable accuracy where they will be encountered. The causes of these phenomena well merit the investigation of meteorologists.

The aspect of the Puna is singularly monotonous and dreary. The expansive levels are scantily covered with grasses of a yellowish-brown hue, and are never enlivened by fresh-looking verdure. Here and there, at distant intervals, may be seen a few stunted Quenua trees (_Polylepis racemosa_, R. P.), or large patches of ground covered with the Ratanhia shrub[66] (_Krameria triandria_, R. P.). Both are used by the Indians as fuel, and for roofing their huts.

The cold climate and sterile soil of the Puna are formidable impediments to agriculture. Only one plant is cultivated in these regions with any degree of success. It is the _maca_, a tuberous root grown like the potatoe, and like it used as an article of food. In many of the Puna districts the maca constitutes the principal sustenance of the inhabitants. It has an agreeable, and somewhat sweetish flavor, and when boiled in milk it tastes like the chestnut. As far as I am aware this plant has not been mentioned by any traveller, nor has its botanical character yet been precisely determined. Possibly it is a species of Tropaeolum, but of this I am uncertain. The root is about the size of a large chestnut. Macas may be kept for more than a year, if, after being taken from the earth, they are left a few days to dry in the sun, and then exposed to the cold. By this means they become shrivelled and very hard. From these dried macas, the Indians prepare a sort of soup or rather syrup, which diffuses a sweet, sickly sort of odor, but which, when eaten with roasted maize, is not altogether unpalatable. The maca thrives best at the height of between 12,000 and 13,000 feet above the sea. In the lower districts it is not planted, for the Indians declare it to be flavorless when grown there. Besides the maca barley is reared in the Puna. I saw there fields of barley 13,200 feet above the sea. It does not, however, attain full maturity, seldom even shoots into ears, and is cut whilst green as fodder for horses.

But poor and scanty as is the vegetation of the Puna, the animal kingdom is there richly and beautifully represented. Those regions are the native home of the great Mammalia, which Peru possessed before horses and black cattle were introduced by the Spaniards. I allude to the llama and his co-genera the alpaco, the huanacu, and the vicuna. On these interesting animals I will subjoin a few observations.[67] The two first are kept as domestic animals; the llama perfectly, and the alpaco partially tame.

The llama measures from the sole of the hoof to the top of the head, 4 feet 6 to 8 inches; from the sole of the hoof to the shoulders, from 2 feet 11 inches to 3 feet. The female is usually smaller and less strong than the male, but her wool is finer and better. The color is very various; generally brown, with shades of yellow or black; frequently speckled, but very rarely quite white or black. The speckled brown llama is in some districts called the moromoro.

The young llamas are left with the dam for about the space of a year, after which time they are removed and placed with flocks. When about four years old, the males and fema