Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-10-25

day he leaves Puno, and taking the same
irs.n next morning for Mollendo. Along
the side Of the track for distance OF
more than eighty-6ye miles, runs an s-lnch
iron pipe; for the purpose 8, supplying
water to Mollendo and the intervening
stations there being none near the coast.
Coming from springs in the mountains
near Arequipa, 1000 feet above the sea
and extending to the Pacific, it Is the
longest auueduct in the world. and is capa-
BILE of discharging 100000 gallons of water
during every twenty-four hours.
From Arequipa to the ocean is lO7
miles. and most of the route lies across the
hot and lifeless desert of Islay. After de-
scending the shoreward range of the
Andes, the train zig-zags rapidly down the
barren foothills to the great desert, which
it crosses with directness in marked con-
trast to its tortuous course among the
nights, and finally reaches the shore,
where it winds for long distance close to
its edge before coming to the present port
In its narrowest place the desert is about
sixty miles across, and before the day of
the railroad the Journey had to be made on
donkey-back. Then it was customary to
cross it in the night to avoid the heat and
glare of the sun, which mist have been In
tolerable, Judging from the accounts of
travellers. One who crossed in this manner
but failed to reach Arequipa before sun
rise. saws that "about o'clock clear
whiteness appeared in tie sky: the stars
paled their luster, and the day began to
break Soon a ruddy orange tint spread
! over the soil of the pampa, now become
| firm and compact. In a few minutes the
disk of the sun appeared above the hori-
ION, and as we marched full in front OF the
god of day we found ourselves in the midst
| Of luminous torrent which so dazzled
and incommoded US that to escape from
the new torture we doubled ourselves up
like hedge-hogs. This inconvenient post
ure rendered us unjust to the claims OF the
rising sun. Instead of welcoming his APP
pearanee we were inclined to wish he had
remained out of sight; and it was not Un-
til o'clock that the sun, now high above
the horizon, permitted US to raise our
heads"
OF course we. in the cars suffered little of
this, though nearly sutfocated by the dust;
but | can never forget the aspect of the
country with the glare of the sun upon it
one vast waste of sands and stones, hills
bare of all but cactus, measureless
stretches of sand that look like the shore
of the sea from which the waves have re-
ceded-and in truth the entire section
was once part of the ocean floor, from
which the waves recedea ages ago. All
the tints of the landscape are pale in
! tone-sea-green, silver gray, amethyst,
and faintest blue. There are no trees,
nor even bushes, except in those
infrequent spots where fertility has been
produced by irrigation; and wherever
the tanks that are placed at regular
intervals to supply the locomotives with
water, fed from the long aqueduct, have
leaked or dripped into the ankle,deep dust.
grass grows luxuriantly, indicating what
| the result might be, even in this desert,
under judicious system of irrigation.
There are many peculiar mounds of sand,
white as snow, all blown into semi-circular
shapes like huge crescent moons, showing
the direction and force of the prevailing
winds. But for most of the distance not a
lining thing is to be seen, except at the
few stations, where bedraggled women,
dusty as their surroundings, come on
board with peaches to sell-tolerably fair
looking fruit, but hard as the rocky hills,
and tasteless as the sands in which they
grew. FANNIE B. WARD.