The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-01
Some Queer Features of Life and
Death in a Land Of Dry Air and
D~esoIatiOn in South America.
RAIN ONCE IN SEVEN YEARS
TRAVELLING SAND HILLS WHICH ARE
ALWAYS ON THE MARCH.
Ruins of the Incas at the Old City of
Jeauetepeque, and the Unknown
Valleys OF Northern Peru.
Copyright, 1898, by Frank G. carpenter.)

Copyright, 1898, by Frank G. Carpenter.)
PACASMAYO, Peru, April FL have just
returned from a ride across the desert of
Peru in a hand car. There is at this point
a railroad which goes over this great South
American Sahara on its way up the Jeque-
tepeque valley. The officers Of the road
loaned me a car made at Kalamazoo, for
the trip, and a couple of native Peruvians
furnished the motive power. With them be-
hind and Mr.. Rudolph d. Kauffmann, a
young American who lives here, and myself
in front, we rode out from the shore and
wound for miles in and out over these Won
derful Peruvian sands which lie at the foot
of the Andes. Now and then we stopped
to examine the black volcanic rock with
which much Of the desert is covered, and
again we went off to photograph the travel
ing sand hills which l shall describe
further on. Since then / have spent much
time on the desert. l have ridden for miles
over it on horseback, and have visited the
queer little towns which are found in the
short irrigated valleys which run here and
there through it. This desert extends from
the borders of Ecuador, 1900 miles south
ward, along the Pacific coasts of Peru and
Chile. II is as long as the distance from
New York to Salt Lake City, and in no
place more than eighty miles wide. 1 nave
seen something of the other great deserts
of the world. From the top of the Pyramids
1 have looked over the dreary white rocks
and sands of Egypt; 1 have sailed along the
deserts Of Arabia in going through the Red
sea, and from the Mount of Olives have
cast my eyes over the bleak wastes be-
tween Jerusalem and the Jordan. / have
Travelled extensively over the dusty plains
and rocky highlands of our western terri
tories, and have had my eyes dazzled by the
alkali deserts of Mexico. This Peruvian
desert is like nothing else in the world. Its
formation is a wonder to the average man.
HOW THE DESERT WAS MADE
I can explain it best by saying that the
atmosphere forms the clothing Of the
earth, and that old Mother Earth works
well only when her clothes are decidedly
wet. The mountains are great clothes
wringers, which squeeze the rain out of
the air and by the difference in tempera-
ture cause it to fall upon the land. The
Andes kiss the sky at higher points than
any other mountains on the globe, with
the single exception OF the Himalayas.
The direction of the winds which sweep
over South America is such that they all
come from the east. I am now not as far
from the equator as I was a few weeks
ago, when l waded through the tropical
mud amid the dense vegetation of the 18TH
mus Of Panama. The sun is continually
drawing up vapor from the sea in front Of
me, but the winds are carrying it north
ward and westward, and the air we have
is the cool, dry, rainless ozone which
sweeps down upon us from the Andes. This
air started on from the west coast of Afrl-
ca. AS it swept over the Atlantic 1t
pumped itself full Of water, and when 1T
reached the coast Of Brazil it was well
loaded. AS it crossed the continent 1t
dropped it's moisture. feeding the great riv-
ers of lower South America, and covering
the land with tropical verdure. 1t dropped
more and more as it climbed up the east
ern slopes Of the Andes until when it
reached the top it left it's last water there
in tie form Of snow. The result is that
all OF the water that comes down to the
west coast Is from the melting of the SHOWS.
This is enough to form a river here and
there through the desert, and it is in the
valleys of these rivers that you find the
habitable parts of the coast region of Peru
and northern Chile.
There is another habitable region further
up in the mountains, between the two
ranges of the Andes, which here run al
most parallel, and a wide strip on the east
ern slope. which will, by means of the rail-
roads of the future, some time be one of
the most productive parts Of the globe. Peru
altogether is a very large country. 1t
would make more than nine states the size
of New York. 1t runs from north to south
in the shape of a great wedge, which, if
laid upon the surface of our country, would
go as far south as New Orleans, at which
n0i0f II uzo1tId ho a hort nc uy;1a oe fha die
lance between New York and Washington.
THE TRAVELLING SANDS.
One of the wonders of this desert is its
travelling sand hills. Back of where now
am there are great mounds containing hum
dreds upon hundreds of tons of fine gray
sand. These mounds are always moving
onward under the influence of the winds.
They are in the shape of a perfect crescent
and their little grains, not so large as a
mustard seed, are ever rolling up, up and
over the top Of the crescent, going always
toward the north. They climb over hills.
they make their way through valleys. as
uneasy but as steady in their march as
was the Wandering Jew. Here at Pacas-
mayo there is a railroad which crosses the
desert on its way up the Jequetepeque val
ley. When it was built the engineers
thought nothing of these sand hills, which
were far to the southwark. The sands,
however. are no respecters of railroads..
They moved onward and swallowed UP the
track. so that it had to be taken up and
relaid on the other side Of them. In the
ride which I took on the hand car up the
valley / saw one place where a mound of
sand containing some thousand of tons was
encroaching upon the track. A stream of
water from the river had been let in
through a ditch at the side in a vain at
tempt to carry away the sand, and men
were at work shoveling the dirt away from
the rails. AS / passed l saw the sand COM
ing down in a stream like that of thick
molasses. and / could see that it was al
| most impossible to conquer.
This morning I went out and took photo
graphs of some Of these moving hills. 1
climbed to the top of one of them. expect
ing to find myself sinking down to my neck
in the sand. I discovered. on the contrary,
that the hills were quite hard. and that even
my shoes were not covered by sand. Some
of these sand hills are stopped on their
/ course by what are known as the algoroba
bushes or trees. They gather about them,
making hills. which spot the desert In places