The Republican journal., 1903-06-18
lrequipa---' PLACE Of Rest. .
,ovnERFUL RAILWAY FROM THE
p.cIFIC TO LAKE TITICACA.


.ceo,1PA, PERU, May s, 1908. From
,lllsndo. the one seaport of Southern
,o,,o to Arequipa-the second city in
ss of this republic-the distance is LOT
.I.s As the railway runs. Most of the
,ta lies across the hot and lifeless
,,.srt of Islay. Along one side of the
.l t,r more than IS miles, runs all
iaI+i9eh iron pipe which brings water
uoljendo and the intervening sta
,.,o. there being no fresh water near
u. coast. Coming from springs in the
..oota.us near Arequipa, nearly 5000
~. above the sea and extending to the
n..5a. 1t is the longest aqueduct in the
rl aud is capable of diScharging
.,s,o Gallons of water during every
...n,5 four hours. After descending
n. .,aTeward range of the Andes the
.... gags rapidly down the barren
.a.Ia.s to the great desert, which it
..o..es with directness in marked con-
..q., .o It's tortuous course among the
.5.-~ In It's narrowest place the
t.s. -sert is about sixty miles across,
All. sore the day of the railroad the
s.. lad to be made on donkey back.
~.. was customary to cross it in the
.--.t Il avoid the heat and glare of the
. which must have been intolerable,
.-.ng from the accounts of travellers.
uaIsH lravelers in the cars suffer COM
.sm.,.lY few dlScomforts, although
,e-l Sutocated by the dust. l can
.-,- ttget the aspect of the country
,-t r glare of the sun upon lt-one
5s- waste of sand and stones, hills bare
s.. vat cactus, measureleSs stretches
e..I That look like the shore of the
...r.m which the waves have receded;
F. 4. the entire section was once
,.-. the ocean floor from which the
ss,t, rceded ages age. All the tints
.t-. udscape are pale in tone-sea-
.t,4 lyer gray, amethyst and faint
-,- u.r
..,-t are no trees, nor even bushes,
.r,-p III those infrequent spots where
rrrl las been produced by irriga-
r.. wd wherever the tanks that are
aM-a a. regular intervals to supply the
.anu'ives with water, fed from the
a.. Waeduct, have leaked or dripped
49, knee-deep dust, grass grows
z ltiy, indicating what the result
a-.- ire. even in this desert, under
#,.us system of irrigation. There
.e .auy peculiar mounds of sand,
.U.u AS snow, all blown into semi
...HG shapes, like huge crescent
ysas Slowing the direction and force
--r Prevailing winds. But for most
1 rI- distance not living thing is to
- e-U, except at the few stations,
e bedraggled women, dusty as their
ulings, come on board the train
..- aaeAes to sell-tolerably fair look
81 fruit. but hard as the rocky hills
t-i less as the sand in Which they
81 than four hundred years ago
.- Jila was halfway halting- place
fm lAytlerS between the loftier Andes
d.. r sea, and hence came by its
aas Arequipa, in the aboriginal
w-oe gnifying "Place of Rest" AS
~5 The days of Rocca, the sixth
lH Nbo conquered all this part of
In0 u which was military colony.
b. l'lZarro transformed it into a
Na.sn stronghold, and with better
.... u4n characterized most of his
Nntatlature, did not change it's ancient
aar lust back of the town towers
.e aity volcano, Misti, quiescent now
a- ready to burst forth again, perhaps
as .a compartment of another ire
n-alods earthquake, like that which
NeoF the whole city down some thirty
years ago. Misti is nearly eighteen
'Ul,lud feet in height, perfect cone,
topped with eternal snow, and with per-
.e.lA summer at the base. On one side
" It lands the lesser mountain, Pichu-
ac with foothills stretching away
tae distance: and on the other side,
soVcroWned Charchani; then comes
.0oWna, and then the elevated Pampa
pa lie Arrieros, reaching to the vol
dlo mas, dimly seen toward the Bo-
.'5' frontier Many travellers have
srn' Arequipa to Damascus, not only
1eeaase of its low walls and gray sur
"Dudmgs, but because, like the Orien-
"a city, it stands upon the edge of a
.esaft all its verdure depending upon a
-'4F towing through the arid waste.
Vie ALLEY of Arequipa, or rather the
oasis IS barely ten miles long by five
1aes vide, environed on every side by
leSers sands and barren mountains.
HE rapid river, named Chile, which
rms Trough the middle of the town,
does not furnish sufficient water for
Soont5tul irrigation, but wherever it
yaa he turned on the land is rendered
wonderfully productive and is worth
thousand dollars per acre and upwards.
LIE altitude of Arequipa is not quiet
N"5 feet, just high enough in this lati-
4ds to insure perfect weather from
year to year. No words can do justice