The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-04-06
MD QQVCE the Vast TRADE AND TRAVEL that
- the Panama Canal will to merc

rock, and dotted all over by mounds
of fine gray or brownish sand COM
posed of minute shining crystals,
These sand hills. called "medanos,"
are mostly crescent shaped, much like
the moon in its first quarter. steep on
the convex side, and from ten To If
teen or even twenty feet high. They
drift from place to place under the
south wind, which blows strongly and
steadily during the heat Of the day,
the convex of the crescent always fac
ing the wind. Sometimes they are
swept on to and block the railway line.
and when this in spprehended large
stones are heaped up at the convex
OF the crescent and the movement is
thus arrested or the sand dissipated,
Such sCanty vegetation az we had
seen on the mist-Covered hills toward
the coast. has here quite disappeared
under the fiery sun--not even Gao
tus lifts it's stiff stem. II is all sand
and rocks, till the line, having run
for some twenty miles across the
Pampa, enters and begins to climb
the second stairway of mountains to
another and higher level which forms
the second terrace over which the way
lies To- the- central plateau.
The stairway is that line of red and
gray mountains which were described
as filling the middle distance in the
view from Cachentfo. winding no
through their hoi1ows and along thei.
faces the train enters "A deep gorge or
canyon. a the bottom Of which. be
tween vertical rock walls is seen a
foaming stream and mounts along a
ledge cut out in the side Of the gorge.
The canyon wldens little. and ~ it's
bottom are seen bright green patches
Of alfalfa, cultivated with patient toll
by the Indians who water them by tiny
rlis drawn from the stream
The Second CITY Of Peru.
At last the line energies on open and
nearly level ground. One has mounted
the second step and reached the sec
ond terrace of shelf Of the Peruvian
ta bleland. Here on d gently rising
slope, in a grand amphitheater. the
northeastern and eastern and south
eastern sides OF which are formed by
the three great peaks, Chachani, FL
Misti, and Plchu PiChu stands Are
auipa, the second city of Peru.
1t lis built on a gentle slope, on both
sides OF the river Chile. d torrent de-
scending from distaHt SHOWS in a
broad. shallow and stony bed. and in
deed owes its existence to this river,
for 1t was the presence of water en-
abling little oasis in the desert to
be cultivated, that caught the military
eye of Francisco PiZarro.
DISCERNING the need for a Spanish
stronghold between the interior table
land and the coast, ne chose this
spot by the river at the foot of the
pass that gives the easiest access to
that tableland 1t had already been
resthouse station. as its Quichua
name implies, on one of the Inca
tracks from Cuzco (the capital of the
InCas) to the sea, along which a ser
vice OF swift Indian runners is said 70
have been maintained by the Ineas
and to have carried up fresh fish to
the monarch at Cuzco 1t became
the seat of a bishop, was soon we'll
stocked with churches and converts,
and has ever since held its head high,
proud Of its old families and having
escaped that occupation by the Fictori-
Gus Chilean army to which Lima sue
cumbed.
The air has the desert quality Of
purity and invigorating freshness. Al
though thin, for the height above the
sea is over seven thousand feet, ii is
not thin enough TO affect the heart
or lungs Of most persons in ordinary
health The suns heat ia great and
there is plenty Of IL, for here one is
quite above the region OF sea mistS,
but there IS so little to do that no one
needs to work in the hot hours, and
for the matter OF that. nobody, except
the Indians, and the clerks OF few
European firms. works at all The
nights are deliCiously cool
The ciearness Of the air has led "a
its being selected as the site of an
astronomical observatory maintained
by Harvard university for mapping
out the stars of the Southern Hemis-
phere. Not even in Egypt or in the
deserts of South Africa do the CON
Oscillations shine with a more bril-
liant fustre
/. Aresluipa's Marvellous Setting.
I found myself wondering whether
the fascination of the city. with views
out over the furrowed desert to- the
west, where the sun goes down into
the cloud bank that hangs over the
Pacific, and views up to the tall
peaks that guard II TO the east, would
retain it's power when il had grown
familiar, and wondering. also, whether