The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-02-24
roov,ishted, 1914. by Frank G.
Carpenter.)

9Th American desert. My last let
- ,v,s dated in the jungles of the
Icr,dorau tropics. This comes from |
!. country as dry as any part Of the !
.obara The coaSt about me is all
- and rock, and the Andes noun
Iains which lie close behind, are as
s.ar,ia as the driest part Of u great
eastern plteau. The first port after
,ooying G~uayaquil is Tumbez. 1t be-
,ones 10 Peru, but it lies just over
rho E~cuadoran line and is an oasis
Of green. -
,rd il extends from there southwark
5oyvn the western cOas Of the con
sioeni for a distance as long as that
hatueen the Atlantaic ocean and the
Great Salt lake. Its length is 1000
riles II borders the whole of Peru
and takes up all northern Chile, ex-
tending almost TO Valparaiso. In no
mac is il more than eighty miles
gide. and yet it is 1000 miles long.
Al its eastern edge it is lost in the
Andes. which are without vegetation
clear 10 their tops where the rocks
arc lost in the snow.
have seen something of h other
Great deserts of the world. I have
been on the edge Of the Kalahari
desert. in South Africa, and have
travelled through the Sahara. in Mo-
rocco, Tripoli, Algeria and Egypt. /
have sailed along the coast of Arabia
and know something Of the desert
of Cobb, on the edge of Mongolia.
None Of them is like the Peruvian
desert. and none seems to be so fated
- be a desert for all time to come.
This desert is shut in between the
ocean and the great wall OF the An
deS. Those mountains rise almost
preeipitously from this long coastal
plain and they are among the highest
on the earth. They are so high and
SO cold that they squeeze the rain out
of the winds from the east hat bring
al, the moisture, and it flows down
their eastern slopes. The winds here
all come from owe the mountains,
but the water has been squeezed Out
Of them on their way, and when they
how down the western slopes of the
Andes they are as dry as a bone
Their load has already been dropped.
II has covered eastern South America
with tropical verdure. 1t mas filled
the valleys of the Amazon and the
ply known to man. and has made the
larger part of this continent bloom
like n garden.
On the side of the Andes, in this
strip Of 1000 miles, about the only
water zones from the melting snow:
on the tops of the mountains. 1t sci
dom rains. Paita has not had to use
an umbrella for the past twenty-five
years, and waterproof coats and rub
Der boots would be q drug in tn
market anywhere from below Tum
bez to far beyond Antofagasta. In
deed, the only fertile regions Of tn
desert are where the snow-fed river
from the mountains cross it and FLOW
out To the sea. There are fifty-fiv,
Such streams along the cOaS of Peru
ana the cultivable territory watere'
oy thcm has an area of 10000
acres. Two-ffths of this is irrigate,
ana already i'll use, and it produce
some OF the finest crops of the WOrlC
~ ~ at present the most importan
part OF Peru; it feeds most of tn
people and supplies a vast lea of eS
poftS. The government is now con
aiueflng the further development c
ems region by the extension of tn
irrigation system, and it has had Am
erlcan engineers here going over tn
ground.
INC of the richest Of these desc
E'itys IS that of Piura, which is Nc
TAR from I'aita. Here the lands al
irrigated 10y the Piura river and the
6''ot IGalttltS u Colloll, 9oSt
cane and grain as we'll as every kin
~ lrult that We have in Californi
'hef' are GASES along every Strea1
D'tN'"n here and Callao, and Lin
'"' product of the Rimac, which gait
'I@ the SHOWS Of the Andes ar
spreads them in thu shape of wat
""' OYER In" plains.
am writing this letter at Pait
~" port for the Piura oasis. 1t is
N'rt city. with streets Of sand al
ana two story houses made of
l"iH'Work Of wood poles and ban
49, canes. over which is spread
..&lur" Of sand and mud that da
ones eyes Indeed. most of Il
.'IAStS are Of mud and fishing pol
'n'lhed down with stucco. This
""lS or" painted all the colors
rainbow. The custoni hou;
",'r' ! stopped when | came to t
"''ti IS bright green. and when
''<S'' through the plaza behind