Evening star., 1915-11-21

fragrance: scarlet trumpet flowers.
great masses of golden daisies and
other flowers well known in California
appear beside the track.
But, more memorable, this is the spot
where the traveller from the north gets
his first real view of the Andes From
the sea the mountains are seldom v1sf-
BILE because of the cloudbanks, but
when the train reaches the edge of
this first rise the ocean disappears and
instantly to the eastward the traveller
sees the Andes rising, range upon
range ever higher, to the eastward,
while scattered indiscriminately in this
cosmic welter are half dozen giant
peaks clad in mantles of snow. One of
these peaks is Mount Misti, the volcano
which lords it over Arequipa. which is
still many miles away, and which will
not be reached by the traveller until
after nightfall.
. There is not space here for any ex-
tended description of the wonders of
this ride; indeed, no description is ade-
quate. In the rarity Of the air of this
upland desert the mirages are per-
petual and the traveller is fascinated by
them. A swift run quickly takes the
train across the first shelf and then
again there is another stiff climb to the
second shelf. In this ascent the trav-
eler is in foothills with all the charac-
teristics of the Andes-treeless masses
of rock of beautiful and varied shades
of color, reds and greens predominant
ing.
On the second shelf are seen the curl
Gus travelling sand hills, which are one
of the natural wonders of this coast.
Clean white ocean sand. first washed
up by the waves, then dried and picked
up by the wind, has been heaped up
here on this upland desert. thirty miles
from the sea. Strangely, the ocean
sand has not mingled with the dust of
the desert, but has maintained it's own
integrity, although its travel has given
to it blue tone. The desert itself is a
reddish brown.
Under the impetus OF the wind.
which blows always from the sea, the
blue sand has been gathered into small
crescent-shaped hills which continual
ly move eastward. At the eastern
edge of this shelf is another range OF
even loftier foothills. and at their
bases are enormous deposits of ocean
sand caused by the travelling hills
heaping themselves together at this
barrier.
AS the train nears Areauipa there is
another great change in the character
OF scenery, tHe iuouHttiHS
more and more rugged. and presently
the train comes out upon the edge of
deep canyon which rivals that of the
Colorado. On the red walls of this
canyon not so much a spear of veg
citation grows. but on the bottom of
it there is a considerable stream, and
that, in Peru. means agriculture. be-
cause every foot of irrigable land, no
matter how inaccessible, is titled by
the Indian population. Far down in
the depths of this gloomy ravine the
green floor shines like emerald in
an old gold setting. while beyond the
three great mountains. Mfsti, Pichu
Pichu and Chicani stand like row
of challenging sentinels.
!. :.
Beyond Arequipa there is another
ascent of bewildering beauty until the
train reaches the breathless altitude of
1856 feet, the second highest railroad
pass in the Andes At this point let
me say something about soroche. the
altitude sickness peculiar to the Andes.
Because invalids and persons with
defective hearts have sometimes been
fatally seized with this rnalady, the
American traveller often undertakes an
Andean trip with a good deal of
trepidation. There is, however, no
need for any person in average health
to fear the attitudes of the Andes. and
discretion in eating will nearly always