A JOURNEY INTO THE OCCOBAMBA VALLEY

The valley of Ollantaytambo is essentially high,
desert type with few trees and sparse vegetation, in which several
species of cacti are prominent constituents. The narrow, rocky
valley is bounded by lofty, rugged ridges several thousand feet
in height, but these are quite as treeless as the valley floor.
Bordering the noisy brook which drains the valley are a few bushes
and small trees, which doubtless represent only a remnant of the
species which at one time grew here. In a region of this sort
where every square foot of tillable soil has been under cultivation
for many centuries, it is now obviously impossible to determine
what the original vegetation was in character. We journelled five
leagues up the valley and established camp not far from the pass,
in a region of grassy, rolling hills and wide valleys, quite in
contrast to the deep valleys which had been the scenes of our previous
travels. The altitude is here 13,000 feet. It was now July, the

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mid-winter month of this latitude, if such a seasonal term is
applicable within the tropics. The climate was harsh but ex-
hilerating. The days were bright and sunny, but never warm, and
the nights were distinctly chilling and accompanied by heavy
frosts. The margin of swift-running streams that flowed past
our camp froze each night, and thawed again during the day, and
standing water left inside the tent froze solid during the night.

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My camp assistants, who were usually jolly and talkative at night at night and kept up among themselves an animated conversation well into the night, were hushed and silent here, and in the cold of the morning they were quite useless until thawed out by the rays of the sun. About our camp grazing in the grassy meadows were herds of llamas, alpacas, sheep, and horses. The sloping hillsides were sown to potatoes, one of the few vegetable crops which could be grown successfully at so high an altitude. There was a considerable population scattered over the landscape, each little valley having its collection of stone huts, with grass-thatched roofs, in which the

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hardy Quichuas lived.

The *gobernador* of the nearest village, when we called upon him, exhibited symptoms of the most cordial hospitality, and offered to furnish guides to every hunting field for miles around. He told us of the haunts of *viscachas* not far away, near a small Andean lake a thousand feet or more above the altitude of our camp. I made arrangements with a Quichua youth, through the gobernador, to take us to their haunts. ⁹ Viscachas live only at very high altitudes in the Andes and are colonial in habits. They are large rodents, the size of rabbits, but closely allied to the chinchilla which they resemble closely in color and hair covering. The fur of the chinchilla, though not differing in its gray color from that of the viscachas, is much finer and more valuable, but the animal is only half the size. It is confined in its distribution to the Andes of Northern Chili. ¹⁰ The guide took us up one of the lateral valleys by way of a winding trail out deep into the hillside. After traveling a few miles, we reached a broad plain on which were herds of alpacas and sheep under the care

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of Quichua shepherds and their dogs. Near the stream which
meandered down the meadow were several small knolls composed
of chaotic assemblage of gray granite boulders. At the base
of one of these gigantic rock piles there had been constructed
of smaller stones a corral where the alpacas and sheep were kept
at night. While we were still at a considerable distance from
this place the guide informed us that it was a favorite haunt of
viscachas. I was amazed to learn that the viscachas were such
confiding animals that they fearlessly lived alongside of inhabited
corrals and huts on perfectly good terms with the human inhabitants
and their dogs. As we approached nearer, several of the viscachas
were seen sitting on the rocks. I fired at one with the small .22
calibre rifle, and all of them took instant alarm and dived into the
rock crevices and were lost to sight. The large pointed ears, the
weak forelegs, and the long, strong hinder pair were distinct approaches
to the rabbit, as well also the bounding or jumping gait they exhibited
when in action. In general appearance they were much like rabbits,

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with the exception of the long bushy tail. They are, however, much better climbers than rabbits, owing to their shorter and stronger claws, and the hairless soles of their feet, which enable them to scale the perpendicular walls of cliffs with ease and facility. I shot several of them by sitting down within range of the rocks and waiting until they reappeared again. Upon skinning my specimens I found that the stomachs contained only green vegetation; blades of grass and leaves of various small Andean herbs. The females contained but a single embryo each, a reduction in number of offsprings very unusual among rodents, and one which partially accounts for the rarity of these mammals. ♂ In habits they are diurnal and where persecuted, extremely shy. They are silent animals, but dwell in large families or associations of ten to twenty individuals. As a house they select invariably some group of large or even gigantic boulders which have numerous crevices between them for refuges and which border on a comparatively flat, grassy plain or field at elevations ranging from twelve to sixteen thousand feet. The viscachas are usually found sitting motionless on gray rocks

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which they mimic perfectly in coloration and when in this attitude
they are difficult to detect. Numbers of them when in an undisturbed
condition are often seen feeding on the turf at the base of the rocks
or playfully chasing one another about.

A few days after the viscacha hunt we moved camp over the
pass and down into the Occobamba Valley. The day we had selected
for our journey dawned gray and overcast, with a threatening sky, but
our optimism ruled the day, and we struck out for new fields, only to
be caught an hour after leaving in a driving snowstorm. The wind
blew directly in our teeth and carried the snow flakes horizontally
along with it, so that they were driven into our eyes and caused us
considerable pain and annoyance. The storm caught us just as we were
nearing the top of the pass at 13,800 feet and effectually slowed down
the pack mules to a creeping gait. At the summit of the pass we
were cheered by the sight of several dozen skulls and skeletons of pack
animals which had in some way met death there, and whose remains had
thoughtfully been collected into a pile to mark the summit by some

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kind Peruvian. After crossing the pass and beginning the descent, our difficulties were lightened by the more pleasant travel downhill. As we descended, the climate became warmer and when a league had been gained, the snow at this lower elevation turned to rain and the strain on our eyes was released. Finally the rain ceased and we were engulfed in a mist which obscured the landscape and effectually prevented us from seeing game animals or birds. The road crossed several broad meadows and then wound downward along the side of the valley. Far below us we could hear a stream roaring, but the dense mist prevented us from seeing more than a few yards downhill. At three o'clock in the afternoon we reached a few huts where there was erected one of the regulation huts for the accommodation of travelers, but the place did not have an inviting appearance as a camp, so we continued down the valley in search of a better. We however discovered only more roadside huts, all equally undesirable, so a few minutes before sunset we turned about and retraced our steps to a spot which we had seen earlier in the day, but situated a considerable distance

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from the road. The road leading to this hacienda, which was far
below the road and near the Occobamba River, was quite unknown to
us. I however insisted on returning, and led the way along a chance
cattle trail which took the direction in which the camping place lay.
It was growing dark, the sun having set almost an hour previously.

By good fortune, however, we were able to descend a series of steep
hillsides and reach the level floor of the valley below just at dark.
As soon as the packs were off, the mules, we unpacked the lanterns
and by their light established camp on a fine grassy spot near a
small stream. What reception we would receive from the owners next
morning we had no idea, but the day had left us tired and wet and we
soon fell into a sound sleep without further thought of trouble.

The next morning our host proved to be an exceptionally friendly old
Peruvian who sent us early some freshly cooked potatoes, peppers, corn
and eggs. Later he made his appearance and greeted us. He embraced
me in his arms in the most approved Peruvian custom and arrieros shouted
with laughter at my embarrassment. The old man gave us liberty to

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pasture our mules anywhere and hunt wherever we wished. He visited us almost daily and was on all occasions jolly and exceedingly friendly. One day he failed to come and we found that he was down with a fever and I sent quinine for his use. He however requested vinegar, in the virtues of which as a remedy he had unlimited confidence, and I drained the contents of all the jars of pickles I possessed in order to humor him in this whim. Whether the vinegar had the desired effect or not, he recovered in a few days and came wobbling into camp with a profusion of expressions of gratitude. The day we broke camp and departed for our base station at Ollantaytambo he was greatly affected by grief and made a sad spectacle indeed. When the tents were torn down and the loads all made up for departure, the old fellow cried like a child and went the rounds shedding tears on the shoulders of every one of us.

Afterwards I learned that this is no unusual scene at the departure of friends. At Santiago, Chile, I was some months later a witness to the display of similar emotions at the departure of the trousadine train for the Argentine, being one of the passengers. At the station as the train took its departure

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unknown in the forest region, but deer abounded on the dry, grassy
and brush country of the western slopes. Two species were encountered
here; one with the horns forming a single fork, which was a species of
guemal, and the other having horns with several prongs branching from a
main beam like those of our common white-tailed or Virginia deer. A
fine buck of this latter sort was shot, with fully grown horns, but in
the velvet, that is, with the hairy covering or skin still clinging to
them. In one of the steel traps we secured a specimen of a fine large
coyote or wolf, fully equalling in size our prairie wolf of the Great
Plains regions. Opossums of a variety of genera abounded, one of which
was especially noteworthy owing to its small size, the body being no greater
than that of a house mouse. This particular genus, known to science as
*Peramys*, is the smallest marsupial in the New World, or the Old for that
matter. The once rare *Caenolestes* was also found abundant in the forest.

Living in the small river or large creek which flowed through the valley
we discovered a pair of the remarkable torrent ducks. In habits they

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are quite different from any species found in the northern hemisphere,
the nearest approach being our harlequin ducks. The torrent ducks
live on wild cascading mountain torrents only, and never make any effort
to use their wings for flight, although these are not particularly
rudimentary. When frightened they swim downstream, through or under
the tumbling water, at a rapid rate, usually much faster than a man is
able to run along the bank. They are invariably in pairs and the
sexes are quite dissimilar in color. The male is grayish on the dorsal surface, with white throat, cheeks, and underparts, while the female is rufous red, with brownish-gray wings. Occasionally I have caught them unawares, at which times they were either sitting on the tops of some large rock or boulder in midstream, or else swimming in a quiet pool at the base of a cascade. The wings are armed at the bend by a sharp, strong spur, a weapon of offense apparently directed against members of their own kin.

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in marked contrast to the black under surfaces, which is the usual view
presented to the beholder. The upper portion of the trail descended through
a dense forest of small trees matted together by bushes, the branches of
the trees interlacing above our heads. We emerged from this forest tunnel
onto the open grass covered hillside and continued our way along a trail
cut into the side of the steep slope. At one place the trail used a nat-
ural shelf which extended horizontally midway along the face of a gigantic
granite cliff. Lizards began to make their appearance here at 9000 and
8000 feet, the warmer and dryer conditions being favorable to their ex-
istence, but above these altitudes the daily fogs and cold nights made
life for them impossible. At the lower elevation near the valley floor
the trail followed an ancient Inca Acequia or irrigation ditch which
terminated at a collection of thatched huts at the river side, known as
Intihuatana. Nearby on the hillside stands an Intihuatana stone carved
out of a gigantic granite boulder in the shape of sundial, but of doubtful
value as a timekeeper to its builders, and rather of a sacred character in
function. From this point to San Miguel Bridge, a mile further up the
valley, we followed the main road leading to Cuzco which follows the

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valley floor for many leagues. The bridge spans the river over a narrow gorge where the cañon walls approach each other closely and boulders of gigantic size at their bases confine the river still more. Just below the bridge the river scene is particularly wild. Here the river is broken by hundreds of boulders of immense size into a series of small cataracts and rapids, part of the river actually disappearing into a cavern at the base of one of the granite cliffs. The roar of the tumbling maddened waters is deafening and the granite walls rising a thousand feet or more, sheer on either side out of a wealth of tropical forest which lines the narrow stream margin make a scene of rare picturesqueness, certainly the finest on the Urubamba River. A charming bit of additional landscape is added to the scene of tranquillity presented by the quiet pond-like expenses of the river above the bridge. We crossed the bridge, a steel affair supported at its middle by a giant boulder, which has lodged in mid-stream at the break between the quiet upper river and the rapids. In a clearing on a level bit of valley floor we established camp not far from the bridge and directly at the foot of the great granite cliffswhich here rise perpendicularly 2000 feet to their crests, which are splintered into fantastic

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shapes like the terrets of a Gothic cathedral. So steep were the walls and so deep the canyon that the sun did not rise on our camp until ten o'clock and set four hours afterward at two o'clock in the afternoon. However, this did not interfere greatly with the light for the higher slopes of the valley were sun-tinted until late in the afternoon. On the crest of the canyon wall opposite camp could be seen outlined on the horizon the stone walls of two of the larger temples of Machu Picchu, which had for several centuries been hidden by a growth of forest trees until cut down by the Peruvian Expedition three years previously under Dr. Bingham's direction.

In front of our camp which was removed only a few yards from the road passed a constant stream of pack animals and their arrieros on their way to or from Cuzco, the metropolis and market place of all Southern Peru. The beasts of burden were chiefly mules and donkeys with occasionally a horse or two but llamas, which are the common carriers of the highlands, were quite lacking in this semitropical river valley. The bulk of the up-country traffic consisted of bundles of coca leaves which can only be grown in the lower altitude but are consumed by the Quichua Indians living on the highlands plateaus. There were also occasional cargoes of sugar,

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coffee, rum or aguardiente, oranges, bananas, and other fruits. The
arrieros with their beasts camped beside the road wherever night overtook
them, so that every evening we had a new set of neighbors. This circum-
stance was a source of constant delight to my own men, for the Peruvian is
essentially a sociable creature and here he enjoyed unlimited opportunities
to exchange ideas and inform the passing public regarding the mission of
the incomprehensible yanquis in whose service fate had cast him. The Peru-
vians of Quichua stock or mixture, although very hardy are not by inclina-
tion wilderness travelers, and they rather shun the discomforts of camp
life. They are never so happy as when snugly stowed away for the night
in the hut of some friendly countryman or parasitically employed availing
themselves of his fire to cook their own food. Nevertheless they will
follow the foreign traveler into uninhabited districts fairly cheerfully
and carry out his instructions for a limited time with no inconsiderable
degree of goodwill. But in time the irresistible call of society will
assert itself, and your faithful servant will discover a multitude of
excuses for a visit to the nearest village or inhabited hut.

Although the canjon of the Urubamba is a uniform whitish granite
gorge, the beaches which border the river along its quiet stretches are

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mottled by pebbles of many colors and varieties. There are sandstones of several colors, slates, many sorts of igneous rocks, shales and others all of which have traveled a long way down stream from the rock formations through which the upper river has cut its way. A gayly colored beach of this character lay opposite our camp and formed one of the favorite resorts for the wandering Andean gulls and the white headed dippers or water onzels, which abound on every Peruvian stream. Farther from the stream a tangled growth of forest covered the chaos of granite boulders which lined the valley. Much of this forest was composed of the trumpet tree or *Cecropia*, which grew erect as a rod with stately horizontal branches each twig of which was crowned by a whorl of large drooping leaves. Fig-trees with their characteristic smooth white bark but possessing small elliptical leaves entwined their gnarled trunks and roots over the rocks like the arms of gigantic octopuses. The giant of them all was the *Erythrina*, a close ally of the Kaffirbloom of Africa, which thrust its wide spreading, horizontally branched crown above the others. At this season, July, the tree was covered by a wealth of fire-red blossoms in size and shape much like those of a garden pea. Beneath the trees and on the steep

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bank and cliff sides clustered many different species of ferns; polypodium, maidenhair, and brakes and others. Growing in minute cracks on the granite cliffs was a conspicuous assemblage of bromeliads allied to the pineapple, but having the shape of great rosettes of narrow radiating leaves of a yellowish amber color. Willows much like those of the north grew in the sandy loamy soil near the margin of the stream. There were a great many other species of both tress and shrubs at San Miguel but of unfamiliar types.

The altitude at San Miguel is 6000 feet and here the climate is ideal. The cool nights and the balmy days made life pleasanter here than in any other part of Peru which we visited. Tropical fruits grew in the gardens which nestled in the marrow making strip of alluvial land between the cliffs and the surging torrent of the Urubamba. There were oranges, limes, bananas, papayas, aguacates or alligator pears, anonas or guavas. custard apples, pineapples and guayavas in abundance. The camp was set in a grove of these latter trees, the fruit of which gave out a fragrant perfume. Where the valley broadened were planted fields of sugar cane, bordered often by coffee bushes and on the steeper slopes where the

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farms became more or less vertical grow fields of maize were grown.

There were two crops which were of great importance in the country that
here reach their upper limit of altitude. One is the coca plant, from the
leaves of which cocaine is derived, and the other is a root crop known
in Peru as yuca, but more familiar to us under the name of cassava. This
is the staple food for the warm valleys and upper amazon region generally,
and is in effect a substitute for the potato of the highlands.

Birds in great variety and abundance flitted about our camp and
through the neighboring forests. The Urubamba Valley acts as a highway
or migratory route for the birds between the highlands and the low country, but the migrations were here only very local affairs. The birds of
the southern tropics are all resident species, there being no spring and
fall migratory movements among them such as are familiar to us in the
northern hemisphere. While many of our northern birds migrate in winter
into the tropics, some even extending their travels south of the equator,
tropical birds are not migratory except in a very limited way such as
vertically on mountain slopes or along valleys for a comparatively few
miles. The smaller birds which were by far the more numerous moved

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through the forests in mixed flocks much like our birds during their annual migrations. These flocks were usually made up of several species of warblers, vireos or greenlets, tanagers, honey-creepers, wood-hewers, small flycatchers, etc. During the two weeks stay at San Miguel I collected and noted some eighty species of birds. Flycatchers were the most numerous in species. The fifteen kinds which occurred here ranged in character from such familiar forms as one gray kingbird and black phoebe to small forest species of rich rufous tints. There were also a large pugnacious cliff species and a peculiarly diminutive forest one with a remarkable voice many times greater than the bird which uttered it. The phoebes like our northern ones lived about the bridge or the boulders at the water's edge. Our robin redbreast was represented by a drab brown species of equal size which haunted the roadside and showed as much confidence in humanity as our bird. The Quichuas call him chi-wunk-koo, a name obviously derived from his call-note. I did not hear this robin sing nor were we greeted by the songs of many birds, merely twitters and chirpings which the various species used for recognition purposes. Swallow resembling our tree swallows in coloration were common about the cliffs

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and occasionally wandering flocks of a great swift whirled through the canons. The finch family in Peru is a disappointment and a mere remnant compared to the wealth of species in our northern fauna. There were four species here, the common crested sparrow of the roadside, a black-headed goldfinch, a mammoth billed grosbeak with golden and black plumage, and a pygmy brown finchlet. In there is, however, no need of finches in a region where tanagers are so abundant as here and so closely allied as to be often quite indistinguishable by shape of bill. The tanagers as a family were the most abundant and gaudily colored birds with which we met. A common type, and one often used in Peru as a cage bird was the azulella or bluet, garbed in plumage of a handsome pale blue-green tint. Others were brilliant as gems with several metallic or resplendent colors meeting in marked contrast on different areas of their bodies. A most remarkable bird, owing to the brilliancy of its flaming orange coloration was secured here for the first time. It has been made familiar to most of us through natural history books as the Cock of the Rocks. The head of this bird is ornamented by a high crest of feathers in form like the keel of a helmet. The whole body is brilliant orange except the winds which are

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glossy black. The Cork of the Rocks is a woodland species and not uncommon in the Amazon forests lower down the valley, but seldom reaches so high an altitude as 6000 feet. The bird in size equals a domestic pigeon and in habits is vivacious and capable of uttering a great variety of notes, one of which sounds like the syllables "ton-que" by which name the Quichua know the bird. Humming birds which are usually very numerous in species in Peru were here represented by only three species. One of these was the most diminutive species in South America. In size it equaled a bumblebee and when it flew it darted away in a straight line with great speed and was quite indistinguishable from a bee in flight. During to the swiftness of its flight and its minute size it might be described as a living bullet. The coloration of this mite was brilliant emerald green throughout. The favorite feeding grounds of the humming birds were the blossoms of the pacay tree, a tree resembling in habit and flower structure the acacia. About the broad crowns of such trees were humming birds constantly engaged gathering nectar and insects from the flowers or dashing after one another upon combat bent. Few birds indeed are as pugnac-

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ious as these firey little demons of the air who spend at least half
their time driving away intruders of their own kin as well as larger birds
from some favorite perch or blossom. Some of the species are quite noisy
and may be located by the highpitched squeak-like notes which they utter
with a machine-like regularity. If you examine the stomachs of humming
birds you will find that they are crammed with the bodies of small insects
which they have collected about the pollen and nectar of flowers and these
rather than nectar form their chief food. Another Peruvian bird familiar
to the North American is the water ouzel or dipper, a species of which
was found here haunting the streams near rapids at the edge of pebbly bars
often wading thigh-deep in the water or diving in shallow pools for insect
larvae. It is in reality a highly modified thrush or wren which has taken
to an aquatic life. At least thus far it has got itself into the sand-
piper class to all intents and purposes. The plumage has become compact
The Andean ouzel, however, is quite different in color from our slaty
species, the body being rich seal brown and the head white.

so as to resist water, the body is short and plump, the tail abbreviated,
the wings shortened for use in diving, and the legs long and strong for

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wading. Curiously enough with this change in form has gone the dipping
or teetering habit of sandpipers, a characteristic not known to be a
part of the repertoire of any respectable thrush. Among the birds of
San Miguel there are no greater advertisers than the large green parrots
which pass overhead in small flocks every member of which is engaged in an
animated conversation of hoarse discordant notes with his fellows. They
are persistent raiders of maize fields when the ears are ripening, and at
that period the husbandman remains on vigil in his fields to frighten away
these winged intruders. Several which I shot during the maize season had
their crops filled with maize kernels. After their skins were removed and
preserved for the natural history collection the bodies were consigned to
the stowpot, for there is no better flavored bird flesh than that of a
parrot. As they live to a great age their flesh is often quite tough, but
where time and fuel is no object they can be rendered palatable in a day

parokest
or two. Occasionally a much smaller uniform green paroquette is met with
in the cañon, but it is not often seen as it is a stray to San Miguel from
the higher Andean plateaus.