et up the
sides of the canyon. Many of them were badly out of repair, but those
near Colta were still being used for raising crops of corn, potatoes,
and barley. The uncultivated spots were covered with cacti, thorn
bushes, and the gnarled, stunted trees of a semi-arid region. In the
town itself were half a dozen specimens of the Australian eucalyptus,
that agreeable and extraordinarily successful colonist which one
encounters not only in the heart of Peru, but in the Andes of Colombia
and the new forest preserves of California and the Hawaiian Islands.

------
FIGURE

Inca Storehouses at Chinchipampa, near Colta
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Colta has a few two-storied houses, with tiled roofs. Some of them
have open verandas on the second floor--a sure indication that the
climate is at times comfortable. Their walls are built of sun-dried
adobe, and so are the walls of the little grass-thatched huts of the
majority. Judging by the rather irregular plan of the streets and
the great number of terraces in and around town, one may conclude
that Colta goes far back of the sixteenth century and the days of
the Spanish Conquest, as indeed do most Peruvian towns. The cities
of Lima and Arequipa are noteworthy exceptions. Leaving Colta,
we wound around the base of the projecting ridge, on the sides of
which were many evidences of ancient culture, and came into the
valley of Huancahuanca, a large arid canyon. The guide said that we
were nearing Parinacochas. Not many miles away, across two canyons,
was a snow-capped peak, Sarasara.

Lampa, the chief town in the Huancahuanca Canyon, lies on a great
natural terrace of gravel and alluvium more than a thousand feet
above the river. Part of the terrace seemed to be irrigated and
under cultivation. It was proposed by the energetic farmers at
the time of our visit to enlarge the system of irrigation so as to
enable them to cultivate a larger part of the pampa on which they
lived. In fact, the new irrigation scheme was actually in process of
being carried out and has probably long since been completed. Our
reception in Lampa was not cordial. It will be remembered that
our military escort, Corporal Gamarra, had gone back to Arequipa
with Dr. Bowman. Our two excellent arrieros, the Tejada brothers,
declared they preferred to travel without any "brass buttons,"
so we had not asked the sub-prefect of Cotahuasi to send one of
his small handful of gendarmes along with us. Probably this was a
mistake.