e large interior town of Yca, which is fourteen
leagues distant. I visited it in the year 1842. The steamer conveyed me
in eighteen hours from Callao to Pisco, where I hired horses and a
guide. He was a Catalonian, who had frequently travelled to Yca.

At three o'clock, P. M., we left Pisco. At first the road passed over
very hard ground, then through deep sand, which continued till we got
to Yca. Notwithstanding the heat, which in the month of February is
insupportable, I was wrapped up in my woollen poncho. Experience had
taught me that in the hotter districts the change of temperature which
takes place at night, and causes fever, is least injurious when the
traveller is protected in warm clothing. My Catalonian guide, who,
with his arms covered merely by his shirt sleeves, nevertheless
suffered greatly from the heat, could not comprehend why I had chosen
such a dress. When I informed him that eleven days before I had, in
the same clothing, passed a night on the Cordilleras, in the midst of
snow, he shook his head in token of incredulity. Whilst the bell rang
for evening prayers we rode into the Huilla Curin Plantation, which
is surrounded by a charming grove of palm trees. We stopped for a few
moments to gather some excellent figs. About midnight a heavy fog
spread over the plain, and veiled from our sight a cross on the south,
which had hitherto served to keep us in the right direction. We,
however, advanced about a league farther. The Catalonian then often
alighted to smell the sand, in order to ascertain whether we were
taking the proper course. This is a very good practical method; for in
deserts through which caravans frequently pass, the dung of the beasts
of burthen mixed with the sand affords a sure indication of the track.
When we had got about three quarters of a league farther on, we came
close against a rock, which my guide--in whose acquaintance with the
locality I had the most unbounded confidence--declared was quite
unknown to him. There was therefore no doubt that we had got out of
the right course. I lighted a cigar, and on examining, by its feeble
light, my pocket compass, I discovered that instead of keeping to the
south-east we had diverged to the west. As there was now no hope that
the fog would clear away before day-break, we rolled ourselves in the
warm sand, to await the coming morning.

I afterwards learned that in this very spot numerous travellers had lost
their way, and had perished of th