d consist of
a ground-floor and a story above, but very frequently of the
ground-floor only. The walls are of brick, and the roofs are tiled.
The churches are in very bad taste, with the exception of a few in the
larger towns, which have a good appearance externally, and are richly
decorated within. The smaller Indian villages are poor and dirty, and
are built with little attention to regularity. But even in them the
quadrangular Plaza is never wanting, and at least four straight
streets issue from it.

The Sierra is by far the most populous part of Peru. The banks of the
rivers flowing through the fertile valleys are thickly clustered with
villages, which give a peculiar charm to the landscape, doubly pleasing
to the eye of the traveller who comes from the barren parts of the
country. The cultivated lands afford evidence of progressive
improvement, and it is easy to imagine the flourishing condition to
which this country might arrive with increased population.

From the Sierra two separate roads lead to the eastern declivity of the
Andes. One lies along the banks of the mountain rivers, and the other
passes over the ridges of the mountains. The first way is very
difficult, and scarcely practicable, for in some parts the streams flow
through narrow ravines, bordered on each side by perpendicular rocks,
and occasionally their course is hidden amidst impenetrable forests. The
other way, across the mountains, leads again into the Puna region, and
from thence over the steep ridges of the Andes to their barren summits.
Descending from these summits, we arrive on the sharp ridges of one of
the many side branches of the Puna Cordillera, which run eastward. The
Peruvians call these sharp mountain ridges _Cuchillas_ (knives). After
crossing the Andes, and descending a few hundred feet lower, in the
direction of the east, the traveller beholds a country totally different
from that which he left on the western declivity of the mountains. On
the eastern side the soil is richly covered with vegetation. From the
cuchillas the road ascends to some higher ridges, crowned with stunted
trees and brushwood, which, gradually spreading upward, blend with the
high forests. These wooded ridges are called by the natives _Ceja de la
Montana_ (the mist of the mountains). In these regions the climate is
generally more mild than in the Sierra, for the mercury never falls to
freezing point, and in the middle part of the day it never rises so
high