region, been carried to the coast to sap the manhood and energy of the Spanish settlers in Peru, and help to achieve the same result in the mother country.
The American railway car, which is not without its drawbacks for ordinary travellers, is admirably suited to a naturalist in a new country. No time is lost in opening and shutting doors. Standing ready on the platform, one jumps off at every stoppage of the train, and jumps up again without delay or hindrance. I was able to appreciate these advantages during this day, and to add considerably to my collections by turning every moment to account. At first the vegetation was, of course, extremely scanty; but I was interested by finding here some representatives of genera that extend to the hotter and drier parts of the Mediterranean region, such as Boerhavia and Lippia.
Not far beyond the station of Santa Clara, near to which is a large sugar-plantation, the slopes on either side of the valley become more continuous, and gradually approach nearer together. The first trace of vegetation visible from a distance was shown by one of the cactus tribe, probably a Cereus, and as we ascended I was able to distinguish two other species of the same family.
VEGETATION OF THE RIMAC VALLEY.
At many points in the valley, always on slightly rising ground, shapeless inequalities of the surface marked with their rough outline all that now remains of the numerous villages that in the days of the Incas were scattered at short intervals.
As we advanced, the slopes on either side became higher and steeper, but were still apparently nearly bare of vegetation until we reached Chosica, about twenty-six miles from Lima, 2800 feet above the sea. At this place it was formerly the custom to halt for breakfast, but since the line has been re-opened, the only eatables to be found are the fruits, chiefly bananas and granadillas, which Indian women offer to the passengers.
Henceforward the line is fairly enclosed between the slopes on either hand, everywhere rough and steep, but, as is the nature of volcanic rocks, nowhere cut into precipices. The gradient becomes perceptibly steeper, being about one in thirty-three in the space between Chosica and San Bartolomé – about thirteen miles. Here the change of climate begins to be distinctly marked. It is evident that during a great part of the year the declivities are covered with vegetation, though now brown from drought, and they show the occasional action of running water in deep furrows and ravines. Here the engineers engaged on the railway first confronted the serious difficulties of the undertaking. Following the line from San Bartolomé to Chicla, the distance is only thirty-four miles, but the difference of level is 7317 feet, and the fifty-one miles between this and the summit-tunnel involve an ascent of 10,740 feet. The gradient is very uniform, never, I believe, exceeding one in twenty-six, the average being about one in twenty-eight. Some of the expedients adopted appear simple enough, though quite effectual for the intended purpose. Very steep uniform slopes have been ascended by zigzags, in which the train is alternately dragged by the locomotive in front, and then (the motion being reversed), shoved up the next incline with the engine in the rear. In one place I observed that we passed five times, always at a different level, above the same point in the valley below.
Among the more remarkable works on the line are the viaducts by which deep and broad ravines cut in the friable volcanic rocks have been spanned. The iron beams and girders that sustain these structures appear much slighter than I have seen used in Europe. In crossing one barranca, on what is said to be the loftiest viaduct in the world, I stood on the platform at the end of the car: there being no continuous roadway, the eye plunged directly down into the chasm below, over which we seemed to be travelling on a spider’s web.
For a distance of about eight miles from San Bartolomé the railway keeps near to the bottom of the valley, between slopes whereon a distinct green hue is now visible, and some trickling rivulets are perceived in the channels of the ravines. On the opposite, or northern, slope are still distinctly seen the terraces by which in ancient days the industrious Indian population carried cultivation up the precipitous slopes to a height of more than fifteen hundred feet above the bed of the valley. For in this land, before the Spaniard destroyed its simple civilization and reduced the larger part to a wilderness, the pressure of population was felt as it now is in the southern valleys of the Alps. The fact that terrace cultivation commenced precisely in the part of the valley where we now find streamlets from the flanks of the high mountains above, which might be used for partial irrigation, tends to show that no considerable change of climate has occurred.
ANCIENT INDIAN TERRACES.
Before reaching the Surco station (forty-eight miles from Lima, and 6655 feet above the sea) the road finally abandons the Rimac, and commences the seemingly formidable ascent of the declivity above the left bank. For some distance a projecting buttress with a moderate slope enabled the engineers to accomplish the ascent by long winding curves; but before long we reached the first zigzags, which are frequently repeated during the remainder of the ascent. The tunnels are frequent, but fortunately for the most part short, as the rate of travelling is necessarily slow, and the artificial fuel used gives out black fumes of a stifling character. A further change of climate, welcome to the botanist, was now very obvious. Although the soil appears to be parched, it is clear that some slight rain must recur at moderate intervals. Vegetation, if not luxuriant, finds the needful conditions, and in the gardens of Surco tropical fruits, such as bananas, cherimolias, oranges, and granadillas, are cultivated with tolerable success. Of the indigenous plants in flower at this season the large majority were Compositæ, chiefly belonging to the sun-flower tribe (Helianthoïdeæ), a group characteristic of the New World.7 It was tantalizing to see so many new forms of vegetation pass before one’s eyes untouched. Most of them were indeed finally captured, but several yet remain as fleeting images in my memory, never fixed by closer observation.
About one p.m. we reached the chief village of the valley, San Juan de Matucana, fifty-five miles from Lima, and about 7800 feet above the sea. The train halted here for twenty minutes, and we discovered that very tolerable food is to be had at a little inn kept by an Italian. Hunger having been already stilled, the time was available for botanizing in the neighbourhood of the station, and, along with several cosmopolite weeds which we are used to call European, I found a good many types not before seen. Owing to the accident of having left my gloves in the carriage, I unwisely postponed to collect one plant not seen by me again during my stay in Peru. This was a small species of Tupa, a genus now united to Lobelia, with flowers of a lurid purple colour, which is said to have the singular effect of producing temporary blindness in those who handle the foliage, and I had been assured by Mr. Nation that he had verified the statement by experiment.8 We were here in the intermediate zone, wherein many species of the subtropical region are mingled with those characteristic of the Andean flora. Hitherto the most prevalent families, after the Compositæ, had been the Solanaceæ and Malvaceæ. These have many representatives in the Andean flora, but henceforward were associated with an increasing proportion of types of many different orders.
ASCENT FROM MATUCANA.
As we continued the ascent in the afternoon our locomotive began to show itself unequal to the heavy work of the long-continued ascent, whether owing to defects in construction or, as seemed more probable, to the bad quality of the fuel supplied. Two stoppages occurred, required, as we learned, to clear out tubes. A considerable ascent was then achieved by a detour into a lateral valley above Matucana, returning to the Rimac at a much higher level, as is done on the Brenner line between Gossensass and Schelleberg.
Up to this time the scenery had fallen much below my anticipations. Owing to the nature of the rocks, there was an utter deficiency in that variety of colour and form that are essential elements in the beauty of mountain scenery. A still greater defect is the entire absence of forest. Along the course of the Rimac bushes or small trees, such as Schinus molle, two Acacias, Salix Humboldtiana, and others, are tolerably frequent; but on the rugged surface of the mountain slopes nothing met the eye more conspicuous
Of 138 genera of
In
