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 wet and if there were not so great a mixture of weeds, flowers, and shrubs.

Then come the dry years. The surplus stock is sold, and what remains is always maintained at great expense. In 1907 I saw stock grazing in a small patch of dried vegetation back of Mollendo, although they had to be driven several miles to water. They looked as if they were surviving with the greatest difficulty, and their restless search for pasture was like the search of a desperate hunter of game. In June, 1911, the same tract was devoid of grass, and, except for the contour-like trails that completely covered the hills, no one would even guess that this had formerly been a cattle range. The same year, but five months later, a carpet of grass, bathed in heavy mist, covered the soil; a trickle of water had collected in pools on the valley floor; several happy familics from the town had laid out a prosperous-looking garden; there were romping chil- dren who showed me where to pick up the trail to the port; on every hand was life and activity because the rains had re- turned, bringing plenty in their train. I asked a native how often he was prosperous. “Segtin el temporal y la Providencia”’ (according to the weather and to Providence), he replied, as he pointed significantly to the pretty green hills crowned with gray mist.

Transportation rates are still most intimately related to the rains. My guide had two prices—a high price if I proposed to enter a town at night and thus require him to buy expensive forage; a low price if I camped in the hills and reached the town in time for him to return to the hills with his animals. Inquiry showed that this was the regular custom. I also learned that in packing goods from one part of the coast to an- other forage must be carried in dry years or the beasts required to do without. In wet years by a very slight detour the packer has his beasts in good pasture that is free for all. The merchant who dispatches the goods may find his charges nearly doubled in extremely dry years. Goods are more expensive, and there is a decreased consumption. The effects of the rains are thus transmitted from one to another, until at last nearly all the members of a community are bearing a share of the burdens