Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/349

 PERU 335 the flattened crest of the Andes, has a mean elevation in the south of 11,500 ft. above the sea, or about 1,000 ft. more than in the north, and is divided by low transverse ridges into numerous valleys. At the N. extremity the Cordilleras again bifurcate, and run parallel till they unite anew in the knot of Pasco in lat. 11 S., bounding the fertile valley watered by the Eio Jauja, and about half the length of the Titicaca basin. This division of the western cordillera, here designated as the Si- erra de Huarochiri, comprises two summits rising above the line of perpetual snow and visible from Lima, whose inhabitants call them el Toldo de Nieve ; and still further N. are the colossal peaks of La Viuda and Sa- saguanca. The knot of Pasco is famous for the silver mines of Lauricocha or Santa Rosa, and the table land which it forms has an es- timated elevation of 11,420 ft. according to Humboldt. A little ET. of the parallel of Pasco the Andes separate into three chains. The most easterly, a small lateral branch, trend- ing first N. E. for two degrees, and then curving abruptly N". W., divides the valleys of the Ucayali on the east and the Huallaga on the west, but gradually lowers, until in lat. 6 40' it is crossed by the latter stream, and finally disappears before reaching the southern bank of the Amazon. The second or Andes proper is the dividing line between the basins of the Huallaga and Marafion ; and the third or Cordillera Occidental runs between the Mara- fion and the coast, comprising between lat. 9 and 7 30' the Nevados de Pelagatos, de Mp- yapata, and de Huaylillas, the last mountain rising above the line of perpetual snow for several degrees N. This depression is general in all the ranges in the same interval, while S. of the Nevado de Huaylillas each sensible low- ering in one chain is compensated by a corre- sponding elevation in the other. The coast chain and the Cordillera Oriental do not again unite before the nudo de Loja beyond the Ecuadorian frontier, the mean height of which does not exceed 6,500 ft. ; and in the parallel of Jaen, 5 45', neither of them rises higher than 2,000 ft. The valley here enclosed by them embraces some of the hottest portions of the Andine region. Of the two great cordille- ras, the western is much the broader, wilder, and more rugged, and its peaks are generally less pyramidal, though loftier, than those of the other, which are for the most part needle- shaped ; its general elevation is also more uni- form. It is the dividing line between the streams flowing to the Pacific and those to the Atlantic, the latter finding their way by tortu- ous courses through the Cordillera Oriental. Some of its passes are among the highest on the globe ; that from Lima to Tarma and Pas- co crosses the ridge at an elevation of 15,760 ft. The snow line is lower in Peru (about 16,000 ft.) than in Bolivia (17,000). The cul- minating point of Peru, the volcano of Misti in Arequipa, is only 20,300 ft. above the sea, 652 VOL. xiii. 22 or lower than all the volcanic peaks of Bolivia. The principal volcanic hearth of Peru is the department of Arequipa, the other peaks be- sides Misti being Pichu, Charcani (18,000 ft.), and the Pan de Azucar (17,000 ft.), all tower- ing over the city of Arequipa, and Ornate, Tutupaca, and Ubinas. The most destructive eruptions hitherto chronicled have been those of Misti, one of which in the 16th century buried the city in ashes, and necessitated its removal to its present site, 7 m. further "W. from the crater. The local names given to special portions of the ranges are those of the departments which they traverse, while the volcanoes and other isolated peaks are desig- nated by special names. The region hitherto described is known in the republic as the sier- ra or mountain country, a name applied to all parts of the territory over 7,000 ft. above the sea, except the very highest plateaux, which are usually called paramos. The tract called la costa or the coast, between the steep ascent of the Cordillera Occidental and the Pacific, varies in width from 20 to 50 m., and slopes toward the ocean with a very irregular surface and rapid descent, furrowed by deep depres- sions or gullies, which run from the mountains to the sea. These gullies are generally trav- ersed by rivers, many of which are dry during a great part of the year. The ridges between the rivers are complete deserts, varying in breadth from 10 to 90 m. The surface is very uneven, and is covered with hillocks of con- siderable size, composed of fine, light yellow drift sand, which is often driven about with great velocity by the wind, and ascends in col- umns to a considerable height. All traces of a path between the river valleys are thus ob- literated, and no stranger can travel from one to another without a guide, who generally di- rects his course by the stars at night, and by the wind during the day, which almost always blows from the south. Darwin and others suppose that since its occupation by man the coast has been elevated at least 85 ft., and that the upheaval has not been continuous, but in- terrupted by periods of subsidence. The coun- try E. of the Cordillera Oriental, and of the small lateral range forming the eastern boun- dary of the Huallaga basin, slopes gently down into vast plains called the montafta, forming part of the great alluvial valley of the Amazon, and like it covered with dense primeval forests. The portion comprised between the Huallaga and the Ucayali is known as the Pampas del Sacramento, or the land of the missions, thus named from the establishments there founded by the Jesuit missionaries after the Spanish conquest. The hills in this region are low be- yond the Ucayali. The rivers which drain the Peruvian territory are divided between two great basins, that of the Pacific and that of the Amazon. The streams descending from the W. declivity of the Cordillera Occidental are for the most part short and precipitous, and entirely dry for several months of the year, BO