Here again, there are not many spaces of two hundred yards square,
where some little bush, cactus or lichen, may not be discovered by
careful examination; and in the soil seeds lie dormant ready to
spring up during the first rainy winter. In Peru real deserts occur
over wide tracts of country. In the evening we arrived at a valley
in which the bed of the streamlet was damp: following it up, we
came to tolerably good water. During the night the stream, from not
being evaporated and absorbed so quickly, flows a league lower down
than during the day. Sticks were plentiful for firewood, so that it
was a good place of bivouac for us; but for the poor animals there
was not a mouthful to eat.
JUNE 11, 1835.
We rode without stopping for twelve hours till we reached an old
smelting-furnace, where there was water and firewood; but our
horses again had nothing to eat, being shut up in an old courtyard.
The line of road was hilly, and the distant views interesting from
the varied colours of the bare mountains. It was almost a pity to
see the sun shining constantly over so useless a country; such
splendid weather ought to have brightened fields and pretty
gardens.
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