serpent, say, a puff adder, cobra, or rattlesnake, will die in six or seven seconds; with a knowledge of this power, it cannot be a matter of surprise that these animals are regarded with feelings of horror and disgust; the dread of death from such a cause would call forth a natural repugnance towards the whole race the larger ones are feared on account of their great strength and power; the smaller, from the danger of their poison fangs. Again, the habits of these creatures are not likely to decrease our fear. Many of the most deadly lie concealed just below the surface of the sand, ready to strike a death-blow to the incautious traveller; others lurk and hide in the branches of trees and bushes, from which they dart upon the unwary. The wonderful resemblance in colour they bear to the places in which they are found, render them difficult to be seen by the unpractised eye. Many species are aquatic, and among these there is reason to believe many are highly poisonous. This point has been warmly disputed, but doubtless the best authorities assert such to be the case. The power of fascination attributed to these creatures appears quite unfounded; having for many years paid considerable attention to this subject, and having almost unequalled opportunities of forming a correct opinion, I have arrived at this conclusion, not hastily, but with, I trust, a fair and impartial consideration.

FLOWER SPOTS OF THE DESERT.*

BY WILLIAM BOLLAERT, F.R.G.S.

FOR weeks, ay for months, had the young people of Iquique, Huantajaya, and Santa Rosa been on the look-out for the misty clouds of winter, settling over the lomas or summits of the

Names of some of the plants found on the Lomas of Iquique. Latitude 21 S. Examined by Mr. Miers :

Dolia vermiculata.
Tetersena amoena.
Sisyrinchium?
Leucocoryne ixiodes.
Notholœna remota.

Usnea.

Oxalis.

Peperomia.

Chenopodiacea.

Lima in latitude 12° S. Exa

Bomarea ovata.

Oxalis.

Solanum.

Commelina fasciculata.

Piper crystallinum, etc.

mountains of the coast, and which were to be sprinkled soon afterwards with pretty flowers and curious plants.

What is the cause of this bounteous effect of Nature's hand? It is not easy to understand or explain it.

During the day of the long and hot months of summer in these latitudes, southerly winds, inclining to the east, blow along and rather off shore, so that the diurnal evaporation from the surface of the South Pacific is blown seaward and away from the land. At night the wind gets more easterly, forming a land breeze; this is but of short duration, and it is probable that the sandy coast has been left too hot from the sun's heat of the day to allow of any moisture being deposited from these limited land-breezes, even if there were any moisture of consequence in them.

Then the great S.E. trade winds, after they have left the South Atlantic charged with vapour, have deposited what was held in solution in the shape of rain in Brazil, and, ere they arrive in the frozen region of the Andes, have been deprived of the greater portion of moisture, the small remainder being left in the upper portions of the Andes and Cordilleras. I was surprised to see so little glacier and snow when at heights in the Cordillera of South Peru from 15,000 to over 17,000 feet, and could only explain it by this view-that there was so little moisture for the winds to deposit. The winds coming from the eastward must become bone-dry in traversing nearly the whole of the longitude of this portion of Peru, and from the two prime facts, namely, that the southerly winds blow off the land, and the easterly are destitute of moisture, originate the deserts of Peru.

However, during the short winter months light winds come from N.N.W. and N.W.; these being somewhat charged with vapour yielded by the Pacific Ocean, and the land not so heated as in summer, deposit dews and cause mists, to which many names are given, as cerason, camanchaca, and garua; the last may be called a very slight drizzle, which is only observed on the mountains of the coast at certain elevations in the various latitudes.

With what joy this season used to be, and is still hailed, even by the charming and fastidious Limeñas. A writer in the Mercurio Pernano (I. 30, 1791) says, "About the period of St. John commences the paseos or rambles to the ravines of the Amancaes (blue, yellow, and white bulbous plants); these rambles end the latter part of September. At this same period are the paseos also to the lomas (summits of the hills). The soft garua of that time of the year nourishes the land, and produces pretty little flowers. The diversions here are of a sweet and rural character, they delight and cheer the inhabitants of this desert

portion of the country, leaving no ill consequences, even should they over-feast or over-dance themselves, or sleep on the sand with a bright moon staring on them." Ulloa tells us that these lomas are clothed with verdure, and enamelled with flowers of the most radiant colours, to the great joy of the people, who, as soon as the severity of the winter has abated, resort to these flower-capped hills, which exhibit so elegant an appearance. Then if it causes so much pleasure to the dwellers of beautiful Lima, where every luxury can be obtained, we will essay to give an idea of the annual paseo to the lomas in the Tiempo de Flores in South Peru.

Let us suppose that at last it has been arranged that the young folks of Iquique shall go by Molle to the faldas (steep sides) and lomas of the Morro de Tarapaca, then to enjoy hospitality at the mines of Santa Rosa and Huantajaya, and then onwards to the lomas above Iquique.

We are astonished to find how many young girls and young men can congregate for the trip from out of the few families resident at Iquique, including the amiable Don M. B., who it was well known would enliven the party on its route by recounting a good stock of amusing stories; there was also a very prince of Yaravi (Indian melody) singers, Don M. F., and lastly Don Jorge and myself.

For days previously, preparations had been going on as regarded the "provend" in the shape of bread, cakes, chickens, fish, hard-boiled eggs, and sweetmeats; not forgetting the drinkables, including the favourite French liqueur, “Parfait Amour," for the ladies. All these things are stowed away in alforjas, or saddle-bags, not being unmindful that each also contained a gourd full of water.

All are stirring at early dawn, for we are going to have a long day of it. The donkeys get an extra feed of maize and an extra drink of water; they are duly caparisoned with the comfortable saddles and pretty bridles, the manufacture of Arequipa; scarlet and blue pellones cover the saddles, bound on by a party-coloured sincha, or girth.

The sun-burnt beauties sally from their rude habitations, all joy and excitement, with their Panamá hats, ponchos, bright scarlet, orange, or blue pollera or petticoat, and their naturally small feet, made to go into still smaller shoes of spruce make and of all colours.

One of the señoritas was rather older than the rest, and had to look a little after the younger ones, and instead of the light and rather long pollera, she had on the somewhat antiquated "Faldellin," a very short crinoline, worn as a dress. However the bewitching Saya y Manta, a curiously closefitting garment, was in use, the upper portion being narrow,

and made to hide the head and face, excepting the eyes. This has since faded away, and now the frightful European bonnet and dense dresses are worn.

Well, it was a pretty sight to observe the cavalcade (donkeyade) start. Nimbly did we trip over the earthquakeelevated, shelly plain of Iquique, with the huge granite and porphyritic mountains to the left, the placid Pacific to the right, its waves rolling gently on the sandy shore, and the sea-air purity itself. The animals had rather a hard pull through a deep sandy track at the base of perhaps one of the highest medanos in the world, literally a mountain of sand, which we christened "La Ballena," or the "whale," from its resemblance to that monster of the deep when out of the water. Subsequently, a friend of ours, a Frenchman, attempted to explore this colossal heap of sand on mule-back, from opposite to where we were travelling, when having got midway up with great difficulty, he and animal began to sink in the sand. In a moment he threw himself out of the saddle, and the reins over the head of the mule. Keeping hold of the end of the rein, he did his best to roll downwards, tugging at the mule; now he sank in the loose sand almost out of sight, then the mule was well nigh submerged. It was terrible-a fierce, but at last a successful struggle for life.

We arrive at the elevated shelly plain above Molle; here are a number of Tumuli, the graves, most probably, of a coast race of Indians called Changos. Subsequently I opened some of these ancient tombs, and found the desiccated bodies, wrapped in coloured woollen and cotton mantles, in a sitting posture, with pottery, wooden combs, bones, pointed, used as awls, spines of the cactus, pierced at the end for needles, copper fish-hooks, stone arrow-heads, brown and red mineral pigments, and heads of maize. In one was the mummy of a dog; in another that of a bird.

We now descended to the ruins of the silver amalgamating works at Molle, said to be so called from a mullu or mastic tree once growing at the foot of the high and escarped porphyritic mountains. If a tree ever grew there, the climate must have been different from the present, yielding some water by rain, or there must have been filtration of comparatively fresh water from the interior, no signs of such a state of things now existing.

Here we make our first pascana or halting-place, and whilst a fire was lit to prepare chocolate, I wandered about the rocky and sandy shore. In clear, deep pools were myriads of erisos or sea-eggs, of various sorts, shells, and enormous quantities of sea-weed. On the rocks there were numberless bright-eyed and inquisitive-looking lizards, two or three species of them,

and so tame in their wild state as almost to let me catch them. But what a stillness! The morning had now become perfectly calm, with not a ripple on the waters; not a vessel in sight. I was hidden among the dark rocks, and could scarcely believe I was so near to a merry party bent on pleasure, until I heard a shout, "Almuerzo"-breakfast. I returned to the ruins, and already was Don M. tinkling his guitar and singing a favourite ditty of those times.

Our meal is soon over. "Al camino " is the word. We tighten up the saddle girths preparatory to the ascent of the celebrated Morro, or Mountain of Tarapacá, the summit of which is about 6000 feet above the level of the sea.

On the shore we fell in with a solitary family of Changos; these are the aboriginal Indian fishermen of the coasts, and are probably a remnant of one of the ancient tribes of Atacama. They neither speak Aymará or Spanish, and are nearly in as miserable a condition as the savages of Tierra del Fuego. They roam about the coast from south of the valley of Copiapo, in Chili, to hereabouts, transporting themselves on their floats of seal-skin. We gave them some tobacco, for which they blessed us.

We began to "faldear," or creep slantingdicularly up the long base of the Morro, and when about 2000 feet above the level of the sea, came upon a little pasture-a thin, dryish grass, each stem an inch or so apart, at which our donkeys began to nibble, and some of them may not have had such a treat for years. Continuing upwards, we beheld an interesting sight in a hollow (where there was some grass), namely, a pure Indian family reposing there, whilst their donkeys were browsing in the desert pastures. Here were the three generations, the grandparents, parents, and grandchildren, on their way from the interior to the coast, to collect guano to manure their little farms. These were pure Aymará Indians, descendants from that stock, who may have built the Pre-Incarial masses of masonry of TiaHuanacu, who were subdued by the Incas, and became worshippers of the sun according to Incarial formula; and they wore black garments, said to be in memory of the murder of their Incas by the Spaniards, and their still degraded position. One of the young Indian girls was really pretty, nicely dressed in flowing robes, with her necklaces, silver tupus, or spoons with pointed ends, serving as pins to keep her dress together, and her party-coloured faja or sash. We christened her at once "The Flower of the Desert," but her real name was "Quespi," or the "Bright one."

Bidding adieu to these children of the sun, who remained quietly acullicando, or chewing their beloved coca, our ascent began to be steep, over sand and sharp stones, often obliging us