majority. Judging by the rather irregular plan of the streets and
the great number of terraces in and around town, one may conclude
that Colta goes far back of the sixteenth century and the days of
the Spanish Conquest, as indeed do most Peruvian towns. The cities
of Lima and Arequipa are noteworthy exceptions. Leaving Colta,
we wound around the base of the projecting ridge, on the sides of
which were many evidences of ancient culture, and came into the
valley of Huancahuanca, a large arid canyon. The guide said that we
were nearing Parinacochas. Not many miles away, across two canyons,
was a snow-capped peak, Sarasara.

Lampa, the chief town in the Huancahuanca Canyon, lies on a great
natural terrace of gravel and alluvium more than a thousand feet
above the river. Part of the terrace seemed to be irrigated and
under cultivation. It was proposed by the energetic farmers at
the time of our visit to enlarge the system of irrigation so as to
enable them to cultivate a larger part of the pampa on which they
lived. In fact, the new irrigation scheme was actually in process of
being carried out and has probably long since been completed. Our
reception in Lampa was not cordial. It will be remembered that
our military escort, Corporal Gamarra, had gone back to Arequipa
with Dr. Bowman. Our two excellent arrieros, the Tejada brothers,
declared they preferred to travel without any "brass buttons,"
so we had not asked the sub-prefect of Cotahuasi to send one of
his small handful of gendarmes along with us. Probably this was a
mistake. Unless one is traveling in Peru on some easily understood
matter, such as prospecting for mines or representing one of the
great importing and commission houses, or actually peddling goods,
one cannot help arousing the natural suspicions of a people to whom
traveling on muleback for pleasure is unthinkable, and scientific