d a faint trail by a dangerous
and precarious route along the crest of the ridge. The rains had not
improved the path. Our saddle mules were of little use. We had to
go nearly all the way on foot. Owing to cold rain and mist we could
see but little of the deep canyon which opened below us, and into
which we now began to descend through the clouds by a very steep,
zigzag path, four thousand feet to a hot tropical valley. Below the
clouds we found ourselves near a small abandoned clearing. Passing
this and fording little streams, we went along a very narrow path,
across steep slopes, on which maize had been planted. Finally we
came to another little clearing and two extremely primitive little
shanties, mere shelters not deserving to be called huts; and this
was San Fernando, the end of the mule trail. There was scarcely room
enough in them for our six carriers. It was with great difficulty we
found and cleared a place for our tent, although its floor was only
seven feet square. There was no really flat land at all.

At 8:30 P.M. August 13, 1911, while lying on the ground in our tent,
I noticed an earthquake. It was felt also by the Indians in the
near-by shelter, who from force of habit rushed out of their frail
structure and made a great disturbance, crying out that there was a
temblor. Even had their little thatched roof fallen upon them, as it
might have done during the stormy night which followed, they were in
no danger; but, being accustomed to the stone walls and red tiled roofs
of mountain villages where earthquakes sometimes do very serious harm,
they were greatly excited. The motion seemed to me to be like a slight
shuffle from west to east, lasting three or four seconds, a gentle
rocking back and forth, with eight or ten vibrations. Several weeks
later, near Huadquina, we happened to stop at the Colpani telegraph
office. The operator said he had felt two shocks on August 13th--one
at five o'clock, which had shaken the books off his table and knocked
over a box of insulators standing along a wall which ran north and
south. He said the shock which I had felt was the lighter of the two.

During the night it rained hard, but our tent was now adjusting itself
to the "dry season" and we were more comfortable. Furthermore, camping
out at 10,000 feet above sea level is very different from camping
at 6000 feet. This elevation, similar to that of the bridge of San
Miguel, below Machu Picchu, is on the lower edge of the t