ing air of Italy. At sunrise and at sunset, indeed, but especially
at sunset, a rosy light tinges the snowy summits of the far-off
mountains, but those near shine with pure white, like mountains of
silver. The hue of every precious stone is found in the colors of the
Andes. Even the crevices on the rocky sides of the mountains without
verdure seem when the sun shines upon them to be filled and overflowing
with warm hues, varying from the softest lilac to the deep, rich,
pervading purple which the artist loves to revel in. Each of the Andes,
besides his emerald or pearly crown, seems also to wear, like the high
priest of old, a jewelled breastplate, reflecting on earth the glory of
the skies.

The table lands of the Andes, especially when seen from above, resemble
the rolling prairies of western North America. Both have the same
beautiful and various undulations, though those of the table lands are
bolder. The prairies are far more extensive; though, often, the table
lands present as broad a horizon of gently curving land. These table
lands in some places extend like vast halls between widely separate but
parallel chains of the Andes--again, like broad corridors along a line
of ridges--again, like wide landings to gigantic stairs, of which the
stone steps are mountains--again, they expand in hollows surrounded by
hills, like lakes of land. Here is one large enough for several small
farms only--there, many towns and rural estates are found on the same
table land. Here is one which you may traverse in an hour--there is one
which may be several days' journey across.

The agricultural wealth of the Andes is mainly concentrated in these
table lands, in these millions of rolling acres. The table lands are
above the region of forests. About the watercourses, on the farms, and
in the towns, a few trees may be found--sometimes avenues of them laid
out with care and beauty; and the fruit trees of the temperate zone may
here be cultivated; but the great forests of the tropical level and the
pines of the mountains are absent.

The _Paramos_ are sandy plains, in fact, mountain deserts, in the dry
season liable to great droughts, and in the wet season to fearful
snowstorms. The armies of Independence, during the wars between Spain
and South America, suffered terrible hardships and exposures in the
_Paramos_. The _Pampas_ are wide and level plains, not so high as the
table lands, where graze innumerable herds of wild cattle. They are