ety of Jesus, under the name of Balthazar. Being a noble he became an
abbe (though he had never an abbey) as a matter of course, and full of
religious ardor and thirsting for distinction in his new calling he
volunteered to go out as a missionary among the wild tribes of South
America.

After long wanderings, and many hardships, Balthazar and two fellow
priests accidentally discovered Quipai, at that time a mere collection of
huts on the banks of a small stream which descended from the gorges of the
Cordillera only to be lost in the sands of the desert. But all around were
remains which showed that Quipai had once been a place of importance and
the seat of a large population--ruined buildings of colossal dimensions,
heaps of quarried stones, a cemetery rich in relics of silver and gold;
and a great _azequia_, in many places still intact, had brought down water
from the heart of the mountains for the irrigation of the rainless region
of the coast.

Balthazar had moreover heard of the marvellous system of irrigation
whereby the Incas had fertilized nearly the whole of the Peruvian desert;
and as he surveyed the ruins he conceived the great idea of restoring the
aqueduct and repeopling the neighboring waste. To this task he devoted his
life. His first proceeding was to convert the Indians and found a mission,
which he called San Cristobal de Quipai; his next to show them how to make
the most of the water-privileges they already possessed. A reservoir was
built, more land brought under cultivation, and the oasis rendered capable
of supporting a larger population. The resulting prosperity and the abbe's
fame as a physician (he possessed a fair knowledge of medicine) drew other
Indians to Quipai.

After a while the gigantic undertaking was begun, and little by little,
and with infinite patience and pain accomplished. It was a work of many
years, and when I travelled the whole length of the _azequia_ I marvelled
greatly how the abbe, with the means at his command, could have achieved
an enterprise so arduous and vast. The aqueduct, nearly twenty leagues in
length, extended from the foot of the snow-line to a valley above Quipai,
the water being taken thence in stone-lined canals and wooden pipes to the
seashore. In several places the _azequia_ was carried on lofty arches over
deep ravines: and there were two great reservoirs, both remarkable works.
The upper one was the crater of an extinct volcano, of unknown depth,
which c