prings--Portuguese Mine owners--Saco--Oroya--Hanging
Bridges--Huaros--Roads leading from Oroya.

From Lima two main roads lead to the Sierra or the mountains. One runs
northward through the valley of Canta, in the direction of the rich
silver mines of Cerro de Pasco; the other, taking a more southerly
direction, passes through the Quebrada of Matucanas, to the villages of
Tarma, Jauja, and Huancayo; and still further south, leads to
Huancavelica, Ayacucho, and Cuzco. All the roads running from the coast
to the Sierra, present a similarity of character. Taking an oblique
direction from the margin of the coast, they run into one or other of
the fan-shaped Cordillera valleys, all of which are intersected by
rivers. Following the course of these rivers, the roads become steeper
and steeper, and the valleys soon contract into mere ravines,
terminating at the foot of the Cordillera. The traveller then threads
his way up the acclivity, amidst stupendous masses of rock, until he
reaches the lofty ridge. Then a gradual descent leads to the level
heights, and thence into the deep mountain valleys.

Former travellers having already described the route by way of Canta, I
will here trace the course through the Quebrada of Matucanas. In so
doing, I am enabled to present to the reader the results of some
barometrical observations which are the more interesting, inasmuch as
the Cordillera here advances more nearly to the coast than at any other
point.

The most easterly gate of the city of Lima (the Portada de Maravillas)
opens upon a broad road, which runs directly eastward. At the distance
of about a league and a half from the city, the road passes over a stone
bridge called the _Puente de Surco_, a place famed for robbers. At this
point the surrounding country presents a wild and dreary aspect. Ranges
of grey and barren hills encompass the valley; the ground is for the
most part covered with sand and gravel. Desolate remains of plantations
and the ruins of habitations bear evidence of the life and activity that
once animated this desert region, now abandoned by all save the fierce
bandit and his victim, the solitary traveller.

Along the margins of the river, patches of moor-ground here and there
serve as pasture. Clover and maize are produced only in those parts
where the soil is manured and artificially watered. Low brushwood and
reeds, growing on the banks of the Rimac, supply firewood to the city of
Lima, and are a source