In addition to the hospitals, asylums, and other institutions governed by the Benevolent Societies in all the principal cities and towns, there are numerous special charities supported by the departmental and municipal authorities of the different centres, or maintained by church societies and private philanthropy. The needs of the unfortunate receive increasing attention as the public administration extends its vigilance throughout the republic, and to the institutions already existing new ones are constantly being added. The government recently granted subsidies to the Benevolent Societies of Moquegua, Ayacucho, Huánuco, Huancavelica, Huancayo, Caráz, Aplao, and Yungay. The hospitals of Tarma and Moquegua have been enlarged and improved, and in the Amazon port of Iquitos a new hospital is being constructed according to modern ideas and plans. In the increasing progress and development of Peru, its benevolent charities have received greater attention than ever, the moral sentiment of the nation demanding that these institutions share in the general blessing of prosperity. [Illustration: MILITARY HOSPITAL, LIMA.] [Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, AREQUIPA.] CHAPTER XVII AREQUIPA—THE MISTI—HARVARD OBSERVATORY [Illustration: ARCH AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE CATHEDRAL, AREQUIPA.] Tradition says that when Maita-Ccapac first led his army across the Apurimac River, some of his soldiers were so enchanted by the attractions of the country, especially the picturesque valley above which the snowy summit of the Misti glistens among the clouds, that they asked the Inca’s permission to remain. “Ari, Quepay!” responded their lord, “Very well,—Remain here!” and from this exclamation is derived the name of the beautiful city that now brightens the valley at the foot of the Misti,—Arequipa. In order to appreciate the full beauty of the site chosen as a permanent home by the soldiers of Maita-Ccapac, it is necessary to have traversed the arid desert of shifting, crescent-shaped sanddunes that separate it from the Pacific, or to have journeyed across the barren _puna_ that stretches out between this fertile valley and the farther slopes of the Cordilleras. Contrast heightens the charm of the scene that spreads out in matchless beauty, as the white city appears in the midst of its fresh, radiant _campiña_, and one can appreciate the enthusiasm with which poetic travellers have described it as “a pearl in an emerald setting” and “a dove in an emerald nest.”