The church of Lampa is a large building of stone, dating from 1685, with a dome of yellow, green, and blue glazed tiles, of which I was informed there was formerly a manufactory in Lampa. The tower is isolated, and about twenty yards from the church, apparently of a different date. Rows of Indian girls, in their gay-coloured dresses, were sitting in the plaza before their little heaps of chuñus, ocas, potatoes, and other provisions, amongst which, at the season of Easter, there are always great quantities of herbs gathered on the mountains, possessing supposed medicinal virtues. Among these a fern, called _racci-racci_, is used as an emetic; _churccu-churccu_, a small wild oxalis, is taken as a cure for colds; _chichira_, the root of a small crucifer, for rheumatism; _llacua-llacua_, a composita, for curing wounds; _quissu_, a nettle, used as a purgative; _cata-cata_, a valerian, as an antispasmodic; _tami-tami_, the root of a gentian, as a febrifuge; _quachanca_, a euphorbia, the powdered root of which is taken as a purgative; _hama-hama_, the root of a valerian, said to be an excellent specific against epilepsy;[282] and many others, the native names of which, with their uses, were given me, but I was unacquainted with their botanical names. Generally when the name of a plant is repeated twice in Quichua it denotes the possession of some medicinal property. On the morning of our departure from Lampa the ground was covered with snow, which was slowly melting under the sun's rays. Immediately after leaving the town the path winds up a steep mountain range called Chacun-chaca, the sides of the precipitous slopes being well clothed with _queñua_-trees (_Polylepis tomentella_, Wedd.), which are gnarled and stunted, with dark-green leaves, and the bark of the trunk peeling like that of a yew. Their sombre foliage contrasted with the light-green tufts of _stipa_, and the patches of snow. The pass was long and dangerous, with little torrents pouring down every rut; and on its summit was the usual _pacheta_, or cairn, which the Indians erect on every conspicuous point. The path descends on the other side into a long narrow plain, with the hacienda of Chacun-chaca on the opposite side. The buildings are surrounded by queñua-trees, and in their rear two remarkable peaked hills rise up abruptly, clothed with the same trees, with ridges of rock cropping out at intervals. Their sides were dotted with cattle, tended by pretty little cow-girls, armed with slings, and some of them playing the _pincullu_, or Indian flute. The plain was covered with long grass, in a saturated and spongy state, and groves of queñua-trees grew thickly in the gullies of the mountains on either side. After a ride of several leagues over the plain, latterly along the banks of the river Pucara, I turned a point of the road, and suddenly came in sight of the almost perpendicular mountain, closely resembling the northern end of the rock of Gibraltar, which rises