There is a very striking difference, however, between the Cholos of Arequipa and the Inca Indians of the interior, who appear in the streets with their llamas laden with silky vicuña-wool: the former a turbulent, excitable race, who will fight desperately behind walls, but who are without stamina and quite unable to endure fatigue; the latter a patient, long-suffering people, capable of extraordinary endurance, and, as soldiers, in the habit of marching distances which appear incredible to those whose experience is confined to the movements of European troops. There is an evident mixture of Spanish blood in the people who inhabit Arequipa and its campiña, while the Indians of the interior are for the most part of pure descent. The road over the cordilleras to Cuzco and Puno leaves Arequipa by the southern suburb, and, after a few miles, ascends a rocky ridge to the more elevated valley of Chihuata or Cangallo (9676 feet above the sea[127]), at the foot of the southern spur of the volcano. A wretched stone hut with a mud floor is here the only shelter for the traveller. At one end a fire of sticks, where an old hag acted as cook, filled the interior with smoke, and at the other each wayfarer, as he arrived, made a shakedown of blankets and ponchos, sipped his chocolate, and, after a short conversation, composed himself for the night. The fire gradually smouldered and went out, and the old woman, with a brood of children, made a heap at the further corner. At early dawn of the 23rd of March we were all in motion, and our companion of the previous night, a Spaniard with a large _tropa_ of mules laden with aguardiente, was busily preparing for a start. As the sun rose, the dazzling white of the snowy peaks of Pichu-pichu and the volcano, with fleecy clouds above their summits, gave a glorious effect. The rest of the sky was blue, gradually clouding over as the morning advanced; and the valley was covered with alfalfa-fields of the richest green, with the pretty little village of Cachimarca perched on a rounded hill to the southward. The flowering shrubs by the roadside are the same as in the campiña of Arequipa, except that a small yellow Calceolaria is more abundant. The morning air was fresh and bracing as we mounted our mules and faced the long zigzag path up the "alto de los huesos," the southern spur of the volcano, so called from the bones of thousands of mules which are met at every turn. This ascent conducts the traveller from the temperate valley of Cangallo to the bleak and chilling plains of the upper cordillera. [Illustration: A CHOLO OF AREQUIPA. From a Photograph See page 80.] CHAPTER VI. JOURNEY ACROSS THE CORDILLERA TO PUNO.