Notes of a Recent Visit to Peru and Bolivia

Author(s): H. Leslie Ellis

Source: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography,
Vol. 12, No. 4 (Apr., 1890), pp. 227-229
Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of
British Geographers)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1801478
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 NOTES OF A RECENT VISIT TO PERU AND BOLIYIA. 227

mous assertion of the natives, and is confirmed, to my thinking, by

the extended views of the lake northward which I have had from its
encircling mountains.

Notes of a Beeent Visit to Peru and Bolivia.

By Major H. Leslie Ellis, p.r.g.s.

From what I saw during the journeys from which I have recently returned
in Peru and Bolivia, I fear I can add very little to what is already
known of their geography. I found no reliable maps of small scale
in either country, and those on large scales referred mostly to the
coast districts, and to places where mines have been established. There
is no apparent desire on the part of the Governments of these republics
to survey the Montana (the interior forest region) and the eastern
slopes of the Andes, and even if there is the desire, nothing is being
done, and I imagine no funds are available or are likely to be. I made
inquiries on this subject at Lima, Cuzco, and La Paz. Nothing is
known, and nobody, except a few foreigners who are interested in these
parts, cares. No doubt the handing over of the Peruvian railways to
the bondholders will give an impetus to the extension of the different
lines, and accurate large-scale surveys of the valleys and canons of the
Andes, through which they are expected to run, will be made by foreign,
probably English, engineers. By this means, and by the discovery of
new mines, and consequently by the construction of new lines of transit
from them to the coast, the Cordillera may, as time goes on, be accurately
surveyed. I fear there is no such thing as geographical enterprise in
Peru or Bolivia in the present day, and but little hope of it from the
natives themselves. The western slopes of the Andes are of course
sufficiently well known for practical purposes, although but very in-
differently mapped, and in many parts not mapped at all, but the
Montana of Peru, together with the provinces of El Beni, Santa Cruz,
and Chuquisaca in Bolivia, have never been put on paper, that I can
discover, except in the roughest way.
I should perhaps here except Colonel Labre's recent explorations in
the region of the Madeira, Beni, and Purus rivers, an account of which
has been given in the ' Proceedings ' of the Society.* A German whom
I met has made an apparently very good survey of some of the valleys
on the right bank of the Urubamba river in about latitude 13?, longi?
tude 72?, embracing about 400 square miles of country between the
above-named river and the Paucartambo river. I saw him at Arequipa
on my way to Ollantay-tambo, and he showed me his survey, which he
said was intended for the Berlin Geographical Society, and that it would
Vide ' Proceedings B.G.S.,' vol. xi. (1889) p. 496.
B 2

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228 NOTES OF A RECENT VISIT TO PERU AND BOLIVIA.

probably be published in the course of this year (1890). He gave me

also an idea of the difficulties to be met with in these parts, and from what
I afterwards saw I do not think he exaggerated them. He had a com?
mission from his Government, so I conclude that the Germans are alive
to the necessity of doing something here.
One of the main questions that seems to exercise those who study
the geography of these regions is, which river forms the parent stream
or real source of the Amazon? The Ucayali is, I believe, generally
admitted to contain the real head-water, although the Bio Grande,
rising near Cochabamba, in Bolivia, may possibly be entitled to con?
sideration. The Ucayali divides into two streams about latitude 10? 40',
longitude 73? 45', one the Quillabamba-Urubamba-Vilcamayo branch,
rising in the La Baya Pass, about five leagues north-west of Santa Bosa,
and the other the Apurimac branch, supposed to rise near Cayllama. I
dismiss (possibly wrongly) the claims of the Bio Grande, pending further
exploration of the regions through which it runs, but I contend that the
question of the Vilcamayo and Apurimac is one which urgently needs
settlement. Most Peruvians incline to the idea that the Vilcamayo,
trickling as it does from the little lake which I visited at the summit of
the La Baya Pass, is the parent tributary. To decide the point it would
be necessary to traverse both branches, and survey on each about
400 miles of stream. The cost would be considerable, the time required
about a year, and the country such that almost all supplies would have
to be obtained from Arequipa and Cuzco. I travelled down the Vilca?
mayo from the La Baya Pass to northward of Ollantay-tambo during last
October, and just before the commencement of tho wet season. I par?
ticularly noted the capabilities of the Urubamba portion for boat transit,
and can see no reason why goods could not be embarked here, for the
Atlantic seaports or for Europe, to meet the steamers lower down the
Amazon. As the country develops, there appears to be nothing to pre?
vent the great river from being the principal, and probably the cheapest,
trade route from west to east.
Although on a very small scale, I found the last edition of Stieler's
Hand-Atlas, sheet No. 92, very fairly accurate, and the names correctly
spelt. I would draw attention to the following books which can be
obtained at Lima, viz.:?(1) 'Noticias de los Departamentos de Tacna,
Moquegua,' and 'Arequipa, con una carta geografica/ (2) 'Memoria
sobre las Cordilleras del Desierto de Atacama, con varias Mapas i
vistas.' Por A. Bertrand. (3) ' Atlas Geografico del Peru/ Por Soldan.
Numbers 1 and 2 are new; number 3 was published in 1865 at the
Libreria de Fermin Didot, Hermanos Hijos y Ca., 56 Calle de Jacob,
Paris. I might add that while at La Paz I heard on good authority
that there are remains of a fine quadrilateral Inca fort near Santa Cruz
(de la Sierra), in Bolivia. No mention is made of these by any explorers
that I know of.

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 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 229

I add to my notes the following list of altitudes given to me by the

engineers of the Arequipa and Puno Railway, and as I have every reason
to believe that they are correct in the main, they will be useful for
comparison with other authorities:?

Height
Nature. Name. above Position. Remarks.
Ocean.

About 80 miles N.W. of Visible from the Arequipa

Coropuna .. 22,800J and Puno Railway from
Arequipa P. de Arriero.
About 20 miles N.N.W.V
Charchani .. Yisible from Arequipa.
19,000j of Arequipa./j
Mountains < Misti .. About 10 miles N.N.E. ofl Visible from the Arequij3a.
18,65o[ Arequipa .j Volcano.
About 20 miles N.E. oft
Piehu piehu 17,800- { Arequipa .j
About 40 miles E. oft
Visible from Arequipa.
Visible from Colca. Vol?
Ubinas 16
3,000J Arequipa .j cano.

Saraeocha .. 113,595/ In the Cordillera E. of) of both these

Cachipascana fl3,585\ Puno. lakes about
Lakes
IProbable
7 by 2 size
miles.
Between Peru and Bo-"l Chililaya is the principal
Titicaca
12,505J livia ./ Bolivian port.
Ensenada .. 32 13J miles from Mollend
Tambo 1,000 ?*?" ?> ? ??
Cachendo .. 3,250 34| j> ?? ji
La Joya 4,141 54 ,? m v
Towns and Quishuarani 6,125 84 ? ?
Arequipa .. 7,550 107 ?
Railway P. deArrieros 12,300 44 ?
Stations Arequipa.
Vincocaya .. 14,360 96
on the
18 Highest poiot on the rail-
Arequipa Crucero Aito 14,666
and Puno , way.
Saraeocha .. 13,940 140 I
and Santa
Branch line from here to
Rosa line. Juliaca 12,550 189
Santa Rosa.
Puno 12,540 218
! On branch line from Juliaca
Pucara 12,738 35 Juliaca
to Santa Rosa.
Santa Rosa I 13,100 82 ! End of line towards Cuzco.
I

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

The Stanley Meeting.?The meeting of the Society for the rece

of Mr. Stanley and to hear from him an account of the Geogra
Results of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, will be held on Monday
5th May, in the Albert Hall. Our President, the Right Hon. Sir M
stuart E. Grant DufT will be in the chair. Their Royal Highness
Prince of Wales, Yice-Patron of the Society, and the Duke of Edinbu
Honorary President, have signified their intention of being pres
the meeting. A circular was posted on the 25th ult. to all Fellow
the Society whose addresses were known in the United Kingdom and
the Continent, which explains the arrangements of the meeting.

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