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National Geographic : 1916 May
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Photograph by O. F. Cook A TERRACED VALLEY ABOVE OLLANTAYTAMBO The terracing of this narrow valley is amazing. Parts of it are shown in several photo graphs that follow (pages 506 to 518). The high slopes at the left were also cultivated in former times. At the base of the steep mountain on the right is a large slide of loose stones, several hundred feet high. All this flat valley is artificial-that is, it was a gully-and would so have remained if the Peruvians had not broadened it and leveled it out (see text, page 496). range of conditions, not by going to dif ferent parts of the country, but in differ ent parts of the same valley, in places within plain sight of each other. Thus from among the plantations of sugar, coca, or cacao, at Santa Ana one can see at the other end of the valley some of the peaks of the Cordillera, covered with glaciers and perpetual snow. It is like looking from Jamaica to Alaska. Even on foot or on mule-back only a few hours are required to climb up or to descend through the full range of agricultural possibilities. No very definite division into agricul tural belts is possible. Some crops are confined to the high altitudes and others to the low, but there is endless overlap ping with the intermediate crops. Three agricultural belts can be distinguished on the basis of the principal food plants. The cultivation of cassava, called 'uca in Spanish and rumin in Quichua, may be allowed to characterize the lowest or tropical belt, which extends in the Uru bamba Valley to an altitude of about 6,ooo feet. From this altitude to about S1,OOO feet is the intermediate belt, with maize as the principal native crop, while in the Andine belt, above I,ooo feet, the potato is the most important food plant. In some districts wheat is grown rather extensively and is often the chief crop at altitudes between o,ooo and 12,000 feet. Barley and broad beans (habas) are two other European crops that are planted on a relatively large scale at high elevations. Above 12,000 feet the people are engaged chiefly with the grazing of herds of llamas, alpacas, cattle, ant sheep ; but po tatoes and other Andine crops are planted on a small scale for the support of the pastoral population. In most places agri culture does not go much above 13,000 feet, but on some of the slopes above the Pass of La Raya potatoes are planted at altitudes above 14,ooo feet. The vines make normal development and produce abundantly when planted in good soil. Even among people of intelligence and interest in agricultural problems the superficial fact that Peru lies within the tropical zone is commonly allowed to ob scure the relation of its agriculture to that of temperate regions. The fact is, of course, that in spite of the proximity
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