mouths. Grazing extends to 14,000 feet up the large tribu- taries, and on account of the up-and-down-valley winds the huts are placed not at the mouths of the smaller tributaries but to one side of them so as to escape the winds.
The porticos of the principal houses at Poma face cast or south to avoid the heavy afternoon wind of winter and to get the shade of summer. The wind begins about 11 o'clock in the morning and becomes heavy about 1 P.M., blowing with
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Fig. 69—The ranch house at Hacienda La Poma, showing the pack train about to start across the Puna de Atacama.
greatest velocity from then till 4 P.at. and often continuing into the night at gale strength. Houses that face east have the advantage of the early morning sun, and thus the tempera- ture of courtyard and portico is a grateful change from the bitter cold of night to summer warmth.
Twice a year a priest comes from Cachi down the valley (Fig. 1) at his own convenience to attend to the needs of the inhabitants of Poma. He remains a fortnight, baptizing. marrying, holding services for those who have died in the interval since his last visit, and ministering to the spiritual necds of the settlement. The church is a small adobe structure, with a square bell tower, on the main street of the village. Like the houses of the residents the woodwork of the church is
