Chapter XV
Puna Settlements
Limits to Human Occupation of the Puna
The mountain inhabitant of Peru and Bolivia is thoroughly accustomed to the high elevation, but this is far from saying that his system is perfectly adapted to it. Pneumonia is the most common cause of death in the cities of the high plateau, though it must be said that the immediate cause of many cases of pneumonia is drunkenness. For white occupation the effects of elevation are a great handicap, and as a rule it is only the relatively young and strong who are able to endure it. The native goes to the highest pastures with his flocks and lives in ineredibly high situations, but he is by no means free from the effects of soreche, or mountain sickness. Curiously enough, the effects of mountain sickness vary from place to place, even at the same level, though the cause of the variation may be different among individuals. In my own case I found it dependent in large degree upon the general weather con- ditions, such as the existence of wind, the effect of strong sunlight upon the skin, and the amount of accumulated fatigue I had experienced during preceding days. The Indian in many places looks upon evil spirits as the cause of mountain sickness because of the variation in its effects from place to place, a matter of common experience to him,
The high-level basins of the Puna have rocky borders and intervening divides; they are scattered about in small units instead of being joined into master units, and the little fresh water that exists is distributed in short and insignificant drainage ways. As we go southward from the Salar de Uyuni (Fig. 87) we pass from an clevation of 3680 meters (12,07 fect) to 4000 to 5000 meters (13,120 to, 16,400 feet), so that to the repelling effects of increasing dryness and scattered and meager water supply there is added increasing elevation with its effect upon the human system.
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