It may be readily imagined what must have been the
sufferings of men, born in, or accustomed to, the sultry temperature of
Truxillo, Guayaquil, Panama, or Cartagena. The difficulty of respiration,
called in some places _la puna_, and in others _el siroche_,
experienced in those parts of the Andes which most abound in metals, was
so great at times, that, whilst on the march, whole battalions would sink
down, as if by magic, and it would have been inflicting death to have
attempted to oblige them to proceed until they had rested and recovered
themselves. In many cases life was solely preserved by opening the
temporal artery. This sudden difficulty of respiration is supposed to be
caused by occasional exhalations of metalliferous vapour, which, being
inhaled into the lungs, causes a strong feeling of suffocation.
During certain months of the year, tremendous hail-storms occur. They have
fallen with such violence that the army has been obliged to halt, and the
men being compelled to hold up their knapsacks to protect their faces,
have had their hands so severely bruised and cut by large hail-stones as
to bleed copiously.
Thunder-storms are also particularly severe in the elevated regions.
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