Situated at a height where the enervating power of the tropical sun is not felt, and where at the same time the air is not too rarefied, these pleasant mountain vales, protected by their rocky walls against the gusts of the puna, enjoy all the advantages of a genial sky. Here the astonished European sees himself surrounded by the rich corn-fields, the green lucern-meadows, and the well-known fruit trees of his distant home; so that he might almost fancy that some friendly enchanter had transported him to his native country, but for the cactuses and the agaves on the mountain-slopes by day, and the constellations of another hemisphere in the heavens by night.
这些宜人的山谷所处的位置正好避开了那令人萎靡不振的炎热太阳光强劲照耀的区域，那里的空气也恰到好处，在面对冷高原的狂风时还有岩石墙为其做护盾，简直尽享了和煦天空带来的所有福利。来到这里的欧洲人会惊讶地发现自己被富饶的玉米地、绿色的苜蓿草甸和远方家乡著名的果树所包围，如果不是因为看到了白天山坡上的仙人掌、龙舌兰以及夜空中象征另一个半球的点点星座，他们甚至会怀疑自己是不是被善良的巫师用魔法传送到了母国。

There are regions in this remarkable country where the traveller may leave the snow-roofed puna hut in the morning, and before sunset pluck pine-apples and bananas on the cultivated margin of the primeval forest; where in the morning the stunted grasses and arid lichens of the naked plain remind him of the Arctic regions, and where he may repose at night under the fronds of gigantic palms.
这个非凡的国度里有那么一些地方，在那里，旅行者们可以在清晨从被雪铺满了屋顶的冷高原小屋内出发，在原始森林的开垦边缘采摘菠萝和香蕉到日落时分回归；在那里，清晨光秃秃的平原上那矮小的草木和干旱的地衣会促使旅行者们不禁忆起北极地区；在那里，他们可以在夜晚躺在巨大的棕榈叶下沉沉睡去。
Descending to the Pacific sea-bord, we come upon the desolate Peruvian sand-coast, where the eye seldom sees anything but fine drift-sand and sterile heaps of stone; and where for miles and miles the traveller meets no traces of vegetation, nor finds one drop of water. But when we pass to the other side of the Andes, how marvellous the contrast! On the one side, an arid, waterless, treeless waste; on the other, the luxuriant valley of the Amazon, the giant of rivers, which has made a broad course for itself through vast savannas and stupendous forests!
我们往下一路来到太平洋沿岸，那里是荒凉的秘鲁沙滩海岸，放眼望去那片区域除了细沙和一堆堆贫瘠的石头外一无所有，即使数英里之外的地方也没有草木和水源的踪迹。然而，当我们来到安第斯山脉的另一侧时，景致的反差会让我们大吃一惊！一侧是干旱、水源贫瘠、不生草木的荒地，另一侧则是富饶的亚马逊河流域，那是一条穿行在广袤的热带草原和巨大的森林里浩浩荡荡流淌着的宽大的河流。