Note 23 — Chapter IX · CLIMATOLOGY OF THE PERUVIAN ANDES

According to Ward’s observations the base of the cloud belt averages between 2,000 and 3,000 feet above sea level (Climatic Notes Made During a Voyage Around South America, Journ. of School Geogr., Vol. 2, 1898). On the south Peruvian coast, specifically at Mollendo, Middendorf found the cloud belt beginning about 1,000 feet and extending upwards to elevations of 3,000 to 4,000 feet. At Lima the clouds descend to lower levels (El Clima de Lima, Bol. Soc. Geogr. de Lima, Vol. 15, 1904). In the third edition of his Süd und Mittelamerika (Leipzig and Vienna, 1914) Sievers says that at Lima in the winter the cloud on the coast does not exceed an elevation of 450 m. (1,500 feet) while on the hills it lies at elevations between 300 and 700 m. (1,000 and 2,300 feet).