Lardner Gibbon, Lieutenant, U.S.N.

“ While the men broiled fish on sticks and over hot coals of fire, or made a chowder with yucca, the alligator indignantly rested on the opposite shore, now and then slowly wagging his tail as he cleared the fish-bones from his teeth, but constantly eyeing the long, low, black canoe and the happy crew as they seated themselves laughingly about the boiling iron pot. The fish were the size of a small shad, shaped like them, except in mouth, and quite as good eating. Our fears of starving in the wilderness are overcome. We can travel a long way on fish, fowls, and eggs. ”

“ The water from the mountains passes down the ravine to small patches of sugar-cane. The mountains are wild; winding around one of them, we suddenly came in sight of the long-looked for river Apurimac. Its waters foam as they dash over its rocky bed. Our view was cut off by another turn, and leaving the surface of the earth, we enter a tunnel, cut into the mountain, which stands like its strata, perpendicular, by the side of the river. Sky-light holes are cut through the rock, and as we travel along, in alternate light and darkness, the arrieros shout at the top of their voices at the train. ”

“ We cannot understand why the population of those mountains have not cleared more lands at the base of the Andes, where their children would find beautiful flowers, and the men the real sugar-stalk; where they might tickle their noses with the fragrance from rich pine-apples and oranges, and where their tables might be loaded with the choicest vegetable productions. At the headwaters of the Madre-de-Dios Peru has a garden, but the lands in all directions seem almost a desert. ”

“ When the heavy gales, which sometimes blow in the rainy season from the eastward, strike these lofty Andes with a force that uproots the forest trees, destroys the crops, and sets the ocean in a rage, they accumulate here, and must burst their way out. They would split the mariner’s heavy canvass sails and blow through; but here the gigantic strength of the mountains resists them with a composure that makes the forest the sufferer. These heights of the eastern side of the Andes are among the most terrific portions of the earth. ”

“ It is amusing to see these happy people enjoying themselves in the open air. As we pass, the reapers are seated near the road, in a barley field, at dinner, upon the ground, in rows one behind another, laughing and talking among themselves. When we meet them they are very civil, modest, and unassuming in manners. The men carry enormous loads of barley or wheat on their backs, while the women drive the loaded ass, and sling the children over their own shoulders. Their horses, mules, sheep, horned cattle, pigs, and dogs, are all admitted, together with the family, into the harvest field ”

“ In the small shops around the plaza, cotton goods are sold, but there is little activity in anything. The picture of decay is distressing; blind people walk arm in arm with cripples; no sound of busy wheels or of business is heard; a death-like silence prevails, both day and night, only broken by the chime of enormous steeple bells, where the ragged population kneel before an altar groaning with the precious metals. The priests, with few exceptions, are the only fat looking people in this part of the country, others being taxed for the support of the government and the church. ”

“ The canoe came back for us, and we embarked at the foot of the Andes on a voyage across a stream, which was not navigable, even for a canoe, except where we passed. The color of the water was milky. We met another train of mules, loaded with cacao, on their way to Cochabamba. The Indians transported them over the same way they did us. Our mules were so much exhausted that they stood upon the rocky beach hanging their heads. As the water, dripped from their sides the hot sun dried them, and the swarms of sand-flies troubled them as much as us. ”

“ These men came up from the Amazon; the sight of them gladdened our spirits; we had passed the savage race, and reached civilized man, on the Atlantic side of the wilderness; we were out of the woods, though the trees are larger here than on the southern side of the ridge of hills through which the Madeira flows. The forests here resemble those on the side and base of the Andes. The negroes supped on turtle-eggs, while they drew comparisons between the people of the Amazon and those of “their country,” as they called Cuyaba, on the other great South American river. ”

“ The country is becoming more cultivated as we proceed south, and cattle are more numerous. We find nearly the same dry, burnt-up vegetation and dusty roads, though the air feels moist enough for green fields of grass.
Halting at the small adobe-built town of Juliaca, with a large church as usual, our baggage-mules were changed. We spent the night at Caracota, and changed mules again at Pancarcolla. To the left of us we beheld the deep blue waters of the great southern lake Titicaca. The east wind troubled its waters; the white-capped waves reminded us of the trade-wind region of the ocean. ”

“ A long train of mules winds along the road from the Pacific; we just hear the great bell of the cathedral toll, when the clouds unroll and fall, shutting out light and view, as a mountain eagle shrieks. The scene soon changes as we climb higher up among the bare-headed rocky peaks; on our left is one gray with the snows of perpetual winter; on the right a great avalanche of earth has fallen from the crown of a mountain into the ravine, as though blown off by the prevailing winds from the opposite side. ”

“ The mineral wealth of the Titicaca basin is very great, but its vegetable productions too small for the support of its present population, who are employed extracting metals, and who draw from the Madeira Plata many of the necessaries of life, and rely upon foreign countries for their manufactures.
A clear, deep-blue sky opens the day; but as the tropical sun shines upon the white edges of the basin, he evaporates so many feet of the snow per annum, that the clouds formed daily seem to curtain in the inhabitants from the rest of the world. ”

“ On the side of the Paracti the hills are small, and our road during the day’s travel is often over flats or slopes, for we are still descending over what may be termed the great breast of the Andes, which swells out magnificently towards the morning sun to the delightful tropical breezes that blow over its productive soil. Our train of mules are much harassed climbing over the hills, on the east side, one of them, exhausted, lost his footing and rolled over, baggage and all. ”

“ The Indians are going to town to celebrate the birth-day of the President of the Republic; old men are mounted on stunted little horses; young ones carry drums, fifes, and large feathered head-dresses, of pink and white, plucked from the crane; while the old women carry babies slung in cotton ponchos over their shoulders. The young girls bring provisions; and donkeys loaded with live chickens, to be sold in the plaza, jog along ahead of the families. On the lake a rush balsa, with a rush mat for a sail, loaded with fish and potatoes, presses on to meet the load of the donkey. ”

“ The roads are navigable for canoes half the year, when travelling is much more easy than when the season is called dry. The Indian builds his hut on those elevated places which remain islands; when the great flood of waters come down, crickets, lizards, and snakes crawl into his thatched roof; droves of wild cattle surround his habitation. Armadilloes rub their armor against the pottery in the corner of his hut, while the tiger and the stag stand tamely by. ”

“ Heavy storms frequently arise in the wet season, and blow violently through the valley, from southeast. The hail beats so hard upon the pear trees that the delicate leaves are broken from the upper branches, and the blossoms are destroyed. The hot sun withers the ends of the limbs, and they die, so that all the pear trees are stunted; and instead of large, clear limbs, the under branches are sapped by numbers of suckers that shoot out and rob the fruit of its life. ”

“ We hope the curtain will rise that we may view the productions of the tropical valley below; but the mist thickens, and the day gets dark with heavy, heaped-up black clouds; a rain storm follows. The grasses are thrifty, and the top of the ridge covered with a thick sod. By barometer we stand eleven thousand one hundred feet above the level of the sea. I was obliged to leave my box of instruments in Porcotambo on account of bad roads, and take barley for the mules. By law, the cargo of a mule descending the eastern slope of the Andes is one hundred and fifty pounds — one-half the usual load. ”

“ The intelligent bright faces of the boys pleased us. They looked like little girls in their long cotton frocks of white, standing round the campfire watching yuccas roasting. The youngsters noticed us much more than the men of the party, who were generally from twenty-four to thirty years of age. These were Mojos Indians, from the town of Trinidad. Our Canichanas crew spoke a different language, though they only live a short distance apart on the pampa. The Canichanas came from the town of San Pedro, and yet these people do not understand the language of each other. ”

“ We halted in the plaza and witnessed a sham fight with bows and arrows, war clubs, and large wooden swords, gotten up for the moment for the benefit of the prefect and his family. It was the representation of a fight between the Quichua Indians of the Andes, and the Chunchos of the lowlands. The killed, wounded, and prisoners in Chuncnos shoes was dreadful; while the delighted Quechuas went through the motions of cutting their enemies up, one by one, into small bits, and heaped them on one side like sticks in a wood pile. ”