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2
2

GOIt.S Z13A 1911R LAC

_ *mM^

IHE LIBRARY

.OF

JB^ UNIVERSITY

OP TEXAS

V- ^' > . ' . ^

■ A. T I

» 1

ALONG THE ANDES AND
DOWN THE AMAZON

FOLLOWING THE CONQVISTADORES

ALONG THE ANDES AND
DOWN THE AMAZON

H. J. MOZANS, A.M., Ph.D.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
EX-FRESn)ENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK AND LONDON
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

GOPTBIOHT, im, BY

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

Published June, J9U

Printed in the United States of America

■>

TUB UBHAlY

IHB UNIVF.RSiTy

or TEXAS

MTFHIEND

OFMANYTEABS

0 OHABLES M. SCHWAB

•^ IN TOKEN OP

ADMIRATION AND AFFECTION

• •

629844

"The ezploits of the oonquistadores of America were so etupendoufl, so
faboloofl, that no epic oould do them justice, no narrative, however faith-
ful, complete or masterly, could portray the reality. It is necessaiy to have
been bom and to have lived a long time in America and to know tiie Andes,
the deserts, the forests, the rivers, the morasses, the coasts, the climates,
of this part of the world, where everything is colossal ; to compare the formid-
able obstacles, which still exist, with the far greater ones overcome by the
Spcuiiards, in order to form an adequate idea of the prodigious daring, hero-
ism and inflexibility of the conquistadores. All the impetuosity of the con-
queror of the Moor, the indomitable tenacity of the Arragonese, the patient
and silent constancy of the Castilian, who fought and died with a jest on his
lips, the vehement curiosity and passion of the Andalusian, the cold and
calculating perseverance of the Catalonian and the Basque, were exhibited in
that struggle of a handful of Titans engaged in the conquest of a world
of exuberant heat and life, force and majesty, riches and population, novelty
and marvels. ... In that epoch all was great, the good and the bad,
iniquity and virtue, force and resistance, but the greatness of force was in
man while that of resistance was in nature." Jos^ M. Samper, Enaayo Mobre
loB Revohioione9, Gap. I.

*
0

INTRODUCTION

This book is, in a sense, the sequel of a book by the same author
entitled Following the Conquistador es up the Orinoco and down
the McLgddlena.

Shortly after returning from this trip along the Orinoco and the
Magdalena, Doctor Mozans called upon me, and we soon grew to be
great friends. He is a devoted student of Dante, and I am one of
the innumerable laymen who greatly admire Dante without having
even the slightest pretensions to having studied him. I think that the
intimacy of Doctor Mozans and myself was largely due to his find-
ing out the interest I had taken in translating, so to speak, Dante 's
political terminology into that of the present day, — ^f or Dante wrote
with a lack of self-consciousness which we could not nowadays
achieve, and so, in perfect good faith, and I may add with entire
propriety, illustrated the fundamental vices and virtues by plac-
ing in hell and purgatory the local Italian political leaders of the
thirteenth century side by side with the mightiest figures of the
elder world, the world of Oreece and Bome at their zenith. I had
remarked to Doctor Mozans that this attitude, which added so
enormously to the power of Dante, was one which we were now
too self-conscious to follow ; that, whereas it seemed perfectly nat-
ural to Dante to typify the same fierce and stubborn soul qualities
both in the person of Farinata and in the person of Capanius, and
to appeal to a Florentine faction fight as he did to the memory of
the stupendous wars which made Rome imperial, it would now be
quite impossible for us to avoid feeling, and therefore conveying,
a sense of incongruity if we coupled a feast of Lucullus with some
equally tasteless banquet by a member of the Four Hundred, or
spoke in the same breath of Clodio and Isaiah Bynders or John
Morriss^.

The acquaintance thus begun went on, and when I was about
to leave the White House, Doctor Mozans proposed that I should
make a South American trip with him, instead of my proposed trip
to Africa. I should have been exceedingly pleased to have done
both; but as my trip was to be taken primarily as a naturalist in-

INTEODUCTION

terested in the great game, I thought it best not to change my point
of destination — ^and the comments Doctor Mozans makes upon the
rarity and shyness of all large animals in the tropical forests of
South America show that I was wise. But Doctor Mozans would
have been an ideal traveling companion. His trip was one of
absorbing interest, and it is told so delightfully that I do not now
recall any similar book dealing with South America so well worth
reading.

Doctor Mozans has every qualification for making just such a
journey as he made, and then for writing about it He is an
extraordinarily hardy man, this gentle, quiet traveler. He has that
sweetness of nature which inspires in others the same good feeling
he himself evinces towards them ; he loves rivers and forests, moun-
tains and plains, and broad highways and dim wood trails ; and he
has a wide and intimate acquaintance with science, with history,
and, above all, with literature. This volume supplements his pre-
vious volume, giving his journey across the Andes from the West
Coast and his voyage down the Amazon; so that he has seen all
that is most characteristic, and to the traveler most attractive, in
tropical America, from the barren Andean plateaus, filled with
the ruins of a dead civilization almost as ancient and interesting
as that of Egypt or Mesopotamia, to the hot, steamy, water-soaked
forests which cover the middle and the northeast of the Southern
continent. We are fortunate in having a man like Doctor Mozans
traveling in the lands to the south of us. He speaks with just
admiration of the great work done by Secretary Boot, when, in an
American warship, he circled the Southern continent, representing
our country as an ambassador whose work was of highest moment.
But Doctor Mozans himself also really acted as such an ambassador ;
and his S3rmpathy with, and appreciation of, the people whom he
met — a sympathy and appreciation evident in page after page
of his book — earned for him thoughtful and unwearied kindness
in return, and admirably fitted him, while on his journey, to in-
terpret our nation to those among whom he traveled, and now
admirably fit him to interpret them in return to us.

Taste in books is highly individual, and long experience has
shown me that I sometimes greatly like books for which most of my
friends care not at all; but it does seem to me that it would be
di£Qcult for any man to rise from reading Doctor Mozan's books
without feeling, not only that he has passed a delightful time, but

INTEODUCTION

also that he has profited greatly by the vivid picture presented to
him of our neighbors to the south and their marvelous country.
As Americans, his studies of these neighbors of ours are of peculiar
value to us. Moreover, Doctor Mozans' literary tastes and in par-
ticular his great fondness for the poetry of many different tongues
stand him in good stead. It is pleasant to travel in company with
one who knows books as well as men and manners, and who yet
cares also for all that is beautiful and terrible and grand in Nature.
Oerman, Italian, Spanish, English — there is hardly a favorite poet,
writing in any language, whose words do not naturally rise to
Doctor Mozans' mind as he comes to some particular sc^ie which
he thinks that some particular passage in some of his beloved
authors aptly illustrates ; and his quotations from the South Amer-
ican poets are not only apt in themselves, but iUiuninative to those
among us who do not realize how very far South American civiliza-
tion has gone along certain lines where our own progress has been
by no means well marked. In particular, the translations that
the author gives us of some of the simple Indian ballads make us
wish that we could have these ballads all set forth in popular form ;
while Doctor Mozans' humorous appreciation of the excesses into
which the poetic habit sometimes misleads his South American
friends completely reassures us as to his coolness of judgment.

We are far from realizing all that of recent years has been ac-
complished in South America. We are now fairly well acquainted
with the great material advances that have been made in Chile
and the Argentine, with the growth along cosmopolitan lines of
cities like Buenos Ayres and Bio de Janiero. But Doctor Mozans
quite incidentally makes us understand the charm of the older and
more typical Spanish-American cities, and brings to the attention
of our people the extraordinary quantity of serious work in scholar-
ship which has been achieved in the universities of these cities
during the centuries immediately past ; and he also shows how the
forces of modern life are now vivifying this charming social,
ancient life, which has so long been held back and perverted into
wrong channels. The book ought to make our people understand
and appreciate far better than at present the South American na-
tions which he visited, and the high and fine qualities of whose
peoples he sketches so vividly.

Nor is it only in describing the scholars and gentlefolk of these
countries and their achievements in the past, and the courteous.

INTRODUCTION

kindly-natured Indian or Bemi-Indian peasantry, that Doctor
Mozans tells ns much that we ought to know. He also brings
vividly to our minds facts about the natural scenery which are
new to most of us. I confess that, as an ardent admirer of the
Orand Canyon, it was rather a shock to me to have Doctor Mozans
speak of it as inferior to the extraordinary gorge of the Marafion,
the headwaters of the Amazon. It does not seem to me that any-
thing on this earth can be grander than the Orand Canyon 1 But at
any rate I earnestly hope that the railroad Doctor Mozans advo-
cates will speedily be built, and the wonderful gorge he describes
be opened to the vision of less hardy travelers than he is.

In closing, I can only repeat again that this is a delightful book
from every standpoint. It is an especially delightful book for
Americans because throughout it Doctor Mozans shows that he is so
thoroughly good an American, so imbued with what is best in our
National spirit, and with the thoughts and aspirations of our great-
est statesmen and writers, and indeed of all who have expressed
the soul of our people. He is peculiarly fit to interpret for us our
neighbors to the south; and he describes them with a qrmpathy,
insight and understanding granted to but few. Moreover, his feat
was a really noteworthy feat, and it is told with vividness, com-
bined with modesty, and an evident entire truthfulness; and we
should be equally attentive to what he sets forth as our accomplish-
ments— ^for example, in digging the Isthmian Canal and bringing
order to Cuba — and to his allusions to our shortcomings, as shown
by our ignorance and lack of appreciation of the great continent
south of us, and our failure to try to bring it and its people into
closer relations with us.

Sagamore Hill,
April 20, 1911.

FOREWORD

In his Discours Pr&iminaire to the French translation of Paz
Soldan's Oeografia del Peru, M. Arstoe Moqueron declares that in
France little was known of Peruvian history, except what was con-
tained in Marmontel's ponderous romance, Les Incas. Manuel
Fuentes, in his charming work on Lima, makes a similar observa-
tion regarding the ignorance prevailing in Europe — and, he might
have added, in the United States as well — regarding the manners
and customs of the people of Peru. What these two writers af-
firmed of Peru, might have been asserted, with even greater truth,
of Bolivia and Ecuador.

Nearly half a century has elapsed since Fuentes and Moqueron
wrote, and, although our knowledge of the coast cities and capi-
tals of these countries has been considerably increased since their
time, thei^ declarations still remain substantially true for the in-
terior of the countries mentioned and particularly for that portion
of them which lies to the east of the Andes. Indeed, one can
truthfully say that certain sections of this immense territory,
extending from the Uanos of Colombia to the Oran Chaco in Pa-
raguay, are less known to-day than they were two and even three
centuries ago. This seems almost incredible, but a reference to
the numerous works of the early missionaries, some of which have
been but recently published, while others are still in manuscript,
would amply verify this seemingly paradoxical assertion.

When one reads these old chronicles, which have so long lain
forgotten in the archives of Spain and South America, one is
forced to recognize the fact that many chapters of the history of
our sister continent must be entirely rewritten, if we would have
an adequate presentation of numerous important events that have,
until these later years, been entirely unknown. One can also see
in these old records a vast amount of raw material for possible
poems and romances, as well as histories, which are merely await-
ing the advent of future Longfellows, Chateaubriands, Parkmans,
Prescotts, Irvings and Quintanas to evolve from it imperishable
creations of literary art.

And when one crosses the lofty mountains and traverses the

•• •
xui

FOREWORD

impenetrable forests that witnessed the marvelous exploits of the
conquistadores, and recalls in detail the amazing deeds of prowess
of the Pizarros, the Orellanas, the Quesadas, the Bellacazars, which
have cast such a glamour over the Spanish name and nation, one
seems to be carried back to the days of chivalry, or to the times
when Iberian valor — quidlibet a/udendi potestas — ^was engaged in
its long and heroic struggle with the infidel Moor.

Nor is this alL When one studies on the ground what has been
accomplished for civilization, by the descendants of the conquistar
dores; when one contemplates their universities and other institu-
tions of learning; when one scans the long list of names of those
who have achieved distinction in science, art, literature, economics,
jurisprudence; when one notes the progress that is now being made
in commerce and in the development of the inexhaustible resources
of forest, field and mine; when one watches shipload after ship-
load of immigrants eagerly hastening to the land of promise under
the Southern Cross, one can realize, as never before, that South
America, in spite of countless retarding influences, has been stead-
ily working out its destiny and progressing towards a great and
brilliant future. But, what above all else impresses the traveler,
is what Mr. Root, on the occasion of his visit to the southern con-
tinent, happily designated as ''the laboratory of life, where Eng-
lish, German, Italian, French, and Spanish and American were all
being welded together to make a new type. ' '

In this great laboratory we can see the same process at work
that for the last century and more has been operating with such
splendid results in the United States. Here, notwithstanding the
constant influx of millions of immigrants of divers nationalities,
all have conformed to the Anglo-Saxon mold and the outcome is
the Anglo-American type, with all the sterling characteristics of
its component elements. In our sister continent, it is the Latin
mold into which the divers elements are compounded and from
which issues the Neo-Latin variety of man known as the Spanish-
American, as distinct and as characteristic as the Anglo-American
of the United States.

That the immigrants from Spain, France and Italy should con-
form to this Neo-Latin mold was to be expected, but one would
have credited the English, the Irish, the Slavs, the Germans with
greater powers of resistance. All, however, without exception,
are, through life's mysterious processes, being rapidly amalga-

xiv

FOBEWORD

mated and absorbed by the dominant type. This is specially re-
markable in southern Brazil^ ''where the Gtorman population is so
dense that Pan-Oerman apostles have often claimed them as free
colonies of DetUschtkum, but the colonists adapt themselves to
local life and soon speak the language of the country."

These facts show the fatuity of those who regard the Iberian
race as degenerate or moribund. The truth is that the Spaniards
and their nearest of kin, the Portuguese, notwithstanding their
being so long "the apparent sport of malicious and inconstant
fortune," contain within themselves the promise and the potency
of a renascence that will soon surprise the world. Never before
in their long and marvelous history have they been more progres-
sive or more powerful. Never were their sonorous tongues so
widely spoken, or by a larger number of people than at present
Never did they rank higher or approach nearer towards universal
use among the great languages of the world. Omitting the peoples
and tongues of China, and of Bussia which is more than half
Asiatic, the Spanish race and tongue to-day are surpassed in
point of numbers, distribution and future promise only by the
An^o-Saxon.

To the great Iberian race belongs the whole of the western
hemisphere from the northern frontier of Mexico to the straits of
Magellan. This, with its possessions in Europe, Asia, and Africa,
constitutes more than one-fourth of the earth's surface. No other
race since the fall of Bome, except the Anglo-Saxon, has achieved
more in conquest and colonization or has contributed more to the
advancement of civilization and culture. A composite race, like
the Anglo-Saxon, and possessing some of the strongest elements
of the English people, it is a race of inexhaustible vitality and
possesses a boundless field for future expansion and development.
Oreat as has been its past and mighty and manifold as have been
its influence and achievements in every sphere of activity, its
future will be still greater. Indeed, the Neo-Latin race, now ad-
vancing with such marvelous strides, bids fair soon to become a
close rival of the noble Anglo-American race in the great republic
of the north.

In the following pages, as in my work, FoUomng the Conquista-
dores wp the Orinoco and down the Magdalena, 1 have endeavored
not only to give a picture of the country and the people as I saw
them, but also to summarize their hopes, aspirations and prospects.

FOBBWOED

I have also briefly disciuBed certain topiot that present themselyea
to every traveler in the land of the Ineas, especially when he con-
templates the wonderful monuments which are scattered over the
length and breadth of this vast territory — ^monuments which have
elicited the admiration of every beholder since the days of the
conquest In doing this, I have drawn freely on the works of the
early chroniclers, many of whom are still practically unknown to
English readers, and have given, when the narrative seemed to
require it, the conclusions of the latest and most competent inves-
tigators regarding the subjects under discussion.

And that the reader, if so minded, may be able to control my
statements, or that he may know where to find further and au-
thentic information on any of the various topics treated, I have,
in footnotes and in the bibliography at the end of the volume,
given the sources of my information and the authorities which, in
controverted questions, I have considered the most trustworthy.
In traversing a field so full of interesting subjects, and so rich in
literary and other monuments, as is the once famous empire of
the Children of the Sun, this method of procedure seemed advis-
able, if not necessary, at least in the interest of that rapidly grow-
ing class of readers, who desire full and accurate information
respecting what is historically, if not in other respects, the most
fascinating part of South America.

I would be ungrateful if I failed to thank publicly those who
contributed so materially towards making my journey to the
southern continent so enjoyable and so profitable. Chief among
these, whose uniform kindness and courtesy I can never forget,
were His Excellency, Dr. Jos6 Pardo, President of Peru; his ac-
complished brother, Don Juan Pardo, president of the Peruvian
Chamber of Deputies; F. A. Pezet, Peruvian minister to Central
America; the prefects and governors, who gave me such generous
hospitality on my way across the Andes from the Pacific to the
Amazon; Senores BaUivian and Hope, the amiable ministers of
the Bolivian Cabinet; and Mr. W. Eyre, manager of the Peruvian
Corporation, and Mr. E. G. Townsend, general superintendent of
the Railways of the South of Peru. To these and to many others
in Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil, to whom I am under lasting
obligations, I hereby tender the fullest acknowledgments of a grate-
ful heart.

XVI

CONTENTS

OHAPTVR PAOB

I. Plbasant Days in Panama 1

n. On the Gbsat South Sba 28

m. From SuiiTRY C!oastland to CHiiiLY Paramo . . 49

IV. A Land op Volcanoes 73

V. Quito Bonito 93

VI. A BAiNiiBBS Coast 109

VII. WoNDEES OF Sea and Mountain 125

VIII. La Villa Hbbmosa 138

IX. The Cradle of the Inoas 149

X. In Aymaraland 166

XI. The Baalbeo of the New World 189

XII. The Home of the Quiohuas 198

XIII. The BoiiE of South America 216

XIV. The City of the Kings 242

XV. The Bealm of the Oreat Chimu 265

XVI. In the Footsteps of Pizarro and Orsua .... 288

XVII. Theatre of a Great Tragedy 314

XVni. In the Heart of the Andes 347

XTX. A Peruvian Paradise 879

XX. Tramping Through a Tropical Forest .... 398

XXI. Drifting in a Dugout 422

Battlb-Grounds and Achievements of the Con-

QUISTADORBS OF THE CrOSS 438

BOMANCE OF THE AMAZON 463

XXIV. Sailing Under the Line 488

XXV. Homeward Bound 513

BIBLIOGRAPHY 529

INDEX 535

• •

xvii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FAdNO

Procescdon of Corpus Christi in the Plaza de Armas, Cuzco

Froniispiece

Roosevelt Avenue, Cristobal-Colon 24

City of Panama 24

Peon's home in the tropical belt of Ecuador 62

Indian village in the highlands of Ecuador 62

Astronomical Observatory, Quito 80

Summit of Chimborazo as seen from the plateau 80

Mountain town on Oroya Railroad, showing andenes 128

Fishermen on Lake Titicaca, near Puno 154

Celebration of a festival at Copacabana 154

A troop of llamas 174

La Pazy with Tllimani to the right 174

Megalithic ruins of Tiahuanaco, Bolivia 190

Portal of the Pre-Licaic ruins of Tiahuanaco, Bolivia 190

Pplpit in the Churdi of San Bias, Cuzco, made by an Lidian
artificer 238

Threshing and winnowing wheat in the Valley of Cuzco 238

The Cathedral of Lima 246

The City of the Kings 246

Pre-Licaic ruins of Cuelap, near Chachapoyas 272

Ruins of the Great Chimu 272

A tamho in the Andes 296

Scene on our trail in the Andes 296

House of Atahualpa's ranscHn, Cajamarca 334

Indian women on the Paranapura 334

A camp in the forest between Moyobamba and Balsapuerto. . 402

xix

LIST OF ILLUSTBATIONS

FAGDfO
PAOI

Fording a river in the Montafia 402

A river scene on the Bio Negro at Manaos 498

Forest view along the Amazon 516

Botanical Garden, Par& 516

NoTK. — For some of the photogimplii mad in iUmtratiiig this book I mm
indebted to tbe oourte^j of my good friends, Mr. Lee McLuog and Professor
Isaiah Bowman. For others I am nnder obligations to Mrs. T. H. Spottiswoode,
a young Englishwoman, who, with her husband, crossed the continent of
South America by way of the Amazon and the Cajamarca route, and who suc-
ceeded in taking a large number of moat raluable photographs of the placet
Tisited.

Route Followed by the Author.

THE UBt ARY
THEUNIVERSmr

OF TEXAS

ALONG THE ANDES
AND DOWN THE AMAZON

CHAPTER I
PLEASANT DAYS IN PANAMA

To the traveler and the historian no part of the New
World is more replete with interest than the narrow strip
of land which is laved by the waters of the Caribbean on
the north and those of tiie Gulf of Panama on the south.
No part is richer in historical associations, none has
witnessed more heroic deeds of valor or more brilliant
achievements, and none has contributed more fascinating
pages to the annals of discovery and daring emprise.

The great Admiral of the Ocean Sea beat up and down
its coast in his futile search for that mythical strait which
was to afford him a short route to the Land of Spices.
Even some of the names which the Isthmus still bears
are reminders of his visit to this part of the world.
Bodrigo de Bastidas, ''Spain's noblest and best con-
quistador,'^ was also here on a similar quest as were like-
wise, there is reason to believe, Alonzo de Ojeda,
Amerigo Vespucci and Juan de la Cosa. They, too, were
looking for the fabled passageway to India.

A few years later they were followed by Vasco Nunez
de Balboa, the illustrious discoverer of the great South
Sea. Starting from Santa Maria de la Antigua, on the
Gulf of Darien, he skirted the coast until he reached a
point near Cape Tiburon, whence he pushed his way
through the almost impervious forests to what is now

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

known as the Gulf of San Migael. By a most happy
chance he crossed the Isthmus at its narrowest, albeit not
at its lowest part, and along the line on which, centuries
later, was located what is known as the Caledonian Canal
route. In Balboa's valiant band was Francisco Pizarro,
who, in place of his ill-fated chief, was destined to be
one of the great makers of history in the discovery and
conquest of the land of the Incas.

Contrary to what is frequently stated, the route chosen
by Balboa on his way to the South Sea was nearly a
hundred miles distant from the Panama railroad. And
the eminence from which he got his first view of the Pacific
was not, as some writers assert. El Cerro Gigante, mid-
way between Colon and Panama, but some elevated point
in ihe Cordillera, probably the great massif of Pirri,
northeast of San Miguel Bay.

The first port of note, on the Caribbean side of the
Isthmus, was Nombre de Dios, which, because of the im-
mense treasures that were at times collected there in
transit to Spain, was called the Treasure House of the
World. This place, on account of its insalubrity, was
subsequently abandoned. To-day not a trace of it is
visible. Porto Bello replaced it as a port and until the
foundation of Aspinwall — ^now known as Colon — ^it was one
of the most important ports on the Caribbean, for here
was garnered all the gold, silver and pearls that had been
brought from the mines of Peru and the islands of the
South Sea.

For a long time there was a paved road between Porto
Bello and Panama and during the halcyon days of Span-
ish rule, the value of the traffic that passed over it was
immense. Some times, however, a portion of the mer-
chandise was shipped a part of the way by the Chagres
River. These were the routes taken by Drake and Morgan
during their memorable raids. They were, in fact, the
only routes available for freight and passengers until the
completion of the Panama railroad in 1855.

PLEASANT DATS IN PANAMA

It was during the veranito — the short suminer that fol-
lows St. John's day, which occurs the 24th of June, —
that I first set foot on the soil of Colon. The sun was
approaching the zenith of a cloudless sky; the tempera-
ture was high, but far from being as oppressive as I had
been led to expect. Indeed, in the shade, thanks to the
grateful breeze from the sea, it was quite comfortable.
The streets of the city were crowded near the wharf with
people, mostly negroes and Chinamen, but, while there
was considerable noise and bustle, there was no disorder.
I lost no time in having my luggage transferred to the
leading hotel, where I foimd excellent quarters and
whence I soon sallied forth to study the city and its en-
virons.

Colon is quite a modem town, counting barely three-
score years since its foundation. It is the Caribbean
terminus of the Panama railroad, and is by far the most
important part of the young republic. Steamers call
there from all parts of the world, and the volume of cargo
discharged and taken on is astonishing. If the amount
of traffic is now so great what will it be, one instinctively
asks, when the canal is completed and opened to the com-
merce of all nations?

The houses of Colon are very unlike those of other
Spanish-American towns. They are mostly frame and
galvanized-iron structures, and remind one of those
everywhere visible in the Trans-Missouri region. Many
of them are the merest shacks, while others, especially
those occupied by the officers of the Panama Canal, are
models of comfort and good taste. The doors and win-
dows and even the porches of these are provided with
metal screens so as to prevent the ingress of mosquitoes
and other insects. In such houses, particularly in those
near the seashore, one can enjoy the balmy, equable tem-
perature of the tropics and, at the same time, be free
from the annoyances inevitable in dwellings that are not
similarly protected.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

The city stands on the low, flat island of Manzanillo,
which is about a mile long and three-quarters of a mile
broad. So low indeed, is it — ** nowhere more than four
feet above mean sea level" — that sewage is almost im-
possible. This, in one of the rainiest spots of the world,
where good drainage is so necessary, and in an atmos-
phere of extraordinary humidity, is a serious drawback.
It certainly justifies the opinion that this important port
should be transferred to a higher level, or that the city
itself should be elevated by earth brought down from the
neighboring highland.

Strange, however, as it may seem, there are some who
prefer Colon as a place of residence to Panama. It is
somewhat cooler and enjoys almost constantly the ines-
timable advantage of the trade-winds.

Nor is it entirely devoid of beauty. Its rows of lofty
and graceful palm trees, especially those in the more aris-
tocratic quarters, are particularly attractive and give
to the place a distinction it would not otherwise possess.
Its setting, too, enhances the beauty of the place. The
swelling hills and the Quebrancha Mountains in the back-
ground and the jutting headlands at each side of the city
make it, as seen from the deck of an incoming steamer,
a picture of rare loveliness.

Since the advent of the American health oflScers a mar-
velous improvement has been noted in the sanitary con-
dition of Colon, as well as elsewhere along the route of
the canal. Before their arrival, it fully deserved its
reputation of being one of the worst plague spots in the
world. For generations yellow fever had been practi-
cally endemic there, while malarial and pernicious fevers
were prevalent in their most malignant forms. Consid-
ering the low, swampy island on which the city is built,
the squalid huts, reeking with filth, of many of its in-
habitants, the unsanitary conditions that so long pre-
vailed here, the humid, pestilential atmosphere which
ever enveloped it, it is small wonder that the mortality of

PLEASANT DATS IN PANAMA

the place was so great as has been reported, and that the
voyager studiously avoided this port as he would the
plague itself.

Alter two days spent in studying conditions in Colon,
we — ^a Boston press agent and I — started out to take a
look at the work that is being done on the great canal.
This every true American, who visits the Isthmus, deems
a duty and every intelligent one finds a genuine pleasure.
Aside from its being the most stupendous feat of en-
gineering ever attempted, it is a work in which all Amer-
icans have a justifiable patriotic pride, and one to whose
successful completion at an early day they look forward
with the deepest interest.

I shall never forget the surprise of some fellow-
travelers when they learned the amount they had to pay
for their tickets and baggage to Panama. ** Exorbi-
tant,'* said one; *' Extortion," exclaimed another; **No
wonder, '* declared a third, **that the company has been
able to declare such handsome dividends.'' The prices
reminded me of the local rates one had to pay on certain
of our Eocky Mountain roads a quarter of a century ago.
But high as they were, they were much lower than the
prices demanded two decades ago. Then a ticket from
Colon to Panama, a distance of forty-seven miles, cost
twenty-five dollars in gold and personal baggage was
charged for at the rate of thirteen cents a pound. And
time was when the freight rate for these forty-seven
miles was equal to one-half the amount paid for it from
New York to Valparaiso, a distance of nearly five thou-
sand miles.

Immediately after leaving Colon the train crosses an
embankment, when the passenger finds himself on Tierra
Firme — ^the Firm Land of the early Spanish writers.
To the right is an extensive mangrove swamp, the de-
spair of the early engineers of the Panama railroad.
The diflSculties they had to encounter here in their pre-
liminary survey, as well as in the subsequent work of

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

construction, were enormous and taxed their ingenuity
and grit to the utmost. It is doubtful whether any
stretch of railroad in the world has presented greater
obstacles and been attended with greater suffering and
loss of life than have the six miles in the pestilential
swamp between Colon and Gatun.

The same difficulties and dangers were encountered by
the French in digging the canal through this miasmatic,
death-dealing morass. The countless graves in the ad-
joining cemetery of Mount Hope testify to the frightful
mortality caused by plagues which at times seemed to
render the continuation of the work impossible. Pierc-
ing the Alps and tunneling the crests of the Eocky Moun-
tain ranges were easy in comparison with track-laying
and canal-digging on the Isthmus of Panama before the
adoption of the hygienic measures now in force in the
Canal Zone.

For a greater part of the way up the northern slope of
the Isthmus the Chagres Eiver^ is almost continually in
view. During the dry season it is a shallow, tranquil
stream, from one to two hundred feet wide, but, during
the rainy period, it is a tumultuous river that often over-
leaps its banks and carries everything before it. It is
said that in 1878 the floods were so high that the railroad
was in places covered with eighteen feet of water. This
fact will give an idea of some of the problems confronting
our engineers in devising means for controlling this ter-
rible water-course during the season of rain and floods.

On both sides of the road for a greater part of the dis-
tance to Panama the vegetation is as profuse and as dense
as can be seen anywhere in the tropics. Palms, bamboos,
cedars, mahoganies, cottonwoods, ferns and heliconias, all
matted together by vines and creepers of every kind, are
most conspicuous. At places the jungle almost touches
the rails, and so rapid is the growth of herb and tree that

1 Formerly called by the Spaniards Rio Lagartos, on aoeoant of the large
number of crocodiles found in it.

PLEASANT DATS IN PANAMA

the road would be covered with a compact mass of vege-
tation in less than six months unless measures were
adopted to keep it cleared.

Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, writing of the
scenery along this route, declare that *' Nothing can ex-
ceed the prospects which the rivers of this country ex-
hibit. The most fertile imagination of a painter can
never equal the magnificence of the rural landscapes here
drawn by the pencil of Nature. The groves which shade
the plains, and extend their branches to the river, the
various dimensions of the trees, which cover the emi-
nences, the texture of their leaves, the figure of their
fruits, and the various colors they exhibit, form a most
delightful scene, which is greatly heightened by the in-
finite variety of creatures with which it is diversified. * ' ^

The early explorers and Buccaneers tell of how they
had to cut their way through the dense and tangled for-
ests of the Isthmus by swords and machetes, and how it
required weeks for them to make a journey that could
otherwise have been accomplished in so many days.
Balboa, on his way to the South Sea, at the time of its
discovery, spent twenty days, according to Oviedo, in
crossing the Isthmus at its narrowest part, and Morgan
and his band, under more favorable conditions, almost
perished from starvation in making their way from
Chagres to Panama.

From the traveler who visits the tropics for the first
time, the ranchos or huts of the Indians and mestizos will
claim special attention. They are usually of wattled
bamboo, thatched with grass or with palm or oleander
leaves, and of the simplest possible character. Judging,
however, from the number of children always seen about
these humble dwellings, there is no race suicide in this
part of the world.

One will see many beautiful flowers along the way, but
the one that will possess the most interest for the lovers

1 A Voyage to South America, Vol. I, Book HI, Chap. I. Dublin, 1768.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

of floral beauty is the exquisite orchid of the species
Peristeri elata, known as La Flor del Espiritu Santo —
the Flower of the Holy Ghost. It is also known as the
dove-plant, from the resemblance of its strangely-formed
column* to a beautiful white dove. The wax-like wings
are sometimes spotted with purple, but whether white or
spotted, the **dove'* is always an object of rarest delicacy
and interest. This remarkable orchid, whose habitat is
in the Isthmus, flowers from June to September, and its
racemes produce flowers for six or seven weeiks after
opening. The stems of this stately, highly-ornamental
plant are from three to five feet high and its wax-like,
sweetly-scented flowers are two inches in diameter. It
was introduced to the florists of the United States and
Europe from Panama in 1826, but the cultivated plant
never equals the gorgeous exhibitions of it one may see
in the propitious soil and atmosphere of Panama.

Although we saw many birds of divers species, espe-
cially parrots, parrakeets, macaws and humming birds, we
did not see a single wild quadruped of any kind, and still
less did we observe monkeys chattering in the tree tops
that more fortunate travelers than ourselves would have
one believe can be seen at any time from the windows of
the passing train. I recalled what a school-fellow
from the Pacific coast had told me about the numbers he
had seen on the Way from Panama to Aspinwall, and
how I had envied him his opportunity of enjoying such
sights. But that was long ago, — ^before the completion
of the Union Pacific railroad. I had to be satisfied
with Lionel Wafer's account of them, for he found them,
he assures us, in great droves, some white but most of
them black, some with beards, others beardless, but '^all
extraordinary fat in the dry Season when the Fruits are
Eipe. They are,*' he informs us, ''a very waggish kind
of Monkey, and plaid a thousand antick Tricks as we

iThe name giyen to the consolidated stamens and pistils which, in most
blossoms, are separate organs.

PLEASANT DATS IN PANAMA

marched at any time through the Woods, skipping from
Bough to Bough, with the young ones hanging at the old
ones Back, making Faces at ns and chattering. To pass
from top to top of high "l^rees whose Branches are a little
too far asunder for their Leaping they will sometimes
hang down by one another's Tails in a Chain; and swing-
ing in that manner the lowermost catches hold of a Bough
of another Tree, and draws up the rest of them. ' ' ^

These monkeys were almost as clever as some he says
he saw on the coast of Peru, ''who lived partly upon
oysters, which they got out of the Sea at low Water.
Their way was to take up an oyster and lay it upon a
Stone, and with another Stone Keep beating of it till they
had broke the Shell in pieces. ' ' ^

Near the point where the railroad leaves the Chagres
is a town, inhabited chiefly by negroes and Chinamen,
that bears the peculiar name of Matachin, a contraction
of two Spanish words mata chino, meaning, **Ball China-
man.'* It is so called because of an outbreak of yellow
fever here in 1887, which carried off no fewer than two
thousand Chinamen. These were mostly employes on
the canal under the French company. Large numbers of
Chinese laborers were also engaged in the construction
of the railroad and so many of them fell victims to the
ravages of yellow and pernicious fevers that, it is as-
serted, a Chinaman lies under every sleeper of the road
from Colon to Panama.

A short distance from Matachin, on the left bank of
the Chagres, on the Gold Boad and a short distance from
the present railway, is the hamlet of Cruces — formerly
Venta Cruz — famous in the annals of pirates and Buc-

1 New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America. Second edition,
pp. 84-8^. London, 1704.

Ckmipare my FollottAng the Conquistadores up the Orinoco and Doton the
Magdalena, pp. 151, 152, New York, 1910; also Jorge Juan and Antonio de
Ulloa, at. »up. Vol. I, Book III, Chap. I, for similar accounts of monkey
bridges.

sn)id., p. 156.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

caneers. It was here that Drake captured three recuas
— ^mule trains — ''one of fifty mules, the other two of
seventy each, every one of which carried three hundred
pounds of silver; which, in all, amounted to near thirty
tons/'^

It was subsequently visited by Morgan on his way to
the city of Panama. After capturing the fort of San
Lorenzo, that guarded the mouth of the Chagres, he and
his men started up the river in canoes and flatboats, and
after untold sufferings, arrived at Venta Cruz in a starv-
ing condition. They had counted on securing the neces-
sary provisions en route, and for this reason, took with
them only enough to last the first day. But the wily
Spaniards had abandoned their settlements and strong-
holds along the way and had left behind them no food of
any kind. At one place Morgan's men found a few
leather bags and they fell upon these ''like hungry dogs
quarreling for a bone. They fought and wrangled for
the scraps of leather and ate them greedily, with frequent
gulps of water. '* It took them seven days to make the
journey from Chagres to Venta Cruz, but when they ar-
rived at the latter place, "all sweating and panting,'*
exhausted by hunger and fatigue, instead of finding the
store of provisions they expected there, they discovered
that the town had been emptied of everything that could
assuage the pangs of hunger and then fired by the re-
treating Spaniards.

We stopped at several places on the way to view the
work being done on the canal, but the spot at which we
tarried longest was Culebra. Here is where the famous
cut is being made, not through the "mighty mountain
wall of the Andes,*' as is sometimes stated, but through
a low hill composed of clay and soft, friable rock, which,
even before the first shovelful of earth was removed, was

TxV
1 Referring to this expedition of Drake — "The master thief of the unknown

world" — ^Hakluyt writes: "The march was so sore as never Englishmen

marched before."

PLEASANT DATS IN PANAMA

less than three hundred feet above sea level. The length
of the cut, extending from Obispo to Pedro Miguel, is less
than eight miles, but one soon realizes, when viewing the
army of men at work, and seeing the giant steam shovels
in operation, that the undertaking is of colossal propor-
tions and one worthy of a race of Titans.

Contrary to what is often imagined, the canal is not
being dug in the narrowest part of the Isthmus. The dis-
tance from the embouchure of the Eio Chepo on the
Pacific to the Nercalegua in the bay of San Bias on the
Atlantic, is three miles less than that from Colon to
Panama. Neither is the route of the canal located along
the lowest level obtainable. The watei^shed of Guys-
coyol, between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean, is
only forty-six meters above sea level, while that of the
present canal route at Culebra, before any work was done
on it, was nearly twice as high, being eighty-seven and a
half meters. The San Bias route which, on account of
its lesser length, was at one time thought of in connec-
tion with an inter-ocean canal, is fully a thousand feet
above sea level, with an intervening massif nearly ten
miles long.^ For this and many other reasons that need
not be recounted here, the Colon-Panama route was
finally chosen in preference to any of the many others
that had been considered at various times before the work
of construction was actually begun.

I wish to emphasize the word many in this connection,
for it is a fact that nearly a score of different routes have
been selected since the idea was first conceived of connect-
ing the Atlantic with the Pacific by a navigable water-
way.

Nor is the project of recent origin, as is sometimes
thought, but one that dates back almost to the time of the
discovery of Tierra Firme.

It has been well said that ** Columbus was the first one
to propose a water highway from Europe to Asia, west-

lArmand Redus, Panama ei Darten, Chap. VII, Paris, 1881.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

ward, by way of the Atlantic. It was such a highway
that he sought and not the new world which he actually
found.'' In a certain sense, therefore, ''Columbus was
the practical founder of the enterprise, which, after four
centuries of delay. President Eoosevelt ha^ undertaken
to complete. Nevertheless, the error of his conceptions
and of his conclusions in no way detracts from the glory
of Columbus. He went to seek a new road to a known
continent. Instead, he found two hitherto unknown con-
tinents, and to their colonized inhabitants in after-cen-
turies he left the lesser work of creating by artifice the
water highway which he had sought, but which he sought
in vain, because Nature had failed to create it.'* ^

Although all the voyages of the illustrious Genoese had
for their object the discovery of a direct western route
to Asia, the fourth and last one was particularly remark-
able for the supreme effort he made to disclose the
''Secret of the Strait." He coasted along the shores of
what is now known as Central America and the Isthmus
of Panama from Gracias a Dios to the Gulf of Darien,
"passing from cape to cape and from bay to inlet, gazing
upon the marvels of the New World, trafficking with the
bronzed Indians and bartering curious wares for barba-
rous gold," seeking at every point for that mythical
passage which he was sure must exist, and which, if
found, would put into his possession all the fabled treas-
ures of the Isles of Spices and of the Golden Chersone-
sus. He entered the bay of Porto Bello and thence pro-
ceeded to Nombre de Dios, both places celebrated as the
one-time chief ports on the Caribbean for the rich mer-
chandise of Peru. He anchored in the bay of Limon, on
which Colon and Cristobal, both of which places are
named after him, are now built, and furled his sails in
the Chagres River at, perhaps, the very spot where it
meets the great canal at Gatun.

1 W. F. Johnson, Four Centuriea of the Panama Oa/nal, pp. 1 and 17,
New York, 1906.

PLEASANT DAYS IN PANAMA

What ColTunbns failed to achieve, other explorers en-
deavored to carry to a successful issue. Among these
was Gil Gonzales Davila, who, in imitation of Balboa's
feat, carried the materials for his exploring caravels
across the Isthmus. He was the discoverer of Lake
Nicaragua, which, according to Indian legends, once
united the ''Northern with the Southern'' Sea. There
were also Alvarez de Pineda, Juan de Grijalva, and Her-
nando de Soto, the discoverer of the Mississippi, who ex-
plored the Mexican coast in the eager quest for ''the
shorter route to Cathay."

Hernando Cortez, the famous conqueror of Mexico,
after the fall of the empire of Montezuma, likewise en-
gaged in the search for the Strait by the direct command
of Charles V. What value this strenuous conquistador
att€iched to the discovery of the eagerly-sought passage
is evinced from the following words in a letter to his
sovereign written in 1524:— "If the Strait is found, I
shall hold it to be the greatest service I have yet rendered.
It would make the King of Spain master of so many
lands that he might call himself Lord of the whole
world. ' '

France gave Giovanni da Verrazzano and Jacques Car-
tier the same commission and they explored the Atlantic
coast as far north as Labrador. Hendrik Hudson was
seeking the Strait when he ascended the river that bears
his name. In his day, it was thought that the North
American continent was no wider in the latitude of the
Hudson's mouth than it was at Panama. Cartier was in
quest of the Strait when he sailed up the St. Lawrence,
as was also La Salle. The latter 's feudal domain, near
Montreal, retains to this day the name '^La Chine*' —
China — ^which, Parkman tells us, was given in derision of
the futile attempt to find the way to eastern Asia.*

Magellan, it is true, did discover a strait leading from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, but it was so remote from the

1 La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, Vol. I, p. 29, Boston, 1897.

639344

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

world's great centers of traffic that it did not satisfy the
urgent demands of ever-expanding commerce.

As soon as the Spanish explorers had satisfied them-
selves that there was no natural waterway between the
two great oceans, they began to talk of creating an
artificial one. This was a long time before the voyages
of Hudson and a longer time still before Davis and
Frobisher and Baffin went in quest of the Northwest
Passage.

The first to propose an interoceanic canal was appar-
ently Hernando Cortes, and he went so far as to have
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec surveyed with a view to the
construction of such a waterway. He was followed in
this ambitious scheme by his cousin, Alvaro de Saavedra
Ceron, who, having been with Balboa on his journey to
the South Sea, and was therefore familiar with the nar-
rowness and low elevation of the Isthmus along the path
traversed by them, had, Qalvano informs us, ''meant to
have opened the land of Castilla de Oro and New Spain
from sea to sea. ' ' ^

Shortly after Cortes had written the above-mentioned
letter to his sovereign, Gomara and Qalvano, referring to
the importance of an artificial canal and of its superior-
ity over the routes by the Strait of Magellan, the Cape
of Good Hope and the problematic Northwest Passage,
indicated four routes which they deemed feasible. And,
strange as it may appear, these were the very routes that
have been so much discussed in our own day — ^namely,
those of Tehuantepec, Nicaragua, Darien and Panama.

Of this stupendous enterprise, of which he took a most
optimistic view, Gomara writes: — ^'^ There are mountains,
but there are also hands. Give me the resolve and the
task will be accomplished. If determination is not lack-
ing, means will not fail; the Indies, to which the way is
to be made, will furnish them. To a King of Spain,

1 The DUcaveriea of the World, p. 180, printed by the Hakluyt Sodefy,
1852.

PLEASANT DAYS IN PANAMA

seeking the wealth of Indian commerce, that which is pos-
sible is also easy. ^ * ^

Charles V was specially insistent about the great un-
dertaking, and, with a view of determining the most
practicable route, had surveys made in various parts of
Costa Firme, as the Panama isthmus was then called,
among which was a survey of the valley of the Chagres
along practically the same route that has been adopted
by our American .engineers.

Philip II at first held the same views as his father
about the importance of the canal, but he soon changed
his policy. He was discouraged by the unfavorable re-
ports received from his engineers, and the rapidly rising
power of the English at sea made him fear that he would
not be able to control it if constructed. Finally, like the
historian Acosta, he apparently concluded that *4t would
be contrary to the Divine Will to unite two oceans which
the Creator of the World had separated, and that to at-
tempt so impious a deed would surely provoke some
appalling catastrophe.^ Accordingly, he not only aban-
doned all schemes for a canal, but he forbade the making
of them, decreed that no canal should be constructed, and
imposed, it is said, the penalty of death upon any one
who should make known, or should attempt to seek a bet-
ter route across the Isthmus than the overland trail from
Porto Bello to Panama; especially interdicting attempts
on the Mandigua or Atrato Eiver. ' ' '

1 Historia Oeneral de lets Indias, p. 222, of Bihlioteoa de Autores E8pafk>le8,
Tom. XXII, Madrid, 1877.

2 "I believe there is no humaine power able to beat and breake downe
those strong and impenetrable mountaines, which Gk>d hath placed betwixt
the two seas, and hath made them most hard rockes, to withstand the furie
of two seas. And although it were possible to men, yet in my opinion they
should feare punishment from heaven in seeking to correct the workes which
the Creator by his great providence hath ordained and disposed in the fram-
ing of this universall world." The Natural and Moral History of the Indies,
translated by Edward Grimston, Book III, Chap. X, London, 16(M.

'Johnson, op. cit., pp. 33 and 34, Scruggs, The Oolomhian and Venezuelan
Republics, pp. 13 et seq., Boston, 1905; and Forbes Lindsay, Panama, the
Isthmus and the Canal, Philadelphia, 1906.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Little more was said or done about an Isthmian water-
way until the latter part of the seventeenth century. It
was then that Lionel Wafer, who had accompanied the
freebooter. Captain Sharpe, across the Isthmus, near the
route that had been followed by Balboa, returned to Eng-
land and reported that *'in that part of the Isthmus there
was no mountain range at all. There were only detached
hills, among which were broad low valleys, extending
across the narrow Isthmus from sea to. sea. ' '

A canny Scott, William Patterson, the founder of the
Bank of England, learning of this, conceived the idea of
establishing a colony on the Isthmus of Darien, which
should secure for Great Britain **the Keys of the Uni-
verse, enabling their possessors to give laws to both
oceans, and to become the arbiters of the commercial
world.'* His views regarding the control of the Isthmus
were identical with those of Cortes and expressed in al-
most the same words. His colony was a failure, but the
names Puerto Escoces and Caledonian Bay, on which the
colony was established, still remain on the maps, and
the Caledonian Canal Route, which he personally surveyed,
attests to his eagerness in securing for his country the
inestimable benefits that would accrue from the control
of a waterway from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

After the collapse of Patterson's schemes, nothing of
moment regarding an interoceanic canal was accom-
plished until Humboldt, early in the nineteenth century,
directed anew the world's attention to the prime impor-
tance of the enterprise which, he declared, was ** calcu-
lated to immortalize a government occupied with the true
interests of humanity. ' ' ^

The investigations of Humboldt regarding the Isthmian
canal had immense interest for everyone but for none
more than for his illustrious countryman, the poet
Goethe, whose forecast regarding the connection of the

1 Essai Politiqtte 8ur le Royaume de la Nouvelle Eapagne, Tom. I, p. 260,
Paris, 1811.

PLEASANT DAYS IN PANAMA

United States with the great work was truly prophetic.
In his Conversations with Eckermann and Soret in
February, 1827, he expresses himself in the following re-
markable manner: —

''So much, however, is certain, that if they succeed in
cutting such a canal that ships of any burden and size
can be navigated through it from the Mexican Gulf to the
Pacific Ocean, innumerable benefits will result to the
whole human race, civilized and uncivilized. But I
should wonder if the United States were to let an oppor-
tunity escape of getting such a work into their hands.
It may be foreseen that this young State, with its decided
predilection for the West, will in thirty or forty years,
have occupied and peopled the large tract of land beyond
the Bocky Mountains. It may, furthermore, be foreseen
that along the whole coast of the Pacific Ocean, where
Nature has already formed the most capacious harbors,
important conmiercial towns will gradually arise, for the
furtherance of a great intercourse between China and the
East Indies and the United States. In such a case it
would be not only desirable but almost necessary that a
more rapid communication should be maintained between
the eastern and western shores of North America,
both by merchant ships and men of war, than has hith-
erto been possible with the tedious, disagreeable and ex-
I)ensive voyage around Cape Horn. I therefore repeat
that it is absolutely indispensable for the United States
to effect a passage from the Mexican Gulf to the Pacific
Ocean ; and I am certain that they will do it/ ^ ^

One would think that the inunortal bard was speaking
at the time when the Oregon was making her wonderful
voyage around the Horn and not three-quarters of a cen-
tury earlier. This was one of the great undertakings he
wished to see realized before his death. **It would,'* he
declared, '*well be worth the trouble to last some fifty
years more for the very purpose. * * *

1 p. 222, The Bohn edition, 1802. t n>id.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

But it is not my intention to give an epitome of the
histoiy of the Panama Canal. That has frequently been
done by others.* I merely wish to call attention to the less
known and more interesting features connected with this
colossal enterprise.

From the time of Humboldt and Goethe, in its gradual
evolution from a mere idea to an accomplished fact, the
question of the canal was taken up with renewed interest
and with a more determined purpose by statesmen and
engineers. It became the subject-matter of international
politics and protracted diplomacy. During all this
time the face of the great American Eepublic was set
toward the Isthmus, and, after long years of discussion
and numberless surveys and the making and abrogating
of many treaties, the United States finally stepped in to
complete the work that Gtoethe, in the early part of the
preceding century, had declared was indispensable to its
fullest commercial and military efficiency.

The vast army of men so intelligently directed and so
admirably cared for, working so effectively and so en-
thusiastically from Colon to Panama assures the early com-
pletion of this the greatest engineering feat of the ages.

*'When do you expect to finish the canal t** I asked a
young American engineer operating one of the large
steam shovels employed in excavating Culebra cut. ''If
Roosevelt were in charge here, the work would be com-
pleted in six years. You can^t imagine what ginger he
put into the boys when he was here. He is the man to
make the dirt fly. We should like to see him come down
here to boss the job.** **You bet your life we would,'*
chimed in a sturdy ex-Rough Rider, standing hard by.
''Teddy is the boy to make things move, I tell you. I
served under him in Cuba and I know what I am talking
about. If this old ditch is ever finished, it will be be-
cause he took it in hand. Nobody else would ever have

1 Especially by Forbes Lindsay, whose latest work, Panama and the Canal
To-day, gives a graphic account of this stupendous undertaking.

PLEASANT DAYS IN PANAMA

had the nerve to undertake the work when there was so
much opposition to it. That Frenchman, De Lesseps,
was able to build the Suez Canal, but he had to throw up
his hands when he tackled Panama. It was too much for
him. It took a big, wide, go-ahead American with a
'Big Stick' to do the trick. We are all proud of him,
and, if we had our way about it, the canal, when finished,
would be called Roosevelt Canal. Taft is a good fellow
and Goethals is a good fellow, and they have both done
splendid work on the canal, but, say what you will, Teddy
is the daddy of them all. He knows how to do things and
he does them. And wherever you run across him you
will be sure to find him going some.''

There is no doubt about it, Roosevelt's influence has
been a powerful factor in guaranteeing the success of the
Panama enterprise, and his spirit, it was evident, per-
vaded the ranks of the thirty-five thousand men that were
at the time of our visit striving with irresistible energy
and unabated enthusiasm to finish at the earliest possible
date the most stupendous work ever undertaken by man
— ^a work before which the pyramids of Egypt, marvelous
as they are, fade into insignificance.

When the work shall be completed, the dream of
Columbus will be a reality and the Strait, that so many
ardent explorers sought for so eagerly, will be no longer
a secret. The direct route to Cathay and the Island of
Spices will be opened to the traders of the world and the
mariner on the storm-swept Atlantic will at last be able
to direct the prow of his vessel toward Balboa's Mar del
Sur, not far from where it first met the ecstatic gaze of
the ill-fated conquistador, and say with Tennyson's
Ulysses :

My purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars,"

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

There is apparently but one thing that may interfere
with the successful operation of the canal after its com-
pletion— earthquakes. There is, however, but little to be
apprehended from this source, as the danger, although
possible, seems remote. It is true that the canal is in the
belt of seismic disturbances, but, outside of the compara-
tively slight shocks of 1854 and 1882, there is no record
of any serious earth-tremor during the last four cen-
turies. As an evidence of the freedom of the Isthmus
from the heavy shocks, the natives point to the large
tower, yet standing, of the Cathedral of Old Panama,
which is still in an admirable state of preservation. A
better evidence probably of the exemption of Panama
from earthquakes, as compared with the neighboring re-
public of Costa Eica, is the fact that during the years
1901 and 1903 there was not a single shock at Panama,
whereas, in San Jose there were one hundred and fifty,
more than thirty of which were quite severe.

Humboldt speculated on the possible results in the cur-
rents of the ocean which would follow the construction of
a tide-level canal. '*We cannot doubt,*' he writes, **that
if the Isthmus of Panama were once burst, by some simi-
lar catastrophe to that which opened the columns of Her-
cules, the current of rotation, instead of ascending toward
the Gulf of Mexico and issuing through the Bahama
Channel, would follow the same parallel from the coast
of Paria to the Philippine Islands. The eflfect of this
opening or new strait, would extend much beyond the
Banks of New Foundland, and would either occasion the
disappearance or diminish the celerity of the Gulf
Stream. '**

No results would follow the construction of a lock
canal, and it is highly improbable that any change in

lOp. dt, Tom. I, pp. 245-246.

AcoBta, ut 9up,, referring to the prophet "to joyne one sea to the other"
writes "some would say it were a meanes to drowne the land, one sea being
lower than another."

PLEASANT DAYS IN PANAMA

ocean currents would be effected through a tide-level
channel, unless it were as wide as the one depicted on the
map of Waldseemiiller, who was unaware of the existence
of an isthmus connecting the northern continent of the
New World with the southern.

Much as we were interested in examining the huge un-
dertaking that was to separate two continents, which had
been united since the late Miocene, there was another
work of a different character, but of supreme importance,
that has been conducted on the Isthmus, which elicited
our keenest attention and commanded unbounded admira-
tion for the marvelous — apparently impossible — ^results
that have been achieved in a few short years and that,
too, in the face of what seemed to be unsurmountable ob-
stacles.

I refer to the extraordinary work that has been accom-
plished by Colonel Gorgas and his energetic associates
in extirpating malaria and yellow fever from the Canal
Zone, and in eliminating from it those other recurrent
plagues which, prior to the arrival of the American sani-
tary officers, had so decimated the ranks of the employes
on the canal and railway. No better illustration could be
given of the achievements of sanitary science than the
change that has been effected by the introduction here
of modem prophylactic methods in fighting against
virulent diseases that had been endemic from time imme-
morial.

The American government realized from the outset
that, next to the digging of the canal, the most important
task confronting it was the proper sanitation of the Canal
Zone. The canal was to be built for all time and should
therefore be in a salubrious territory. Epidemic diseases
and their causes should be eradicated at once, so as to ob-
viate that frightful life-toll that had hitherto been claimed
among the ranks of the railway and canal employes
on the Isthmus. President Roosevelt, in his address to the
Canal Commission — as they were about to enter upon their

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

duties in the spring of 1904,— emphasized the importance
of this part of their work in the following words : —

** There is one matter to which I ask your special atten-
tion— the question of sanitation and hygiene. You will
take measures to secure the best medical experts for this
purpose whom you can obtain, and you will, of course, make
the contractors submit as implicitly as your own employes
to all the rules and regulations of the medical department
under you/^

Before Colonel Qorgas entered upon his campaign
against the Anapholes and the Stegomya — the malarial
and yellow fever mosquitoes — ^the unsanitary condition of
Panama was expressed in the following lines:

**For dangers uncounted are clustering there,
The pestilence stalks uncontrolled.
Strange poisons are borne on the soft languid air
And lurk in each leaf's fragrant fold."

It suffices to recall the frightful loss of life among the
California gold-hunters, between the year 1849 and the
completion of our first transcontinental railroad ; to allude
to the time when the death rate among the employes
of the French Company rose to four hundred out of a
thousand, and to realize the pestilential condition of the
Isthmus from the mouth of the Chagres to the Bay of
Panama, to have some conception of the magnitude of the
task that confronted the American sanitary officers when
they assumed charge of the Canal Zone, July 1, 1904.

The undertaking was enough to appall the stoutest heart,
but Colonel Qorgas and his aids were nothing daunted.
They were fresh from their triumphs in Havana, and had
absolute confidence in the efficacy of their methods. A
year later, so intelligent and well-directed had been their
efforts, so thorough their work, even to the minutest de-
tails, that victory was in sight. Three months later yellow
fever had been completely stamped out of the Canal Zone
and the death rate among employes had been reduced

PLEASANT DAYS IN PANAMA

to eleven per thousand, which is far below that of the
larger cities of the United States and Europe.

This was, indeed, a marvelous showing, but when certain
swamps shall have been filled in; when wide stretches of
grass and jungle shall have been cut and burned ; when the
drainage and sewage systems, now under construction,
shall have been completed, and when other precautionary
measures, now in force, shall have had time to exhibit re-
sults, then there is every reason to believe that the death
rate shall be lower even than it is at present, and but little,
if at all, above that of the most sanitary of our northern
cities.^

1 According to the Annual Report of the Isthmian OwuU Oommiseion for
the Fiscal Tear ending June 30th, 1909, the death rate of the total popula-
tion in the Canal Zone, including the cities of Colon and Panama, wai 22.04
per thousand. The death rate of the wives and children of employ^ from
the United States was only 7.38 per thousand, while the death rate from
disease of the white employ^ from the United States was reduced to the
astonishingly low figure of 3.70 per thousand. The mortality of the negro
employ^ was 11.08 per thousand, as against a mortality of one hundred and
twenty-seven years before. When one remembers that the rate of mortality
in the larger cities of the United States and Europe ranges from eighteen
to twenty-eight per thousand, and is in the leading cities of Asia and Africa,
nearly twice as great, the significance of the above figures becomes apparent.
Indeed, the marvelous achievement of Colonel Gorgas and his staff in trans-
forming the Panama zone from one of the greatest plague spots in the world
into one of the most salubrious of localities, is little short of miraculous.

In a recent address before the sixtieth annual sessicm of the American
Medical Association, Colonel Gorgas expressed himself as follows:

I believe that the d^ility from which the white man has suffered in the
past at Panama and in other tropical countries is due to malaria prin-
cipally, and that if he protects himself from this infection he will remain as
vigorous and strong as if he were living in a temperate climate. As a rea-
son for this belief, I would cite the health conditions of the Americans at
Panama.

We have about 8,000 white Americans there, living under the same condi-
tions that exist at home among men doing the same character of work.
They are exposed to the weather fully as much as they are at home, a large
proportion of them being exposed for eight hours daily to the tropical sun
and rains. Notwithstanding this, the figures quoted show that their general
health remains fully as good as it was in the United States.

The only difference between ourselves and the whites formerly in Panama
is that we have succeeded in protecting ourselves entirely from yellow fever
and also, to a considerable extent, from malaria. Yellow fever has a great

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

During my week's sojourn in Panama I was not even
once annoyed by mosquitoes, and succeeded in finding one
in my bedroom only after a protracted search. Naturally,
it was quite harmless, even if it had bitten me, for, as there
had been no cases of yellow fever in the Isthmus for several
years, it could not have been infected and could not, con-
sequently, have inoculated any one with the yellow fever
microbe.

So salubrious, indeed, is now the climate of Panama, and
so delightful during the dry season, that there is a likeli-
hood of its soon becoming a popular resort for tourists,
especially for those who wish to escape the rigors of our
northern winter. I know of no place that has a more uni-
form temperature. Not even that of Barbados, which is
justly famous, is so mild or equable. The average annual
temperature is about 80° F., and the average highest and
lowest temperatures are not more than four or five degrees
above or below this figure.

It is a singular fact that cases of sunstroke are almost
unknown in the city of Panama, and there is no record
there of the thermometer ever reaching 100° F. And this
in a spot only one d^ree from the thermal equator ! Con-
trast this with the elevated temperatures recorded in many
of our cities in the United States where the mercury fre-
quently mounts several degrees above 100° F.

While the humidity on the Isthmus is very great, it is
never so excessive as it is sometimes in New York and
Washington. But the Isthmians suffer from it during a
longer time than we do in the north. It is the long-con-
effect on the death rate of a nan-immune population, but it is not a notice-
able cause of debility. On the other band, malaria is a disease which may
affect the individual for years, and in a locality like Panama is responsible
for a widespread condition of debility throughout the population.

It is neither difficult nor expensive for a white man going to the tropics
to protect himself from malaria. It is only necessary that he should screen
his house well, drain and dear off the brush within one hundred yards of his
residence. These measures are much less expensive than those he must take
in the temperate zones to protect himself from cold.

RooaEVELT Avenue, CRiaToi>Aii-Coix)N.

PLEASANT DAYS IN PANAMA

tinned hnmidity, like the long-continned high temperatnre,
that renders the climate debilitating and nncomfortable,
bnt notwithstanding these drawbacks I have met many who
prefer the nniform climate of Panama to our variable, ca-
pricions climate of the north.

The rainfall on the Isthmus, especially on the Caribbean
side, is extremely heavy. At Colon it averages twelve feet
a year, — an enormous amount.^ I shall never forget my
first night at Colon, for it was signalized by the heaviest
downpour I ever witnessed. The water literally came
down in sheets so thick that one could see but a short dis-
tance. It seemed as if the flood-gates of heaven had been
opened and as if another Noachian deluge was imminent.

It is this heavy rainfall, combined with the great num-
ber of rainy days — ^the average number annually at Bohio
being two hundred and forty-six — ^that makes work on the
canal so difficult and renders progress at times so slow.

To the traveler from the north, every spot on the Isthmus
is interesting, but the place that is most fascinating and
where he will be disposed to linger longest, both on ac-
count of its acknowledged charm as well as on account of
its many historic associations, is imdoubtedly the city of
Panama.

It is a typical Spanish city, built on a rocky peninsula,
and has many large and beautiful stone structures, which
contrast strongly with the wooden and galvanized iron
buildings of the American port of Colon. Its churches,
notably its large and beautiful cathedral,— one of the most
imposing in Latin America — are sure to claim attention.

Then there is the old sea wall, against which dash the
breakers of the Pacific, which now affords the most delight-
ful promenade in the city. It is almost all that remains of
the massive walls that at one time girdled the city and
made it practically impregnable. The cost of the complete

1 The mean annual rainfall at New York is 42 inches, Montreal 86 inches,
Madrid 10 inches.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

walls and fortifications, when labor was almost gratuitous,
was $11,000,000, and they constituted, after those of Car-
tagena, the strongest and most costly defenses of any city
in the New World. The walls, still standing, are in places
from thirty to forty feet high and sixty feet broad, and,
being of solid masonry, are still in a good state of preser-
vation.

The view from this elevated promenade is one of ex-
ceeding beauty. On one side are the red-tiled roofs and
pearl-covered towers of the city, with its delightful parks
and masses of feathery palm fronds ; on the other the em-
erald shores and the broad sapphire expanse of the South-
em Sea, dotted with the verdant isles of Naos, Perico, Ta-
boga and Flamenco, which emerge from the placid ocean
like the peaks of a lost Atlantis.

In the streets of Panama one will meet with represen-
tations of every race and nation. Many are transients,
others are engaged in business. I was surprised at the
large number of Chinese merchants in the city and their
evident success in mercantile pursuits. '*The Chinese,"
one of them proudly assured me, *'are the best merchants
in the world and can successfully meet competition any-
where." In Panama and Colon they seem to have the
lion's share of the business and some of their larger stores
are well worth visiting.

But it is the refined and cultured women, the courteous
and hospitable men of the old Spanish families, some of
them descendants of the conquistadores, who make the deep-
est impression on the visitor to the charming and restful
metropolis of the young republic. Many of them have
been educated in Europe, or in the United States and are,
consequently, well informed and of broad sympathies.
One who has been privileged to enjoy their hospitality
and friendship will ever cherish the memory of his asso-
ciation with such delightful, noble people.

Time was when Panama was probably the richest and
most important city on the western hemisphere. It was

PLEASANT DAYS IN PANAMA

the seat of a royal audience and the metropolis through
which passed the countless millions of treasure from
** Golden Peru'* to imperial Spain. Its bay was filled with
well-freighted galleons from every port, and its merchant
princes lived a life of oriental ease and luxury.

If Panama achieved such distraction when the commerce
of the New World was yet in its infancy and was controlled
almost entirely by the mother country, what may we not
predict of it when the great waterway, now rapidly near-
ing completion, shall be opened to the merchantmen of all
nations ; when the once famous city shall again, but under
more favorable circumstances, be on one of the world's
greatest highways of commerce, and when, iu lieu of the
solitary banner of Castilla and Leon, she shall see her placid
harbor gay with the flags of every clime, and pulsating with
deep-laden argosies from every land? Then, indeed, will
she witness the fulfillment of the great designs of Columbus
and Cortes in favor of humanity and have ever at her gates
a glorious monument to the energy and power and patriot-
ism of the greatest of the world's commonwealths.

CHAPTER II
ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA

After a delightful and instructive week spent on the
Isthmus, I prepared to start for Guayaquil, the chief sea-
port of Ecuador. The steamer was scheduled to leave
promptly at noon, and all passengers were requested to be
aboard about an hour before that time. A special train
conveyed us from Panama to La Boca — ^now called Balboa
— ^where a splendid steel wharf has been constructed and
where several large ocean vessels may safely and con-
veniently moor at the same time. The Pacific entrance to
the canal is at this point. In marked contrast with the
mean range of the tide — a little more than a foot — at
Colon, the range at Panama is twenty feet. For a long
time it was supposed that the Pacific Ocean was from ten
to twenty feet higher than the Caribbean Sea, but it is now
known that both bodies of water are at the same level.

The view of the city of Panama from the deck of the
steamer, as she glides southward through the placid waters
of the bay is one of exceeding loveliness. Beposing at the
foot of Ancon Hill and garlanded by emerald green ver-
dure, it possesses throughout the year all the charm of
Palermo in May or October.

About six miles to the south of the city is all that remains
of Panama Viejo — Old Panama — ^which was ravaged and
burned by that ruthless Welsh Buccaneer, Sir Henry Mor-
gan, in 1671. Aside from an arch of a bridge and the
foundations of some of the more notable buildings, now con-
cealed by a dense network of shrub and vine, and over-
spread by a thick-matted forest, almost all that now re-
mains of this former *'Gate of the Western WorW is the

ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA

massive and picturesque old tower of the Cathedral of St.
Anastasins.

Old Panama was founded in 1518 by Pedrarias Davila —
that Furor Dei — Scourge of God — as he was called, on ac-
count of his cruelties, on the site recommended by Balboa,
and was the oldest European city on the mainland of the
New World. The word Panama is of Indian origin and
signifies "abounding in fish.'* On the seashore hard by
were ** quantities of very small miissels/' and it is said that
these mussel beds determined the site of the future metrop-
olis ' * because the Spaniards felt themselves safe from hun-
ger on account of these mussels.'*

For a long time Old Panama was, after Cartagena, the
chief city of South America. It was celebrated as the
** glorious city of Panama," as **the grandest metropolis
in the South Seas, ' ' as the peer of Venice when the painted
city of the doges was yet **the incomparable Queene'* of
the Adriatic It was from this city that the conquista-
dores set forth on their marvelous careers of discovery
and conquest. It was from here that the Pizarros and Al-
magro and Bellacazar sailed to Golden Peru. To the har-
bor of Panama came the rich galleons laden with the gold
and silver from the land of the Incas and with the pearls
from the islands of the South Sea.

It was then ''the greatest mart for gold and silver in
the whole world. * ' And ' ' as the city grew in wealth, ^so it
grew in magnificence, in the costliness of its buildings, in
the extravagance of its luxuries and in that languid sensu*
onsness which saps life in the tropics.*' Its merchant
princes lived like oriental satraps in stone houses of Moor-
ish design, finished in carved aromatic woods and decked
with the most beautiful tapestries and works of art that
money could command. And as they appeared iu public,
in lace-decked attire or brocaded silk, with their retinue of
slaves, they may well have outshone the gorgeously dressed
Venetians who, in days long passed, strutted before an ad-
miring crowd in the famed old Bialto.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Old Panama was the western terminns of the famous
Gold Boad, the camino real, over which long lines of mule
trains carried countless millions of treasure to Venta Cruz,
Puerto Bello and Nombre de Dios, on the way from Peru
to Spain. Over this road traveled Drake and Morgan and
other freebooters of lesser note.

The old harbor, too, has witnessed as stirring scenes as
did the Gold Boad, for here took place some of the most
daring exploits of certain of the Buccaneers, notably that
of Sawkins, Coxon and Bingrose in their capture of the
famous old galleon. La Santisima Trinidad. The harbor
'*that saw all this,*' says Treves, *4s now an utter solitude,
silent and forgotten, a sea-refuge hidden in a mysterious
forest, a place of shadows, haunted only by pelicans and
sea birds, and where none but the ghosts of ships come in
on the rising tide.''^ Verily, sic transit gloria mundi.

Some forty or fifty miles southeast of Panama, we
passed the famous group of Pearl Islands which attracted
so much attention at the time of their discovery by Balboa,
and which were for a long time so prolific a source of rev-
enue for the Spanish crown. From the view-point of
many of his countrymen, Balboa's most important achieve-
ment in crossing the Isthmus of Panama was not in discov-
ering the boundless expanse of the South Sea — an achieve-
ment second only to that of Columbus — but in making
known that group of islands which, next to the mines of
Peru, contributed most to the coffers of the Spanish mon-
arch.

Pearls were then so common that the Indians used them
for adomiQg the paddles of their canoes. The chief of Ter-
arequi — the largest of the Pearl Islands — gave to Gaspar
Morales, who visited the place two years after Balboa's dis-
covery— a basketful of pearls that weighed one hundred
and ten marks — ^nearly nine hundred ounces — ^f or which he
received iq exchange glass beads, mirrors, hawk-bells and
similar articles of little value. In addition to this he prom-

1 Cradle of the Deep, p. 339, London, 1908.

ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA

ised to send to the Spanish monarch thenceforth an annual
tribute of one hundred marks of pearls. Some of these
pearls were as large as filberts and of exceeding beauty of
form and luster, while others found in the same fisheries
a short time subsequently at once took place among the
largest and most perfect of the world's gems.

Oviedo, in the quaint translation of Eden, refers to the
pearls of Terarequi and of the adjoining islands as follows :

**Lykewise pearles are found and gathered in the South
Sea cauled Mare del Sur. And the pearles of this Sea*'
and the Caribbean Sea '^are verye bygge. Yet not so bigge
as they of the Bande of pearles cauled de las perlas or
Margarita^ which the Indians caul Terareque, lying in the
goulfe of Saincte Michael where greater pearles are f ounde
and of greater price then in any other coaste of the Northe
Sea, in Cumana, or in any other parte. I speake this as a
trewe testimonie of syght having been longe in that South
Sea, and makynge curious inquisition to bee certenly in-
formed of all that perteyneth to the fysshynge of pearles.
From this Bande of Terarequi, there was brought a pearle
of the fasshyon of a peare, wayunge XXXI. carattes, which
Petrus Arias had amonge a thousande and so many poundes
weight of other pearles which hee had when captayne Gas-
par Morales (before Petrus Arias) passed to the saide
ilande in the yeare 1515, which pearle was of great price.
From the said Ilande also, came a great and verye rounde
pearle, which I brought oute of the sea. This was as bigge
as a smaule pellet of a stone bowe and of the weight of
XXVI. Carattes. I bought it in the citie of Panama in the
sea of Sur : and paide for it syxe hundreth and syxtie tymes
the weyght thereof of good gold, and had it thre yeares in
my custodie : and after my retume into Spaine, soulde it to
the earle of Nansao, Marquesse of Zenete, great chamber-
leyne to yowre maiestie, who gave it to the Marquesse his
wyfe, the lady Mentia of Mendozza. I thyncke verely that
this pearl was the greatest, fayrest and roundest that
hath byn scene in those partes. For yowre maiestie owght

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

to understande that in the coaste of the sea of Sur^ there
are founde a himdreth great pearles rounde after the
faashyon of a peare, to one, that is perfectly rounde and
greate. This Hande of Terarequi, which the Christeans
caule the Hande of pearles, and others canle the Hande of
flowres, is founde in the eyght degree of the southe syde
of the firme lande in the provynce of Golden Castyle or
Beragua. * ' ^

The pearling industry in these waters was an important
one until the middle of the eighteenth century, and the size
and orient of the pearls obtained rivaled those of Ceylon.
After this date pearling gradually declined, although sev-
eral ineffective attempts have been made to revive tiie in-
dustry. The fisherman, however, is still occasionally re-
warded by the finding of a large and valuable pearl. A
few years before my visit a native boy, aged fifteen, found
a pearl for which he received $1,760, and for which an offer
of thirty thousand, francs was subsequently refused in
Paris. Another pearl, worth $2,400, had been found, so
we were informed, quite near the steamer anchorage at
Panama.

A few leagues east from the Pearl Archipelago, is San
Miguel Bay. This place had a special interest for us, as it
was in the waters of the north shore of this bay that Bal-
boa, sword in hand, formally took possession of the South
Sea for the crown of Castile. Leaving the Caribbean at
some point between Cape Tiburon and Caledonian Bay, he
cut his way through the dense forests and savage jungles
that impeded his march until at last on the memorable 25th
of September, 1513,

1 The First Three English Books on America, p. 214, edited by Edward
Arber, London, 1895.

The historian Acosta, who went to Peru in 1570, writing of the vast
quantity of pearls found in these islands and elsewhere in the New World,
says, "At the first pearles were in so great estimation, as none but royall
persons were suffered to weare them, but at this day there is such abundance
as that the negressee themselves do weare chaines thereof." Op. dt., Book
rV, Chap. XV.

ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA

**With eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific, — ^and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise, —
Silent upon a peak in Darien. ' ' ^

As the vast expanse of waters, on which Balboa's ecstatic
gaze was then riveted, was south of the point where he
stood and south of his point of departure from the Northern
Sea, as the Atlantic was then called, the discoverer called
it Mar del Sur — Sea of the South — a name it long retained.
Magellan, in 1520, after escaping from the sudden and vio-
lent tempests, to which he was exposed during the passage
of the strait which now bears his name, called the southern
part of the ocean, discovered by Balboa, the Pacific. * * Well
was it named the Pacific,** writes Pigafetta, who accom-
panied Magellan on this voyage, * * for during this time * ' —
three months and twenty days, that they were on this ocean
— **we met with no storm.'* ^

So elated was Balboa over his epoch-making discovery
that he, says Peter Martyr, **with no lesse manlye corage
than Hanniball of Carthage shewed his souldiers Italye
and the promontories of the Alps, exhorted his men to lyft
up their hari;es, and to behoulde the land even now under
theyre feete and the sea before theyre eyes, whiche shoulde
bee unto them a full and iust rewarde of theyre great la-
boures and trauayles now ouerpassed. When he had sayde
these woordes, he commanded them to raise certeine heapes
of stones in the steede of alters for a token of possession.
Then descendynge from the toppes of the mountaynes, least
such as might come after hym shoulde argue hym of lyinge
and falshod, he wrote the Kynge of Castelles name here
and there on the barkes of the trees bothe on the ryght

1B7 inadyertence, Keats, in the beautiful Bonnet from which the abore
versee are taken, credits Cortes, instead of Balboa, with the disooFery of
the Pacific.

s The First Voyage of Magellan, translated from the accounts of Antonio
Pigafetta by Lord Stanly of Alderley for the Hakluyt Society, p. 66, Lon-
don, 1874. Pigafetta, on his map, calls the South Sea Mare Paoifioo.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

hande and on the lefte; and raysed heapes of stones all
the way that he went, untyll he came to the region of
the nexte Kjmge towarde the south whose name was
Chiapes. ' ' ^

This was taking possession of the South Sea from a dis-
tance. The act of taking possession on arriving at the

north shore of the Gulf of San Miguel was accompanied
with much greater formality and ceremony. And so typ^
ical is it of similar performances of the conquistadores
that I transcribe from Oviedo his account of the manner
in which Balboa and his companions claimed for his sov-
ereigns the Sea of the South, all islands in it and all lands
bordering on it in what part of the world soever. Armed
with his sword and shield and bearing aloft a banner on
which were painted an image of the Blessed Virgin and the
Divine Child and the arms of Castile and Leon, Balboa,
followed by his associates, entered the water until it rose
above his knees, when in a loud voice he said :

**Long live the high and mighty monarchs, Don Ferdi-
nand and Donna Juana, sovereigns of Castile, of Leon and
of Aragon in whose name and for the royal crown of Cas-
tile, I take real and corporal and actual possession of these
seas and lands and coasts and ports and islands of the South
and all thereunto annexed ; and of the kingdoms and prov-
inces which do or may appertain to them in whatever man-
ner or by whatever right or title, ancient or modem, in
times past, present or to come, without any contradiction ;
and if other prince or captain. Christian or infidel, or of
any law, sect or condition whatsoever, shall pretend any
right to these lands and seas, I am ready and prepared to
maintain and defend them in the name of the Castilian
sovereigns, present and future, whose is the empire and
dominion over these Indias, islands and terra firma, north-
em and southem, with all their s^as, both at the arctic and
antarctic poles, on either side of the equinoctial line,
whether within or without the tropics of Cancer and Cap-

1 Eden, Op. cit, p. 139.

ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA

riconiy both now and in all times, as long as the world en-
dures, and until the final judgment of all mankind. ' ' ^

After this swelling proclamation by their leader, his fol-
lowers expressed themselves in a similar manner and then
the notary, who always accompanied such expeditions, was
ordered to make on the spot, an exact record of what had
been said and done, which was duly signed and authenti-
cated by all present.

There was, the reader may say, something Quixotic in
such proceedings, but be that as it may, the Spanish ex-
plorer precluded by this means the possibility on the part
of any one who came after him to ** argue hym of lyinge
and falshod.''

So long as we were in the Oulf of Panama, the Sea of the
South was tranquillity itself and almost mirror-like in ap-
pearance. We then had ocular evidence of the appropriate-
ness of the name of the Bay of Calms, which has been given
to these waters. The sea could not be more placid in the
Doldrums. But after we attained the high sea, beyond the
limits of the Gulf of Panama, the ocean became so rough
that few were disposed to see anything pacific about it.
It was not at any time so tempestuous as I had frequently
found it in higher latitudes, but the motion of the steamer
was so violent that many of the passengers were compelled
to take to their berths.

Although we never encountered any of the furious tem-
pests which '*lash the sea into fury,'* or saw any of the
*' boiling surges** which Prescott tells us threatened with
destruction the flimsy barks of Pizarro and his companions,
we never ceased to marvel at the daring of that adventur-
ous band, who, braving the dangers of an unknown sea,
set forth to conquer the powerful empire of the Incas. As
an exhibition of tireless energy, continuity of purpose in
face of apparently insuperable obstacles, and triumphant

1 Historia Oeneral y NaturcU de lew India9 IsUu y Tierra Firme del Mar
Oeeano, por £1 Cfetpitan Gkmzalo Fernandez de Oviedo j Valdez, Lib. XXIX,
Cap. Ill, Madrid, 1853.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

aohievement after untold suffering and dangers innumer-
able, the expedition of Pizarro quite eclipses everything of
the kind recorded in the annals of conquest in any part of
the world.

It was not only with known dangers — ^wind, rain, light-
ning, tempestuous seas, formidable gales — ^that they had
to contend. They had had experience of all these on the
Atlantic. It was rather witii unknown dangers which were
in many respects greater than any which they had ever en-
countered elsewhere. There were dangers from fever-
laden jungles, miasmatic swamps, savage Indians, clouds
of pestiferous insects, that left them no rest day or night.
There were dangers from famine and strange diseases
that prostrated and carried off the strongest of their num-
ber in a few hours. There was danger from the breeze
which, in that part of the world, blows toward the north
for the greater part of the year and makes sailing against
it, for the long distances the Spaniards had to travel, a
matter of extreme difficulty. And there was, too, danger
from the sea-current — ^now known as the Humboldt cur-
rent— that greatly impeded progress and often imperiled
the safety of vessels and crews. This immense and power-
ful current was as new to them as was the Gulf Stream to
Columbus, and caused them as much anxiety and trouble.
The philosophers of the time, ignorant of its cause, attrib-
uted it, as they did many other natural phenomena, to the
influence of the primvm mobile, but knew not what pro-
vision to make against its incessant action in the broad ex-
panse where it was so dominant.

We could have wished to visit— or at least get a glimpse
of — ^the islands of Gorgona and Gallo, but they were much
nearer the coast than the course taken by our steamer.
These, especially the latter, are famous landmarks in the
earlier expeditions of Pizarro and his adventurous fol-
lowers.

It was on this island, little more than a barren rock,
that Pizarro announced to his timid and discouraged com-

ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA

panions in arms his determination to continue the prose-
cution of his enterprise after it had been pronounced by
all to be a forlorn hope.

** Drawing his sword,'* Montesinos tells us, **he traced a
line with it on the sand from east to west, then, turning to-
ward the south, ^ Friends and comrades I ' he said, * on that
side are toil, hunger, nakedness, the drenching storm, de-
sertion and death ; on this side, ease and pleasure. There
lies Peru with its riches; here Panama apd its poverty.
Choose, each man, what best becomes a brave Castilian.
For my part I go to the south,** and so saying, he stepped
across the line. He was followed by his brave pilot Ruiz,
a Greek cavalier named Pedro de Candia, and eleven oth-
ers, who, Montesinos continues, **thus, in the face of diffi-
culties unexampled in history, with death rather than riches
for their reward, preferred it all to abandoning their
honor, and stood firm by their leader as an example to all
future ages. * * ^

Commenting on this soul-stirring episode in the career
of the intrepid conquistador, Prescott well interprets the
sentiments of the reader in the following eloquent para-
graph:—

*' There is something striking to the imagination in the
spectacle of these few brave spirits thus consecrating them-
selves to a daring enterprise, which seemed as far above
their strength as any recorded in the fabulous annals of
knight-errantry. A handful of men, without food, without
clothing, almost without arms, without knowledge of the
land to which they were bound, without vessel to transport
them, were here left on a lonely rock on the ocean with the
avowed purpose of carrying on a crusade against a power-
ful empire, staking their lives on its success. What is
there in the legends of chivalry that surpasses it? This
was the crisis in Pizarro's fate. There are moments in
the lives of men, which, as they are seized or neglected,

^Anales del Peru, Tom. I, p. 61, publicados por Victor M. Maorttut, del
Inttituio Historioo del Peru, Madrid, 1006.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

decide their future destiny. Had Pizarro faltered from his
strong purpose, and yielded to the occasion, now so tempt-
ingly presented, for extricating himself and his broken
band from their desperate position, his name would have
been buried with his fortunes, and the conquest of Peru
would have been left for other and more successful adven-
turers. But his constancy was equal to the occasion
and his conduct here proved him competent to the peril-
ous post he had assumed, and inspired others with
a confidence in him which was the best assurance of
success. ' * ^

About two days after leaving Panama, we crossed the
equator. Neptune, however, and his retinue did not ap-
pear to baptize those who crossed the line for the first
time. Many of the passengers had never been in the trop-
ics before, and for them the passing from one hemisphere
into another was an extraordinary event. , But, although
all carefully noted the exact moment when they entered
the southern half of the world, I do not think many of
them were so impressed by the fact as were Spix and
Martins in the early part of the last century, when on their
way to Brazil. **This moment,** they declared, '*was the
most solenm and sacred in our lives." But there was a
special reason for such profound emotion in their case.
They were then drawing nigh to Brazil, the land where
they immortalized themselves by their researches and ex-
plorations, which so greatly extended the domain of natural
knowledge. In this moment of crossing the equinoctial
line, ''We saw,'* they continue, ''the longings of earlier
years accomplished — and with pure joy and enthusiastic
anticipation, we indulged in the foretaste of a new world
so rich in the wonders of nature. * ' ^

I must confess, however, that I experienced similar feel-
ings when I found myself crossing the boundary that sepa-
rates the northern from the southern half of our planet. I

1 The Conquest of Peru, Book I, Chap. IV.

s Travels in Braeil in the Tears 1817-20, Vol. I, p. 117, London, 1824.

ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA

had from my boyhood dreamed of just this moment and
had for many long decades cherished the hope that I might
one day have an opportunity of visiting the lands of the
Incas and the Aymaras and of gazing on the sublime scen-
ery of the Andes and the superb exhibitions of plant life
on the Amazon and its tributaries. The dream was now
about to be realized, and the longings of a lifetime were
soon to be satisfied.

The crossing of the equinoctial brought with it not only
a change in the earth's surface, but also a change in the
aspect of the heavens. The moment we crossed the line,
Polaris, that had been our guiding star in joumeyings in-
numerable, dropped below the horizon and was not again
seen until long months afterwards. New stars and new
constellations replaced those we had left behind and made
us feel that we had suddenly been made spectators of a
new heaven and a new earth.

The spectacle afforded by the setting sun the evening we
crossed the line was gorgeous beyond description. The
western horizon was fringed with tenuous, flocculent clouds,
which soon blazed with all the colors of the rainbow. Bril-
liant, ahnost blinding at first, they gradually assumed the
subdued hues of early autumn leaves. There were delicate
tints of green and gold, red and brown, purple and prim-
rose. Anon, as the descending sun touched the ocean wave,
multicolored, luminous rays shot forth fanwise and suf-
fused the translucent azure of the celestial vault with won-
drous jewel lights as of vaporized ruby and topaz and
sapphire. Earely, indeed, in our northern zones, outside
the magic color displays of the Aurora Borealis, does one
witness such splendor of rose and scarlet, such glowing
of nacre and gleaming of opaline fire, as it was our privi-
lege to behold on that memorable evening in the South Sea.
The sun-god seemed loathe to depart from the world that
he had illumined and beautified, for scarcely had he
dropped below the ocean's edge, when he flashed through
the skies, even to the zenith, swift coruscations as if to

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

show by this glorious pageantry that he was trinmphant
even in exLle.^

Never before was I so impressed by the solemnities of
sea and sky, as in the equatorial Pacific; never before was
I so fascinated by the witchery of the infinite, as when
contemplating the deep, shoreless ocean and the blue, cloud-
less heavens in the favored clime of the Southern Cross.
What tenderness of tint in the soft rose light of dawn, what
caresses of color in the sunset's crimson glow I During
the daytime what delicate color dances on the emerald
waves, and what splendor of translucent azure in the firma-
ment above! And at night, what sublime beauty in the
starry canopy with its millions of suns in unfathomable
space!

Here Nature seems to revel in the unveiled magnificence
of her ever-varying moods. Whether one contemplates
her when the breath of dawn sows with ripples the quick-
silver sea, or when the ocean shifts color with each suc-
ceeding swell and exhibits transformations of tint for every
form and motion of wave, or when the waters of the deep,
under a dark sky, phosphoresce and sparkle with animated
billows, or when the gathering gloom is thrilled by twin-
kling constellations overhead, she is ever an object of awe,
of inexpressible loveliness beyond the power of poet or

1 The statement, frequently made, even by travelers in the tropics, that
there is no twilight in the equatorial zone is quite erroneous. When Cole-
ridge, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, sings

"The sun's rim dips; .the stars rush out:
At one stride comes the dark;"

we make allowance for poetical license, but when a scientific explorer, like
Crevaux tells us in his Voyages dans PAmSrique du Bud, p. 104, that Le
voile de la nuit va se lever presque aussi rapidment qu'un rideau de thedtre
— ^the veil of night rises almost as quickly as a drop-curtain — ^he not only
exaggerates but misleads. It is true that at the equator, where the sun
descends vertically instead of obliquely below the horizon as it does in tem-
perate and polar zones, that the transition from day to night and vice
versa is more rapid than it is with us in midsummer, but it is only about
a third shorter than our twilight at the equinoxes.

ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA

painter to portray, beyond their power even fully to com-
prehend

Old Xenophanes must have been enthralled by the magic
spell of snch bright blue skies, as one sees in the tropics,
when he declared that the infinite blue is Gk)d. And
Hermes must have been permeated with the wondrous,
gladdening, vivifying rays of an equatorial sun when he
asserted that ^ ' The sun is laughter ; for it is he who maketh
joyous the thoughts of men and gladdeneth the infinite
world. ' '

How often, while gazing at the multiform changes
wrought on the face of the tranquil Pacific, when breathed
upon by the gentlest of zephyrs, how often, when watching
the ceaseless play of light and color in the curling wavelets
and admiring the inexpressible beauty and luminosity of
every swell and ripple, have I not recalled that exquisite
picture of ^schylus — the many-twinkling smiles of Ocean

**wovTMov Si KVfJtartav 6vijpt$fAov ycAac7/*a."

And how often, too, have I not heard ringing in my ears
the words of Lafcadio Heam^s superb apostrophe to the
sea: —

**Thou primordial Sea, the awfulness of whose antiquity
hath stricken all mythology dumb ; thou most wrinkled, liv-
ing Sea, the millions of whose years outnumber the multi-
tude of thy hoary motions ; — thou omnif orm and most mys-
terious Sea, mother of the monsters and the gods, — ^whence
thine eternal youth? Still do thy waters hold the infinite
thrill of that Spirit which brooded over thy face in the be-
ginning ! — still is thy quickening breath an elixir unto them
that flee to thee for life, — ^like the breath of young girls,
like the breath of children, prescribed for the senescent by
magicians of old, — ^prescribed unto weazened elders in the
books of the Wizards. ' ^ *

Aside from the marvel afforded by the magnificent sun-

1 Chita: A Memory of Lo9i Island, p. 162, New York, 1880.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

set just noted, there was another revelation of a different
character awaiting most of the passengers on the boat,
especially for those who had come from the north. They
had fancied, on leaving their homes that they would have
to endure intense heat in the tropics, particularly in the
neighborhood of the equator. Pleasant, therefore, was
their surprise when, the second day after leaving the Gulf
of Panama, they found that the atmosphere, far from
being hot and sweltering, was cool and refreshing. And
so cool indeed was it after sunset here that the women
called for their wraps, and after crossing the equinoctial,
I saw many of them at nightfall using their furs and lap-
robes. This seems incredible, but such is the tempering
influence of the Humboldt current, that carries northward
the glacial waters of antarctic seas, that the temperature
of the Pacific, along the west coast of South America, is far
lower than is ordinarily supposed, and much below the
temperature of the ocean in corresponding latitudes in
other parts of the world.^

How different was the region of the equator, as we found
it during this voyage, from what it was conceived to be
by the philosophers of old! According to Aristotle and
Pliny, whose teachings had defenders even among the
learned men of Salamanca, who had been delegated to
examine the plans of Columbus for a westward passage to
India, the torrid or burning zone, at least that part of it
directly under the equator, was uninhabitable and unpro-
ductive, and, by reason of the excessive heat which was
supposed to prevail there, impassable.*

1 Franciflco de Xeres, the secretary of Francisco Pizarro, informs us that
the Spaniards, while sailing in these waters on their way to Peru, "suffered
great hardships from hunger and oold" — pasando grandes trabajoa, kambrea
y friot, HUtoriadores Primitivos de Indias, Coleccion Dirigida 4 Hlustrada
por D. Enrique de Vedia, Tom. II, p. 321, Madrid, 1906.

s The historian Acosta, who went to Peru in 1570, narrating his experience
when crossing the equator, writes as follows: "Having read what Poets and
Philosophers write of the burning zone I perswaded my selfe, that comming
to the Equinoctial!, I should not indure the violent heate, but it fell out
otherwise; for when I passed, which was when the sun was there for Zenith,

ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA

If the southern hemisphere was habitable, as Aristotle
believed, it was forever inaccessible from the north tem-
perate regions of the globe. ' ' In this central region, where
the sun runs his course, the earth," Pliny declares, *4s
burnt up as with fire." Fish and whales, it was averred,
could not exist in the tropical ocean. Only marine sala-
manders, if there were such creatures, could find a home
in its superheated waters.

And yet, strange coincidence! in the immediate vicinity
of the equinoctial line, we saw a whale, one of those mon-
sters of the deep that the poet Spenser has so felicitously
described by a single adjective — ** sea-shouldering." We
saw also great schools of flying-fish, those strange repre-
sentatives of the finny tribe, that would contest with the
birds the domain of the atmosphere. The Spaniards call
them GolondrinOrS — swallows — and their peculiar gliding
motion in the air really does remind one of the flight of
swallows. To us they seemed more like miniature aero-
planes, as they flitted hither and thither, skinuning and
scudding the waves in their effort to escape their pursuing
enemy.

Their power of flight is due not to wings but to highly
developed pectoral fins, which enable them to dart through
the air for two hundred yards or more. But the most
remarkable fact about their flight is that they do not flap
their fins, as the bird does its wings, but warp them when
they wish to change their direction, precisely as an aviator
warps the planes of his flying machine. Aviators might

being entered into Aries, in the moneth of March, I felt flo great cold, as
I was forced to go into the sunne to warme me; what could I else do then,
but laugh at Aristotles Meteors and his Philosophic seeing that in that
place and at that season, whenas all should be scorched with heat, according
to his rules, I, and all my companions were a colde?" Op. dt.. Book II,
Chap. IX.

The denial of the Aristotelian dogma that "the middle zone of the earth
is so scorched by the sun as to be destitute of moisture and totally un>
inhabitable" was one of the grounds on which the charge of scepticism and
atheism was preferred against Sir Walter Raleigh. And this, too, a century
after the discovery of America!

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

do well to study ttie flight of these singular fishes, as well
as the flight of birds, in their efforts to obtain success in
the conquest of the air.

The evening before we landed at Guayaquil, we passed
the little island of Santa Clara, also known as La Amor-
tajada — ^the Enshrouded Woman * — ^because of its fancied
resemblance, when observed from a distance, and at the
proper angle, to a corpse wrapi)ed in a winding sheet. We
first saw it under the subdued rays of the setting sun, and
so striking was the resemblance to a shrouded figure that
the appropriateness of the name La Amortajada was at
once manifest.

As first seen, it was, on account of the color and barren-
ness of the island, almost snow-white, but, as the sun sank
into the ocean, it was tinged with a soft crimson hue, which
gradually shaded into a lovely seal-brown. Just as the
figure, as we thought, was about to be veiled in darkness,
a brilliant light flashed from its bosom, to the surprise of
every beholder. It came from the lighthouse stationed on
the island, and gave to La Amortajada, from where we
were viewing it, the appearance of holding in her hands
some object of strange refulgence. Memory then wafted
me from Santa Clara dead to Santa Clara living, when,
in her cloistered home in Assisi, long centuries ago, she
put to flight the infidel, as he was about to invade the sa-
cred precincts of her convent home. The Saracens had
made themselves masters of Assisi and were on the point
of forcing an entrance into the cloister occupied by the
saint and the members of her religious family. She was
then confined to bed by illness, but no sooner was she ap-
prised of the imminent danger to which they were all
exposed, than, endowed with the faith that moves moun-
tains, she had the monstrance containing the consecrated
host brought to her. Then she bade her frightened nuns
to carry her to the door that was on the point of yielding

lit is likewise called lala del Muerto — Deed Man's Island — from its r«-
semblance to a gigantic floating corpse.

ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA

to tiie assault of the infuriated mob. There, holding aloft
the sacred receptacle of the Blessed Eucharist, she said,
*/Do not, 0 Lord, deliver to beasts the souls confiding in
Thee, and preserve Thy servants whom Thou hast re-
deemed by Thy precious blood.'* This prayer being fin-
ished, a voice was heard, saying — **I will always protect
you.** **So startled were the Saracens,** the saint's biog-
rapher continues, *Hhat they at once betook themselves to
flight, while those who had already mounted the walls, were
stricken with blindness and fell headlong to the ground. * * *

Without inquiring why Pizarro, who discovered the
island, called it Santa Clara, its name seemed to me, under
the circumstances just recounted, the most suitable that
could have been selected. The conquistadores were often
singularly happy in the names they gave the places they
discovered, but never more so than in tiie case of this little
island, dedicated to the sainted virgin of Umbria.

Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the island, which
was inhabited, had been used by the Indians of the neigh-
boring island of Puna as a place of burial. By them it was
regarded as a sacred place, and at stated times they here
offered great sacrifices to certain stone idols having heads,
human in form, but sharply pointed. It was here, too,
that the Spaniards, judging by the many objects of gold,
silver and rich textile fabrics which they found, learned
tiiat they were near the land of their long and eager quest
— ^the famed land of golden Peru.

After leaving Santa Clara, our steamer was headed for
the island of Puna, near the mouth of the river Guayas.
This island also, as well as those of Gallo, Gorgona and
Santa Clara, occupies an important page in the annals of
the Peruvian conquest. It was here that Pizarro waited
several months for reinforcements from Panama, before
starting on his famous expedition into the interior of
Peru. It was here that he had his first encounters with
the subjects of the Incas. It was here, when his position

iBreviarum Bomanum, for Aug. 12th.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

had become dangerous and almost untenable, that he was
joined by Hernando de Soto, the renowned conquistador,
who afterwards immortalized himself by the discovery of
the Mississippi, which was to be both his grave and his
monument. By the timely arrival of De Soto and his gal-
lant band, Pizarro was able to extricate himself from his
perilous situation and to prosecute that memorable cam-
paign, which so shortly afterwards ended in the capture
and death of Atahualpa. And it was here, some historians
assert, that the chaplain of Pizarro 's army, the much
abused Fray Vicente de Valverde, the first bishop of Peru,
lost his life at the hands of the warlike Indians to whom
he had come to preach the gospel of peace. ^

From Puna, near which we anchored for some hours,
waiting for the visit of the health oflScers, who came after
considerable delay, we proceeded up the river to Ecuador 's
chief seaport, Guayaquil. From these officials we learned
of an attempt that had been made the day before, to assas-
sinate General Alfaro, the president of the republic. They
said that the whole country had been placed under martial
law, and that a revolution was inevitable. Many of the
passengers, mostly Ecuadorians, bound for Quito, were so
alarmed by this information, that they did not consider
it safe to disembark, and accordingly remained on the ves-
sel and went to Lima to await there the cessation of
hostilities. Several of us, however, who had passed
through similar uprisings in other parts of South America,
did not regard the situation as sufficiently serious to justify
an abandonment of our plans, and we, accordingly pre-

1 Cf . Tesoros Verdaderoa de las Yndias en la Historia de la Oran Provinoia
de San Juan Bautista del Peru, de la Orden de Predicadores por el Maestro
P. G. Juan Melendez, Tom. I, Lib. II, Cap. VII, Roma, 1681, 3 vols.

Fray Reginaldo de Lizarraga, in his interesting Descripcion y Pohlacion de
Ui8 Indias, which was written while the death of Valverde was yet fresh in
the memory of the inhabitants of Guayaquil, although it remained unpub-
lished until 1907, tells us that the bishop was not only nuissacred but
eaten by the Indians, and that in his day the neighboring tribes reproached
the authors of the prelate's death with being bishop-eaters — perroa lampuna,
Rivista Historica, p. 280, Lima, 1907.

ON THE GREAT SOUTH SEA

pared to continue our journey to Quito, the capital of
Ecuador.

The scenery along the Guayas is like that which char-
acterizes the Magdalena, the Orinoco and other tropical
rivers. The vegetation is rank and profuse. The oozy
soil, near the banks of the river, is covered with tall
grasses, reeds and heliconias, while in the higher grounds,
further afield, one discerns giant trees, draped with a close
network of those creepers and parasites that are so
conspicuous in every tropical forest.

But the Cordilleras, as we saw them from the deck of
our steamer, on the broad waters of the Guayas I They
were stupendous, overpowering in their magnitude and
majesty. Never before, in any part of the world, had I
beheld so imposing an exhibition of mountain grandeur.
The colossal peaks, rising through successive masses of
vari-colored, cirro-stratus and cirro-cumulus clouds, which
changed their form and position with every passing breeze,
seemed literally to pierce the sky. I had marveled at simi-
lar magnifying effects produced by shifting clouds and the
incessant variations in light and shade and perspective,
when approaching the Coast Eange, near La Guayra, but,
although the optical illusions observed there were extraor-
dinary, they were in no wise comparable with those wit-
nessed as we neared the port of Guayaquil.

In the foreground, extending seemingly to the water's
edge, were the foothills; although they were in reality
not more than a few thousand feet high at most, yet
their summits appeared to be nearer the blue empyrean
than does the icy crown of Mount Blanc when viewed
from the vale of Chamouni. Only the magic pen of
Olmedo, the gifted poet of Guayaquil, has ever adequately
put in words the overpowering impression made on the be-
holder, when he first fixes his astonished gaze on

''Los Andes ... las enonnes estupendas
Moles, sentadas sobre bases de oro,

• ...•••

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Que yen las tempestades a su planta
Brillar, rugir, romperse, disiparse. ' ' ^

But our contemplation of the sublime spectacle before ns
was suddenly interrupted by the sharp, shrill whistle of the
steamer, and the discordant clanking of the anchor-chain
passing through the hawse-pipe. We had happily completed
the first stadium of our trans-equatorial voyage and were
now safely moored in the placid waters of the broad har-
bor of Guayaquil.

i"The Andes — ^the enormous, stupendous masses, set on foundations of
gold,
• •••••••••

Which hehold the tempests at their feet gleam, roar, disperse, vanish."

CHAPTER ni
PEOM SULTEY COASTLAND TO CHILLY PAEAMO

•

Our first view of Guayaquil was, in its way, almost as im-
pressive as our first view of the Andes from the island of
Puna. As se^i under the subdued rays of the rising sun,
it was a vision of oriental splendor, not unlike a distant
view of Cairo or Damascus. The large, white structures
along the Guayas and the imposing churches, also white,
whose towers, by a peculiar optical illusion, api>eared much
loftier than they really were, seemed to be like modem
Athens, wrought of Pentelican marble. The city, as thus
seen, was a fit companion picture to that of the doud-
pierdng Cordilleras at whose foot it so gracefully reposed,
and we were quite disposed to exclaim with the Guayaquil
poet, Padre Agnirre :

''Guayaquil, ciudad hermosa,
De la America guimalda,
De tierra bella esmeralda,
De la mar perla preciosa." ^

•

In the harbor were several steamers and sailing vessels
from many parts of the world, but the most picturesque
features were the peculiar craft, everywhere visible, of the
Indians and mestizos. These were balsas, of the same
type as those that so surprised Pizarro's pilot, Buiz, and
his companions on their first arrival in these parts, and
certain kinds of rafts that serve the same purpose as a
Chinese house-boat.^ All these were loaded with fruits

1 "Guayaquil, city beautiful, America's garland, beauteous emerald of earth,
precious pearl of the sea."
>The historian Zarate thus described these balsas: "Thej are made of

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

and other products of the rich lands bordering the Guayas
and its affluents. And so great was the abundance of these
products offered for sale that it was difficult to imagine
where purchasers could be found for half of them. There
were bananas of many varieties, juicy pineapples of rarest
fragrance, papayas resembling muskmelons in size and ap-
pearance, and countless other fruits grateful to the palate,
that are found only in the tropics.

The vision beautiful vanishes as soon as one disem-
barks. The marble palaces prove to be merely white-
washed structures of plastered bamboo, and the edifices
that seemed so majestic from a distance dwindle into rude
shops and unpretentious shacks. Outside of the Malecon
that parallels the course of the river, there are few streets
to claim the visitor ^s attention, and still fewer where he
will care to promenade a second time. The Cathedral,
some of the churches, and the hospital will repay a visit,
as will some of the larger business houses along the Male-
con. In most respects Guayaquil is like all other Spanish-
American cities. It is laid out in the same gridiron
fashion, and the manners and customs of its inhabitants
are essentially the same as those of the inhabitants of
other parts of Latin America.

The peculiar bamboo houses are admirably adapted to
the soft low ground — only a few feet above the water at
high tide— on which the city is built, and are as nearly
earthquake-proof as are our steel structures of the north.
Some of them are highly ornate in appearance, and all of
them are specially designed for the comfort of those who
live where summer never dies.

long light poles fastened across two other poles. Those on the top are
always an odd number, generally five and sometimes seven or nine, where
the rower sits, the center poles being longer than the others. The shape
of the balsa is like that of a hand stretched out, with the length of the
fingers diminishing from the center. On the top some boards are fixed to
prevent the men from getting wet. There are balsas which will hold fittj
men and three horses. They are navigated with a sail and oars." Hiataria
del Deacuhrimiento y Conquista del Peru, Lib. I, Cap. VI.

FROM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHIMiY PARAMO

Some months before going to Guayaqnil, I had met in
Venezuela a commercial agent from New York who had
spent twenty years traveling through the various countries
of South America, and he said to me on parting: ** What-
ever you do, keep away from Guayaquil. It is the worst
pest-hole in creation. A foreigner takes his life in his
hands by going there and a sojourn of only a few days in
it is sure to be followed by an attack of yellow fever or
bubonic plague. If you should be fortunate enough to
escape these, you are sure to encounter a revolution or an
earthquake. ^ *

This was a gloomy forecast, but we had become quite
accustomed to such prophets of evil and determined to con-
tinue our journey, as it had been planned, despite all that
might be said to dissuade us from our purpose.

We had, too, become quite accustomed to revolutions,
as we had passed through three of them during the pre-
ceding three months and had suffered nothing in person
or property by such experiences. In fact, we came to re-
gard them like unto the wars of the Saxon Heptarchy
of which Milton writes, **They are not more worthy
of being recorded than the skirmishes of crows and
kites.''

As to earthquakes, those of a destructive character, even
in the regions of greatest seismic disturbances in South
America, are few in number, and are no more to be ap-
prehended by the traveler than are those of Sicily or
Calabria. And no one, I think, would be deterred from
visiting these interesting countries through fear of a pos-
sible earthquake during his sojourn there. I had fre-
quently visited various parts of the world where earth
tremors are most violent and had never been even re-
motely exposed to danger from instability of the earth's
surface. Indeed, I had often wished to experience the
sensation caused by a severe shock, and to have an op-
portunity of observing the effects due to vibration of the
earth's crust. In such a frame of mind I should then have

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

welcomed a genuine earthquake, rather than have tried to
escape it.

As our good fortune would have it, we landed in Guaya-
quil in July, the coolest and most salubrious month of the
year. At no time did we suffer from the heat, even when
under the rays of the midday sun. And more surprising
still, after all we had been told, we were never annoyed
by mosquitoes or other insects. We never once had occa-
sion to use a mosquito bar in our bedrooms, and our hotel
was as clean and comfortable as one could desire. Of
course, we were in Guayaquil during the most favorable
part of the year. There is no doubt that during most of
the year, as conditions were at the time of our visit, the
traveler was more or less exposed to yellow fever. For
generations it had been practically endemic and had been
specially malignant in the case of foreigners, who were not
immune. As to the native inhabitants, they seemed to
have little fear of the disease, and ordinarily but few vic-
tims were claimed from their ranks. Most of them being
immune, they were slow to awake to the necessity of doing
anything to stamp out the plague, even after they had
learned of the signal success of Colonel Gt)rgas in the work
of sanitation in Panama.

But what the citizens as a whole had so long been in-
different about, the merchants were at last forced to take
into account. The quarantine regulations along the
Pacific coast— especially at Panama — ^were becoming so
strict, that the municipal authorities of Guayaquil, as well
as the federal government at Quito, were compelled to
adopt the same sanitary measures that had eliminated all
infectious diseases from the Canal Zone, and had made
this strip of land as salubrious as it had before been
pestiferous.

Guayaquil counts about forty thousand inhabitants, and
is practically the only port of Ecuador, for Esmeraldas,
San Lorenzo and Bio Verde are almost negligible as ports
of call for foreign commerce. It is through the port of

FROM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHILLY PARAMO

Guayaquil that practically all traffic passes to and from
the capital of the republic and the other cities of Ecuador.
It waSy therefore, imperative that the nation's leading
port of entry should have removed from it the stigma which
had so long attached to it of being a place where x>estilence
stalked through the streets every day in the year.

Knowing the cause of yellow fever and malaria one per-
ceives no more reason why it should exist in Guayaquil
than in New York or Boston. Both diseases can be eradi-
cated here as well as in Havana or Colon, and their recur-
rence can be prevented, if the means now available are
employed.

"From our experience in Cuba,'* writes Colonel Qt)rgas,
* * several useful lessons may be deduced. We find that the
native in the tropics, with the same sanitary precautions
that are taken in the temperate zones, can be just as healthy
and have just as small a death rate as the inhabitants of
the temperate zone; that to bring this about no elaborate
machinery of any kind is needed; that it can be attained
by any community, no matter how poor, if they are willing
to spend sufficient labor in cleaning and observing well-
known rules with regard to disease ; that the North- Amer-
ican Anglo-Saxon can lead just as healthy a life and just
as long in the tropics as in the United States. ' * ^

At the conclusion of his report Colonel Gorgas declares :
**I look forward in the future to a time when yellow fever
will have entirely disappeared as a disease to which man-
kind is subject, for I believe that when the yellow fever
parasite has once become extinct it can no more return
than the dodo or other species of animal that has disap-
peared from the earth. ^ ^

What is here said of yellow fever may likewise be as-
serted of smallpox, bubonic plague^ and other infectious

1 Civil Report of Brigadier-General Leonard Wood, Military Oovemor of
Cuba. January Ist to May 20th, 1902, Vol. I, Part IIL Report of Colonel
Oorgas,

s If rata, which are now recognized as the most active agents in the spread
of bubonic plague, are still as numerous in Guayaquil as they were two

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

diseases. They can be eliminated from Guayaquil as well
as from other places where they had long been epidemic.
The diflSculties in the way of putting Guayaquil in a thor-
oughly sanitary condition are far less than they were in
the Canal Zone and the measures to be adopted will be
much less expensive. The first step towards the sanita-
tion of the city has already been taken by acting in coop-
eration with the quarantine staff of Panama, and, if the
present programme be carried out, it is a question of only
a short time until Ecuador's leading entrepot shall be
as sanitary as any port on our Gulf coast. Then, and
not until then, will Guayaquil be able to take advan-
tage of her splendid natural position as a great com-
mercial emporium, and be prepared, especially after
the opening of the Panama Canal, for a development
of her trade relations with other countries that will
far exceed the fondest dreams of her most ardent
patriots.

Guayaquil had a special interest for me because founded
by two of the most famous of the conquistadores, Bella-
cazar and Orellana. The former had located it in 1535, a
year after the foundation of Quito, at the mouth of the
Babacoyas Eiver, a tributary of the Guayas. In 1537 it
was, by order of Francisco Pizarro, transferred by Orella-
na to the foot of the Cerro of Santa Ana, just adjoining
the site it now occupies. After Quito and Porto Viejo,

centuries ago, the first step necessary towards the elimination of this dread
disease will be a vigorous campaign against those dangerous rodents. Jorge
Juan and Antonio Ullao in their description of this place write as follows:
"Another terrible inconvenience attending the houses here, are the numbers
of pericotes, or rats, every building being so infested with them, that when
night comes on they quit their holes and make such a noise in running along
the ceiling and in clambering up and down the sides of the rooms and canopies
of the beds, as to disturb persons not accustomed to them. They are so little
afraid of the human species, that, if a candle be set down without being
in a lantern, they immediately carry it off; but as this might be attended
with the most melancholy consequences, care is taken that their imprudence
is seldom put to the trial, tho they are remarkably vigilant in taking advan-
tage of the least neglect." Op. dt., Book IV, Chap. VI.

FROM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHILLY PARAMO

founded a few months after Quito, Guayaquil is the oldest
city in Ecuador.*

From the beginning it was a place of recognized im-
portance. For a long time it was specially noted for its
dock and ship yards. Many of the largest ships that
plowed the Pacific during colonial times were constructed
at this port. It was because of this fact, no less than on
account of its size and wealth, that it was frequently vis-
ited and plundered by pirates and buccaneers, Dutch and
French as well as English. Dampier called here in 1684
but, although he declared he did not enter the town, Sr.
Boca, a Guayaquil writer, avers that he sacked and burnt
it. It belonged to the viceroyalty of Peru until Bolivar,
in 1824 annexed it to the first republic of Colombia, then
composed of the present republics of Venezuela, Colombia
and Ecuador.^

On account of the inflammable character of the buildings,
the city has frequently suffered from disastrous confla-
grations. So great, indeed, is the danger from fire and so
inadequate is the protection against it that the rate of in-
surance here is almost prohibitive. The lack of appliances
for controlling fire, as well as the lack of proper sanita-
tion, have tended, probably more than anything else, to
retard the progress and prosperity of the city, but these
two drawbacks are finally in a fair way towards elimination,
and Guayaquil, humanly speaking, has a brilliant future
before it.

After spending two delightful days in and around
Guayaquil, I prepared to continue my journey to Quito,
the capital of the republic. Until a few years before my
arrival in the country, this journey was long and arduous
and few had the courage to undertake it, unless it was

1 strange as it may appear, Guayaquil, although the westemmoet city of
South America, is on the same meridian as the easternmost point of Florida^-
three thousand miles east of San Francisco.

sThe name Ecuador, the Spanish for Equator, was given to the republic
because of its location on the equinoctial line. It dates only from the time
of its separation from Colombia in 1830.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

absolutely necessary. The road, for tiie greater part of
the distance up the western slope of the Andes, was but a
mere mountain trail — ^bad enough in the dry season, but
during the rainy season nearly or quite impassable.
Nevertheless, this was the road that had served the pur-
pose of traffic between the coast and the capital during
nearly four centuries. There was, as a consequence, but
little communication between Guayaquil and the interior
of the country, and there were many men whose homes
were on the plateau, prominent in business and in public
life, who had never seen the ocean.

To traverse the distance from Guayaquil to Quito-
two hundred and sixty miles — ^required about ten days
when the weather was favorable, and an indefinite time
during the rainy season. The journey from tidewater to
the capital of Colombia, before the recent completion of
the railroad from the Magdalena to the capital, was try-
ing enough, but the greater part of it could be made on
river boats. Only two or three days on horseback were
necessary to make the trip from Honda to Bogota, and the
inns on the way, while not all that could be desired, were
endurable. But the old Camino real, connectrag the coast
with the plateau of Ecuador, oflfered no comforts or con-
veniences for the traveler. For a greater part of the dis-
tance, the tambos where he passed the night were wretched
huts which were filthy beyond description. Even in the
larger towns on the highlands, the inns were unworthy of
the name. The traveler was, indeed, fortunate if he ar-
rived at the end of his journey alive and well. We often
wondered, while traveling in Colombia, how it was pos-
sible for such a large and cultured capital as Bogota to
exist in the heart of the Cordilleras, when it had been
for centuries so completely- cut off from the rest of the
world. But the wonder is intensified in the case of Quito,
whose isolation was far more complete.

The first one to ameliorate this extraordinary condition
of affairs was Garcia Moreno, who was the president of

FROM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHILIiT PARAMO

Ecuador at the time of his tragic death in 1875. This he
did by the construction of a splendid highway from Quito
to Sibambe, which, had he lived, he would have completed
to Guayaquil.

This illustrious and enterprising ruler was also the first
to begin the construction of the railroad that now con-
nects the capital with the Guayas Biver. Had he lived, he
would undoubtedly have had the glory of seeing it com-
pleted under his administration. As it was, little of con-
sequence was accomplished during the three decades fol-
lowing the great statesman's death. Lack of credit at
home and abroad, internal dissension and internecine strife
prevented any successful attempt to continue the gigantic
undertaking until a generation later. **From 1873 to
1894,'* writes Major John A. Harman, chief engineer of
the Guayaquil and Quito Railway Company, ''no less than
twelve formal contracts were made between the govern-
ment and private fimis or parties, both Ecuadorian and
foreign, for the construction of a railway which should
connect the coast with the interior plateau; and in addi-
tion, the government employed engineers and caused many
extensive and expensive surveys to be made for its own
account, especially between Chimbo and Sibambe ; but every
effort resulted in failure and financial disaster until 1898,
when the government, during the administration of G^-
eral Eloy Alfaro, entered into a contract with Mr. Archer
Harman of New York for the rehabilitation of the old
railway and ferry, and for the construction of the line
from Chimbo to Quito.**

Finally, after untold difficulties, engineering, financial
and political, had been surmounted, the road was com-
pleted and the first train entered Quito June 28, 1908,
two generations after it had been first projected, and
thirty-seven years after it had been begun under Garcia
Moreno. The total cost of the road was thirty-eight mil-
lion sucres — nineteen million dollars in gold — an average
cost of seventy-three thousand dollars a mile.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Had I not traveled across the Cordilleras of Colombia
on mule-back, I should, in spite of all its forbidding fea-
tures, have elected the old Camino real in preference to
the railroad, to go to Quito. But having familiarized my-
self with the old-time methods of travel and become ac-
quainted with the manners and customs of the inhabitants
along the primitive roads of the interior, there was noth-
ing to be gained by the long and ii^some ride over the old
trail from the Idwlands to the Andean plateau. I, accord-
ingly, arranged to take the train from Duran — a small
town across the river from Guayaquil — where is the south-
em terminus of the railway.

Immediately after I had purchased my ticket for Quito,
and before stepping on the ferry-boat that was to take me
to Duran, I heard a military officer tell the ticket agent in
a low tone of voice not to sell tickets to any one, unless
he could show a passport duly signed by the chief of police.
This order seemed ominous, although, at the moment, I did
not grasp its full significance. I became aware of it, how-
ever, before my arrival at Quito and in a way that was far
from agreeable.

I had heard, before disembarking at Guayaquil, that the
day before our arrival at that place an attempt had been
made to assassinate the president of the republic, but had
paid no attention to the report. I noticed, however, that
several Ecuadorians who were bound for Quito, suddenly
changed their itinerary and remained on the steamer. I
subsequently learned that they considered it safer to go
to Lima, until the storm should blow over, than go to
Quito. I had reason later to suspect that some of these
men were in sympathy with the would-be assassins, and
that they were greatly disappointed at the miscarriage of
plans in which they were so deeply interested. They were
revolutionists returning from abroad and had been count-
ing on a change of government, which they expected im-
mediately to follow the death of the chief executive.
Alfaro, however, escaped the machinations of his enemies,

PROM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHILiLY PARAMO

and during my stay in Guayaquil the police were busy in
arresting the conspirators, and in ferreting out their
friends and sympathizers. Marshal law was immediately
proclaimed anew — ^it had been in force throughout the re-
public during the preceding three months in consequence
of other attempts against the administration — and no one
was permitted to travel in any part of the country, unless
provided with a special passport from the chief of police.
All travelers were treated as suspects and were kept under
constant surveillance. At first, I was unaware of what
might be in store for me and continued my journey as if
notiiing had happened.

About an hour after leaving Guayaquil, I was comfort-
ably seated in a car of the American type, attached to a
mixed freight and passenger train that was bound for
Eiobamba— one of the most important towns of the plateau.
Among the passengers were several Americans, most of
them employes on the railroad, and two German natural-
ists, who were starting on a tour of exploration among the
Cordilleras. Besides these passengers, there was another,
a young American who had been in business in Guayaquil,
and who had recently established there a steam laundry of
the most approved American type. The venture had
proved successful and he was now starting out to extend
his business on the plateau and especially in Quito.

^'Are you going to establish other steam laundries in
the interior ? * * I asked. His answer amazed me. * ' No, ' * he
said, ''fuel costs too much on the plateau. Besides, it is
not necessary. What I purpose doing, is to make arrange-
ments to have the people of Quito and of the larger towns
along the railway, send their soiled linen to me at Guaya-
quil. I have calculated that I can thus do their laundry
work better, more expeditiously and more economically —
including carriage to and from Guayaquil, than they can
have it done at home. You see, the methods of the washer-
women of Ecuador are very primitive and destructive, and
are anything but satisfactory. Besides, during the rainy

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

season, one may be obliged to wait for weeks for the return
of one's linen, for the laundresses have no means of drying
it except in the sun, which, during the rainy season, may
not appear sufficiently long for weeks at a time."

I then recalled my experience with the Indian washer-
woman on the Meta, when I had to take my linen while it
was still wet and unironed, although it had been in her
hands for more than a week. And I could then sympa-
thize with the frequent disappointments and tribulations,
during the rainy season, of the spruce Quitonian hidalgos,
who so affect immaculate, well-laundered shirt bosoms
whenever they appear in public.

The two German Naturforschern were thoughtful, ener-
getic young men who displayed the greatest enthusiasm in
their work and seemed determined to keep up the splendid
scientific prestige established by their illustrious country-
man, Alexander von Humboldt. Truth to tell, it is to the
learned and ^lergetic sons of the Vaterland that we are
indebted for most of our authentic information respecting
the physical condition of Ecuador. Three of these, Beiss,
Stiibel and Wolf, have especially signalized themselves by
their researches in the geology and mineralogy of the
country and to them more than to all others, we owe most
of the precious data we now possess regarding the moun-
tains and volcanoes of Ecuador. The first two devoted
four years to their explorations among the Cordilleras of
Ecuador, and many more in studying the mountains and
antiquities of Colombia and Peru, while the latter gave
twenty years of unremitting work to Ecuador alone. His
masterly Geografia y Geologia del Ecuador is a monument
of careful work and conscientious observation and is by
far the best authority on the subject we now possess, while
the Reisen in Sud-America by Beiss and Stiibel, espe-
cially the part entitled Das Hochgehirge der Republik
Ecuador, is a classic of its kind, and a mine of accurate
information regarding the wonderful mountain system of
which it treats. One can safely say that no more thorough

PEOM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHIUiY PARAMO

or conscientious work has yet appeared on the subject, and
it is likely to remain the final word on many of the ques-
tions to which the world of science has long been waiting
an answer.^

The first fifty miles of the railroad passes over a level
plain of remarkable fertility. Where the land has been
cleared, one finds large cacaotales and sugar-cane planta-
tions besides many extensive tracts devoted to the cultiva-
tion of rice. The soil for rice is here as favorable as any
in China or India, and rice should eventually become one
of the greatest staples of the republic For a long time
but little cane was cultivated, and that was chiefly for the
manufacture of aguardiente. Now, however, there are
several extensive plantations in the lowlands provided with
ingenios — sugar-mills— of the most approved design and
efficiency, and, in addition to the sugar furnished for home
consumption, there is a constantly increasing output avail-
able for exportation. The sugar industry, however, is yet
in its infancy. There are here vast tracts of the best cane
land in the world awaiting the advent of the capital neces-
sary for its proper development When that is forthcom-
ing, the sugar industry of Ecuador should prove one of the
most flourishing in the republic and one of its chief sources
of revenue.

Thus far the most valuable and abundant agricultural
product of the country, the one that for decades past has
served as a barometer of the nation's commercial standing,
has been cacao— the prized Theohroma of Linnaeus — ^which
supplies the chocolate of commerce. Notwithstanding
the claims of Mexico and Venezuela to the contrary, the
people of Ecuador maintain that their cacao is the best in
the world. There is certainly a great demand for it in
foreign markets, and the demand is constantly increasing.

1 Mention should also be made of the reoent work of Dr. Hans Meyer,
entitled In den Hooh-Anden von Ecuador, mit Bilder-AtUu, Berlin, 1907. It
is the most interesting and most authoritative work on the gladology of the
Ecuadorian Andes that has yet appeared.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

But, as in the case of sugar-cane, only a small fraction of
the land, so admirably adapted for the production of cacao,
is actually under cultivation. It, too, is awaiting the ad-
vent of capital, and when this arrives, Ecuador will have
in its cacaotdles a far more valuable asset than it possesses
to-day.

The Ecuadorian cacao is exported in large quantities
and its uses are daily becoming more varied and extensive.
How differently it is now regarded from what it was by
Benzoni, when he visited the New World, shortly after its
discovery 1 In his estimation cacao was fit only for pigs.
The historian, Acosta, does not seem to have had a much
higher opinion of the Indian beverage. ' ' The chief use of
this Cacao,** he writes, '4s in a drinke which they call
Chocolate, whereof they make great accompt in that
country, foolishly, and without reason, for it is loathsome
to such as are not acquainted with it, having a skimme or
froth that is very unpleasant to taste, if they be not very
well conceited thereof. * ' ^

In marked contrast with these views is that now enter-
tained of cacao by countless thousands in every part of
the civilized world. With many it is as a ''lucent syrup,
tinct with cinnamon, * * or, as Linnseus named it, it is a ver-
itable Theobroma — ^food of the gods. Everywhere it is
recognized as one of our most wholesome and popular
beverages, and in some places it is rapidly replacing tea
and coflfee. According to th^ Bureau of Statistics, the
cacao importations into the United States alone now aver-
age more than a million dollars a month, and the amount
required to meet the ever-increasing demand is daily be-
coming greater. It is certainly a remarkable fact that the
value of the cacao imported into the United States has
more than quadrupled during the last decade, while that
of coflfee has actually decreased during this period, and
that of tea has increased only about ten per cent.

1 The "NiUural and Moral History of the Indies, translated by Edward
GrimBton, 1604, Book IV, Chap. XXII, printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1880.

Peon's Houb in the Tropical Belt of Ecuador.

Indian Vili^gb in thg Highlands of Ecuador. Grinding Mbal.

PROM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHII4LY PARAMO

Most of the habitations of the natives in the lowlands
are of the most primitive character. Like the dwellings
of the people along the Orinoco and the Meta, they are
little more than thatched sheds, designed to protect their
inmates from sun and rain. There is, however, one
marked difference. The honses in the Orinoco basin are
of but one story, while those in the valleys of the Guayas
and the Yagaachi have two stories. This is rendered
necessary by the inundation during the rainy season, when
the land is flooded to a depth of several feet, and the
country presents the appearance of a vast inland sea.
The dwellings of the people then resemble those occupied
by the Indians of Lake Maracaibo,^ or those of the Lake
Dwellers of prehistoric Switzerland.

The railroad, after it begins to wind its way up the
lofty steeps of the Cordilleras, is essentially the same as
other mountain railways. It is remarkable, however, for
its steep grades — ^being in some sections almost six per
cent. — and for its sharp curves. In some places, owing to
the depth of the narrow gorges through which the track
passes, and the precipitous heights which the locomotive
had to scale, the engineers ^ere obliged to have recourse
to' switchbacks, in order to enable the engine to lift the
train up the dizzy declivity of the mountain while pro-
gressing in a horizontal direction but a very short dis-
tance.

The construction of this part of the road presented many
and apparently insuperable difficulties and involved the
solution of several new problems in railway engineering.
Indeed, there were many engineers who declared that it
was impossible to build a road under the conditions re-
quired, and insisted that the attempt would result in failure
and in national bankruptcy.

Great and daring as have been the many feats of engi-

1 It was because the Indian village of Maracaibo reminded him of Venice,
that Vespucius, its discoverer, called it Venezuela — little Venice — whence the
designation of the republic of that name.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

neering which have distinguished railway construction in
the United States, we have nothing in our country that
made so many demands on skill and courage and pertinacity
as did the stretch of road from Chimbo to the crest of the
Andes. Here, within the short distance of sixteen leagues,
the train is lifted up a sheer vertical height of two miles —
from the sultry lowlands to the chilly paramo— -from the
foot to the shoulder of giant Chimborazo.

Traversing this short distance is like going from the
equatorial to the Arctic regions. One sees defiling before
him in rapid succession the fauna and flora of every zone,
and notices a corresponding change in the appearance and
dwellings of the inhabitants. In the lowlands the houses
are thatched sheds, in the high plateaus they are structures
of adobe or stone, designed to protect their inmates from
the frigid blasts of the snow-capped Andes.

The inhabitants of the Andean plateau may, in the words
of Qomara, be described as ^'paynefull men who tyll the
grounde diligently wherein they take great pleasure: and
haule therefore great plentie of breade of Maizium."
They are also *'wytty and of gentyl behavoure. Cunnynge
also in artes, faythful in promes, and of manners not
greatly to be discommended. ' ' I was not, however, able
to verify his distinction between serranos — ^mountaineers —
and the people of the lowlands of whom he writes as
follows :

''Among them there is this dyfference, that such as lyve
in the mountaynes are whyte and for the most parte lyke
unto the men of owre regions. But they that dwell abowt
the ryver (as though they tooke theyr coloure thereof)
are blackysshe or purple of the coloure of fine iren or Steele.
This also chaunceth to many of them, that theyr fiete and
legges are lyke the legs and fiete of the foule cauled the
oystereche.*'^

It was here that we came across the first llamas that we

^The first Three English Books on Amerioa, translated hj Kichard Bden,
and edited hj Edward Arber. P. 343-344, Lcmdon, 1896.

FEOM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHII4LY PARAMO

saw in South America. These were the Peruvian sheep
that so elicited the admiration of the Spaniards on their
arrival in Peru. Of these interesting and useful animals
the author just quoted observes :

^' There are sheepe of suche byggenesse that they com-
pare them to younge camels or asses as sum say. Theyr
woolle is very fine : and nearest unto the f ynenesse of sylke.
They use them insteade of horses.*' ^

Useful as they are, however, there are comparatively
few llamas in Ecuador. The majority of the people seem
to prefer horses, mules, or burros, and as a consequence,
the raising of llamas has been greatly neglected. The fav-
orite habitat of these ** Indian sheep*' — ovejas y cameras
del Perii'— as the Spaniards also called them, is Peru and
Bolivia, where they are found in immense numbers.

At all the stations at which we stopped en route, we
found a large number of women, who had eatables for sale.
In the lowlands we were offered fruits of every variety at
a trifling price. On the plateau, in lieu of fruits, there
was a liberal supply of roast chicken, hard-boiled eggs, and
ChocUo, the Quichua word for ears of boiled green maize.
As the Indians prepared it, we found it as palatable as it
is nutritious, and judging by the demand for it among the
passengers, it is a most popular article of food in Ecuador.
One bright, young Indian woman disposed of several bas-
ketfuls in a few minutes, and her purchasers were by no
means confined to the natives of the country. In marked
contrast with the low prices of fruits in the coast lands,
were the high prices for provisions on the plateau. Eggs
sold for six cents a piece and a roast chicken brought its
lucky owner a dollar, the price that would be asked for it
in a Paris restaurant. We were, however, glad to get at
any price, something to eat ; for we were hungry, and, our
train being behind time, we foresaw that we should not be
able to reach Biobamba until long after nightfall.

And we were cold, very cold. We were then passing

in>id.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

over the arenal, that bleak, sandy plain at the base of
Chimborazo about which so much has been said and writ-
ten by travelers. Coming in such a short time from the
steaming lowlands to the dry and frigid paramo we felt
keenly the great difference of temperature. Besides, we
had been in the heated lands of the tropics for months
previously and had become sensitive to the slightest
changes of the thermometer. The sudden change, then,
from the home of the royal and the cocoa palm to the deso-
late region of ichu grass was like an inmiediate trans-
fer from the land of perennial summer to the rigorous
latitude of the Arctic circle.

And yet we were less than two degrees from the equator.
But we were two miles above the Pacific, ice was forming
on the surface of the little rivulet that was starting sea-
wards, and there was a sharp, piercing wind that pene-
trated to the marrow of our bones. At times the boreal
blast changed into a gale and enveloped us in clouds of
fine dust and sand. It was then like being caught in a
Nevada sand-cloud in midwinter.

What added to our discomfort and rendered us helpless
against the elements, was the fact that our car had no glass
windows so that we could shield ourselves against the
wind by closing them. There were only slat shutters
which gave wind and sand almost as free a sweep through
the car as they had outside. When we inquired the rea-
son for the absence of window panes, we were informed
that it was on account of the falling stones in the deep
gorges through which we had passed in ascending the
mountain. Glass had been used, it seems, for a while, but
there had been so many cases of breakage from falling
stones that, in order to lessen the danger to the passengers,
its use was discontinued.^ We had then, nolens volens, to

1 According to information recently received, all passenger coaches, at least
those used on the uplands, are now provided with suitable windows for the
protection of passengers. When connection by rail shall have been made
with the coal fields, that are about forty miles from the main line, some
provision, it is hoped, will be made for heating the cars while passing over

FROM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHII4LY PARAMO

sit and shiver for several hours, at the end of which we
were half frozen and impregnated with sand and volcanic
dust. It was fortunate for us — I mean my American and
German companions and myself — that we had heavy over-
coats, or we should have felt more keenly the chilly blasts
and the enormous apparent change in temperature since
our departure from the lowlands. But our experience with
the frost and wind of the elevated region — ^with

^^The wind that sings to himself as he makes stride
Lonely and terrible on the Andean height,"

was not something unusual. It was the experience of most
travelers since the time of the conquest.

The Italian explorer, Osculati, who visited these parts
sixty years ago, declares that the wind was so strong and
the cold so great that for a while he was unable to pro-
ceed on his journey.^

But to realize how terrible have sometimes been the suf-
ferings of those who have crossed the Cordillera in the
neighborhood of Chimborazo, we have but to read of the
accounts of the campaigns of the conquistadores in this
cold and desolate tableland, especially of that of Pedro de
Alvarado on his way from the coast to Eiobamba. As a
story of human endurance amid unheard-of trials, and
of protracted agony of body and mind, it is almost unique
in the annals of adventure and warfare. The nearest ap-
proach to it is, probably, the recital of the anguish and
misery endured by the followers of Federmann and
Quesada during their long marches through the swampy
forests and over the precipitous sierras of New Granada.

Many of the Spanish historians describe this famous
journey across the Andes, but the most spirited record is
that of Herrera, who, in writing of it, has, in the words of

the colder sections of the plateau. The coal used hj the company at the
time of my visit to Ecuador was brought from Australia and was quite
expensive.
^ Eaplorazione delle Regioni Equatoriali, p. 24, Milano, 1850.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Prescott, ** borrowed the pen of Livy describing the Alpine
march of Hannibal.''

Many of Alvarado's troopers **were frozen stiff in
their saddles,'' while the track of the hapless army through
the snowy passes was dismally marked by ' ' the dead bodies
of men, or by those, less fortunate, who were left to die
alone in the wilderness. As for the horses, their carcasses
were not suffered long to cumber the ground, as they were
quickly seized and devoured half raw by the starving sol-
diers, who, like the famished condors, now hovering in
troops above their heads, greedily banqueted on the most
offensive offal to satisfy the gnawings of hunger.

**To add to their distress, the air was filled for several
days with thick clouds of earthy particles and cinders
which blinded the men and made respiration exceedingly
difficult. This phenomenon, it seems probable, was caused
by an eruption of the distant Cotopaxi, the most beautiful
and the most terrible of the American volcanoes. . . .
Alvarado's followers, unacquainted with the cause of the
phenomenon as they wandered over tracts buried in snow
— the sight of which was strange to them — in an atmos-
phere laden with ashes, became bewildered by this con-
fusion of the elements which Nature seemed to have con-
trived purposely for their destruction. Some of the men
were soldiers of Cortes, steeled by the many and painful
marches and many a sharp encounter with the Aztecs. But
this war of the elements, they now confessed, was mightier
than all.

*'At length, Alvarado, after sufferings which even the
most hardy probably could have endured but a few days
longer, emerged from the snowy pass and came on the ele-
vated tableland, which spreads out more than nine thou-
sand feet above the ocean, in the neighborhood of Eio-
bamba. But, one-fourth of his gallant army had been left
to feed the condor in the wilderness, besides the greater
part, at least two thousand, of his Indian auxiliaries. A
great number of his horses, too, had perished ; and the men

FROM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHIUiT PARAMO

and horses that escaped were all of them more or less in-
jured by the cold and the extremity of suffering. Such
was the terrible passage of the Puertos Nevados, which I
have only briefly noticed as an episode to the Peruvian con-
questy but the account of which, in all its details, though it
occupied but a few weeks in duration, would give one a bet-
ter idea of the diflSculties encountered by the Spanish cav-
aliers than volumes of ordinary narrative. * ' ^

Although we had been gradually approaching Chimbo-
razo from the time we had left Guayaquil, we were unable
to enjoy a good view of it until we had actually arrived
quite near to it. The sun had set nearly an hour before,
and the full moon was shining with unwonted brightness.
Suddenly the heavy dark clouds, that had enshrouded the
mountain, cleared away and there against the starlit sky
stood the snow-capped summit of the famous * * Giant of the
Andes, ' ' long reputed to be the highest peak on the surface
of the globe.^ I must confess, however, that inspiring as
the sight was, my first view of the famous summit from the
upland, was disappointing. I was not so much impressed
by its height or its grandeur as I had been when I caught
my first glimpse of it from the harbor of Guayaquil. It
did not even appear so lofty as a part of the range near the
coast. As a matter of fact, some of the highest peaks near
Guayaquil have an altitude of twelve thousand feet above
sea level, while the summit of Chimborazo, from where I
first saw it on the lofty Andean plateau, was less than ten
thousand feet above me. Then it stood alone with nothing
to compare it with, whereas the mountains near the coast

1 Ptescott's Conquest of Peru, Book III, Chap. VH.

One of the most pathetic episodes of this terrifio passage across the sierra
was the tragic death of a Spanish soldier, who was accompanied by his wife
and two daughters. He might have escaped alive, but, unwilling to abandon
those who were unable to proceed further, all four succumbed to the cold
together. Herrera, Hiaioria de las Indiaa OccidentcUee, Dec V, lib. VI.

'Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett Browning in her Aurora Leigh writes: "I

learnt

by how many feet

Hount Chimborazo outsoars Himmeleh."

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

were surrounded by lower peaks and banded by peculiar
stratified clouds that had the effect of greatly exaggerating
their apparent altitude.

Until the time of Humboldt, the summit of Chimborazo
was considered inaccessible. Accompanied by M. Bon-
pland, this eminent explorer in 1802 made an attempt to
scale its untrodden heights, but was forced to desist from
his undertaking when within little more than one thousand
feet of his goal.

In 1831 the distinguished French savant, J. B. Boussin-
gault, accompanied by Colonel Hall, an American, es-
sayed twice to achieve success where the great German ex-
plorer had failed, but he, too, was compelled to relinquish
his enterprise, but not until he had approached four hun-
dred feet nearer the eagerly-sought summit than had his
distinguished predecessor.

The glory of being the first to report victory, where
others had met with defeat, was reserved for the English
Alpestrian, Edward Whymper, who, in 1880, succeeded in
twice planting his colors on the loftiest peak of the loftiest
summit of the Ecuadorian Andes.

The plain of Biobamba has been the theater of many
notable events recorded in the annals of Ecuador. On the
ridge of Tiocajas, towards the south, several decisive bat-
tles have been fought. It was here that the great Inca
conqueror, Tupac- Yupanqui, routed Hualcopo Duchisela,
the fourteenth Shiri of Quito, and subsequently took pos-
session of the whole country as far as Mocha. It was on
the same spot that his illustrious son, the Inca Huayna
Capac, conquered the son of Hualcopo, Cacha-Duchisela,
a quarter of a century later. It was here that the armies
of Huascar and Itahualpa, the sons of Huayna Capac, met
in stubborn and bloody conflict and prepared the way for
the conquest of their country by the Spaniards, whose cara-
vels were at that very moment coasting along the shores of
the Inca empire. It was on Tiocajas, too, that the noted
conquistador, Sebastian Bellacazar, in 1534, after many

PROM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHIIiLT PARAMO

bloody combats, won a decisive victory over Ruminahui,
which made him Tmdispnted master of the Kingdom of
Qnito.

This same plain of Biobamba also witnessed a meeting
of three conquistadores that was almost as unforeseen and
as dramatic in its leading features as was the extraor-
dinary coming together of Quesada, Federmann and Bel-
lacazar on the tableland of Cundinamarca.^

Curiously enough, the daring, ambitious, irrepressible
Bellacazar took a prominent part in both of these unex-
pected meetings. He had been appointed by his chief,
Francisco Pizarro, as governor of San Miguel de Piura,
but, learning that there were great treasures of gold and
silver in Quito, rivaling in amount those that had been
found in Cuzco— he left his post without the knowledge of
his superior and headed an expedition to the land of the
Shiris.

About the same time, Pedro de Alvarado, who had been
an officer under Cortes, but was then governor of Guate-
mala, was fitting out, by order of the King of Spain, a fleet
that was to sail under his command to the Isles of Spices.
But, Alvarado, hearing of the vast riches of Peru and learn-
ing that the unexplored country of Quito was equally rich
in gold and silver, determined, in spite of the orders of the
king to proceed to the Spice Islands, to start at once for
Quito. After crossing the Cordilleras, as above described,
he learned, to his surprise, that he had been preceded by
Bellacazar.

While these events were occurring, Pizarro *s associate,
Almagro, who was then near Cuzco, receiving information
of the arrival of Alvarado in Quito, which was claimed by
Pizarro, started post-haste for Piura, in order to get rein-
forcements from Bellacazar, preparatory to marching
against Alvarado. But Bellacazar was gone, and his ene-
mies, wishing to injure him, told Almagro that he had left

1 See Following the Oonquiatadorea up the Orinooo and down the Magda-
lena. Chap. X.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

to join Alvarado. This grieved and amazed Almagro be-
yond expression, but he saw there was no time to be lost.
He accordingly proceeded, with the force at his disposal,
to Quito— the country, not the city of Quito — ^to punish
Bellacazar for abandoning his post and to frustrate the
designs of the intruder, Alvarado.

In a short time, considering the distance to be traversed
and the diflBculties of the journey, he arrived near the pres-
ent city of Eiobamba, where, after numerous preliminary
negotiations through their respective agents, the three
chieftains agreed to meet in conference and adjust their
differences without resort to arms. The controversy was
long and spirited. Claims and counter-claims were pre-
sented, and it frequently seemed that bloodshed was inev-
itable. Finally, diplomacy triumphed and Alvarado agreed
to waive all his alleged rights and turn over his ships and
munitions of war to Almagro, in consideration of the sum
of one hundred and twenty thousand castellanos, and leave
Pizarro undisputed master of all the territory in question.
Thus was amicably adjusted on two memorable occasions,
claims and disputes that seriously threatened to jeopardize
the very existence of the Spaniards in the enemy's country
just as the conquistadores were on the point of establish-
ing their monarch's power on a basis that was to endure
until the War of Independence in the first quarter of the
nineteenth century.

CHAPTER IV
A LAND OF VOLCANOES

The first place of importance on the Ecuadorian table-
land which we visited was Biobamba, not the old town
founded by the Puruha Indians and subsequently occupied
by the Spanish conquerors, but the next town founded on a
new site after the destruction of the old one by the terrible
earthquake in 1797. It counts about twelve thousand in-
habitants and possesses several important ecclesiastical
and educational institutions. It is also the birthplace of
several of Ecuador *s most noted sons, for here were bom
Maldonato the scientist, Orosco the poet, Velasco the his-
torian and several others scarcely less celebrated.

When W. B. Stevenson visited this place early in the last
century he was not favorably impressed with its possibil-
ities as a future commercial center. He could not then, of
course, foresee that it would be the first city of the plateau
to be connected with the coast by rail and the consequent
impetus that this connection would give to trade and man-
ufacture in a place that had so long been almost dormant.
Even at the time of our visit, which was but shortly after
the railroad had been extended to it, Biobamba was begin-
ning to manifest a degree of business activity that quite
surprised the older inhabitants.

"What first attracted our attention was the hotels. From
what we had been told, there was not a single one in the
place where the traveler could stop with any degree of com-
fort. Imagine our agreeable surprise, then, in finding sev-
eral hotels that were quite satisfactory. Ours was a com-
modious two-story building — ^most of the buildings have
but one story — ^where we found every reasonable provision

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

made for the entertainment of its guests. This was one
of the first results of the advent of the railway. The em-
ployes of the road, and commercial travelers had created
a demand for better lodgings than had previously existed,
and the demand had been met without delay.

Another evidence of progress was a large electric power-
plant, recently established, which is operated by water,
and designed to supply light to the city and furnish power
for flour mills and other manufactories. AlS a result of
the erection of these flour mills and the increased acreage
devoted to the cultivation of wheat and other cereals, it is
confidently hoped that the agricultural lands of the plateau
will soon be able to supply the coast country with the flour
needed, which has hitherto been imported from Chile and
the United States.

The view from Biobamba is most fascinating, and fully
justifies Boussingault's statement that ''it exhibits the most
singular diorama in the world.'' From few other points
in the republic may one gaze upon volcanoes and mountain
peaks that are so majestic and imposing. In the west
Chimborazo and Carihuairazo raise their lofty summits
above the clouds, while, towards the east, are the colossal
masses of El Altar, Cubillin, Tunguragua and others
scarcely less prominent.

El Altar looks somewhat like an altar, whence its name.
In Quichua it is called Capac-UrcUy^ the father of moun-
tains, because, according to Indian tradition, it was for-
merly higher than Chimborazo. Its summit was then, it
is said, in the form of a cone, but owing to some convulsion
of Nature it was, a few years before the arrival of the
Spaniards, reduced to its present condition. So impressed
was the Gterman savant. Dr. Stiibel, by its beauty and
grandeur that he did not hesitate to pronounce it * * the mas-
terpiece of volcanic creations. ' '

Tunguragua, which rivals Chimborazo in size and sub-

1 Also called the Cerro de Collanes, from the Aymara word signifying sub-
lime, grandiose.

A LAND OF VOLCANOES

limity, is a volcano which, although quite irregular in its
activity, has heen noted for its terrific eruptions from time
immemorial. Its summit has the form of a perfect cone
and is covered with a mantle of eternal snow. Passing
from its hase to its crater is like traversing from the equa-
tor to the pole. Its lower slopes on the eastern declivity
are covered with the luxuriant vegetation of the tropics,
while its crest is the home of glaciers of vast extent and
thickness. During a notable eruption in 1777 many towns
and villages were destroyed, while during an eruption in
1886 the ashes that were belched forth were carried as far
as Guayaquil. A deluge of water and avalanches of mud,
resulting from the melted ice and snow, inundated the val-
leys at its foot, and the Pastaza, an affluent of the Amazon,
was cumbered with the debris carried down the mountain's
slope by the raging flood.

Thirty miles southeast of El Altar is the active volcano
of Sangai, pronounced by Villavicencio to be **the most
frightful volcano in the world** — ^^el mas horroroso del
globo/' ^ Its eruptions, according to the natives, alternate
with those of Cotopaxi. When one is in action the other
is in repose, each in turn becoming a safety valve to the
common focus of disturbance. At one time its explosions
resemble the discharge of musketry, at another it is like the
report of a broadside from a man-of-war, while occasion-
ally, large masses of incandescent rock are exploded in
the air, producing a terrific sound like that of the largest
bombs. So loud, indeed, ^re the detonations that they are
audible as far as the coast, and the ashes are carried to the
waters of the Pacific.

So great is the mass of ash and cinders ejected from this
volcano that it would, Eeclus assures us, equal that of sev-
eral mountains. **The surrounding country is covered to
a great depth with a grayish dust, and moving dunes of
volcanic sand, more than a hundred meters in thickness,
are carried along by the action of the wind. At times the

1 Qeografia de la RepubHoa del Eouador, p. 61, New York, 1868.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

tempest, sweeping over the rock, reveals the esoarpements
of mica-schist which form the primitive skeleton of the
Cordillera.**^

For years at a time, Dr. Beiss informs us, it pours forth
immense streams of lava towards the east, and their onward
course is not arrested until they reach the virgin forests
that incline towards the basin of the Amazon. And during
several years in succession the Mayas Indians are witnesses
of the illumination due to the reflection of light from the
rivers of molten lava.

While in eruption, Villavicencio tells us, Sangai presents
the aspect of an enormous pharos, more sublime than
that which surmounts the environs of Naples, but it is a
beacon that serves no purpose, for while the one illumines
the civilization and commerce of old and lovely Italy, the
other wastes its beams on solitude and barbarism.^

It seems probable that the disastrous earthquake which
destroyed the old city of Biobamba in 1797, had its origin
in Sangai. So complete and sudden was this visitation
that few of the twenty thousand inhabitants of the city
were able to escape, and Stevenson was fully justified in
declaring that ** perhaps no remains of these awful convul-
sions of Nature are more awful than those of Biobamba.'*

* * The face of the country was entirely changed, so much
so that after the shock, the surviving inhabitants, and those
of the neighboring provinces, could not tell where their
houses formerly stood, or where their friends had formerly
lived; mountains rose where cultivated valleys had ex-
isted; the rivers disappeared or changed their course, and
plains usurped the situation of mountains and ravines. * ' •

Even more remarkable in many respects than the dis-
aster just noted, was the extraordinary disappearance, in
1640, of the village of Cacha in the immediate vicinity of

1 Nouvelle 06ograpMe Universelle, Vol. XVIII, p. 422, Paris, 1898.
sQp. cit., p. 52.

• A Hiatorioal and Descriptive Tfwraiive of Twenty Tears^ Beeidenoe in
Bouih America, Vol. II, p. 268, by W. B. Stevenson, London, 182S.

A LAND OF VOLCANOES

Biobamba, in which, it is said, five thousand people lost
their lives. According to information available, it was not
dne either to an earthquake or to volcanic action, but to a
sudden landslide or depression of the earth's surface.
**The catastrophe,'' writes Dr. T. Wolf, **it appears, took
place in silence, though rapidly ; for even in the immediate
neighborhood, neither earthquake was felt nor noise heard.
A proof of this is, that the priest, having a short time be-
fore gone out with the sacristan to administer the sacra-
ment to an Indian who lived some little distance from the
village, was, on his return, much astonished not to find even
the site where Cacha had previously stood." ^

Of all the travelers who have recorded their impressions
of the marvelous views obtainable from Biobamba, no one
has given a more truthful pen-picture of what he saw than
the distinguished French savant, J. B. Boussingault, who
expresses himself as follows :

^ ^ This vast amphitheater of snow, limiting the horizon of
Biobamba on all sides, is a continual subject of varied ob-
servations. It is interesting to consider the aspect of these
glaciers at different hours of the day and to see their ap-
parent height change at every moment, owing to atmos-
pheric refraction. With what interest does not one behold
the production, in so limited a space, of all the great phe-
nomena of meteorology I Here it is one of those immense,
long clouds, that Saussure has so aptly defined as parasitic
clouds, which fastens itself about the middle of a cone of
trachyte and so adheres to it that the wind has no power
over it. Presently, lightning flashes and thunder rolls in
the midst of this vapory mass, hail and rain flood the moun-
tain's base, while its snowy summit, untouched by the
storm, is rendered dazzling in the sunshine. Farther on
it is a lofty peak of resplendent ice. Clearly outlined
against the azure sky one may distinguish its entire con-
tour. The atmosphere is remarkably pure, yet this icy

^ Quoted by A. Simfion, in his Travels in the Wilda of Ecuador, p. 21, Lon-
don, 1886.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

peak is covered with a cloud, apparently coming out, smoke-
like, from its bosom. This cloud, turning into a light va-
por, soon passes away. Again it reappears and again it
passes away. This intermittent formation of clouds is a
very frequent phenomenon on snow-capped mountain
peaks. It is observed especially during calm weather, al-
ways a few hours after the sun*s culmination. Under such
conditions, glaciers may be compared to condensers
launched toward the elevated regions of the atmosphere
to dry up the air by cooling it off and thus bring down on
the earth's surface the rain which was contained therein
in the state of vapor. * ' ^

As we were passing through Biobamba early one morn-
ing, we were surprised at seeing the large number of In-
dians engaged in besoming the streets. They seemed to be
as particular about their work as are the good housewives
of certain Dutch towns, who are not content with sweeping
the streets but must needs scrub them as well.

The train we were to take for Ambato was scheduled to
leave at six o 'clock in the morning. But there was one de-
lay after another so that we were detained at the depot
several hours. We then began to realize what it was to
be in a country that is under martial law. The attempt on
the life of the president a few days previously had thrown
the whole country into a ferment of excitement, and the
government was taking every possible precaution to pre-
vent an anticipated revolution. All suspects and strangers
were kept under surveillance, and we did not escape the
watchful eyes of police and secret service men. But so far
we had not been molested. Others, however, were less
fortunate. We saw several arrested, who were suspected
of being implicated in the conspiracy, and, judging by the
manner in which we were scrutinized by several govern-
ment officials, we felt that we might at any moment be
called upon to give an account of ourselves. But our time
had not yet come. After our train had been held for the

1 Viajes Cientificoa d los Andes Eouatoridles, p. 207, Paris, 1849.

A LAND OF VOI4CANOES

arrival of a company of soldiers, that was to be trans-
ferred to another part of the country, we finally got started
and fonnd ourselves circling around the arid Meseta of
Biobamba and headed towards Chimborazo. To us, com-
ing from the lowlands, it was bitter cold, but the natives
seemed to be quite comfortable, although but slightly clad.
What added more than anything else to our discomfort
was the chilly sand-blasts that swept through our window-
less car and at times almost blinded us. . It was a Sahara
sand-storm and a Siberian blast unpleasantly wedded.

Happily, there were so many things to claim our atten-
tion that we managed to endure the trials imposed by cold
and wind. Chief among these was Chimborazo, which we
were gradually approaching and along whose base we were
to travel almost until we reached Ambato. The clouds,
that so often conceal it from view, had lifted and we could
behold it in all its impressive grandeur and sublimity.
Owing to the clear atmosphere, the snow-capped apex of
this colossus of Ecuador seemed much nearer than it was
in reality. I then recalled the ambition that I had long
entertained, after reading of the futile efforts of Hum-
boldt and others, to scale its summit and plant the Amer-
ican flag on its loftiest peak. Indeed, after climbing
Popocatepetl I had actually made all arrangements to
essay the ascent of Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, but, at the
last moment, something intervened to prevent me from
carrying my long-cherished plans into effect. Now, that
I was passing over the foothills of these two grand
peaks, I felt anew the regret I had experienced long years
before in not being able to gratify my desire of ex-
ploring these — ^to me — alluring heights. But while the ar-
dor of youth still remained, I realized that I was a quar-
ter of a century older, and wisdom counseled prudence and
renunciation. Besides, cui honof I said to myself while
gazing wistfully at the glistening summit of the giant of the
Andes and still dreaming of the possibility of attaining its
dizzy crest. Others have been there and explored its broad

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

glacier fields and all that is visible of its once enormous
crater and lava streams whichy during prehistoric times,
coursed down the precipitous sides. I could, even if suc-
cessful, add but little to the sum of human knowledge by
repealing the feat of Whymper and his brave Swiss Alpes-
trians, and, such being the case, there was little left but
idle curiosity to compensate for the fatigue and danger
that would necessarily be incident to such an undertaking.
I accordingly satisfied myself by reading Bolivar's DeUrio,
penned after contemplating what he happily calls "el aialor
ya del universe^ ^ — **the watch tower of the universe.**

I have, however, reason to remember Chimborazo with-
out having essayed to reach its summit. But the memory
to which I refer is not a pleasant one. We had reached the
eastern base of the mountain, at a point nearly twelve thou-
sand feet above sea level, shortly after nightfall, and, while
rounding a sharp curve with a heavy gradient, the locomo-
tive and a part of the train got derailed. Just then it be-
gan to rain and hail. This was followed by sleet and a
piercing wind from which our open car afforded no pro-
tection. There was no means of heating the car, and the
cold gradually became more and more intense and the tem-
pest more violent. We thought at first that the engine and
cars could soon be gotten back to the track. They were,
but no sooner was an attempt made to move forward, than
the locomotive was again off the rails. We were in the
worst possible place for such an accident to occur. Time
and again the engine was restored to the track, but each
time the throttle was opened it glided off the rails. Hour
after hour passed away, but all attempts to get started
again were futile. The conductor and engineer resorted
to every means at their command to overcome the diflSculty
that confronted them, but in vain. The trainmen labored
like Trojans but to no purpose. Meantime the passengers,
at least those of us who had come from the coast, were
suffering from the damp, cold and penetrating wind from
the snow fields just above us. I was well provided with

F Chimbosazo as Seen from the Platbad,

A LAND OF VOI4CANOES

heavy dothing and wraps, but these were insufficient
to shield me from the arctic blast that raged without inter-
mission during the entire night. After putting on a light
and a heavy overcoat I wrapped around myself a heavy
Scotch blanket that had kept me warm in the coldest of
northern latitudes. But still I shivered, and my teeth chat-
tered as never before. Never had I suffered so much from
the cold in the severest rigors of a subarctic climate. I
thought surely that I should have pneumonia before morn-
ing.

How the other passengers — ^most of them with very light
clothing — survived that night of horror will always be a
mystery to me. Most of them, I know, tried to keep warm
by copious draughts of aguardiente — a crude kind of
brandy made from sugar-cane — ^and the majority were soon
stupid from the effects of the poisonous extract.

Finally, the morning dawned and the employes of the
road were still devising ways and means to get started, but
all their efforts were still fruitless. **What is the mat-
ter f I asked a large, robust Jamaican negro, a brakeman.
**What am de matter? '^ he said, in an agonizing voice.
''My good Lawd, de train hab jumped de track, dat am
what's de matter/' And the poor fellow, suffering from
hunger and fatigue, and half frozen, and no longer able to
restrain his pent-up feelings, burst into loud sobs and cried
like a child.

Finally, however, after laboring for twelve mortal hours,
the trainmen succeeded — ^how, I do not know — ^in getting
the train back on the rails and in releasing us from what
was to me one of the most trying experiences of my life.
I was then quite satisfied to leave Chimborazo alone on his
storm-swept paramo, and was in no further mood to read
delirios or odes about the ** Giant of the Andes'' or the
"Watchtower of the Universe." I should just then have
been glad to have had a little of that unbearable heat which
Aristotle and Pliny affirmed always to prevail near the
equator.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Our first stopping-place after leaving Biobamba — ^I do
not refer to our unavoidable detention at the foot of Chim-
borazo— was Ambato. This is a town of about eight thou-
sand inhabitants, and is celebrated for its fairs, which at-
tract more people than any others in the republic. It has
several times been destroyed by earthquakes, but each time
it has been rebuilt and is now one of the most prosperous
places on the plateau. What specially invited our atten-
tion was the large number of orchards devoted to the culti-
vation of fruits of the temperate zone — among them ap-
ples, peaches, pears and apricots. Indeed, so far as the
production of fruits goes, the Ambato valley is perhaps
the most fertile tract on the tableland between Cuenca
and Ibarra.

We probably made a special note of this particular fea-
ture of Ambato because it is in such marked contrast with
the general appearance of the plateau between Biobamba
and Latacunga. A great part of the land between these
two places, when not an arid, barren plain, is a dismal
heath or a cheerless moorland. Not more than half of it
is available for cultivation, and even this part, aside from
some favored valleys, is far from being fertile. It produces
barely enough to support the present sparse population.
If there were a marked increase in the number of inhab-
itants, it would be necessary to seek for means of subsist-
ence beyond the plateau, or adopt quite different methods
of agriculture from those which have obtained since the
time of the conquest. Except in a few of the better con-
ducted haciendas, one etiU sees everywhere the same prim-
itive methods of agriculture that were introduced by the
Spaniards three and a half centuries ago. With the advent
of railroads, however, and cheaper transportation, there is
no doubt that old methods of tillage will soon give
way to modem principles of husbandry, and that the sim-
ple implements that have so long been almost exclusively
employed will soon be replaced by the better types of farm-
ing machinery of foreign manufacture. When this time

A LAND OF VOIiCANOES

shall arrive, — ^and it should be in the very near future, —
the manufacturers of the United States should be the first
to avail themselves of the opportunity of creating a new
market for their products and for the latest mechanical cre-
ations of Yankee genius.

The chief agricultural products of the inter-Andean
plateau are wheat, barley, maize and potatoes. The
latter two are the chief sustenance of the poorer classes.
Boast com — mote — and potato soup — locro — are to the
Serrano — ^mountaineer — ^what boiled and roast plantains
are to the inhabitants of the lowlands — their staff of
life.

Extensive tracts are also devoted to the cultivation of
alfalfa. Before the completion of the railway between the
coast and the capital, this was, in some respects, even more
important than com or wheat, for without a liberal supply
of yerba — ^provender — ^it was impossible to keep up the
large and numerous mule trains that were necessary
for transporting merchandise between Guayaquil and the
towns of the interior. Even to the casual traveler among
the Cordilleras, as every one who has had any experience
in Andean lands knows, yerba is the most essential item of
a successful trip, and the one that is first called for at the
end of the day's journey. The rider may dispense with
bread and locro, for this can be replaced by eggs and
toasted com, or he can, if need be, make shift with the lat-
ter alone, but his mount must have his daily allowance of
yerba or progress is impossible.

The plateau between Riobamba and Quito is monotonous
and desolate in the extreme. For a part of the distance
it is as arid as Arizona and as treeless as the tableland of
Mexico. But few trees are visible. Along the banks of
rivers and streams there is an occasional willow or wild
cherry, but nothing that approaches a forest. Excepting
the American aloe, one sees little more than certain species
of cactus, euphorbia and eupatorium together with a spe-
cies of tall grass called sigsig.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

The aloe — Agave Americana — ^is called CahiUla by the
Ecaadorians, and is used by them, as by the Mexicans, for
a great variety of purposes. It serves as an enclosure
around houses and gardens and as a hedge along the road.
The broad leaves supply the poorer people with thatch for
their huts, while the tall flower stalks are employed for
building purposes.

There are two reasons for this notable absence of vege-
tation on the part of the plateau in question, for it is gen-
erally admitted that it was not in its present condition at
the time of the arrival of the Spaniards. One reason is
that the forest growth has been destroyed by the owners
of the land and that they never made any provision to re-
place it. Another reason — and probably the chief one — ^is
the character of the soil. This is largely of volcanic or-
igin— a porous pumice which favors rapid evaporation as
well as speedy absorption — ^and a compact tufa which per-
mits rain to flow away as soon as it falls. In both cases
the land is rendered arid and unproductive. Only im-
proved methods of cultivating the soil and the creation
anew of extensive forest tracts can, as the Ecuadorian
botanist, Sr. L. Sodiro, pertinently observes, give back fer-
tility to large stretches of territory that are now little bet-
ter than desert wastes.^

On our arrival at Latacunga, a town of about twelve thou-
sand inhabitants, we were met by a number of soldiers who
required us to give an account of ourselves. They desired
to know whence we came, whither we were going, and what
was our occupation and nationality. We supplied them
with this information, but they were not satisfied, and told
us they would have to take us to the police station. We ac-
cordingly started towards the town, which is some distance
from the railway, and the guard accompanied us. There
were, however, quite a number in our party — ^most of them
Ecuadorians — ^but in separate conveyances. When we
finally reached the town, going directly, as we supposed, to

lApufiiM Mohre la Vegetacion Eouatoriana, p. 26, Quito, 1874.

A LAND OF VOI4OANOBS

the prefecture of police, the Ecuadorians suddenly dashed
off into various side-streets, and the guards, unwilling to
lose sight of them, started after them post-haste, appar-
ently forgetting us altogether. Finding ourselves thus un-
expectedly at liberty, we quietly proceeded to our hotel to
await developments, but, strange to say, we were not again
molested during the day that we remaiaed in the place.
The police and military had, evidently, more important
matters to occupy their attention than two wandering
Oringos.

Latacunga is a dreary, melancholy place — ^just such a
place as one would avoid — ^if he is inclined to homesickness.
Besides this, we found it exceedingly cold. It is nearly
ten thousand feet above sea level, and at the time of our
visit, there was a stiff breeze blowing from the direction
of snow-capi)ed Cotopaxi, and this also tended to reduce
the temperature. Most of the houses are built of pumice
stone, and this likewise contributes to the cheerless aspect
of the place. Like many other towns in Ecuador, it has
suffered frequently from earthquakes and from its prox-
imity to Cotopaxi, which is only six leagues to the east.
It was destroyed four times between 1698 and 1797. For
this reason the houses are of but one story with very thick
walls, so as to offer the greatest possible resistance to seis-
mic disturbances.

The first recorded eruption of Cotopaxi took place iq
1534, at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, and
proved, as a certain writer has observed, **very favorable
to the enterprise'* of the conquistadores. **For the In-
dians, possessed with truth of a prediction of their priests
that on the bursting of the volcano they would be deprived
of their coimtry and reduced under the government of an
unknown prince, were so struck with the concurrence of
the bursting of the volcano, and the invasion of a foreign
army, that the spirit, which universally began to show itself
in the preparations everywhere made for a vigorous re-
sistance, entirely left them, and the whole province was

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

easily conquered, all its caciques submitting to the King of
Spain.^

But destructive as are the eruptions of the volcano when
it belches forth ashes, cinders and lava, it is even more so
when its terrific operations are followed by deluges of
water and avalanches of mud, carrying along with them
immense blocks of ice and rock to great distances, causing
death and devastation all along their course. Such an
eruption took place in 1877, and, so great was the velocity
of the angry flood that it swept the plain with the momen-
tum of an express train, carrying before it bridges, build-
ings and everything that stood in its path. The very day
of the eruption the irresistible torrent reached the mouth
of the Esmeraldas Biver, nearly three hundred miles dis-
tant. The catastrophe had been annoimced the preceding
evening by an enormous column of black ashes, which the
roaring mountain projected more than three miles above
the crater, and which an east wind carried far out over the
Pacific. Vessels going from Guayaquil to Panama were
suddenly enveloped in a cloud of dust, and transmitted to
Europe and the United States the first news of the disaster.
After this eruption of ash there was a welling of molten
lava over the rim of the crater, which melted the ice and
snow and transformed them at once into tremendous ava-
lanches of mud. At the same time immense blocks of ice
were transported across the plain of Latacunga to a dis-
tance of thirty miles, where they remained several months
before they were entirely melted. By a singular con-
trast, the summit of the volcano, which is ordinarily
snow-white, remained for a long time black and calcined,
except in a few spots that had escaped the streams of
lava.*

The foregoing is only one of many similar eruptions that
occurred during the last century, and that contributed so

1 Jorge Juan and Antonio de XJlloa, Op. dt., Vol. I, p. 253, and Herrera, nt.
sup., Lib. V, Cap. Vll.
aReclus, Op. dt., p. 419.

A LAND OP VOI4CANOES

much toward sterilizing the surroundiiig country, and
rendering Cotopaxi so formidable to the inhabitants who
live in its vicinity. It is a constant menace to life and
property and it is often so quick in its action that its vic-
tims have no time to escape.

But terrible as are the catastrophes that accompany vol-
canic action in this extraordinary plateau, they might be
much greater and extend over a much wider territory.
According to L. Dressel, there are on the highlands of
Ecuador no fewer than thirty-nine volcanoes, forming what
has aptly been called ' * an avenue of volcanoes, ' ' extending
from the northern to the southern boundaries of the repub-
lic. Nowhere else in the world are there so many vol-
canoes within the same area. Only in the island of Hawaii
is there a center of volcanic energy at all comparable with
that which distinguishes Ecuador. Humboldt does not
exaggerate when, in his Views of Nature, he declares, *'The
whole elevated tableland of Quito, which is surmounted by
the high mountains of Pichincha, Cotopaxi and Tunguragua,
constitutes one sole volcanic hearth. The subterranean
fire bursts sometimes from one and sometimes from another
of these openings, which have generally been regarded as
independent volcanoes. * ' ^ In consequence of this the earth
must present to raquisitive Martians — ^if such beings exist
— the same appearance as the surface of the moon exhibits
to us when viewed through a powerful telescope — so seared
and pitted is it by the long-continued action of our globe's
most active volcanic fires.

Fortunately there are never more than two or three of
these volcanoes active at the same time. If all, or even a
great number of them, were simultaneously to vomit forth
ashes, cinders, and lava, the imagination would fail to pic-
ture the wide-spread devastation that would ensue. It
would be like the return of at least a part of the earth to
its original condition of darkness and chaos.

But why, it will be asked, do people live in a land in

1 Bohn edition, p. 360.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

which they are constantly exposed to such sudden and
awful disasters — ^where thousands of victims are sacrificed
in a single moment t Why do people cling to the rich flanks
of Kiluea and Mauna Loa, and huddle around the treacher-
ous slopes of vine-dad Etna and Vesuvius, or pitch their
tents on quaking, incandescent Strombolit Let philoso-
phers reply.

While traveling in Ecuador, one is sure to hear strange
stories and legends about certain volcanoes, especially
Cotopaxi, Sangai, Tunguragua and Imbabura. These, we
are assured, eject not only ashes, cinders, scoria and lava,
but also water. This water, we are informed, exists in
immense subterranean reservoirs connected with the funnel
of the crater, and when the volcanoes are in eruption^ gives
rise to the devastating floods and mud avalanches to which
reference has just been made.

But a more marvelous story is that these volcanoes fre-
quently eject vast numbers of fish with the water, which,
on decaying, so infect the atmosphere as to cause wide-
spread disease.

The historian Velasco seems to be the one who first gave
currency to these stories, which were accepted without con-
tradiction for several generations.^ Even Humboldt was
misled by Velasco 's statements, for he relates that Imba-
bura, during the great eruption of 1691, ejected mud con-
taining so many prenadiUas — ^a species of fish which he
calls Pimelodus cyclopum — ^that the surrounding atmos-
phere was so poisoned that it gave rise to malignant fevers
among many of the inhabitants in the neighborhood of the
volcano.*

In the first volume devoted to the zoological work of his
South American journey, Humboldt gives us a figure and
description of this extraordinary fish--more remarkable by
far than any salamander of fable — and devotes several
pages to an account of it under the caption of Memoire sur

1 HUtoria del Beino de Quito, Tom. I, p. 11, Quito^ 1844.
s Vieu>8 of Nature, ut. sup., p. 867| and Koonofy V, p. 82.

A LAND OF VOLCANOES

tine nouvelle espdce de Pemelode, jetSe par les volcans du
Royaume de Quito.^

Since Hmnboldt's time this fable about the Pimelodus,
or Cyclopium Gyclopum — ^a more appropriate name — has
occupied an important place in works on natural history
and all the marvels related of this extraordinary fish have
been accepted as indisputable facts. The fable, however,
is in keeping with that of monkey bridges, originated ap-
parently by Acosta and endorsed later by such distinguished
men of science as Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa.

But these stories about the ejecting of water, mud and
fish from volcanoes are not the only ones of Velasco which
the illustrious German naturalist has unwillingly helped to
perpetuate. It well illustrates the extent of human cre-
dulity among even the wisest of men. As, at times tonus
donnitat Homert^, so also does Humboldt fall into errors
when he relies too much on reports regarding phenomena
concerning which his informants were not competent to
form an opinion. Had he, observes Wolf, had an oppor-
tunity of himself witnessing one of the eruptions of Coto-
paxi, or the formation of one of those aqueous inundations,
he never would have spoken of Cotopaxi as **a water vol-
cano,'' nor would he have maintained that the mud ava-
lanches, and still less the prenadillas, originated in its
crater.*

There is just sufficient substratum of truth in these fables
to account for their existence until the phenomena in ques-

1 In Tom. I of Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland, Deucoieme Partie, Oheer-
vationa de Zoologie et de VAnatonUe Compart, Park, 1911.

'Dr. Moritz Wagner, in his NaturwiaeenadhaftUehe Beisen im tropiechen
Amerika, p. 415, Stuttgart, 1870, remarks that Humboldt has desenredlj
been reproached for giving too much credence to the stories of the natives
of the r^ons through which he passed concerning matters on which thej
were not competent to express a just opinion. This statement is remarkable,
as it is rarelj that a (German permits himself to criticize any of the pro-
noimcements of his illustrious countryman. Dr. Wagner is evidently one of
those who do not love OeBsar less but love Rome more— one who is no
respecter of persona when there is question of the claims of truth and
scientiflo accuracy.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

tion were so thoroughly examined — and that was only a
few decades ago— that all the questions involved can now
be considered as definitely settled. It is now known,
thanks to the investigations of Beiss, Stiibel and Wolf , that
the floods of water, instead of coming from the crater of
the volcano, which was supposed to be connected with sub-
terranean reservoirs, are produced by the molten lava
coming in contact with the ice and snow on its summit.
The water, thus suddenly formed, rushing down the pre-
cipitous sides of the mountain, carries with it ashes and
sand and forms the observed avalandies of mud. When
these floods and avalanches encounter streams and rivers
in their onward course they fill their channels to overflow-
ing, when occasionally ** multitudes of fish are borne from
their native haunts and left stranded when the waters sub-
side.**^

I shall never forget the surpassing beauty of Cotopaxi
and the fascination it always exercised over me whenever it
was in view. So perfectly formed and symmetrical is its
summit that it has been called the *4deal volcano** of
Ecuador. Its summit is a truncated cone, as perfect as if
it had been turned on some cosmic lathe at the time of
its formation in the Quaternary period. It is more
symmetrical even than the cones of Mauna Loa and Popo-
catepetl, which are famous for the regular forms of their
peaks. Its nearest rival, perhaps, is famous Fujiyama,
the pride of Japan.

When I last saw Cotopaxi it was illumined by the glories
of the setting sun. The atmosphere was clear and serene
— such as so often distinguishes these Andean highlands —
and there was not a single cloud to obscure the immaculate
mantle that draped its beauteous form. At first, the cone
was radiantly white, like molten silver ; then it changed to
burnished gold; next it was a lisrht rose that shaded into
brilliant crimson, while the part below the snow line as-

1 Wolf, op. cit., pp. 252-53 and 643 et seq., and Whymper, Travels Amongst
the Great Andes of the Equator, p. 252 et seq. New York, 1892.

A LAND OF VOLCANOES

snmed at first a delicate blue and then a deep indigo hue,
terminating finally, as the sun dropped behind the western
Cordillera, in a dark violet, the forerunner of the somber
shadow of night. With truth could Villavicencio declare
that, when seen under such circumstances, it is a si)ectacle
that must * * deeply stir the soul, even of those who are least
inclined to contemplate with enthusiasm the great works of
Nature. ' ' ^

Latacunga, like all other towns along the Guayaquil and
Quito Bailway, is beginning to exhibit signs of life and
business activity, before unknown. Owing, however, to the
devastations of Cotopaxi and the sterility of the soil of the
surrounding country, it is not likely ever to become a com-
mercial center of any importance. I am glad to be able to
give a better report of its cleanliness than Hassaurek and
Orton, who seemed to have followed Ida Pfeiffer in adver-
tising it as headquarters for filth and fleas, which increase
and multiply in spite of revolutions and earthquakes, and
where it was impossible to find an inn in which the traveler
could enjoy any comfort whatever. Truth compels me to
say that I was more fortunate in my experience. Not only
did I note an absence of the objectionable features com-
plained of by previous travelers, but I f oimd in the modest
hotel in which I sought hospitality, a clean bed and an
abundance of well-prepared, wholesome food.

I can also make the same statement regarding all the
hotels at which I stopped in Ecuador. They were all clean
and well-kept, and, although none of them were at all com-
parable with the better class of hostelries in the United
States and Europe, there was, in no instance, any reason-
able cause for complaint. The only discomfort I suffered
in Latacunga was from insufficiency of bed-clothing. Al-
though I had two heavy blankets on my bed — ^as many as
the natives ever require, apparently — ^I still felt cold. This
was doubtless owing to my recent arrival from the hot
lowlands. When I called for another blanket, the young

1 Op. dt., p. 46.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

peon who had charge of my room, said there were no more
available. **The house is full of guests/* he said, **and
there is not a single spare blanket to be had." When I
told him that I really needed another one, as I felt very
cold, he naively suggested that I use my overcoat in lieu
of a blanket. As there was nothing else to be done, I acted
on the young Indian's suggestion, and he retired smiling,
satisfied, no doubt, that he had helx>ed me out of a grave
difficulty. When, on leaving, I handed the good-natured
soul a little gratificacion he felt convinced I was rewarding
him for timely advice when, in his estimation, my wits were
in a creel. Qtood little Ventura 1 How often have I re-
called your bright, honest face, since your kindly Adios y
feliz viajel

CHAPTER V
QUITO BONITO

At the time of our visit, Latactmga was the northern
terminus of the railroad, but the work on the unfinished
part was being pushed to a rapid completion. Owing, how-
ever, to unforeseen delays, the first train did not enter
Quito until nearly a year later than the date called for by
the contract.

The usual way of making the journey from Latacunga
to the capital, before the construction of the railway, was
by stage-coadi. But the journey by this method was, for
many reasons, extremely trying and disagreeable, although
the natives did not seem to mind it. Fortunately for us,
an enterprising company had, a short time previously, put
on this route a number of strong French motor-cars, and
had, at the same time, engaged expert French chauffeurs to
operate them. We lost no time in securing one of these
vehicles, and were thus able to reach Quito with the maxi-
mum of speed and comfort.

The road over which we passed was a most agreeable sur-
prise to us, as it was by far the best we had yet seen any-
where in South America. It was one of the notable public
works due to the enterprise of Ecuador's most illustrious
president, Oarda Moreno. It is said to have cost $2,000,-
000 dollars, but it was worth it. As a well-built, well-kept
highway, it compares favorably with the best thorough-
fares of France and Germany, and that is high praise.
With the exception of the last few miles, near the capital,
where cobblestones are required, it is an ideal road for
automobiles. It is broad and smooth, and although it
crosses several mountain spurs and ridges, the grade is

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

nowhere heavy. It is indeed a splendid specimen of en-
gineering and, as an example of road construction under
extraordinary diflSculties, it could be studied with profit by
those interested in work of this kind.

Along this stretch of road my attention was directed
anew to a feature of the country that I had so frequently
noted from the time I had left Biobamba — ^the small amount
of water in the rivers and streams which we crossed, or
along which we passed. One would naturally expect, where
there are so many snow-capped mountains, and where the
annual rainfall is so great, to find the water-courses flooded
as they are under similar conditions in other parts of the
world. But not only was the soil to a great extent dry and
bare of vegetation, but there was, as a rule, little water in
any of the channels that drain the plateau. Owing to the
porosity of the sandy, pumicious soil, most of the water
from cloud and glacier is absorbed as soon as it reaches
the tableland and does not come to the surface until, at
much lower elevations, it swells the rivers that flow to the
Pacific, or the countless tributaries of the mighty Amazon.
For this reason the inter- Andean plateau is better adapted
to grazing than to agriculture. We saw several large
flocks and herds in the haciendas through which we passed,
and the animals were usually in excellent condition — re-
minding us of the better class of cattle and sheep we had
some months before seen in the famous pasture-lands of
Venezuela and Colombia. The future of agriculture in
Ecuador lies in the rich coast lands bordering the Pacific
and in the fertile valleys of the eastern part of the re-
public.

Most of the people we met on the way were Indians, for
in Ecuador, as in the greater part of South America, In-
dians and mestizos constitute the majority of the popula-
tion. Here, as elsewhere, we found them gentle, patient
and industrious ; fond of their homes and devoted to their
families. Many of them lived in extreme poverty and ex-
hibited traces of trial and suffering that could not be con-

QUITO BONITO

cealed. My sympathy, I confess, always went out to these
neglected and oppressed people. Their cordial greetings,
^^ Buenos dias, Senor, Buenas tardes, mi amo^* — ^''Good day,
Sir,** or **Good afternoon, my master,*' always touched a
responsive chord, and their unvarying kindness and disposi-
tion to oblige completely won my heart. Ah, if they could
only have had the advantages of that government which the
saintly Las Casas had planned for them, how different
would be their condition to-day 1 Instead of being so often
but virtual serfs and the victims of untold wrongs, they
would be the happy, prosperous citizens of a great and
flourishing commonwealth.

I was always specially interested in the Indian children,
although they seemed at times to have Spartan mothers.
I recall one case in particular, on our way to Quito, when
I was shivering with cold — although I had on a heavy over-
coat— of an Indian mother giving a three-year-old boy a
bath in a vessel of ice-cold water. But the little fellow,
far from objecting to this frigid ablution, seemed to enjoy
it. Not far from this spot I met another mother that bore
more resemblance to the mother of the Machabees, or
rather to Sara, the mother of the patriarch Isaac, who, ac-
cording to St. Jerome and other commentors, did not wean
her son until he was between the age of five and twelve
years. In the doorway of her humble hut was seated an
Indian woman, and standing beside her was a lusty youth
about seven years old taking his morning repast at the
maternal breast. It was not such a picture as Raphael
has immortalized in his Madonna delta Sedia, but it was,
nevertheless, a rare and touching exhibition of motherly
devotion and filial affection. I was aware that under the
Incas the Quichua mothers were wont to wean their chil-
dren * * at the age of two years and upwards, * ' ^ but, al-
though I had frequently seen Indian mothers nursing
children about two years old, this was the first instance I

iGkircilaso de la Vega, Comentarios Beales de lo8 Inoas, Lib. IV, Cap.
XI, MadHd, 1723.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

had ever observed, that seemed to confirm what certain
Scriptural exegetes have tanght respecting the time of
weaning of the son of Abraham.

On the way from Biobamba to the capital I made frequent
inquiries about the Inca road, which, the early Spanish
writers tell us, extended from Quito to Cuzco and thence to
Chile, and which Herrera assures us was full twelve hun-
dred leagues in length,^ but no one was able to give me any
information about it and nowhere was I able to detect the
slightest trace of its former existence. I had, therefore,
to rest satisfied with what the eminent explorers Wolf and
Beiss have to say about what they saw of this far-famed
road in the province of Azuay in the southern part of the
republic. Dr. Beiss, whose opinion Wolf fully endorses,
declares, "The road in this region is formed of the irregu-
lar surface of ancient lavas, and there are no vestiges of
cement or bitumen. Oreat and ingenious is the work ex-
ecuted by the Incas, but I do not understand how they can
have been compared to the most beautiful highways of the
Eomans.2 I shall, however, have more to say on this in-
teresting but much misunderstood topic in a subsequent
chapter.

As we passed along the serpentine road which crosses the
ridge of Tiupullo — connecting the inactive volcanoes,
niiniza and Buminahui — ^we constantly had before us the
splendid, snow-capped dome of Cotopaxi. It was not in
eruption at the time, but about every half hour it emitted
immense jets of vapor, which, after describing graceful
volutes, became detached from the crater and formed light
cumulus clouds that soon vanished in the dry, elevated re-
gions of the atmosphere. So fascinating was the picture

1 Salia el gran Oamino, que se ha dicho de esta Ciudad al Cuzoo i otro^ que
salia del que llegaba a Chile, que esta oomo mil dosdentas leguas del Quito,
Dec V, Lib. VI, Cap. VI.

* Carta del doctor W. Reisa d 8. E, el Preeidente de la RepuhUoa, Bohre
8U8 viajes d las montaiias del Bwr de la capital, p. 19, Quito, 1873, and T.
Wolf, Viajes cientificoe por la RepubUca del Ecuador, U, La Provincia deH
AtBuay, p. 31, Guayaquil, 1879.

QUITO BONITO

that our gaze was continually fixed on it, almost to the ex-
clusion of everything else within the range of vision.

As I noted the periodic action of this colossal safety-
valve of the Cordilleras, and recalled its destructive opera-
tions in days gone by, I thought of the sublime versicle of
the Psalmist : ^ ^ He looketh upon the earth and maketh it
tremble ; He toucheth the mountains and they smoke. ' ' ^

From the summit of TiupuUo, nearly twelve thousand
feet above sea level, one has one of the most glorious and
extensive views in Ecuador— even more imposing than that
afforded at Biobamba. To the south are Carihuairazo,
Tunguragua and Chimborazo, to the west Uliniza and
Corazon, to the east SiQcholagua and Cotopaxi, to the north
Cayamba and Cotocachi. All these thrust their lofty sum-
mits above the line of perpetual snow.^ The lowest of
them is higher than the loftiest peak in the United States,
while some of them are nearly a mile nearer the azure
vault of heaven than the most elevated point of Mont
Blanc. Cotopaxi is five times as high as Mount Vesuvius.
Indeed the celebrated Italian volcano might be placed on
the summit of Pike's Peak, one of the giants of the Eocky
Mountain range, and yet its crest would still be a third of
a mile beneath the crater of Cotopaxi.

''All that expands the spirit, yet appals,
Qathers around this summit, as if to show
How earth may pierce to heaven, yet leave
vain man below."

Padre Velasco, the historian of Ecuador, declares that
Ecuador is **the noblest portion of the New World.'* To
the lover of grandeur and sublimity in mountain scenery
this is certainly true. Nowhere else within the same area

1 Psalm cm, 32.

s According to Reiss and StObel the mean altitude for the line of perpetual
snow for the western Cordillera is 4,742 meters; for the eastern Cordillera
it is 4,564 meters, which would give a general average of 4,653 meters, about
flye hundred feet lower than the summit of Mont Blanc

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

is there such a magnificent galaxy of sky-piercing monn-
tain peaks and volcanoes. From the summit of one of these
mountains one may count sixteen snow-capped peaks, all
but two of which are volcanoes either active, dormant or
extinct. Besides these there are dozens of mountains of
lower altitude, all, however, contributing to round out the
grandest and most inspiring mountain panorama in all the
world.

This lofty ridge of Tiupullo, without referring to what
occurred during the conquest of the country by the Incas
of Peru, has been the silent witness of many events inter-
esting alike to the historian and to the student of science.
It was crossed by the conquistador, Sebastian Bellacazar,
when, after his victory over Buminahui, he continued his
course northward to take possession of the ancient capital
of the Shiris, before starting on his memorable journey in
quest of El Dorado in far-off Cundinamarca. It saw Qon-
zalo Pizarro and his gallant band before they started east-
ward for the Land of Canela, where they hoped to find
treasures of cinnamon that would rival those of Java and
Ceylon. It greeted his lieutenant, Francisco Orellana, the
inmiortal discoverer of the Amazon, on his way to the Napo
and to the heart of an unknown continent. It watched,
through long years, the arduous labors of the French
Academicians in the tremendous task of measuring arcs
of the meridian from Ibarra in the north to Tarqui in the
south — ^labors that had for their object the settling for all
time of the long-debated question regarding the shape and
magnitude of the earth.

While thus enchained to the memories of the past, and
absorbed in the contemplation of the majestic kaleidoscopic
views that burst upon our enchanted vision at every turn
of the road, we were suddenly halted by a squad of sol-
diers who demanded our passports. The Ecuadorians in
our party, being provided with these important documents,
were permitted to go on, but as we — ^my American com-
panion and I— did not have them, we were told that we

QUITO BONITO

should be taken to the prefecture of the police until we
should be able to give a satisfactory account of ourselves.
We strongly demurred to this, and told the officer in charge
that he might keep us under surveillance if he desired, but
that it was important for us to reach Quito without delay.
He said he had no discretion in the matter for his orders
were to arrest every one that had not a police passport.
We then begged permission to telephone to the capital for
authorization for him to allow us to proceed on our jour-
ney. This he declined to do. He said we would have to
accompany him to the police station, whence we might
send a letter to the capital asking for permission to pro-
, ceed to our destination. This meant a delay of several
days in a most uncomfortable place. Finally, we told them
that we were American citizens, and insisted on being al-
lowed to communicate by telephone with the American min-
ister in Quito. He still persisted in his determination to
detain us, declaring that his orders were peremptory and
admitted of no exceptions. But he had scarcely made this
statement, when he beckoned to a subaltern, with whom he
entered into an earnest conference for a few minute^. He

•

then told us that he would make an exception in our case,
because we were Norte- Americcmos,^ and that he was will-
ing to believe that we were not actuated by any sinister
motives in traveling without a passport. He wished us,
however, to understand that he was assuming a great re-
sponsibility in thus contravening his orders, which were
explicit and included every one, native or foreigner. And
he concluded by saying that he would depend on us to use

?-.;•

iThe people of the United States are thus called in South America to
distinguish them from Bud-Amerioa/noB, who claim to be as much AmerioanoB
as the inhabitants of our northern republic Travelers from our country,
introducing themselves by the ambiguous term ''Americans" are often mis-
taken for the citizens of one of the republics of our sister continent. The
designation "United States" is equally misleading, for it may mean the
United States of Mexico as well as the United States of America, or the
United States of North America, as our country is often called in South
America.

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

our influence with the American Minister in his behalf, if
his superiors should call him to account for exceeding his
authority in permitting us to pass out of this jurisdiction
without the necessary passport.

We were halted in a similar manner several times be-
tween Tiupullo and Quito, and were not permitted to pro-
ceed until after a spirited parley like the one just described.
We subsequently learned that the Ecuadorians had no de-
sire to do anything that might involve their country in a
controversy with the United States with which they
specially desired to live on terms of closest amity, and that
for this reason the military authorities had felt justified in
treating us with much greater leniency than they would
have dared to show their own coimtrymen. To avoid
further trouble, however, we resolved immediately on ar-
riving in Quito to secure a police passport. Our experi-
ence in Ecuador, as in Venezuela, had taught me that South
American revolutions, while rarely a source of danger to
the traveler, who has no connection with them, may often
be a cause of extreme inconvenience and annoyance.

Four hours after leaving Latacunga, we were in the
capital of Ecuador. Had it not been for the delays just
mentioned, we could easily have made the journey of about
sixty miles in three hours, so good were our automobile
and the roads over which we traveled. As it was, our
average speed was little, if any, less than that made by the
ordinary motor-car in our own coimtry.

Quito, a city of about sixty-five thousand inhabitants, in
most respects closely resembles Bogota. Like the Colom-
bian capital, it is situated at the base of a mountain and
overlooks a broad and fertile plain. The general plan of
both cities and the style of architecture are identical. Both
places are enveloped in the same sixteenth-century atmos-
phere, and one almost expects, in walking along the streets,
to meet an accredited representative of Charles V, or of the
Council of the Indies. While visiting its churches, mon-
asteries and colleges, one is transported back to the times

100

QUITO BONITO

of the conquistadores, and has exhibited before him at
every step, all the local color of a Spanish city in the days
of Cervantes and Calderon de la Barca. For three cen-
turies and more this Andean capital has presented prac-
tically the same aspect, except that, during short periods,
there has been a little change for better or for worse. Its
people, like those of many Oriental cities, were satisfied to
walk in the footsteps of their ancestors. Aside from the
wonderful buildings which they erected, which compare
favorably with the most noted in South America, they
achieved but little in commerce and the arts of peace.
Local industries were limited and conducted according to
primitive methods. Mercantile relations with the outside
world were little more than nominal, and for long genera-
tions the Presidency of Quito seemed to suffer almost total
eclipse. At times less was heard of it than of any other
country in the southern continent, and it was only rarely
that a traveler from Europe, outside of Spain, had the
courage or the desire to penetrate its interior. Access to
the capital of Colombia was difficult, but a journey from
the coast to the capital of Ecuador was more arduous and
dangerous. The journey, trying as it was, from the Mag-
dalena to Bogota, could be made in two or three days.
From Guayaquil to Quito, even during the dry season, in-
volved a ten days ^ journey on mule-back over perilous and
at times almost impassable roads, with no stopping places
en route that offered the weary traveler the ordinary com-
forts of life. During the wet season all traffic and conmiuni-
cation with the outside world were, of necessity, practically
suspended

Great as was our surprise in finding such a city as
Bogota, so completely isolated from the rest of the world,
our surprise on beholding the large and beautiful capital of
Ecuador was greater. Nestling at the base of Pichincha
— **the boiling mountain,** as the natives call it,* sur-

1 Pichincha is now dormant, but it has been frequently aetiye since the
time of the conquest. The eruption of 1670 was one of the most terriflo

101

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

rounded by a cordon of snow-capped volcanoes, that seem
to defy intrusion by the outside world, on a plateau nearly
two miles above the waters of the Pacific, it was, until
recently, almost as inaccessible as the home of the Dalai-
Lama of Thibet.

But notwithstanding the ever-menacing volcano towering
above it, Quito was always to the Ecuadorian of the interior
one of the world's most favored cities. It was what Da-
mascus and Bagdad in their halcyon days were to the Arabs,
what Cordova and Granada were to the Moors. It was
^^ Quito bonito^' — ^** charming Quito'* — ^the city above the
clouds, **the navel of the world, the home of continua prima-
vera — ^perpetual spring — evergreen, magnificent Quito.''
It was like heaven — Como de Cielo — ^where there is neither
heat nor cold. It was a paradise of delights. Had
Columbus discovered the beautiful valley which it over-
looks, he would, we are assured, have pronoimced it the
site of the Garden of Eden. It was, declares Padre
Mariano Andrade :

**Esa ciudad donde el cielo
Qast6 todos sus alinos
Como si plantase alii
El celeste paraiso ;

recorded in history. Its rumblings and explosions were audible at a dis-
tance of three hundred miles, and the ashes issuing from it were, it is esti-
mated, spread over an area of half a million square miles. The ashes, scoria
and other material ejected from the volcano, would, it was calculated at the
time, have sufficed to make another mountain as large as Pidiincha itself.
Although the loss of life and property caused by this eruption was not so
great as that caused by the awful eruption of Vesuvius in A. D. 79, when
Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed, many of the phenomena accom-
panying the two were identical. A contemporary writer. Padre Kodriguez in
his El MarwHon y Amaeonas, Lib. IV, Cap. II, gives us a gp-aphic description
of the dynamic possibilities of a great Andean volcano, when stirred to
action, and of the agonizing terror of the hapless Quitonians, while awaiting
the impending doom of their beloved city. Tlie horrors of this disaster fully
equaled those of the wrathful Neapolitan volcano so vividly portrayed by
Pliny in writing of the death of his uncle, and by Bulwer in the La9t Do/yB
of Pompeii,

102

QUITO BONITO

Alii donde amante el sol,
Con inseparable giro,
Estk siempre vertical
For contemplar aquel sitio." ^

Hence the saying among the Qnitonians, ^^de Quito al
Cielo,'^ — ^^'from Quito to Heaven.'*

But although Quito was thus isolated from the rest of the
civilized world, and was almost unknown in the marts of
conmierce and in the cabinets of diplomacy, it was by no
means devoid of culture or opposed to intellectual progress.
Far otherwise. Its literary and scientific luminaries at
times shone as brightly as those of its northern neighbor,
Bogota, and their contributions to science and literature
make a bright page in the annals of social advancement.
As it is the oldest of the South American capitals, so was
it among the first to establish schools and colleges. The
convent of the Dominicans founded by the Venerable Fray
Alonso de Montenegro became a home of learning im-
mediately after the conquest by the adelantado, Sebas-
tian de Bellacazar. The college of San Andres was estab-
lished by the Franciscans in 1556, and by royal cedula was
endowed by Philip II in 1562. San Andres was thus
founded only two years later than the first college of
Bogota, and but one year after the establishment of the
famous University of San Marcos in Lima. Several other
important institutions of learning— <5olleges, seminaries
and universities — followed San Andres in rapid succession,
and before the end of the century Quito was a veritable
metropolis of schools and scholars.

Curiously enough, Quito 's earliest poet was a brother of
Spain's illustrious saint and writer — ^Teresa de Jestis.
He was succeeded by many others, one of whom was a
woman — Dona Dolores Veintemilla de Galindo. But not to

I "The city on which heaven has lavished all its emhellishments, as if it
were the celestial paradise.

"Straight above it, the sun, in its unchanging circuit, ever remains fondly
contemplating the scene."

103

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

mention the long list of those who, as poets, historians, men
of science, orators, jurists, have given nndying glory to
their country, it suffices to signalize one — ^Don Jose Joaquin
Olmedo — ^whose poetry, though he produced but little, was
of such merit as to cause him to be ranked among the three
or four great poets of the New World. Indeed there are
not wanting those who accord him the primacy of honor in
the literary firmament of America. So exquisite and mas-
terly are some of his odes, especially his Canto a Junin —
an ode to Bolivar — ^that he has been deservedly called the
American Pindar.

To-day, in spite of the turbulent condition of the country
since the War of Independence and the grave financial dif-
ficulties the government has had to confront, education, not
only in Quito, but throughout the republic, is given far more
attention than is ordinarily supposed. President Flores,
in 1890, in his message to the Ecuadorian Congress, stated
that, '^in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, Ecua-
dor was then expending more money for public instruction
than any other nation, although nowhere else were the
teachers so poorly paid. * * And Mr. George Earl Church, a
distinguished American traveler, referring to the institu-
tions conducted by nims, for the education of girls, assures
us that the devoted religious in charge of them, * * give them-
selves to their noble tasks with a devotion and an abnega-
tion worthy of all praise, and with an intelligence and skill
that would do honor to any country. ' ' ^

Among all the public institutions in Quito that which
possessed the greatest interest for us was the observatory.
It is a noble structure in a beautiful park, and is unique
both on account of its elevation and its proximity to the
equator. Being only fifteen miles south of the equinoctial,
the astronomers in the Quito observatory can direct their
telescopes to every star in the heavens. Our emotion was
great, indeed, when in this sacred precinct, we felt that we
could, from a single point, gaze upon the stars and constel-

^ Report upon Ecuador, p. 48, 1881.

104

QUITO BONITO

lations of both hemispheres — something that is possible in
no other observatory in the world. To the north were the
star groups that we had been familiar with from our youth,
to the south were others, no less interesting, that we knew
only from book and chart. We could survey at a glance all
the visible stars of the celestial vault from Polaris, to
Octantis at the opposite pole of the heavens. At certain
seasons of the year one might contemplate the beauty of
the most attractive constellations in the heavens, and have
within view two-thirds of the stars of the first magnitude,
one's vision ranging from

' ' The fleecy star that bears
Andromeda far off Atlantic seas."

to flaming Canopus, in distant Argo, that carried

"The heroic progeny of Greece,
When the flrst ship sailed for the Golden Fleece —
Argo — exalted for that daring feat
To fix in heaven her shape distinct with stars." ^

While gazing at the stars, which bejeweled the clear blue
sky that canopies the fair city of Quito, I almost coveted
the vaunted astrologic power of a Lilly or a Nostrodamus
in order that I might read, in their bewildering groupings
and mysterious aspects, the future history of the enchant-
ing land of the Equator. But as its destiny was not for
me to show, as would the ** astrologer s and seers of old,'*
I had to be content with such foreknowledge as could be

1 Humboldt, commentiiig on "the luminous worlds which spangle the firma-
ment from pole to pole" observes that "The more magnificent portion of the
southern sky in which shine the constellation of the Centaur, Argo and the
Southern Cross, where the Magellanic Clouds shed their pale light, is for-
ever concealed from the inhabitants of Europe. It is only imder the equator
that man enjoys the glorious spectacle of all the stars of the southern and
northern heavens revealed at one glance. Some of our northern constella-
tions— as for instance, Ursus Major and Ursus Minor-Lowing to their low
position when seen from the region of the equator, appear to be of remark-
able, almost fearful magnitude." Views of liature, p. 849, Bohn edition.

105

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

gleaned from the past history of the country, and from a
study of the multiplicity of its natural resources.

The first time that Ecuador fully awoke from her age-
long lethargy, and exhibited evidence of national vitality,
was under the administration of President Garcia Moreno,
who fell a victim to brutal assassins in 1875, while he was
in the prime of life and actively engaged in many needed re-
forms and enterprises of supreme importance to the well-
being and progress of his country. As has been stated, it
is to his energy and progressive spirit that is due the
splendid highway from Quito to Sibambe, and which, if his
life had been spared, would have been completed to Guaya-
quil. It was he who began the construction of the rail-
road— ^but recently completed — ^from tidewater to the
capital, and who had planned a network of roads con-
necting the principal cities of the republic with one an-
other and with various new ports on the Pacific coast.
Had he lived even a few years longer he would have com-
pleted a road between Quito and Esmeraldas, thus bring-
ing the national capital fifty leagues nearer the Pacific
than it is now, and have realized a project that was
advocated by the Genoese, Vincenzo Giustiniani as
far back as 1635, a project frequently urged since
then, but as yet nothing more than project. He would,
at the same time, have connected the capital with the
Bay of Caraques, and withdrawn Cuenca and Loja
from their isolation by building a road to the port of
Naranjal.

He made education obligatory, and established schools
and colleges in every part of the republic. He founded a
technical school and a university fully equipped with
laboratories and apparatus, and manned by distinguished
professors from Europe. And recalling what Humboldt
and Secchi had said regarding the importance of having an
astronomical observatory in Quito, one of the most favor-
able places in the world, he caused to be erected and
equipped, regardless of cost, the noble Observatorio Astro-

106

QUITO BONITO

nomico, which is the pride of Ecaador, and which, of itself,
would suffice to perpetuate the memory of its founder.

He provided for the thorough sanitation of the capital,
something much needed, improved its streets and plazas,
founded hospitals and asylums — ^in a word affected so com-
plete a transformation in the appearance of the city, that,
for the first time in its history, foreigners could visit it
without finding such matter for criticism as is recorded in
Ida Pfeiffer's My Second Journey Around the World, and
Hassaurek's Four Years Among Spanish- Americans.

He reorganized the finances of the country, and estab-
lished the nation's credit on a firm basis, both at home and
abroad. He fostered industry and commerce, and en-
couraged the development of the natural resources of the
country in a way that might, if consistently followed, as-
sure the rapid and continued growth of the young republic

Besides being a man of broad scholarship, combined with
rare culture and refinement, he was endowed with a force
of character and a versatility of genius that enabled him to
undertake and achieve many things that others less gifted
and energetic would pronounce impossible. He was, with-
out doubt, the most brilliant statesman that South America
has yet produced, and, could he have been continued in
power as long as President Diaz of Mexico, he would have
elevated his country to an enviable position among her
sister republics, and made her, in proportion to her area,
second to none of them in commercial activity and in social
and economic progress. As it was, he accomplished won-
ders. It is no exaggeration to say that he did more in a
decade for the material and intellectual uplifting of his
country than had been accomplished in the preceding three

After Moreno's tragic death, the country reverted to its
former condition of decadence and misrule, for there was
no one competent to continue his work and carry his many
splendid undertakings to a successful issue. Fortunately
for the impoverished republic, the present administration

107

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

has had the activity and the courage to take up anew some
of the enterprises that the assassin did not permit their
noble originator to complete, and Ecuador is again in a fair
way to enjoy its natural advantages and the prosperity that
Moreno strove so valiantly to secure for her forty years ago.
Every lover of progress will watch with interest the efforts
now made by the struggling land of the Equator, and will
be gratified in seeing it successfully work out that splendid
destiny which Nature seems to have marked out for it and
to achieve which a beneficent Providence has blessed her
with every treasure of mine and field and forest. Much
has already been done, but there is yet much more to be ac-
complished before Ecuador can reasonably aspire to the po-
sition that should naturally be hers. The way to success
has been pointed out, and the fondest wishes of Ecuadorian
patriots are now within a measurable distance of being re-
alized, but final success, and the glory to the country con-
sequent on its taking its proper place among the nations
of the world, is contingent on its carrying out fully and hon-
estly the splendidly-conceived and far-reaching plans of its
illustrious, martyr-president, Gabriel Garcia Moreno.*

1 Of this remarkable man Professor Orion, an American, in his work, The
Andes and the Ama$f<m, p. 73, writes that ''he stands head and shoulders
above his fellow citizens." An Englishman, Mr. Whymper, in his Tra/vele
among the Cfreat Andee of the Equator, p. 265, informs us that "compulsory
education was established bj Garcia Moreno in Ecuador before it was intro-
duced into Great Britain, and in 1880, in the interior it was exceptional to
find a person who could not read." Sr. M. Meoendez j Pelayo, in the
Antologia de Poetas Hiepano-Amerioanos, Puhlioada por la Real Aoademia
EspaHola, Tom. Ill, p. CXLVIII, after referring to Garcia Moreno^s great
gifts as a poet and prose writer, concluded as follows: "The greatness of
his administration, the integrity of his character and the glory of his death
make him one of the noblest types of human digrnity that can glorify our
race in the present century. The republic that produced such a man may
be poor, obscure and forgotten, but with him it has enough to live in history
with honor."

Many biographies have appeared of this eminent statesman and patriot,
but if the reader desires to have an adequate idea of his life, opinions and
ideals, he should consult his collected works published in two volumes,
entitled Eecritos y Dieouraoe, Quito, 1887-1888.

108

CHAPTER VI
A EAINLESS COAST

Our last view of Ecuador was fully as entrancing as the
first. It was from the deck of the steamer that was
to take us to Callao, the principal port of Peru, and
was but a few moments before simset. Our eyes were
fixed on the Andes — riveted on them by a kind of fasci-
nation that was quite irresistible. For months we
had made our home among them, but the more we saw of
them the more completely we felt ourselves under their
mysterious spell. As seen from the Caribbean and the
lofty tablelands of Colombia, their magnitude and sub-
limity seemed incomparable, but as viewed from the pla-
teau of Ecuador and the Gulf of Guayaquil they were
matchless, supreme. Rising majestically far above the
boundless forests at their feet, their snow-capped
peaks are, of a truth, the companions of * * the morning star
at dawn'* and of Hesperus at eventide, while during their
mighty vigils they are visited by ** troops of stars'* that si-
lently hymn their Creator's praise.

While we thus stood enrapt in contemplation of the won-
derful scene before us, there suddenly appeared, beyond
and above the vast mountain chain, the colossal form of
Chimborazo. The clouds that had enveloped him had van-
ished as if by magic, and he stood forth as the proud mon-
arch of a Titanic race, **the parent of perpetual streams,''
of ** motionless torrents, silent cataracts," his countenance
suffused with rosy light, and his shoulders clothed
with rainbows. The vision was indeed one of surpassing
grandeur and magnificence — such as one may be fa-
vored with but once in a lifetime, and our dilating souls

109

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

sought expression for the emotion experienced, in the words
of a hymn by Coleridge, inspired by a view of Mont Blanc
from the vale of Chamonni:

''Rise, 0 ever rise,
Rise like a cloud of incense from the earth I
Thou Kingly Spirit throned among the hills,
Thou dread ambassador from Earth to Heaven.
Great hierarch! tell thou the silent sky,
And tell the stars, and tell yon setting ^ sun.
Earth, with her thousand voices, praises Gtod."

The vision of the stupendous mountain and its sky-i>oint-
ing satellites was of brief duration. The sun dropped be-
low the western wave, and the Cordillera was soon mantled
by the rapidly-deepening gloom. Little was now visible
except the Malecon of Guayaquil, which was gay with its
long rows of lights, and the Aduana — custom house — ^which
was brilliantly illuminated by a powerful arc-light sus-
pended in front of its lofty tower. The Malecon, as it then
appeared, was not unlike a midnight view, from a pleasure
boat, of the brilliantly-lighted promenade that skirts the
urban section of the bay of Naples.

A few paces from where we were standing was a bevy of
happy, laughing, young school girls bound for Lima and
Arequipa. They were returning from Europe and the
United States, where they had spent several years in vari-
ous schools and were all rejoicing in the thought of soon
seeing the loved ones at home from whom they had been so
long separated.

Among them was a bright young lady from Boston, who
was going to South America for the first time — ^apparently
as the guest of one of her companions. Everything seemed
new to her and she fairly reveled in her tropical surround-
ings. The Lidian balsas laden with fruit, and their owners,
the towering palms with their graceful fronds, the Cordi-
lleras with their prodigious peaks, all received in turn a

1 The poet has "rising" sun.

110

A RAINLESS COAST

share of her rapturous admiration. Her enthusiasm was
as boundless as it was intense. When the things of earth
had been veiled in darkness she directed her attention to
the stars and constellations^ which were as strange to her
as they were familiar to her companions. But at last she
espied one star and one constellation that she recognized.

**0 ^rls!*' she cried, **lookI there is the Dipper. It is
just above the horizon. Isn't it lovely t I never saw it so
low before. Why, it is quite on a level with Guayaquil.
And did you ever see the Pole-star shine so brightly!
That, of course, is due to the transparent atmosphere of
the tropics. Isn't it perfectly grand f

The Peruvian girls shared the enthusiasm of their Bos-
ton friend. The Dipper was '* lovely'' and ** grand," and
the Pole-star was of unusual brightness. — ^But they had all
forgotten that they were then more than two degrees south
of the equator, and that the Pole-star was, therefore, quite
invisible from where they stood. The Dipper which they
saw was composed of some electric lights in front of the
custom-house, while the bright Pole-star was the radiant
arc-light in the tower. We then realized as never before
the truth of the old saying, ** Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis
folly to be wise."

At dinner, after this interesting little episode, the pas-
sengers at the captain 's table were much amused by an Ital-
ian engineer who insisted on giving at length his impres-
sions of the Panama Canal. He had seen it only from the
railway car, and had spent only a few hours in the Canal
Zone, but that sufficed for him to arrive at conclusions dia-
metrically opposite to those of the American engineers who
have charge of the work. From his view-point everything
was wrong, and the United States was undertaking the im-
possible. Indeed, he could not have said more against the
enterprise if he had read some of the sensational articles
written against it at the time our government began opera-
tions on the Isthmus.

A quiet old professor from New York, seeing that the

111

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Italian's disquisition was assuming an unreasonable length,
asked him if he was not surprised to find Panama east of
Colon. The effect produced was as instantaneous as that
of a percussion cap. The lecture on the canal was dropped
at once, and the engineer forthwith proceeded to show the
absurdity of the professor 's question. * * I did not, ' ' he said,
*'find Panama east of Colon. I found it west, as every-
body else does. Panama is on the Pacific, isnH itt" ad-
dressing himself to the professor. Receiving an affirmative
answer, he continued, **And Colon is on the Atlantic, isn't
itt" The professor conceded that it was. **Well, then,
everybody knows that the Pacific is west of the Atlantic.
Ergo, Panama is west of Colon. ' ' The professor, however,
insisted and maintained that Panama was not only east of
Colon, but fully twenty miles east of that Atlantic port, as
could be seen by consulting the map in the captain's chart
room.

The Italian got excited. Violently striking the table with
clenched fist, and eying the imperturbable New Yorker, he
vociferated, **I will bet the champagne for all the passen-
gers aboard, that Panama is west of Colon, and will leave
the decision of the question to the captain. ' '

Nothing more was said about the matter until the next
evening at dinner, when the professor quietly asked the
captain what brand of champagne he preferred. The cap-
tain replied that he thought Pommery Sec was about as
good as any. The other passengers concurred with the cap-
tain, and the Italian, seeing that there was no escape — ^for
he had consulted the map and found that he had been mis-
taken about the relative positions of Panama and Colon —
called the steward and ordered Pommery Sec for all hands.

**It's all right!" interposed the Italian. '^I'll soon get
my money back from someone on this same question by bet-
ting differently the next time. ' '

The professor, after serenely sipping the effervescent
beverage, asked the Italian if he did not find it strange,
while at Colon, to see the sun set in the Atlantic, and equally

112

A RAINLESS COAST

strange while at Panama to see it rise on the Pacific. The
Italian looked quizzically at his interlocutor, not knowing
whether he was in earnest or whether he was indulging in
badinage. Finally, however, he declared that he had not
observed the phenomena referred to when he was in the Ca-
nal Zone, but that he would consult the captain's map and
see whether they were possible or not. But he did not show
the slightest inclination to fall into any more traps, or to
spend any more money on champagne for the professor and
his friends. He was willing to admit, although not in so
many words, that there were still some things on the Isth-
mus of which he was ignorant At any rate, we had no
more free lectures on the Panama Canal, and no more criti-
cisms of the engineers in charge. He was, however, heard
to admit to the professor the following day that he was pre-
pared, after inspecting the captain's maps, to believe that
one could at Colon see the sun set in the Atlantic and rise
on the Pacific at Panama.

Among the other passengers aboard, besides those
already mentioned, was a number of civil and mining
engineers from the United States and Europe. Most of
them were young men just graduated from college, and
were starting out to seek fame and fortune in South Ame-
rica. Some were going to the celebrated mines of Cerro de
Pasco, in Peru; others were bound for Bolivia, to take
part in the construction of the new railroad that is to
connect La Paz with Buenos Aires.. Not a few of them
were employes of the Peruvian Corporation and of W. E.
Grace and Company, that control such vast interests in va-
rious parts of the southern continent.

Among them was a newly-married couple on their honey-
moon. The groom had spent the greater part of his life
in Peru, but going to New York on business, became
seriously ill and was confined to the hospital for several
months. During his convalescence he and his nurse became
engaged and were married shortly afterwards. The groom
was past sixty but the bride was many years his junior.

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ALONG THE A1«)ES A^fD DOWN THE AMAZON

They were most devotedly attached to each other, and the
bride never tired speaking of the beantifnl, cozy home that
her hnsband had awaiting her on one of the islands some
distance from the mainland. ^^He has planned it all him-
self,'' she prondly declared, ^^and I am sure we shall be
perfectly happy there. There are bnt few people there,
bnt that does not matter so long as I have Pepe'* — ^her
hnsband 's name — **with me.'' To her, in her fond
anticipations, that island home, all planned by Pepe, was
a veritable bower in an ocean paradise.

The first Peruvian port reached after leaving Guayaquil
was Tumbez. This had a special interest for me as it was
for Pizarro and his gallant band the gate of the Peruvian
empire. It is now but a poor village composed of a few
squalid huts, but if we may credit the early chroniclers, it
was, at the time of the first visit of the Spaniards, a place
of great wealth and importance, and, as Cieza de Leon
informs us, the capital of ^^a thickly peopled and wel]
cultivated" region.^ Besides having a strongly garrisoned
fortress, it possessed a richly endowed convent for the
Virgins of the Sun.

The gardens of the convent, according to Pedro de Can-
dia, the Greek cavalier whom Pizarro commissioned to
report on the place, glowed with imitations of fruits and
vegetables, all in pure gold and silver,^ while the temple
was represented ^ ^ as literally tapestried with plates of gold
and silver."

Of these ** imposing structures" of a favorite city of the
famous Lica conqueror, Huayna Capac, not a vestige is now
visible. Even in the time of Cieza de Leon, who visited the
place in 1548, shortly after the advent of the Spaniards,
Tumbez was little more than a mass of ruins.

I La Cronioa del Peru, Cap. UII, Madrid, 1906.

< Pedro de Candia contd, ''Que habia visto un jardin de oro, donde habia
muchaa yerbas de Indias salidaa al natural, de oro, y muohas frutaa de lo
mismo, y otras oosas que hoy ignoramos come pudlesen ser por no haber
hallado los Castellanos de aquellos generoe en tanta abundancia," Fernando
Monteeinos. Anaie9 del Peru, Tom. I, pp. 62-63, Madrid, 1906.

114

A EAINLESS COAST

A short sail from Tmnbez brought ns to our next port
of call — ^Payta — ^a word which, according to the dis-
tinguished Peruvian geographer — Paz Soldan — signifies a
desert, where nothing grows and where there is nothing.
The only sign of vegetation of spontaneous growth is a
species of Mesembryanthemum.

It was, however, at one time a place of great commercial
importance. It was the port of entry of Piura — San
Miguel de Piura, it was at first called — ^the first city founded
by Pizarro in the empire of the Incas. This was in 1531.
Until the foundation of Lima, Piura served as a military
base for the Spanish invaders. But long after this, Payta
was one of the chief ports of Peru. It was an important
distributing point for merchandise for towns in the interior
of the viceroyalty, but was more noted as the place at which
passengers from Panama disembarked, to continue their
journey by land to Lima. Owing to the powerful antarctic
current and the strong southerly winds, which prevail the
greater part of the year, the journey from Payta to Lima,
by water, was long and arduous, and few people had the in-
clination or courage to make it. As a choice of evils they
elected the land journey with all its discomforts and pri-
vations, and these were numerous enough to deter any but
the stoutest hearts from imdertaking it.

Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, writing of the
disagreeable and fatiguing voyage from Payta to Ca-
Uao, the port of Lima, declare that although the dis-
tance is but one himdred and forty leagues, ^^a ship is
very fortunate to perform it in forty or fifty days; and
even if after spending that time in continual labor,
she be not obliged to return again to Payta; such acci-
dents being very common; and it is nothing extraor-
dinary to meet with two or three misfortunes of the same
kind, successively, especially if the ship makes a great
deal of leeway, when it is often a twelve months^ task.^'
They relate here a story to this purpose, that **the master
of a merchant ship, who had been lately married at Payta,

115

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

took his wife on board with him, in order to carry her to
Callao. In the vessel she was delivered of a son, and before
the ship reached Callao, the boy could read distinctly. For,
after turning to windward two or three months, provisions
growing short, the master put into some port, where several
months were spent in procuring a fresh supply; and after
another course of tacking, the same ill fortune pursued
him ; and thus four or five years were spent in tacking and
victualing, to the ruin of the owner, before the ship reached
Callao/^ 1

Considering the great difficulties encountered in reaching
Peru, especially its more southern portions, it is surprising
that the Spaniards were ever able to conquer and colonize
it. For the difficulties referred to existed not only during
the earlier period of the country but obtained almost until
the War of Independence. They were successfully over-
come only when steamships replaced sailing vessels.

Payta, which has one of the best harbors of the republic,
is living in the hope of regaining the prestige she so long
enjoyed as a commercial emporium. For years the people
of Peru have been planning to connect by rail the head
waters of the Amazon with the Pacific. Indeed, as early as
1843, shortly after the construction of the first railways in
England and the United States, a certain Budecindo Oa-
rrido, a Peruvian, conceived the idea of building a railroad
between Payta and San Borja, a port on the left bank of the
Upper Amazon, near the celebrated Pongo de Manseriche.
And, extraordinary as it may appear, the route traced for
this road by Sr. Garrido was almost exactly the same as
that which finds most favor to-day, after the country has
been thoroughly surveyed, and after many other routes
have been recommended by various engineers of the highest
standing in their profession.

The most surprising thing about Sr. Garrido 's route is
the low elevation at which it crosses the crest of the Andes.
The Cordilleras are always thought of as very lofty moun-

lOp. dt, VoL II, Bode 11, Chap. I.

116

A EAINLESS COAST

tains throughout their entire length from Panama to Pata-
gonia. As a role, the chain is very elevated. Its mean
height is more than eleven thousand feet, but there is one
depression in it east of Payta which seems to have been
providentially designed for a railway between the Pacific
and the mightiest of rivers. This pass, near the village
Huarmaca, is but seven thousand feet above sea level, but
a short tunnel through the crest of the mountain will reduce
this elevation to less than five thousand feet. This is
less than the elevation of Denver, and a mile below
Leadville and several of the railway passes of Colorado,
and more than two miles below Galera tunnel, through
which the railroad passes on its way from Lima to
Oroya.

The length of the contemplated railway from Payta to
the Amazon would be less than four hundred miles, and no-
where would there be more than a two per cent, grade.
This is but one-half the grade of some of our Eocky Moun-
tain roads, and only one-third of that of certain sections of
the Guayaquil and Quito railroad. It would pass through
a region of vast agricultural and mineral resources, which
hitherto has been completely neglected. It has been esti-
mated that its iron ore deposits — some of it magnetite of
the best quality — ^amount to several hundred million tons —
enough to supply the whole of South America with iron
for centuries to come. In close proximity to them are all
the coal and carbonate of lime necessary for the smelting
of the ore, and sufficient petroleum for supplying the loco-
motives with fuel for an indefinite period.

But the greatest advantages that would accrue from the
construction of such a road would result from putting the
immense Amazon basin, with its countless treasures of all
kinds, within easy reach of the great commercial centers of
the United States. This would be especially true after the
completion of the Panama Canal. Then one could go from
New Orleans to Payta in six days and to Iquitos, Peru^s
greatest commercial center on the Amazon, in nine days,

117

ALONG THE A1«)BS AND DOWN THE AMAZON

whereas the time now required for the journey from New
Orleans is a months at least.

Great, however, as would be the value of the Payta- Ama-
zon railway to the general commerce of the world, its value
to Peru would be incomparably greater. If one now
wishes to go from Lima to Iquitos with any comfort, he
must go by way of New York or Liverpool. It is, of course,
possible to cross the Cordilleras and go thither directly,
but the journey is so arduous that only the most resolute
are ever willing to undertake it. With the Payta railroad
completed, the trip from Lima to Iquitos could be made in
four or five days.

As matters now stand. El Oriente — as the eastern part
of Peru is called — ^is practically cut oflf from the rest of the
nation. When one learns that the Oriente constitutes fully
one-third of the republic, and that it embraces the most fer-
tile lands of Peru, one can realize that the economic inter-
ests of the nation demand direct railway connection between
its eastern and western possessions, and that such connec-
tion can not be effected too soon. The marvel to the
traveler in Peru is that this road, so essential to the de-
velopment of the nation 's immense resources in the Upper
Amazon, has not long since been an actuality.

More than this. To one who has any acquaintance with
the history of South America, a railroad in the north of
Peru, from the Pacific to the Amazon, seems to be a military
necessity that cannot be ignored. Important as it imdoubt-
edly would be for exploiting the treasures of field and for-
est and mine, it would be still more important as a means
of defense against possible encroachments on the part of its
northern and eastern neighbors. It would avail more in
settling boundary disputes than all the cedvlas to which the
rival nations could appeal. When the Payta- Amazon rail-
way shall be completed — ^not tmtil then — ^will the people
who have so long been separated by the Andes from the
rest of Peru feel that they really constitute an integral part
of the once vast empire of the Incas.

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A RAINLESS COAST

The road can be built for a sum not exceeding $10,000,-
000. For a syndicate looking for a promising invesiment
the Payta-Amazon railway seems exceptionally attractive.
Now, that the stability of the government seems to be as-
sured, and that investors can have all reasonable guaran-
tees of protection, there is no doubt that in the very near
future foreign capitalists will become interested in the en-
terprise, and it would not be surprising if a connection
were made between the Pacific and the Atlantic by way
of the Amazon, shortly after the opening of the Panama
Canal.

When this day shall arrive, and all friends of progress
hope it will be soon, Payta will regain its lost glory and will,
with a bound, take its place among the leading ports of the
Pacific coast. Then will her happy and prosperous people
behold in their beautiful harbor the ships of every nation,
and then, with the Peruvian poet, Jose S. Chocando, will
her merchant princes sing of

''La turba que entonces de los puertos vibraates
De la Europa Iiatma ll§gar& a esa regi6n, ' '

and of

''Las naves que el vapor estimula
De Occidente y Oriente, Sur y Norte vendran,
Como iban al Faro que elev6 Alexandria
Los alados veleros de la Clasica Edad. ' ' ^

I have said, quoting Paz Soldan, that Payta signifies a
desert where nothing grows. It doubtless derived this
name from its location in a sandy plain. But Payta is not
exceptional in this respect among the coast towns of South
America. It is rather the rule than otherwise, for most of
the towns between Tumbez and Valparaiso — a stretch of

1 ''The multitude that will then come to this region from the buty ports of
Southern Europe. Steam-driven ships will come from West and East, North
and Souths as the winged craft of the classic age went to the Pharos of
Alexandria."

119

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

two thousand miles — are similarly situated. Indeed, with
the exception of a few verdant valleys and irrigated plains,
the entire coast-land of Peru and more than half of that of
Chile is a desolate, treeless waste. In some sections^ — ^notar
bly in the deserts of Sechura and Atacama — ^the land is as
arid and as unproductive as in any part of Sahara. All the
early Spanish writers, from the time of Gieza de Leon, were
deeply impressed with this feature of the coast, especially
Acosta, who writes — ^ * This parte of the world which we call
Peru is very remarkeable, and containes in it strange prop-
erties,^* one of which is **that it never rains, thunders,
snows nor hailes in all this coast, which is a matter worthy
of admiration. ' * ^

Acosta, however, is not to be taken literally when he says
it never rains. It is, nevertheless, quite true that it rains
very rarely, and then the amount of precipitation is usually
very small. In the deserts, properly so called, to the south
of Piura, in the plains of lea and in the pampa of Tunga,
there is a total absence of rain for twenty or thirty years
at a time. When Boussingault visited the northern part
of the Peruvian coast in 1832 he found that there had been
no rainfall during the preceding eighty-eight years.

During these terrible droughts the sky turns to brass,
and there is a total absence of those beautiful cloud effects
which adorn the skies of other lands. As may readily be
imagined, these protracted periods of aridity are frequently
the cause of immense losses to the inhabitants and of much
suffering to man and beast. Water, then, in many places
is difficult to procure and must often be brought from great
distances on the backs of man or animals. In Piura there
is a saying that * * each drop of water that falls from heaven
is sufficient for a goat.*'

Sometimes, however, these long periods of drought are
succeeded by rainstorms of extraordinary violence. Thus,
after the storm of 1803 seventy-four years elapsed before
thunder was again heard in Lima, but, towards the end of

1 Op. dt., lib. ni. Gap. XX.

120

A RAINLESS COAST

1877, thunder and rain broke upon the city with such fury
that the inhabitants thought it would be laid in ruins.

Captain Maury, in his work. The Physical Geography of
the Sea, explains this extraordinary phenomenon of a rain-
less coast bordering the world ^s greatest ocean as follows:
* * The reason, ' * he declares, * * is plain. The southeast trade-
winds, in the Atlantic Ocean, first strike the water on
the coast of Africa. Travelling to the northwest, they
blow obliquely across the ocean until they reach the coast
of Brazil. By this time they are heavily laden with vapor,
which they continue to bear across the continent, depositing
it as they go and supplying with it the sources of the Eio de
la Plata and the southern tributaries of the Amazon.
Finally they reach the snow-capped Andes, and here is
wrung from them the last particle of moisture that the very
low temperature can extract.

^^ Beaching the summit of that range they now tumble
down as cool and dry winds on the Pacific slopes beyond.
Meeting with no evaporating surface, and with no tempera-
ture colder than that to which they were subjected on the
moimtain tops, they reach the ocean before they again be-
come charged with fresh vapor, and before, therefore, they
have any which the Peruvian climate can extract. The last
they had to spare was deposited as snow on the tops of the
Cordilleras, to feed mountain streams under the heat of the
sun, and irrigate the valleys on the western slopes. ^^ ^

This explanation, however, although plausible and the one
generally accepted, is not satisfactory ; for it does not hold
good for the coasts of Ecuador and Colombia, which are
covered with a dense and exuberant vegetation. The phys-
ical basis for a true explanation was furnished by Humboldt
when he made his celebrated observations on the temper-
ature and direction of the great antarctic current, which
now justly bears his name. He discovered in 1802 that
the temperature of the ocean at Callao was 7.5° C. lower
than that of the superincumbent atmosphere, but he does not

1 Pp. 93>94, New York, 1806.

121

ALONG THE ANDES A^fD DOWN THE AMAZON

seem to have recognized the fnll import of his discovery.
He recognized the effect in lowering the temperature of the
coast line, but did not apparently realize that it was the
chief y if not the sole cause of the aridity of the lands which
it washes.

The proof that the Humboldt current is the real cause of
the arid condition of so great a stretch of land on the Pa-
cific coast is the fact that the desert begins where the cur-
rent first strikes the coast near Coquimbo in Chile, and ends
where the current veers towards the west at Cabo Blanco
in northern Peru. The broad and deep antarctic current so
effectually collects the moisture from the superincumbent
air currents that when they reach the littoral, whose tem-
perature is several degrees higher than that of the air, pre-
cipitation is impossible, except in the more elevated portion
of the Cordilleras and even there it is very slight. Only
during the winter season, when the temperature of the air
and the land approaches equilibrium, are garuas — ^mists —
engendered in the lowlands, and only then are occasional
rainfalls possible in the higher slopes of the western Cor-
dillera. These, however, are not sufl5cient to excite vigor-
ous vegetation or to produce dense forests like those which
are found in the southern and northern parts of the Pacific
coast where the influence of the Humboldt current is not
felt.

Along the littoral of Ecuador and Colombia the^case is
the very opposite of what obtains in Chile and Peru. There
the temperature of the ocean — ^between 28° and 29° C. — ^is
much higher than that on the adjacent land, and hence those
frequent and abundant rainfalls which are so characteristic
of this region.

So great, indeed, is the influence of the Humboldt current
on the climate of the Pacific coast that it can be asserted
positively that if it were to continue its course along the
land as far northwards as Panama, the entire littoral of
Ecuador and Colombia would be as much of a desert as is
that of Peru and Chile. If, on the contrary, the Peruvian

122

A RAINLESS COAST

coast were washed by a tropical sea of normal temperature,
like that bordering Ecuador and Colombia, the present des-
ert wastes of Peru would immediately be adorned with rich-
est verdure and the most luxuriant of forest growths.

Peru, however, does not purpose waiting for the Hum-
boldt current to change its course in order to have blooming
gardens and smiling haciendas. For some years past the
government and private companies have given much atten-
tion to irrigation, and many extensive tracts, that before
were barren areas, are now under cultivation, and are a
source of rapidly increasing revenue to their owners as
well as to the national government. From the northern
to the southern boundaries of the republic large reservoirs
are being constructed, and thousands of acres of arid waste
are annually being converted into fertile rice fields, and
productive cotton and sugar plantations. New irrigation
canals cross the reclaimed lands in every direction. But
often the long-abandoned Inca conduits are repaired and,
after centuries of disuse, are again pressed into service
as potent factors in the reclamation of extensive areas that
have been entirely neglected almost since the time of the
Spanish conquest.

We never wearied gazing at the Andes, which at a dis-
tance looked like a regular bastion, surmoimted at inter-
vals by lofty pinnacles of crystalline rocks, or extinct or
dormant volcanoes. Sometimes they were separated from
the Pacific by a narrow plain, but at others the massive
barriers invaded the sea and plunged sheer into the abys-
mal depths of the bouudless ocean. Like Dampier, we
were often amazed at their ** prodigious highf This was
particularly the case when the precipitous flanks of the
wondrous chains mounted skyward from the ocean's wave.
And the color effects of the vast rock-masses were in keep-
ing with the grandeur of the scene ; for everywhere there
was.

**A splendor of purple hills that touch the sky,
A yastness like the spaces of the sea."

123

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

But nowhere along the coast did we see ''in the
mighty ranges of the Andes" those ''stupendous surges
of ice, like some vast ocean that had been suddenly ar-
rested and frozen up in the midst of its wild and tumultu-
ous career/' that Prescott describes, and still less did we
see them at the point where the distinguished historian
locates them — ^near Piura — for in this part of the Cor-
dillera, as we have seen, is the lowest depression in the en-
tire Andean chain between northern Colombia and southern
Chile. As the line of perpetual snow in the western Cor-
dillera of Peru is never below fifteen thousand feet, and
is usually considerably higher than the sumimit of Mont
Blanc, the voyager along the coast never sees snow on the
mountains except where

"Old Andes thrusts a craggy spear
Through the gray clouds,"

and such peaks are so rare that one might travel from the
northern to the southern boundaries of the republic with-
out seeing more than three or four of them. Prescott 's
Andes, "whose frosty sides far above the clouds, spread
out like a curtain of burnished silver, that seemed to con-
nect the heavens with the earth," is a striking picture, but
it was never seen by Pizarro and his followers from the
coast land, nor by any one else since their time. Only on
the lofty tableland of the interior may the traveler oc-
casionally be favored with such a view, but never, as the
brilliant author of The Conquest of Peru imagined, from
the lowlands of the Pacific.

124

CHAPTER VII

WONDEES OF SEA AND MOUNTAIN

One evening, as the sun was about to dip into the ocean,
the passengers were aroused by a shrill cry of '* Whales!
Whales !^ * raised on our starboard quarter by the bevy of
star-gazing girls who had attracted so much attention in
the harbor of Guayaquil. As usual, the young lady from
Boston was the most enthusiastic in her demonstrations
of interest. Sure enough, only a few hundred feet distant
was a large school of spermaceti whales, old and yoimg,
disporting themselves in the deep, and spouting columns
of vapor and water to a height of from ten to twenty feet.
Nearest to us was a colossal male — an **old bull,'* as
whalers would call it — fully eighty feet in length, with a
mouth large enough for a jolly-boat and her crew to float
in, and a perfect type of Milton's leviathan,

** Happily slumbering on the Norway foam."

He quite ignored the excited spectators, who at once
brought their cameras and field-glasses to bear on him,
and leisurely continued his course, while his * * spoutings, "
which were of such violence as to be distinctly audible from
where we stood, were vivid reminders of the vigorous
geyser displays of New Zealand or of the Yellowstone Park.

** Perfectly grand! Simply stupendous!" ejaculated the
Boston girl, who was visibly excited by the novel spectacle.
**Yes," chorused her Peruvian friends, '^maravUlosol Es-
tupendol^'

Shortly after these monsters of the deep had passed
from our view we were favored with another exhibition
of a different character, one that is never visible in all its

125

ALONG THE A^fDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

splendor except in the regions of the equator. Scarcely
had the brief, tropical twilight terminated its existence when
there shot up from the ocean a beautiful semi-elliptical
figure that the Boston maiden told her companions was the
Milky Way. They were of the same opinion. But it was
not the Milky Way and it did not resemble it either in
form or color or position in the firmament. The Italian
engineer, who was present, suggested that it might be one
of the great nebulae of the southern hemisphere. But his
statement was wider from the truth than that of the fair
Bostonian. Being in doubt about the matter the question
was referred to the professor, who had, by consent, been
accepted as the arbiter of all disputes. He, too, was as
much interested in this splendid phenomenon as any one
aboard.

When interrogated as to the nature of the apparition,
he replied without hesitation: ^^It is the zodiacal light,
but to-night it is of unusual magnitude and brilliancy.'*

And so it was. Bising from the western horizon, where
the sun had dropped below the ocean's edge, it rose majes-
tically on both sides of the ecliptic imtil it reached the
zenith. In the center was an effulgent cone surrounded
by two other cones of gradually decreasing brightness.
The middle portion was much brighter than is the galaxy
in our northern latitudes, — ^bright enough, indeed, to eclipse
the stars of the lower magnitudes. And imlike the cold,
white color of the galaxy, the zodiacal light, as we then
saw it, was characterized by a warm, orange-red glow,
that resembled somewhat the delicate crimson tints of the
aurora borealis. Presently, to the east of it, we saw the
rare, mysterious gegenschein, or counter-glow, that seemed
to be a faint reflex of the zodiacal light itself. Rising to-
wards the zenith the two luminous bodies seemed to be
united by a narrow nebulous band of light.

I had frequently admired the zodiacal light during clear
moonless nights, while traveling in the Andean highlands,
but I had never witnessed a display comparable in extent

126

WONDERS OF SEA AND MOUNTAIN

and gorgeonsness with that which delighted our astonished
gaze during that memorable hour on the South Pacific. It
forcibly reminded me of Donati^s wonderful comet which,
a half century before, had so fascinated my youthful mind,
that I was wont to contemplate it for hours with ever-
increasing interest and delight. One may occasionally see
the zodiacal light in our northern climes, after twilight in
winter and spring, and before dawn in summer and au-
tumn, but one is never favored by such a magnificent dis-
play of light and color as greets the fortunate traveler
under the serene heavens of equinoctial zones.

**What a pity our Harvard astronomers cannot behold
such a glorious spectacle!'' exclaimed the patriotic Boston
girl. **It is grandiose, magnificent'' — ^^^Yes," echoed the
Peruvian senoritas, '^grandiose, magnifico/^

After stopping at various ports along the coast to take
on freight — chiefly cattle, sugar and rice — ^and passengers,
we finally arrived at Callao, the port of Lima, five days
after leaving Guayaquil. I disembarked here, as I wished
to spend a few days in Lima before continuing my journey
southwards, my purpose being to visit Bolivia and southern
Peru before devoting attention to Lima and the central
and eastern parts of the republic.

But, although my first visit to the City of the Kings was
of brief duration, it was long enough to permit me to take
a trip over the famous Oroya railroad — ^the most remarka-
ble piece of railway engineering in the world. Its con-
struction is due chiefly to the initiation and tireless energy
of that remarkable American railway builder, Henry
Meiggs, who seemed to possess the astuteness of a Jay
Gould, the foresight and breadth of view of a James J.
Hill, and the mimificence of a Monte Christo. It is de-
cidedly one of the most interesting achievements of Peru,
and one of the first things that the visitor to Lima makes
an effort to see.

Thanks to the courtesy of the manager of the Peruvian
Corporation, which controls most of tiie railroads of the

127

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

republiOy we — a party of four Americans — ^were able to
make the trip over the road in a special train. We were
thus able to inspect at our leisure the diief points of
interest along the road, and to enjoy the unrivaled scenery
in a way that would otherwise have been impossible.

One of the members of the party was a prominent official
of Yale University, who has since been appointed to a
responsible position under the federal government in
Washington. There was also a young married couple from
Philadelphia, who were going to take up their residence in
a small town in the Cordillera, where there was a large
smelter, in which the young husband, who was an electric
and mining engineer, was to be superintendent. He had
been a noted football player when at college, while the
young bride had won high honors at Bryn Mawr, in lan-
guage and literature. She was a typical American girl,
alert, self-reliant, courageous and cultured — ^fully equipped
for any position to which she might be called.

Our train left Lima shortly after six o'clock in the morn-
ing, and we were soon in the midst of the sugar and cotton
plantations of the Bimac valley, along which the road is
built on its way up the steep slope of the mountain barrier
which separates the littoral from the lofty plateau in the
region of the clouds. While in the lowlands a heavy miz-
zle— ^the garua of Peru — ^precluded a view of the towering
barrier before us ; but, no sooner had we attained a certain
elevation on the foothills, when we suddenly emerged from
impenetrable mist into brightest sunshine. Above us was
the lofty Cordillera standing out in bold relief under the
full effulgence of the morning sun, while below us, the
garua, which resembled an undulating sea, concealed from
our view the verdant plantations through which we had
just passed. The garua, which covers the coast land like
a mantle — ^rarely rises higher than twelve hundred feet,
while its upper surface is usually several hundred feet
below this altitude. For this reason it is seen only along
the sea coast. Where it prevails, there is a slight drizzle

128

WONDERS OP SEA AND MOUNTAIN

during the winter season, but there is rarely or never
rain.

**The boundary line between the rain and the mist,*'
says Tschudiy ^^may be defined with mathematical pre-
cision. I know two plantations, the one six leagues from
lima, the other in the neighborhood of Huacho; one half
of these lands is watered by the garuas, the other half by
rain, and the boundary line is marked by a wall.** ^

From what has been said of the influence of the Hum-
boldt current on the climate of the Peruvian coast, the
explanation of this extraordinary phenomenon is apparent.
When during the winter months — from May to October —
the temperature of the earth becomes slightly lower than
that of the superincumbent atmosphere, we have the slow-
forming garua which spreads over the land for weeks at
a time. When, on the contrary, the temperature of the
atmosphere is considerably below the point of precipita-
tion, which always obtains in the higher latitudes, there is
rain.

The scenery along our route was much like that of the
canons and mountain passes of the Bocky Mountains, ex-
cept that there was almost a total absence of vegetation,
save on the narrow strip of land bordering the Eimac, and
in the carefully cultivated andenes — ^little terraced plots of
ground — ^which are perched high up on the precipitous
slopes of the mountains. One never tires admiring the
patience and industry of the Indians who climb to these
dizzy heights to till, at the cost of enormous labor, tiny
patches that can yield but little and which require constant
attention to be cultivable at all. Seen from a distance,
these terraces resemble somewhat the vineyards along the
banks of the Bhine, or on the mountain flanks of Italy ; but
they seem so inaccessible that one wonders that any one
ever attempts to bring them under cultivation. The labor
involved in building the retaining walls and in keeping
them in repair is stupendous, and no one would undertake

1 Tra/vels in Peru, p. 173, New York, 1854.

129

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

it except the laboriousy persistent descendants of the
Incas.

From the time the train leaves the coast land nntil it
reaches Galera tunnel, which pierces the crest of the Andes,
there is a continual climb, and the grade is very heavy —
frequently above four per cent.* From Callao to Galera is
but one hundred and two miles, but during that distance
the train rises skyward nearly three miles. There are in
this stretch of road thirteen switch-backs and fifty-seven
tunnels — ^through the solid rock and through jutting preci-
pices so high above the raging torrent as to seem accessible
only by the daring condor.

The cost of the first eighty-six miles is said to have been
$300,000 a mile, making it the most expensive road for its
length ever constructed. I am familiar with all the en-
gineering feats exhibited by the railroads of the United
States and Europe, but I know of nothing that is compara-
ble with the stupendous achievements that constantly
startle the traveler as the train winds its way over the
swinging bridges that span the awful chasms which are
met at every turn of the Oroya railroad.

We stopped on one of these aerial bridges to take some
photographs and to view at leisure the sublime scenes
above and around us. The place was aptly named Infer-
nillo — Little Hell.

**How such a view as this,** exclaimed the bride, ** would
have appealed to the poetic soul of Dante I Could he have
beheld such an abysmal gorge as this we should have an
added terror in his awful Inferno.*'

I then discovered, to my delight, that the bride was a
great admirer of the immortal Florentine; that she had
made a special study of the Divina Comedia, while at
college, and that she still retained all her first love for this

1 A hand-car started at Tidio, the station at the western entrance of the
tunnel, will run unaided to Callao, and, as a matter of fact, such a car,
equipped with safety-brakes, and carrying an inspector on the lookout for
fallen rocks and other dangers, precedes each passenger train on its way
from Galera to the Pacific

130

WONDERS OP SEA AND MOUNTAIN

matchless poem. With such a bond of union between us^
we became friends from that hour.

At the town which was to be her future home — a place
more than two miles above the sea — ^we were joined by two
other Americans — a gentleman and his wife^ both of whom
had lived for some time in Peru. Continuing our way up-
wards toward the summit, we finally reached the celebrated
Galera tunnel, which is less than two hundred feet below
the summit of Mont Blanc, the highest peak of the Alps.^

While contemplating our engine in these *'high Peruvian
solitudes among," whose progress was always onward and
upwards, we recalled the beautiful poem of the Peruvian
poet Salavery on La Locomotara — the locomotive — ^which
begins as follows :

**Ni el condor de los, Andes, que alza el vuelo
Desde su nido hasta la aznl region,
Y rasgando la tunica del cielo
Hiende las nubes que alumina el sol;

Ni el aeronauta audaz . . .

Aventajan al monstruo en la carrera
Con sus alas de fuego y de vapor." *

As we emerged from the eastern end of the tunnel we
were greeted by a vista that was truly magnificent — such

1 Gkdera tunnel, 15,665 feet above sea-level, was for a long time the highest
point in the world attained by any railroad. This altitude, however, has
recently been surpassed by that reached by the Morooocha branch, which
leaves the main line at the western entrance to the tunnel and rises to a
height of 15,865 feet, nearly a third of a mile higher than the summit of
Pike's Peak* It is also lower than Collahuasi, on the narrow gauge rail-
way between Antofagasta in Chile and La Paz in Bolivia. On this line the
locomotive rises to a height but fifty-six feet lower than the most elevated
point on the Peruvian road.

a "Neither the condor of the Andes that towers above his serie to the blue
empyrean, and, rending the sky's vesture, opens a passage through the sunlit
clouds . . . nor the bold aeronaut . . . surpasses this monster in his
flight on the wings of fire and steam."

131

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

a vista as is found only in the highest mountains where
the earth seems to touch the sky. Before us, within the
extended range of vision that was possible from our lofty
view-point, were undulating plateaus intersected by count-
less mountain streams starting on their way to the mighty
Amazon, and nearly half a mile above us towered the sum-
mit of Mount Meiggs mantled with eternal snow. Several
of us were specially interested in observing the incipient
stage of a tiny streamlet that was just starting on its long
journey to the far-off Atlantic. Near by another stream-
let had its birth, but its destination was the nearer Pacific.

There were, however, two of our party who were unable
to enjoy the splendid views that so captivated the rest of
us. Long before reaching the summit they had succumbed
to soroche — ^mountain si(dmess — that mysterious disorder
peculiar to high altitudes, and which, in spite of all the
investigations so far made, seems to be as little understood
as sea-sickness. And strange as it may seem, the first one
to be affected by the malady was the athlete of the party —
the ex-football player. He suffered ever-increasing pain
until finally he was completely prostrated. While the
others were enjoying the ever-changing panorama visible
from our car, he was struggling with vertigo and nausea,
feverishness, and feeling as if the top of his head were
about to blow off. Fortunately, he did not experience the
other effects — ^bleeding at the nostrils, ears, eyes and
mouth, weakness of sight and hearing and the fainting fits
from which many persons suffer when in great altitudes.

Mai de montagne usually makes itself felt at an altitude
of between fifteen and sixteen thousand feet above the sea.
Sometimes it appears as a headache, which gradually in-
creases in intensity, or as an indescribable feeling of
malaise pervading the greater part of the body. At other
times it attacks one suddenly and is accompanied with
depression and weakness, nausea, vomiting and hemor-
rhage.

Some people are affected at much lower altitudes than

132

WONDERS OP SEA AND MOUNTAIN

that just mentioned, while others are immune until much
higher elevations are attained. Fitzgerald, the experienced
Alpine traveler, was forced to relinquish his attempt to
reach the summit of Aconcagua, one of the highest — ^if
not the highest — speaks of the Andes when within only a
few hundred yards from the coveted goal. **I tried,*' he
informs us, ^^more than once to go on, but I was able to
advance only two or three steps at a time and then I had
to stop, panting for breath, my struggles alternating with
violent fits of nausea. At times I would fall down, and
each time had greater difficulty in rising; black specks
swam across my sight ; I was like one walking in a dream,
so dizzy and sick that the whole mountain seemed to be
whirling round with me.'* ^

Padre Acosta, who is one of the earliest Spanish chron-
iclers to describe the effects of soroche, gives a very
graphic description of his experience with it in the moun-
tains of Peru. ** There,'* he tells us, **the ayre and the
wind that rains make men dazie, not lesse, but more then
at sea. ... I was suddenly surprised with so mortall
and strange a pang that I was ready to fall from my beast
to the ground and with such pangs of straining and casting
as I thought to cast up my soul too.

**And no doubt,*' he continued, **but the winde is the
cause of this intemperature and strange alteration, or the
aire that raignes there ... I, therefore, perswade my
selfe that the element of the aire is there so subtile and
delicate, as it is not proportionable with the breathing of
man, which requires a more gross and temperate aire, and
I beleeve it is the cause that doth so much alter the
stomacke and trouble all the disposition. ' ' ^

Explanations similar to this were accepted until the
memorable experiments of Paul Bert, recorded in his bulky
tome. La Pression Barometrique, published in 1878. In this
work Mr. Bert contends that mal de montagne is due to an

i The Highest Andes, p. 82, London, 1899.
tOp. dt., Li)), m. Chap. DL

133

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

insufficient supply of oxygen, and that the malady can be
prevented by inspiring tiiis life-giving gas in sufficient
quantity.

Mr. Whymper, however, joins issue with Mr. Bert, and
maintains that mountain sickness is due to diminished
atmospheric pressure, and the expansion of air or gas
within the body which causes it to press upon the internal
organs.^ According to other investigators soroche is of
chemico-nervous origin, and they point in support of their
theory to the fact that instantaneous relief is afforded to
one suffering from the malady by administering a kind of
cocoa tea such as is prepared and used by the Indians in the
Andean highlands.

On our return to Lima we left the bride and groom at
their mountain home — ^nearly twelve thousand feet above
the Pacific. The bride had enjoyed every moment of her
visit to cloudland, for she did not in the slightest degree
experience any of the distressing effects of that terrible
soroche that so thoroughly prostrated her athletic husband.
He, poor fellow, was so completely incapacitated that he
had to be put to bed as soon as he left the train.

As for my Yale companion and myself, we felt no incon-
venience whatever from the change of pressure, aside from
the increased difficulty of breathing, due to the rarity of
the atmosphere. Even this was scarcely perceptible, ex-
cept when accentuated by physical exertion of some kind.
And I may be permitted to add in this connection that I
have never suffered from mountain sickness, even when I
was several thousand feet higher than I ever was while
crossing the lofty crests of the Cordilleiras. Some con-
stitutions— ^and these are not always the most rugged,
by any means — seem to resist soroche better than others,
just as some persons escape sea-sickness, while others, who
are much stronger physically, succumb to the first ocean
swell.

In going from Callao to Mollendo, our last objective

1 Op. cit., Chap. XIX.

134

WONDERS OP SEA AND MOUNTAIN

point on the* rainless coast, I was fortunate enough to se-
cure passage on one of the steamers of the Cosmos Line,
so favorably known for its well-trained corps of tidy, at-
tentive and affable officers and stewards, — men who are not
unlike those who contribute so much to the comfort of the
passenger on the best of the trans-Atlantic liners. And
then there were no bellowing cattle on board, as on many
of the other steamers on the west coast, to make night
hideous and sleep impossible. It is safe to say that if
the Cosmos Line, as is to be hoped it will, once decides to
reach out for the passenger business of the south Pacific
coast, it will at once secure a fair share of the patronage of
the traveling public*

Although we stopped at several ports between Callao and
MoUendo, we saw little to arrest our attention outside of
the famous Chincha Islands, about one hundred miles south
of Callao. These are small, barren rocks, but it may well
be doubted whether any equal area of the earth's surface
has yielded a greater amount of treasure. They, from time
immemorial, have been the favorite home of the so-called
guano ^ birds — ^pelicans, sea gulls, marine crows and cor-
morants— ^which have made those immense deposits, almost
two hxmdred feet deep in places, that, for more than half a
century have supplied the world with its richest and most
prized fertilizer. It is estimated that the total value of
the manure taken from these small islands up to date has
not been less than one billion dollars. The amount of
guano taken from them between 1853 and 1872 amounted
to no less than eight million tons, which fetched from forty
to seventy dollars a ton.

But this is only one of several groups of guano islands

1 From present indications, the Peruvian Steamship Company, recently
inaugurated, promises to be the most popular line on the west coast of
South America. It has fast and commodious turbine steamers that are
capable of making the trip between Callao and Panama in about half the
time required by the vessels of its competitors.

* From huanu, the Quichua word for manure. Llama, pampa, condor, coca,
and quina are other Quichua words introduced into English.

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ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

found all along this wonderful rainless coast from Los
Lobos to Tarapacd. These, too, have contributed to the
markets of the world their millions of tons of fertilizer,
and still the deposits are not exhausted. More than this.
New deposits are continually being made by the millions
of birds that frequent these islands. To enable the reader
to form some idea of the countless myriads of birds that
congregate on these rocky islets for purposes of roosting
at night or rearing their young, it suffices to state that no
less than five thousand tons of guano are annually de-
posited on a single one of the Chinchas Islands, and that
on an area not exceeding fifteen acres in extent. So im-
mense are the flocks of birds that fish in their neighbor-
hood that the sky is frequently darkened by them, and one
would imagine that the whole ocean would not suffice to
supply them with means of subsistence. But so prolific are
its waters in fish of all kinds that the guano birds find all
the food required, without going any great distance from
their favorite haunts. And this, notwithstanding the fact
that these icthyophagous gormands have been drawing sus-
tenance from these waters for hundreds, probably thou-
sands of years.

Although guano was extensively used as a fertilizer dur-
ing the time of the Licas, it was practically lost sight of
after the conquest until the time of Humboldt. Its true
value, however, was not recognized until some decades
later, when Justus von Liebig, the father of agricultural
chemistry, definitely determined its importance as a fer-
tilizer, and at the same time demonstrated that it was one
of the greatest assets of the republic of Peru. Had the
Peruvian government adopted wiser methods in exploiting
these valuable deposits, and enacted suitable laws for their
conservation, and then employed the immense wealth ac-
cruing from the sale of guano, in developing and building
up a merchant marine and navy, she would to-day be, in
proportion to her population, second to none of the repub-
lics of South America. It is only recently that she has

136

WONDERS OP SEA AND MOUNTAIN

enacted laws looking towards the preservation of her
guano deposits. In doing this she has done little more
than revive the old Inea regulations which enforced rota-
tion in digging and protected the birds by closed seasons.

**In the times of the Kings Incas/ * writes Qarcilaso
de la Vega, *^such care was taken to preserve these birds,
that it was unlawful for any one to land on the islands
during the breeding season under pain of death, that the
birds might not be disturbed or driven from their nests.
Nor was it lawful to kill the birds at any time either on
the islands or elsewhere under pain of death. ' ' ^

This is one instance in which the Peruvians of to-day
can learn from their Inca predecessors of four centuries
ago.

1 Oomeniarios Reales, Lib. V, Cap. Ill, Madrid, 1725. So great, accord-
ing to Gkurdlaso, were the heaps of manure that, from a distance they seemed
like the peaks of a snowy mountain — punt4u de alguna Bierra Nevada,

137

CHAPTER VIII
LA VILLA HEEMOSA

We dropped anchor in the harbor, or rather in the road-
stead of MoUendo, shortly after midnight. As the sea was
very rough — it is nearly always rough here — ^no attempt
was made to land the passengers until the following morn-
ing. While I was dressing in my cabin, and wondering
how I could reach the landing-place, which was about a
mile distant, someone knocked at my door. This somewhat
surprised me, as my steward never disturbed me in the
morning until I called for him. On opening the door I
was saluted by a stranger who handed me a telegram.
This increased my surprise. I was not expecting a mes-
sage from anyone and could not imagine whence it came.
Lnagine my astonishment and pleasure when I learned its
contents. It was from the president of the chamber of
deputies in Lima, instructing the collector of the port at
Mollendo to show me special attention, and to render my
stay there as pleasant as possible. ''La chalupa,'' said this
official, **esta esperando a Vd quando Vd quiera salir'' —
* ^ a boat is awaiting you when you are ready to go ashore. * *

**This,'' I exclaimed, '*is truly Peruvian hospitality 1 * *
It should not have surprised me, because I had received
so many gratifying evidences of it before; but under the
circumstances, when least expected, it touched me deeply.
It was, however, but the beginning of many similar acts
of thoughtful kindness, in little and great things, which
contributed so much towards making my travels in Peru
BO pleasant and profitable.

I was soon in the gayly decked boat of the Comandante
del Resguardo de la Aduana — ^which was manned by a half

138

LA VILLA HERMOSA

dozen nniformed oarsmen — ^and in a short time I found
myself the guest of the Mollendo Club, in the midst of a
most charming body of men, several of whom were Ameri-
cans connected with various business houses of this impor-
tant shipping point.

After a half day spent in Mollendo, during which I was
given a delightful breakfast at the club, I was ready to
start for Arequipa. Arrived at the depot of the Southern
Eailway of Peru, I met with another surprise. I was es-
corted into a richly-upholstered Pullman car, and told that
I was to consider myself the guest of the F err o-Car riles
del Sur del Peru. The agent then informed me that he
had received instructions from headquarters to extend to
me all the courtesies of the road, and the delicate manner
in which he executed his conmiission gave an added charm
to all he said and did. I began then to realize, more than
ever before, that I was among a people whose hospitality
has been proverbial from time immemorial and that, while
in their midst, I could truly feel at home.

After leaving Mollendo we went far enough towards the
southeast to get a view of the fertile and verdant valley
of the Eio Tambo, when the train, veering towards the
north, started across the arid pampa of Islay. We could
then see how appropriately the long, rainless coast, of
which an account has been given in the preceding chapter,
has been called the Sahara of Peru. Outside of the few
narrow strips of vegetation along the valleys, and the oc-
casional haciendas that have been rendered fruitful by irri-
gation, the pampa of Islay is a picture of desolation made
desolate. This is particularly the case when one crosses
the desert plain under the scorching, vibrating heat-waves
of the noonday sun of the hot season, and when a stiff
breeze from the ocean picks up and carries before it clouds
of sand and volcanic dust, which are suflScient to suffocate
both man and beast, unless they can immediately find suit-
able shelter. The impalpable dust, with which the lurid
sand clouds are surcharged, penetrate everywhere. It in-

139

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

flames the eyes and parches the tongue and throat so as
to inflict indescribable tortnre.

No wonder then that so many tragedies have been writ-
ten in so many stretches of this rainless coast^ and that
these treacherous wastes are strewn with the bleaching
bones of countless unfortunates ! ^ Considering the for-
bidding character of this burning, suffocating plain, it is
not surprising that the Indian attributes the curiously-
shaped sand formations which are everywhere visible to
the caprice of passing demons. Occasionally, when the
heat is great, one will hear musical notes proceeding from
these strangely-fashioned hillocks like those issuing from
the musical sands of Hawaii and Mount Sinai. The sound
is due to the vibrating molecules of the heated sand, but
the natives, ignorant of its true origin, attribute it to boil-
ing water in the interior of these formations and hence
their name ^* water volcanoes,'* for these uncanny, sonorous
mounds.

Among these formations the traveler's attention is sure
to be arrested by what are known in the country as
medanos. These are shifting sand dunes in the form of a
crescent, as sharp and perfect in outline as the moon in
its first quarter.

They are of all sizes, from a few feet to twenty or more
feet in height. At one time one will see only a few of
them, at others the plain is covered with them — giving the
desert the appearance of an ocean covered with fossilized
waves. Under the action of violent winds the medanos

1 While traveling in the Peruvian desert I often wondered why camels
were not used in it. I have since read in the Apuntea Hi8torico8, pp. 06, 97,
of Gen. Mendiburu, that these ''ships of the desert" were introduced into Lima
and lea as early as 1552. They became readily acclimated, but, their owners
not knowing how to take care of them, the experiment did not prove success-
ful. Most of the animals escaped to the mountains where the negroes killed
them for food. The last two camels died in 1575. Camels were also intro-
duced into Venezuela, and Humboldt suggested their use for transporting
freight across the Isthmus of Panama. ''L'ix^roduction des chameaus seroft
le moyen le plus sur de diminuer les frais de transport." Op. dt.. Vol. I,
p. 251.

140

LA VILLA HERMOSA

move rapidly over the plains with an almost irresistible
momentum. In the course of their extraordinary migra-
tions they sometimes encounter the railroad, and then the
employes have a difficult task before them to keep the track
sufficiently clear to permit the passage of trains.

But| although this costal belt is so desolate, the dry,^
ocherous dust and sand areas can, under the influence of
rain or irrigation, be made to bloom in a night. From a
barren desert it is at once converted into a land that is as
productive as the valley of the Nile. This is clearly evi-
denced in the rapidly-increasing tracts which are being
reclaimed by irrigation. While the amount of water sup-
plied by the rivers is not nearly adequate to irrigate the
extensive desert belt between the Pacific and the Cordillera,
it has been discovered that artesian wells can be made effi-
cient agents in the work of reclamation in the Sahara of
Peru as well as in the Sahara of northern Africa, and
from present indications, this neglected means of vegeta-
tion is hereafter to receive much more attention than hith-
erto.

But notwithstanding the aridity and desolation of the
Peruvian desert it is, in some respects, the most productive
land in the world. And the remarkable fact is that its
value is due entirely to its lack of rain and moisture.

The two greatest sources of revenue for Peru, especially
before its late war with Chile, when it was robbed^ of

1 It is said that the atmosphere is so dry in this arid region that picture
frames are made of salt. A story to the same effect is told of a young
girl of Huantajaya, where there is no water, who, on going to Tarapaci,
and seeing a streami there, exclaimed: "Oh, what heretics these Tara-
paquefEos must be, to let so much blessed water run to waste! Pray save
it, save it I"

'The Congress of Venezuela thus expressed the general opinion. ''Chile,
by invading the territory of Peru and Bolivia, and spreading desolation
and death over them, pretends to resuscitate the absurd right of conquest,
and by committing repeated acts of cruelty and barbarity on brother nations,
she appears before the world as a sinister apparition of the most retrograde
ages in history. We solemnly protest against the iniquitous and scandalous
usurpation of which Peru and Bolivia are the victims, in spite of their hero-
ism, and we beseech the Qod of nations to look favorably on the prompt

141

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

some of its richest possessionsi were its guano and nitrate
beds.* Such depositSi however, would be impossible in a
rainy climate, for all their valuable salts would be bleached
out as rapidly as formed. In many other parts of the
world marine birds in inmiense numbers frequent certain
islands and coast lands as well as in Peru, but the guano
produced is immediately washed away by the heavy rain-
falls that there prevail. What, then, appears to be the
greatest drawback to the Peruvian littoral — ^its perennial
aridity — ^is in reality the essential condition of its most
valued sources of revenue. If the Humboldt current could
be deflected from its present course, so as to permit the

restoration of lawful sovereigntj, aa a security for peace and concord among
the sons of America.

1 Early in the last century, Bollaert estimated the amount of sodium ni-
trate— called in Peru scUitre or caliche — in the province of Tarapacfl — ^to be
sixty-three million t<ms and sufficient at the then rate of consumption to last
one thousand, three hundred and ninety-three years. Antiquarian, Ethnological
and other Researches in New Oranada, Eciuidor, Peru and Chile, p^ 155,
London, 1860. This, at the time, seemed to be an enormous amount, but, as
subsequent developments have proved, it was only a small fraction of what
is now known to exist.

The total annual production in BoUaert's time of this valuable commodity
was less than ten thousand tons. In 1908 it was nearly two million tons.
Notwithstanding, however, all that has been exported during the laat century,
there are still in sight, according to an official report of a board of en-
gineers, who have investigated the matter, ''a quantity sufficient at the pres-
ent rate of exportation to supply the entire world's consumption for one
hundred and thirty years." This estimate applies to the two provinces of
Tarapacft and Antofagasta alone. How much more may yet exist in undis-
covered deposits in these and adjoining districts cannot as yet be estimated.
There is, however, reason to believe that it is very great.

The value of the sodium nitrate delivered in the ports of Europe and the
United States in 1908 was more than eighty-five million dollars — sufficient
evidence that this section of the South American Sahara is an asset that any
nation might envy.

The reader will be interested in learning that the most probable theory
regarding these deposits, whose origin has long been so fruitful a subject
of discussion, is that they are derived from organic matter, most likely
guano. If this theory should be verified, it will afford some of our lovers of
curious problems an opportunity to calculate the age of the guano and
nitrate deposits of the rainless coast lands of Peru and Chile, and the count-
less trillions of birds that have contributed towards the formation of these
immense deposits.

142

LA VILLA HERMOSA

same abundant precipitation as obtains along the coast of
Ecuador and Colombia, the present Sahara of Peru would
at once be clothed with a mantle of richest verdure, but,
at the same time, its fabulous wealth in guano and nitrate
would melt away never to return.

Although Arequipa is but little more than one hundred
miles from MoUendo, it required nearly six hours for our
train to make this distance. The grades through the cut-
tings in diorite and porphyry are heavy, and the curves
around mountain spurs are sharp and numerous. The
railroad connecting the two places, like the Oroya railway,
is one of the great achievements of Henry Meiggs, and its
construction is another evidence of his superb courage and
tireless energy.

Arequipa has long been famous for its beauty and the
mildness and salubrity of its climate. Its altitude above
the sea is about the same as that of the City of Mexico.
If not the most beautiful place in South America, as its
admirers claim, it is certainly the most restful. It is such
a place as one should like to retire to after the stress and
storms of a busy career, to pass one's days in quietude
and in a congenial environment. The people, who retain
all the light-heartedness and cordiality and culture of old
Spain, are worthy denizens of their charming city, and
the better one knows them, the more he admires and loves
them. I can truthfully say that I never found people
anywhere whose generous hospitality and noble qualities
of heart and mind made a deeper impression on me.

'' Studious of men
His sociable nature ever was,"

are words applied by Homer to Ulysses. Since my visit to
Peru I have never thought of them except in connection

with my amiable, whole-souled host in Arequipa, Sr. T ,

who is, in every sense of the word, one of Nature's noble-
men.

143

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

So delighted, indeed, was I with Areqnipa and the Are-
qnipenans that I was quite williiig to indorse the follow-
ing lines, which I heard from the lips of a bright young
senorita from one of the convent schools, in praise of her
native city.

'^Aquel que dicboso logra
Pisar este bermoso suelo.
O 86 Yuelve enamorado
0 se queda prisionero." *

For one who has visited Areqnipa, it is easy to credit
the story about the origin of its name. It is said that
many of the soldiers of Malta Capac, on their return from
one of their victorious campaigns, were so captivated by
the beauty of the country which surrounds the present
city — la villa hermosa,^ the city beautiful — as it is often
called, that they begged the Inca to permit them to remain
here and establish a colony. After a moment's reflection,
he replied. Art, quepai, words which in Quichua signify.
Yes, remain.

Arequipa has long been famous in Peru for its schools
and sdiolars, for soldiers and statesmen. Its population
is not large — about twenty-five thousand — ^but its people
have been extremely active and successful in every walk
of life. It counts many men eminent in science and letters
and is justly proud of them.

I had a pleasant reminder one evening, that I was in a
center of literary culture, when I listened to a serenade at
the opposite side of the street from where I was stopping.
The words sung were from one of those sentimental
yaravies of Mariano Melgar, a native of Arequipa, whose
verses, his admirers would fain have us believe, deserve
to be classed with the melodies of Thomas Moore. The
following strophes, addressed to a lady, who did not re-

1 "He who has the good fortune to tread this bewitching soil either beoomea
enamored of it or remains a prisoner."
'So called by its founder, Francisco Pizarro.

144

LA VILLA HERMOSA

ciprocate the poet's love, are a part of the yaravi which
the serenader sang to the accompaniment of his guitar, and
are at the same time a fair indication of the character of
Melgar'smnse:

**Yo procur6 olvidarte
• T morir bajo el yugo
De mi desdicha;
Pero no pienses que el cielo
Deje de bacerte sentir
Sus justas iras.

'*Muerto yo, tu llorarfia
El yerro de haber perdido

Una alma fina;
Y aun muerto, sabr4 vengarse
Este misero vivente

Que boy tiranazas." ^

But to appreciate the tender^ melodious character of the
yaravi, which is almost always in a minor key, one must
hear it sung as the Peruvians sing it, and particularly as
the people of Arequipa sing it. While it is somewhat
monotonous, and pervaded by a vein of sadness, neverthe-
less, when the words sung are inspired by the absence or the
ingratitude or the cruelty of the object loved, and when,
especially, it is the singer who has enkindled love in the
soul of the listener, then, as has been well said by the
distinguished scholar, Mateo Paz Soldan, a son of Are-
quipa, each note is a poniard that transfixes the heart,
''each forte exdtes deep emotion in the soul, and there is
not a belle so proud that, when touched by the moving

1 "I shall strive to forget thee and die under the yc^e of misfortune;
But do not think that heaven shall fail to make thee feel its just wrath.

''When I am dead, thou wilt bewail having crushed an affectionate heart;
And even after death this miserable creature that thou dost now treat

so cruelly.
Win know how to wreak vengeance."

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ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

melody, would not cast herself at the feet of the one who
produces it/'

The chief merit of the yaravi consists in the perfect ac-
cord of the music with the words. It is usually sung to
the sound of the guitar or the mandolin, and when the
singer of this national music has a plaintive voice, a fine
presence and an attractive personality, and throws into it
the pathos and the dramatic expression to which it so
readily lends itself, he is always sure to bring tears to the
cheeks of his auditors, and to excite in their souls mixed
emotions of pain and ecstasy.

Among the attractions in the immediate vicinity of
Arequipa, that are always sure to claim the attention of
the traveler, are the astronomical observatory — a branch
of the one at Harvard University — and the celebrated vol-
cano of Misti, whose snow-turbaned summit is barely ten
miles from the city's central plaza.

Owing to the clearness of the atmosphere and the number
of cloudless days at this place, the observatory is probably
more favorably located than any other observatory in the
world. As a consequence of this and of the splendid ad-
ministration of the institution since its foundation, the ob-
servers stationed there have been able to achieve results
of the greatest value to astronomic science. They deserve
special commendation for the splendid work they have ac-
complished in photographing the southern skies. By this
work they have contributed, more than any other single
staff of astronomers, towards the great map of the
heavens whose preparation was many years ago con-
fided to the activities of the great observatories of the
world.

As an evidence of the remarkable transparency of the
atmosphere at Arequipa, it will suffice to state that one may
frequently see Venus and Jupiter shining brilliantly near
midday, in spite of the effulgence of the noonday sun. The
distinguished Peruvian writer, just quoted, goes farther
and declares that, * * The air is so transparent that one has

146

LA VILLA HERMOSA

frequently observed, at one or two o 'clock in the afternoon,
three planets, ^ ^ shining with all their brilliance the same as
at midnight*' — ^^briUiant de tout leur eclat, comme au
milieu de la nuit." ^

Mount Misti, ** whose sun-bright summit mingles with
the sky,'* is to Arequipa what Etna is to Catania — ^what
Popocatepetl is to the City of Mexico, and what Fujiyama
is to Yokohama — ^the most conspicuous and the most in-
teresting object in the landscape. It is also to many an
ever present menace, and to the Indians in the neighbor-
hood an object of superstitious dread. From the time of
the conquest, it was regarded as a dormant volcano, al-
though it was frequently the center of violent earthquakes
that wrought great devastation in Arequipa, and in the
neighboring villages. In 1868, however, there was a ter-
rific eruption, accompanied by an earthquake of such
violence that the work of three hundred years in Arequipa
was laid in ruins in a few minutes.^

Misti is about eighteen thousand five hundred feet high,
and during the greater part of the year its summit is
mantled with snow. On each side of it, at some miles
distant, is a lofty peak also usually snow-capped. Misti is
regarded as the high-priest, and the other two are con-
sidered his acolytes. Miguel del Carpio, a poet of Are-
quipa, has well described it in the following verses ;

Immensa mole, que del Dies etemo
Ostentas el poder, volcan terrible,
Que abrigas en tu seno al mismo Infiemo;

1 (Uographie du Peru, p. 279, Paris, 1863.

* Perez de Torres, who traveled in Peru the latter part of the sixteenth
century, informs us that it was the custom of the Indians living near Are-
quipa to propitiate El Zopay — ^the spirit of the volcano — ^by casting ten or
twelve young maidens into the crater every year. This custom they were
compelled to abandon after the arrival of the Spaniards, but, whenever there
was an eruption of a volcano after that, the Indians declared it was in
consequence of the anger of the Zopay at not receiving his annual tribute
of youthful victims. Historiadores Primiiivos de Indias, por Andres Qon-
zales Barcia, Tom. Ill, p. 12, Madrid, 1749.

147

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Y que el dedo inyisible
Del miedo y del terror siempre mostrando,
Al pueblo de las Gracias y de las Bisas
En tus calladas iras tiranizas!" ^

1 "Immense mountain, that of the eternal Qod doit show forth the power,
terrible volcano, that holds within thy bosom Hell itself, and which, erer
pointing the invisible finger of fear and terror at the people of Graoes and
Laughter, dost tyrannise them in thy silent wrath 1"

148

CHAPTER IX

THE CBADLE OF THE INCAS

After a delightful visit to Arequipa we started for the
far-famed lake of Titicaca, the traditional cradle of the
Incas. Although the distance between the two points is
little more than two hundred miles, it took the train more
than twelve hours to make the run. This was caused by
the heavy grades and the numerous sharp curves along
the greater part of the road.

A few hours after leaving Arequipa I noticed that a
number of the passengers were preparing for a siege of
soroche — ^mountain sic^ess. Some of them were taking
all the precautions adopted by people inclined to sea-sick-
ness, when they cross the English Channel. They wrapped
themselves in cloaks and lap-robes to keep warm, and
assumed a reclining posture, in order to be as comfortable
as possible while crossing the crest of the western Cor-
dillera. Many sucked oranges and sweet lemons, as they
contended that the juice of these fruits is a prevention of
soroche. Others, in imitation of the Indians, chewed coca
learves, which they claimed to be a specific against the dread
malady. In spite, however, of all precautions, many were
quite ill before they reached Crucero Alto, the highest
point on the line. The road here attains an altitude of
more than fourteen thousand five hundred feet, which, next
to the Morococha, is the highest elevation attained by any
railway in Peru.

Personally, I felt no ill effects whatever in consequence
of the diminished pressure, and had I not constantly con-
sulted my barometer, I should not have realized that I
was traveling in such great altitudes. The air was dry

149

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

and crispy but I was scarcely conscious of its increased
rarity. And, although the temperature was considerably
reduced near the summit of the range, I never suffered
from the cold as I did at much lower altitudes in Ecuador,
a thousand miles nearer the equator. One reason for this
was the almost total absence of wind in the Peruvian
sierras, at the time of our passage, which was in marked
contrast with the boreal blasts we had to endure in the
open cars on the chilly tablelands circling the base of
Chimborazo.

The country through which the railroad passes is but
sparsely inhabited and is desolate in the extreme. There
are a few small villages here and there, occupied chiefly
by hardy Indians who manage to eke out a precarious ex-
istence— it is diflScult to see how — ^but who seem to be as
much attached to their ichu-thatched adobe huts as are the
Swiss mountaineers to their Alpine cottages.

This elevated and inhospitable region of the Cordillera
is known in Peru as the puna and corresponds to the
paramo of Colombia and Venezuela. It is barren and
frigid and unpeopled, except along a few water courses and
around the shore of certain lakes. Here one will find an
occasional shepherd tending his flock of hardy alpacas or
seeking pasture for a few half-famished llamas. In the
lakes one may sometimes see small flocks of water-fowl —
usually certain species of wild ducks and geese — ^but, out-
side of these, the only animals that seem at home in these
bleak and dismal regions are the mountain-loving con-
dor and the fine-fleeced, liquid-eyed vicuna — ^the graceful
cameloid mammal, whose delicate wool was so highly prized
by the Incas of old, that the use of its fleece by those
not of the blood royal, was forbidden under penalty of
death.

We reached Puno, a small town on the west shore of
Lake Titicaca, about an hour after sunset, and immediately
boarded the steamer that was to take us to Guaqui in
Bolivia. Instead, however, of starting at once, according

150

THE CRADLE OP THE INCAS

to schedule, we did not get under way until early the next
morning.

The remarkable thing about our steamer was the fact
that it had been put on the lake before the railway was
built. The material and the machinery employed in its
construction were actually brought from the Pacific on the
backs of men and animals, and, so great was the labor and
expense involved that, it is said, the craft, when completed,
cost its weight in silver. The cost of the vessel before she
was launched must, indeed, have been enormous. Since the
completion of the railroad from MoUendo, several other
larger steamers have been put on the lake and they trans-
port all the freight and passengers between Puno and
Guaqui, as well as most of the traflSc that is destined for
the larger towns on the shores of the lake.*

In many respects, Lake Titicaca is the most remarkable
body of water in the world. There are smaller lakes that
have a greater altitude,* but for a large, navigable body of
water, it is quite unique. Its average width is thirty-five
miles and its length one hundred and ten. Its area, con-
sequently, is about fifteen times as great as that of Lake
Geneva and nearly equal to that of Lake Erie. But this is
only a small fraction of what it was during recent geologic
times. Then it covered more territory than is now oc-
cupied by Lake Nyanza or Superior, and was, when its
waters drained into the Amazon, the largest reservoir of the
largest river in the world. It was then, too, much deeper
than it is at present, although it still has, according to

iThe two largest steamers on the lake are of one hundred and fifty tons
burden, with fifty-horse-power engines. Including their transportation on
the backs of mules from the Pacific, they are said to have cost the Peruvian
government a million soles, an immense sum for such small craft. Although
the projectors of steam navigation on Lake Titicaca had great difficulty in
getting their vessels on its waters they did not encounter therein those large
masses of loadstone which Padre Bias Valera, a contemporary of Qardlaso,
said existed there and which, he averred, would, like the magnetic moun-
tain of the Calender in the Arabian story, render navigation impossible.

'The picturesque lakes, called Lagunillas, near Crucero Alto, are a third
of a mile higher than Lake Titicaca.

151

ALONG THE AXDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Algiitnder Agassiz, an arerage depQi d a hnndred
fathoms.^

Ita eleTati0n above the level of the sea is twehre thou-
sand and five hundred feet — twiee the heig^ of Mount
Washington, and higher than the Ynngfran, the pride of
the Alps* And hig^ above its elevated sorfaee rises, on
its eastern shore, the lofty range of the Cordillera Real,
with the cloud-piercing peaks of Hhunpa and Hnyana-
Potosi, long believed to rival in altitude the loftiest sum-
mits of the Himalayas, and to tower above Hnascaran and
Aconcagua, the giant peaks of the great Andean range.'

I was now in the Thibet of the New World, and on the
roof of the South American continent I had attained an-
other one of the goals I had, at the outset of my journey,
so eagerly desired to reach, and had, at the same time,
realized another one of the fond dreams of my youth — a
visit to the land of the Incas and the Aymaras.

Yes, finally, I had before me the famed cradle of the
Inca race, the reputed birthplace of the diildren of the Sun,
and this thought almost made me oblivious of the
magnificent panoramas that, in every direction, presented
themselves to my enchanted gaze. In the highlands of
Colombia and Ecuador my eyes had feasted on many scenes
of transcending beauty and sublimity, but the vista that
was now before me impressed me, in some respects, more
deeply than anything I had before seen in any part of the
world.

In the foreground was the turquoise blue expanse of
Titicaca, decked with its russet-colored islands — for it was

iThe maximuxn depth of the lake, aooording to the soundings made \fy
Agassie, is one hundred and fifty-four fathoms. Wiener, however, in his
Pwrou ei BolMe, p. 390, tells us that his measurements gave a depth im
many places of five hundred and thirty meters — seventeen hundred and thirty-
nine feet. One may gauge the truth of this statement hy his declaration in
the same paragraph, that the snowy range of Sorata is more than thirty
leagues from the shore of the lake, when, as a matter of fact, it is scarcely
more than one- fourth of that distance.

■ According to the most reliable measurements, the altitude of Ulampu
is about twenty-one thousand and five hundred feet above the sea.

152

THE CBADLE OP THE INGAS

the winter season — and in the distance was the snowy
crest of the Cordillera Beal, suffused with an Alpen-glow
by the first rays of the morning snn.

The range of Sorata, with its glittering peaks and clear-
cut ridges of dazzling whiteness, stood before us in all its
beauty and grandeur. And so tranquil was the lake that
all this wondrous panorama was perfectly mirrored in its
broad expanse. In one single view we had before us the Al-
pine marvels of Switzerland and Alaska, the broad glaciers
and snow fields, sources of countless rivers, and massive,
rocky pinnacles that seemed to touch the empyrean.
No wonder that objects so conspicuous and so imposing
were the subjects of untold legends among the children of
the Sun ; that they were from time immemorial objects of
superstitious worship; that Illimani and Huayna-Potosi,
like Olympus and Valhalla of other climes, were regarded
by them as the abode of gods and heroes. In the presence
of such a sublime spectacle one's irrepressible emotions
find expression in the following words of the poet :

''Ye Pyramids of God! around whose hases

The sea foams noteless in his narrow cup ;

And the unseen movements of the earth send up
A murmur which your lulling snow effaces
like the deer's footsteps. Thrones imperished!
About whose adamantine steps the breath
Of dying generations yanisheth.
Less cognizable than clouds ; and dynasties,

Less glorious and more feeble than the array
Of your frail glaciers, unregarded rise,

Totter and vanish.''

Around the shore of the lake were picturesque towns and
villages surrounded by hills, striated by countless andenes
— ^terraced farms or gardens.

Between the shore and the deep water were verdant fields
of myrxophyttum and totora — species of reed— extending to
a depth of six or seven fathoms, where myriads of aquatic

153

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

birds, the chief fauna of the lake, were feeding, and where
herds of grazing cattle were standing, some of them almost
beneath the surface, and actually, at times, plunging their
heads below the surface, as if in the act of diving for the
vegetation on which they were browsing. On the islands of
Titicaca and Coati were cottages of stone and adobe,
thatched with ichu grass and surrounded by gardens that
dated back almost to the time of Manco Capac

Here and there, flitting across the tranquil lake, were
those curious reed balsas propelled by oars and by sails
made of reed, reminding one of similar craft figured on
the tomb of Bameses III, at Thebes. They are, indeed,
quaint-looking craft, but soon become water-logged. Ap-
parently, they are as frail and as unseaworthy as an
Eskimo kayak, or a currach of the type St. Brendan is
said to have used in his voyage to America. But, notwith-
standing this, the Quichua and Aymara boatmen do not
hesitate to cross the lake in them, carrying both freight
and passengers. In some of these boats one may occa-
sionally see a patient fisherman, but as the fish are few in
number and small in size— only a few species* existing
in the lake — ^the expectant angler has but slight reward
for his pains.

I wondered, while watching these humble disciples of
Izaak Walton, whether the Peruvian and Bolivian govern-
ments had ever made any attempt to stock the lake with
fish. I know of no place where an experiment in pisci-
culture should yield more interesting results,^ or where
success would prove a greater boon to the thousands who

1 Only six species, Siluroids and Cyprenoids, are known — a very small num-
ber, as Alexander Agassiz observes, for a body of water as large as Lake
Erie.

3 There is, unfortunately, one drawback to successful flsb-culture here,
which is due to the fact that the bottom of the lake — in places one hundred
and fifty fathoms beneath the surface — is covered with a bed of very fine
silt, which is brought down from the mountains by the rivers which flow
into the lake. 8ee Eydrographio Sketch of Lake Titicaca, by Alexander
Agassiz, in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Soiencee,
Vol. XI, p. 284, 1876.

154

< Lake Titicaca, near Puno.

Celebration of a Festival at Copacabana.

THE CRADLE OF THE INCAS

are now forced to live on the most meager fare. If our
Fish Commission were to take the matter in hand, there is
every reason to believe that Lake Titicaca would, in a few
years, be teeming with the choicest fish of many species,
and that its broad and deep waters could soon be made an
invaluable source of food-supply for all the inhabitants of
the tableland from La Paz to Cuzco.

But, interesting as are the physical features of Titicaca
and its surroimdings ; interesting as are the people who in-
habit its islands and shores; interesting as are the count-
less historical associations connected with it since the time
of the conquest, it possessed for me a far greater fascina-
tion on account of the legends and traditions connected
with the origin and development of the great Inca empire.

**Our Father, the Sun, seeing the human race in the con-
dition I have described — living like wild beasts, without
religion or government, or town or houses; without cul-
tivating the land, or clothing their bodies, for they knew
not how to weave cotton or wool to make clothes; living
in caves or clefts in the rocks, or in caverns under the
ground, eating the herbs of the field and roots and fruit,
like wild animals, and also human flesh — ^had compassion
upon them, and sent down from heaven to the earth a son
and a daughter to instruct them in the knowledge of our
Father, the Sun, that they might adore him, and adopt him
as their God ; also to give them precepts and laws by which
to live as reasonable and civilized men and to teach them
to live in houses and towns, to cultivate maize and other
crops, to breed flocks, to use the fruits of the earth, like
rational beings, instead of living like beasts. With these
commands and intentions, our Father, the Sun, placed his
two children in the lake of Titicaca, which is eighty leagues
from here ; and he said to them that they might go where
they pleased, and that, at every place where they stopped
to eat or sleep, they were to thrust a scepter of gold into
the ground, which was a half a yard long, and two fingers
in thickness. He gave them this staff as a sign and token,

155

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

that in the place where by one blow on the earth, it should
sink down and disappear, there it was the desire of our
Father, the Sun, that they should remain and establish
their courf ^

Thus, from the lips of a venerable Inca in Cuzco, did the
historian of the conquest of Peru, Garcilaso de la Vega,
receive the story of the origin of the empire of his illustri-
ous ancestors. And no one was more competent to write
on the subject than he, for, in addition to his varied
scholastic attainments, he was, on his mother's side, a
great-grandson of the illustrious Inca Yupanqui, while his
mother, a highly gifted woman, was the daughter of the
Inca Hualpa Tupac.

But, who were these two children of the Sun — ^Manco
Capac and Mama OcUo, his sister and subsequently his
spouse and queen t Whence did they comet To what race
did they belong! Whence did they obtain that knowledge
of the arts and sciences, which they utilized with such
splendid effect for the advancement and prosperity of
their people! What was the secret of that incipient civili-
zation of which they were the pioneers! Did they come
from Europe or Asia, bringing with them the knowledge
and the civilization of the Old World! If so, how were
they able to traverse the immense distance that separated
the place of their birth from the land that was to be the
scene of their future achievements !

If Manco Capac was not a stranger, he must have been
endowed with a genius of the highest order, to be able,
within a few short years, to regenerate a people that had
fallen into the lowest depth of savagery and degradation.
It was not sufficient for him to claim to descend from the
Deity, in order to become a master leader of men and the
founder of a great and powerful empire. He had to justify
by deeds rather than words his claim to be the son of the
Sun. Unlike Numa and Lycurgus, who started with a
f ouiidation to work on, who had only to develop and perfect

1 Garcilaso de la Vega, op. cit., Lib. I, Gap. XV.

156

THE CRADLE OF THE INCAS

•

a civilization already existing, Manco Capac found only
bratal cavemen and nomadic savages. All was darkness
and chaos. He had to create everything before even the
simplest approach to an organized community and a stable
government was possible.

Students of archaeology and historical criticism have es-
sayed in vain to answer the above questions, to penetrate
the obscurity that envelops the origin of the Inca dynasty,
to separate the authentic traditions transmitted from
father to son, from the countless legends and fables that
are as puzzling and as inexplicable as the fictions of Greek
or Hindu mythology. All is still shrouded in mystery —
in mystery even darker than that which veils the advent
of the Toltecs and Aztecs to the vale of Anahuac; more
profound than that which obscures the first beginnings of
the civilizations on the elevated Pamirs and in the valleys
of the Nile and the Euphrates.

In all this uncertainty and mystery, however, one fact
seems to remain incontrovertible, and that is that Manco
Capac and Mama Ocllo first appeared on the shores of
Lake Titicaca. On this point tradition and the concurrent
testimony of the earlier historians are practically at one.
Indeed, at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, the
memories among the natives of their first Inca rulers and
of their first appearance in the neighborhood of Lake Titi-
caca, were comparatively fresh and uniform. Another
fact, too, is unquestioned. Whether Manco Capac, the
Minos of Peru, was of foreign or of native origin, it is cer-
tain that he was able in the space of thirty years, to lay
the foundations of that vast empire which, under the Inca
Yupanqui extended its conquests to the Maule in Chile,
and under Huayna Capac, planted its victorious banners
above the fortresses of the Shiris in the extended territory
of Quito, and which gave its laws and religion and lan-
guage to hundreds of conquered tribes from the great ocean
on the west to the forest-clad slopes of the Andes on the
east.

157

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

And while Manco Capac was establishing his government
— ^patriarchal and despotic — and teaching his people the
arts of agriculture and civilized life, his sister-wife — Mama
Ocllo, was, says Garcilaso, employing **the Indian women
in such work as is suitable to them, such as to sew and
weave cotton and wool, to make clothes for themselves,
their husbands and children, and to perform other house^
hold duties," thus making herself the coyo— queen — ^and
mistress of the women as the Inca made himself the king
and master of the men.^

It would be difficult to find any place in the world richer
in legends and traditions than is Lake Titicaca. Every
cove and inlet, every rock and island has its myth, and
many of these places were held in special veneration by the
Incas for long generations. This was speciaUy true of
two islands — Titicaca — sacred to the sun, and Coati —
sacred to the moon, the sim's sister.

What a fascination there was about these two islands!
Beholding the cradle and the sanctuary of Inca civiliza-
tion, it was easy to fancy oneself a spectator of one of
those long processions of reed balsas conveying the chil-
dren of the Sun from the mainland to the sacred islands of
their race, where were the rich temples and shrines dedi-
cated to their Sun-Father and Moon-Mother. Adorned
with gorgeous trappings of gold and silver — ^royal colors
— ^the Inca's barge, manned by stalwart young oarsmen
specially selected for this service, led the way. Immedi-
ately following the sphinx-like Inca came the members of
his court arrayed in gaudy vesture. Next to them were the
ministers of the temple and the officers of his army, gleam-
ing in barbaric attire. The rear of the procession was
made up of the humble tillers of the soil, who had gathered
from all parts to greet their idolized ruler and to swell
the number of worshipers congregated about the effigies
of the Sun and the Moon, or in front of Sacred Bock decked
with richest tissues and plates of burnished silver and gold.

1 Op. dt.. Lib. I, Cap. XVI.

158

THE CRADLE OF THE INCAS

**The natives,*' writes Cieza de Leon, **held a very vain
and foolish belief, which was, that in the time of their an-
cestors there was no light for many days, and that when
all was wrapped in darfaiess and obscurity, the resplendent
sun came up out of this island of Titicaca, for which reason
it was considered sacred, and the Licas erected a temple
on it in honor of the sun, which was much revered and
venerated among them, and which contained many virgins
and priests, and great store of treasure, of which the
Spaniards, at different times, have collected a great deal,
but most of it is still missing. ' ' ^

But the most sacred part of the island was a large rock
or cliff called Tita-Kala, which was revered as *'the house
and home of the sun, or the one thing which it most
esteemed in the world. ' '

Another legend was that the sun, moon and stars were
created at Tiahuanaco, of which we shall learn more in a
subsequent chapter, and that, after being created, they
were ordered to go to the island of Titicaca, and thence
ascend to heaven and take the places they now occupy.*

The ruins of the temples and palaces — ^built of stone —
on the islands of Titicaca and Coa;ti are still so well pre-
served that the plans of many of them can be made out with
little difficulty, and some of them are among the best and
most interesting specimens of Inca architecture now exist-
ing in Peru.

In these temples and palaces, according to the old
chroniclers, were immense treasures rivaling those in the
temples of Cuzco. The riches in the temple of the Sun
were specially great, for *'Here,'' writes Garcilaso, *'all
the vassals of the Inca offered up much gold and silver

1 Op. dt., Cap. CIV. Compare, also, the Segunda Parte de la Cronica,
Cap. V, p. 5, Madrid, 1880, in the Biblioteoa Hispano-Vltramarina, By a
Btrange error, into which anyone might fall, this work of Cieza was attrib-
uted by Prescott to Sarmiento.

^Reladon de las fdbulas y ritoa de lo8 YngoB hecha por Cristoval de
Molina, translated by Clements R. Markham and published by the Hakluyt
Society in Narratives of the Rites and Laws of the Inoas, p. 5, London, 1873.

159

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

and precious stones every year, as a token of gratitude to
the Sun, for the two acts of grace which had taken place
on that spot. This temple had the same service as that of
Cuzco. There was said to be such a quantity of gold and
silver as offerings, heaped up in the island, besides what
was worked for the use of the temple, that the stories of
the Indians concerning it are more wonderful than credible.
Father Bias Valera, one of the earliest Spanish chroniclers,
speaking of the riches of this temple and of the quantity
of wealth that had been collected there, says that the In-
dian colonists, called Mitimaes, who lived in Copocabana,
declared that the quantity of gold and silver, heaped up
as offerings, was so great that another temple might have
been made out of it, from the foundations to the roof,
without using any other materials. But as soon as the
Indians heard of the invasion of the country by the
Spaniards, and that they were seizing all the treasure
they could find, they threw the whole of it into the great
lake.''^

**When you go to Titicaca,*' said a friend to me before
leaving Lima, '^be sure to go to Copocabana. I have just
come from there and it is one of the most interesting
places I ever saw. This is the month for pilgrimages there
to the famous sanctuary of Our Lady de la Candelaria —
La Santisima Virgen de Copocabana — ^which dates back al-
most to the time of the conquest, and was, for a long time,
the richest and most celebrated sanctuary in South Amer-
ica. Although the place has lost much of its former pres-
tige and the convent and hospice have been allowed to
deteriorate, nevertheless, the multitudes of people who

1 Op. dt, Lib. in, Gap. XXV. F<^ detailed informaUon by modern writers
of the ruins of Tlticaca and Coati, the reader may profitably consult Pemvian
Antiquities, by Rivero and Tschudi, New York, 1955; Peru, Inoidenie of
Travel and Emplorationa in the La/nd of the Inoaa, by E. G. Squier, I/mdon^
1877, and L'Empire du Soleil, par le Baron et La Baronne de Meyendorff,
Paris, 1909, and especially The lalande of Titioaca and Ooati, by A. F. Bande-
lier. New York, 1910, a copy of which I received only after this diapter
ready for the press.

160

THE CRADLE OP THE INCAS

still congregate there from all parts of Peru and Bolivia
are truly astonishing."

My friend was right. Copocahana — La Ciudad Bendita,
the blessed City — ^is well worth a visit, if only to study
the crowds that assemble in and around the large and
beautiful church which, with its white cupolas, has, at a
distance, the appearance of a basilica whose architecture
is half Byzantine and half Spanish renaissance. The
shrine of the Virgencita MUagrosisima — ^the most miracu-
lous little virgin — ^is situated behind the altar and in it
is placed the statue that has given the sanctuary its fame
and which, for centuries, has been the magnet that has
annually drawn to this venerated spot thousands of pil-
grims from all parts of the southern continent. The
image has a lovely crown of gold, and is lavishly decked
with the rarest and most precious stones and pearls that
devotion and gratitude could suggest.

To be present at any of the festivals celebrated in this
sanctuary, especially during the time of a pilgrimage; to
hear the sacred canticles then chanted in the Aymara lan-
guage by a confused multitude of Indians and Spaniards
from different and distant lands; to note the harmonious
echoes of those salves that greet the pilgrims on their
arrival — salves that are famous in the highlands of
Bolivia and Peru — and have all this commingled with the
moaning and soughing of the wind among the massive
crags that flank and tower above the sacred edifice, and
with the booming of the waves of the lake, as they break
at the foot of the crowded sanctuary, is an experience that
is as unique as it is soul-stirring and memorable. The
nearest approach, probably, to such a scene is at the annual
festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the City of Mexico,
or on the occasion of one of the great national pilgrimages
of France to the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in the
Hautes-Pyr en^es. ^

1 Historia de Copaoahana y de 8U Milagrosa Virgen, escrita por d R. P.
Fr. Alonflo RamoB, y compendiada por el P. Fr. Rafael Sans, La Paz, 1860.

161

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Not far from Copocabana is the small town of Juli. It
was at one time a place of considerable importance, as is
evidenced by the four large chnrches, two of which, besides
being splendid specimens of architecture, are furnished
with paintings and carved pulpits, and silver altars, that
would command admiration in one of the great cathedrals
of Europe. But these churches, surprising as they are in
this almost abandoned place, are not Juli's chief claim to
distinction. Incredible as it may seem, this unknown place
in the far-off sierras, — so distant from the marts of com-
merce and so devoid of means of communication with the
outside world, — ^possessed a printing press several years
before the first one was introduced into the United States.
Here, as early as 1612, the zealous and learned old mission-
ary, Padre Ludovioo Bertonio, published his great dic-
tionary, of more than nine hundred pages, of the Aymara
language. Here, too, he printed a life of Christ, in Span-
ish and Aymara, containing nearly six hundred pages.

Elsewhere I have referred to the numerous works writ-
ten by another missionary, Padre Bivero, under most
trying circumstances, on the banks of the Meta, but, if we
were called upon to compare the astonishing achievements
of these two devoted standard-bearers of the gospel of
peace, we should be inclined to award the palm to good
old Padre Bertonio. To students of Aymara and compara-
tive philology, his works are invaluable, and constitute a
splendid monument to his indefatigable zeal and profound
scholarship.

A short time before going to La Paz I met an English-
man who had just returned from Bolivia, where he had
been on business. He was enthusiastic about his trip,
especially about a moonlight excursion he had made on
Lake Titicaca.

**It was wonderful,'' he exclaimed, **and I never en-
joyed anything so much in my life. I have seen much of
the world, but I have never seen anything that so fas-
cinated me as the magnificent panoramas I witnessed from

162

THE CRADLE OF THE INCAS

the deck of the steamer while sailing under a full moon
over the placid waters of this marvelous lake. Would you
believe itt I actually sat up all night, absolutely en-
chanted by the splendid vistas, ever changing, offered by
lake and mountain and sky. I envy you the pleasure you
have before you on Lake Titicaca, especially if the condi-
tions prevailing there should be as favorable as they were
when I made the trip/'

So eloquent was my friend about the gorgeous views to
be had on Lake Titicaca, from one end to the other, that
I concluded at once that his enthusiasm had caused him
greatly to exaggerate the beauties and attractions I was
soon to behold with my own eyes.

But I was mistaken. His description, far from being
overdrawn, fell short of the reality. After what I had
heardy I had looked forward to much, but fearing all along
that I should be disappointed. But my fondest expecta-
tions were more than realized, for not even in my wildest
fancies could I have imagined anything more ravishingly
beautiful, more truly sublime, more surpassingly magnifi-
cent. I thought, when on the lofty tablelands of Ecuador,
that I had beheld mountain scenery at its best, and had
scanned the heavens under their most imposing aspects.
But Titicaca had new marvels for me, new splendors on
the earth, new glories in the heavens.

Fortunately, during the days and nights I spent on the
lake, there was ideal weather. There was scarcely a ripple
on the water. The sky was cloudless and of that splendid
cerulean hue that one often reads of but rarely sees. The
moon was as round as Giotto 's circle, and so effulgent that
I could almost fancy it had regained that splendor of which
the Inca legend says the sun was once so jealous.^ The

1 "They say that the moon was created brighter than the sun, which made
the sun jealous at the time when they rose into the sky. So the sun threw
over the moon's face a handful of ashes, which gave it the shaded color it
now presents." The History of the Inoae, by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa,
p. 33, translated by Clements R. Markham, and published by the Hakluyt
Society, London, 1907.

163

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

stars, tooy which inlaid the floor of heaven ''with pattens
of bright gold" shone with a brilliance nnknown la our
murky latitudes, and seemed as resplendent as they must
have been when they were bidden by their Creator to rise
from the sacred island of Titicaca and fix themselves in the
heavens.

Among them were the Pleiades — Oncoy-coyUur — sick
stars — ^which among the Incas were objects of worship on
account of their reputed influence on certain diseases, as
were also the Hyades — Ahuaracaqui — ^tapir's jaw — ^which
were supposed to exert a special influence during seed time.
And there was Venus, the most beautiful of all the planets,
known to the ancient Peruvians as Chelsea, ' ' the stio* of the
long and curly hair. ' '

**The Incas honored this star," Qarcilaso informs us,
'^ because they said it was the page of the sun, traveling
nearest to it, sometimes in front and at others behind. They
venerated the Pleiades because of their curious position
and the symmetry of their shape. They looked upon the
host of stars as handmaidens of the moon, and they, there-
fore, gave them" — ^in the temples of the moon — **a hall
near that of their mistress, that they might be at hand for
her service, for they said that the stars walk through the
heavens with the moon, as if they were her servants, and
not with the sun. This they said because they saw the
stars by night and not by day. * * ^

Thanks to the unwonted splendor of the moon and stars,
which permitted us to distinguish all the salient features
of lake and Cordillera with the greatest ease, the nights I
spent on Lake Titicaca were glorious beyond words to ex-
press, and they will always be associated with my most
delightful experiences in South America.

But however fair the views presented to our enraptured
gaze in the subdued light of the moon and her attendant
** handmaidens," we could not be insensible to the gorgeous
vistas that burst upon our vision during the daytime. It

1 Op. dt., Lib. Ill, Cap. XXI.

164

THE CRADLE OP THE INCAS

was theiiy especiaUy at the hours of dawn and twilight that
the snow-crested range of the lofty Cordillera Real was
visible in all its transcendent beanty and majesty. For
then, as if by magic, various colored fires seem to blaze
forth from the immense glaciers and snow-fields, and to
convert the sparkling expanse into glowing rubies, sap-
phires and emeralds, while the lofty peaks of the Sorata
range are transformed into gleaming pinnacles of bur-
nished gold. Then in fullest perfection and in palpable
form is realized that vision of mountain loveliness, that
crowning splendor of earth and sky, set forth in Buskin's
noble lines: **Wait yet for one hour, until the east again
becomes purple, and the heaving mountains, rolling against
it in darkness, like waves of a wild sea, are drowned one
by one in the glory of its burning; watch the white
glaciers blaze in their winding paths about the mountains,
like mighty serpents with scales of fire ; watch the columnar
peaks of solitary snow, kindling downwards, chasm by
chasm, each in itself a new morning ; their long avalanches
cast down in keen streams brighter than the lightning,
sending each his tribute of driven snow, like altar-smoke, up
to the heaven ; the rose-light of their silent domes flushing
that heaven about them and above them, piercing with
purer light through its purple lines of lifted cloud, cast-
ing a new glory on every wreath as it passes by, until the
whole heaven — one scarlet canopy — is interwoven with a
roof of waving flame, and tossing, vault beyond vault, as
with the drifted wings of many companies of angels ; and
then, when you can look no more for gladness, and when
you are bowed down with fear and love of the Maker and
Doer of this, tell me who has best delivered this His mes-
sage unto men I " ^

1 Modem Painters, Part II, Sec. Ill, Chap. in.

165

CHAPTER X
IN AYMABALAND

We arrived at Guaqui, the terminus of the La Paz rail-
road early in the morning after an ideal sail on the sacred
lake of the Incas. The temperature was near the freezing
pointy but the air was so dry and stimulating and the morn-
ing sun so bright that we did not feel the cold. And to
those of us who had come from the coasti the atmosphere
was like a tonic that was as delicious as it was invigorating.

While waiting for the making up of the train that was to
take us to La Paz^ we were much interested in watching
two or three score of Aymara Indians who had been en-
gaged by the company to transfer from the steamer to the
wharf several hundred boxes of specie that were destined
for the national treasury of Bolivia. In any other part of
the world a large number of police, detectives and special
agents would have been on hand during the transfer of so
much treasure; but here there was not a single one visible.
This valuable consignment was handled like so much
ordinary freight, and, although the Indians knew very well
the nature of the precious cargo, which for the time being
was in their keeping, the agent who was responsible for
its safe delivery to La Paz, did not exhibit the slightest
apprehension regarding the security of the vast fortune
entrusted to his care. When I asked him if he was not
afraid of the Indians stealing some of the coin he replied
at once: **Not in the least. There is not the slightest
danger of that. They are poor, very poor, but thievery is
not one of their vices. If one of them saw a bright ribbon
tied around one of the boxes he might be tempted to ap-
propriate it for his wife or sweetheart, or, if he came across

166

IN AYMARALAND

a bottle of agaardientOi he would very likely take a draniy
but that would be the limit of his purloining. I would not
fear to trust them with all I possess, for they are the most
honest men I have ever mef

A few moments after this he showed his implicit con-
fidence in these humble laborers by going some distance
from the wharf to his breakfast and leaving all the trea-
sure in question entirely in their custody. There were no
guards or secret-service men, for none were necessary.

While reflecting on what I had just seen and heard, and
recollecting the train and bank robberies which are so fre-
quent in our own country and the necessity that exists
among us of armed convoys, when property of value is to
be transported from one place to another, I recalled the
True confession and protestation in the hour of death,
made to Philip n by Mardo Serra de Leguisano, the last
of the conquistadores. In this confession it is declared
that '^The Incas governed in such wise that in all the land
neither a thief nor a vicious man, nor a bad, dishonest
woman was known. Crimes were once so little known
among them, that an Indian with one hundred thousand
pieces of gold and silver in his house, left it open, only
placing a little stick across the door, as the sign that the
master was out ; and nobody went in. But when they saw
that we placed locks and keys on our doors, they under-
stood that it was from fear of thieves, and when they saw
that we had thieves amongst us, they despised us.*' ^

My reflections were interrupted by the vociferous call
of the train conductor, **A11 aboard for La Paz.'' With a
number of other passengers, I was soon seated in one of
the old coaches of which the train was composed, and a
few moments later we were out on the bleak, treeless plain
that stretches from Lake Titicaca to the southern part of
Bolivia. We were now passing over what was once the
bottom of an immense inland fresh water sea, with little in

1 Coronioa Moraleada del Ordem de San Auguatin en el Peru, Ub. I, Cap.
XV, por Fray Antonio de la Calancha, Barcelona, 1688.

167

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

view but the ranges of the Andes towards the east and the
Cordillera towards the west.^ As it was the winter sea-
son, there was but little verdure visible. All was as dry
and as desolate as western Kansas in December, and there
was little, outside of the few towns and villages, to enliven
the scene, except an occasional flock of sheep or goats, or
an odd herd of spotted cattle, that was trying to find some
nourishment in the scattered bunches of dry grass that
dotted the arid and dusty plain.

In the few towns of this desolate plateau what impressed
us most was the large and beautiful churches. One of
them particularly conmianded our admiration on account
of its size and the beauty of its architecture. How were
these poor people ever able to erect such a noble structure
in this desert f I had often been surprised at the large and
beautiful churches that I had found in the highlands of
Colombia and Ecuador, but I do not think any of them
ever astonished me so much as a certain cathedral-like
structure which suddenly burst upon our view as we were
crossing this inhospitable region. It was in every way
far superior to many of the cathedrals of Europe.

This chilly and desolate plateau would seem to be the
most unlikely place in the world for legends and folklore,
but it is, nevertheless, quite rich in this respect. It is not,
of course, comparable with Lake Titicaca, where every
rock and island and bay has one or more myths and legends
woven about it, and where it would be easy for the lover
of legendary lore to collect material for a large volume.

One of these legends, — or should it rather be called a
tradition f — ^regards the river Desaguadero which comes
through the plain to the southwest of us and connects Lake
Titicaca with Lake Aullagas a hundred miles further
south.

iln South America the term€ Andes and Cordillera are lutiallx employed
indiscriminately to designate both the eastern and western ranges of the Tast
mountain chain that extends from Panama to Patagonia, but many Peruvian
and Bolivian writers restrict the term Andes to the eastern range and the
epithet Cordillera to the western or Pacific range.

168

IN AYMABALAND

On the east shore of Lake Titicaoa, near the present
village of Carabuco^ is a spring of water known as the
Saint's Fountain. It is so called, so the story runs, because
many centuries ago an extraordinary man of ruddy com-
plexion, tall and with a beard, lived hard by in a cave.
He spoke a language quite unlike any known in the land
and proclaimed a religion which was quite different from
that of the inhabitants of the country. This remarkable
man preached virtue and taught. the adoration of one only
God. The Indians of Carabuco, who were both corrupt
and ferocious, put to death his six disciples, and after
cruelly torturing the saint himself, they bound him hand
and foot and put him on a balsa and consigned him to the
stormy lake that he might perish by hunger or through the
fury of the waves.

At first the fragile craft was impelled over the waters
solely by the action of the wind, but presently there ap-
peared above the lake a most beautiful woman, attired in
resplendent vesture, with a crown of stars on her head,
who boarded the canoe, and directed it towards the south-
west, opening through the reed-covered marsh a channel
which still exists and leaving behind a wake, which was
visible for many years afterwards, that was as effulgent
as the rays of the sun. When the balsa reached the op-
posite shore, the earth made a passage for it, and formed
at the same time a broad, peaceful river of great length.
This river is the Desaguadero, that still conveys the sur-
plus waters of Lake Titicaca to Lake AuUagas, or, as it is
also called. Lake Poopo.

This tradition is interesting because it is so like similar
traditions that obtain in all parts of the New World from
Uruguay to Mexico regarding the arrival of an extraor-
dinary man in the remote part, who preached the gospel
to the peoples of the different countries through which he
passed. In Brazil such a tradition is particularly well-
preserved. Before the arrival of the missionaries in
Uruguay, immediately after the conquest, the Indians of

169

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

that country were aoqnainted with certain Christian tenets
which th^ said th^ had, long ages before, received from
Paz Tome, the name th^ gave to St Thomas, the
Apostle, who had, they claimed, evangelised their country.
The same tradition, according to the first missionaries,
existed in Paraguay; for, when they asked the Indians the
reason for the cordial reception they had given them,
th^ replied that when Paz Tumd — St* Thomas — ^passed
throu^ their country he spoke to them as follows: ''The
doctrine which I now preach to you you will lose with the
lapse of time, but when, after many years, other priests,
my successors, shall come carrying a cross like I do, your
descendants shall hear the same doctrine I now preadi to
you«'' ''It was this tradition,'^ declares one of the mis-
sionaries. Padre Buiz de Montoya, "that caused the In-
dians to receive us with such demonstrations of joy and
affection.'**

Similar traditions exist respecting St. Bartholomew,
who is represented to have evangelized several parts of
South America at the same time as St Thomas, and
numerous rocks are pointed out that are said to be marked
by his footprints. There is in these legends an abundance
of material worthy of the attention of the historian and
the archaeologist, and motifs for many stories of deepest
interest.

Were it not for the lofty ranges of mountains on both
sides of the plateau and the colossal peaks of Illampu,
Huayna-Potosi and Blimani, the scene, as viewed from the
train, would be monotonous in the extreme. Even as it
was, the lack of variety in the landscape made us recall a

1 ConquUta E^piritual, heoha por loa ReligiosoB de la Compania de JesuM
en lae Provmciaa del Paraguay, Parana, Uraguay, y Tape, p. 29, por el Padre
Antonio Roiz, Madrid, 1639. Compare, An Aocimni of the AntiquiUee of
Peru, p. 67 et seq., bj Juan de Santa Cruz Pachaeute-yamqui Salcamayhua,
in Narrativee of the Riiee and Law of the Inoae, translated by Clements R.
Maricham, and published for the Hakluyt Society, London, 1873. Piedrahita,
in his HUioria del Nuevo Beino de Oranada, Part I, Lib. I, Cap. Ill, and
Velasco, HUtoria de Quito, Tom. I, p. 164 et seq., hold similar yiews.

170

IN AYMARATiAND

statement of Madame de Stael in her Dix Armies d' Ecrit,
wherein she declares that so boundless were the plains of
Bnssia that everything is lost in space — "L^et endue fait
tout disparoitre, excepte Vet endue meme/'

** Though I was driven with great rapidity,^* she writes,
'4t seemed as if I never advanced, so monotonous is the
country. I was under that sort of delusion whidi some-
times comes over us at night, when we imagine we are
going at a great rate, though never stirring from the spot.
I fancied that this country was the image of infinite space
and that it would require eternity to travel through it.
There is scarcely any variety of trees in it; we are even
disposed to regret the absence of stones, so weary are we
sometimes of meeting neither hills nor valleys, and pro-
ceeding on and on without seeing any new objects.''

This impression, however, did not last long in our case.
The distance from Guaqui to La Paz is but little more than
forty miles, and, although our train was very slow, we
reached our destination sooner than we had anticipated.
The first indication that we were nearing the capital was
the large and numerous troops of llamas coming from
every part of the plain. They and their Indian masters
seemed all to be converging towards the same point on the
plain and the point, too, for which our train was headed.
Most of the animals were loaded with products from gar-
den and field and were evidently on their way to market.

But where was the market t And where was La Pazt
The train had stopped and we had alighted from our car,
but there was not the slightest indication of the nation's
capital anywhere within the field of view. There was the
same vast plain, over which we had been traveling for
several hours past, bounded by the same mountain bul-
warks, from which arose the same snow-clad pinnacles thai
had so fascinated us when seen from the moonlit water of
Lake Titicaca.

In front of us was majestic Ulimani, whose resplendent
silver crown was sharply silhouetted against a sky of indigo

171

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

blue. The longer we gazed on it the more stupendous it
appeared. It seemed to move towards us and towards the
firmament at the same time, and to increase in magnitude
as the distance between it and ourselves was diminished.
This appearance of immensity and proximity was ac-
centuated by banks and banks of clouds which began to
circle about its lofty flanks. Then, by a peculiar optical
illusion, familiar to mountaineers, this giant of the Andes
seemed suddenly to shoot skywards and at the same time to
menace toppling over the earth and burying it in ruins.
Here, indeed, is

''Where Andes, giant of the Western Star,
With meteor standard to the winds unfurled,
Looks from his throne of clouds o'er half the world."

Just then our attention was directed to a troop of llamas
that were but a short distance in front of us. One by one
they dropped out of sight, as if they had fallen over an
invisible precipice. What became of themt Our curiosity
was aroused and we went to investigate. When we reached
them, the mystery was explained at once. We stood on
the brink of a broad, deep qtiebrada — canon — and away
down in the bottom of it, fifteen hundred feet below the po-
sition we occupied, was the famed city of Nuestra Senora
de la Paz — Our Lady of Peace.^

This sudden apparition of the capital of Bolivia was in
itself an extraordinary experience. It seemed to be located
at the bottom of the crater of an immense volcano. It was
as if the traveler, standing on Inspiration Point, were unex-
pectedly to find a large and flourishing city in the valley of
the Yosemite. On all sides but one it is surrounded by
precipitous walls of rock and at the first view it seemed in-

1 La Paz was founded by Alonzo de Mendoza in 1649, by order of President
Qasca, and called La Oiudad de Nuestra Seiiora de la Pom, to oommemorate
the peace established after the rebellion of €k>nzalo Pizarro. In 1826 the
name was changed to La Paz de Ayacucho, in oommemoration of the great
battle of Ayacucho, which was the Waterloo of Spanish domlnaticm in Ptera.
It is usually, however, known by the abbreviated name, La Pac

172

IN ATMARALAND

accessible. But turning towards the right we observed an
old well-beaten bridle path. It was down this narrow trail
that the llamas, that had so mysteriously disappeared from
our view a few moments before, were winding their way to
the market. Near by was the old stage route, and not far
distant was the recently-constructed electric railway over
which we were to continue our journey to the city.

The view of La Paz from El Alto — as the point where
we stood is called — ^is quite unique. No other city occu-
pies such an extraordinary site, and one wonders why the
old conquistadores selected such a place for Our Lady of
Peace. It is true, there were valuable mines in the imme-
diate vicinity, but these were soon all but exhausted. As
a strategic point against warlike Indians, it had its advan-
tages at one time, and to this probably was due the name
it so long bore — Nuestra Senora de la Paz.

As we first saw La Paz imder a bright noonday sun, it
presented a beautiful picture. Its imposing churches and
convents and monasteries ; its public buildings, grand plaza,
and alameda; its salmon-tiled houses and its droves of
llamas moving along the narrow streets, constituted a view
that once seen can never be forgotten.

Athens, as viewed from the Acropolis, Jerusalem as seen
from the Mount of Olives, are, in their way, marvelous and
matchless, but La Paz, with its extraordinary setting of
multicolored rocks, rivaling the bright hues of those that
tinge the famous canon of the Yellowstone, will always re-
main among the cities of the world as absolutely sui ge-
neris, and as exhibiting certain features possessed by her-
self alone.

The descent from El Alto to the city, over the winding
xoad, where a few years ago it was deemed impossible to
operate a railway of any kind, was in itself a delightful ex-
perience.

In the United States or Europe the car would doubtless
be operated by a cable or a cog-track, but here, by series of
sharp curves and a heavy grade, it is made to pass between

173

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

El Alto and the dty with ease and safety, for both freight
and passengers.

The population of La Paz amounts to nearly sixty thon-
sandi of whom more than one-half are Indians, mostly
Aymaras. The rest are nearly equally divided between
whites and mestizos, who are the descendants of whites
and Lidians.

What first impresses the traveler is the singularly quiet
and orderly character of the people. They may become
very excited and bellicose in time of war, or during sea-
sons of political agitation, but, at the time of my visit, they
seemed to be the most gentle and pacific people I ever
met.

The Aymaras and cholos — ^half-breeds — ^interested me
immensely. The cholos — ^men and women — are remarka-
ble for the brilliant colors they affect in all their articles
of clothing. The men wear caps with ear-laps that seem
to be modeled after the one worn by Dante in his Bargello
portrait — ^a portrait attributed by some to his friend Gi-
otto. The cap is singularly becoming, especially to boys
and children, and I could not rest until I had secured a num-
ber of them for some of my young friends at home. All
these caps are knit from woolen yam, and are usually of
several flashy colors combined in the most extraordinary
fashion. The same may be said of the ponchos worn by
the men. They are all like Joseph's coat of many colors.
Whether the colors are in stripes or crossbars, as in a
Scottish Highlander's plaid, or a Stewart tartan, they are
as gaudy as the Sunday dress of a Martinique negress.

But more remarkable still is the collection of skirts which
every chola displays, particularly on feast days. In Beth-
lehem the young girls carry their dowry on their person
in the form of silver and gold coins used as ornaments.
In La Paz the chola 's fortune is in her skirts, all of which
she takes pride in wearing at the same time. It is said
that some of them wear as many as twelve or fifteen at
once, no two of which are of the same color. The owner

174

A Troop of Li.auas.

L& Paz, with Ilumani to the Rioht.

IN AYMARALAND

then demands as much space for freedom of movement as
did formerly the wearer of an Elizabethan farthingale.

It is this pecoliarity of the dress of many of the people
of La Paz— of the Aymaras as well as of the mestizos —
that gives so much color to the city and reminds one at
every turn of the bright colors witnessed in Tunis and
Cairo. But in La Paz the colors are much more varied
and more brilliant than those of the Orient, and, although
such combinations as predominate might seem disagree-
able, the general effect is rather grateful to the eye and
harmonizes perfectly with the environment.

While walking one evening in the Aymara quarter of
La Paz — ^f or I was now in the heart of Aymaraland, whidi
I had for long years so eagerly desired to visit— I was
struck by a soft and plaintive melody sung by a graceful
Indian youth before the window of his dusky young quer-
ida. I at once suspected that it was an Aymara serenade
and so it was. I there and then determined to get a copy
of the words that were sung, which I give herewith, to-
gether with a translation. They show that tender senti-
ment is as strongly developed among the Aymaras as
among more cultured peoples.

If Ihe contention of certain Bolivian philologists be
true, viz. : that Aymara is the language which was spoken
by Adam,^ the verses here reproduced should have a spe-
cial interest for the reader, for it is not often that he or
she has an opportunity of examining a specimen of the lan-
guage used by the father of mankind in those sweet inter-
views with the mother of the human race, as reported by
Milton in his Paradise Lost.

The words sung by the ardent serenader to his tawny
love were as follows :

^'Ehallallquiri urpilita
Muanamamp sipitiri,

i La Lenffua de Adan y el homhre de Tiahuanaoo, por el abate Isaac Esoo-
bari. La Paz, 1888.

175

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

lilaqiiipair nntacuru.
Untanamamp laikasiri.
Haippbu sartir thayanaca
Koikotajh aparapita,
Chica aruma wuariranaca
Kochoj istbayarapita."

(**Thou art my fluttering dovelet;
Thy love hath me bewitched.
Thy glance, thou lovely birdlet,
Hath caught me in a magic net.
Evening zephyr, bring my darling
All my sighs and laments ;
Wild nightwind, bear to her earlet
All my heart-bom entreaties.")

I never tired vratdiing the llamas that, with their Ay-
mara masters, meet one at every step in La Paz. They too,
like the dresses of the people, are of many colors — ^white,
brown, black and piebald. Someone has described a llama
as an animal with the legs of a deer, the body of a sheep,
and the neck and the head of a camel of whidi in the words
of Bnffon, U semble etre un beau diminutif. They are, how-
ever, much more gentle and docile than a camel, and far
more beautiful. As they stand before one with their long
and graceful necks and their liquid, inquiring eyes, one can
understand why the Aymara is so fond of them, even aside
from their value as beasts of burden and as sources of food
and clothing. Anyone could make a pet of a llama, espe-
cially a young one, while no one but an Arab could ever
love the ngly, ungainly camel.

The favorite habitat of the llama is the highlands of Bo-
livia and Peru. They are also found in Chile and Ecuador,
but in comparatively small numbers. They are remark-
able as being, with the alpaca, dog and cuy — a small guinea-
pig — the only domestic animals found in South America at
the time of the conquest. With the alpaca and the vicuna,
they supplied the Incas and their subjects with food and

176

IN AYMARALAND

dothingy and served, at the same time, as the only heasts
of bnrden then available. Horses, cattle, sheep and other
domestic animals were unknown in this part of the world
until their introduction by the Spaniards.

Unlike the camel, the llama does not thrive in a hot cli-
mate. But like its distant relatives of Asia and Africa, it
can live a long time without water. A camel may live a
week or more without drinking, but Buffon tells us that a
llama, '^ owing to the great abundance of saliva, which keeps
the mouth continually moist,** may live even longer.

The load carried by the llama does not usually exceed
seventy-five pounds. If he is overloaded, he files a protest
by lying down, and will not rise until his burden is light-
ened. The distance he travels is not ordinarily more than
ten or twelve miles a day. His chief nourishment along
the way is the clumps of ichu grass found everywhere in
the Andean plateau, as well as in the more elevated puna
or Despoblado — ^unpeopled region — of Bolivia and Peru.
The Aymaras and Quichuas are as much attached to their
llamas as are the Arabs to their horses and camels. And
well they may be, for without these beautiful animals their
lot, although already sufl5ciently trying, would be almost
unbearable.

Great, however, as was my interest in the llamas them-
selves, that I saw in La Paz, it was but secondary to that
excited by a certain article of freight which droves of them
brought in from the eastern slope of the Andes. This par-
ticular article was the coca leaf, which is one of the most
valuable of Bolivian products. The greater portion of this
precious commodity comes from the province of Yungas
in the department of La Paz, and much of this is brought to
the capital, where it finds a ready market.

It is from this coca leaf that the remarkable alkaloid,
cocaine, is extracted. But although the wonderful phys-
iological effects of coca have been known by the Indians
from time immemorial, it is only recently that its value in
medicine and surgery has become generally recognized.

177

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Cocaine, it is true, was extracted from coca leaves by the
(German chemist Niemann as far back as 1860, bnt the drug
made its way slowly, and even to-day there are many who
regard it as more harmful than beneficial.

Cocaine, however, is only one of the constituents of the
coca leaf, and there is good reason to believe that it is not
the most important. Certainly, if all the wonderful ac-
counts that the people of the Andean regions give of it be
true, we have yet much to learn about the properties of the
leaf of the '^divine plant," as it was known among the
Incas.

When the first Spaniards arrived in Peru, they heard
such extraordinary stories from the Indians about the vir-
tues of coca, that they were disposed to regard their use
of the leaf as connected with some of their superstitious
or idolatrous practices, and several attempts were accord-
ingly made by the Spanish authorities to abolish its use
altogether. The belief of the natives that coca gave them
strength was denounced as una Huston del demonic —
an illusion of the devil — ^and the use of coca was conse-
quently tabooed by the Spaniards as beneath the notice of
any one but an ignorant savage.

But, notwithstanding all the denunciations hurled against
the use of coca, the cultivation of the plant received greater
attention from year to year, until Gardlaso de la Vega was
able to write, '^This plant has been, and is the principal
wealth of Peru for those who are engaged in its trade.*'
And in spite of the strenuous opposition that still prevailed
against the use of coca in many quarters, keen observers
and broad-minded ecclesiastics like Padre Bias Valera and
Padre Jose de Acosta had the courage to rise in its defense
as B medicinal agent, and declared tiiat it would be as rea-
sonable to prohibit the use of maize, fruit, vegetables and
water as to prohibit coca, because all these things, as well
as coca, had been used in sacrificial worship by ancient
idolaters and modem wizards and diviners.

Acosta writes as follows: ** Their use,*' that of the In-

178

IN AYMARALAND

dianSy '4s to carry it in their mouths, chawing it and suck-
ing out the juice, but they swallow it not. They say it
gives them great courage and is very pleasing unto them.
Many grave men hold this as a superstition and a mere
imagination; for my part, and to speake the truth, I per-
swade not myself e that it is an imagination ; but contrari-
wise, I thinke it works and gives force and courage to the
Indians, for we see the effects, which cannot be attributed
to imagination, as to go some dales without meate, but only
a handful of coca, and other like effects. ' ' ^

The Spaniards, however, soon foimd a more convincing
argument of the efficacy of coca as used by the natives.
They discovered that the Indian's capacity for work was
greatly increased by the use of coca ; that the leaf was not
only a stimulant but a nutritious refreshment to them;
that if they wished to get the best work out of those en-
gaged in the mines and on the plantations, it was necessary
to make them a regular allowance of their favorite leaf.

So great was its consumption by the Indians employed in
the mines of Peru in the latter part of the sixteenth cen-
tury that Acosta informs us that ''the trafficke of coca in
Potosi doth yearley mount to above half a million dollars,
for that they use f oure secure and tenne, or f cure secure
and fifteen thousand baskets every yeare. In the yeare
one thousand and five hundred eighty-three, they spent a
hundred thousand. ' * ^

Since that time the coca industry has increased until
to-day the annual production of Bolivia alone amounts to
seven million pounds. Only a small proportion of this is
exported, the greater part of it being consumed by the In-
dian and mestizo laborers of the republic. To the Indian of
the Andean lands from Chile to Colombia, coca is what be-
tel is to the Hindu and what tobacco is to the rest of man-
kind. And it is more. Not only is it a narcotic and a sed-
ative, but it is meat and drink to myriads of the toiling

iQp. dt, Book IV, Chap. XXn.
s Ut. ftup.

179

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

inhabitants of what was once the great empire of the In-
cas.

A part of every Indian's apparel is his chuspa, or coca-
bagy which he carries over his shoulder, suspended at his
side. In this bag he carries, in addition to coca leaves, a
certain amount of unslacked lime, or carbonate of potash,
prepared by burning the quinoa plant. This is called
llipta, which, apart from its chemical action on the coca
leaves, gives to them a relish which the Indian finds agree-
able.

Three or four times a day the Indian suspends labor for
about a quarter of an hour, for his aculUcar ^ — ^mastication
of coca. With him it takes the place of a smoke with us,
but the benefits accruing from it, when the leaf is not used
to excess, are immensely greater. "Each man,'' Tschudi
informs us, "consumes, on the average, between an ounce
and an ounce and a half per day, and on festival days about
double that quantity." *

The amount of work done by an Indian in Bolivia or
Peru is in proportion to the coca he consumes. The more
coca, the more work, and vice versa.

More singular still is the fact that coca is used by the
Indian cargueros — ^burden bearers — as a measure of dis-
tance. A chew — acuilico — blasts him about forty minutes,
during which time he travels three kilometers on level
ground and two kilometers up hill. The distance whidi
he travels with this chew is called a cocada. Eight or ten
minutes after taking a number of leaves of his favorite
plant into his mouth, he experiences new vigor, or as he
expresses it, he is armado. His average load is four arro-
bds — one hundred pounds — and the usual distance he trav-
els each day, according to his mode of reckoning, is from
six to eight cocadas.^

iThis is the term employed in Bolivia and southern Peru; in northern
Peru the operation is called chacchar.

« Travels in Peru, p. 316, New York, 1864.

s Compare El Peru, Tom. 1, p. 69 et seq., por Antonio Raimondi, Lima,
1874.

180

IN AYMARALAND

The endurance of the Indian, and the feats he is capable
of performing, when he has a liberal supply of coca, are
truly astonishing, and would seem incredible, if they had
not been verified by travelers and men of science whose
testimony is imquestionable. Dr. Jose M. Valdez y Pal-
acios, a Brazilian traveler, writing of this matter, declares
that an Indian with a handful of roasted com and his usual
supply of coca leaf — fohla sagrada — as he terms it, will
travel a hundred miles afoot and keep pace with a mule or
a horse.^ Dr. Spruce tells us that the Indian with a chew
of coca in his cheek will travel two or three days without,
food or a desire to sleep. Stevenson assures us that the
chc^quiSj or runners, who carry letters from Lima, travel
upwards of a hundred leagues without any other nourish-
ment than coca, thus keeping up the best traditions of their
predecessors in the days of the Incas. According to Mon-
tesinos, Huayna Capac was able, through these fleet-
footed chasquis, to eat fish that had been caught in the
Pacific the day before, although three hundred miles
distant.

Tschudi relates that he had a cholo employed in very la-
borious digging and that during ''five days and nights he
never tasted any food, and took only two hours of sleep
nightly. But at intervals of two and a half or three hours
he regularly masticated about half an ounce of coca leaves
and he kept an acullico continually in his mouth. I was
constantly beside him, and therefore, I had the opportunity
of closely observing him. The work for which I engaged
him being finished, he accompanied me on a two days' jour-
ney of twenty-three leagues, across the level heights.
Though on foot, he kept up with the pace of my mule, and
baited only for the chacchar. On leaving me, he declared
that he would willingly engage himself for the same amount
of work, and that he would go through it without food, if I
would but allow him a sufficient supply of coca. The vil-

1 Vicigem da Cidade do Cuzco a de Belem da grao Para, pe lo9 rioa VUoa-
mapu, UcayaU e Amaeonas, Bio Janeiro, 1844-46.

181

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

lage priest assured me that this man was sixty-two years
of age, and that he had never known him to be ill in his
life.^'^

From my own experience with the Indians in my employ
in the Andean regions, I have no doubt that the coca leaf,
as used by them, contains a powerful nutritive principle.
It is quite impossible, on any other assumption, to explam
the long journeys I have known them to make and their
long-continued toil with little or nothing to sustain them
but a quid of coca leaves.

Belying on his own observations, and on those of others,
whose testimony is above suspicion, Tschudi concluded that
^^The coca plant must be considered as a great blessing''
to the Indian who, without it, ^^ would be incapable of going
through the labor he now performs. Setting aside all ex-
travagant and visionary notions on the subject, I am
clearly of the opinion that the moderate use of coca is not
merely innocuous, but that it may be very conducive to
health. In support of this conclusion, I may refer to the
numerous examples of longevity among Indians, who, al-
most from the age of boyhood, have been in the habit of
masticating coca three times a day, and who, in the course
of their lives, have consumed no less than two thousand
and seven hundred pounds, yet, nevertheless, enjoy perfect
health.*

Such being the marvelous properties of the divine plant
of the Incas, it is not surprising that the Indians consider
it a panacea for all ills, and that some of them entertain
the belief, as Poeppig informs us,* that if a dying man can

lOp. dt., pp. 316-317.

2 Op. cit., p. 316. Dr. Techudi, in the estimate here giyen, alludes to in-
dividuals who attained the great age of one hundred and thirty Tears, whioh
he claims is not singular. "Supposing these Indians to have begun to masti-
cate coca at the age of ten years, and calculate their daily oonsumpticm at
a minimum of one ounce, the result is the consumption of twenty-seven hun-
dred weight in one hundred and twenty years."

^Reise in Chile, Peru und auf dem Amatgoneneirom iodhrend der Jahre
1827-32, Vol. II, p. 252, Leipzig, 1836.

182

IN ATMARALAND

appreciate the taste of coca leaves pressed to Ms lips, his
soul will enter paradise.

Indeed, all that the Indian or the man of science might
say of the wonderful virtues of coca has been embodied
by the poet Cowley in the following verses from his fifth
Book of Plants:

''Each leaf is fruit, and such substantial fare,
No fruit beside to rival it will dare.

**Our Viracocha first this coca sent,
Endowed with leaves of wondrous nourishment.
Whose juice suce'd in, and to the stomach tak'n,
Long hunger long, and labor can sustain;
Prom which our faint and weary bodies find
More succor, more they cheer the drooping mind.
Than can your Bacchus and your Ceres join'd."

I have enlarged somewhat on the marvels of coca not only
on account of the interest that attaches to the plant and its
past history, but also because I think it is desirable that
people outside of the Andean lands should know more about
it than they do at present. If some of our government
chemists, who are interested in pure foods and drugs,
would devise means of transporting coca leaves from South
America, so that we of the north might have them with all
their virtues unchanged, they would render a distinct serv-
ice to the cause of humanity, and would, at the same time,
furnish a harmless substitute for that dangerous alkaloid,
cocaine, whose ravages are rapidly becoming as widespread
as those of opium and morphine.

Aside from its coca, one of the most interesting things
in Bolivia is the famous silver mountain of Potosi. The
republic is celebrated for its mines of gold, silver, tin and
other metals, but in no mineral region in the world has
** Nature ever offered to the avidity of man such mines of
riches as those of Potosi,** that pretiosa margarita de la
Naturaleza, which, it has been estimated, has produced

183

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

from two to four billions of dollars. Accordhig to Hum-
boldt, the amount of silver yielded by the Cerro del Potosi,
dnring the first eleven years after the discovery of ore in
it, that is, from 1545 to 1556, amounted to more than six
hundred million dollars. And the same authority also de-
clares in his Essai Politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne that
this mountain, then in the viceroyalty of Peru, **has yielded
from two to three times more silver than all the collected
mines of Mexico. ' * ^

Although it may never be possible to find another Cerro
del Potosi in South America, it is, nevertheless, certain
that there are untold fortunes awaiting the prospector in
Bolivia and Peru. The mines of Cerro de Pasco, Hual-
gayoc, and Pulacayo, from which many hundred million
dollars' worth of the precious metals have been taken, give
some idea of the immense treasures still awaiting the en-
terprising miners of the future. ^^The abundance of sil-
ver in the chain of the Andes," Humboldt well observes,
^4s in general such that when we reflect on the number of
mineral depositories, which remain imtouched, or which
have been very superficially wrought, we are tempted to be-
lieve that Europeans ' * — ^and he might have added, the peo-
ple of the United States — **have yet scarcely begun to en-
joy the inexhaustible fund of wealth contained in the New
World."

While I was examining a splendid edition of Don Quixote
in a large and well-stocked book-store of La Paz, I was re-
minded of a fact, not generally known, respecting a coun-
try that is usually regarded as illiterate. This is to the
effect that the immortal Miguel de Cervantes, in a memorial
to Philip n, in May, 1590, begged for an appointment to
one of the vacant offices in the Indies, among which was
that of corregidor of La Paz.* If he had obtained the verge

ilib. rv. Chap. XI. In his Nawmlle G^ographie Unwer^elle, VoL XVIll,
p. 678, Redus declares that the twelfth part of all the predoos metals in
eiroolation in the world since the discovery of America came from Potosi.

sin his memorial Cervantes prayed the monarch '^e hldese merced de on

184

IN ATMARALAND

of office so eagerly desired, would Bolivia now pride her-
self on being the cradle of El Ingenioso Hidalgo de la Man-
chaf

Although La Paz is quite isolated from the rest of the
world, one will find here all that culture and refinement
which prevail in other parts of Latin America. Every-
where I went, I had abimdant evidence of this, but particu-
larly at a banquet which my host, who was hospitality and
courtesy personified, was kind enough to give in my honor.
A number of the most distinguished people of the city were
present, among whom were a goodly proportion of ladies.
I f oimd them not only refined and cultured, but highly edu-
cated and fully abreast with the intellectual movement of
the world. Their sympathies were broad and they dis-
played an intelligent interest in literature and science, that
would have done credit to the polished habitues of a Paris
salon. ** Their dispositions,^' writes an English traveler
of the last century, **like those of the South American la-
dies in general, have been justly defined as being a happy
medixmi between French vivacity and English reserve.
Their faces are handsome and their figures good; their
carriage, like Spain's dark-glancing daughters, from
whom they descend, is easy, genteel and graceful, without
any of that air manieri, so much studied by the French
ladies, or any of that want of grace so conspicuous in our
own.'*^

While listening to a debate in the Bolivian senate, I was
strongly confirmed in the view, I have long entertained, re-
garding the separation of Upper from Lower Peru — that it
was a grave political mistake. Bolivar's union of Vene-
zuela, New Granada and Ecuador, was, in my opinion, as

ofido en laa Indias de los ires 6 cuatro que al preeente estan yacoe, que es
d uno la oontadaria del Nuevo Reino de Granada 6 la gobemadon de la
provinda de Soounusco, en Guatemala, 6 contador de laa galeraa de Carta-
gena 6 oorregidor de la dudad de la Paz." Navarrete Vida de Cervantes, p.
313.

1 Travela in Various Parte of Peru, IncHudmg a Tear'e Beeidenoe in Potoei,
by Edmond Temple^ Vol. I, p. 407> London, 1830.

185

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

I have stated elsewhere,^ for the best interests of these
three coTmtrieSy and it is to be hoped that the day is not far
distant when Greater Colombia can be reconstructed and
placed on an enduring foundation. But, making a new re-
public of Upper Peru, which was named after the Liberator,
was, I cannot help thinking it, detrimental to both Bolivia
and Peru. If they were united, as it seems they should
be, and could enjoy the blessings of wise and enterprising
rulers, like those who, during recent years, have guided the
destinies of Peru, they would, in virtue of their geograph-
ical position and their boundless natural resources, be
second to no commonwealth in South America. As it is,
Bolivia has no seaport of her own, and can have no commu-
nication with foreign nations, except through the adjacent
republics. Her territory, owing to the encroachments of
her neighbors, is much smaller than it was in Bolivar's
time, and there is reason to believe that it is only a question
of time until, like Poland, it shall be partitioned by the con-
tiguous republics, whose covetous eyes are ever fixed on
the inexhaustible treasures within her boundaries. There
are many far-seeing and patriotic men in both Bolivia and
Peru who would gladly forestall such a fate, but private
interests and petty jealousies in the two countries which
should always have remained one and inseparable, have so
far retarded the much-desired reunion.

In an interview with President Montes, I told him of my
intention of crossing the continent by way of the Amazon,
and one of its tributaries. He immediately, to my surprise,
became intensely interested in the project. He spoke most
appreciatively of the work of American explorers in Bo-
livia, especially of Gibbon, Church and Heath, and most
entertainingly of his own travels in distant parts of the re-
public. And then, graciously turning the conversation to
my own travels, he finally said : * * I hope you will decide to
make your way to the Amazon by one of our Bolivian riv-

^ Following the ConquUtadorea up the Orinoco and down t\e MagdatenOf
Chap. XI.

186

IN ATMAEALAND

ers. There are many of them, as yon know, and I am snre
yon wonld enjoy a trip down one of them. The fanna and
the flora and the varions Indian tribes, which yon will see
on yonr way, will, I am convinced, have a special interest
for yon. * * And then he proceeded to map ont an itinerary
for me.

**If yon wish,** he continued, *Ho follow in the footsteps
of yonr conntryman, Gibbon, who was here more than fifty
years ago, yon can go to Cochabamba, a few days* journey
southeast of here, whence you can reach the Madeira either
by the Beni or the Mamor6. Or if you desire to prolong
your journey somewhat, you can visit the interesting old
town of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, which was f oimded more
than three and a half centuries ago, and where, by the way,
there is a university as well as in Cochabamba. From this
place you can reach the Mamore by way of the Bio Negro.
Once on the Mamore you will have easy sailing to the Falls
of the Madeira, above San Antonio. Here you will be at
home, for, as you are aware, your countrymen are now en-
gaged in constructing a railway around the falls and rap-
ids, which road is to put Bolivia into direct communication
with the Amazon, and give an outlet to the many products
of this hitherto undeveloped part of our country. It is
singular, but it is true, that it was Lieutenant Gibbon who
suggested, more than half a century ago, the railroad his
countrymen are now building, and which we hope soon to
see in successful operation. Then a trip from the United
States to Bolivia or the reverse, far from being a painful
journey, as it is at present, will be a delightful excursion, —
a great part of it through the most interesting part of
South America.

'*Now, Sr. Doctor,** concluded the President, **if, after
reflection, you think you would like to go to the Amazon by
any of its Bolivian affluents, you may count on me to do
anything in my power to make your journey pleasant and
profitable.**

I thanked the President for his very kind oflfer, but

187

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

begged time for reflection. To make the trip indicated,
and under such very favorable conditions, was certainly
very tempting. If I had not restrained myself and taken
time to consider the matter, I should certainly then and
there have arranged for my return home by way of the
Mamore and the Madeira. After more mature delibera-
tion, however, I determined to adhere to my original plan
and follow, as closely as possible, in the footsteps of the
conquistadores. None of them had traveled by the Ma-
more or Beni or Madeira, and as a matter of sentiment,
if for no other reason, I lost no time in getting back to the
great highways of the Spanish conquerors, and to lands
which their deeds of high emprise have made forever mem-
orable. Still I did not wholly abandon the idea of making
the journey so kindly outlined by President Montes. It
was simply deferred — to be part of a contemplated trip
through the heart of South America from Caracas to
Buenos Aires by way of the Apure, Orinoco, Cassiquiare,
Eio Negro, Madeira, Pilcomayo and Parana rivers. This
project, first conceived at the mouth of the Meta, had
grown more fascinating the more I thought of it, until at
last it became a fixed purpose to be, Deo volente, aooner or
later realized.^

1 See Follotnng the Conquistadores ftp fhs Orvnooo and down ihs Magdalena,
p. 142.

188

CHAPTER XI
THE BAALBEC OF THE NEW WOELD

The morning after my interview with President Montes
I was on my way to the celebrated ruins of Tiahuanaco—
in many respects the most extraordinary ruins in the New
World. Thanks to the courtesy of the traffic manager of
the La Paz railroad, a delightful party was gotten together,
among whom was the minister of public works, who, hav-
ing the ruins under his direction, was thoroughly familiar
with them. He kindly offered to be our cicerone, in which
role he proved most competent and entertaining. When
we arrived at the depot, there was a special train waiting
for us, and, on entering our car we found, to our great sur-
prise and pleasure, that preparations had been made to
serve an early luncheon, while we were on our way to Lake
Titicaca. A delicious luncheon it was; but more delight-
ful far was the spirit of good fellowship that dominated
every member of the party, and the constant delicate at-
tentions of our host, who apparently had no thought but
the comfort and pleasure of his guests.

We arrived at the village of Tiahuanaco shortly before
noon, and at once proceeded to the ruins, which are but a
short half mile to the southward. They are on a broad and
arid plain, one hundred and thirty-five feet above Lake
Titicaca, from whose southern shore they are twelve miles
distant. The area occupied by them is about a square mile
where, in addition to a number of shapeless mounds of
earth, there are remarkable traces of five different stone
structures, which writers, for the purpose of classification,
have agreed to call the fortress, the palace, the temple, the
sanctuary and the hall of justice. The materials used in

189

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

their construction are trachyte, basalt and red sandstone.
The fortress, to judge from its present condition, originally
resembled a Mexican teocalli or the pyramid of Sak-
karah in Egypt, and must, when first erected, have pre-
sented a very imposing appearance. It is a great terraced
mound of earth, supported by stone walls, is fifty feet high,
six hundred and twenty feet long and four hundred and
fifty in width. It is, however, in a very dilapidated con-
dition owing to the depredations of treasure-seekers and
to its being for centuries used as a quarry, whence material
was obtained for buildings in the neighboring towns for
the railroad and even for structures in La Paz. The
temple is in the form of a rectangle, three hundred and
eighty-eight by four hundred and forty-five feet. It has
been very appropriately called the American Stonehenge,
to which, at least in some of its monoliths, it bears a strik-
ing resemblance. The other three edifices, especially the
hidl of justice, are likewise remarkable for the area they
occupy and for the cyclopean masses of stone that still re-
main to attest the extraordinary character of their con-
struction.

It is these wonderful megaliths, rivaling anything found
in Italy, Greece, or Asia Minor, that have excited the
astonishment of travelers since the time of the conquest.
The platform, for instance, of the hall of justice is paved
with immense slabs, some of which are twenty-five feet
long, fourteen feet broad and nearly seven feet thick. But
the most remarkable feature in these cyclopean structures
is the great monolithic gateway of very hard trachyte,
ornamented with numerous well-executed sculptures, ap-
parently of a symbolical character. This is more than
thirteen feet long, seven feet above ground and eighteen
inches thick.

Some of the stones are in a rough and unhewn condition,
but most of them are cut and fashioned in the most re-
markable manner. Squier, in referring to this feature of
these extraordinary ruins, writes as follows: — ** Remove

190

Portal of the Pbe-Incaic Ruins op Tiahoanaco, Bolivia.

THE BAATiBEC OP THE NEW WORLD

the superstructures of the best built edifices of our cities,
and few, if any, would expose foundations laid with equal
care, and none of them stones cut with such accuracy.
And I may say, once for all, carefully weighing my words,
that in no part of the world have I seen stones cut with
such mathematical precision and admirable skill as in Peru,
and in no part of Peru are there any to surpass those which
are scattered over the plain of Tii^uanaco." ^

'*The ruins of Tiahuanaco, * * continues the same writer,
**have been regarded by all students of American antiqui-
ties as in many respects the most interesting, important
and at the same time most enigmatical of any on the con-
tinent. They have excited the wonder and admiration
alike of the earliest and latest travelers, most of whom,
vanquished in their attempts to penetrate the mystery of
their origin, have been content to assign them an antiquity
beyond that of the other monuments of America, and to
regard them as the solitary remains of a civilization that
disappeared before that of the Incas began, and con-
temporaneous with that of Egypt and the East. Unique,
yet perfect in type and harmonious in style, they appear to
be the work of a people who were thorough masters of an
architecture which had no infancy, passed through no
period of growth and of which we find no other examples.
Tradition, which mumbles more or less intelligibly of the
origin of many other American monuments, is dumb con-
cerning these.'**

When the conquistadores asked the Indians regarding
the origin of these wonderful ruins, they were told that
*'they were made in a single night by invisible hands'* ; that
''they existed before the advent of Manco Capac and his
sister-wife. Mama Ocllo;" that Tiahuanaco was the abode

^Peru, Incidents of Travel and Emploration in the Land of the Inoae, p.
279, London, 1877. The reader, who is interested in the subject, can verify
this very positive statement by consulting the splendidly illustrated volume,
entitled Die Ruinenstcette von Tiahuanaco im Hoohlande dee Alten Peru,
von A. StUhel und M, UhU, Leipzig, 1892.

*Op. cit.> p. 274. .

191

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

of PachacamaCy the Creator of the Universe, and hence
'^the superb edifices, so worthy of admiration in that
place ^^ that here **the Creator began to raise up the people
and nations that are in that region'' ; that '^here he gave to
mankind the languages they were to speak, and to the birds
the songs they were to sing;'' that here he created, as stated
in the preceding chapter, the sun, moon, and stars, after
which he ordered them to go to the island of Titicaca and
thence to rise to heaven.

They declared, furthermore, that the statues at Tiahuan-
aco, which were far more numerous at the time of the
conquest, than at present, were men and women whom the
Creator had changed into stones for disobedience and re-
bellion.* Others, however, attributed to them a different
origiD. They said that the people of Tiahuanaco were en-
gaged in drinking and dancing when Tonapa Uiracocha,
the Apostle of St. Thomas, '^came to preach to them, and
they did not listen to him. Then, out of pure anger, he
denounced them in the language of the land; and when he
departed from that place, all the people who were dancing
were turned into stones as may be seen to this day. ' ' ^

The ruins of Tiahuanaco made a deep impression on the
early Spanish writers, especially Acosta, Cieza de Leon
and Garcilaso de la Vega. Acosta says he measured one
of the great stones and found it to be thirty-eight feet long,
eighteen broad and six deep. Its weight, therefore, must
have been about seven hundred tons. What most im-
pressed Cieza was the fact that **in all this district there
are no quarries whence the numerous stones can have been
brought, the carrying of which must have required many
people. ' '

This same fact has equally impressed all subsequent in-
vestigators. So far as is known, there is no sandstone
similar to that occurring in the ruins to be found nearer
than fifteen miles, while the nearest place at which

1 Molina, op. cit., p. 6.

s Salcamayhua, op. dt., p. 73.

192

THE BAATiBEC OF THE NEW WORLD

trachyte and basalt can be procured is Copocabana, which,
in a straight line across the lake, is forty miles distant

How were the immense monoliths used in these struc-
tures transported such distances f A similar question has
for centuries been awaiting an answer regarding the
megalithic monuments of Egypt.' How were the immense
sarcophagi of the pyramids, and the giant obelisks of Luxor
and Heliopolis, transported from the quarries of the Upper
Nile to the positions they now occupy!

Cieza expressed it as his belief that the ruins of
Tiahuanaco are *Hhe most ancient in all Peru.^' He also
anticipated the conclusions of modem research by record-
ing the opinion that ^^ these edifices, from what now ap-
pears, were not completed/'^ They are not, therefore,
strictly speaking, ruins at all, but the remains of vast struc-
tures on which, for some reason or other, work was
abandoned before they were half finished, as were some of
the edifices at Baalbec.

But when, the reader will ask, — as every visitor asks, —
was work begun on the foundations of these astonishing
structures f By whomt For what purpose! With what
tools were the exceedingly hard masses of trachyte and
basalt fashioned into the perfect forms we now behold!
Why were such structures projected on this lofty, bleak,
inhospitable plateau! And why, after so much was ac-
complished, was the work left uncompleted!

No satisfactory answer can be given to any of these
questions. Notwithstanding the exhaustive researches of
many of the most competent of modem archaeologists,
their conclusions are as yet nothing more than mere con-
jectures. I shall, therefore, in a few words, reply to the
above questions in the words of those who have made a
special study of Peruvian antiquities and whose opinions,
consequently, may be accepted as the last word on **The
ruins of a race extinct. ' '

1 Op. dt., Cap. CV. Cf. Monumentoa PrehistoHooa de Tiahuanaco, publithed
hjU.V. BaUiTian, La Pax, Bolivia, 1010.

193

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Max Uhle, the curator of the archssological museum in
Lima, and a recognized authority on Peruvian antiquities,
contends that chronology in Peru is ^^ determined hy cul-
tural periods, which develop, flourish and decay the same
as man. Li Peru he finds five of these cultural periods,
and assumes them to have the same duration — ^an average
of about five hundred years — as have the cultural periods
of Hallstadt, La Tene and Egypt. Accepting these
premises as established, his conclusion is as follows :•

* * The development of Peruvian civilization, accepting the
average five successive periods, would result in a stratifi-
cation of cultures representing between two and three thou-
sand years. About the year 1000 B. C, at the time when
Solomon built his temple, the early Americans in Peru

reared their mighty gfmAi:nrAa fn flia fylmy ^f a nTatiirw

^jgod-^ Civilization in America would, beyond all doubt, have
worked itself up to a high plane at some time, and might
have accomplished alone a peculiar but certainly a brilliant
development without the intervention of European civili-
zation. * * ^

This conclusion seems to accord in an extraordinary
manner with the catalogue of the one hundred and one
Peruvian monarchs, as given by Montesinos in his
Memorias Peruanas. According to this writer, who went
to Peru a hundred years after the conquest, and devoted
fifteen years to travel in the viceroyalty, the empire of the
Incas dates back to 4004 B. C, about five hundred years
after the Biblical deluge. This was in keeping witii his
views that Peru was the Ophir of Solomon and that Amer-
ica was peopled from Armenia. If such be the antiquity
of the Inca empire, the western world, of which it formed
a part, is wrongly called the new, for

. . . **Thi8 clime was old
When first the Spaniard came in search of gold."

1 Harper's Magazine, Vol. 107, pp. 780-786, 1903. See in this connec-
ti(m his interesting work, PachaoamaCf Philadelphia, 1903.

Major Leonard Darwin, president of the Royal Qeographical Society, in a

194

THE BAALBEC OF THE NEW WORLD

As to the builders of TiiQiuaiiaco, M. L'Angrand, after
a careful study of the ruins on the Bolivian plateau, and
a comparison of them with the monuments of Mexico, Cen-
tral America and Yucatan, concludes that they came from
the north. He contends that the theogonies and civiliza-
tions of the people of the south, if not identical with those
of the north, were so nearly alike as to prove unity of
origin. The same may be said of the symbols, revealed by
the sculptures of Tiahuanaco, when compared with those
employed at Palenque, Uxmal, Ococingo and Xochicalco.
Such being the case, he feels warranted in concluding that
^'The people who raised the monuments of Tiahuanaco
were a branch of the great western Toltec family of
Nahuatl or California origin. * * ^

This view is favored by Humboldt, Tschudi, Middendorf
and many others, but there are polygenists like Agassiz,
Morton, and others, who maintain that the American In-
dian is autocthonous and, therefore, ethnologically in-
dependent of the races of the Old World. It is not my
purpose, however, to open up the vexed question of the
unity of the human species, farther than to observe that
there is as yet no conclusive evidence against the tradi-

reoent discussion regarding the age of the ruins of Tiahuanaco, expressed
himself as follows: "Judging by the age now generally assigned to the
pyramids of Egypt, it would not be an outrageous supposition to suggest
that these megalithic remains may be 4,000 years old." The Geographical
Journal, p. 392, London, Oct., 1910.

^Lettre 8ur Ub Antiqyites de Tiaguanaoo et VOrigine PrSHtmable de la
plus Anoienne OMlUtation du Haut-Perou, p. 44, Paris, 1866. Cf. also,
Inwards, R., Temple of the Andes, London, 1884, and Fouilles AroliSologiquea
d Ti<ihuanaco, Paris, 1908, par G. Courty et Adrien de Mortillet. Sir
Clementa Markham in his latest woik, The Incas of Peru, asserts that "The
builders may best be described as a megalithic pec^le in a megalithic age, an
age when cydopean stones were transported, and cydopean edifices raised."

Answering the question as to the direction whence these megalithic people
came, he quotes a tradition recorded by the old Spanish chroniclers, which
points to the south, to Charcas and to countries below the southern tropics,
as the sources of the population of the ancient megalithic empire, which
"extended its sway over the Andean regions from Tucuman to Chachapoyas,
with Tiahuanaco, for want of the real name, as its center of rule and of
thought," pp. 29, 31, 36, New Yoric, 1910.

195

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

tional view of the descent of all mankind from a single
pair. Such being the case the inference is that the build-
ers of Tiahuanaco were originally from the Old World,
whether from Europe or Asia is yet to be determined.

As to the purpose of these structures and the reason for
locating them on an elevated, arid, chilly plateau, where
it is difficult to secure subsistence for a large population,
nothing is known. Any opinion given on the subject would
be idle guesswork. The same may be said regarding the
discontinuance of work on the buildings before their com-
pletion. Regarding the tools employed in cutting the stone
used in these structures we are in almost complete igno-
rance. There is no evidence whatever that the builders
had tools of iron or steel, and it is difficult to understand
how the hard stones entering into the construction of
these immense edifices could have been fashioned so per-
fectly by such primitive tools as those made from quartz,
or from such a soft material as champi, which was a kind
of bronze.

Truth to tell, everything about Tiahuanaco is, as yet,
veiled in impenetrable mystery. We know no more about
the originators of the mammoth structures of Tiahuanaco
than we do about the Mound Builders of our own country,
or about the rude sculptors of the colossal statues found on
Easter Island. And we know absolutely nothing about
their history, religion and language.

As I wandered, years ago, among the cyclopean ruins of
Tiryns and Mycenae, accompanied by an ardent friend of
old Hellas, my companion continually gave expression to
his surprise by repeating the two words, '* Wonderful I
Wonderful!'* While exploring the monuments of Tia-
huanaco, overwhelmed with astonishment at the magni-
tude of everything around me, and lost in the mystery
which enveloped this city of departed greatness, I found
myself at every turn — ^I recollect it well — giving vent to
my strong emotion by the frequent repetition of the words
* * Stupendous ! Stupendous I ' '

196

THE BAALBEC OF THE NEW WORLD

And these words, which spontaneously come to the lips
of every visitor to this famous spot, but feebly articulate
one's feelings of amazement and awe when contemplating
the monuments of TiiQiuanaco, which, as Desjardins has
truthfully remarked, **by reason of their character of re-
ligious grandeur and solitary majesty, are comparable only
with those of Kamak, Abu-Simbel and Luxor.*'

Commenting on the ignorance, that in his time, prevailed
regarding everything pertaining to Tiahuanaco, Cieza de
Leon, the Herodotus of Peru, and ''The Prince of Amer-
ican Chroniclers," as Jimenez de la Espada calls him, ex-
presses himself as follows : ' ' Seeing that all these things
are hidden from us we may well say, 'Blessed be the in-
vention of letters I* by virtue of which the memory of
events endures for many ages, and their fame flies through
the universe. We are not ignorant of what we desire to
know, when we hold letters in our hands. But in this new
world of the Lidies, as they knew nothing of letters, we
are in a state of blindness concerning many things.'* ^

But it is probably Lord Houghton who best voices the
thoughts of the spectator at Tiahuanaco in his poem on
Pelasgian and Cyclopean Walls, which begins as follows:

**Ye cliffs of masonry, enormous piles,
Which no rude censure of familiar time
Nor record of our puny race defiles,
In dateless mystery ye stand sublime.
Memorials of an age of which we see
Only types in things that once were ye."

lUt. 8Up.

197

CHAPTER XII
THE HOME OF THE QUICHUAS

The second morning after leaving TifOiuanaco, we were
again in Pnno on onr way to Cuzco, the famous capital of
the Inca empire and justly called the Bome of South
America.

Scarcely had I disembarked from the steamer, which had
brought me from Guaqui, when I was cordially greeted by
the division superintendent of the Southern Railway of
Peru, who informed me that, in compliance with instruc-
tions from the general manager, he had a special train in
readiness to take me to Checacupe, the then end of the
line that was building to Cuzco. **I have also,** he said,
** ordered breakfast for you, as I am sure you must
have an appetite after your sail in the cool, crisp air of
Lake Titicaca.*' Then, giving the train conductor in-
structions to have everything in readiness, as soon as
I should be ready to start, he accompanied me to a
cozy dining-room near by, where a splendid breakfast was
served.

While there, I met two young men from Yale University
—one a student and the other a member of the faculty.
They had just come from Bolivia, and, like myself, were
on their way to Cuzco. As soon as I learned this, I in-
vited them to accompany me in my special train — an in-
vitation they were as glad to accept as I was to extend. As
events proved, it was a providential meeting for all three
of us, for they were congenial traveling companions, and
contributed much to the pleasure of the journey while we
were together.

After being the recipient of numerous delicate attentions

198

THE HOME OF THE QUICHUAS

from the courteous superintendent and his obliging assist-
ants, I was finally able to board the train with my young
countrymen, and, while the railway officials were yet bid-
ding us God-speed, we were on our way to the City of the
Sun, and following the same course as had been taken by
Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo nearly a thousand years be-
fore.

To one who loves the romance of history and is fond of
legendary lore, the narrow strip of territory extending
from Tiahuanaco to Cuzco has an interest and a charm not
possessed by any other region in the New World. In it
are found the most remarkable monuments of South Amer-
ica, and about them are gathered the most cherished tradi-
tions of the two most remarkable indigenous peoples of the
southern continent. We have learned something regarding
the marvelous ruins of Titicaca, Coati and Tiahuanaco,
but there are others equally wortiiy of attentive study, all
the way from the northern shore of Lake Titicaca to
Ollantaytambo in the lovely valley of Tucay, the most beau-
tiful, probably, in all Peru.

Two of the most interesting places in the southern part
of the belt between Lake Titicaca and the valley of Cuzco,
are Lake Umayo, about ten miles towards the west of the
railroad, and Azangaro, nearly the same distance towards
the east.

Lake Umayo is celebrated for the large number of ruins
around it and especially for the wonderful necropolis of
Sillustani, where are found some of the most imposing
and best preserved monuments in the Collao.^ Here are
hundreds of them, sometimes standing alone and some-
times in groups. They are called chulpas, are circular in
form, and are usually constructed of large blocks of
trachyte or basalt. Some of them are of very elaborate
workmanship and measure sixteen feet in diameter and
forty feet in height. They remind one of certain Pelasgic

iThe name given to the oountiy surrounding Lake Titicaca^ former! j
inhabited l^ people called Ck>lla8.

199

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON
I
towers in Italy, and the domes surmonnting them are not

nnlike the topes and dagobas of India and Ceylon.

According to Squier, these very remarkable monnments
are Aymara tombs and have a great antiquity.^ Near
these chulpas are other ancient remains so like the sun
drdeSy or Dmidical circles, of England and Northern
Europe, that they would almost seem to have had a similar
origin.

The town of Azangaro is famous for the decorations of
its church and for a portion of an old house called Sondor-
htuisi, that dates back to the time of the Incas. The im-
portance of this house, from an antiquarian point of view,
is due to the fact that it still retains its original thatched
roof, — ^the only one now remaining in Peru, — of ichu grass
— stipa ichu — which was doubtless the roofing material of
the rich Inca palaces of Peru. It seems incredible that
such a roof should endure for centuries, as this one has,
but there it stands, unless recently removed, as an instance
of the adaptation of most perishable material for age-long
use, and as a soUtary specimen of that astonishing work-
manship which has, in so many other respects, distinguished
the structures and the enterprises of the Incas.

Aside from the interest which attaches to Azangaro, on
account of its church and Sondor-huasi, it is celebrated in
Peru as being, par excellence, the city of hidden treasure.
Tradition has it that when the Indians were transporting
gold and silver to Cajamarca for the ransom of Atahualpa
they received news of his death on their arrival at Sicuani,
and that, in compliance with orders from Inca Manco, then
at Cuzco, to conceal the treasure, they buried it somewhere
near Azangaro. Its value is usually estimated at seven
million dollars. Besides this immense treasure, it is said
that fifteen mule-loads of church plate were brought here

iBandelier contends that these chulpas were not tombs, but storehouses.
See his article on The Aboriginal Ruins of BilUistani, Peru, in the American
Anthropologist, January-March, 1905. Von Tschudi and others considered
them to be dwelling places and parts of fortresses.

200

THE HOME OF THE QUICHUAS

in 1781 by Diego Tupac Amaxu, and hidden somewhere in
the town, or in its immediate vicinity. Some of the In-
dians are credited with knowing where the treasures are
buried, but if so, they are unwilling to divulge the secret.
Many attempts have been made to locate them, but so far,
without result.

Antiquities, htowever, are not the only objects to claim
the attention of the traveler on the way from Puno to
Ouzco. There are first of all the people, mostly Aymara
and Quichua Indians. All along the road one will see
numerous towns and villages, and many extensive
haciendas, on which range immense herds of cattle and
flocks of alpaca sheep. This is, indeed, the favorite home
of these latter animals. The sheep and the cattle are often
in the care of pretty little shepherdesses and vaqt^ras —
cow-girls — ^who, in spite of their desolate surroundings,
seem to be pictures of health and contentment.

One of these graceful vaqueras, seated on a rock han-
dling a distaff or playing the pincvllu — Indian flute — while
watching the grazing kine, would be an ideal subject for
the brush of a Millet, a Mauve or a Poggenbeek. Of such
an Andean maiden, in her gay-colored dress, in the glow of
youthful vigor and beauty, one could truly say :

**La vi tan fermosa
Que apenas creyera
Que fuese vaquera
De la Fmojosa."

So cold is the climate of this elevated tableland that the
soil yields but little for the support of its inhabitants, ex-
cept barley, quinoa, oca, a certain variety of bean, and
potatoes. In sheltered places maize is grown, but it is a
very inferior product. Many of the vegetables of our
northern zone might be cultivated here, but the Indians
in this part of the world are as averse to innovations as
are the inhabitants of Syria or Mesopotamia. The cab-
bage and similar vegetables would flourish here, but

201

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

they are rarely seen^ at least in the gardens of the In-
dians.

The principal article of food among the natives of the
highlands of Pern and Bolivia is the potato. In order to
preserve it, and render it more palatable than it nsnally
is in its natnral state, it is frozen and dried, in which con-
dition it is known as chuno. Boiled with vegetables and
fragments of meat and fish, and seasoned with salt and aji
— red pepper — ^it constitutes chupe — the staff of life of the
serranos — ^monntaineers. At times, it is the only kind of
food obtainable among the poorer classes of the inhab-
itants. Surprise is sometimes manifested that these peo-
ple should be able to subsist on such a diet, with little or
no change from one year's end to the other, but there is
nothing more remarkable about it than the unvarying rice
diet of the Chinese coolie, or the never-changing macaroni
of the Neapolitan lazzarone.

After the train leaves Puno, there is a gradual ascent
until it reaches La Baya, fourteen thousand feet above sea
level, on the summit of a knot, or ridge, which connects the
eastern with the western Cordillera. Here is the water-
shed between the closed basin of Lake Titicaca and the
incomparably greater basin of the Amazon.

Here, too, is the dividing line between the Aymaras and
the Quichuas. And so marked is it that one immediately
recognizes it by the difference in the costumes of the peo-
ple, especially those of the women. Here the uncu, a gar-
ment secured by two tupus — ^pins with a spoon-like head —
and the curiously-shaped headgear of the Aymara woman
give place to the short woolen skirt, the bright-colored
llicla, or mantle, secured over the shoulders with one tupu,
and the gayly-beribboned montero — ^a black broad-brimmed
hat— of her Quichua sister.

But what interested me more than anything else at La
Baya was the black water tarn that is the source of the
Bio Vilcamayo, which, under the successive names of
Tucay, Urubamba and Ucayali, constitutes the parent

202

THE HOME OF THE QUICHUAS

stream of the mighty Amazon. I know this claim is
usually made for the Maranon, whose source is Lauri-
oodha, but many authorities, and I believe their number
is increasing, incline to the belief that the Amazon has its
birth in this modest lakelet which is fed by the glaciers
of the overshadowing ranges of Vilcanota and Santa Bosa.
Without, however, entering into a discussion of the case,
which would be more or less futile, it will suffice to state
that my companions and I agreed, at least for the time
being, to consider the claims of the Vilcamayo as well
founded. The train was accordingly stopped at this point
to give us an opportunity of examining the head waters
of the world's greatest river, and of taking a few photo-
graphs of the spot where they well forth to the earth's
surface.

At this same point we have not only the fountain head of
the Amazon, but also that of the Bio de Pucara, which
empties its waters into Lake Titicaca. A slight breeze,
that was then blowing, seemed to determine the flow of
water in one direction rather than in the other, and one
of our photographs was taken at the exact spot whence the
waters start in opposite directions — ^part towards the south
and part towards the north. I had witnessed similar
places in other parts of the Cordilleras, but none of them
impressed me so much as this one, four thousand miles
from the mouth of the great river which here has its start-
ing point in its wonderful course across the continent.

Had I not wished to visit other parts of Peru rendered
famous by the conquistadores, I think I should have de-
cided there and then to explore the Amazon from its birth-
place. La Baya, to the broad embouchure where it greets
the deep blue waters of the Atlantic. The temptation to
make the trip was great, indeed, and it required a special
exercise of will-power to resist it.

When in Quito I had been tempted to follow Orellana
down the Napo, but that journey had been made so many
hundreds of times, since the Spanish adventurer's memo-

203

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Table exploit^ by the zealous missionaries who evangelized
the natives from Quito to the Amazon^ as well as by recent
explorers who have left us an account of their wanderings,
that I did not find it difiScult to forego a trip that, under
other circumstances, would have appealed to me very
strongly. How I was almost persuaded by the president
of Bolivia to journey to the Amazon by the way of the
Mamore and Madeira, I have already recounted. There,
moreover, was the same objection to reaching the Amazon
by the Vilcamayo and the Ucayali as by the Mamor6 and
the Madeira. None of these rivers had been witnesses of
the deeds of prowess of the conquistadores, as had some
of the other tributaries of the Amazon, and this fact, aside
from any other consideration, sufficed to reconcile me to
what would otherwise have been a very great sacrifice.

The scenery along the Vilcamayo is, in certain stretches,
wild and picturesque in the extreme. In places it rivals,
if it does not surpass, anything seen in Switzerland or in
the Tyrol. The lofty snow-capped range to the east, with
its broad glacier fields high up in cloudland, and its im-
mense terminal morains far below the line of perpetual
snow, are sure to command the attention of the most
casual observer. For the lover of mountains, however, and
for the student of physical, and geological phenomena,
where Nature operates on so stupendous a scale, there is
an added interest that never flags. Here one can witness
the glaciers corroding and planing down, slowly but surely,
those giant Cordilleras produced by Titanic agencies SBons
ago and watch how the detritus, formed by the grinding
ice-rivers above, is carried to the lowlands thousands of
miles distant to fertilize and build up what is yet in many
respects but an unfinished continent.

The sun was beginning to gild the crest of the western
Cordillera when we reached Checacupe, the terminus of
the line at the time of our visit. In some way or other it
had become known that a special train was coming, and
a large crowd had gathered at the depot, in which, con-

204

THE HOME OF THE QUICHUAS

spicuous by their peculiar somber dress, consisting of
black trousers, dark-colored ponchos, and broad-brimmed,
black felt hats and usutas, or sandals of Uamarskin, were
a number of Indian alcaldes, each with his staff of office.
This staff resembles a long cane, and has a brass or silver
head and ferule and a number of rings around it, one for
each year the owner has held office. The Indian is very
proud of this staff and always carries it with him when
he appears in public. My companions tried to purchase a
couple of them from the alcaldes present, but they soon
discovered that there are some things that money cannot
buy — among them the Indian's much-prized insignia of
office.

I had scarcely stepped from the train when I was most

cordially greeted by Mr. Mo , the chief engineer of the

railroad, who told me that he had come to claim me as his

guest while I was in Checacupe. *'Mr. T ,'* he said,

^telegraphed me this morning from La Paz that you were
coming; and I cannot tell you how glad I am to meet you.
I am an American myself — from Missouri — ^and I am al-
ways pleased to see any one of my countrymen, who so
rarely visit this little frequented part of the world, but I

am specially glad to welcome a friend of Mr. T and

Mr. A ,*' from whom I bore a letter of introduction.

*'They are the salt of the earth, — ^both of them.**

Shortly after reaching Mr. Mc 's home, dinner was

served, during which I was entertained by my genial host
with an account of the work on the railroad which, it was
hoped, would soon be completed to Cuzco.

**I now have fifteen hundred Indians on the pay-roll,**
he said, in answer to my request for information regard-
ing the men in his employ, **and I expect to have three
thousand next week. AJl able-bodied Indians in this part
of the country are obliged by the government to work on
the road from fifteen to thirty days. For their service
they receive fifty cents a day in silver — ^the equivalent of
about half that sum in gold. If it were not for this com-

205

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

pulsory service, it would be diflScult for us to find the
laborers necessary for our work. Those who voluntarily
continue in our employment, after their term of enforced
service has expired — only about ten per cent, of them do
so — receive an increase in salary, for they are, as a rule,
better workmen than the others. These are paid from
sixty to seventy-five cents a day in silver. Each peon re-
moves about three cubic yards of earth a day, about one-
third or one-fourth the amount that could be disposed of
by one of our American workmen. The cost per yard,
however, is less here than in the United States by reason
of the much lower daily wage. The Indian supplies his
own provisions, which consist chiefly of chuno and coca
leaves/'

The mention of coca leaves as an aliment led me to ask
my host, who was a man of unusual intelligence and in-
formation, how he explained the trepanning as performed
by the ancient Peruvians who were ignorant of the use of
iron and steel, and who, consequently, must have employed
the most primitive instruments for this delicate and pain-
ful operation, when the use of an«sthetics was unknown.

*'I am not so sure,'' replied my host, *'that the Chil-
dren of the Sun were ignorant of anaesthetics. And as-
suming that they used an anaesthetic of some kind, which
to me seems beyond doubt, a sharp piece of flint or obsid-
ian might have sufficed for their rude attempts at surgery.

^'A remarkable case, bearing on this subject, came under
my observation only a few days ago. It is, indeed, so re-
markable that it seems incredible, and, had I not been my-
self an eyewitness of the case, I should hesitate to believe
it.

'*One of our peons was run over by a car and had his
foot amputated. He was immediately taken to the depot
to await the company's surgeon, who came without delay.
But when he arrived the Indian was gone. After search-
ing for him, he was found in the plaza near by, apparently
as apathetic, so far as pain was concerned, as if nothing

206

THE HOME OF THE QUICHUAS

had happened. He had tied a rag around his ankle to
stanch the flow of blood, and had made his way nnaided
and alone from the depot to the plaza of the town, near
which we were then working. He declared that he expe-
rienced no pain whatever, a statement that astonished all
of us beyond measure.

**C)n investigation we learned that he was a coqt^ro —
a habitual user of coca — and we then inferred that, in con-
sequence of this habitual, if not excessive use of this
ansesthetic, his sensory nerves had become insensible to
pain. If our conclusion, and it seems justified, was cor-
rect, it serves to explain how trepanning might have been
performed in the time of the Incas with a total absence of
pain on the part of the patient. I can vouch for the truth
of the incident I have narrated. I leave it to specialists
in surgery to draw their own conclusions. As for myself,
I am convinced that the coca leaf among the ancient Peru-
vians served the same purpose as the various anaesthetics
which are now employed in modem surgery.*'

I refer to this remarkable incident, as I heard it from
the lips of my host, for it seems to clear up a difficulty
that has long confronted writers who have discussed the
question of prehistoric trepanning in Peru. The conclu-
sion seems warranted, but this is not the place to do more
than call attention to the incident in question. Relata
refero.^

1 For an elaborate discuBsion of this curious subject the reader is referred
to a contribution entitled PrinUtioe Trephimng m Peru in th€ Sioieenth
Afwiual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the 8eoreta/ry of the
Smithsonian Institution, 189^-1895, by Manuel Antonio Mufiiz, M.D., and
W. J. M)cQee. From an examination of a trephined skull taken from an
Inca cemetery, Dr. Paul Broca, the noted anthr<^logist, concluded that
"there was in Peru, before the European epoch, an advanced surgery." In
an interesting paper by A. Bandelier entitled Ueber Trepanieren unter den
heutigen Indianem BoUviae, and read before the International Congress of
Americanists at Stuttgart in 1904, the author declares that trephining is
still practiced in Bolivia by the Oallahuayae — ^Medicine Men — among the
Aymaras, and that there is reason to believe that it is still practiced by the
Quichuaa of Peru. The operation is performed with the rudest kind ol instru-
ments— ^a penknife, a chisel or a piece of obsidian. So far I have been

207

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Although Checacupe is only a small mountain town of
about fifteen hundred inhabitants, and in no wise different
from other towns on the plateau, it, nevertheless, possessed
a special interest for me because of its history. It was here
that the ill-fated Tupac Amaru — ^the heroic Inca chief —
in 1781 made his last effort to redress the grievances
of his people, and it was near this place that he was be-
trayed into the hands of the Spaniards, who put him and
his family and sympathizers to a cruel and ignominious
death. The Inca's execution sounded the death knell of
the hopes and aspirations of his countrymen, but his death
was not in vain. In consequence of his attempt to
ameliorate the condition of his race, and the constant
menace that existed of a similar uprising in other parts of
the viceroyalty, new laws were enacted looking to the re-
lief of the Indians, who had in many places been treated
as serfs, who had no rights that anyone was obliged to re-
spect. But the iniquitous deed was committed and
Tupac Amaru 's betrayal and execution will forever remain
a foul blot on the annals of the colonial government of
Peru.

The distance from Checacupe to Cuzco is sixty-three
miles, but, thanks to the splendid road between the two
places, and the good mules placed at our disposition, we
were able to traverse this distance in one day. The road —
carretera it is called here — ^was constructed some years
ago by an enterprising Irishman, and is one of the best
in Peru. A number of American stage-coaches were, at
the time of our visit, used for the transportation of pas-
sengers, while several traction engines and cars .were em-
ployed for carrying freight. These vehicles, however, have
been discarded since the completion of the railroad which,
for a part of the distance, follows the course of the
carretera.

unable to find any account of trephining in the early chroniclers. That they
should have passed over in silence an operation that was a» oommofi as it was
remarkable seems extraordinary.

208

THE HOME OF THE QXJICHUAS

Through the kindness of my host, our journey from
Checacupe to the old Inca capital was made in a comfort-
able surrey from Cincinnati. It may be imagination, but
the fact that we were able to make the trip in a vehicle
from the land of the Stars and Stripes seemed to enhance
the pleasure of a day that for all of our party will ever be
memorable.

The weather was ideal, and the country through which
we passed, with all its marvelous scenery, its interesting
traditions and historical associations, was such that we at
times felt that we were in a land of romance and enchant-
ment. There is, indeed, no stretch of territory in the New
World that possesses for the student and the historian so
many objects of interest, so much to arrest one's attention
at every turn, as the narrow belt between Tiahuanaco and
Cuzco. And the nearer one approaches the famous old
capital of the Children of the Sun the more one feels under
the spell of the past glories of the great empire of
Tahuantin-suyo.^

When we left Checacupe, which was shortly after sun-
rise, the atmosphere was so chilly that, in order to keep
warm, we were obliged not only to wear overcoats, but also
to use heavy lap-robes in addition. It was not, however,
long before the beneficent lord of the day took the frost
out of the air and then it became as balmy and delightful
as a May morning in the Italian Biviera. It was not then
dijfficult to understand why the Incas of old worshiped the
sun and why they acknowledged him as their chief est bene-
factor. It was, as Markham well expresses it, because
"Yuti, the Sun, was to them the soul of the universe, the
fountain whence flowed the blessings they enjoyed, the
ripener of their harvests, the cheering watcher of their
labors, the producer of their beautiful flowers, and the

X This word in Quichua signifies the four parts of the world, and was used
to designate the empire of the Incas. In Aymara the same word means,
the region of the four Andes, which constituted the boundaries of the Inca
empire.

209

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

progenitor of their beloved Inca. ' ' ^ It was for the same
reason that prompted the people of the coast land to wor-
ship Mamacocha — ^Mother Sea — for it was the prolific
ocean that supplied them with food, as it was the fostering
sun that made vegetation and life possible on the high-
lands.

This idea is expressed in characteristic Indian fashion
in the reply sent by the Chinchas to the demand that they
yield obedience to the Inca Pachacutec, child of the Sun.
Their answer was, **That they neither wanted the Inca
for their lord, nor the sun for their god ; that they already
possessed a lord to serve, and gods to worship ; that their
common god was the sea, which anyone could see was a
greater thing than the sun, for that it yielded them plenty
of fish, while the sun did them no good at all, but rather
annoyed them by its excessive heat; that their land was
warm and had no need of the sim, whilst those in the
sierra, where the coimtry is cold, might all worship it, as
they needed its heat. As for a king, they said they had one
sprung from a family of their own land, and that they did
not want a stranger, even if he was a child of the sun, for
they had no need either of the sim or of his children. ' ' *

After a delightful drive through a most interesting
country we arrived at Urcos, where we purposed taking
luncheon.

Scarcely had we reached the town when our attention
was arrested by unusual sounds in our immediate vicinity.
Presently a procession of boisterous men and boys defiled
from a side street and came directly towards us.

**The men with kettle drums entered the gate,
Dub-rub-a-dub, dub — ^the trumpeters followed,
Tantara, tantara — ^then all the boys hollo 'd."

There was a fiesta — feast day — ^in the place and every-
one, young and old, was bent on having a pleasant time,

1 Cuzoo and Lima, p. 118, London, 1855.

sQardlaso de la Vega, Commentarioa Realea, Lib. VI, Cap. XVTL

210

THE HOME OF THE QUICHUAS

with the usnal accompaniments of mnsic, singing and
dancingr

While we were looking for a place where we might get
something to eat — ^there was no hotel or restaurant visible
— a little Indian boy came running up to me to inform me
that luncheon was awaiting us in a house that we had just
passed. He had evidently been on the lookout for us, and
as soon as we stopped, he made haste to deliver his mes-
sage. He then conducted us to the home of his mother,
who kept a modest but neat little inn, and there to our
great surprise, we found a splendid repast ready on the
table.

**I thought, ^^ said the good woman, '*that you would wish
to proceed to Cuzco without delay, so I deemed it best to
have luncheon served for you immediately on your arrival. ^ '
**But how did you know we were comingt'^ I inquired.

**Ohl^^ she answered, **Mr. Mo telegraphed from

Checacupe this morning that you would be here, and re-
quested me to have a good limcheon in readiness for you
as soon as you came. ' '

That explained it. Good Mr. Mc had not forgotten

us after we left his hospitable roof, but with the most
thoughtful kindness, was looking out for our welfare even
while we were en route. Like his friends and associates
in Lima, Arequipa, Puno and elsewhere in Peru, his
pleasure seemed to be centered for the time being in the
comfort and pleasure of his guest.

Although our stay in Urcos was very brief, it was long
enough to give us a view of the only object of interest in
the place. This is the celebrated lake — ^apparently the
crater of a long-extinct volcano — about which so many
legends have been woven. One of these is that the Indians
threw much of the treasure of Cuzco into this lake when
they learned that the Spaniards were approaching.
Among other things was the colossal chain of gold which
Huayna Capac had ordered to be made to commemorate
the birth of his son, Huascar. According to Garcilaso,

211

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

this chain was long enough to encircle the great square of
Cuzco, which was four hundred feet long and three hun-
dred feet wide.^

Zarate, referring to this famous chain, writes as follows :
— **When his son was bom, Guaynacava^' — ^Huayna Capac
— '* ordered a cable of gold to be made, so thick, according
to the accounts of many Indians now living, that two hun-
dred Orejones who held it, were scarcely able to raise it.
In memory of this famous jewel, they called that son
Huasca, which in their language means a chain. " ' ' ' This
chain, '^ writes Cieza de Leon, **was of such size that it
weighed according to what the Indians assert for a cer-
tainty, more than four thousand hundredweights of gold. * ^ •

Small wonder is it that efforts were made shortly after
the conquest to secure this vast treasure. As early as
1557, Garcilaso tells us, a company of twelve or thirteen
Spaniards, inhabitants of Cuzco, was formed to drain the
lake and get possession of the chain and other objects of
great value reputed to be at its bottom. They actually
dug a tunnel a hundred feet in length, but they were pre-
vented from going further by a hard rock of flint, not, how-
ever, until after they had spent many ducats of their
wealth.

Other attempts since that time have been made to secure
the coveted prize, but without result. If some of our trea-
sure-seekers from the United States were to go to Urcos
properly equipped with diamond drills and high explosives,
it would not be difficult to empty the waters of the lake into
the adjoining river Yucay, but even if this were done,
would they find anything to reward them for their trouble !
Quien sabef

The stretch of territory between Checacupe and Cuzco is

1 Op. dt, Lib. IX, Chap. I.

9ni9toria del Desouhrimiento y Oonquiata de la Prov^oia del Peru y de
lae (hAerras oon las cosas naturalea que eefialademente, alii ae hallan, y h>e
euoessos que ha hdbido, por Augustin de Qarate, lib. I, Cap. XI, AnverB, 1550.

»0p. cit.

212

THE HOME OF THE QUICHUAS

probably the most densely populated part of the tableland
of Peru, as it is certainly the most interesting to the his-
torian, the archaeologist and the lover of wild nature. One
always has within view deep ravines, impetuous rivers,
lofty and picturesque mountains. At every turn there are
Inca monuments of some kind or other. Here are the re-
mains of bridges or old forts; there of tambos and sanc-
tuaries, while in another place are the scattered ruins of
what was once a flourishing town or of a favorite resort
of the Children of the Sun.

All along the road one meets groups of men and women
in their peculiar attire, which, although bizarre in the ex-
treme, and almost as remarkable for its extraordinary
combination of colors as is the dress of the Aymaras of
La Paz, seems to become them, especially the women, as
much as do their picturesque garments become the peas-
ants of the Sabine hills. They gather from their aerie-
like homes in the mountain in a way that bewilders one.
How they can travel up and down the narrow, precipitous
paths, which lead to towns and villages thousands of feet
above the Vilcamayu,* not to speak of how it is possible
for them to live in such chilly, desolate altitudes, is a mys-

1 Speaking of the Hacienda of Antisana, 13,306 feet high, near Quito, Hum-
boldt declares it to be ''without doubt one of the highest inhabited spots on
the earth." In the highlands of Peru there are not only haciendas but towns
and villages that are several thousand feet higher than this place, especially
near the headwaters of the Rio AzangarO and of the tributaries of the Vil-
camayo. One of the largest and most interesting of these towns is Yanaoca,
which is a thousand feet above the Hacienda of Antisana and more than six
thousand feet above the Great St. Bernard. It is large enough to have two
churches and a market, that on feast days is frequented by all the villagers
for leagues around. It is especially interesting from the fact that the Inca
Indians living here, having little or no contact with the Spaniards, have
retained their primitive manners and customs and the original purity of
their language.

Even the city of Potosi in Bolivia, that formerly bore the proud title of
Villa Imperial and was at one time the largest city in the New Worlds has
a higher altitude than the Hacienda de Antisana of which Humboldt speaks.
Keane, in his Compendium of Geography and Travel, says it is "absolutely
the highest abode of man in the southern continent." This, however, is un-
true, as the above-mentioned Peruvian towns are higher.

213

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

tery. They nearly always travel afoot. Only rarely will
one be seen mounted on a burro or a mula.

Frequently, too, one meets with processions of the ever-
graceful, inquisitive, coquettish llamas, the heads of whose
leaders, especially on feast days, are gayly decorated with
bright-colored ribbons. Unlike mules and cattle, they will
not crowd a horseman on a narrow road, but always get
out of the way even when they may be exposing themselves
to danger by so doing. Sometimes they will take fright
and then they will scamper back over the road whence they
came with the fleetness of a gazelle.

We had a very amusing case of this kind on our way to
Cuzco. We were passing along a section of road cut into
the mountain side, above a deep and precipitous ravine
called InfiernUlo — ^little hell — ^when we encountered a drove
of llamas in charge of a goodly number of Indians. The
Indians scrambled up the bank to the right while most of
the llamas managed to find standing room on the declivity
to our left, nearer the tumultuous river below. One young
llama, however, finding itself slipping down towards the
roaring torrent beneath, got thoroughly frightened, and
after extricating itself from its dangerous position, started
back homewards with the swiftness of the wind. His
owner, a fine athletic young fellow, inmiediately followed
in pursuit, and then we had a splendid illustration of the
speed and endurance of which the Quichua runner is
capable. I had seen fleet runners in Egypj; and Greece,
but never did I meet anywhere one to compare with tiiis
nimble-footed son of the Andes. I was then quite pre-
pared to believe the wonderful stories that the early
chroniclers tell us regarding the great distances traversed
by the Inca ch(isquis — couriers — ^in a short space of time,
and to accept as true, Cieza de Leon 's statement that ' ' one
of them can do more in a day than a moimted messenger
could do in three/' *
When we reached San Jeronimo, a small town a few

1 The Second pari of the OhrofUole of Peru, Chap. XXI.

214

THE HOME OF THE QUICHUAS

miles south of Cuzco, we were courteously accosted by a
young man who spoke perfect English. If our surprise
in Urcos was great, when we learned that luncheon was pre-
pared for uSy it was now much greater.

**I am Sr. P ,'^ said the young man, iatroducing him-
self, **and have just come from Cuzco to greet you and to
put myself at your disposition during your sojourn in our
city. I received a telegram this morning from Checa-
cupe, from my good friend, Mr. Mc^^ — , announcing your
arrival and begging me to show you every attention pos-
sible. I need not tell you that it is a genuine pleasure for
me to comply with his request, and I trust you will fully
enjoy every hour of your stay ia our midst. I am a son
of Cuzco, and shall be glad to act as your cicerone to all
points of interest in and around the old capital of the
Incas. ' ^

It would be quite impossible to express our surprise and
pleasure at the unexpected greeting of this charming
Cuzqueno, and still more impossible to voice our feeling of
gratitude for the more than kindly interest and courtesy
of our princely host in Checacupe.

After our surprise at this agreeable meeting had partly

subsided, one of my Yale friends asked Mr. P where

he had become such a master of English. *'I spent several
years in the United States,'* he replied, **and made my
studies in the University of Princeton. You see, I am
something of an American myself. Can you wonder now
that I am delighted to see you!*'

* * What an extraordinary meeting ! ' ' another of our party
remarked. **Here ia this far-off land of the Children of
the Sun, four graduates, hitherto unknown to one another,
of three American universities, come together in the most
unexpected manner. Surely this must be a good omen.
What does it portend ! ' *

**That,*' someone answered, **we are, for one thing, to
see Cuzco under the most favorable auspices. ' '

And such was the case, as the sequel proved.

215

CHAPTER Xm
THE EOME OP SOUTH AMERICA

The illostrions Pemyian hiBtorian, (}arciIaso d6 la
Vega, descended throoj^ his mother, the nusta Chimpa
OdlOy^ from the blood royal of the Incas, describing his
native city, Cozco, writes as follows: '^Cnsco, with regard
to the Inca empire, was another Borne, and the one city
may well be compared with the other, as they resemble
each other in several things. The first and principal re-
semblance is that both were fonnded by their first kings.
The second is that both obliged many and divers nations
to submit to their sway. The third is the numerous good
and excellent laws that were promulgated from both for
the public good. The fourth is the number of great and
excellent men they produced and formed by their good
civil and military institutions. In these things Bome had
the advantage over Cuzco, not in having more great men,
but in having educated them to more purpose through the
invention of letters, by which also their deeds were im-
mortalized, and through which they became not less illus-
trious for arts than excellent in the use of arms, the one
rivaling the other; the one achieving deeds in peace and
war, the other writing of their achievements for the honor
of their country, and for a perpetual memorial of their
deeds. '^*

iHer father was Hualpa Tupac, a brother of Inca Huayna Ckpac, and a
son of Tupac Inca Yupanqul, two of the most distingniihed of the distin-
guished line of Inca rulers.

t CommmiarioB ReaXe; Lib. VII, Cap. VUL

Bolivar's accomplished secretary, Col. D. F. OXeary, who visited Cuzco
during the War of Independence, likewise compares the capital of the Incas
to that of the Caesars. "Cuzoo," he writes, "interesto me highly. Its history,

216

THE BOMB OP SOUTH AMERICA

If the learned and patriotio historiographer of the Incas
conid return to his birthplace to-day, he would find still
other resemblances between the City of the Sun and the
Capital of the Seven Hills, founded by Bomulus. For, as
on the Tiber we find a legendary Borne, a Borne of the
Eangs, a Borne of the republic, a Borne of the Caesars, and
a Borne of the Popes, so likewise on the Huatanay we
find a pre-Incaic, cyclopean Cuzco, a Cuzco of the liicas,
a Cuzco of the Spaniards, and a Cuzco of the Peruvian re-
public. And in Cuzco, as in Borne, it is these peculiar
characteristics of the different epochs, so clearly marked
that they are at once recognizable, that give to the old
Inca capital the peculiar cachet of a city eternal.

For years after the conquest, Cuzco was the su-
perior of Lima, and even during the later colonial period
the capital of the Incas. was the acknowledged rival of
the capital of the viceroys. Notaries were required, under
severe penalties, to write at the head of all public docu-
ments, '^En la gran ciudad, del Cuzco, cabeza de estos reinos
y provincias del Peru en las Indias^' — '*In the great city of
Cuzco, head of these Eongdoms and provinces of Peru in
the Indies. ' ' ^ Even so late as the seventeenth and eight-
eenth centuries it was, next to Lima, the city of the greatest
social importance in the viceroyalty. And here, too, were
the same ambitions for social distinction and political pre-
ferment as in Lima, and the same petty jealousies and dis-
putes between the civil and the ecclesiastical officials
about rights and privileges and precedence at public func-
tions.

its fables, ita ruins are enchanting. This city may, with truth, be called the
Rome of America. The immense fortress on the north is the capitol. The
temple of the sun is its Coliseum, Manco Gapac was its Romulus, Vlra-
cocha its Augustus, Huascar its Pompey, and Atahualpa its Ceesar. The
Pizarros, Almagros, Valdivias and Toledos are the Huns, Goths and Chris-
tians who have destroyed it. Tupac Amaru is its Belisarius, who gave it
a day of hope. Pumacagua is its Rienzi and last patriot." General Miller'B
MemoirB, Vol. II, p. 104, London, 1828.

1 Apuniea Hisioriooe del Peru y VoiioioB Oronologioae del Oiwoo, p. 183, por
Manuel de Mendiburu, lima^ 1002, and Analee del Ou»oo 160(^1750, lAmm, 1001.

217

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

The largest and most imposmg stmcttire of modem
Cuzco is the Cathedral of the Assumption. It was ninety
years in building and was considered by the people of
Cuzco the most beautiful church in the world. It occu-
pies the site of the palace of Viracocha, the eighth Inca,
and the galpon, or great hall in which the Spaniards had
their barracks, when they took possession of the city.
So well constructed is it and so thidc are its walls that it
withstood the destructive earthquake of 1650, which caused
such havoc in other parts of the city. The erection of
the cathedral was authorized by a bull of Paul in in 1536.
Its first bishop was the Dominican Fray Vicente Val-
verde, the noted chaplain of Francisco Pizarro,^ whose
diocese embraced the whole of Peru and the provinces of
Quito and Chile as well.

The cathedral is indeed a splendid structure and in the
western hemisphere is surpassed only by the noble cathe-
drals of Lima and the city of Mexico. It is particularly
remarkable for its sculptures in wood, which ornament
the interior, the work of Indian artists in which they ex-
hibited wonderful talent and skill. At the time of my
visit the interior of the building was being renovated at
great expense, and, when the work shall be completed,
the good people of Cuzco will, I doubt not, declare, as did
their predecessors long ago, that their cathedral is the
most beautiful in the world. So far as the interior
is concerned, it will certainly be one of the most beau-
tiful.

Among the other beautiful churches are La Campania
and La Merced. In this latter church are the remains

1 There are many conflicting reports about the death of this noted ec-
deeiastic. According to Mendiburu he died a natural death, presumably in
Cuzco, after governing his diocese three and a half years. Others say that
he was put to death by the Indians of the island of Puno in the gulf of
Guayaquil, while he was trying to evangelize them. At the end of the
Dominican martyrology, among those who are VitcB acmctitaie insignes com-
memoration is made of Frater Vinoentiua ValverdUiM, Epiacopua CuzoonaU
in Provincia Peruana ab India interfectua.

218

THE SOME OF SOUTH AMERICA

of Almagro and of Juan and Gonsalvo Pizarro, the half-
brothers of the conqueror of Periu

Of special interest to every visitor is the Church of San
Domingo, which occupies the site of the famous temple
of the Sun. Indeed, parts of the walls and foundation
of the old Inca structure enter into the construction of
the Christian place of worship. It stands in the lower
part of the city, in the section known as Curicancha, or
Place of Gold. If but a tithe of what the old chroniclers
tell us of the riches and splendor of the temple of the Sim
be true, it deserved to be classed among the world's great-
est wonders. Cieza de Leon declares that he had seen
only two buildings in Spain in which the masonry was
comparable with that in this edifice, which he avers ^^was
one of the richest temples in the world.*'

**A11 the four walls of the temple,'* writes Garcilaso,
**were covered from roof to floor with plates and slabs
of gold. In the side, where we should place the altar,
they placed a figure of the Sun, made of a plate of gold of
a thickness double that of the other plates which covered
the walls. The figure was made with a circular face
and rays of fire issuing from it, all of one piece, just as
the sun is represented by painters. It was so large as
to occupy one side of the temple from one wall to the
other.^

1 After the Spaniards entered Guzco, this figure of the Sun, it has hitherto
been supposed, fell to the lot of a noble Knight, named Mancio Suerra de
Leguisamo, who gambled it away in a single night. This is the origin of
the saying, Juega el sol antes que amanezca — He plays away the sun before
dawn. According, however, to lizarraga, op. cit., p. 348, the image of the
sun in question was not the g^eat one on the wall of the temple, but a
smaller one graven on a golden plate, which covered a stone reoeptade into
which offerings of chicha were poured at the festival of Raymi. Ilie large
image was never found, for it was concealed with other treasures of the
Incas before the arrival of the Spaniards in Cuzoo. It is due, however, to
the memory of this great gamester — gran jugador — as Lizarraga calls him,
to state that although he lived many years after this event and held im-
portant offices in the municipality of Cuzco, he never touched a card again.
He is the same conquistador mentioned in chapter X in connection with the
honesty of the Indians before the arrival of Europeans.

219

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

In comparing the Inca with the Boman capital, Garci-
laso might have added that Cnzco resembled Borne in
the richness and magnitude of its temples and palaces,
and in the nntold treasures of gold and silver which
flowed into it from all parts of Tahuantin-suyo. So
enormous was the amount of these two metals in Cuzco,
before the arrival of the Spaniards, that it seems incredible.
For this reason many modem writers are disposed to re-
gard the accounts of the early Spanish historians dealing
with this subject as greatly exaggerated.

I have briefly referred to the riches of the temple of
the Sun. Q^mara writes as follows of the riches of the
palaces of the Incas: '^All the service of their house,
table and kitchen, was of gold and silver, or at least of
silver and copper. The Inca had in his chamber hollow
statues of gold which appeared like giants, and others nat-
urally imitated from animals, birds and trees ; from plants
produced by the land, and from such fish as are yielded
by the waters of the Elingdom. He also had ropes, bas-
kets and hampers of gold and silver, and piles of golden
sticks to imitate fuel prepared for burning. In short, there
was nothing that his territory produced that he had not
got imitated in gold.'^ ^

Cieza de Leon, describing the magnificence of one of the
solemn harvest festivals celebrated in the plaza of the
capital, declares: **We hold it to be very certain that
neither in Jerusalem, nor in Borne nor in Persia, nor in
any other part of the world, by any state or king of this
earth, was such wealth of gold and silver and precious
stones collected together as in this square of Cuzco when
this festival and others like it were celebrated.*^ *

Garcilaso, Zarate and other early historians expressed
themselves in the same strain. In his latter years, when
residing in Spain, Garcilaso seemed to realize that the
accounts that had been published regarding the vast riches

1 Historia General de las Indiaa, Cap. CXX.

> The Beoond Part of the Chronicle of Peru, Chap.

220

THE BOMB OF SOUTH AMERICA

of Cuzco savored of Oriental tales, and wrote as follows:
"This is not hard for those to believe who have since
seen so mnch gold and silver arrive here from that land.
In the year 1595 alone, within the space of eight months,
thirty-five millions of gold and silver crossed the bar of
San Lncar in three cargoes/' ^

Making due allowance for exaggeration on the part of
the early chroniclers regarding the treasures of gold and
silver possessed by the Incas, and basing our deductions
on indisputable facts, there can be no doubt that the wealth
amassed in Cuzco was enormous. For generations, prob-
ably for centuries, a constant stream of the precious metals
flowed into the capital from every part of the empire where
it could be found. They were so highly valued that they
were exacted as tributes from those who lived in mineral-
bearing districts. Besides this, the mere fact that the
Incas desired these metals for their personal adornment,
or for beautifying and enriching the palaces and temples
of Cuzco, was sufficient reason to prompt every loyal sub-
ject in the empire to gratify his ruler's desire and to con-
tribute towards the splendor of the ceremonies connected
with the worship of the Sun.

But this was not all. * ^ To add to the grandeur of their
capital, a law was made that neither gold nor silver, that
once entered Cuzco, should ever leave it again, on pain of
death to be inflicted on the transgressor. Owing to this
law, the quantity that entered being great, while none
went out, there was such store that if, when the Spaniards
entered, they had not committed other tricks and had not
so soon executed their cruelty in putting Atahualpa to
death, I know not how many ships would have been re-
quired to bring such treasure to Spain as is now lost in
the bowels of the earth, and will remain so, because those
who buried it are now dead. ' ' *

None of this treasure was drawn on in time of war, for
the ** provinces supplied all the men, arms and provisions

1 Op. dt., lib. VI, Cap. n. s Gieza de Leon, ut. sup., pp. 40, 41.

221

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

that were necessary.'' For this reason Cieza continnes:
'^I am not therefore astonished at these things, nor even if
the whole city of Cuzco and its temples had been bnilt of
pure gold. That which brings necessity upon princes and
prevents them from accumulating riches is war. We have
a clear example of this in the expenditure of the Emperor,
from the year in which he was crowned to the present time.
For, having received more silver and gold than the kings
of Spain ever had, from the King Don Bodrigo to himself,
none of them were in such necessity as his Majesty. Yet,
if he had no wars, and his residence was in Spain, in truth,
what with his dues and with the treasure from the Indies,
all Spain would be as full of riches as Peru was in the time
of its kings. ' * ^

The accomplished soldier-annalist may, occasionally,
have overestimated the wealth of the Incas ; but the amount
of treasure collected for Atahualpa's ransom, not to si>eak
of what has been found since in the huacas of the Great
Chimu and elsewhere, proves conclusively that it was truly
colossal. There is, however, good reason to believe that
the treasure secured by the invaders was but a small frac-
tion of the original amount, for the Indians, we are in-
formed, buried most of their treasures *'as soon as they
saw how the Spaniards thirsted for them,'^ not wish-
ing that things, '^ which had been dedicated to the services
of their kings, should ever be used by others.*^ The In-
dians, according to Cieza, declared that the tens of millions
secured by the Spaniards were, in comparison with that
which was concealed, but as ^'a drop taken out of a great
vase of water. ' *

It would be idle to speculate on the probable value of
the precious metals collected in Cuzco, when the Spanish
brigantines first touched the shores of Peru; but after
making reasonable reductions in the estimates of early
chroniclers, one would seem warranted in concluding that
the wealth of gold and silver then gathered in its temples

in>id.

222

THE ROME OF SOUTH AMERICA

and palaces equaled, if it did not surpass, the sum total
in the Boman treasury in the palmiest days of the empire
of the CsBsars.

About a block from the spot occupied by the temple of
the Sun are the remains of the palace of the Virgins of
the Sun. This building was originally about eight hun-
dred feet long and two hundred feet wide, and was, in
the time of the Incas, occupied by virgins of royal lineage.
This edifice did not possess the rich adornment of the tem-
ple of the Sun, nor the delicate finish of the temple of the
Roman vestals, but it did exhibit, as its ruins to-day at-
test, all the vast strength of those imposing structures
which were once the glories of Thebes and Memphis.
Parts of the walls are still in a splendid state of preser-
vation, and are not only the most conspicuous remains of
ancient Cuzco, but they are among the best existing illus-
trations of the style of work that characterized Inca archi-
tecture. The stones are massive and the joints are so
perfect that, as has well been observed, **if the faces of the
stones were dressed down smooth they could hardly be dis-
cerned.^^

This former home of the Virgins of the Sun, so venerated
in the time of the Incas, is now the convent of the religious
of Santa Catalina, whose virtues and good works have won
for them the admiration of all who know them.

Among objects of minor importance, but of special in-
terest to the visitor and the lover of antiquities, are the
houses occupied by some of the most distinguished of the
conquistadores. The haughty cavaliers **soon established
themselves in the Imperial palaces, built on them second
stories with broad trellised balconies, and carved their
armorial bearings over lintels and gateways.'* In conse-
quence of these changes, the old Inca capital soon assumed
the Moorish aspect of Granada or Cordova, a feature it
still retains.

Not the least interesting edifice is the home of Garcilaso
de la Vega, to which every student of history is sure to

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ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

make a pilgrimage. Then there is the remarkable pulpit
in the Church of San Bias. It is ten feet in diameter and
thirty feet high and is constructed of wood carved in the
most artistic manner imagraable. So delicate, indeed, is
the workmanship, even in the minutest details, that it
might well be called wooden filagree. There are several
hundred figures and heads of saints and angels in this ad-
ndrable piece of work, and each one is a masterpiece of
the woodcarver's art. I do not think there is any similar
work in Belgium — so celebrated for its artistic productions
in wood — ^that surpasses it, and few, if any, pulpits that
equal it for beauty of design and perfection of finish.
The old Inca gold and silversmiths were justly celebrated
for their skill in working in the precious metals, but this
admirable pulpit of San Bias shows that the artificers in
wood were not inferior in point of skill, to the craftsmen
in gold. An Englishman, some years ago, offered fifty
thousand soles for this superb work of art, but his offer
was declined. I am sure if our munificent and enthusiastic
Maecenas of art, Mr. J. P. Morgan, were to see this really
unique masterpiece, he would not rest until he counted it
among the other treasures that have made his collections
so famous.

Cuzco, as Bome, is a composite city. It is made up of
ancient monuments and modem structures, or of buildings
which are a combination of the old and the new.

Many of the private dwellings of Cuzco, as has been
stated, are built on the foundations of the old Inca palaces.
In some cases a greater part of the walls of the older edi-
fices are retained. Some of these walls, as those, for in-
stance, of the palace of the Inca Bocca, are cyclopean in
character, and many of the polygonal stones here seen
weigh several tons. One of them is La piedra famosa de
doce angulos — the famous stone of twelve comers — ^which
attracts as much attention to-day as it did at the time of
the conquest. In other cases the stones are rectangular
blocks of various sizes laid in regular courses but fitted so

224

THE ROME OF SOUTH AMERICA

accurately that the statement of the old chroniclers that it
is impossible to introduce the thinnest knife blade or finest
needle between them, is literally true. Squier is right
when he declares that ^'The world has nothing to show in
the way of stone cutting to surpass the skill and accuracy
displayed in the Inca structures of Cuzco. All modem
work of the kind there — and there are some fine examples
of skill — blocks rude and barbarous in comparison. * * ^

The wonders, however, of the old capital of the Incas
are not confined to its temples and palaces. Equally mar-
velous and deserving of attention is the stupendous for-
tress, or citadel, of Sacsahuaman, which overtowers it on
the north. It is on a bold headland, or mountain spur,
whose summit is nearly eight hundred feet above the main
plaza of the city.

Almost midway up the precipitous sides of this hill, near
the Church of San Cristobal, are the reputed remains of
the palace of Manco Capac, the founder of Cuzco, which are
now the property of an Italian merchant.

The conquistadores justly classed the citadel of Sacsa-
huaman as the eighth wonder of the world. By some it
was considered even superior to any of the seven wonders
of antiquity. And so great are the stones composing its
walls— one of them weighing nearly four hundred tons —
that it was thought impossible to place them in the position
they now occupy without the aid of the devil.^

For a description of this extraordinary fortress I must
refer the reader to Garcilaso and Cieza,' who have given

lOp. dt, p. 436.

2 ''Thus it in," writes Garcilaso, 'that the work is put down to enchant-
ment, due to the great familiarity these people had with devils." Op. dt.,
lib. VII, Cap. XXVni.

a Among modem writers who have written about Cuzco and its monuments
the most reliable are Squier, Markham, and Middendorf. Regarding such
works as Paul Marcoy's Voyage d Trwoera VAm&rique de Bud, one can say
with the noted traveler and geographer Professor Antonio Raimondi, that
they "should be looked upon as the product of a vivid imagination rather
than truthful composition." ''It is to be lamented that so able a writer, and
one who has had the opportunity of visiting unexplored regions, has em-

225

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

a detailed account of it. I may state^ however, that it is
about twelve hundred feet in length by about seven hun-
dred in breadth. The headland on which it stands is a
metamorphic rock of complex composition. The walls,
three in number — ^not two, as Prescott states — ^that consti-
tute the defenses on the north side, are nearly a third of
a mile in length and are, for the most part, composed of
a cherty limestone, which was obtained from quarries about
three-quarters of a mile away and not, as Garcilaso as-
serts, from beyond the Yucay, fifteen leagues distant.

It is not surprising that the early chroniclers regarded
the fortress as the work of demons, for portions of it, as
Garcilaso phrases it, are ^^ composed of rocks rather than
stones." Some of the stones are from fourteen to fifteen
feet high and ten to twelve broad and of great thickness —
far larger than any found in any of the Pelasgic remains
of Italy or Greece. And the joints, while not so perfect
as they are represented to be by the old chroniclers, are
nevertheless, in spite of earthquakes and the long-contin-
ued action of the elements, equal, if not superior, to any
seen in our modem fortifications.

But more wonderful than the huge rocks found in the
fortress is the military skill exhibited in the construction
of the walls and in the employment of salients that would
do credit to a Vauban. Fergusson, in his masterly work
on architecture, expresses himself on this feature of Sac-
sahuaman as follows:

The stones * * are arranged with a degree of skill nowhere
else to be met with in any work of fortification anterior
to the invention of gunpowder. To use a modem term,
it is a fortification en tenaille; the reentering angles are
generally the right angles, so contrived that every part is

ployed his talents in a work of such a class as his Bo^neB et PaysageM dans
lea Andes, deviating so much from the truth, when he could hy faithfully
describing countries so new as Peru, have interested the reader much more
than by fantastic stories." Journal of the Royal Qeogra^hioal Society of
London, Vol. XXXVII, p. 118.

226

THE ROME OF SOUTH AMERICA

seen, and as perfectly flanked as are the best European for-
tifications of the present day.

**It is not a little singular that this perfection should
have been reached by a rude people in Southern America,
while it escaped the Greeks and Bomans and the mediaeval
engineers. The true method of its attainment was never
discovered in Europe, until it was forced on the attention
of military men by the discovery of gunpowder. Here it
is used by a people who never had— so far as we know—
an external war, but who, nevertheless, have designed the
most perfectly planned fortress ever known. * ' ^

The citadel of Sacsahuaman, according to the majority of
the early Spanish chroniclers, was the result of the com-
bined efforts of the Incas Yupanqui, Huayna Capac and
Huascar, the last three Incas who ruled before the advent
of the Spaniards. It was fifty years in building, and
twenty — some say thirty thousand — Indians were em-
ployed in the gigantic undertaking. How the builders of
this colossal structure were able to transport such immense
masses of stone and place them in position, or how they
were able to dress and fit them with such marvelous pre-
cision, with the primitive .tools at their command, I shall
not inquire. They had no draught animals, no machinery
that we know of, and had no knowledge of iron or steel.
And yet, notwithstanding all this, they were able to con-
struct ^'one of the most imposing monuments in America
or in the world** — a monument that, as an exhibition of
engineering skill and daring, can take rank with the pyra-
mids of Gizeh, and which, humanly speaking, will endure
as long as the mammoth cre&tion of Cheops.

Garcilaso complained that the conquistadores disman-
tled the citadel **to build the private houses they now
have in Cuzco. In order to save the cost, delay and trou-
ble which the Indians expend on preparing dressed
stones for building, the Spaniards pulled down all the ma-

^ History of Architecture in All Countries, Vol. II, pp. 780, 781, Londjcm,
1867.

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ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

sonry walls within the circle of the f ortress^ and there is
not a house in the city which has not been partly built with
those stones^ at least among those that the Spaniards have
erected. * ' ^ Sacsahuaman was thus to Cuzco what the Coli-
seum was to Rome — ^the quarry whence to draw building
material for edifices of a later age.

Notwithstanding the opinion of Spanish chroniclers and
of those who have followed them that Sacsahuaman is due
entirely to the Incas^ recent research seems to demonstrate
that certain parts of the fortress^ especially the cydopean
sections of the walls, belong to a much earlier date. The
natives living near the southern shore of Lake Titicaca,
Garcilaso informs us, declared that the edifices of Tia-
huanco ^'were built before the time of the Incas, and that
the Incas built the fortress of Cuzco in imitation of
them.^'*

Whether this be true or not, it is incredible that the
extraordinary monuments found throughout the length
and breadth of the Peruvian empire could have been the
work of the thirteen Incas, from Manco Capac to Huascar
inclusive. It is still more incredible that a people sunk in
the lowest depths of savagery .could, in a few centuries,
have made such progress towards civilization as did the
Children of the Sun. To have developed architecture to
such a degree of perfection as is evinced in the ruins of
Tiahuanaco and Cuzco and Pisac and Ollantaytambo ; to
have achieved so much in agriculture, irrigation, the do-
mestic arts and legislation, is conclusive evidence of a
much longer cultural period than that of the Inca dynasty
^s described by Garcilaso and his school. It is more likely
that there were several cultural periods and several dy-
nasties long anterior to that founded by Manco Capac

According to Montesinos, the ancestors of the Peruvians
came to South America thousands of years before the first
of the Incas set out to teach the savage tribes, among whom
he appeared, the arts of civilized life. But, until recently,

1 Op. cit.. Lib. VII, Cap. XXIX. « Op. dt, Lib. HI, Cap. I.

228

THE ROME OP SOUTH AMERICA

this writer has been regarded with suspicion^ and his long
list of a hundred and one rulers from Ophir, the
grandson of the patriarch Noah, to Huascar, has been
treated as a figment of the imagination. He is now,
however, considered by scholars with more favor, and,
while few are prepared to give full credence to his history
of Peru, as traced out in his Memorias Antiguas, all rec-
ognize the utter inadequacy of Garcilaso's story of the
Incas to account for the advanced social, political and eco-
nomic status of the Peruvians at the time of the conquest.^
If Montesinos demands too much time for the evolution
of Peruvian civilization, Garcilaso certainly allows too
little. To suppose that the culture, the religion, the
military and social organization of Peru, at the time of
Huayna Capec, was the result of three or four centuries
of Inca rule, would be to suppose what has never once oc-
curred in any other part of the world. It would be tanta-
mount to admitting that Charlemagne was the creator of
modem civilization, independently of what had been ac-
complished ages before by Rome, Greece, Egypt, Judea
and Assyria. It would be equivalent to asserting that the
people of ancient Peru were incomparably more highly en-
dowed than the Greek or the Italian or the Hindu.
For the development of a perfect and harmonious lan-
guage like the Quichua, which is still spoken from Santiago
del Estero to Quito, and from the Pacific to the XTcayali ; '

1 Sr. Vicente F. Lopez, in Mb learned worics. Lea Racea Aryetmea du Perou,
p. 412, after referring to "the fictitious and conventional genealogy of the
Incas/' as given by Qarcilaso and other historians of the stamp of Rollin,
who set more store by pet theories than popular legends and traditions,
speaks of Montesinos as an exact and well-informed chronicler — "Un chron-
igueur ewad et hien infomU" This is quite different from the opinion of
Prescotty who declares that the painstaking author of the Memoriaa and the
Analea is an "indifferent authority for anything."

* Quichua is still spoken by more than two million people, and corresponds,
in a measure, te the Tupi-Guarani — Ungoa geral — ^which is spoken in Brazil,
Paraguay and a part of Argentina. According to the YoodbuUMrio PoUglota
Inoaico, p. V, Lima, 1005, published by the Franciscan missionaries of the
colleges of Propaganda Fide of Peru, "four-fifths of the inhabitante of Peru

229

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

and the evolution of music and poetry^ like that which ob-
tained wherever Qnichua was spoken; and the creation of
a system of civil and military administration, like that of
the Incas, would, in the Old World, have required not
three or four centuries, as Garcilaso would have us be-
lieve, but a period of time more nearly approaching three
or four thousand years. To contend that less time would
have been needed in the New World, where conditions were
less favorable than in the Old, is to go counter to all the
teachings of history and archaeology, and make claims that
cannot be substantiated by what we know of the progress
of our race in other parts of the world.*
Garcilaso, in his description of the imperial city of

■peak the Quichua language, and of these only a relatively small fraction
speak Spanish also, while very many do not even understand it."

iMarkham, after discussing the list of Kings of the Pima and Amauta
dynasties given by Montesinoe, concludes: "It may be that the Pima and
Amauta dynasties may possibly represent the sovereigns of the megalithie
empire. Its decline and fall were followed by centuries of barbarism, so that
the people had almost forgotten its existence, while the tribes of the Callao
were probably of another race, descendants of the invaders. As the Bible
and the literature and art of Greece and Rome were preserved through cen-
turies of barbarism by the monasteries, so the religion and civilization of
the megalithie empire were preserved through centuries of barbarism by the
Amautas of Tampu-tocco. In one case the dark period was succeeded by the
age of the Renaissance, in the other by the enlightened rule of the Inoas."
The Inoas of Peru, pp. 46-47. Cf. also. El Peru Antiguo y lot Modemos
Sooiologoa, Lima, 1908, by Victor Andres Belaunde, who holds that "The
Incas sjrstematized tribal and social organizations which had existed from
remote antiquity, and did not create them," and the German sociologist Cunow,
who, in his Organuation of the Empire of the Inoaa, contends that there
existed in Peru from the earliest times "separate groups^-ftyllu»— organized
on the same base as the village communities of India and the German mark,"
and that the communism of the Children of the Sun was not a system con-
ceived by the Incas and brought into praotioe by means of conquests and
clever alliances. "Similar views are held by the Belgian sociologist, William
de Greef, by the distinguished Peruvian writer, Don Joe^ de la Riva Aguero,
and by Don Bautista Saavedra, a Bolivian. Belaunde is, therefore, right in
declaring that "this hypothesis has caused a complete revolution in the
manner of considering the rule of the Incas," and shows the necessity of re-
vising the conclusions of Robertson, Prescott and other writers on Peruvian
civilization, who have assumed that "the whole fabric was originated and
matured by the Incas, and constructed, as it were, out of chaos."

230

THE EOME OF SOUTH AMERICA

CnzcOy writes: **It was the misfortune of my country
thaty although it produced sons who were distinguished as
warriors, and others who were learned and able in study-
ing the arts of peace ; yet, owing to the want of letters, no
memorial was preserved of their noble deeds and mem-
orable sayings. * * *

This statement of the Inca historian long remained un-
questioned. It was averred that the only means the Pe-
ruvian amautas — ^wise men — ^had of preserving traditions,
was certain knotted cords — quipus — ^which, to say the
least, were most inefficient instruments for recording and
transmitting knowledge. Sarmiento, however, tells us
positively that the annals of the Inca empire * * were painted
on great boards and deposited in the temple of the
Sun, in a great hall. There such boards adorned with gold,
were kept as in our libraries, and learned persons were ap-
pointed who were well versed in the art of understand-
ing and declaring their contents. No one was allowed to
enter where these boards were kept, except the Inca and
the historians, without a special order from the Inca. ' ^ *

From the vague information we have about these an-
nals, they were preserved in a kind of picture writing not
unlike that which obtained among the Aztecs. If, how-
ever, we are to credit Montesinos, alphabetic characters
were employed as early as the reign of the third Pyr-hua,
Huayna Cavi. The amautas taught reading and writing
and used dried plantain leaves in lieu of paper.^

The use of letters continued until the time of Pacha-

1 Op. dt., Lib. VII, Cap. VIII.

s History of the Inoas, p. 42, tram, by dements R. Markham, and printed
for the Hakluyt Society, Cambridge, 1007. Molina, op. dt., p. 4, also informs
us that "They had the life of each one of the Incas, with the lands they
conquered, painted with figures on certain boards, and also thdr origin."

s "Cuando este principe reinaba, habia letras y hombres doctos en dlas, que
Uaman amautas, y estos ensefiaban k leer y escribir; la principal denda
era la astrologia; A lo que he podido alcanzar, escribian en hoyas de pla-
tanos; secabanlas y luego escribian en dlas," Memorias Antiguas Historiales
y Politicas del Peru, p. 23, por el Licendado D. Fernando Montesinos, edited
by M. Jimenez de la Espada, Madrid, 1982.

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ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

cuti VI, who reigned three thousand years after the Del-
uge, when there ensued for Peru a period corresponding to
the Dark Ages in Europe, when science and letters under-
went a temporary eclipse. Five hundred years later, the
same writer tells us, Tupac Cauri, the seventy-eighth ruler,
proscribed the use of paper and alphabetical characters
in writing and, under penalty of death, replaced them
by the quipus.^

The statements of Montesinos, Monlina and similar con-
firmatory evidence that might be adduced, seem to indicate
that, contrary to the generally received opinion, the pred-
ecessors of the Incas had a written language, and that
the Incas themselves had likewise a written language, or
something that was very nearly its equivalent.^

But, be this as it may, it is certain that with or without
a system of writing, the chronicles of the Incas were care-
fully kept and handed down from generation to generation.
It is certain also that they had quite an extensive literar
ture, most of which unfortunately has been lost or de-
stroyed. The greater part of what remains is composed
of songs, elegiac poems and a drama called OUantay, which
has appeared in many editions and has been translated into
several languages. It has also been made the libretto of
an opera which has met with a very favorable reception.

As a sample of the soft, rich and beautiful language
of the Incas still spoken by a great part of the people of
Peru, I subjoin a harvest song from the drama of Ollan-
tay, which is still sung by the Indians when traveling or

1 'Tupac Cauri, iiiand6 par ley, que, so pena de la vida, ninguno tratase
de quilcas, que eran pergaminoB 7 oiertas hojas de arbolea en que esoriMan,
ni usaaen de ninguna manera de letras. • . . Y ad, desde este tiempo,
uaaroQ de hiloe 7 quipoe." libid., 86.

>As late ae the eighteenth oentuiy, it ia averred, some plantain-leal
manuscripts with hieroglyphs and other characters were found among the
Panos Indians on the hanJcs of the Ucayli. These, according to their owners,
contained the history of their ancestors. May not these manuscripts have
heen carefully preserved remnants of some of the records to whidi Montesinos
refers? And if so, may we not hope that other similar maunscripte may
eventually he discovered by the explorer in Andean lands?

232

THE ROME OF SOUTH AMERICA

when collectiiig the harvest. It is addressed to a little finch
called the Tuya, warning it against its ravages in the corn-
fields. I have frequently heard it snng hy the plaintive
voices of the Qnichnas in the uplands of Peru and each
succeeding time with increased pleasure. It is as follows :

HARVEST SONG
From the drama of OUantay.

0 bird, forbear to eat
The crops of my princess.
Do not thus rob

The maize which is her food.
Tuyallay, Tuyallay.

The fruit ia whitCi

And the leaves are tender,

As yet they are delicate;

1 fear your perching on them.

Tuyallay, Tuyallay.

"Tour wings shall be cut,
Tour nails shall be torn.
And you shall be taken.
And (flosely encaged.
Tuyallay, Tuyallay.

"This shall be done to you,
When you eat a grain;
This shall be done to you.
When a grain is lost.
Tuyallay, Tuyallay."

((

Ama pisco micupchu
NustaUaipa chacranta
Manan hina tucuichu
Hillacunan saranta.
Tuyallay, Tuyallay.

"Panaccaymi ruromi
Ancha cconi munispa
Nucmunaccmi uccumi
Llullunacmi raphinpas.
Tuyallay, Tuyallay.

"Phurantatac mascariy
Cuchusaccmi silluta
Pupasccayquim ccantapas
Happiscayquin ccantapas.
Tuyallay, Tuyallay.

"Hinasccatan ricunqui
Hue rurunta chapchacctin
Hinac taccmi ricunqui
Hac llallapas ehincacctin.
Tuyallay, Tuyallay."

This little song, however, gives but a faint idea of the
merits of the drama, taken as a whole. To be appred-
atedy it should be read as translated and commented by
Tschudi or Markham or Zegarra, when, by reason of cer-
tain peculiarities of form, one will be reminded more than
once of the lyrical dramas of ^schylus.

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ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

The very existence of such a work, so replete with tragic
power and beauty of expression^ is the best possible evi-
dence of the literary ability of the haravaecs — ^poets — ^who
graced the courts of the Incas. It shows with what success
literature was cultivated by the Children of the Sun, and
supports the statements made by Montesinos of the exist-
ence, at an early period, of a higher degree of civilization
among the dynasty of the Peruvians than anything that
ever obtained during the dynasty of the Incas, as we know
it from the pages of Garcilaso de la Vega.

I call special attention to the language and literature of
the Quichuas because I am convinced that neither the one
nor the other has yet received the attention it deserves.
The language has usually been classed with the hundred
other polysynthetic tongues of South America, while both
the literary remains and the literature have either been
ignored or put on the same plane as the crude legends and
folklore of the nomadic tribes of the Argentine pampas
and the Amazonian forests.

Nothing could be wider from the truth, for if the agglu-
tinative language of the Quichuas lacks the copious vocab-
ulary of some of our inflectional tongues, it is not, there-
fore, devoid of richness and harmony and the capfucity of
expressing the most delicate shades of thought. For this
reason, if for no other, it is deserving of more attention
than it has received from philologists.

A careful study of Quichua and the closely allied tongues
will, I feel sure, contribute much toward the solution of
the long-discussed question regarding the origin of the
ancient Peruvians, and will help materially toward estab-
lishing their connection with certain, as yet unknown,
peoples of the Old World. No field of research in the
Western Hemisphere promises more important results than
the erstwhile empire of the Incas. What is practically a
virgin soil waits the shovel and the pick of the investigar
tor. A beginning, it is true, has been made by Tschudi,
Eivero, Stiibel, Uhle and others, but so far the ground has

234

THE ROME OP SOUTH AMERICA

been barely grazed. The works of Lopez and Pablon show
what we may expect from a comparative stndy of
Qnichua, while the existence of the drama of OUontay
should be an incentive to a systematic search for other and
similar works of a bygone age^ which there is reason to
believe are still in existence.

The treasures that are every year rewarding the labors
of the zealous students in the lands of the Nile and the
Euphrates, are an indication of what we may expect be-
neath the long-neglected ruins of the palaces and huacas
of Tahuantin — suyu. Hitherto the excavations conducted
among them have been mostly for buried treasures, and
little thought has been given to the inunense archaeological
value of the strange objects that have been brought to
Ught.

In every part of Peru there are monuments covered with
strange inscriptions awaiting the discovery of the key that
shall enable the student to decipher their meaning. From
the little that has already been accomplished, we are jus-
tified in hoping that the day is not far distant when their
phonetic value shall be made known. Then, perhaps, we
shall have the alphabet which Montesinos tells us was
used by the Pyr — Huas, and then, too, shall we be in a
fair way towards having something like a history of those
early races that first peopled the lofty tablelands between
the eastern and western Cordilleras.

The world had to wait four thousand years before the
accidental finding of the Bosetta stone furnished Cham-
pollion with the key to the hieroglyphics in which was writ-
ten the fascinating story of the Pharaohs. It had to wait
an equally long time until a Bawlinston deciphered the
curious inscription on the great rock of Beheston, and dis-
closed the meaning of those bizarre cuneiform characters
which held within their mystic grasp the records of Nin-
eveh and Babylon, and many ill-understood episodes in
the history of the children of Israel. The Moabite stone,
found near the Dead Sea a few decades ago, precious

235

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

papyri recently discovered in the Nile island of Elephan-
tine, and above all the SUttite inscriptions on the Tel-el-
Armana tablets found in Egypt, in 1887, establishing the
existence of an empire which was before regarded as myth-
ical, should demonstrate what patient and well-directed
research will accomplish, and what great results are often
obtained from the finding of apparently trivial objects.

One may not predict what treasures are awaiting the
trained ardiseologist among the long-neglected monuments
of Peru, but there can be no doubt that they will well re-
pay him for all the time and labor that he may expend in
securing them. If the land of the Incas could but interest
the activities of an organization like the Palestine Explo-
ration Fund, it is reasonably certain that results would
soon be forthcoming that would surprise the most enthu-
siastic Americanist and delight the hearts of those few ar-
dent explorers who have deserved so well of Peru and
every lover of prehistoric lore. Thanks to the numerous
and systematic explorations that have been made in the
City of the Seven Hills, the late historian Mommsen knew
more of the Rome of Bomulus and Augustus than did
Cicero or Livy. And it is not too much to hope that in
the not distant future the historian of Peru will be able
to tell us many things regarding the Incas and their pred-
ecessors about which the learned Inca Gktrcilaso never
dreamed.

While engrossed with these and similar reflections sug-
gested by the storied past of the Children of the Sun, and
by the cyclopean walls whose massive monoliths challenged
our admiration at every step, we were gradually wending
our way towards the southern side of Sacsahuaman which
overlooks the famous valley of Cuzco.

Here a truly magnificent picture greeted our enchanted
gaze. At the foot of the sheer, precipitous mountain side
was Cuzco, a city that was once to the subjects of the
Incas what Mecca is to every true Mohanunedan. It was
to them, as its name implies, the navel of the world, as

236

THE ROME OP SOUTH AMERICA

was Delphi to the Greeks. It was to them what the Capital
on the Tiber was to the Boman — Urbs — ^the city par excel-
lence; what Jernsalem was to the Crusader, the city of the
heart's desire. All who were brought under the dominion
of the Incas **were taught,'* as Polo de Ondegardo informs
us, '^that Cuzco was the abode and home of the gods.
Throughout that city there was not a fountain, nor a path-
way, nor a wall which they did not say contained some
mystery." ^ Nor was this all. Garcilaso assures us that
'^One of the principal idols of the kings Incas and their
vassals was the imperial city of Cuzco, which the Indians
worshipped as a sacred thing, both because it was founded
by the first Inca, Manco Capac, and on account of the
innumerable victories which have been won by its citizens.
It was also venerated as the court and home of the Incas.
This veneration was so great that it was shown in even
very small things. For if two Indians of equal rank met
each other in the road, one coming from and the other
going to Cuzco, he who was coming from the city was
accosted by the other as a superior, because he had been
at Cuzco, and this respect was shown with more solemnity
if the traveler was a resident, and still more if he was a
native of the capital. The same feeling prevailed as
regards seeds and pulses, or anything else. Whatever
came from Cuzco, although in reality not superior, was
preferred solely for that reason." ^

And how beautiful it still is in spite of all the vicissitudes
through which it has passed ! Although the temple of the
Sun and the house of the virgins consecrated to its service
have long been stripped of their glories ; although but little
remains of the palaces of the Incas, except the foundation
and an occasional wall, the picture of the city, as viewed
from Sacsahuaman, is one of rarest loveliness. If the

1 Que aquella ciudad de Cuzoo era casa j morada de dioses, j caai no habia
en toda ella fuente ni pozo ni pared que no dijesen que tenia misterio.
Relado,

sOp. cit., Lib. in, Cap. IX.

237

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

stately edifices of the Incas are no more^ there are^ in their
steady some of the most ornate and imposing structures in
the New World. There are the superb churches and im-
pressive convents^ testifying to the faith and the zeal of
people who profess another faith and owe allegiance to
another ruler.

Nowhere else, to my thinking, is there a city that presents
a picture so charming and at the same time so imposing
as Cuzco, as seen from the heights of its ruined citadel.
Not Sparta, as seen from a crumbling watch-tower of long
deserted Mistra ; not Athens, as viewed from the beauteous
temple of the Parthenon; not Bome, as it meets the view
of the spectator on the summit of the Janiculum. Each
of these noted places, considered as a panorama, has its
beauties and attractions, but none of them has the advan-
tage of location, the majestic and picturesque surroundings
of Cuzco. Situated at the head of a salubrious and pro-
ductive bolson — a pocket-like valley — and surrounded on
all sides, except where a narrow canon affords egress to
the waters of the Huatanay, by the mighty barriers of the
Cordilleras, it is a picture that for beauty of location and
artistic setting cannot be duplicated, much less surpassed.

What must the city have been in the days of Huayna
Capac, the Augustus of the Incan empire, when its palaces
and temples were yet standing and adorned with their
untold treasures of silver and gold I What must it have
been when Sacsahuaman, fresh from the hands of its build-
ers, towered aloft like a Gibraltar or an Ehrenbreitstein —
typical of the power of the Incas — ^the palladium of the
Children of the Sun, and the terror of their enemies ; when
Huayna Capac returning from a victorious campaign held
military maneuvers on this rock, with, as an old chronicler
informs us, ** fifty thousand men all armed with gold and
silver ' ' !

Not so imposing, it is true, as the Bome of the Caesars,
with its superb structures of polished marble, when some
victorious general, enjoying the honors of a triumph, en-

238

i Whkat in the Vai

THE BOMB OF SOUTH AMERICA

tered the imperial city surrounded by the trophies of con-
questy amid the joyous acclamations of myriads of grateful
people. But it was imposing enough and gorgeous enough
to strike with awe even those of the conquistadores who
were familiar with the wealth and the splendor of the
noblest capitals of Europe.

I do not for a moment credit the story, so long accepted
as true, that the population of Cuzco in the time of the
Incas amounted to two hundred thousand or more. It
was undoubtedly much less than this — ^probably much less
than one-half this number. Still less credible is the state-
ment of Salcamayhua that Huascar had three million men
in his army, and that the forces of his enemy counted
half that number.^ In area the Inca empire was greater
than that of Charlemagne, and as extensive as that of
Csesar Augustus, but it is doubtful, notwithstanding what
is usually asserted to the contrary, whether the population
of this territory was ever as great before the conquest as
it is to-day. The extravagant statements so often made,
regarding the teeming millions within the dominions of
the Children of the Sun before the arrival of the Spaniards
— ^millions that, we are asked to believe, were almost exter-
minated by the cruelty of their conquerors — ^will not bear
serious investigation. For, outside of Cuzco, Quito, Chimu
and Cajamarca there were no great centers of population,
and even in these places the number of inhabitants has
been greatly exaggerated. In a country like the empire
of the Incas, where there was so much arid and unpro-
ductive land, in spite of the extensive tracts under irriga-
tion, and where none of our domestic animals existed, the
means of subsistence were not only necessarily limited, but
they were also totally inadequate to meet the demands of
the dense population — ten millions and more — about
which certain writers have waxed so eloquent.

And no more worthy of credence are certain stories of
Inca prowess and conquest with which some of the early

lOp. cit., p. 115.

239

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

writers delight to regale their readers — stories that are
more worthy of the pages of Orlando Furioso than of sober
history. Yet there are certain well-attested facts in the
campaigns of Huayna Capac and Tupac Yupanqui, while
crossing the lofty crests of the Andes in Quito and Chile,
which fairly- rival any similar achievements by Hannibal
or Napoleon, and show that these two Incas had military
genius of the highest order.

When one contemplates the splendid location of Cuzco,
and considers what the Incas were able to achieve from
this city as a base, one marvels why the Spaniards did not
retain it as the capital of the viceroyalty instead of trans-
ferring it to Lima. The location is far more beautiful
than that of either Quito or Bogotd — although both of these
cities are remarkable for the beauty of their sites — ^while
it is more readily accessible than either of these capitals,
and nearer to the great highways of the world *8 com-
merce.

Among the descendants of the Children of the Sun
there is an instinctive feeling, bom probably of age-
long desire, that the capital of their Licas is one day
to regain its pristine ascendency. This may seem like a
hope based on the stuff that dreams are made of, but
is itt

The greatest drawback to the development of Cuzco, the
chief reason why the seat of the viceroyalty was trans-
ferred from it to Lima, was the lack of means of com-
munication with the rest of the world. With the recent
completion of the railroad to the city, this drawback has
been removed. When now it shall be put into direct com-
munication with the capital and the cities on the plateau
to the north, by means of the railroad now rapidly ap-
proaching completion; when, furthermore, it shall be con-
nected by projected branches with the Ucayali and the
Madre de Dios, as it will be soon; then will Cuzco be on
the highroad of progress, and then will she once more
regain partly, if not entirely, that supremacy which was

240

THE ROME OF SOUTH AMERICA

hers from the time of Manco Capac to that of Francisco
Pizarro.*

The reason is manifest. She is to-day, as she was in the
time of the Incas, in the most densely populated section of
Peru. She is in the center of a territory of vast riches and
untold possibilities. The eastern slope of the Andes —
the Montana — ^has scarcely been touched, and yet it is the
most fertile and the most promising part of the republic.
In a few years more she will be in a position to develop
and control an extensive trade in the upper Amazon basin.
She will also be on the great pan-American railway that
is to connect Buenos Ayres with New York.

When that day comes, and it is not far distant, the dream
of the long-expectant, long-suffering Quichua Indians will
be realized, and the old Inca capital will again be the happy
home of tens of thousands, who are still as loyal to the
memory of their departed rulers as they were in the trying
days of the viceroy, Don Francisco Toledo, who ordered
the execution of their revered Inca Tupac Amaru.^ Then,
too, will the noble old city of the Sun be animated by a
new life, and enter upon a new era of prosperity, even as
did the languishing city of the Popes after the return
of Gregory XI from Avignon.

iThe present popttlation of Cuzoo is less than twenty thousand, although
it has heen, even in recent times, much greater.

• When Toledo appeared before Philip 11, after his return to Spain, it is
reported that the mcmarch said to him: ''Gk> hence to your own house. You
were not sent to Peru to kill kings, but to serve them." Idos a yuestra oasa,
que 70 OS envi^ a servir reyes; y vos fuiste a matar r^es.

241

CHAPTER XIV
THE CITY OF THE KINGS

Our original plan, after leaving Cuzco, was to return
to Lima by way of Abancay, Ayacucho and Oroya. This
would have meant a journey of several hundred miles on
horseback, but it would have enabled us to see many places
on the plateau that are celebrated in the annals of Peru,
many places of great archsBological interest and many
places, too, that were rendered famous by the exploits of
the conquistadores on their way from Cajamarca to the
capital of the Incas.

Preeminently noteworthy among the towns along this
route is Ayacucho, near which was fought the decisive
battle that secured Peruvian independence. There is also
Jauja, which, for a short time before the foundation of
Lima, was the provisional capital of Peru. Both Jauja
and Ayacucho, not to mention many other towns of greater
or lesser importance, are on the line of the projected pan-
American railroad. Work on the section between Oroya
and Cuzco is being pushed forward as rapidly as possible
and when completed, the traveler will be able to make the
journey between Lima and the old Inca capital in a small
fraction of the time now required.

Much, however, as we desired to follow our original
itinerary, we were prevented from doing so by pressing
engagements in Lima. Our only alternative, therefore,
was to return by the way we came.

We saw little of interest on the return trip, that we had
not seen before, but we had everywhere renewed experi-
ences of that charming hospitality which had so impressed
us on our way from the Pacific to Cuzco. At San

242

THE CITY OF THE KINGS

JeronimOy where we bade adieu to our scholarly cicerone,

Sr. P ; at Checacupe, where Mr. Mo entertained

us a second time in his usual cordial manner ; at Arequipa,

where Sr. T and his friends gave us what was almost

tantamount to the freedom of the city, we were made to
forget entirely that we were strangers in a strange land.
Our every wish was anticipated and our every want divined
in a way that amazed us beyond expression. It really
seemed as if our good friends had nothing to engage their
attention but our comfort and pleasure. What particu-
larly impressed us was the quiet, gracious manner in which
everything was done. We were treated as life-long
friends, or as members of the family, rather than as guests,
and it was, consequently, most natural for us at once to
feel at home and at our ease. How could it be otherwise
among a people to whom hospitality is a traditional char-
acteristic and entertainment a cherished art as well as a
positive virtue!

Much as we regretted leaving the capital of the Incas,
we were delighted to be again in the capital of the viceroys.
It is in many respects the most attractive city in South
America, and has a fascination about it that is entirely
absent from larger cities like Buenos Aires or Eio Janeiro.
True, it cannot boast of the picturesque location of Caracas
or Bogota, Quito or Cuzco, but there is a glamour about it
that renders it quite unique among the capitals of the
southern continent. No sooner is the visitor within its
gates than he feels himself under the spell of its storied
past and enchanting environment.

And well he may. For a while Lima was the capital
of nearly all of South America, except Brazil, and the
viceroy of Peru was the ruler of a more extensive territory
than any monarch in Europe. It is true that he was sub-
servient to the kings of Spain, to whom he owed his ap-
pointment, but owing to the distance of Lima from the
mother country and the difficulty of communication when
steam navigation and the telegraph were unknown, the

243

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

viceroy of Peru had practically all the power of an inde-
pendent potentate. Even after Quito, New Granada and
Venezuela were placed under separate governments, the
sway of the viceroy of Peru extended from Guayaquil to
Cape Horn, and from the impetuous Bimac to the broad
embouchure of the Bio de la Plata.

It was on account of the immense extent of Peru, and his
desire to be where he could more readily communicate
with Europe, that Pizarro selected Lima as the capital
rather than Cuzco or Jauja. Both of these being so high
up on the tableland and difficult of access, were unsuited
for the great political and commercial metropolis the con-
queror had in his mind's eye when he sought a location
for the capital of the greatest of Spain's dependencies.
The site on the river Bimac, near an Indian village, met
his requirements as did no other spot. It was at the base
of the Cordillera, on a fertile plain and but two leagues
from the ocean, where there was one of the best harbors
on the coast. Unlike Quito and Bogota, it was accessible
to Spanish merchantmen and could easily be made a dis-
tributing center for merchandise coming from or destined
for the Old World.

Having once decided on the location of the capital,
Pizarro lost no time in laying its foundations. This was
formally done the eighteenth of January, 1535. And as
the founder had always entertained a great devotion
towards The Three Holy Kings and as their feast day, the
Epiphany, had occurred but twelve days before, he decided
to call the new foundation La Ciudad de los Reyes — ^the
City of the Kings. This name, however, was not long used,
except in official documents. It soon gave place to Lima,
from Limac, the name of the neighboring Indian village,
as well as the name of the river which flowed by it.^ On

1 Limac is a corruption of the Quichua word Rimao, the participle of the
verb timani, to speak. The village was bo called because of the sound pro-
duced by the swiftly flowing water over its steep rocky bed, or, as others
declare, because of an idol in the Tillage which was consulted as an oracle.

244

THE CITY OF THE KINGS

the escutcheoiiy which Charles V permitted the newly
founded capital to use, the city was designated La muy
noble, insigne y muy lecU Ciudad de los Reyes del Peru —
the very noble, notable and very loyal city of the Kings
of Peru.

Before the erection of a single house was permitted,
Pizarro had a plan of the city drawn on paper. And in
making this plan he had in view not the small number —
only sixty-nine— of those who were then prepared to make
their homes there, but the future greatness of * * The Empire
City of the New World. ^'

Moreover, as the city had to be in God and for God and
in His name — en Dios y por Dios y en su nombre — ^to use
Pizarro 's own words, work was first begun on the church,
which was named Nuestra Sefiora de La Asv/ncion.^ The
first stone and the first pieces of timber in the new struc-
ture were put in place by the hands of the Adelantado
himself, who wished, like the other conquistadores, to em-
phasize his zeal for religion and his devotion to La San-
tisima Virgen, Madre de Dios.

In planning the City of the Kings, Pizarro made the
squares large and the streets unusually wide. This latter
feature at once attracts the attention of the visitor, as it
is in such marked contrast with so many other American
cities founded about the same time. Charles Dickens
would doubtless find the same fault with it as he did with
Philadelphia; for lima, like the City of Brotherly Love,
could also, on account of the regularity of its streets, be
called **The Gridiron City.'^ And like Washington, it
might also bear the name of **City of Magnificent Dis-
tances. *'

1 Pizarro gave it this name because he had a special devotion to our
Lady of the Assumptioii, and wished to have the first cathedral in Peru
named in her honor. As, however, the first episcopal see was established in
Cuzoo and not in Lima, as the conqueror had anticipated, the title of Nuesira
Beliora de la Aavnoion was transferred to the cathedral of Cuzco, while the
first church in Lima was, on the occasion of its erection into a cathedral in
1543, dedicated under the invocation of St. John the Evangelist.

245

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

The most attractive and animated part of Lima is un-
doubtedly the Plaza Mayor, around which are grouped the
cathedral, the government and municipal palaces and other
imposing structures. Here towards evening are gathered
the beauty and the fashion of the capital, and one is sure
to find les dernieres creations of the Parisian modiste a
few weeks after they make their appearance on the boule-
vards of the French capital. The beautiful toilets of the
Limanian ladies are probably one of the reasons why the
City of the Kings has long been known as the Paris of
South America, for it requires no great stretch of the
imagination, when witnessing the beautifully gowned
senoritas driving along the Calle de la Union, or in the
Paseo Colon, to fancy oneself a spectator of the brilliant
turnouts of the Champs Elysees or of the Bois de Boulogne.
One could then easily believe that there was a reason for
at least the first part of the old saying that ^^Lima is the
heaven of women, the purgatory of men, and the hell of
burros. ' ^ *

In the morning, when the women, in their sable dress
and mantilla — ^which have long replaced the famous saya
y manto — are seen going to or returning from church, the
city seems like an immense convent. But on the occasion
of great national or church celebrations, and especially
during the carnival season, ^'Lima is no more than a city
of Andalusia transplanted to the New World, with all the
extravagances of the romantic, artistic and audacious spirit
of old Seville, Malaga and Cordova.^* Then the entire
atmosphere is redolent of the past, and the heavily-barred
windows and mir adores — ^Moorish balconies — carry one
back to the gay and splendid festivities of viceroyal mag-
nificence.

The most remarkable and most imposing building in the
city, and the one that first claims the attention of the vis-
itor, is the cathedral. It occupies the site of the church

1 In Heylin's CosmoffrapTUe, 1654, England is called "The paradise of women,
the purgatory of servants, and the hell of horses."

246

The Cathedral of Lima.

THE CITY OP THE KINGS

built by Pizarro nearly four centuries ago. It is copied
to a certain extent after the famous cathedral of Seville^
which was formerly regarded as one of the wonders of the
world. Although the Lima temple has not the splendid
Giralda that adds such beauty to its wonderful prototype,
it is, nevertheless, after the cathedral of the City of Mexico,
the most magnificent place of worship in the Western
Hemisphere.

The interior decorations of the cathedral are in keeping
with its exterior grandeur. Among these are its richly
adorned altars and its ornate choir of artistically carved
cedar and mahogany. There is also a large pipe organ
made in Belgium and said to be the best in South America.
Among the many oil paintings is a valuable x>ortrait of
St. Veronica by Murillo, bequeathed to the church by a
former archbishop, Mgr. Luna-Pizarro.

The most interesting object to one who visits the cathe-
dral for the first time is the remains of its founder, Fran-
cisco Pizarro. For many generations they were preserved
in the crypt, in which some of the viceroys were interred,
and which has also been used as a burial place for the arch-
bishops. Here also repose the remains of his daughter,
Francisca, by Inez Nusta, niece of the illustrious Inca
Huayna Capac.* All that is mortal of the illustrious con-
quistador now reposes in one of the side chapels of the

1 ''Did Dofla Francisca Pizarro dnco mil pesos oro, por estar septtltado
en ella el Marquee D. Francisco Pizarro, su padre" — ^Dofia Francisca Pizarro
gave five thousand dollars in gold because her father, D. Francisco Pizarro,
was buried in it. Thus writes Padre Bemab4 Cobo, whose precious work,
Eiaiona de la fundacion de Lima, written in 1639, ronained in manuscript
until 1882, when it was published with annotations by the distinguished
Peruvian scholar, Manuel Gonzalez de la Rosa. The same work, together
with Padre Cobo's valuable Historia del Nuevo Mundo, was published in
Seville in 1892 bj the eminent Americanist, Marcos Jimenez de la Espada.
I refer especially to Padre Cobo's work on Lima, because many erroneous
notions have obtained regarding the City of the Kings, but more particularly
because many modern writers have expressed doubts about the burial of
Pizarro in the cathedral. Padre Ck>bo'8 testimony can be accepted as con-
clusive.

247

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

cathedral and may be seen by obtaining the necessary
permission.

While contemplating the moldering remains^^ partially
concealed by dusty tatters, of the daring and invincible
conqneror, I recaUed the words of Southey, who writes
of Pizarro:

''A greater name
The list of Glory boasts not. Toil and Pain,
Famine and hostile elements, and Hosts
Embattled, failed to check him on his course,
Not to be wearied, not to be deterred.
Not to be overcome. A mighty realm
He overran.
And wealth and power and fame were his rewards."

And yety strange is it nott there is not a single statue
to the memory of Pizarro in the whole of Peru. There
are many noble monuments in Lima erected in honor of
those who have deserved well of their country or of human-
ity. There are monuments commemorating the deeds and
the prowess of Columbus, Bolivar, San Martin, Gran and
Bolognesi, but not a single block of marble or a single
plate of bronze to record the exploits of the first ruler of

1 Lima, writes the noted Peruviaii writer, Sr. £. Liarrabure j Unanue^ may
feel proud to be in poeseeaion of the rich treasure of these remains, for
"They personify an entire epopee. They recall a series of events which
seem rather to belong to the domain of fable than to that of history; from
his terrible otmflioU with the Indians and with nature across the isthmus
of Panama when he cut his way to the South Sea and had his brigantinss
transported on the shoulders of his men from one ocean to the other, until
the heroic resolution taken by the famous thirteen — lo9 treoe de la fama —
on the island of Gallo; the discoFeries and esplorations from Tumbes to
Gajamarca; the march of Hernando and a few soldiers to the coveted temple
of Pachacamac; the sanguinary scene which accompanied the captivity of
Atahualpa and the downfall of the empire, and, as the catastrophe, the in-
testine wars which caused to faU beneath its knife the two brothers, as they
were called in the good times of their intimacy: Pizarro, astute and dom-
inant; Almagro, trustful and generous; but both victims of their own
audacity and their lade of education." MonogrttfUu Hi9tarioa'Afn0ricaina», p.
354, lima. 1893.

248

THE CITY OP THE KINGS

Peru — of the one who is justly regarded as among the
most eminent of the conquistadores.

^^Why is it f I asked a distinguished government official
in Lima, '*that you have no statue or monument of any
kind to the memory of Pizarrot You have erected them
in honor of others less known and less distinguished for
their achievements t "

**It is difficult to answer that question, *' was the reply.
''The only reason I can assign is that the viceroys and
grandees of Spain were unwilling to honor in any signal
manner one of such low birth as Pizarro. An ignorant
swineherd, bom out of wedlock, a soldier of fortune unable
to write his own name, did not appeal to them as one
worthy of special distinction. Then again, his cruelty
towards the Indians, greatly exaggerated, I think, and his
judicial murder of Atahualpa may have made them hesi-
tate to glorify him as a hero or as a benefactor of his race.
Personally, ' ' continued my informant, '*I should like to
see a monument to Pizarro in one of the plazas of the
capital he founded, and I know there are many of my
opinion.

**The conqueror of Peru had his faults, no doubt, but
many of them should be attributed to the age in which he
lived rather than to any innate depravity or moral delin-
quency of the man himself. Say what you will, the achieve-
ments of the man rank him among the most notable
characters of all time, and his name will be ever insep-
arably associated with some of the most brilliant exploits
recorded in the annals of conquest. There are hundreds
of shafts and statues in Europe erected to the memory of
men who have not a tithe of the claim to distinction that
Pizarro has, and I hope the day will soon come when my
country will give formal recognition — tardy though it be —
to one of the greatest military and administrative geniuses
of his own or of any age/*

My informant was right. We may not like the con-
queror of Atahualpa, but we must admire him. After an

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nnfortmiate infancy and an obscure adolescence, daring
which he had none of the advantages of home training
or scholastic instruction; after an early manhood spent
among a profligate soldiery in a desperate struggle against
fortune, the impecunious adventurer becomes the master
of a more extensive empire than that of his puissant sov-
ereign in Europe. An iron will and a rare prudence in
the hazards of war and the ventures of business enterprise
always secured for him the laurels of victory and the
guerdon of success. He was never defeated and never
taken by surprise. Everywhere he went in Peru he left
imperishable monuments of his passage. In less than
seven years he founded the cities of Piura, Trujillo, Jauja,
Huamanga, Huanucco, La Plata, Arequipa and Lima.
In addition to this, he contributed materially towards the
betterment of Tumbez, Puerto Viejo, Cajamarca and Cuzco.
He laid the foundations of commerce and art, industry
and agriculture, and made special provision for the moral
and religious development of his subjects. No adventurer
ever conquered a more extensive territory, or achieved
so much with so little. No one ever gave greater riches
to the land of his birth, no one spent less on himself, or
more in furthering the best interests of a conquered coun-
try. And, although he had command of almost limitless
resources and was able to reward his lieutenants with pos-
sessions richer than those of princes, no one was ever more
loyal to Spain or deserved better of Peru.

What such a man might have become, had his childhood
and youth been different, and had he enjoyed the advan-
tages of education and culture, is idle to speculate. As
it was, he became, by the sheer force of genius and daring,
one of the greatest and most successful commanders in
history. Had he possessed, in addition to genius and dar-
ing, the accomplishments of a Cortes or a Ximenes de
Quesada, it is not too much to assert that he would now
take rank with such transcendent leaders as Csesar and
Bonaparte.

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THE CITY OP THE KINGS

Yet, notwithstanding all his limitations, the fact still
remains that Francisco Pizarro was one of Spain's most
distinguished sons, and one of Peru's greatest benefactors,
and as such his memory is deserving of far greater honor
than it has yet received. As the conqueror of the greatest
empire in the New World, as the founder of the beautiful
City of the Kings, he is entitled to the noblest and the
most conspicuous monument in the capital of the republic.
But whether Peru ever honors the illustrious conquistador
in this manner or not, it matters little, so far as his fame
is concerned, for he holds a place among the immortals
from which he can never be dislodged. In the words of
a gifted Peruvian poetisa,

''Fund6 ciudades y dej6 memorias,
Que etemas quedaran en las historias."^

A short distance from the cathedral is the admirable
church of La Merced. It is notable not only because it is
one of the most beautiful structures in the city, but also
because its foundation is due to Hernando Pizarro, the
brother of the conqueror. One of the greatest ecclesi-
astical functions of the year is celebrated in this church
on the twenty-fourth of September, the feast of Nuestra
Senora de la Merced, the patroness of the arms of
Peru. The president of the republic and his cabinet
and all the representatives of the government are pres-
ent at this celebration, and the church then presents a
scene of splendor that is rarely witnessed elsewhere

I'^He founded cities and left a record that will endure as long as history's
eternal page."

After this work was ready for the press I was glad to find that in 1892,
on the occasion of the removal of Pizarro's remains to the chapel in which
they now repose, His Grace, Manuel Tovar, the ardibishop of Lima, expressed
himself on this subject as follows:

"Qod grant that at no distant day we may all — sons of this land and
strangers who visit our shores — ^be able to salute with admiration and respect
in the Plaza Mayor of the Peruvian metropolis the glorious statue of the
conqueror of Peru and the founder of Lima." Iluairaoion Espa^la y Amer-
icana, Aug. 22, 1892.

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ontside of the great basilica of St. Peter's in the Eternal
City.

Bivaling the ohnroh of Merced and the cathedrtd in
beauty and grandenr are the stately and massive churches
of San Francisco, San Augustin and San Domingo— three
edifices that would command admiration in Bome or Paris,
so famed for their places of worship.

San Domingo is celebrated as being the last resting-
place of Santa Bosa, who was in 1670 declared by Clement
X to be the Patrona Universal y Principal de America,
FiUpinas e Indias — ^patroness of all the Americas and the
Philippine Islands and the Indies, — ^and who is, as the
Boman breviary beautifully expresses it. Primus America
MeridionaUs fios sanctitatis — the first flower of sanctity
of South America.^ Her altar, adorned with an exquisite
marble image of the saint, donated by one of the popes,
is one of the most charming works of art in the city. It
is always decked with fresh, sweet-scented roses, and at
all hours of the day one will find crowds of people, young
and old, kneeling in silent prayer around this favorite
shrine.

Although the people of Lima never tire of sounding the
praises of their sweet little Santa Bosa,^ they do not forget
another one of their saints to whom the church in Peru
is deeply indebted. This is Santo Toribio, the second

1 Santa Rosa was the first but not the only saint, as is usually asserted, of
South America. Lima alone claims four others who were either bom in
Peru or who chose it as the field of their apostolic labors and sanctified them-
selves on its soil. These are St. Francis Solano, a Friar Minor, the apostle
of Tuouman; St. Toribio, Blessed Martin Porres, A Franciscan Tertiary; and
Blessed John, Massias, a Dominican lay-brother, who was bom and died in
lima. Blessed Marianna de Jesus, known as the Lily of Quito, whose life
in many respects resembled that of Santa Rosa, should also be classed as a
Peruvian saint, for the province of Quito was long a part of Peru.

'As an evidence of the extraordinary popularity of Santa Rosa, it suffices
to observe that at the celebration of her tercentenary in lima in 1886 it
was found that the number of works in various languages treating of her life
and virtues amounted to nearly three hundred. For so modem a saint, and
one whose life was so hidden, this is truly astonishing.

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THE CITY OP THE KINGS

archbishop of Peru. He was bom in Spain, it is true, but
the Peruvians claim him as their own. Like the great
bishop of Chiapas, Las Casas, he was remarkable for his
labors in behalf of the Indians, among whom his name is
still held in benediction in all parts of Peru.

His biographers tell us that during the twenty-five years
he ruled the archdiocese of Lima, the saintly prelate spent
eighteen in visiting his flock and that the distance he trav-
eled during this time was nearly twenty-five thousand
miles. When we are told that much of his traveling was
done afoot, in wild and distant parts of the country, among
inhospitable and almost inaccessible mountains, where at
times it was impossible to find either food, drink or shelter,
and in the extremes of heat and cold, we can form some
conception of the strenuous character of his missionary
career and of the magnitude of his labors.

During these visits to the bleak and arid puna and to
the sultry montana beyond the Cordilleras, he confirmed
no fewer than a million souls,^ most of them Indians, who
had been evangelized by zealous missionaries who had pre-
ceded him. Indeed the greatest part of his time was de-
voted to these humble and scattered sheep of his flock,
and he left nothing undone to secure them in the rights
that were theirs as children of a common Father. He
was their acknowledged protector, and much of the legis-
lation that had its origin in the various councils and synods
convened during his administration, had in view the wel-
fare of these longsuffering victims of injustice and oppres-
sion. He was a Charles Borremeo in administrative capac-
ity, and a Francis Xavier in missionary activity. He was
in very truth a man of God, and most deserving the epithet
"Apostle of Peru. ^^*

But Lima is not only remarkable for its churches and

1 Pope Benedict XIV, De Oanonieaiione Sanciorufn, Lib. HI, Gap. XXXIV.

2 Mirabilia Vita et MiribUiora Aota Ven, Servi Dei Turibii AlphonH Mogro-
beaU, Lima/nensia AroMprcBSulis, a Cipriano Herrera, Romae, 1670, and Vie
de Saint Turihe, par Dom Berengier, Paris, 1872.

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saints, it is also distinguished for its schools and scholars.
Here is found the oldest university of the New World,
that of San Marcos. It was established in 1551 — ** fifty-six
years before the English settlers landed in Jamestown;
fifty-eight years before Hudson sailed into the bay of New
York, and sixty-nine years before the Mayflower touched
the shores of New England/' By virtue of the charter,
it enjoyed all the honors and privileges of the University
of Salamanca, one of the most noted seats of learning in
Europe. It proudly points to a countless number of its
alumni who have won international distinction in science,
letters, theology, medicine and jurisprudence.

Lima was also the first city in the New World to have
periodicals like our modem newspaper. She had them,
indeed, when but few cities in Europe could boast of such
'* Expeditious messengers of intelligence. ' ' The list of
works that came from the Lima press in the seventeenth
century exceeded four hundred, all of which are now ex-
tremely rare and highly prized by bibliophiles.

For generations Lima was the center of learning and
culture in South America. Indeed, during the whole of
the colonial period it was, as has been well expressed, la
cabeza y el corazon — ^the head and the heart— of the south-
em continent. The literary productions of her sons and
daughters, who followed the schools of Seville and Anda-
lusia, were of a high order of merit, and in many instances
compared favorably with the masterpieces of the mother
country.^

But the literary output of Peru was not confined to
the City of the Kings. Literature was cultivated in other
parts of the viceroyalty, notably in Cuzco and Arequipa,
and with such success as to deserve the unstinted praise of
Cervantes and Lope de Vega. Even in obscure comers of

1 Special mention should here be made of that admirable rdigioos ^i<^
the Criatiada of the Dominican, Fray Diego de Ojeda. Of parts of this nwuh
terpiece no less an authority than the distinguished Spanish author, Qoint'^'^
writes that they are equal to the most sublime passages of Homer, Dax'
Milton.

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THE CITY OP THE KINGS

the Andes it had its votaries. The most remarkable in-
stance of this is in the person of a woman, supposed to
have been Dona Maria de Alvarado, a descendant of the
conqnistadory Captain Otomez de Alvarado. This

''Fenix rara & dulces muses inelinada"

is known by her poetical name AmarUis, which she used
in her celebrated metrical correspondence with Lope de
Vega, who appears under the name of Belardo. Judging
by the specimens of her work that have come down to us,
this remarkable woman deserves to rank among the first
poets of the viceroyal regime, and the productions of her
muse are quite equal to those that have ever come from
the pen of any of her sex in Latin America.

It is not my purpose, however, to tell what Lima — ^much
less what Peru — ^has achieved in literature and science;
what her schools and colleges have done for the intellectual
advancement of her sons and daughters. That of itself
would require a large volume. SuflSce it to say that it was
for a long time regarded as the Athens of South America,
and was actually known by this name during the greater
part of the viceroyalty. But, after Peru separated from
Spain and wars and civil dissensions multiplied, the City
of the Kings lost her proud supremacy in letters and sci-
ence, and the title, she had so long borne with such distinc-
tion, was claimed by the capital of Colombia. Since the
War of Independence, the Athens of South America has
been in Bogota, but there is reason to believe that it will
soon be once more on the banks of the Bimac.

All indications point in this direction, notwithstanding
the literary and scientific work that is being done in Bogota,
Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile. For not since Peru
became a republic has Lima manifested such intellectual
activity as she has exhibited during the past few years.
She has made notable advances in every branch of research,
and her learned societies, especially the Athenceumy the

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ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Historical InstitiUe and the Oeographical Society are doing
work that is recognized the world over as of permanent
value. This is evinced, to give but two illustrations, by
the Boletin del la Sodedad Geografica de Lima and La
Revista Historica, the organ of the Institute Historico del
Peru.

Aside from her numerous educational institutions and
learned societies the best evidence of the new intellectual
life that pervades the capital of Peru is seen in her splendid
National Museum and in the National Public Library.

Although the Museum was completed but a few years
ago, it already contains in its spacious halls many collec-
tions of supreme interest to the student. Of special value
are the treasures in the departments of history and archae-
ology. My attention was particularly claimed by the ob-
jects taken from the prehistoric cemeteries of Ancon and
Pachacamac,^ both places but a short distance from Lima.
Owing to the absence of rain in these localities the objects
buried with the dead, even the most delicate textile fabrics,
are in a wonderful state of preservation. Indeed, some of
the articles of clothing and adornment are as well pre-
served as any similar fabrics found in the tombs of Egypt.
Their colors, too, are as bright as when first applied, al-
though the objects in question all belong to pre-Columbian
times.^

Frequently, as I passed in review these curious relics
of a prehistoric past, my mind reverted to the great
museum of Bulak on the banks of the Nile. Here, too,

iThe reader who may be interested in the remains that have been found
in Pachaoamac and Anoon, is referred to Max Uhle's work, Pachacamao,
Philadelphia, 1903, and to the two sumptuous volumes by Reiss and Stdbel,
entitled Da9 Totmfeld von Anoon, Berlin, 1880, 1887.

s Wiener fancies that he has discovered in the various designs which enrich
the textures found in the Hwuxu — ^tombs — of Peru evidence of a written lan-
guage. In his work, P6rau et BoUvie, p. 760, he says explicitly, Jfous fiwont
noire pensSe 9ur le papier, le P4rwoien Vinaorivait sur le tieeu. I must confess
that I have never been able to detect in the bizarre figures ol old Peruvian
Ussues any more evidence of a written language than may be found in a
piece of calico or organdy.

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THE CITY OP THE KINGS

are collected the remains and the cerements of a race who^
like the Incas and their predecessors, have left monuments
as imperishable as they are mysterious. Indeed, the monu-
ments, especially some of the specimens of architecture,
of the ancient Peruvians, forcibly remind one of certain
structures in the one-time land of the Pharaohs* Not with-
out reason, then, has Peru been called the Egypt of the
New World. And as I wandered through this noble insti-
tution, noting the scientific value of the rare collections
gathered within its halls, I said to myself — **Here is the
beginning of an American Bulak, a museum that will do
for the history of Incaic and pre-Incaic Peru what the
museum in Cairo has accomplished for the history of the
Egypt of the sphinx and pyramid builders.

Peru is singularly rich in the remains of its aboriginal
inhabitants. They are found in all parts of the country,
from its northern frontier to Lake Titicaca, and from the
Pacific to the Montana. Some of these have already found
a place in the National Museum, but there are still myriads
of others scattered throughout the republic awaiting the
advent of the intelligent collector and their final transfer
to the capital of the nation. Much has already been taken
from the ruins and cemeteries of Chimu, Ancon, Cuzco and
Pachacamac, but much more is awaiting the pick and the
spade of the archaeologist. The investigations of Beiss
and Stubel in Ancon, of Max Uhle in Pachacamac, and of
Bandolier in the islands of Coati and Titicaca, show what
rare treasures are in reserve for the explorer in this still
little-known land, and the success which has attended their
labors should stimulate others to walk in their footsteps.
Peruvian archaeology is still in its infancy, and for that
very reason there is no more promising field in the world
than Peru for those who are interested in studying the
remains of tribes long since extinct, or of people who have
played such an important role in South America as the
Children of the Sun.

The government of Peru realizes the importance of all

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ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

work that will in any way contribnte towards filling up
the many lacnnse whioh still exist in the history of the
country. For this reason it is specially favorable towards
researdi of all kinds by whomsoever undertaken^ and for
this reason also it is eager to make the collections in the
National Museum as complete as possible. If the present
plans are carried out, there is no doubt that this institution
will eventually be the most important of its kind in the
New World — a veritable Bulak for the American Egypt —
and that it will be of the utmost assistance in enabling
future scholars to solve certain problems in ethnology and
anthropology that have hitherto baffled all the efforts of
the keenest investigators.

Quite as important for history as the museum for archsB-
ology is the well-equipped Public Library which, if not the
largest, is certainly the most valuable in South America.
Unfortunately it does not now possess all the inestimable
treasures it contained three decades ago. Then it counted
fifty thousand printed volumes and eight thousand manu-
scripts. Among the printed volumes was every work that
had been issued from the press of Peru since 1584. Many
of these were as rare as they were valuable, while most
of the manuscripts were absolutely unique. There were
also the productions of nearly all the chroniclers of Spanish
America, some of which it would have been difficult, if not
impossible, to duplicate.

Then Peru witnessed that terrible invasion from the
south euphemistically called the Wajr of the Pacific — a
war of spoliation and conquest without parallel in the New
World — a war unprovoked by Peru, but signalized on the
part of the invader by acts of barbaric atrocity that were
a disgrace to a nation calling itself civilized.

In January, 1881, the Chilean troops entered Lima.
*'No one,** wrote Don Eicardo Palma, in his protest against
the wanton and barbarous acts of destruction of the in-
vading army, '* could have supposed, without an insult to
the government of Chile, a government that pretends to

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THE CITY OP THE KINGS

dvilization and culture, that this govermnent would seize
as plunder of war the appliances of the university, the
museum of the school of medicine, the instruments of the
school of mines, the national archives, and objects belong-
ing to other institutions of a purely scientific, literary or
artistic character/'

Tet, during their occupation of Lima, the Chileans did
not hesitate *'to invest war with a barbarous character
foreign to the lights of the age, to the usages of honorable
belligerents, and to the universally recognized principles
of right/' The library and the university of San Marcos
were converted by the soulless Vandals into barracks.
The books, writes Markham, **were either sold as waste
paper, thrown into the street, or stolen. The pictures and
everything of value in the exhibition building, the labora-
tory and appurtenances of the school of medicine, all the
models and appliances for teaching in the schools of art,
sciences and trade, and public monuments, were destroyed,
or carried off. The benches of the lecture rooms were cut
up to make packing cases for the plunder.'' ^

In this crime against civilization, in this outrage per-
petrated on a sister republic, Omar and Alaric were out-
done in deeds of desolation and savagery. No wonder the
United States minister felt called upon to report them as
'* violations of the rules of civilized warfare, which call
for an earnest protest on behalf of all civilized nations."

Thanks, however, to a number of public-spirited Peru-
vians, who occupied themselves during the Vandalic occu-
pation of their fair capital in collecting, as far as possible,
the scattered treasures of their ravaged library, enough
of the books and manuscripts — about eight thousand all
told — ^were recovered to form the nucleus of a new library,
which was begun as soon as the enemy withdrew from the
city. And, realizing the appalling loss that letters and sci-
ence had sustained in Lima, through the ruthless soldiery
of Chile, the United States and Spain, Argentina and

1 A. History of Peru, pp. 417, 432, 471, Chicago, 1892.

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ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Ecuador promptly came forward with generons donations
of books to replace those that had been destroyed or stolen.
Thanks to these and other gifts from varions sonrces^
public and private, the library of lima has again on its
shelves almodt as many volumes as it had before the arrival
of the destructive invader. It and the museum constitute
two of the richest storehouses of books and specimens in
the whole of South America, the two depositaries of lit-
erary and scientific appliances whither the historian and
archs^logist will first turn for material in their respective
lines of research.

Nothing, indeed, impressed me more while looking over
the rare books and manuscripts of Lima than the splendid
opportunity here offered the man of letters and the his-
torian, of working among materials that are practically
unknown and yet of the greatest value. Among the manu-
scripts are gems of prose and verse sufficient for a large
anthology, while among the published works are many con-
nected with the early history of Peru, that are of such
exceeding rarity as to be found in but few libraries and
to be quite beyond the purse of anyone but a millionaire
booklover.

It was while reveling among these treasures that I saw
how a dream, which I had long fondly cherished, and which
I am sure many students of Peruvian history have like-
wise equally cherished, could eventually be realized. And
if my Limanian friends will permit an ardent admirer of
their chivalrous and cultured city to express his whole
thought, I will say that my dream had reference to the
publication of the rare historical works in their library
in such form as to render them available for the increasing
multitude of students throughout the world who desire
positive knowledge at first hand regarding the history and
antiquities of the great empire of the Incas.

Who are more competent than the directors of the library
and museum, and the members of the historical and geo-
graphical societies of Lima to annotate and edit these

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THE CITY OP THE KINGS

works! Who are so well qualified to give critical esti-
mates of the true values of the various eariy chronicles t
Who are so familiar with the manners and customs of the
Quichua and Ayamara Indians, and so familiar with their
language, — a knowledge of which is so essential in dealing
with many details of history, geography and ethnology!
And for whom should such an undertaking be more a labor
of love than for those who have most faithfully preserved
the traditions of the Children of the Sun, and in whose
veins courses the blood of the most distinguished of the
conquistadores as well as of the most illustrious of Spanish
grandees t

What Americanists have long desired, and what they
now desire more than ever, is a critical, well-annotated
Coleccion de los Historiadores del Peru, something in the
style of the works on Peru edited by Clements E. Mark-
ham for the Hakluyt Society. Similar collections have
been published by some of the other South American repub-
lics, and several attempts have been made, by the scholars
of Spain and Peru, to inaugurate the work in question.
Las Memorias de los Vireyes, the Documentos Historicos
of Sr. Ordriozola, as well as the works edited by M. Gon-
zalez de la Bosa, M. Jimenez de la Espada and Bicardo
Palma have made a beginning. It remains for the scholars
of Peru to complete the work begun when times and con-
ditions were not as auspicious as they are at present.

In addition to a complete collection of the early chron-
iclers and historians there should, me jvdice, be new edi-
tions of the works of Arriaga, Calancha and Melendez,
which throw such a flood. of light on the manners and cus-
toms of the Indians, their rites and superstitions. Each
of these works, as well as all the others in the collection,
should, in order to be of the greatest service to the stu-
dent, be enriched with copious notes and an elaborate
index, which, as Holmes truly observes, is what ** every
book worth printing is entitled to.^^ I emphasize the im-
portance of these things because of their absence from

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many otherwise valuable books published on Spanish Amer-
ica. I have, for instance, in my library the complete works
of the recent editions of Peter Martyr, Las Casas and
Oviedo y Valdez, not to mention other similar productions
on American history, but not one of them has either index
or annotations of any kind. The consequence is that the
reader, unless thoroughly familiar with their contents, is
obliged to lose much valuable time whenever he consults
them — a loss that would be obviated if the books were
properly indexed and annotated.

I refer especially to the necessity of illustrative notes,
because of the many changes in the names of places since
the time of the conquest, and of the different ways of
writing the same names, as well as of the various and con-
tradictory statements sometimes observed of different
authors regarding localities and events. Giving the reader
the advantage of the researches of such investigators as
Raimondi, Mendiburu and Paz Soldan, the study of Peru-
vian history would be invested with all the interest and
charm of a romance, and the story of the land of the Lucas,
which has always had an interest possessed by that of no
other country in South America, would then have a fasci-
nation that would be irresistible.

I have dwelt somewhat at length on the literary and
scientific features of Lima because they appealed to me
more than any other. I have also wished to voice the senti-
ments of many others who, I know, entertain the same
views as I do regarding the matter in question, and at the
same time speak a word in behalf of the future Irvings
and Prescotts who, in the days to come, shall transmute
the dry records of the early chroniclers into imperishable
masterpieces of literature. I would not, however, have
the reader infer that I was indifferent to the many other
attractions of this fair capital, or that I did not appreciate
them at their full value. Nothing is farther from my pur-
pose.

Lima is to-day, as truly as it was in the time of the vice-

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roys, La Perla del Pacifico. The beauty, the grace and the
talent of her daughters still retain the same supremacy
as they did when they inspired the songs of the poet who
frequented the tertuUas and academias of the viceregal
court, and it is not rare to meet a fair Limanian of whom
one can truthfully say, in the words of Calderon, that * * she
is crowned with beauty and laureled with knowledge'':

''Se coron6 de hermosura,
Se laure6 de entendimiento."

The culture, generosity and nobility of her sons is in keep-
ing with the best traditions of the mother country and
exhibit that peculiar Spanish cachet which is the distinctive
mark of the best and truest Americanism in the lands of
Pizarro, Quesada and Cortes.^

The visitor will not now find that display and luxury
which in other days characterized the City of the Kings.
The streets are no longer paved with silver ingots nor
adorned with silver arches, as when the Count de Lemos
and the Duke de Palata entered the capital as the repre-
sentatives of the sovereigns of Spain. But, notwithstand-
ing the absence of these things, there is everywhere evi-
dence of wealth and comfort. And were one not informed
of the fact, one would find it difficult to believe the city
had passed through the horrors of the disastrous Chilean

1 Jorge Juan and Antonio de UUoa, op. dt., Tom. II, lib. I, Cap. V, found,
as does the traveler to-day, the personal charms of the women of Lima
'heightened by those of the mind, clear and comprdiensive intellect, an easi-
ness of behaviour, so well tempered, that while it invites love, it commands
respect. The charms of their conversation are beyond expression, their ideas
just, their expressions pure, their manners inimitably graceful. These are
the allurements by which great numbers of Europeans, forgetting the fair
prospects they have at heme, are induced to marry and settle here."

Another traveler, writing of the men of Peru, declares, and with truth,
that they "have fallen heirs to the courtly grace and admirable aavair faire,
which made the Knights of Santiago and Alcantara famoius among the first
gentlemen of Europe four centuries ago, and which, descending to their
children and children's children, have become diaraeteristic of Spanish-
speaking people all over the world."

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oocnpation but a few decades ago. On every side one ob-
serves surprising indications of material progress and
prosperity. The population, which now counts one hun-
dred and fifty thousand souls, is rapidly increasing, and
large and stately structures, worthy of any capital in the
world, are being erected in every part of the city. Among
these are banks, mercantile and manufacturing establish-
ments, which represent an immense expenditure for build-
ings and equipment. Foreign investors, having entire
confidence in the power and stability of the government,
have large interests here as well as in other parts of the
republic, and the number of capitalists in Europe and the
United States who are seeking investments in the ^^ golden
land of Peru'^ is constantly augmenting. English, Ger-
mans, French, Italians are quite numerous here, and all of
them do an extensive business. Our own country is splen-
didly represented by W. R. Grace and Company, and by a
number of successful mining syndicates; but the United
States is far from occupying her proper place here in the
world of commerce and industrial enterprise. There are
countless openings here for wide-awake business men, and
fame and fortune await those who know how to take advan-
tage of the rare opportunities that are now offered in the
marts of commerce, in the mines of the sierra and in the
forest-clad regions of the upper Amazon basin.

When one notes the energy and enterprise of its citizens,
and observes the remarkable progress they are making
along every line of human endeavor, one can easily predict,
without the slightest fear of erring, that the erstwhile City
of the Bangs will ere long have recovered all her former
prestige as an emporium of commerce, and that she will
again deserve, as in days gone by, the proud title of Reina
del Pacifico — ^Queen of the Pacific.

264

CHAPTER XV
THE EEALM OF THE GREAT CHIMU

The time had at last arrived for starting on my long
jonmey across the Andes and down the Amazon. And,
although I had all along felt that I shonld prefer to go by
way of Cajamarca and Moyabamba, my itinerary from
Lima to Pard had not yet been definitely determined.
Many of my Peruvian friends, among them prominent
government officials, strongly recommended the recently
opened Pichis and Pachitea route. This would be much
shorter and easier than any other, and could, compared
with the other routes, be traversed with the minimum of
fatigue and discomfort. The only arduous part of it would
be a few days' travel on horseback between Oroya, the
terminus of the railroad, and Puerto Bermudes, the head
of navigation on the Pichis river. Arrived at this point,
one could go by steamer to Iquitos on the Amazon,
where one would find vessels going directly to Europe and
the United States. This has for some years been the
popular route, and the one usually chosen by the employes
of the government who are engaged in the Department
of Loreto, which comprises the northeastern part of the
republic.

President Pardo, who was kind enough to take an interest
in my projected journey across the continent, likewise
favored the Pichis route. And then with a kindness I can
never forget he said, **Two new launches, built specially
for service on the Pichis and Ucayali rivers, have recently
arrived in Iquitos and will, in a few days, make their
maiden trips to Puerto Bermudes. I should be delighted
to put one of these at your disposition and do anything

265

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

else in my power that will enable yon to make the journey
to the Amazon with the maximum of pleasure and profit.
The way by Cajamarca is long and difficult, and implies
a journey of nearly a month on horseback, in addition to
a week's tramp through the almost trackless montana,
where there is not a single habitation of any kind/'

As in La Paz, when a similar courteous offer was made
me by the president of Bolivia, I begged for time to con-
sider the matter. I had so set my heart on seeing Caja-
marca, so famous in the annals of the conquest, that I did
not wish to think of a route that would preclude the fruition
of this desire. The fact that the journey by way of Caja-
marca would be much longer and more arduous, far from
deterring me from undertaking it, was rather an additional
incentive to my making it. I had come to study the people
of the country rather than dark and uninhabited forests,
like those bordering the banks of the Ucayali, and I was,
therefore, disinclined to allow the matter of ease and com-
fort to be the deciding factors regarding my itinerary.
Besides this, there was the old sentimental objection
against the Pichis route. It was off the line of travel of
the conquistadores, and was otherwise entirely devoid of
historic and romantic interest.

The day after my interview, I attended a banquet given
at the National Club by the president of the Peruvian
Corporation. Among those present were two retired gov-
ernment officials, who had rendered distinguished service
to the republic in the cities of Trujillo and Chacahpoyas.
Our host, who had, on various occasions during my travels
in Peru, extended me special courtesies, which I shall
always gratefully remember, and who was aware of my
intention to start for the Amazon in a few days, asked
these gentlemen what they thought of the Cajamarca route
as compared with the one by way of Puerto Bermudes.

**If," said the former prefect of Chachapoyas, **one
wishes to get off the beaten track, and see the Peru of
colonial times, where the manners and customs of the

266

THE REALM OF THE GREAT CHIMU

people are still as they were in the time of the viceroys,
one should by all means visit the country between Caja-
marca and Moyobamba. To me it is the most interesting
part of Peru. The people are hospitable, and the scenery
in the sierra is grand beyond description. To one who is
not afraid to rough it a little, the route to Iquitos, by way
of Cajamarca and the Huallaga, is incomparably more
interesting than the one by way of the rivers Pichis and
Yucayali.'^

The ex-prefect of Trujillo cordially endorsed this opin-
ion. **The Cajamarca route,*' he said, ** aside from being
the historic route across Peru to the Amazon, offers many
other attractive features not mentioned by my Chachapoyas
friend. Not the least of these are the fertile valley of
Chicama and the little-known ruins of Ouelap, east of the
Maranon. But the place most deserving of a visit is the
site of the ancient capital of The Great Chimu. The ruins
found here are unique, and in many respects as imposing
as any in the republic. No one interested in prehistoric
archaeology should leave Peru without paying a visit to
this spof

The matter was then discussed by other members of the
party with the result that I then definitely announced that
I should immediately prepare to start for Trujillo, whence
I should journey to the Amazon in the footsteps of Pedro
de Orsua and Lope de Aguirre in their memorable quest
of Omagua and Dorado.

^^Who is going with youf inquired Sr. V , with

undisguised concern. I replied that I purposed traveling
alone, unless I should fall in with someone on the way.
**That will never do,*' he said. **The journey is too long
and trying to make alone. The risk, in case of sickness
or accident, in traveling unaccompanied through such a
long stretch of sparsely settled country, as that between
the Pacific and the Amazon, is too great to justify your
making the trip alone. We must find someone to go with
you.'*

267

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

The following day, as I was walking along the Calle de

Mercaderesy I met Sr. V , whose face was wreathed in

smiles. **You are,** he exclaimed, **the very one I am
looking for. I have just been to see His Excellency, the
President, regarding yonr jonmey to the Amazon, and he
agrees with me that yon should not go alone. He has,
accordingly, given instructions that yon be furnished with
a military escort from Trujillo to Iquitos. This is not
because of any danger to be apprehended from the Indians,
or from others on the way, but that you may be able to
enjoy your trip free from all unnecessary cares and labor.
Your escort will look after your saddle and pack animals,
take care of your tent, where you may use it, do your cook-
ing, where desired, and make every other possible pro-
vision for your comfort during your journey. You will
also have letters from His Excellency to all the prefects ^
en route, who will be requested to give you special atten-
tion while traveling in their respective departments.**

The reader can imagine my surprise on learning this
arrangement so kindly made in my behalf. Since my
arrival in Peru I had been the recipient of favors of all
kinds whithersoever I went, but this last one, so spon-
taneous and so unexp^ted, coming from the chief execu-
tive of the nation, and those who were nearest to him,
was the culmination of all the delicate attentions and con-
siderate acts that had so signalized my joumeyings in
the land of the Incas.

I shall never forget my last day in Lima. I had taken
leave of the many kind friends who had made my sojourn
in their fair city so delightful, and who had contributed

i"Peni is divided politically into twenty-two large territorial circum-
scriptions which, under the name of Departments and littoral Provinces,
are subject to the authority of a prefect who receives his instructions
directly from the secretary of the interior. These circumscriptions are sub-
divided into one hundred and one provinces, which are in charge of sub-
prefects; finally the provinces are subdivided into eight hundred and one
districts, which are directly under the authority of governors." Peru in 1906,
p. 03, by Alexander Gkrland, lima, 1007.

268

THE REALM OF THE GREAT CHIMU

80 much towards rendering the journey I was entering
upon both pleasant and profitable. Betaming to my hotel
to give instructions about my baggage, I found to my
amazement that it had been greatly increased during my
short absence. There was a fine Panama hat and a case
of exquisite Bordeaux from a prominent member of the
Chamber of Deputies. There was a beautiful silver goblet
and a small medicine case from a well-known miner. There
were water-proof sleeping-bags, blankets, umbrellas, pho-
tographic appliances, books and other similar articles,
selected by thoughtful friends with a view to the pleasure
and comfort they would afford the departing traveler in
his long journey across the continent. Never was I more
deeply touched than when I saw before me these manifes-
tations of good will. And yet should I say that I was
surprised T Had not all my previous experience in this
hospitable land been but a series of similar acts of kindly
foresight and unfailing generosity T

The day after departing from Lima, which I confess I
left with a heavy heart, I found myself at Salaverry, the
port of Trujillo. As I left the steamer I overheard the
captain remarking to one of the passengers, ^^That frail
man will never reach Pard. Only a hardy cholo should
undertake such a journey. I will wager ten to one that
he will die on the way.*' This aside was not intended for
my ear, but it was no more calculated to discourage than
the last words of a fellow passenger, a friend of mine, who
was greatly opposed to my journey and who did not hesi-
tate to pronounce it extremely hazardous, if not foolhardy.
Seeing that his premonitions were of no avail, he bade
me good-by, repeating, half in earnest and half in jest,
Dante's well-known words:

€€

Lasciate ogni speranza, voi qu' entrate.'' ^

The first one to greet me on my arrival at Salaverry
was Sr. V , the prefect of Trujillo, a brother of his

1 "All hope abandon, ye who enter here.''

269

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

predecessor in office, and of the one who had so interested
himself in securing for me a military escort.

**I received a telegram yesterday from my brother, an-
nomicing your coming," said the prefect after the usual
greetings were exchanged, ^'and I have come to claim you
as my guest during your sojourn in our city. You have
come just in time for the great funciones that are to take
place here on the occasion of the first visit of our new
fleet. It is due to-morrow, and for the next few days there
will be a series of entertainments of all kinds at which
you are cordially invited to be present."

Trujillo is one of the many cities founded by Francisco
Pizarro, and is named after the birthplace of the conqueror.^
For a long time it was known as one of the most aristo-
cratic cities in Peru and even to-day it counts many fam-
ilies that claim descent from the conquistadores or from
distinguished Spanish grandees. But most of its former
glory has departed and its population is reduced to about
eight thousand souls. Yet, notwithstanding its decline, it
is a place well worth visiting, not only on account of the
attractions of the city itself, but more particularly on
account of the famous ruins in its immediate vicinity.

I have always deemed it a privilege that I was able to
take part in the festivities that were coincident with my

1 In his Lima Fundada,^ which would long ago have been forgotten were
it not for its value as history, the poet Peralta Bamuevo, whom one of his
admirers declares was the sweetest voice Parnassus ever knew, refers to the
foundation of Trujillo by the conqueror of Peru as follows:

"Como padron de su famosa euna
De la ilustre Trujillo por memoria,
Ciudadi 6 quien apenas habr6 alguna,
Que puede competir su etema gloria;
En la planta que mas juzg6 oportuna,
Otra erige del tiempo, alta victoria;
Pues solo el que al modelo di6 tal nombre,
Copia le pudo hacer de tal renombre."

1 Por el Dr. D. Pedro de Peralta Bamuevo Rocha y Benavides, Canto VIII,
Strophe 38 (Lima, 1732), en la Colecoion de Dooumentos lAterarios del
Peru, Ck>lectados y Areglados por D. Manuel de Odriozola, Lima, 1963.

270

THE REALM OF THE GREAT CHIMU

visit to Trujillo. I was thus able to observe at its best
the ardent and noble character of the Peruvian when his
emotions are stirred by patriotism and memories of bril-
liant achievements.

For several days after the arrival of the Grau and the
Bolognesi — ^the latest additions to the Peruvian fleet — ^the
people of TrujDlo were delirious with joy and excitement.
All work was suspended and nothing was thought of but
balls, speeches, banquets and general merry-making. The
streets and houses were gay with flags and bunting during
the day, and illumined by fireworks and multicolored
Chinese lanterns at night. There were excursions to the
country-places of rich haciendados, receptions on the
bright, armored cruisers in the roadstead, and rejoicings
in every town and village of the department. At the grand
ball given in honor of the heroic Admiral Carbajal and
his officers, there was a blaze of color and a display of
elegant toilets which revealed better than words could tell,
the mystery and the potency of a Peruvian woman's tocch
dor. Handsome young cavaliers in brilliant uniforms and
charming young senoritas, aglow with the enthusiasm in-
spired by the occasion, presented a picture that once seen
can never be forgotten.

Those who were unable to attend the public balls and
receptions were not, therefore, excluded from the general
rejoicing. Everywhere, as one walked along the streets,
were to be heard the soft music of the guitar and the
mandolin, and, in scores of richly decorated solas, minuets,
fandangos and mariquitas were in full swing, to the accom-
paniment of the Castanet and the vihuela.

Everywhere abounded buoyant gladness and patriotic ex-
ultation— feelings expressed by a recital of the glories of
the country's past and a forecast of her greatness in the
future. **TrujDlo," the visitors were reminded, **was the
first city in Peru that proclaimed emancipation from Span-
ish rule, for which reason the department, of which she
is now the capital, was called Libertad — ^Liberty.'' And

271

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

time and again Admiral Carbajal, the Farragut of the Pe-
ruvian navy, and the then representative of the nation's
forces on the sea, was assured, in words that came straight
from the heart, that the patriotic people of Libertad would
ever be found loyal to the best traditions of their fathers in
all that concerned their country's honor and aggrandize-
ment.

Much, however, as I was interested in all that I heard
and saw during this triduum of rejoicing, and greatly as I
was charmed by the hospitality and refinement of the good
people of Trujillo, I cannot forget the pleasure I derived
from a visit to the noted ruins of the city's environs, which,
even in their decay, testify to the former existence here
of a rich and powerful race about whom little is known
except that their last ruler was named Chimu Canchu —
The Great Chimu; that his dominions extended from
Tumbez to Huacho, a distance of nearly six hundred miles ;
and that more than a century before the advent of the Span-
iards, he was himself forced to become a vassal of the
victorious Inca Pachacutec, * * the Eef ormer of the World. ' '

El Gran Chimu, as the Spaniards called the former
capital of the Chimu chiefs, was probably the largest and
most populous pre-Columbian city in the New World.
Judging from the ruins scattered over the valley of the
Eio Moche, it must have covered an area about twelve miles
in length and five miles in breadth, and been the home of
fully a hundred thousand inhabitants. It is comparable
to Memphis in extent, and to the ruins of Nineveh and
Babylon in the number and magnitude of its temples and
palaces. Notwithstanding the long centuries that have
elapsed since the city was abandoned, many of the ruins
are still in an admirable state of preservation, and it is
possible to determine with comparative ease the plans and
the probable uses of many of the structures.

What most excites the wonder of the visitor is the
beauty and delicacy of the arabesques and stucco-work
which ornament many of the larger edifices. So artistic

272

Pre-Incaic Ruins of Coelap, near Chachapoyas.

THE BEALM OP THE GREAT CHIMU

are some of them that they remind one of similar decora-
tions in the Alhambra and in the Alcazar of Seville. Many
of them were painted, and in some instances the colors
are yet remarkably bright.

That these adobe structures should have endured for
so many centuries and that the arabesques should persist
in all their pristine beauty and freshness, is easily under-
stood when one recollects that it rarely rains here and
that, when it does rain, the precipitation is but slight. Al-
though the Spaniards called this place El Gran Chimu,
its original name, and the one by which it is still usually
known in these parts, is Chan-Chan, in the Chimu lan-
guage, ** sun-sun,'* presumably so-called on account of
the never-failing intensity of solar radiation.

But more remarkable far than the decorations of the
buildings are the objects which have been and still are
found in the huacas, or burial places in and about Chan-
Chan. The custom prevailed among the Chimus, as among
many other American tribes, of burying with their dead
not only the garments and ornaments used by them
during life, but also every object of daily use. The
clothes in which the bodies were wrapped were usually
woven in patterns and figures of various colors, besides
which many of them were adorned with feathers or with
small plates of silver and gold in the form of birds and
fish.

Among the objects foimd deposited with the dead are
mats and work-baskets containing balls of thread, spin-
dles, toys of various kinds, finger-rings, bracelets, neck-
laces, pins and earrings. There are also headdresses
made of the many colored feathers of the macaw, splendid
pieces of tapestry and embroidery beautifully figured, and
dyed with colors of exceeding brightness, and richly em-
broidered mantles adorned with a tasteful combination of
designs and colors that are truly surprising. Most of these
objects were found buried with women. Deposited with
the men, in addition to the garments they wore, were vari-

273

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

ous kinds of weapons, many of them of copper, such as
knives, lance-heads, axes and star-shaped dub-heads.

The huacas are particularly rich in pottery. Indeed,
more specimens of ceramic ware have been taken from the
ruins of Chan-Chan than from any other spot in Peru.
Thousands of specimens have been sent to the museums
of Europe and the United States, and, without counting
those in the public museums of South America, there are
many thousands in the possession of private collectors.
Even a few days before my arrival in Trujillo, a friend
of mine purchased in one lot more than a thousand speci-
mens for a foreign museum. How many are still in the
huacas hereabout, awaiting the future explorer, cannot be
estimated, but the number must be enormous.

The pottery of the Chimus is as remarkable for the va-
riety of its designs as for the artistic skill displayed in
its workmanship. In it one will find imitations of every
bird, fish, mammal, shell and fruit, with which the makers
were acquainted. The human figure also occurs quite fre-
quently. Some of the heads and faces are so well molded
that they seem to be portraits, while others are so gro-
tesque that their execution would do credit to the most
skillful caricaturist. There are also groups of figures,
men, women and children — ^portraying war dances, har-
vest scenes, games and domestic occupations of different
kinds. These are of special value, as they enable the ar-
chflBologist to form some conjecture regarding the manners,
customs and religious beliefs of the ancient inhabitants of
this part of Peru.

Athough some of the pottery is in no wise superior to
that found in many other parts of the country, one occa-
sionally comes across specimens of a very high order of
excellence. In some instances the workmanship is so ar-
tistic, and the scenes are so well depicted, that one is re-
minded of similar productions of the potter's art in an-
cient Greece and Etruria.*

1 After writing the foregoing paragraph, I was glad to find it oorroborated

274

THE REALM OF THE GEEAT CHIMU

Interesting, however, as are the crumbling edifices of
Chan-Chan and the countless objects that have been yielded
by its extensive huacas, that which has made the old city,
for centuries past, a center of attraction for the people of
Trujillo, and for other parts of Peru as well, is the wide-
spread belief that it contains concealed treasure of fab-
ulous value. And there is reason for this belief, as the
following story, which reads like a chapter from the Arab-
ian Nights, will show.

In the year 1550, a cacique of Mansiche, — a pueblo
adjoining Trujillo, — ^Don Antonio Chayhuac, who had re-
ceived the waters of baptism and was a legitimate descend-
ant of The Great Chimu, made known to the Spaniards
a huaca near the palace of Chimu Canchu, on condition
that a part of the treasures that might be found there
should be used for the benefit of the Indians under his
jurisdiction. In consequence of this information, Garcia
Gutierrez de Toledo discovered, in the huaca which has
since borne his name, treasures that rivaled those of Monte
Cristo. According to Feyjoo de Sosa, the amount of gold
reported by the discoverer amounted to about three-quar-
ters of a million dollars; but he observes that there was
a tradition that the amount secured was greatly in excess
of this sum — ^^fue excesivamente mayor el cavdal que el
que corresponde d los quint os.** ^

Middendorf estimates Toledo's find at a million dollars
more than the amount given by Feyjoo, while Hutchin-
son's calculations, based on the accounts found among the

by Mr. F. Hewitt Myring, who declares that some of the ceramic specimens
found in Chimu "are so very beautiful that experts on the subject of pottery
say that nothing finer has been seen from the days of ancient Greece to the
present. This pottery proved, by its modelling and drawing, that long before
we had any knowledge of art in Europe, in that country now called Peru,
there existed an artistic, sensitive race, who wore elaborate clothing, who
were well governed and were law-abiding; Peru, which to-day is to many
of us a terra incognita, was one of the most civilized parts of the earth."
The (Geographical Journal, p. 395, London, Oct., 1910.

^Belaoion Deacriptiva de la Ciudad i Provinoia de Trujillo del Peru, por
El Dr. D. Miguel Feyj6o, Madrid, 1763.

275

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

mmiicipal records of Trujillo, make the sum total of the
treasure fomid by Toledo almost four and a half million
dollars in gold.^ .

Unfortnnately for the cacique of Mansiche and his peo-
pie, the Spaniards failed to keep their contract and the
Indians got nothing of this colossal pile of gold that had
been collected by their forefathers. In the hope of secur-
ing something, the wily chief then told the Spaniards that
he knew where there was concealed a similar, but much
larger, treasure. So far, he declared, they had found only
the peje chico — ^the little fish.* There was still, he averred,
the peje grande — ^the big fish — ^which represented an
amount of gold incomparably greater than that furnished
by the peje chico.

Whether the Indian's story was true or merely a ruse
to secure a part of the treasure to which he was entitled,
the Spaniards made haste to secure the good will of the
cacique, and the information he pretended to be able to
give. They accordingly made up for the benefit of him-
self and his people a collection amounting to more than
forty thousand dollars. He then pointed out the place
where he said the treasure was buried.

Search for the peje grande was then begun without de-
lay. The large huacas were honeycombed by excavators,
but with little result — except possibly in the case of one
Escobar Corchuelo, who, according to Calancha, secured
no less than six hundred thousand dollars — ^until the latter
part of the last century. Then a Chilian, Colonel La
Bosa by name, described as 'Hhe most enthusiastic and
persistent treasure hunter of Trujillo, where rummaging

1 Ttoo Years in Peru, Vol. II, Chap. XXVI. In a note to his translation
of Cieza de Leon's first pait of the Chronicle of Peru, p. 243, Clements R.
Markham makes the amount of treasure taken from the huacas of The Great
Ohimu in the years 1566 and 1592 equal to £1,724,220— nearly $9,000,000 of
our money.

'The fish was an object of adoration among the Chimus, and, henoe, the
frequent occurrence among the ruins of Chan-Chan of objects of fish-like
form.

276

f HE REALM OP THE GREAT CHIMU

for tapadas, or treasures, has been a passion" since the
time of Toledo, began a quest for the fabulous *'big fish''
with all eagerness and fond anticipation of a gambler at
Monte Carlo. In the beginning he was rewarded by dis-
covering gold objects of various kinds, that netted him
about thirty thousand dollars. The search for the peje
grande now became a mania with him and he devoted the
greater part of the remaining years of his long life to ex-
cavating huacas, but with no result except the loss of all
the money he had gained by his first stroke of good luck,
and the posthumous honor of having one of the huacas,
in which he labored, named La Bosa.

It is now three and a half centuries since the cacique of
Mansiche announced the existence of the peje grande, and
yet, notwithstanding all the fruitless attempts that have
been made to find it, and the fortunes that have been
squandered in excavations which yield nothing but a few
trinkets and a countless number of skeletons, the quest
for this legendary treasure still continues with the same
feverish activity as it did in the days of Toledo and La
Bosa. Thousands have implicit faith in its existence,
but where is it t That is what thousands of others, through
long generations, have been trying to determine; what
still others are trying to find out to-day. Even at the time
of my visit some of the leading citizens of Trujillo had a
crowd of excavators at work among the ruins of Chan-
Chan, and, to hear them talk, one would think that the elu-
sive *^big fish" was finally within their grasp. Here, prob-
ably, more than anywhere else in the wide world, does one
realize the truth of Pope's words.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast."

Does the long-sought-for treasure really exist, or did the
astute Don Antonio Chayhuac, knowing the cupidity of the
Spaniards, invent the story in order to lure them into pay-
ing him the sum stipulated in the contract they had so
shamefully repudiated! Who can tellt The story of the

277

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

peje grande may be like the one regarding the massive
gold chain cast into the lake of XTrcos, like the stories of
untold treasures in Lake Titicaca, in the caves on the lofty
flanks of Illimani, in the undergronnd chambers of Cuzco,
in the obscure recesses of the mountains of Ecuador. But
whether true or false, it is highly improbable that
there shall in the near future be any abatement in the
faith and ardor which have ever characterized the treasure
hunters of South America since the time of the conquest.

As I stood on the summit of one of the large teocaU-like
mounds that tower above the surrounding ruins, and sur-
veyed the silent scene of desolation before me, my mind
was besieged by the same host of questions that had so
frequently assailed it while in the presence of other noted
monuments of prehistoric Peru. I was standing, so I
was told, on the very site of the palace of The Great Chimu,
and had before me the evidence of a semi-civilization that
probably long antedated that of the Children of the Sun.
And, the Chimus, be it said, were as powerful and as much
feared on the coast as were the Licas on the plateau, and
their capital was, in the temporal order, as noted as was
Pachacamac — ^the old Peruvian Delphi — in the spiritual.
Within a stone's throw from me were the remains of ace-
quias and reservoirs, by means of which, what is now a bar-
ren desert was converted into fertile fields and verdant
gardens that supplied teeming myriads with the means of
subsistence. The crumbling adobe structures below me
were then hives of industry wherein were produced those
textile fabrics, those objects of ceramic art, those orna-
ments of the goldsmith's skill, that reflect such credit on
Chimu craftsmanship, and suggest so many puzzling prob-
lems to the archsBologist and the ethnologist. Here men
lived and loved for long centuries, many of them appar-
ently enjoying a life of comparative affluence and luxury.

But what a contrast there is between the present and
the past! **Let the reader imagine himself, for a mo-
ment withdrawn from the sounds and motions of the living

278

THE REALM OF THE GREAT CHIMU

world and sent forth into this wild and wasted plain. The
earth yields and crumbles beneath his f oot^ tread he never
so lightly^ for its substance is white, hollow and carious,
like the dusty wreck of the bones of men. . • . Hillocks
of mouldering earth heave around him, as if the dead be-
neath were struggling in their sleep.'' Not a sound is
heard except the dull stroke of the huaguero's pick, as he
feverishly continues among the mouldering remains of a
departed race the eager search for gold tiiat was begun
by his ancestors four centuries ago. No living thing is
visible except a frightened fox, as he escapes from his
sepulchral burrow and scampers across the arid waste to
another covert nearer the ocean's shore. And as the crim-
son sun slowly sinks beneath the distant Pacific wave ^^a
dull poisonous haze stretches level along the desert, veil-
ing its spectral wrecks in massy ruins, on whose rents the
red light rests, like dying fire on defiled altars."

As we contemplate this weird scene of utter desolation
and view the impressive ruins of the proud capital of The
Great Chimu, and strive to correlate it with the romance
of forgotten grandeur, the wonder and pathos of the un-
known past, and endeavor to form a mental picture of its
departed glory,

"We feel that Babel's tower could scarce surpass
In rude, wild majesty, this wondrous mass;
That far Ghaldea's sons or Egypt's kings,
Sent their bold genius here on spirit wings.
For strange, between each nation, seems the tie
Of kindred creeds, of arts and modes gone by."

Who were the mysterious people who left behind them
such imposing ruins and such evidence of material and in-
dustrial progress f Whence did they comet When did
they reach this spot on the Bainless Coast f And, if they
came from the Old World, how were they able to cross the
broad waters that separate the Eastern from the Western
Hemisphere t These are fundamental questions, I know,

279

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

but they are questions that always press for an answer
when one is in the presence of those stupendous ruins that
cumber the ground from the smiling valley of Anahuac to
the bleak plateau of Bolivia. The attempt to answer any
one of them is like essaying to solve the long-debated prob-
lem regarding the original inhabitants of America^ a prob-
lem which no less an authority than the Marquis de
Nadaillac declares to be **a profound mystery and probably
forever insoluble. ^ ^ ^

Ify in seeking an answer to the above questions^ we were
to confine our investigations to the Chimus alone^ we could
go back little farther than the concluding years of the reign
of their last monarch, and could learn little more than what
Gardlaso tells us about their conquest by the Incas, and
what Oalancha and Arriaga have to say about their cus-
toms and superstitions. The historian Balboa, it is
true, refers to a tradition according to which the Chi-
mus were descended from a people that came by sea on
rafts from the north.* But aside from this vague and
limited information, all else is mere conjecture, and not-
withstanding the progress of archaeology in Peru in recent
years, our ignorance respecting this extraordinary people
is almost as profound to-day as it was in the days of Pi-
zarro.

If, then, we could not go farther afield than the
realms of The Great Chimu for answers to the ques-
tions proposed, we might well subscribe to the conclusion
of Nadaillac, and declare with the poet,

Primeval race! their story who shall showt

They built, they reigned, they died — ^is all wc know."

Fortunately, since the distinguished Marquis declared
that "Le probleme des premiers habitants de I' AmSrique

1 Les Premiers Hommes et Lea Tempt Pr4hi8torique8, T<mL II, p. 96, PariB,
1881.

^HUtoire du Pirou, Chap. VII, par Miguel Cavello Balboa, published hj
H. Temaux — Compaiis, Paris, 1840.

280

THE REALM OF THE GREAT CHIMU

reste un mystdre prof and et prohahlement d jamais insol-
uble/' the progress of research along various lines and
especially in comparative philology^ has given ns reason
to hope that men of science shall eventually be able to pene-
trate the mystery that has so long enveloped the origin of
the early inhabitants of Pem^ and that, by so doing, they
shall at the same time pave the way for the solution of nu-
merous other problems regarding the American aborigi-
nes, which have engaged the attention of investigators
ever since Columbus gave a new world to Castile and
Leon.

It is not my purpose to weary the reader by a disquisi-
tion on topics that have been so often treated ex professo
by men who have spent long years on the problem which
Nadaillac pronounces insoluble, but a few words regarding
some of the opinions that have been held and the trend of
contemporary thought concerning this most interesting
question seem to be required to complete what has already
been stated respecting the monuments and peoples of the
most fascinating part of South America.

It may be premised that a certain school of polygenists
cut the (Jordian knot by the bold assertion that the Ameri-
can race, like the nobles of Athens, is autocthonous, having
sprung directly from the earth, and is therefore without
any relation to the races of the Old World. Such is the
contention of Morton, Nott and Gliddon, not to mention
others who hold the same view.* But so far this theory,
although not without supporters, still stands in the same
category as the finding of a Scotch jury, **Not proven.^'
The reader who desires information on the traditional view
of the subject will find it admirably presented in M. de
Quaterf ages' masterly work. The Unity of the Human
Species.

1 Ortpnia Ameriocma, or a Comparaivoe View of the ShuUa of VaHoua
Aboriginal Nations of North and South America, Philadelpliia, 1839; Types
of Mankind, Chaps. IX and X, Philadelphia, 1864, and The Baeea of Men
and their Cfeographioal Diatribution, New York, 1848. See also, L* Homme
AmMoa4n, par Aldde d'Orbigny, Paris, 1839.

281

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

The number of books that have been written in defense
of the various theories which have been evolved regarding
the origin of the Indians woidd fill a large library, but
most of these theories have long since been consigned to the
limbo of fantastic hypotheses.

Montesinos, as we have already seen, tells us that Peru
was first peopled by a colony from Armenia under the
leadership of Ophir, the grandson of the patriarch Noah.
Scarcely less curious is the view of the Dominican, Fray
Gregorio Garcia, who resided for a number of years in
Peru, and who, as early as 1607, published a ponderous
folio entitled 0 rig en de las Indies del Nuevo Mundo e
Indict Occidentales, in which he devotes many chapters
to the theory that America was populated by the lost tribes
of Israel.* Those who hold this view base their opinion
on the apocryphal narrative of Esdras, and pretend that
when the IsraeUtes were vanquished and led into captivity
by Salmanasar, King of Assyria, ten tribes were separated
from the others and betook themselves to unknown and dis-
tant regions. After journeying a year and a half and
crossing a large body of water, they finally reached the
land of Anian, which we are asked to believe was the part
of the world now known as America.

The most remarkable thing about this seemingly prepos-
terous theory is its extraordinary vitality and the number
of eminent supporters it has counted even in recent times.
Among these is Lord Kingsborough, who, in his magnifi-
cent work. Antiquities of Mexico, embracing nine volumes
in elephant folio, has spent a princely fortune to prove
that it is to the lost tribes of Israel that the New World
owes its first civilization. The noted explorer, the Abbe
Brasseur de Bourbourg, expresses his astonishment at the
Jewish and Egyptian types he frequently noted among
the Indians of Mexico and Central America.

1 Cf. Origen de los Indios del Peru, Mejico, Santa F4 y CJUle, por el Dr.
Diego Andres Rocha, Oidor de la Real Audiencia de Lima, de la Oolecc%<m de
Libros Raros y Curiosoe que Tratan de America, Madrid, 1891.

282

THE REALM OF THE GREAT CHIMU

Among these peoples^ he assures us, ^Hhe general char-
acter of the most ancient stock exhibits many features
possessed by the races of ancient Palestine and Egypt.
Here one observes the profile of the Jew, the Arab and the
Algerian exactly like the types engraved on the monuments
of Nineveh and Thebes. There is also a similarity of dress,
manners and customs. ' ' ^

M. Oastelnau, in his great work on South America, Ex-
pedition dans les Parties Centrales de V Amerique du 8ud?
tells of a Jew whom he met at Santarem, on the banks of
the Amazon, who declared that, in the idioms which are
spoken in the adjacent regions, there may be found more
than fifty words closely resembling Hebrew words. Other
travelers and writers have also spoken of the existence
of Indians in the Cordilleras ojf Jewish origin, basing their
conclusions not only on the language spoken by them but
also on their various religious rites and customs which,
we are assured, can be accounted for only on the assump-
tion that these Indians are really of the seed of Abra-
ham.*

Aside from what may be said of certain religious rites
of divers Indian tribes, it may be confidently affirmed that
there is no more truth in the purported finding of Hebrew
words in the languages and dialects spoken in the Cordil-
leras and the basin of the Amazon, than there is in the be-
lief, which so long obtained, that the peculiar language

"i^Histovres de$ Nations OivUizSes du Mewique et del' AmMque Oenirale
durant les 8i6ole8 aniirieur d Ohristophe Colomh, par 1' AbM Brasseur de
Bourbourg, Vol. II, p. 180, Paris, 1857.

«Toin. rV, p. 267, Paris, 1851.

* The Hope of lerael, by Manasseh Ben Israel, Amsterdam, 1650, reprinted
for the Jewish Historical Society of England, London, 1901.

Soledad Acosta de Samper contends that the Jews seen in Antioquia in
the first half of the seventeenth century were some of the race that had
been driven from Spain about the year 1500, and who had peopled this part
of New Granada before the arrival of the Spaniards in Tierra Firme,
Memoriae Presentadae en Oongresos Intemaeionalee que ee reunienm «fi
EspaAa durante las FieBtas del IV Oentenario del DeeouhrinUento de America
en 1892, Chartres, 1802.

283

ALONG THE AI^ES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

spoken by the inhabitants of Eten — ^a small town north of
Tmjillo, and formerly within the dominions of The Great
Ohimn — ^is a dialect of the Chinese.^

Bnty notwithstanding all the errors into which explor-
ers and savants have fallen through hasty conclusions
drawn from fancied resemblances between the languages
of the New and Old Worlds^ it seems now that the first
satisfactory answer to be received regarding the long vexed
question of the origin of the American aborigines is to
come from comparative philology. And it looks also as if
the honor of solving this age-old problem is to redound in
great measure, if not entirely, to South American philolo-
gists.

The first of these to attract the attention of scholars out-
side of his own country was Vicente Fidel Lopez, of Monte-
video, who in his remarkable work, Les Races Aryans du
Perou, endeavors to establish a connection between the
Quichua language and the language of central Asia, and
so successfully has he defended this thesis that there are
not a few who are disposed to accept his conclusion as de-
finitive. It is in substance as follows: — ^The languages,
the theogonies, the legends, the arts, the industries,
the science of the Aryans and the Quichuas prove the
unity of the two races, who have for ages peopled and
civilized the two great continents of which our world is
formed.*

A second student who has long been engaged in the same
line of research is a Peruvian, Pablo Padron, of Lima.
In his monumental work, which is to embrace thirteen oc-
tavo volumes, several of which are already published, he
undertakes ^Ho demonstrate the Sumero- Assyrian origin
of the Kichua languages, which are still spoken by the ui-

iRaimondi dismisses this ill-founded belief in the following words: "De
todas mis investigadonee resulta, que es abeolutamente falso que los Chinos
hablan en su leng^ eon los habitantes de Bten, j que se oomprendan mu-
tuamente Chinos j Etanos/' El Peru, Tom. I, p. 329.

« P. 341.

284

THE REALM OF THE GREAT CHIMD

digenes of this coxuitry and Bolivia. ^ ' ^ How successful
this industrious and enthusiastic investigator will be in his
self-imposed task, remains to be seen. He appears to be
very sanguine regarding the result of his researches, and if
his labors shoidd be crowned with success, the scholars of
the world will be only too glad to accord him all the honor
that such a signal achievement shall merit.

But even after a connection shall have been established
between the language of the Incas and the language of the
ancient rulers of Mesopotamia, there will be other inter-
esting problems to solve, although not of such transcend-
ent importance as that of the origin of the languages
of the American aborigines. For the proof of a linguistic
nexus between the languages of America and Asia will con-
tribute much towards a complete demonstration of the
unity of the various races of mankind, and will, at the same
time, signalize a most notable advance in the science of an-
thropology.

When the first representatives of the human family ap-
peared in Peru, it is impossible even to conjecture. But
that it was many long ages ago, and probably long before
the Christian era, appears beyond doubt. Leaving to oth-
ers to determine the value of the speculations of Ameghino
and Lehman-Nitsche respecting the early appearance of
man in Argentina,' and reserving for the future the task
of deciding the relationship between Homo pampceus of
South America and Homo primigenius of Europe, who, we
are asked to believe, walked the earth with the megalonyx
and the palaeotherium, and confining ourselves solely to
the evidence of man *s existence within the present bounda-
ries of Peru, we are warranted in placing the advent of
man in the land of the Incas at a date long anterior to that

1 Niievoa Eatudioa sohre las LengtKU Amerioanaa-Origen del Keohua y del
Aimarat Tom. I, p. 1, Leipzig, 1907.

*Notas preUminares aohre el Tetraprothomo argetUmue in the Analee del
Museo naoional de Buenoe Ayrea, Tom. XVI, pp. 107, 242, 1907, and Nofivelles
redherohes sur la formation pamp4enne et I* homme foeaUe de la B4pubUq%ie
Argentine in the Revieta del Museo de la Plata, Tom. XTV, pp. 193, 488.

285

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

given by Garcilaso for the appearance of Manco Oapac
and his sister-wife on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

A stady of the ruins on the Andean platean and along
the Peruvian coast land affords incontestable evidence of
the existence of several waves of migration. This fact,
which has only recently received due recognition from men
of science^ is of itself sufficient to prove tiiat the antiquity
of our race in Peru is far greater than has hitherto been
imagined.^

The argument for man's antiquity, based on the monu-
ments everywhere found in Peru, is confirmed by the ex-
istence of domesticated plants and animals.

De Candolle, referring to the age of cultivated plants,
expresses himself as follows: ^^Men have not discovered
and cultivated within the last two thousand years a single
species which can rival maize, rice, the sweet potato, tiie
breadfruit, the date, cereals, millets, sorghums, the ba-
nana, soy. These date from three, four or five thousand
years, perhaps even in some cases, six thousand years. ' ' ^
When one remembers that some of the most important of
these species are indigenous to America, the force of the
argument in question will be manifest.

Among the domestic animals of the ancient Peruvians
were the llama, the alpaca, the allko or dog, a species of
guinea-pig, called the cuy, and a species of duck. Of these
the llama and the alpaca are not known to exist in the wild
state, and this fact, conjoined with the great variety ex-
hibited in the colors of their fleeces, points to a very long
period of domestication. And their ability to domesticate
so many animals, it may be remarked, is not only an evi-
dence of the antiquity of the aborigines of Peru, but also
a test of their capacity for civilization. **The inferiority
of the African, as compared with the Hindu, is demon-
strated by the latter having domesticated the elephant,
and made it the useful and hard-working companion of

1 See Dr. Uhle's Paehaoamao, p. 45 et seq.

s The Origin of Cultivaied PlanU, p. 467, New York, 1885.

286

THE EEALM OF THE GREAT CHIMU

man; while the former^ during the thousands of years he
has inhabited the African continent^ has never achieved
any such result^ and has merely destroyed the elephant
for the sake of the ivory. ' ^ ^

How the original inhabitants of South America were
able to traverse the long distances which separated the Old
from the New World is not our province to decide. That
has been a matter of discussion since the discovery of Amer-
ica^ and we are still destitute of positive knowledge re-
garding the subject. Without, however, assuming the ex-
istence of an Atlantis connecting Europe with the Antilles,
or a strip of land bridging the Atlantic between Africa
and Brazil, or a series of contiguous islands stretching
across the Pacific, we can find in any one of a dozen theo-
ries, that have at divers times been propounded by various
iDvestigators, a plausible, if not satisfactory, explanation
of the manner in which the inhabitants of the Old World
were, in ages long past, able to reach the distant shores of
the New.^ Future investigators will doubtless clear up
many difficulties still investing this interesting problem,
and they may even be able to prove to a reasonable cer-
tainty the existence of several lines of migration followed
by prehistoric man on his way from the Eastern to the
Western Hemisphere. Until such certainty is forthcoming,
we shall be content with that probability which is the guide
of science as well as the guide of life.

iMarkham, in the introduction to The Tra/ceU of Pedro de Ciega de Leon,
p. XXIV, London, 1864.

s For the lovers of the curious, it may he stated that there are not wanting
those who incline to the belief that the original home of our race was in
the New, and not in the Old World, and who would see in Homo pampaeue
the common ancestor of mankind. Even Columbus was disposed to lo-
cate the Gkurden of Eden, somewhere in the continent, watered by the great
Orinoco. Folloicing the Conquiatadoree up the Orinooo and Down the Mclq'
dalefuif Chap. II.

In this connection one may recall the theory of Brasseur de Bourbourg,
who makes America the cradle of our race. According to this theory, the
Old World was peopled from the New and it was from America that Egypt
and Syria received their domestic animals, their arts, their industries, their
hieroglyi^os, and even their religious rites.

287

CHAPTER XVI
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZAEBO AND OBSUA

In his Historia del Peru, which constitutes the third part
of his unpublished work entitled Miscellanea Austral, Mi-
guel Cavello Balboa, one of the early chroniclers of the
New World, writes as follows: **When Pizarro arrived
in the valley of Chimu he was greatly astonished at the
grandeur and the beauty of the edifices which had been
constructed by the ancient kings of this country. It was
in this valley that Pizarro, in 1535, founded the city of
Trujillo. From Chimu the Spaniards directed their course
towards Caxiamarca, where Atahualpa had been for fifteen
or twenty days. '^*

TJiis statement regarding the route of the conquista-
dores during their march from Tumbez to Cajamarca does
not, I know, accord with what other historians tell us re-
garding Pizarro 's itinerary from the coast to the Andean
plateau, and is quite at variance with the opinion expressed
by Baimondi in his work, El Peru? So diverse, however,
are the opinions that have been entertained respecting the
actual route of the Spaniards on their way up the western
flank of the Cordillera, and so great is the uncertainty
which still prevails concerning it, that no one is yet war-
ranted in accepting any one opinion to the exclusion of all
others. And until we have more information on the sub-
ject, we may believe with Balboa that Pizarro and his gal-
lant band really did go as far south as the capital of The
Great Chimu, before advancing towards Cajamarca, which

1 In Yoya^ea Relations et M4fno%rea Originauw, p. 313, publies per Temaux-
Oompans, Paris, 1840.
sTom. II, p. 19 ei seq.

288

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO AND OESUA

then enjoyed the honor of being a kind of second capital of
the great Inca empire.

It was early in the morning that I left Tmjillo and the
kind and hospitable people who had made my stay in the
City of Liberty so delightful. My next objective point was
Casa Grande, the center of the most extensive and most
productive sugar plantation in Peru. I was accompanied
by the superintendent of the railroad, who was kind enough
to put a special train at my disposition, and the manager
of the hacienda, whose guest I was to be during my sojourn
in Casa Grande. The former was a genial and wide-awake
American, from Wisconsin, and the latter a young and en-
terprising German, Mr. G , who is recognized as one

of the most progressive business men in the republic.
Both of them were eager to have me see the famous Chi-
cama valley, part of which has been noted since the con-
quest for its marvelous fertility — and they left nothing
undone that would conduce to my convenience and pleasure.
To both of them I am indebted for some of the most
delightful days spent in the department of Libertad, and
I shall always remember their courtesy and kindness with
profound gratitude.

On our way to Casa Grande, which is but an hour by rail
from Trujillo, I had an opportunity of inspecting the re-
mains of the wonderf id acequias that formerly watered the
lands of The Great Chimu and that converted an arid desert
into fertile fields and gardens adequate to furnish subsist-
ence to the teeming thousands who dwelt in and around
the great metropolis that stood on the site now occupied
by the crumbling ruins of Chan-Chan. If we are to credit
Montesinos, it was by severing these acequias that the vic-
torious Inca Tupac Yupanqui was able to get possession of
Chimu and force its inhabitants to acknowledge the su-
premacy of the Children of the Sun.*

Quite near the road between Trujillo and Casa Grande
are the remains of the great mamposteria — ^reservoir —

1 Memorioi Antiguas del Peru, Cap. XXVn.

289

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

used by the Chimus to irrigate their lands and supply their
capital with water. It was an immense work, and, as a
feat of engineering, must deeply impress every one who
examines its massive retaining wall. It is estimated that
it was capable of containing nearly two billion cubic feet
of water, and it would compare favorably with any similar
work ever executed in the land of the Incas.

I was intensely interested in Casa Grande, as it shows
what irrigation can accomplish on the rainless coast of
Peru. Prior to 1873 this section of the Chicama valley had
long been a barren desert, and the land was deemed to be
of little or no value for cultivation. No one then dreamed
that it would, in the near future, contain the largest and
most prosperous sugar plantation in Peru.

But shortly before this time, Herr Ludwig Albrecht, a
keen, enterprising son of the Fatherland, like so many of
his countrymen who have achieved distinction in commerce
and industry in South America, made a visit to this part of
the republic. Finding evidence that the valley had at one
time been under cultivation, and desirous of learning how
vegetation could have been supported in such a rainless
region, he determined to discover the irrigating canal that
must have supplied the necessary water for such an ex-
tensive territory. He soon came across traces of it, and,
continuing his search, he was finally rewarded by finding
the point in the river where its waters had entered the
long-neglected and long-forgotten canal. He then pro-
ceeded without delay to buy up inmiense tracts of land
along the line of the old acequia, and was, fortunately for
himself, able to make his purchases at a nominal price.
Having secured all the land he desired, he restored the
canal, which probably dated from the time of the Chimus,
to its pristine condition, and almost before his neighbors
were aware of his purpose,, he had a large part of the long-
abandoned valley of Chicama blooming as a rose in June.

To-day the plantation, which was begun a few decades
ago under such peculiar circumstances, is not only the larg-

290

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO AND OESUA

est in PerUy but also— considering that the sugar mills
and the plantation belong to the same company — ^the larg-
est in the world. Together with the other haciendas in
the valley, it produces more sugar than the entire island
of Puerto Bico, and the output is of such excellent quality
that it finds a ready market. Most of the first grade
goes to Chile, while the third and fourth grades are shipped
to England, where the better kind is used in the produc-
tion of porter, and the poorer kind is employed in the
manufacture of cigars.

The climate of the Chicama valley reminds one of
Homer's Elysium, which was located in the western part
of the earth near Ocean — a place where there is neither
snow nor cold nor rain, and which is *' always fanned by
the delightful breezes of Zephyrus, ' * or of Olympus, as pic-
tured in the Odyssey,

'*. . . Which never storms
Disturb,^ rains drench, or snow invades, but cahn
The expanse and cloudless shines with purest day."

Owing to this warm and equable climate, and the fer-
tility of the soil, the cane in this favored region is ready
for cutting only nineteen months after it is planted. This
is much less time than is usually required for maturity
elsewhere. Then the quantity of sugar in the cane is very
great compared with that obtained from cane in many other
parts of the world. The amount of sugar in the juice runs
as high as twenty per cent., while the proportion of sugar
to the weight of the cane varies from eleven and a half to
twelve and a half per cent. The cane is cut every nineteen
months and the yield in sugar averages six tons to the acre.
The actual cost of the best quality of sugar, when the sea-
son is favorable, does not exceed one dollar gold per hun-
dred pounds.

In the cultivation of the cane, and in its conversion into

1 So light are the variations of air-pressure in this part of Peru that
the changes indicated by the barometer are little more than nominal.

291

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

sugar, all the latest and most approved methods are em-
ployed. The machinery is thoroughly up-to-date, and in
charge of experts and chemists who have reduced every
phase of the sugar-making industry to a system that can-
not be surpassed.

The total population of Casa Grande, and its dependent
haciendas, is eleven thousand, nearly one-fourth of which
is engaged in the mills or on the plantations. The daily
wage of the employes varies from fifty cents to $1.20 in
addition to which each one is provided with free lodging,
and receives a daily allowance of one pound of meat and a
pound and a half of rice. The Sociedad Agricola, Casa
Grande — so this corporation is called — ^provides nine
schools for the free education of the children of its em-
ployes. The two schools in the town of Casa Grande, which
I visited, are in the hands of excellent teachers and the
success of their work is manifest as soon as one enters the
class-rooms. These two schools, it may be observed, are
named Coronet Bolognesi and Ahnira/nte Grau, in memory
of two of Peru^s favorite heroes.

The company has two doctors on its pay-roll, who devote
all their time gratuitously to the care of the workmen and
their families. Shortly before my arrival, the inhabitants
were threatened with the bubonic plague, but thanks to
the prophylactic measures adopted, which were in keeping
with the latest advances of medical science, the threatened
ravages of the much-dreaded malady were avoided, although
the number of victims claimed by the plague at points not
far distant, where such precautions had not been taken, was
as large as its devastations were frightful.

At first sight there seems to be something Utopian about
the management of the affairs of the company, especially in
its dealings with its employes. But such is not the case.
Everything betokens the hard common sense of the Ger-
man proprietors and managers whose efforts in building up
their enormous business have been crowned with such sig-
nal success. There is, indeed, something patriarchal in

292

m THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO AND ORSUA

the relation between the manager of Casa Grande and the
families living on the vast estate under his direction. Or
probably it wonld be truer to say that this relationship is
something like that which, in times long past, obtained
between the Inca and his subjects. Be that as it may, all
those who are connected with the company, especially the
peons and their families, are well cared for, as one soon
learns who visits the people in their homes. All seem con-
tented and happy. There are no strikes and none of those
clashes between capital and labor that are so frequent in
the United States and Europe. The rule governing the
workmen, while engaged in the large factory at Casa
Grande, may be summed up in the words over the main
portal — Tace, ora et Idbora — observe silence, pray and
work.

The dividends of the company for years past have
amounted to twelve per cent. ; but, if the trust, which is in
contemplation, can be formed, it is confidently asserted that
the fortunate stockholders will receive fully thirty-five or
forty per cent, annually on their investment.

I have dwelt somewhat at length on Casa Grande because
it is a striking object lesson of what can be accomplished
in a few years by well-directed effort and intelligent en-
terprise. In what, only a generation ago, was but a soli-
tary waste of parched earth and hills of sand there is now
a smiling oasis and one of the most flourishing communi-
ties in the entire republic.

While contemplating the transformation that has been ef-
fected by the genius and energy of one man within the space
of a few years, and observing the traces of the agricultural
achievements of the indigenous races before the conquest
— ^traces seen in ruined acequias, reservoirs and cmdenes
still existing on plain and mountain side — ^I found it easy
to believe the accounts, often pronounced incredible, re-
garding the teeming population that formerly made their
homes in what is now a desert coast-land or an arid
plateau, and it was no longer diiSScult to conceive how

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ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

the capital of the Chimus could number a hundred thou-
sand souls.^

No better illustration could be found in Peru or else-
where of the benefits accruing from the reclamation of
neglected territory or from the conservation of national
resources. I do not mean by this to say that Casa Grande
is the only place where irrigation has been successfully
introduced in Peru. Far from it. Hundreds of thousands
of acres are now irrigated in the valleys of Nasca, Chira,
LomaSy Bimac and in other parts of the coast-land. And
the remarkable fact is that mudi of this land has been re-
claimed by restoring the old canals of the Incas and other
indigenous tribes.

But the amount of land so far brought under cultivation
is but a small part of that which is susceptible of irriga-
tion. According to investigations made by experts of the
United States Geological Survey and Beclamation Service,
there are nearly three million acres of land along the
coastal region of Peru, that is now a barren desert, which
can be converted into productive farms and gardens by
means of irrigation canals, or simply by restoring the
acequias that were built by the Peruvian indigene cen-
turies ago, some of which, surprising as it may seem, are
yet in a comparatively good state of preservation.

In no country in the world, not in Mexico nor in Egypt
nor in Mesopotamia, where the watering of the soil re-
ceived such careful attention, was irrigation carried to such
a state of perfection as in the land of the Incas, and in no
part of the globe, not even in China or Japan, was there

1 According to Garland, op. cit., pp. 82-83, the present population of Peru
ifl about three and a half million inhabitants. Of these, fifty per cent, are
Indians, fifteen per cent, whites, mostly of Spanish origin, two and a half
per cent, negroes, one per cent. Chinese and Japanese and thirty-one and a
half per cent, mestizos, chiefly of Indian and Spanish descent.

P. Ricardo Cappa, his Bistoria del Peru, Lib. I, Appendice III, estimates
the population of the Inca Empire under Huascar at four millions, at most.
He agrees, however, with Humboldt, that in "speaking of the populatioix
existing in America before the conquest is like speaking of the populations
of andent Egypt» Persia, Greece and Latium."

294

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO AND ORSUA

ever a greater husbanding of the national resources than
there was throughout the length and breadth of the vast
dominions of the Children of the Sun. The people in the
United States, especially those who live in the Eocky Moun-
tain region, have much to learn from them, and the sooner
they profit by the lessons taught by the Peruvians of long
ago the sooner will they see the vast wilderness of sand and
sage-brush that extends from the Columbia to the Bio
Grande transformed into broad grain fields and extensive
orchards of untold value and productiveness.

I spent two days in and about Casa Grande and enjoyed
every moment of the time. When I prepared to depart, the
charming and hospitable family of my good host gently
expostulated with me for making my visit so brief. '*We
had hoped, when you arrived,'' one of them was kind
enough to say, **that you would give us an opportunity of
getting acquainted with you, but the first greetings are
scarcely over when you make haste to leave us. ' ' They all
insisted that I should make them a longer visit the next
time I came to Peru, and on my agreeing to do so, they all
joined in a cordial adios; hasta otra vista — Good-by ; until
we meet again.

^'Le pondre a Ud en Cajamarca^' — ^**I will deliver you at
Cajamarca,'' said the good-natured prefect of Trujillo, as
he bade me farewell, * * and I have no doubt that the prefect
of Cajamarca will see to your safe arrival in Chacha-
poyas.*'

The escort he had selected for me — ^a gallant young lieu-
tenant and a private — ^were promptly on hand at Casa
Grande at the hour set for my departure. They had
brought the necessary pack-mules for my baggage, and the
saddle horses that they themselves were to ride. My own
mount, which was provided by my ever-thoughtful and gen-
erous host, was a splendid, white mule that was used to
traveling in the sierras, and exceptionally sure-footed, even
along the steepest and most dangerous paths. He was,
without question, one of the most intelligent beasts of his

295

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

much-abused race I ever saw, and was so gentle that a
child could have ridden him in safety. Like a favorite
white mule I once had in Egypt, he could keep up a fine,
easy, ambling gait for hours at a time, and seemed to be
as fresh and vigorous at the end of the day's journey as
he was in the morning after a good night's rest. I was
indebted to my kind host of Casa Grande for many favors,
but for none more than for the splendid animal that car-
ried me up the steep declivities of the western Cordillera.

Although I took leave of his family at Casa Grande, Mr.

O insisted on accompanying me to Sausal, a flourish-

ing town about twenty miles distant, but which is likewise
a part of the company's property. Here his administra-
dor, being advised of our arrival, had a delightful luncheon
prepared for us, to whidi every one did full justice. Thence
we went together to Jaguey, some fifteen miles further,
where we arrived at two o'clock in the afternoon. Here it
was that the noble, whole-souled Mr. G bade us a God-
speed, in words so touching that I felt I was leaving a life-
long friend.

I had now gotten away from steamers and railroads.
Before me was a long journey of nearly a month on mule-
back over a mountain trail, and most of it through a very
sparsely settled country. But this, far from being a de-
terrent factor, appealed to me as one of the most attractive
features of the trip. I was now about to gratify another
wish of my youth — ^a visit to Cajamarca and a ride from the
Pacific to the Amazon.

'*I shall have to rough it somewhat," I said to myself,
^^but then I shall be ofif the beaten track, and shall come in
contact with people who have not been spoiled by strangers
and tourists. I shall be able to commune with Nature in
her most beautiful and sublime manifestations and shall
have an opportunity of studying such marvels of sky and
mountain and forest as may be seen in but few regions of
the globe. With such surroundings, I shall not miss the
comforts and luxuries of our modem metropolises."

296

Scene on Our Trail i:

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO AND ORSUA

Our objective point for the day was Cascas, a small town
about ten leagues distant in the foothills of the Cordilleras.
Our path was through an arid district where the chief
vegetation was composed of a few scrubby trees here and
there, and a large number of representatives of the cactus
family. The most notable among these were certain cerei,
whose immense size and long, candelabra-like branches re-
mind one of the giant cactus of Arizona.

After traveling about four hours, we found ourselves on
an elevated projection from the Cordillera, when, lo I there
suddenly appeared before us one of the most perfect and
brilliant rainbows I had ever witnessed. '^Esto es buen
pronostico'^ — ^**This is a good omen,** said the young officer
of Spanish descent who was with me. **You are going,**
he said, addressing me, ^'to have a safe and pleasant jour-
ney.**

But his companion, an Indian from the Lake Titicaca
basin, was not so enthusiastic about this beautiful appari-
tion in the heavens. What was the reason f Was he in-
different to such a gorgeous spectacle, or did he secretly
entertain the view of his Indian ancestors respecting this,
to them, mysterious phenomenon.

Among the Aymaras the rainbow — Kurmi — ^is regarded
as a fetish — achachila — and in some places the Indian
mothers forbid their children to gaze at it, lest it kill them.
To the old Quichua Indians the rainbow — cuychu — ^was
something sacred — huaca — ^both because of the beauty of
its colors and because they knew that this beauty was de-
rived from the sun. For this reason, Garcilaso informs
us, the Inca kings adopted it for their arms and for their
device. But, like the Aymaras, the Children of the Sun
had a certain dread of the rainbow, for, *' owing to the
veneration they felt for it when they saw it in the air, they
shut their mouths, and put their hands over them, for they
said if they exposed their teeth they would loosen and
decay.***

1 Garcilaso, CommentarioB Realea, Cap. XXI.

297

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Padre Cobo tells us that the subjects of the Inoas con-
sidered it an evil omen — ^presaging death or some dire
calamity — ^when they saw the beautiful but mysterious
cuychu whose appearance always inspired them with awe.
**They revered it so highly that they dared not look at it,
or if they did, they would not presume to point the finger
at it, believing they would die, if they should do so. The
place where the bow appeared to touch the earth they hold
to be something frightful, believing that there was there
some huaca, or other thing to be feared or reverenced. *' ^

Did my Indian companion inherit any of these beliefs
from his ancestors in Collasuyuf I suspect that he did,
but, although he was usually quite talkative, he chose to
be non-communicative on this particular subject. Probably
he thought it unworthy of a soldier to acknowledge fear
of what is still, as in the days of the Incas, an object of
superstitious dread among many of his race.

A short distance from where we first saw the rainbow,
we faced towards the west to take a last view of the Pacific.
The day following it would be out of sight, and we should
not again have an opportunity of admiring its vast and
tranquil expanse.

Never shall I forget the gorgeous picture that burst
upon my ravished vision at that moment If ** heaven's
ethereal bow, * * spanning with its bright arch the glittering
peaks of the Cordilleras had before been a source of in-
effable delight, the glory of the setting sun, now slowly
sinking beneath the ocean wave, that trembled as it glowed,
was like a vision of the enraptured Dante as he journeyed
through Paradise.

I had witnessed many wonderful sunsets in various parts
of the world, but never one that was comparable to this
in color and effulgence. I recalled one seen from a moun-
tain in Greece and another viewed from a hill in Judea,
that, at the time, I thought could not be rivaled. The sun-

TiHistoria del Nuevo Mundo, lib. XIII, Cap. XXXVIII, publicada por
primera rez por D. Jimenez de la Espada, Sevilla, 1898.

298

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO AND ORSUA

set enjoyed shortly after crossing the equator and described
in a preceding chapter, I considered, while gazing at it,
as absolutely matchless. But my last view of the great
.South Sea will always be associated in my mind with the
most magnificent exhibition of light and cloud effects that
it seems possible to conceive — an experience that may not
befall even the most fortunate more than once in a lifetime.

The clouds in question were those of the highest region
of cloudland, — ^the region of the cirrus, *'that exclusively
characterized by white, filmy, multitudinous and quiet
clouds arranged in bars, or streaks or flakes. ' '

The effects produced on the clouds of the lower regions
of the atmosphere are often marvelous. ''But it is a
widely different thing when Nature herself takes a color fit,
and does something extraordinary, something really to
exhibit her power. She has a thousand ways and means
of rising above herself, but incomparably the noblest mani-
festations of her capability of color are in the sunsets in the
high clouds. I speak especially of the moment before the
sun sinks, when his light turns pure rose-color, and when
the light falls upon a zenith covered with countless cloud-
forms of inconceivable delicacy, threads and flakes of vapor,
which would in common daylight be pure snow-white, and
which give, therefore, fair field to the tone of light There
is then no limit to the multitude, and no check to the in-
tensity of the hues assumed. The whole sky from the
zenith to the horizon becomes one molten, mantling sea of
color and fire ; every black bar turns into massy gold, every
ripple and wave into unsullied, shadowless crimson, and
purple, and scarlet, and colors for which there are no
words in language and no ideas in the mind, — things which
can only be conceived while they are visible, — ^the intense
hollow blue of the upper sky melting through it all, — show-
ing here deep, and pure, and lightless ; there, modulated by
the filmy, formless body of the transparent vapor, till it is
lost imperceptibly in its crimson and gold.'* ^

1 RuBkin, Modem Painters, Part II, Sec. II, Chap. II.

299

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

When one recalls the notions formerly entertained by
the subjects of the Incas regarding the beneficent action
and potent influence of the sun, and recollects the militant
character of their victorious conquerors, can one, in pres-,
ence of such a sunset as that just described, be surprised
that the Children of the Sun should address to their father
petitions like the following f

^ ^ 0 Sun ! Thou who art in peace and safety, shine upon
us, keep us from sickness, and keep us in health and
safety.

^^0 Sun I Thou who hast said, let there be Cuzcos and
Tampus, grant that these thy children may conquer all
other people. We beseech thee that thy children, the Incas,
may be conquerors always, for this thou hast created
them.''

We turned reluctantly from the contemplation of this
magnificent spectacle and pressed onwards towards Cascas,
which was still several leagues distant. There was no
moon to illumine our path and the prospect of traveling
along a narrow trail near deep ravines, and on steep moun-
tain sides, when we had to trust solely to the instinct of our
mules to preserve us from danger and accident, was far
from reassuring.

We had been told by our arriero that we should arrive
at Cascas by six o'clock, but it was now past that time and
the shades of night were falling fast and thick. We then
realized as we had been so often forced to realize in the
Cordilleras of Colombia, that one can rarely trust one's
arriero when there is question of time or distance. His
ideas on both these subjects are usually as vague as they
are untrustworthy. For if one inquire the distance to a
certain place, no two arrieros will give the same answer.
One reason for this is doubtless because they have no fixed
standard of measurement.

In Peru, as in other Spanish- American countries, the unit
of distance for the traveler is the legua — league. But the
league, as used in Andean lands, is a most elastic term, and

300

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO AND ORSUA

varies greatly according to places and circumstances. In
Peru it varies from four thousand meters to the geographic
league, which is more than a third longer. On a level plain
it is usually estimated at five kilometers, while in the sier-
ras it is but four kilometers. Indeed, as ordinarily
reckoned, the league is rather a measure of time than of
distance.

Thus in la Costa — ^the coast-land — a good horse is sup-
posed to average two leagues of five kilometers each, per
hour. This is the equivalent of six miles. In the interior
of the country the same animal will not make more than
two leagues of four kilometers each. A mule at the or-
dinary pace — paso Uano de camino — ^requires an hour and
a half to traverse this distance. Ordinarily, however, the
traveler who is accompanied by pack-mules cannot expect
to cover more than one league an hour, which means two
and a half miles where the country is broken and three
miles where it is level. We always considered ourselves
fortunate if we could average three miles an hour. It was
sometimes considerably more, but frequently much less.

Peruvians ordinarily divide their country into three dis-
tinct regions, la Costa, la Sierra and la Montana. La
Costa embraces a strip of territory extending from the
Pacific to a line on the western versant of the Maratime
Cordillera, fifteen hundred meters above sea level. The
Sierra comprises the region between fifteen hundred and
thirty-five hundred meters in altitude. It corresponds to
the tierras templadas — ^temperate lands — of Colombia and
Mexico. Here the white race finds a congenial home and
the vegetation of our northern clime has a propitious
habitat. Montana in Spanish signifies ' ^ mountain, ' ' but in
Peru and Colombia, by a strange misuse of language, it
means ^'forest," and is used to designate all the little-
known country from the eastern versant of the Andes to
the boundaries of Bolivia and Ecuador and to the selvas
of Brazil. The region above forty-five hundred meters is
known as the ptma and corresponds to the paramo of

301

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Colombia. It is the narrow zone of winds and snow-storms,
where the Indian shepherd watches his hardy flocks and
where the traveler must often struggle to avoid succumbing
to the arctic blasts that frequently prevail in these in-
hospitable regions. In addition to these three zones the
general appellation of CordiUera — ^which, however, has no
connection with the special term ** Cordillera** employed
to designate the western chain of the Peruvian mountains
— is often applied to the snow-capped peaks and Alpine
heights which are never scaled except by some daring ex-
plorer or professional mountain climber.

Writing of the varied territory of Peru, Baimondi, the
distinguished Italian geographer and naturalist, who has
contributed so much to our knowledge of this interesting
republic, declares that, '*it possesses, in the sandy wastes
of the Costa, the arid deserts of Africa ; in the broad Punas,
the monotonous steppes of Asia ; in the elevated summits of
the Cordillera, the frigid regions of the poles, and in the
dense forests of the Montana the active and luxuriant vege-
tation of the tropics. * * ^

It was nearly ten o'clock at night when we reached Cas-
cas, tired, hungry and thirsty. The greater part of our
journey had been through an uninhabited desert and we
were not only unable to secure food of any kind, but unable
to obtain even a drink of water. At .one place we passed
a small hut, where an Indian woman had some fresh chicha
for sale, but, although my companions were glad to find
here their favorite beverage, I must confess that I should
much have preferred a draught of pure water.

We went directly to the governor's house, who cordially
invited us to be his guests for the night. After doing full
justice to a frugal repast consisting of boiled eggs, bread
and cheese and some good cofifee, we lost no time in seeking
much needed repose.

Early the next morning we were on our way to Contu-
maza. The day's experiences, and the scenery along the

1 Op. (At,, Tom. I, p. 6.

302

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZARRO AND ORSUA

route, were little more than a repetition of those of the
preceding afternoon. With the exception of a few wooded
valleys, there was the same barren waste, relieved by an
occasional agave or cactus, the same absence of hmDan
habitations and industrial activity. Now and then, it is
true, we met a solitary wanderer astride a patient mule
bound for some village in the dim distance, or a silent In-
dian going to or from the nearest market town. Otherwise
the events of the day could be expressed in two phrases,
frequently in the mouth of our arriero — cuesta arriba and
cuesta ahajo—xxj> and down the ever-rising spurs of the
Cordillera.

While traversing these treeless areas, especially along the
water courses, where extensive forests at one time existed,
and where forestry is still possible, we were reminded of
the wise provisions made by the Ihcas for the preserva-
tion of their moyas — ^woodlands — ^and which commanded,
shortly after the conquest, the unqualified admiration of
such a keen observer and accomplished statesman as Polo
de Ondegardo. In his report on the part of the adminis-
tration of the Incas, which concerns forest conservancy,
he declares that ^Hhe greatest benefit that his Majesty could
confer on the Indians, next to their conversion, would be
to confirm the same order established by the Incas ; for to
frame new laws would be an infinite labor. ^^ * This obser-
vation is as true to-day as when it was first penned by the
distinguished licentiate three and a half centuries ago.

So effectually concealed at the bottom of a deep gorge
that one cannot see it until one is actually standing on the
brink of the overhanging precipice, lies the picturesque
little town of Contumaza, the capital of a sub-prefecture.
Here we arrived a few hours before sunset, and were made
welcome by the hospitable sub-prefect — a man under thirty
years of age — and his estimable spouse, who had already

1 Narratives of the Rites and La/ivs of the Inoas, p. 165, traiiBlated from
the original Spanieh manuscripts by C. R. Markham, and printed for the
Hakluyt Society, London, 1873.

303

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

presented her lord with ten bright and healthy children.

These good people, it was manifest, were not believers
in race suicide, and the same may be said of the Peruvians
generally. Everywhere one will see large families among
the poor as well as among the rich. How the poorer classes
manage to eke out an existence with so many depending
on them was often a matter of surprise to me. But during
all my joumeyings in Peru, I found but few beggars and,
although there were often evidences of extreme poverty, I
found far less suffering among the indigent than I have fre-
quently witnessed in the crowded cities of Europe.

Contrasting the women of Peru with his own country-
women, the English traveler, Enoch, expressed himself as
follows : * * The deeply religious practices of the women of
Spanish- America inculcate a strong sense of refinement;
vulgar women, such as the Anglo-Saxon type produces, are
unkaown in Spanish- America. The upper class is refined
and proud ; the lower, modest and respectful. Also the con-
dition known as ^race suicide' obtains no foothold in these
communities, nor is it likely to do so whilst the women re-
main influenced by this (the Catholic) religion.*' ^

Our short stay in Contumaza, although brief, was, thanks
to the exceeding kindness of the sub-prefect and his
estimable family, in every way most delightful. As they
bade me farewell they all asked me to make their house my

1 The Andes and the Amazon, p. 157, London, 1906. Similar statements
regarding the Peruvian women are made hj Hutchinson and Stevenson, both
of whom spent many years in South America and had an opportunity of
becoming acquainted with the greater part of the continent. The latter, in
his work, A Historical and Descriptive Narrative of Twenty Tears^ Residence
in South America, Vol. I, p. 390, does not hesitate to assert that "Chastity
is more common and infidelity more uncommon among the Peruvians than
in most countries of the Old World."

The opinions of Stevenson and Hutchinson, who occupied high official posi-
tions in various parts of Spanish-America, and were, therefore, able to secure
exact information respecting the moral condition of the people with whom
they lived so many years, should silence the slanderous reports put in circu-
lation long ago, and still repeated, by such writers as Baxley and Dabadie as
a result of their hasty visits to the countries which they so grossly misrepre-
sent.

304

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZARRO AND OESUA

home the next time I should visit their town. ^^Aqui/^ said
the father, ^^estd su casa con toda franqueza/'

When we left Contumaza, our arriero assured us that
we should reach the hacienda of Namas — ^where we pur-
posed passing the night — ^by sunset, at latest. But, al-
though we made as good speed as the mountain trail would
permit, we soon discovered that the distance to this point
had been greatly underestimated. We did not get our
desayuno — ^breakfast — ^until long after midday, but when
we did get it we felt more than repaid for the delay. It
was at a small hacienda, called Chanta, where dwelt a
kindly half-caste family. Immediately after our arrival,
the mistress of the house requested her eldest son to kill
a brace of spring chickens and a fat lamb for us.
These were no sooner brought in than the mother and
daughters proceeded to the preparation of our repast.
While they were thus occupied, I discovered that the father
of the family was prostrate with malaria, and through lack
of the necessary medicines, had been quite ill for several
weeks. I then shared with him the contents of my medi-
cine case, and was delighted to find that I had just the
remedies that his malady required.

Considering the circumstances, our desayuno was quite
a sumptuous affair, and I could not but admire the skill of
the cooks in serving us so delightful a repast in so short
a time with culinary utensils so simple as those at their
command. I cannot, however, say that I was surprised,
for I frequently on the Orinoco and the Meta had had
ocular demonstration of what the Indian or half-caste
housewife is capable of accomplishing on short notice, with
the most primitive appliances and with nothing but three
stones in lieu of a stove.

When I came to pay the mother for our breakfast, she
would not accept a penny. I insisted, but stiQ she would
take nothing. * * Why not V^I asked. * * I prefer to pay you
for your hospitality.'* **You have already more than paid
me,'' she said. **You have given my poor sick husband

305

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

the medicine he so much needed, and that is far more to us
than money. ' ' Dies guarde dUdy feliz viaje ' ' — ^ * May God
protect you and may you have a happy journey.** And
thus, for a trifling act of kindness, we had the gratitude of
these humble folk in the desert and the blessing of the
mother to cheer us on the long journey still before us.

After a brisk ride of a couple of hours we came in sight
of f^amas, gleaming through such clear atmosphere that it
seemed not more than a gunshot from where we stood.
But it was on the flank of a mountain on the eastern side
of a deep valley or rather a profound caflon — at the bottom
of whidi nestled the quaint and tranquil little town of
Magdalena.

^^Mttcha bajada^^ — **a steep descent,'* ejaculated our
arriero, as we proceeded to descend the narrow, zigzag
trail that led down the precipitous mountain side. He was
right. There was a drop of more than three thousand feet
from the spot where we then were to the impetuous waters
of the Bio Magdalena, that coursed along the dark, abysmal
depths below. So deep is this rocky gorge that it reminds
one forcibly of the Grand Canon of the Colorado, and so
early in the day does the sun disappear from the view of
the inhabitants of the Magdalena valley that the western
declivity of the mountain is here known by the expressive
epithet, Quitasol — ^the sun-obscurer.

The descent of the hajada was long and tedious and ex-
tremely trying to both mount and rider. For, paradoxical
as it may appear at first sight to one who is not familiar
with traveling in a broken country, the descent of a moun-
tain, especially if it be very precipitous, is much more
arduous to beast and rider than the ascent.

As we slowly wended our way down the steep, rugged
path in the rapidly-gathering gloom, I recalled VirgiPs
words,

^'Facilis descensus Avemi,
Sed revoeare gradmn superasque evadere ad auras
Hoc opus, hie labor est/'

306

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP PIZAREO AND OESUA

and compared them with a sentence of Poe^s in The Pur-
loined Letter. **It is all very well,** writes the anther of
The Raven, *Ho talk abont the facUis descensus Avemi, bnt
in all kinds of climbing, as Catalani said of singing, it is
far more easy to get np than to get down/* This state-
ment is particularly true of mountain climbing, when
one is on the back of a struggling horse or half -exhausted
mule.

Before we reached the rickety bridge that crosses the
Bio Magdalena we were enveloped id Cimmerian darkness.
We could not even see our mule's ears, much less the path
that was to take us to our destination. Then again, as it
had happened so often before, while traveling in the Cor-
dilleras, I was obliged to trust myself to the peculiar in-
stinct of my faithful animal, who seemed to keep to the
path as if guided by a sixth sense.

After crossing the river, we soon arrived at the town
of Magdalena, but instead of stopping Jhere, as my arriero
wished, I determined to push on to Namas, as had been
planned on our departure from Contumaza. The under-
taking, however, was far greater than I had anticipated.
For Namas, that early in the afternoon had seemed so near
to us, was still nearly two leagues distant and high upon
the mountain side.

Even after we had emerged from the canon, through
which the river flows, the impenetrable darkness still per-
sisted. The sky was now so obscured by clouds that not a
single star was visible. But I had confidence in my mule
and was satisfied that he would keep to the path. He was
sure-footed and never stumbled and why should I be
anxious ! On the contrary, why should I not enjoy this part
of the journey as well as any other part!

And, notwithstanding apparent drawbacks, I did enjoy it,
and enjoyed it immensely. I enjoyed the silence and the
solitude, the balmy atmosphere and the delicious zephyrs
that played about my tired frame. And I enjoyed the
thousands of fireflies that winked and darkled on every

307

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

side and reminded one of the Elves of Light that, accord-
ing to the Edda, have their home in the Alfheim.

What was even more remarkable about these luminous in-
sects than their vast number^ was the intensity of the light
they emitted and the length of time their luminosity per-
sisted. They seemed even brighter than the West Indian
Cucujo— Pyrojpfcorw^ noctUucus^-^t which Peter Martyr
writes that they shine so brightly, that when the inhab-
itants ^^goo any ioumeys in the nyght, the beare summe of
these woormes made fast abowt theyre fiete and heade, in
such sorte that he that shoulde see them a farre and igno-
rant of the things, woulde bee greatly astonished thereat. ' ' ^
Indeed, if we are to credit Bemal Diaz, it was these
phosphorescent beetles that materially contributed to the
victory of Cortes over Narvaez. For ** these wandering
fires, seen in the darkness of the night, were converted by
the excited imaginations of the besieged, into an army with
matchlocks.'**

This is not a solitary instance of the Cocujo as a military
auxiliary, for we are told that they once caused the retreat
of the British troops as they were preparing to attack the
Spaniards. **When Sir John Cavendish, and Sir Robert
Dudley,'* so the story runs, ** first landed in the West In-
dies, and saw at night an innumerable number of lights
moving about, they fancied that the Spaniards were ap-
proaching with an overwhelming force, and hastily re-
embarked before their imaginary foe.*'

These extraordinary occurrences, in which the firefly
played such a prominent role, are even more remarkable
than the salvation of Bome by cackling geese, or the defeat
of an army of nine thousand men under Penn and Ven-
ables, in their attack on Santo Domingo, in 1692, by a large
number of clattering land crabs, which were mistaken by

1 Eden, The First Three English Boohs on Amerioa, p. 241, edited l^ Ed-
ward Arber, London^ 1895.

t Verdadera Historia de los Buoesos de la Conquista de Id Nueva BspaAa,
Cap. CXXII.

308

m THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAERO AND OESUA

the English for advancing Spanish lancers^ ^^ whose galling
onset they had experienced the day before/'

While admiring the comscations of these strange insects,
which hold within their frail organisms the secret which
men of science have so long essayed to discover — the pro-
duction of light with no appreciable loss of energy — and
musing on the great changes in the world's events, that are
sometimes occasioned by the most insignificant agents, I
was slowly but surely approaching the goal of the day's
journeying. At the long last, after being twelve hours in
the saddle, we sighted a faint light some distance ahead
of us, which we soon recognized was not from a firefly
butJProm a lamp or a candle in our hotelito — ^little hotel —
in Namas.

I was too exhausted to partake of a dinner that the kindly
patron proceeded forthwith to prepare for us. Leaving
my valiant mule to the arriero, with instructions to give
him an extra supply of alfalfa, I took a cup of chocolate
and a piece of bread, and then threw myself on a tidy little
cot in a cozy room and was soon in the land of dreams.

When I awoke the following morning, shortly before sun-
rise, I felt quite refreshed, and was soon ready to continue
my journey. Just then my young lieutenant approached
me with a salute to apologize for something which I did not
know had occurred. He had dropped behind me on the
road the night before, and as he had not arrived before
I retired to rest, I took it for granted that he would reach
the hotel shortly after I did. But such was not the case,
as I then learned with great surprise.

** Pardon, Senor, for not reporting here last night. But
it was simply impossible for me to do so. My mule gave
out when we reached Magdalena, and positively refused
to carry me a step further. And I was so rendido — ^wom
out — ^that I was quite unable to walk the long distance up
the mountain to Namas. For this reason I was forced to
spend the night in Magdalena, whence I have just come.
Both my mule and I still feel the effects of yesterday's long

309

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

ride, but I think I feel it more than the mule. It was a
terrific journey and I did not understand how you, with
your delicate physique, were able to endure such an arduous
journey. ' ^

I was then confirmed in a belief that my previous
experience in the Cordillera had taught me — ^viz. : that the
race is not always to the physically strong, nor to the pos-
sessors of health and youth. I was nearly old enough
to be the young ofScer's grandfather and was far from
having either his health or his strength. And yet he had
less endurance than I had. The reason of this, I am in-
clined to believe, from many observations subsequently
made, was that I ate less food than my companions and ate
only what I was able to digest, while some of them, I have
reason to believe, overloaded their stomachs and suffered
the consequences, without knowing the cause. Overeating
is always bad, but especially so in high altitudes, and par-
ticularly when one is unaccustomed to them.
^ We had not proceeded far on our way, after leaving
Namas, when our arriero sidled up to me and said, ^^Mucha
cuesta — mucha — miicha/' by which laconic expression he
wished me to understand that we had before us a long and
a very steep climb. We did not have to wait long before
verifying his statement. So steep, indeed, was our path at
times that our mules had to stop frequently for a brief rest.
Besides, as we were rapidly approaching the ctmbre —
crest of the Cordillera — ^they began to feel the effects of the
rarer atmosphere, and progress was proportionally slower.

In marked contrast with the arid and desolate country
through which we had passed since our departure from the
Chicama valley were the fertile and verdant lands which
now burst upon our view. Flocks and herds were quite
numerous and comfortable human habitations, occupied
mostly by Indians and mestizos, were frequently passed.

On approaching one of these dwellings, our attention was
suddenly arrested by music and singing. Turning towards
the diirection whence the sounds proceeded, we saw a large

310

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAEEO AND OESUA

nnmber of men and women, young and old, dancing the
castui and singing a harvest song similar to those which
we had heard in the valley of Cuzco. Horses and mules,
on a specially prepared area, were tramping the wheat to
separate the grain from the straw, and the dancers formed
a ring around the musicians and singers. After each verse
of the song, which was sung by a singer in the center of the
circle, the dancers repeated the refrain and with apparently
increasing emphasis and delight. Even the dogs — and
there were many of them — seemed to enjoy the celebration,
for they were running and jumping, barMng and wagging
their tails and mingling with the merrymakers, as if their
manifestations of delight were an essential part of the
trUla — ^harvest-festivities. They certainly contributed not
a little to the interest of the scene, and enhanced at the same
time the peculiar local color of the picture.

Nearer the cumhre, on a broad plateau, covered by large
flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, were two rock forma-
tions that were so peculiar that I took several photographs
of them. They are known as Las Monjas — ^the Nuns — and
los Frailejones — ^the Big Monks — and are immense, curi-
ously-fashioned masses of trachyte and porphyry that
seemed to have been ejected from the bowels of the earth,
indicating, in the most striking manner, the action, in times
gone by, of truly titanic forces in this part of the Cor-
dilleras.

It was on IMs plateau that Pizarro and his gallant band
camped the night before their arrival at Cajamarca. And
so great was the cold in ttiis place, according to Xeres, the
secretary of the conqueror, that the horses of the cavalry
could scarcely move. Even lower down on the mountain
side, the temperature, he assures us, was so low that some
of the horses were frost-bitten.

These experiences interested me greatly, as they were
in such marked contrast with my own, for nowhere on my
way from the coast to the cvmhre had I found even chill
enough in the atmosphere to cause me to change the light

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

clothing that I had worn in the warm lowlands. Neverthe-
lesSy when I crossed this part of the western Cordillera, it
shonld have been colder than when the Spaniards passed
this way, which was at the end of the winter season, whereas
my visit was more than a month earlier.

I know that certain writers have harrowing stories to
narrate regarding the rigors of the climate about Caja-
marca. Wiener, for instance, tells us that the only way
he could make his mules, which were unaccustomed to snow,
cross the crest of the mountains in these parts, was to at-
tach lassos to their noses and have other mules, familiar
with these snowy heights, drag them across the arctic belt
that here occasioned them such dismay. This author, in
the same chapter, asks his readers to believe that the water-
courses of the Andes, during the rainy season, rise from
twenty to thirty meters in a few hours 1 ^

When he wrote this about the snow-dad summit of the
mountain, he must have had before him The Travels of
Cieza de Leon, who declares that the mountainous region
of Peru, extending the whole length of the Cordillera of
the Andes, is so intensely cold that ^4ts summits are cov-
ered with eternal snow, so that, in no way, can people live
in this region, owing to the snow and the cold, and also be-
cause there are no provisions, all things being destroyed
by the snow and the wind, which never ceases to blow.*^ *
The fact is that the crest of the Cordillera in the neighbor-
hood of Cajamarca is nearly a mile below the line of per-
petual snow, and the vegetation is of such a character as
to indicate that snow rarely, if ever, falls. All statements
to the contrary notwithstanding, the climate of Cajamarca
is quite mild and temperate, reminding one somewhat of
that of Bogota or Quito, where the inhabitants claim an
eternal spring. Indeed, Humboldt does not hesitate to
declare that the climate of Cajamarca ^ ^ is much more mild
and agreeable than that of either of these cities. ' '

Xeres informs us that the Governor, as he calls Pizarro,

1 Op. dt., pp. 117, 121. • Part I, O^. XXXVL

312

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PIZAEEO AND OESUA

* * arrived at this town of Caxamalca^ on Friday, the 15th of
November, 1532, at the hour of Vespers. * ' * With his ar-
rival was sounded the knell of the great Inca empire, and
the day following Atahualpa was his prisoner. With a
handful of men — ^less than two hundred — ^the dauntless con-
quistador had, in a few hours, overcome and dispersed an
army of from thirty to fifty thousand trained Inca veterans,
and the untutored swineherd of Estremadura was the un-
crowned King of Peru.

It was just three hundred and seventy years later, to the
very hour, that, following in the footsteps of the conquista-
dores, I entered the city so famous in the story of the Chil-
dren of the Sim. And so preoccupied was I with thoughts
evoked by my environment, that I was almost unconscious
of what was going on about me, and arrived at Cajamarca
with little more than a glimpse of the splendors of valley
and mountain which make of this old Inca metropolis one
of the most charming pictures to be seen anywhere in the
entire region of the Cordilleras.

1 Now usually written Cajamarca. Qarcilaao more correctly calls it Oasar
marca, derived from the Quichua words Oiua — frost — and maroa — ^pueblo, or
region. The name would seem to indicate that the temperature was orig-
inally lower here than it is at present.

*0p. cit., p. 44.

313

CHAPTER XVII
THEATRE OF A GEEAT TRAGEDY

Never shall I forget the impression made on me by my
first view of Cajamarca. We were slowly descending from
the elevated cumbre^ which constitutes the watershed be-
tween the territory which drains into the Pacific and the
vast area that is tributary to the upper Amazon. Sud-
denly, on rounding a mass of porphyritic rock, which
stood before us, there burst upon us, like a vision, one of
the most beautiful prospects it is possible for the imagina-
tion to conceive.

Before us was the splendid valley of Cajamarca, about
a hundred square miles in extent, partitioned off into well-
kept gardens teeming with fruit trees, picturesque hacien-
das, whitened with flocks and verdant pastures of luzeme,
on which were browsing sleek and contented kine. In the
foreground was the city surrounded by avenues of willows
and quinuar trees, and reflecting from the tiled roofs of its
houses and churches the rays of the sun which was rapidly
approaching the crest of the lofty Cordillera. It was, in-
deed, a beautiful picture — such as one may see only in the
tablelands of the Andes.

What unerring judgment the Indians of South America
displayed in selecting sites for their towns and cities I And
how they always chose the most beautiful locations, as well
as those that were most valuable from a strategical point
of view 1 So true were their instincts in this respect that
the Spaniards nearly always selected the same places for
their homes as had, long before their arrival, been the fa-
vored dwelling places of the aborigines. This is particu-
larly true of the Andean region — ^along the coast as well

314

THEATRE OF A GKBAT TEAQEDY

as in the elevated plateau. The capitals of Venezuela, Co-
lombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru were founded on or
near the sites of Indian towns and villages. The same may
be said of Cuzco, Arequipa, Trujillo and Cajamarca. And
who will say that the Spaniards were not wise in thus
accepting the judgment of the natives! They certainly
could not have made better selections.

As I stood on the top of La Silla, the lofty peak that tow-
ers above the valley of Caracas, I thought the location of
the capital of Venezuela was absolutely unrivaled. When
I subsequently visited Bogotd and Quito, I was disposed
to award to these charming cities the palm for beauty of
site and picturesqueness of environment. But, when, some
months later, I was able, from the famous heights of Sac-
sahuaman, to survey the valley of Cuzco, walled in by snow-
capped mountains, and to contemplate the glories of the
former capital of the Incas, I felt that I then had before
me a picture that of its kind, was peerless, unique. And so
I think to-day. But as I now recall the locations and sur-
roundings of the various cities it was my privilege to visit
in South America, I think I am safe in ranking Cajamarca
next to Cuzco; for the former, like the latter, combines in
rarest fashion all the loveliness of fertile valley with the
sublimity of the encircling Cordilleras.

But attractive as is the city itself, its inhabitants, I hasten
to say it, are more attractive. And what shall I say of their
hospitality! I had scarcely alighted from my mule before
the hotel where I purposed stopping, when I found myself
the recipient of all kinds of delicate attentions from the pre-
fect and others to whom I had letters of introduction.

One gentleman, Mr. L , the leading citizen of Caja-
marca, insisted on my remaining with him, and before I
had time to thank him for his proffered courtesy, he had
ordered my baggage to be transferred to his residence.
Here I had not only all the comforts of home, but also, what
I valued much more, the advantages accruing from associ-
ating with cultured and refined people.

315

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

What pleasant recollections I have of Mr. L and his

charming family I How kind and sympathetic they all
were ; and how eager they were to have me enjoy my visit to
their mountain home I Nothing was left nndone that could
contribute to my comfort or entertainment. All vied with
one another in showing their guest every possible considera-
tion^ and in contributing towards making him realize that,
although just arrived, he was not a stranger, that in Peru,
at least, one could be

Hospes ubique nevus, nulla perigrinus in urbe."^

The day was usually spent in visiting the places of in-
terest in and about the city, while the evenings were devoted
to musical and other entertainments provided by my ever-
kind and thoughtful hosts. The music on both piano and
violin was of an exceptionally high order of merit. But
what surprised me was the preference manifested by all the
performers for German music. Wagner and Liszt seemed
to be the favorites, although there were frequent selections
from Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. The way in which
some of the sonatas of the German composers were exe-
cuted surprised me beyond measure ; for I certainly never
expected to hear such exquisite music in this distant comer
of the Cordilleras.

**But how,'^ I asked my host, **did you get your piano
here, having no rail- or wagon-roads from the coast! ^*

**It was,'* he replied, ** brought on the backs of Indians,
for there was no other way of transporting it. I employed
about forty of them and they carried it by relays, so tiiat
the task was not so difficult for them as one might sup-
pose.*'

He then, in response to my questions, told me many
things about the Indians and cholos, that will, I think, sur-
prise many people who have been accustomed to regard
Indians and half-breeds, wherever found, as utterly worth-

1 ^'Eveiywhere a guest, nowhere a stranger."

316

THEATRE OF A GKBAT TRAGEDY

less and untrustworthy. Mr. L , besides being heavily

interested in the celebrated silver mines of Hualgayoc, does
an extensive wholesale business in merchandise of all kinds,
and his operations extend from the Pacific to the Huallaga.
His experience with Indians and cholos is, therefore, worth
recording, and I take pleasure in doing it, as it is in keep-
ing with my own observations on these much misrepre-
sented members of the human family.

** During the past twenty years, I have,*' declared Mr.

L , ** shipped millions of dollars' worth of silver to the

coast by mules in charge of Indians and cholos and so far
I have never lost a dollar. I supply goods to nearly five
hundred retailers, whose purchases range from five to
twenty thousand soles, and carry them on my books from
six months to a year. The amount of merchandise cred-
ited to these people is scarcely ever less than a million soles,
and I can truthfully say that I have rarely lost anything
through the dishonesty of my customers.''

I then recalled what I had seen at Guaqui illustrative
of the honesty and reliability of the Indians, and what the
early chroniclers tell us about the absence of locks and keys
in the houses of the Children of the Sun. How different is
all this from the idea entertained by certain people in the
United States, who do not hesitate to declare that all In-
dians are absolutely depraved and untrustworthy.

Before departing from lima I was assured that I should
find in the neighborhood of Oajamarca long sections of the
old Inca roads in an excellent state of preservation. I, ac-
cordingly, looked forward to the inspection of these re-
mains of pre-Columbian times with eager anticipation.

Cieza de Leon, commenting on these roads, about which
so much has been written since his time, expresses himself
as follows:

^ ^ One of the things which I admired most, in contemplating
and noting down the affairs of this kingdom, was to think
how and in what manner they could have made such grand
and admirable roads as we now see, and what a number of

317

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

men would suffice for their construction and with what tools
and instruments they can have leveled the mountains
and broken through the rocks to make them so broad and
good as they are. For it seems to me that if the Emperor
should desire to give orders for another royal road to be
made like that which goes from Quito to Cuzco^ or the other
from Cuzco to Chile, with all his power I believe that he
could not get it done ; nor could any force of men achieve
such results unless there were also the -perieot order by
means of which the commands of the Incas were carried
into execution. For if the road to be made was fifty leagues
long, or one hundred or two hundred, and though the
ground was of the most rugged character, it would be done
with diligent care. But their roads were much longer,
some of them extending for over one thousand one hundred
leagues along such dizzy and frightful abysses that, looking
down, the sight failed one. In some places, to secure the
regular width, it was necessary to hew a path out of the
living rock ; all of which was done with fire and their picks.
In other places, the ascents were so steep and high that
steps had to be cut from below to enable the ascent to be
made with wider spaces at intervals for resting-places.
In other parts there were great heaps of snow, which were
more to be feared, and not at one spot only, but often re-
curring. Where these snows obstructed the way, and where
there were forests of trees and loose clods of earth, the road
was leveled and paved with stones when necessary. * * ^

This road, according to Gomara, was twenty-five feet
wide, **cut in some places from the living rock, and in others
made of stone and lime, and went in a direct line, without
turning aside for hills or mountains, or even lakes, — a work,
which all agree, exceeded the pyramids of Egypt, and the

1 The 8eo<md Part of the Chronicle of Peru, Chap. XV. Cf . Chap. LXIH
of the same work, wherein the author assures us that the road from Cuzco to
Quito "was finished in lees time than it is possible for us to imagine, for
the Incas were no longer in ordering it than were their subjects in finish-
ing it."

318

THEATRE OP A GREAT TRAGEDY

paved ways of the Romans, and indeed, all other ancient
works. '^ ^

In addition to this road in the sierra, there was, we are
told, another and a longer road along the coast. This high-
way, Zarate informs ns, was almost forty feet wide, with
very large adobe walls from one end to the other. The
same writer tells ns that Huayna Capac, the conqneror of
Qnito, went from Cuzco to Qnito **by one road and returned
by the other, being covered and shaded all the way by over-
hanging branches and flowers of sweet odor.'' '

On these and similar accounts by the early chroniclers
have been based those pompons descriptions of the ancient
Peruvian highways in which so many modern writers have
given free rein to their exuberant fancy and which, prob-
ably, the majority of their readers have accepted as vera-
cious statements of fact.

But what are the facts in the case! Was there any foun-
dation for the glowing accounts of these roads which, ac-
cording to Hernando Pizarro, surpassed anything in Chris-
tendom, and which, another enthusiastic Spaniard avers,
should be ranked ** amongst the greatest wonders of the
world!'' What is the present condition of these famous
highways, that were constructed to defy the elements, —
**made of free-stone slabs" and ** covered with a cement or
a mixture of lime and bitumen," — ^which were pronounced
by the conquistadores to be ** beyond comparison greater
than the monuments of Egypt or the structures of Rome. ' '
Were these roads as durable as reported, were they **so
nicely constructed that a carriage might have rolled over
them as securely as on any of the great roads of Europe T ' '
Was the road on the plateau, as we are assured by a modern
writer, who accepted as literally true the statements of the
historians of the conquest, ** conducted over pathless sierras

^ Hiatofiiidorea PrinUHvos de Indiaa, Tom. I, p. 277, in BtbUoteoa de
Autores EapaHoles, Madrid, 1877.

^distoria del Desoumbrimieiiio y Oonquiata de la Provincia del Peru, Lib.
I, Cap. X, Tom. 11 of Hiaioricidoree PrimitivoM de IndioM,

319

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

buried in snow; through galleries cut for leagues through
the living rock T ' ' Were ^ * ravines of hideous depth filled up
with solid masonry, ' ^ and is it true that * * all the difficulties
that beset a wild and mountainous region and which
might appal the most courageous modem engineer of
modem times, were encountered and successfully over-
comet^^*

I shall first give briefly the results of my own observa-
tions regarding the famed roads of the Incas, and then en-
deavor to explain how the fairy stories of the early chroni-
clers have been accepted as historic facts by the histori-
ans of succeeding ages.

While in Ecuador, as the reader may recollect,' I made a
special effort to discover some vestiges of the northern
section of the road that was said to have connected Cuzco
with Quito. Not only was I entirely unsuccessful in my
quest, but I could not find a single person who could give me
any satisfactory information regarding it. If it ever ex-
isted, it should not, it seems, be so difficult to find at least
some traces of it still. The remains of ancient roads in
the neighborhood of Biobamba and Quito, that are some-
times attributed to the Incas, are most probably due to the
Spaniards, or are vestiges of roads that were built by the
natives of Quito before their conquest by the Children of
the Sun.

During my travels on the Andean plateau between La
Paz and Cuzco, I thought I should surely find something
which would answer to the descriptions given of the great
highway that is said to have connected the Inca capital
with the Titicaca basin. Here I met with no more success
than in Ecuador. I saw certain roads on the west shore
of Lake Titicaca, that are said by some to have been the
work of the Incas ; but of this there is apparently no cer-
tainty. They may have been constructed by the Spaniards
or by the Aymaras. At any rate, they were far from being

1 Prescotti The Oonqueat of Peru, Lib. I, Chap. II.

2 See Chap. V, p. 96.

320

THBATBB OF A GREAT TRAGEDY

the magnificent highways which the rulers of Cuzco are
said to have built through the territory of CoUa-suyu.

As I journeyed down the valley of the Vilcafiota and
through the great bolson of Cuzco, I was always on the
alert to discover, if possible, traces of roads that were cer-
tainly of Inca origin, but the result of my observations was
far from what I had anticipated. I found vestiges here
and there of roads that were undoubtedly of great an-
tiquity, but they may have been pre-Incaic, and the work
of the builders of the Pelasgian structures found in Cuzco
and in other parts of Peru. But whether they were due to
the Incas or to their predecessors, or to the Spaniards,
they gave no evidence of ever having been at all compara-
ble with the splendid highways that once connected
the capital of the Caesars with the various parts of the great
Roman empire. Even in and around the city of Cuzco,
the streets and roads were at best nothiag more than or-
dinary cobblestone thoroughfares, and are probably in
nearly as good condition to-day as they were in the time
of the Incas. They are certainly far from being the smooth,
macadamized highways, or the roads constructed of care-
fully cut slabs of free-stone and porphyry that are said,
once ui)on a time, to have existed in the sparsely settled
and inhospitable northern regions of Tahuantin-suyu.

My last hope of finding remains of the Inca roads, that
would even remotely justify the extravagant accounts
given them by writers from the time of the conquest down
to our own, lay in Cajamarca. Before leaving Lima I was
shown a photograph recently made of what I was assured
was a section of the old highway between Cuzco and Quito
— a picture which represented a broad, well-paved way,
that might, indeed, bear some semblance to the smooth,
well-swept causeway over which Atahualpa and his army
marched on his way from the warm baths of Pultamarca ^
to the plaza of Cajamarca on the memorable afternoon of
Saturday, November 16, 1532.

1 still known as BoAoa del Inca — ^baths of the Inca.

321

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Here again I was doomed to disappointment. The roads
roimd about Cajamarca are no better than^ if as good as,
those seen in varions other parts of the great Andean pla-
teau. And| although I made special and persistent inquiry
of the best-informed people in the citji I could not find one
who was prepared to identify a single vestige of road that
was of undoubted Inca origin.

I then found myself, much against my will, forced to
abandon all my preconceived notions regarding the marvels
and magnificence of the great Inca highwaysy the graphic
accounts of which have so long fascinated thousands of
readers in all parts of the world. I discovered, for the first
time, that I had, perhaps, been cherishing an illusion when
I expected to find in Peru anything that would warrant the
extravagant statements of Cieza, Zarate, Qomara and oth-
ers regarding what has been so long pointed to by many
as one of the greatest evidences of Inca power and Inca
civilization.

Had I expected too much, or had I been deceived by
the Spanish chroniclers and by those who have so closely
followed them as authorities for the last four centu-
ries f

I had not, it is true, visited all the territory through
which these much vaunted roads passed, but I had traveled
several thousand miles along the routes which they are said
to have traversed, and had explored those sections of the
countries where vestiges of them should be best preserved,
and I had found nothing anywhere to justify the state-
ments, so often repeated, that the roads in question were,
at the time of the conquest, equal, if not superior, to those
great Boman highways which have for two thousand years
evoked the admiration and the praise of the engineers of
the world.

So great was my disillusion that at first I hesitated to
formulate an opinion that must needs be at variance with
the generally-accepted view of historians and travelers who
have descanted so eloquently on the glories of Inca rule

322

THEATRE OP A GREAT TRAGEDY

and Inca enlightenment. But why hesitate to speak the
truth, if one's conclusions are justified f

I have already quoted the opinion of the learned Ger-
man explorer. Dr. Beiss, who has, probably, more carefully
explored the region of the Andes than any man who ever
lived. This careful and conscientious investigator, in re-
ferring to the remains of the Inca road near the boundary
between Peru and Ecuador, which Humboldt had so highly
praised, does not hesitate to declare, ^^I do not understand
how they can have been compared to the most beautiful
highways of the Romans. * * ^

As to the section of the Inca road between Cuzco and
Oroya, which I did not have an opportunity of inspecting,
Petrocokino writes: **A few loads of granite setts shot
into a road and left to settle would fairly describe the pres-
ent condition of this famous highway.'^ *

Bandelier, who is so well and favorably known for his
archaeological researches in Peru and elsewhere in Span-
ish-America, confirms my own observations in the most pos-
itive manner. ^^Boads of ancient make,*' he writes, ** ex-
ist in various places, but they are not after a general plan,
and not connected. These roads, or wide trails, I have
seen often in the course of eleven years' explorations,
and have found them to be ways of communication between
neighboring tribes, made by these tribes previous to Inca
sway. Bitter are the complaints of the early Spaniards
when they describe their first march to Cuzco over the ab-
sence of trails, even in the vicinity of that settlement. ' ' •

iln his VietM of Nature, p. 393, Bohn edition, Humboldt expresses him*
self as follows: "None of the Roman roads, which I have seen in Italy, in
the south of France and in Spain, appeared to me more imposing than this
work of the ancient Peruvians." I rather suspect that, had he not been
deterred by the reverence, which all his countrymen entertain for the illus-
trious author of the Coamoa, Dr. Reiss would have been less guarded in his
judgment.

* Along the Andes, p. 46, London, 1903.

9 Harper's Magazine, Vol. GX, pp. 636-637. Larrabure y Unanue, holds a
similar view as to the antiquity of the roads in question. "Manco Capao and
his descendants," he writes, "must have found roads already made, correspond-

323

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

This statement of the eminent explorer is quite different
from that which Wiener makes r^arding the network of
macadamized roads whose existence through the length and
breadth of the Inca empire, he will have it, admits of no
doubt whatever.^

What Bandolier says concerning roads being made by
certain tribes previous to Inca sway may, I think, be re-
garded as unquestionable. This would apply particularly
to the vestiges of roads along the coast near Trujillo
in the territory formerly inhabited by the enterprising
and powerful Chimus. It would likewise hold good for
the region around Cajamarca, and that part of the An-
dean tableland which is included between Biobamba and
Quito.*

Zarate would have us believe that during the reign of a
single Inca — ^Huayna Capac, the conqueror of the country
now known as Ecuador — ^two roads were begun and com-
pleted and that each of these was five hundred leagues in
length, ^^very broad and smooth, and so level, when
finished, that a carriage might have gone over it.'' And
we are furthermore asked to believe that all this was ac-
complished by a people who had no knowledge of explo-
sives of any kind and who were even ignorant of the use of
iron; that both these stupendous undertakings were car-
ing to earlier civilizations, and they but re-established them little by little
and repaired them in proportion as they advanced in their conquests and
extended their frontiers." Op. dt, p. 149.

1 '*<je reseau — tel qu' 11 r^sulte des itin^raires dee oonquistadorea oonnus
par les historiagraphes de la oonquete — est done une reoonstitution qui a
touB lee caract^res d' une certitude abeolue." Op. cit., p. 656.

sQomara admits this for the mountain road between Cuzco and Quito, for
he says, "Guainacapa" — ^Huayna Capac — *'\o alarg6 y restaur6, y no lo hisso,
oomo algunos dicen; que cosa vieja ee, y que, no la pudiera acabar en su
yida" — ^''Quaincapa extended and restored it, but did not build it> as some
say, for it is something old, and he could not have completed it during his
lifetime." Op. cit., p. 277. As Quito did not come under the dominion of
the Incas until the reign of Huyana Capac, it is clear, from Qomara's testi-
mony, that at least the northern part of the Ouzco-Quito highway was not
the work, as is usually supposed, of the Children of the Sim, but of the
earlier inhabitants of the conquered country.

324

THBATEB OP A GEBAT TRAGEDY

ried to a successful issue while the Inca monarch was en-
gaged in subjugating the powerful and well-organized tribes
of the north and by a population which, we have reason to
believe, was no more numerous in the regions traversed
by the roads in question than it is at present. To construct
two such roads as those described between Cuzco and Quito
would, even to-day, exhaust many times over the resources
of the Peruvian government and baffle our most expert en-
gineers with all the appliances of modem science and Yan-
kee invention.

The descriptions of the Inca roads must, I cannot help
thinking, be classed among those exaggerations which so
often characterize the accounts of battles between the Incas
and the conquistadores, in which the chronicler is made to
exalt the glories of Spanish valor by recording events that
did not and could not have occurred. The exaggerations
may also be due to the fact that the mountain trails which
they found among the sierras were incomparably better
than the narrow and precarious paths with which they had
been familiar in the wild, forest-dad regions of Darien and
Castilla del Oro.

Still another reason, aside from exaggeration, may be
found in Ihe fact, too often ignored, that the public high-
ways, even in Europe, were, at the time of the conquest,
far from being what they are to-day. In Spain good roads,
even between the largest cities, were quite exceptional.
Usually they were so bad as to evoke the historical ex-
clamation, 0 dura telh^s Hispcmuel Such being the case,
the Peruvian roads may have appeared to many of the
Spanish chroniclers, who had little knowledge of good roads
in the mother country, as really deserving of the praise
they bestowed upon them. But, compared with the Appian
Way or the Via Amelia, over which rolled the chariots of
the Roman conquerors, or with the splendid roads in Europe
and America, that are now the delight of the automobilist,
the Inca highways, on which so much rhetoric has been
wasted, were, in the sierras, little, if any, better than moun-

325

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

tain trails. Along the coast and outside of the towns they
were probably nothing more than desert paths like those
which, not many decades ago, passed through the Llanos
Estacados of western Texas. The fact that such slight
vestiges of them now remain proves conclusively that they
were far from being the matchless works depicted by chron-
icler and explorer, and incomparably inferior to the noble
Via Sacra that terminated in Eleusis, or the magnificent
causeway over which the pilgrims of nearly three thousand
years ago journeyed up the flanks of Parnassus on their
way to the shrine of the Delphic Apollo.

It is said that the Inca roads were destroyed by the ele-
ments and the Spaniards. If they were ever what they
have been represented to be,^ they would surely make as
good a showing to-day — ^which they certainly do not — ^as
does the road, still imposing in its ruins, which led up a
steep mountain slope to the most famous oracle of ancient
Greece.

That this tradition, or fiction rather, concerning the roads
of the Incas as works deserving to be classed among the
wonders of the world, and that, too, in a country in which
there were no beasts of draught or burden, except the
llama, and no wheeled vehicles of any kind, should have
been able to survive so long, is to me one of the most won-
derful things in connection with the history of Peru. It
shows how limited is still our knowledge of this interesting
land, and the necessity there is of a more thorough study
of its archaeological remains and early history, especially
that bearing on the divers waves of migration which have
passed over this part of South America, leaving everywhere
traces of their passage and often, too, leaving behind them

1 Las Caaas, for instance, who, relying on his informants who had been
in Peru, describes the roads as **CoBa admirable y dwvna*' and declares that
the one in th^ sierra, which, he tells us extended from Pasto, in New Granada,
to the Strait of Magellan, was so well constructed as to resist the destruc-
tive effects of the elements for all time — "que ni por nievea m por aguae
puede jamaa derrumharae,** Apologetioa Hietoria de Uu Indiae, p. 662, in
Nueva Btblioteoa de Autoree BapaHolee, Madrid, 1909.

326

THBATEB OP A GEBAT TEAGBDT

monmnents like those of Chan-Chan, Pachacamac and Tia-
huanacoi which equal, if they do not surpass, anything still
standing to perpetuate the memory of the Children of the
Sun. When such an exhaustive investigation shall have
been made, we shall doubtless discover that much of what
has long been attributed to the Incas should be credited
to their predecessors or contemporaries, and that among
the many works for which the Incas have received exclu-
sive credit, not the least of them will be those famous high-
ways which have been such a favorite theme for writers
on Peru since the time of the conquistadores.

As we were returning from our futile attempt to locate
the section of the road, which I had been so positively as-
sured could be found in the immediate vicinity of the city,
we came to the Church of San Francisco, said to be built
on the site formerly occupied by the temple of the Sun.
The reader in this connection will recollect that what still
remains of the great temple of the Sun in Cuzco is now a
part of the Church of San Domingo.

^^Let us call on the Frandscans while we are here,'' said
one of the party. **They are charming people and are do-
ing noble work, not only in the city here but also in the
towns and villages for miles around. The people, and espe-
cially the Indians, almost idolize them, for they are sure
to see these good padres among them whenever they are
in trouble or when their ministrations are required. The
recording angel only knows the good these devoted sons of
St. Francis have accomplished among the poor of the Cor-
dilleras. Their name ia held in benediction by all who have
come under their gentle and benign influence, and deserv-
edly so.''

The good religious received us most cordially and showed
us everything of interest in their church and monastery.
One could see at a glance that they were true to their pro-
fession— ^men of zeal, abnegation and of the broadest char-
ity for their fellow-men, of whatever faith or calling. They
were, indeed, worthy disciples of the PovereUo of Assisi,

327

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

and we left them ready and willing to believe all the good
things we had heard of them.

But a short distance from San Francisco is the site which
tradition says was occupied by the convent of the Virgins
of the Snn. The student of Peruvian history is aware that
there was a temple of the Sun in all the important towns
of the Inca empire, and wherever there was such a place
of worship there was also an accla-huasi — a house of
women engaged in service connected with the worship of
the Sun.

As in Cuzco the Accla-huasi — ^the abode of fifteen hun-
dred Virgins of the Sun, all of the blood royal — ^is now the
convent of Santa Catalina, so here on the reputed site of
the Virgins of the Sun, there is a similar institution. For
here the Sisters of Charity, those noble daughters of St.
Vincent de Paul, who are ever found where there is dis-
tress to be relieved, or suffering to be allayed, have a
school, an hospital and an orphan asylum, all of which are
conducted on the same principles that have rendered their
institutions so famous in every part of the globe. Here we
found the same devotion to duty, the same self-sacrifice
that characterize the labors of their sisters in the isolated
Llanos of Colombia or among the children of the forest
on the banks of the Napo; the same zeal for the work of
the Master, the same ardent charity for the poor and the
unfortunate as take their associates in reUgion through
the snows of Athabasca, or into the jungles of equatorial
Africa, or renders them happy in the pest-laden atmos-
phere of the leper colony of Molokai.

**How,*' I asked the mother superior, remembering the
long and painful journey from the coast to the crest of
the Cordillera, **how were you ever able to reach this out-
of-the-way place in the mountains! '^

**To tell the truth,'* replied the humble religious, **I
hardly know how we got here. None of us had ever been
in the saddle before, but somehow or other we all managed
to keep on our mules and arrive here without a mishap

328

THEATRE OP A GREAT TRAGEDY

of any kind. I suppose also,*' she said smiling, **we were
able to realize, as others have realized, the truth of the
old saying: ^Quien se guar da, Dios le guarda' — ^*God
helps those who help themselves.* '*

**And where did you stop at night, when there were no
hotels to be found!'*

**We were always given hospitality by the people along
the road. They everywhere — God bless them! — ^vied with
one another as to who should have the honor of entertain-
ing las hermanitas — ^the little sisters, as they called us —
and although their homes were often very humble, and
they had but little to give us, their extreme kindness and
their manifest delight at having the sisters in their midst,
made us forget all the little inconveniences and discom-
forts of our surroundings.**

These same sisters, I may here add, were, at the time of
my visit, contemplating the establishment of a house in
Chachapoyas, in the heart of the Sierra to the east of the
Maranon. The length and arduous character of the jour-
ney to that distant point had no terrors for them. They
were ready to depart on a moment's notice, whenever
obedience called them.

" 'Que mujeres tan heroicasl' — *what heroic women,* **
exclaimed one of our party in admiration of all he had seen
and heard.

" 'De veras, son heroinas/ " responded another, " 'y
angeles de pureza y caridad' — *they are indeed heroines
and angels of purity and charity. * How different is their
vocation from that of the so-called Virgins of the Sun, who
formerly had their home on or near this spot I * *

He was right. And, ungracious as it may seem, it is
safe to say that as many errors have been current regard-
ing the ** Virgins of the Sun** as have so long prevailed
concerning the roads of the Inca.

The initial mistake about their true character arose from
the misleading name monasterios— convents — given their
habitations by the Spaniards at the time of the conquest.

329

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Calling the houses ^^ convents" and the inmates monjas —
nnns — ^govemed by abadesas and maestras de novicias —
abbesses and mistresses of novices ^ — from a fancied re-
semblance to institutions with which they were familiar in
the mother country, they unconsciously gave currency to
an error in the minds of many that still persists and in
spite of all that has been written to the contrary. Had
they used the Quichua name, acUa-cunch-^iiosen ones —
applied to these women and employed the term accla-httasi
— ^house of the chosen ones — to designate their place of
abode, the misapprehension that has so long obtained re-
garding their true character would, probably, never have
occurred.

Then again, the error once started on its course, was
perpetuated by Garcilaso, who unduly lauded the lives
of the acUa-cuna and their strict observance of claustral
rules, which, he declares, were never violated either by those
within or those without the sacred precincts of the cloister.
But he is practically alone in this view for the concurrent
testimony of most of the early chroniclers discloses quite
a different story.

Xeres, for instance, tells us that on their way to Ca-
jamarca, the soldiers of Pizarro, at the entrance of the
village of Caxas, found ** certain Indians hung up by the
feet,'* and this, they were informed, was because **Ataba-
lipa — ^Atahualpa — ^had ordered them to be killed, because
one of them entered the house of the women,** who were
acUa-cuna.^

1 Garcilaso, op. cit., Lib. IV, Cap. I-III.

2 Op. cit., p. 28. Aoll€H)una, it maj here be remarked, is the plural of
acUa, The suffix cuna indicates the plural of the noun to which it is added.
Aclla9 — the Spanish form of the plural — is usually employed. By a curious
slip of the pen, Ficke writes ''an ftolla-cuna,"

Hie name given to the religieuses of the various Catholic sisterhoods by
the Quichua Indians of the present time is Dioa-pa aoola-cuna — ^the choeen
ones of God.

Tliose who desire further information regarding this interesting, but
little-understood, subject of the character and occupation of the aclla-cuna-~
and the uses of women and diildren as tribute among the Incas, may consult

330

THBATEB OP A GREAT TRAGEDY

An incident of much greater import^ bearing on this
matter, is recorded by Salcamayhna. In his Account of
the Antiquities of Peru, he tells ns how Huascar Inca ** or-
dered the acUcts of all four classes to be brought into the
open square of Cuzco in the middle of all the curacas and
the whole army and to be forced to gratify the basest
passions of a brutal soldiery.*' ^

Other similar instances are recorded, but the two just
adduced show how far from the truth Garcilaso is who,
when speaking of the penalties incurred by those who vio-
lated the law governing the accla-huasi, assures us that
that law ^^was never put into execution, because no man
ever transgressed if *

The fact is, as we learn from the statements of those
**who saw Indian society in Peru while in its primitive
condition," the acUa-cuna and mamaconas — outside of
those who were of the blood royal — nustas — ^were nothing
more than ^^a tribute in women exacted by the Cuzco
tribe, '* and ** chastity on their part was only relative, not
absolute. The buildings in which such women were kept
were neither more nor less than storehouses sheltering
a tribute of women. ' * • Hernando Pizarro, in a letter to
the royal audience of Santo Domingo well calls them
^^ houses of imprisoned women with guards at the doors."
That the reader may see at a glance how the acUa-cuna
were recruited and what were their occupations and the

with profit The Beoond Part of the Ohrawiele of Oiega de Leony Cap. XVIII;
History of the Inoas, Chap. UI, by Pedro Sarmiento; Ramos, Historia de
Oopaoahana y de au MUagroea Virgen j compendiada por Fraj Rafael Sans,
La Paz, 1860; Relacion del Deeouhrimiento y Oonquiata de loe Reinoe del
Peru, p. 266, por Pedro Pizarro in Oolecoion de Dooumentoe ineditoa para la
Hietoria de Eepafia, Vol. V. Discarding all euphemistic paraphrase, Fiske, in
his work, "The IMsoo^ery of America," Vol. 11, p. 845, declares that the
aolUu "were concubines of the Inca." Their consent to becoming inmates of
the accla-huasi was never asked, and if they entered it or remained in it vol-
untarily, it was usually for the same reason that a Georgian or Circassian
beauty becomes a willing odalisk in the seraglio of the Grand Turk.

iQp. cit., p. 112.

« Op. cit.. Lib. rV, Cap. III.

s Bandelier, The Islands of Titioaea and Koati, p. 254.

331

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

purposes they served, I will transcribe a passage from the
accomplished statesman. Polo de Ondegardo, who went to
Peru with President Gasca, and who, for a time, was cor-
regidor of Cuzco. In his report on the Lineage of the
Incas and How They Extended Their Conquests, he writes
as follows : —

'^ There was another kind of contribution in the time of
the Incas, which was as heavy and onerous as all the others.
In every province they had a house called Aclla-hiiasi
which means, ^the house of the chosen ones,' where the
following order was kept : There was a governor in each
province whose sole duty was to attend to the business of
these houses, whose title was Apihpanaca. His jurisdic-
tion extended over one hunu, which means ten thousand In-
dians, and he had power to select all the girls who appeared
to him to be of promising dispositions, at the ages of eight
or nine years, without any limit as to the number chosen.
They were put into this house in company with a hundred
Mama-cunas, ^ who resided there, where they were taught
all the accomplishments proper for women, such as to sew,
to weave, to make the drinks used by the Indians; and
their work, in the month of February at the Feast of
Raymy was taken to the city of Cuzco. They were strictly
watched until they reached the age of thirteen or fourteen
years and upwards, so that they might be virgins when
they should arrive at Cuzco, where they assembled in great
numbers from all the provinces in the middle of March.
The order of distribution was as follows :

** Women were taken for the service of the Sun, and placed
in the temples, where they were kept as virgins. In the
same order women were given to the service of pacha-
mama, and of other things in their religion. Then others
were selected for the sacrifices that were offered in the
course of the year, which were numerous. On these oc-
casions they killed the girls, and it was necessary that they
should be virgins ; besides offering them up at special sea-

1 MatroDB who had charge of the Virgiiu of the Son.

332

THBATEB OP A GREAT TRAGEDY

sons, such as for the health of the LQca, for his success in
war, for a total eclipse of the sun, on earthquakes, and
on many other occasions suggested hy the Devil. Others
were set apart for the service of the Inca, and for other
persons to whom he showed favor. When any man had
received a woman as his legitimate wife or mamanchu, he
could not take another except through the favor of the Inca,
which was shown for various reasons, either to one who
had special skill in any art, or to one who had shown valor
in war, or had pleased the Inca in any other way. The
number of women who were set apart for these uses was
very great, and they were selected without any regard to
whom they belonged, but merely because they were chosen
by the Apu-panaca, and the parents could not excuse or
redeem them under any circumstances. Estates were set
apart for the support of the houses of the chosen ones
and this tribute would have been felt more than any other,
if it had not been for the belief that the souls of the girls
that were sacrificed went to enjoy infinite rest, which was
the reason that sometimes they voluntarily offered them-
selves for sacrifice. * ^ ^

This quotation shows how the so-styled ** Virgins of the
Sun^* were, in their raison d' etre and occupation, toto
ccelo different from the consecrated virgins of the Catholic
Church, who voluntarily and only after attaining woman-
hood, assume the obligations of a life of poverty, chastity
and obedience, and dedicate themselves to the work of

iQp. dt,, p. 165.

Garcilaso denies that the Incas were ever guilty of human sacrifices. Hie
coiiBenflus of authority is, however, decidedly against him. Among modem
writers Markham sides with Garcilaso, while Prescott, Rivero and Helps
accept the testimony of the majority of the early chroniclers, who distinctly
assert the existence of human sacrifices among the ancient Peruvians, although
"they were never," as Prescott observed, ''followed by those cannibal repasts
familiar to the Mexicans and to many of the fierce tribes conquered by the
Incas." For a summary of the evidence bearing on this question, see Prea-
cott'a Conquest of Peru, Book I, Chap. Ill, and Markham's translation of
Garcilaso's First Part of the Royal Commentaries of the Incas, Vol. I, pp.
13^142.

333

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

infitruction of youth and the care of the poor, the sick,
the helpless and the unfortunate.

Adjoining the convent of the Sisters of Charity and a
part of the property within their enclosure, is what is
represented to be the building in which was collected the
famous ransom of Atahualpa. I know that Lorente ^ as-
serts that this historic structure was recently destroyed,
but I think he must confound the captive's prison, which
has disappeared, with the chamber in which the ransom
was stored, which was in a different part of the city. At
all events, tradition in Cajamarca, which seems to be well
founded and is generally accepted, points to this building
on the premises of the sisters as El Palacio del Inca — ^the
house of Atahualpa's ransom.

With the kind assistance of the prefect I measured the
building and found its inside dimensions to be as follows:

Length 32 feet 9 inches

Width 20 *' 9 **

Height 10 '* 8 *' *

The wall is thirty-four and a half inches thick and built
of the same kind of massive dressed stone that is found
in the old Inca palaces and temples of Cuzco and OUantay-
tambo. There seems no doubt about the antiquity of the
structure, and the architecture in all its details is decidedly
Incaic.

The height to which Atahualpa agreed to fill this build-
ing with gold and silver, chiefly in the form of ornaments
and domestic utensils, as the price of his liberty, was nine
feet, or as Hernando Pizarro expresses it, **up to the white
line, which was the height of a man and a half from the
floor.** The value of the treasure actually collected, ao-

1 Hiatoria de la Conquista del Peru, p. 161, Lama, 1861.

8 This agrees closely with the dimensions — evidently not intended to be
exact — given by Hernando Pizarro in his Letter to the Royal Audience of
BiMto Domingo, in which he states that "the room was seventeen or eighteen
feet wide, and thirty-five feet long." Reports of the Discovery of Peru, p. 120,
translated by C. R. Markham for the Hakluyt Society, London^ 1872.

334

THEATRE OP A GREAT TRAGEDY

cording to Xerez and the notary Pedro Sanchez, was four
million six hundred and five thousand six hundred and
seventy ducats, which has been estimated to be equal to
£3,500,000— more than $17,000,000 our money.^

This immense treasure of gold and silver, added to the
millions subsequently found in the ruins of Chan-Chan
and in and about Cuzco, Mananchili and Lake Titicaca
gives one some idea of the hoards of the precious metals
that had, during long generations, been acciunulated by the
ancient Peruvians. And yet, if we are to credit the state-
ments made at the time of the conquest, the Spaniards
secured but a small fraction of the treasures that existed
in the country before their arrival.

A short distance from the Palacio del Inca, on the side
of the plaza opposite La Matriz — ^the chief church of the
city — ^is La Carcel — ^the prison of the department — ^in
which is shown a slab that marks the spot where Atahualpa
was garroted under conditions which leave a stain on tiie
memory of all who were in any wise responsible for his
execution. The whole transaction has been truthfully
characterized by Las Casas as ^'larga, lamentable y do-
lorosa historia, no menos miser a de contar" — ^**a long and
lamentable and dismal story and pitiful to relate. ' ' ^

It is not my purpose to discuss a subject that has been
a matter of controversy for nearly four centuries — ^a con-
troversy which has too often been dominated by the spirit
of party and nationality— but no student of history can
stand on this tragic spot unmoved or without making a few
reflections suggested by the memory of the proceedings
which, in the opinion of many, constitute the darkest chap-
ter in the annals of Peru.

Without holding a brief for Pizarro and his companions,
one may be permitted to believe that much may be said in
extenuation of the tragedy which has been condemned by

1 Garcilaso, Comeniarios Reales del Peru, Parte II, lib. I, Cap. XXXVIII,
Madrid, 1722.
sOp. cii., p. 681.

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ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

some in such unmeasured terms and defended by others
as a political expediency, if not a military necessity.

The occurrence was no doubt a most regrettable one, but
whether the Spaniards deserve all the unreserved con-
demnation they have met with at the hands of certain his-
torians is not clear. There are two sides to every question,
and the more carefully the execution of Atahualpa is
studied by the impartial investigator, the more it becomes
evident that the circumstances leading to it are calculated
greatly to mitigate the reprobation that the deed has pro-
voked*

Without entering into details, which would be out of
place in a work like the present, it may be safely asserted
that Pizarro and his men — ^whatever were the real motives
which actuated them in taking the life of their victim —
did merely what others would have done if similarly sit-
uated. They were, or believed they were, in a hostile coun-
try and surrounded by myriads of men subject to the or-
ders of a cruel and perfidious usurper. What was then
left for them to dot Allow themselves to be captured by
their enemies and offered up as a sacrifice to the Sun, —
the god of the empire,— or wait resignedly until the troops
of the Inca had taken positions of vantage in order thus
to have the invaders more securely in their power t Ad-
vance or retreat was out of the question, as long as it was
possible for the Inca to command the hosts that had fol-
lowed him from Quito, and who but awaited a signal from
him to do his bidding. They had, at his instigation,
cruelly murdered his brother Huascar and put to an
ignominious death all those who might impede his way to
a throne to which he had no claim. Unless, then, the
Spaniards were prepared to share the fate of Huascar and
his followers, a bold coup de main, that would strike terror
into the minds of the Indians was imperative. For
**when one is driven to despair, one is ready to fight even
against sky-gods.^' There seemed to be no alternative
between their own death and that of Atahualpa. When

336

THEATRE OP A GREAT TRAGEDY

this conclusion was arrived at, the fate of the Inca was
sealed.

The restdt was as anticipated. **By one bold stroke/*
writes Prescott, '^Pizarro broke the spell which had so
long held the land under the dominion of the Incas. The
spell was broken, and the airy fabric of their empire, built
on the superstition of ages, vanished at a touch. ' ' ^

Begarding the action of the Spaniards in thus eliminat-
ing from the scene of action the only one who seemed com-
petent to arrest their career of conquest, one can say with
Helps, ^^It is not for one generation to comment very
severely on its predecessors. The history of the most ad-
vanced times presents nearly as much that is ludicrous,
disastrous and ill-considered as can readily be met with
at any previous period of the world. ^* ^

As to Valverde and Atahualpa, who played such prom-
inent rdles in the great tragedy a few words will suffice.

Unless history be entirely at fault in what it teaches us
concerning the learning, the wisdom and the charity of the
first bishop of Cuzco, and his tender solicitude for the In-
dians of whom he, like his illustrious brother Dominican,
Las Casas, was always a zealous and strenuous protector,*
Valverde was very far from being the ignorant, cruel,
fanatical monk that has marred the pages of certain his-
torians of the Peruvian conquest. Until, therefore, further
and more reliable evidence is forthcoming in proof of his
alleged fanatical and inhuman conduct, one will be, it seems
to me, fully justified in accepting the conclusion of Count
de Maistre regarding this long-debated question. In his
Soirees de Saint Petershourg, the learned author, after a

iQp. cit. Book II, Chap. V.

s The SpanUh Conquest in America, Vol. Ill, p. 398, London, 1902.

sin a letter to Charles V he urges the perpetual emancipation of the
Indians in the following language: "A. V. M. resentarfin alUl IO0 conquis-
tadorea muchos seryidoe dandolos por causa pcu'a que dejen servir ft los
indioe como de esdavoe; V. M. se los tiene mui bien pagadoe en los provechoe
que han habido en esta tierra, 7 no los ha de pagar con haoer ft sua vasallos
eedayoe."

337

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

careful study of the subject, does not hesitate to declare
that all which has been charged against Valverde in the
sad episode which we have been considering bears the in-
trinsic marks of falsehood.^

** Personal sympathy, of course, would be wasted upon
such a blood-thirsty wretch as Atahualpa. ' '

In these few words Fiske expresses his opinion of ttie
ruthless fratricide and sanguinary despot, whom some
writers have pictured as **a confiding youth and a gentle
lamb,** but whose death, far from exciting sorrow, was the
occasion of rejoicing throughout the empire. So univer-
sally was he recognized as a bastard usurper, as one who,
by **a succession of cruel butcheries, vainly attempted to
exterminate the royal race,** that he has never been ad-
mitted by the Peruvians into the list of their Incas. Even
**to this day,** writes Markham, **his name is held in uni-
versal abhorrence by the Indians, and is generally known
as Aucca, or the traitor. ' * *

Ajiother point that deserves passing notice, in order to
complete what has been said in preceding chapters regard-
ing the social and political status of the Incas, is the oft-
repeated objection of those who have impugned the Span-
ish right of conquest in Peru.

This objection might be answered by a quotation from
Fiske regarding the conquest of Mexico. **If,*' he de-
clares, **we are to be guided by strict logic, it would be

1 Vol. I, p. 101, Paris, 1854.

*Cuzco <jmd Lima, p. 137, London, 1856.

Sarmiento in his History of the Incas, Chap. LXIX, expresses the same
sentiment when he declares, that Atahualpa "was a tyrant against the natives
of this country and against his brother Huascar. He had lived thirty-six
years. He was not an Inca of Peru, but a tyrant."

Gardlaso, referring to the executicm of Atahualpa, tells us that his coun-
trymen "said that the Spaniards had put the tyrant to death as a punish-
ment and to avenge the death of the Incas, and that the god Viracocha, the
father of the Spaniards, had ordered them to do it. This is the reason they
called the first Spaniards by the name of Viracocha, and believing they
were sons of their god, they respected them so much that they almost wor-
shipped them and scarcely made any resistance to the conquest." Op. cit.,
lib. V, Cap. XXI.

338

THEATRE OP A GREAT TRAGEDY

difficult to condenm the Spaniards for the mere act of con-
quering Mexico, without involving in the same condemna-
tion our own forefathers who crossed the ocean and over-
ran the territory of the United States with small regard
for the proprietary rights of Algonquins, or Iroquois, or
red men of any sort.** ^

**But,** the objector urges, *Hhe Children of the Sun
were a civilized people and as such should have been left in
undisturbed possession of their lands and liberty.**

This is precisely the question at issue. Were they a
civilized people, as so often represented by those who would
exalt them at the expense of their conquerors t

According to Las Casas, who devotes his large Apolo-
getica Historia to the exaltation of the virtues and the
social, political and economic status of the primitive in-
habitants of the New World, the Indians were inferior to
none of the peoples of the Old World, and superior to many
of them. Considering that they were deprived of the light
of faith and were guided only by reason, and an innate
sense of right and wrong, he declared that in the natural
virtues and in moral excellence, they were superior to the
Greeks and Romans ; superior even to the English, French
and some of his own countrymen, while in many respects
they were incomparably above many other peoples.^

From the view-point of Las Casas, as is evinced from
the words just quoted, the American Indians were far less
barbarous, and consequently more civilized, than many peo-
ples usually regarded as being in the fore-front of the
cultured nations of the world. As, however, few, if any,
can now be found who would be willing to endorse the
above statements of the illustrious protector of the Indians,
even among those who have made the most vigorous on-

1 Ut. sup., Vol. II, p. 291.

s "Sobrepujaron tambien ft los ingleses, franceses j algunas gentes de nuestra
Espafia, y ft otras inniimerableB fuerpn tan superiores en las oostumbrei
tenerlas buenas j oareoer de muohas malas^ que no merederon oon laa de
estas Yndias compararse,". p. 684.

339

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

slaughts on the Spaniards for their conquest of a civilized
nation like that of the Incas, it becomes necessary to define
the much-abused words ** barbarous'* and ** civilized. ' '

If one were to accept the premises of Las Casas, re-
garding the meaning of ^^ barbarian" as explained in the
last four chapters of his Apologetica Historia, or if one
were to admits as well-founded, the statements, so frequently
found in certain modem writers,^ respecting the brilliant
and superior civilization of the Children of the Sun, all the
conclusions they have drawn concerning the culture and
advanced social status of these interesting people would
follow as a logical necessity. But, few or none, who have
carefully examined the conditions that obtained among the
ancient Peruvians are willing to admit that the so-called
civilization of the Incas was at all what men of science now
understand by the word ** civilization.''

According to the criterion now usually followed, true
civilization begins with * * the invention of a phonetic alpha-
bet and the production of written records." For as has
been truly observed, it is the phonetic alphabet, the ABC,
that is the ' ^ grand achievement of the human mind, supreme
in its endless possibilities, the achievement which, more
than any other, marks the boundary line between barbarism
and civilization, between the twilight of archaeology and the
daylight of history." *

This standard of itself excludes the Incas from the list
of civilized peoples. Their predecessors, according to
Montesinos, may have had written records, and possibly a
phonetic alphabet, but of this there is no certainty. The

1 Among others, J. W. Draper, who expresses himself as follows : "After
an attentive consideraticm of the faets in the case, I agree in the conclusion
of Carli that at the time of the conquest the moral man in Peru was superior
to the Eufopean, and, I will add, the intellectual man also." A History of
the Intellectual Development of Europe, p. 464, New York, 1863.

s There are, however, two notable exceptions to this criterion: "Where
people acquainted with iron have enshrined in hieroglyphics so much matter
of historic record and literary interest as the Chinese and Ancient Egyptians,
they, too, must be classed as civiluEed."

340

THEATRE OF A GREAT TRAGEDY

quipus of the ancient Peruvians may have sufficed for keep-
ing accounts, but were as useless as an instrument for re-
cording historical events, or for the development of litera-
ture, as is a tally-stick or a belt of Indian wampum.

Nay, more. If we accept Morgan *s definitions of the
various grades of culture, as given in his Ancient Society,
as do many eminent thinkers, we shall have to conclude not
only that the Incas had not attained the grade of culture
which can truly be called civilization, but also that they had
not even reached the highest stage of barbarism. For the
upper status of barbarism implies a knowledge of smelting
iron ore and this knowledge was never attained by the
ancient Peruvians or by any of the other peoples of abo-
riginal America. The culture status then, of the Incas was
that of the middle period of barbarism — a status that was
about midway between that of a Moqui pueblo and that of
ancient Troy; a status which, as has well been observed,
** spans the interval between such a society as that of
Hiawatha and that of the Odyssey;" a status like that which
obtained among the earlier Pharaohs, among the lake
dwellers of ancient Switzerland and among the Mayas and
Aztecs at the time of Cortes, and which, **on the shores of
the Mediterranean, had been outgrown before the city of
Rome was built. ^ * ^

Those who have pinned their faith to the gorgeous ac-
counts of the civilization of Peru at the time of Pizarro
will, no doubt, be painfully surprised to learn that the
Incas were but **one stage higher than Mohawks, and one
stage lower than the warriors of the Hiad*'; that their
thatched palaces and temples, over which the early chron-
iclers waxed so eloquent, far from throwing Mycenae into
the shade or rivaling the remains of Cambodia, were, with
a few notable exceptions mentioned in preceding chapters,

1 For an illuminating discussion of this interesting subject, the reader
may, in addition to Morgan's suggestive work on Afwient Society, consult
with profit Fiske's chapter on Ancient America, in his work above quoted,
TJie Dieoovery of America,

341

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

no better than the adobe and rubble-stone structures of the
New Mexican pueblos.

No, the Incas were not civilized in the proper accepta-
tion of the term. Far from it. It is not certain that civ-
ilization under their form of government — communistic
despotism — ^was even possible. They had, indeed, domesti-
cated the llama and the alpaca, and had made distinct
progress in agriculture and irrigation, but they had no
pastoral society, properly so-called, and still less anything
like **the old patriarchal life on the plain of Mamre or by
the waters of the Punjab. ' '

There could be no progress, because the development of
the personal will of the subject was impossible. No effort
on his part, no industry, no intelligence, however highly
developed, could ameliorate his social condition, or con-
tribute to his advancement. He was a slave utterly devoid
of energy and individual initiative. He was but an autom-
aton, a simple pawn on the Inca^s chessboard.

He had but a vague idea of private property or division
of labor,^ and none whatever of representative government.
There was a certain rudimentary nationality, that had been
developed by the successors of Manco Capac, but the nation,
which was held together solely by fear of the Incas, who
were by the great mass of their subjects regarded with
superstitious awe as beings of a superior order* rested
on the most insecure of foundations. This is evidenced
by the fact that the empire collapsed as soon as Atahual-
pa fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and without the
bloodshed or carnage that usually attends the conquest
of a nation as extensive as that of the Children of the
Sun.

lAcosta tells us that "there were no particular trades-men, as amongst
us, taylors, shoemakers, weavers, and the rest, but everyone learned what
was needful! for their persons and houses, and provided for themselves.
All coulde weave and make their garments, and therefore the Ynca by
furnishing them with wooll, gave them clothes. Every man could till the
ground, and put it to proflte, without hyring of any labourers." Op. cit..
Lib. VI, Ciip. XVI.

342

THEATRE OP A GREAT TRAGEDY

The fact is that the empire of the Incas, so often re-
garded as possessing all the boasted advantages of Utopia,
was nothing more than a realization of the ideals of cer-
tain of onr modem socialists and commnnists. ^^It re-
sembled/' declared Hnmboldt, ^^a great monastic estab-
lishment, in which is prescribed what each member shall
do for the common weal,*' ^ or, rather, it was what Proud-
hon in his Contrcidictions J^conomiques has so aptly char-
acterized as ^^ces huitres attachees au rocher de la f rater-
nit S^' — ** oysters attached to the rock of fraternity/'

The absolute commnnism, that dominated every field of
human endeavor, was the most striking object lesson ever
given to the world that the doctrine of perfect equality in
human society, which is now preached by certain doc-
trinaires and enemies of social progress, is the veriest
chimera. If the Spaniards had not put an end to this un-
natural system of government, the empire of the Incas
would of itself soon have disintegrated and the people
would have reverted to a lower stage of barbarism than
that which they occupied at the time of the arrival of
Pizarro.

Their government, in spite of all that has been said in
its favor, was radically defective, and social and economic
progress, as we understand it, was impossible. They
were, it is true, far in advance of their Muisca neighbors
to the north, and far superior in the arts of life, to the
Araucanians of Chile. But the Araucanians, although in-
comparably fewer in number than the Incas, were, thanks
to their superior military prowess, able to conserve their
liberty, in spite of all the onslaughts made against them
by Spaniard and Chilean, until the white man's whisky
succeeded— but only in recent times— in sapping their ad-
mirable organism and stupefying their spirit of revolt, and

1 Vuea dea Cordilldrea et Monumens de Peuplea Indigenes de V AmMque,
p. 16, Paris, 1810. The same writer observes that "The founder of the
empire of Cuzco, flattering himself to be able to force men to be happj, had
reduced them to the state of simple machines." Ihid.

343

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

thus effecting what neither strategy nor gunpowder was
competent to achieve.

In view of the preceding facts the conquest of the Incas
was justified, if ever conquest was justified. The ancient
Peruvians may have attained a certain degree of culture,
as compared with the Araucanians, but they were bar-
barians as compared with the Spaniards. We can then
say with the Vattel in his Droit des Oens, **The conquest
of a people is justified if their moral and material condi-
tion is improved.**

No one, who is familiar with the facts in the case, will
deny that both these conditions have been more than sat-
isfied in Peru by the Spaniards.

They brought to the aborigines what the old Romans, in
the words of Virgil, called moresque ^ viris et moenia — re-
ligious culture and material civilization. They made Chris-
tians of idolaters, freemen of slaves, and converted savage
and warlike tribes into the most peaceful peoples in the
world.

Of the religion which effected this marvelous transforma-
tion one could say, in the words of the Venezuelan poet,
Andres Bello :

**Maestra de los pueblos y los reyes
Cantaste al hombre las primeras leyes/'*

They provided the Indians with schools and colleges,
whence issued some of the most distinguished representa-
tives of church and state that the country has produced.
Not to go beyond the family of the ill-starred Atahualpa,
it will suffice to mention the names of the historian Gar-
cilaso de la Vega, whose mother was Isabel Nusta Yupan-
qui, a niece of Huayna Capac, and Fernandez Piedrahita,
bishop of Panama and the historian of New Granada, who
was the great-grandson of another niece of Huayna Capac,

1 "Mares/* as Conington obeenres, ''conveyed to a Roman many of the
notions which political institutions and a social system convey to us."

2 "Mistress of peoples and kings, thou hast sung to man superior laws."

344

THEATRE OF A GBEAT TEAGBDT

Franoisca Nusta. Both of these nustas, whose offspring
achieved such distinction, were first cousins of Atahualpa.

One more i)oint regarding the melancholy tragedy of
Cajamarca, and I shall bring this long chapter to a close.
This point has reference to the great loss of life that is said
to have attended the capture of Atahualpa and the subse-
quent conquest of the empire of the Incas.

According to Stevenson, who accepts unreservedly the
exaggerations of the early chroniclers, twenty thousand
Indians were massacred on this occasion. We are asked
to believe that each of the one hundred and sixty-two
Spaniards present on this tragic occasion put to death no
fewer than one hundred and twenty-three Indians in the
space of half an hour — at the rate of more than four a
minute. Well does Hutchinson characterize the whole
story as ^^an incongruity of Munchausenisms and impos-
sibilities. * ' ^

As to the oft-repeated charge that the conquistadores
were actuated by uncontrollable cupidity and exhibited
every refinement of cruelty in their treatment of the ill-

1 Ttoo Tears in Peru, Vol. II, p. 178f.

According to P. Ricardo Oappa, op. oit, Lib. II, p. 81, the number of
Indians who lost their lives in the tragedy of Oajamarca was not more than
three or four hundred, while the total number of natives who perished at
the hands of the Spaniards, until the complete pacification of the country,
was not more than fifteen or twenty thousand — ^far fewer than had fallen
victims to the ambition of the blood-thirsty usurper Atahualpa. Mendiburu,
in his DiooUmaHo Hiatarioo-Biografioo del Peru, Tom. Ill, p. 396, puts the
number of Huascar's subjects who lost their lives in consequence of Ata-
hualpa's fratricidal war at no less than (me hundred and fifty thousand.

When one reads about the large armies of the Incas, and the immense
numbers of warriors that met their death at the hands of the Spaniards,
one must agree with Fiske, when referring to similar matters in the con-
quest of Mexico. "Pertinent questions," he observes, "arise as to the com-
missariat, and we are led to reflect that there is nothing about which old
soldiers spin such unconscionable yams as about the size of the armies
they have thrashed. In a fairy tale, of course, such suggestions are imr
pertinent; things can go on anyhow. In real life it is different. The
trouble with most historians of the conquest of Mexico" — and the same can
be said of most historians of the conquest of Peru — ^"has been that they
have made it like a fairy tale." Ut. sup.. Vol. I, p. 128.

345

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

fated prisoner of the Cajamarca tragedy, one may say, in
the words of Quintana :

'^Su atroz codicia, sn indemente sana
Crimen f ueron del tiempo y no de Espafia. ' ' ^

1 "Their atrocious cupidity, their vehement passion, were crimes of the age,
and not of Spain."

346

CHAPTER XVIII
IN THE HEART OF THE ANDES

Another dream of my life — ^a visit to Cajamarca —
had been realized and I was ready to start on the second
lap of my journey across the Cordilleras. The officer, in
charge of my escort, came to me, and with a military salute,
said — ^^Senor, todo esta listo^' — ** everything is ready.**
Our arrieros had gone ahead with our pack-mules with in-
structions to join us at Tambo Mayo where we were to
spend the night. I had said good-by to the kind friends
who had made my sojourn in their midst so delightful, when

a servant of Mrs. L the mother of my host— came to

me with a large hamper filled with provisions of all kinds.

''La Senora/' he said, ^^dice que esto es un poco de fiam-
bre,^ para su viage de hoy'^ — **My mistress says this is a
little snack for to-day *s journey.**

This was the culmination of the many kind attentions
that this good, thoughtful woman had shown me during my
visit to Cajamarca. But the poco de fiambre was enough
not for one day*s journey but for several. Of biscuits and
cakes — ^how good they were I — there were enough to last us
until we reached Chachapoyas, nearly a week later. In-
deed, when I contemplated the liberal provision of neces-
saries that had been made by my friends of Lima and Ca-
jamarca for my journey across the mountains, I felt like a
Roman envoy starting out to a distant province with a
bounteous viaticum. The functionary of the Caesars may
have traveled in greater state, and may have had more
sumptuous lodging and fare and raiment than I could com-

iThls word really means "cold meat preserved for use," but is frequently
used to designate rictuals of all kinds.

347

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

mandy but I am quite sure he did not enjoy more genuine
comfort than I did during my wanderings among the Cordil-
leraSy and that he did not have a tithe of the pleasure that
was mine during weeks of delightful communion with Na-
ture in her most glorious manifestations.

The prefect and his aid, my host and a number of other
good friends insisted on accompanying me several miles be-
fore saying Adios. As we left the prefectura, what with the
friends named and the escort that was to accompany me to
Chachapoyas, we formed quite an imposing cavalcade —
such, minus the military accouterments, as might have re-
sembled that of Hernando de Soto and his companions
when, nearly four centuries before, they sallied forth in the
same direction towards the camp of Atahualpa the evening
before that ill-starred chieftain *8 downfall.

It was near the Bancs del Inca, where Atahualpa had
his camp at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, that
I bade adieu to the prefect, and my host and their compan-
ions, who had come thus far to speed the parting guest on
his way to the distant Amazon. After that adieu, my
escort, not counting our arrieros and peons, was reduced
to four — a captain of cavalry, two subordinate officers, and
a foot-soldier. They were all jolly, good fellows, however,
and to them I owed it that I was able to make the long jour-
ney through Ajidean wilds with the minimum of fatigue
and the maximum of comfort and pleasure.

The Bancs del Inca soon passed from view, and shortly
after that we found ourselves ascending the picturesque
sierra that borders the eastern part of the valley of Ca-
jamarca. As we neared the crest of this lofty mountain
chain, I faced about to get a last view of the city of
Atahualpa, and of the lovely plain that is its joy and its
treasure. It was indeed a beautiful vista — ^more beautiful
even than that which had burst upon my eyes when I caught
the first view of this historic place on my way from the
Pacific.

Our first day's journey was in every way pleasant but

348

IN THE HEART OF THE ANDES

quite uneventful. The road was only a mountain trail, but
it was not bad. We passed a goodly number of people on
the way — ^mostly eholos and Indians going to Cajamarca —
but the country traversed was comparatively uninhabited.

We arrived at the town of Tambo Mayo at three o 'clock
in the afternoon and went directly to the governor's house,
where we were expected and where we were accorded the
most courteous reception and the most generous hospital-
ity. I had a special reason for spending the night at this
place instead of going farther ahead, as I might have done.
The reason was that I had been warned to avoid it as dan-
gerous. ** Whatever you do," I was told before leaving
Lima, ** don't stop at Tambo Mayo. It is a haunt of rob-
bers and cutthroats, and the sooner you leave it behind
you the better. ' '

I had frequently received similar warnings regarding
other places in South America, but I was always glad that
I gave no heed to them, for not in a single instance, so far
as I could discover, was there any justification for the
warning giv^i. It was the same in the case of Tambo
Mayo. The people could not have been kinder or more hos-
pitable than they were, and, had I not spent a good part of
a day in their midst, I should have deprived myself of one
of the most enjoyable experiences of my trip. I then once
again realized the truth of the old saw, ^ ^ Give a dog a bad
name and hang him. ' '

It seems that a quarter of a century before, during the
unsettled state of the country consequent on the war with
Chile, someone had been robbed or murdered in Tambo
Mayo— although I could not verify the fact — and ever
since that time the place has been looked at askance by
travelers or avoided entirely, and innocent people have for
many long years been made to bear obloquy and oppro-
brium for that for which probably they were not even in-
directly responsible.

We were no sooner installed in a large and comfortable
room in the governor's house, than many busy hands were

349

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

at work on batcm and around the here ^ preparing our even-
ing repast. The fatted lamb, in anticipation of our arrival,
had been killed, not metaphorically but actually, and soon
the table was loaded with the various dishes which the Pe-
ruvian cook knows so well how to prepare.

There were chupe and piichero and various picantes, not
to mention many kinds of fruits and dulces — sweets.

Chupe, to the Peruvian, is what sancocho is to the Colom-
bian and Venezuelan, what rice is to the Chinaman, and
macaroni is to the Italian — ^the staff of life. When our
arrieros and peons were liberally supplied with chupe,
everything went on well, and they were as happy as the
day was long. If with this they could have an occasional
draught of chicha or aguardiente, so much the better. They
would then give willing service day and night and never
complain of long hours or over work.

A puchero is a much more elaborate dish than chupe,
and in composition, is not unlike a Spanish olla podrida,
such as Sancho Panza craved when, as governor of Bara-
taria, he could get nothing more than a taste of the unsub-
stantial delicacies with which he was tantalized.

''To make a puchero according to strict gastronomic
rules, ^^ writes Fuentes in his interesting work on Lima,
''put in a kettle a large piece of beef or mutton, some cab-
bage, sweet potatoes, salt pork, sausage meat, pigs' feet,
yuccas, bananas, quinces, peas and rice with anotto and salt
for seasoning. Add a sufficient quantity of water, and let
the whole stew gently for five or six hours, then serve in a
tureen or deep dish.^' ^

The puchero, which was placed before us by our hostess

1 The hatan of Bolivia and Peru, corresponding to the meiaie of Mexico,
is a smooth stone slah together with a crescent-shaped crusher of the same
material, used for grinding maize, coffee, aji, and achote. Hie kere is a
clay hearth, without a flue or chimney, provided with a firehole and one
or more apertures over which cooking vessels are placed. It is an improve-
ment on the tiUpa, consisting of only three stones eight or ten inches in
diameter, found in all parts of the tropics.

»IAma, p. 122, London, 1866.

350

IN THE HEAET OF THE ANDES

at Tambo Mayo did not, so far as I could judge, contain all
the ingredients above mentioned, but it was certainly a
most substantial dish, and was as palatable as it was sub-
stantial. It was, of course, duly seasoned, with aji — red
pepper — ^without which it would have been considered very
unsavory if not unfit to be served. As served, however, it
was pronounced excellent — muy sabroso — ^by all our party,
and the cooks were made happy by knowing that their
culinary efforts in our behalf were duly appreciated.
Truth to tell, it was just the dish designed to appease the
cravings of tiie stomach of the weary traveler after a long
journey in the light, crisp atmosphere of the mountains.

Any one but a gormand would have been quite satisfied
with a dish of puohero, but not so the members of my es-
cort. The rich and abundant puchero but whetted their
appetites for the picantes which were next in order.

There was calapulcra — a mixture of hashed meat and
potatoes; lagiuz — a compound of pork and com meal; and
the picante de ullucos, made of a native root that somewhat
resembles the potato. All picantes are distinguished by
their red color and the large amount of red pepper — chUe
Colorado — ^used in their preparation. Some of the dishes
served us were given a bright vermilion tint by the liberal
use of achote grains. After the picantes came a peculiar
fruit salad, a heterogeneous mixture of several kinds of
fruits stewed in water.

All the foregoing creations of the culinary art — and none
of them were allowed to pass by untouched by my hungry
companions — ^were topped off by divers kinds of dulces.
How any of them were able to sleep after thus overcharging
their stomachs I cannot imagine. Some of them, I learned
the next morning, suffered greatly from nightmare and I
observed, on the following day, as I had on many previous
occasions, that the heaviest eaters were far from being the
best travelers. Indigestion is always the penalty of gor-
ging, but the penalty following an outraged stomach is man-
ifested sooner in the mountains than elsewhere.

351

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

From Tambo Mayo, of which I shall always retain a
pleasant memory^ we started betimes the next morning for
Celendin, an important town some thirty odd miles distant.
Our path was over a high mountain-range, described by
Garcilaso as that inaccessible snowy chain that was un-
trodden by man or animal or bird, and which, in the lan-
guage of the Incas, was known as Bitisuyu — the line of
snow.^ I was told that I should find it extremely cold at
the summit of the sierra and our arrieros spoke of the
cumbre, as we should speak of a frigid pass within the
Arctic circle.

After a steep climb of three hours, we were on the highest
point of the much dreaded puna — a place which bears the
name of Punorpishgo-guayv/na — the cold place where the
birds die. But so far was the place from deserving this
epithet that I saw hundreds of birds of various species,
some of them charming songsters, on the very crest of the
sierra. And there were no wintry blasts as I had been
led to anticipate, nor was there even a trace of snow. Far
from it I There were verdure and flowers to the highest
point of the cumbre, and the lowest temperature registered
by my thermometer was only 46° F. — ^but two degrees
below the lowest point indicated by the mercury when I
passed the crest of Suma Paz in Colombia.

My barometer indicated an altitude of eleven thousand
and eight hundred feet,^ but so gradual had been our
ascent from the Pacific that the elevation produced no per-
ceptible effect on the respiration. As to temperature, it
did not appear to me to be lower than that of an average
October day in New England. And yet our arrieros and
peons shivered and complained of the cold, and made haste
to get to a lower altitude. But I was not surprised at this.
I had often witnessed the same sensitiveness on the part

i^Aquella nunca jamas pisada de hombres, ni de animales, ni de aves,
inacoeeible cordillera de nuves, que oorre desde Santa Marta> hasta el Estrecho
de Magallanes, que loe Indios llaman Ritisuyu, que es yanda de nieve." Op.
dt., Lib. I, Cap. VIII.

sMiddendorf makes the altitude nearly two himdred feet higher.

352

IN THE HEABT OF THE A2SIDES

•

of my peons to slight changes of temperature in other parts
of the Cordilleras. One reason of this sensitiveness is that
they are poorly dad, and often half famished. Another,
and probably more potent reason, is that the inhabitants
of the tropics are far more sensitive to slight changes of
temperature than are the people of higher latitudes. And
one need not be in the equatorial regions long before one
finds oneself affected in the same way as the natives in
passing from Uerra caliente to tierra fria, or vice versa.

About an hour's ride down the eastern slope of the sierra,
we stopped at a little choza — ^hut — -for breakfast. This
humble habitation, not more than ten feet square, and so
low that we could scarcely stand up in it, was the home of
a young widow with six children. Her husband, a half-
caste like herself, had died the preceding year, and she was
left alone with her large and helpless family on this bleak
and inhospitable puna. And yet she did not complain. On
the contrary, she and her little ones seemed to be quite
cheerful and to enjoy life after a fashion. She managed to
eke out an existence and support those dependent on her
by selling chicha, eggs and chickens, to the passer-by, but
how they could all find breathing room in their little hovel,
which also afforded shelter for a number of dogs and a
score of cut/es — guinea-pigs — ^ was a mystery to me.

It was here that I was specially grateful for the

hamper that Sra. L had so kindly provided me with

on leaving Cajamarca. Among its contents, besides a lib-
eral supply of bread and fowl, were some delicious bis-
cuits, fruitcakes and dulces. The cakes and dulces I dis-
tributed among the children of my hostess, and it was a
delight to see how much the little creatures enjoyed their
unexpected feast. It was probably the first time they ever
had such delicacies and they were, for the time being, the

1 An indigenoiis animal, called ouy in Peru, and oonejo — rabbit — ^in Bolivia.
Before the conquest, it was much used in sacrifice and divining. "El Sao-
rifioio ordinario," Padre Arriaga informs us, "es de Cuyes de los euales se
sirven mal, no solo para sacrificios, sino para adivinar por ellos con mil
embustes." Eatirpaoion de la Tdolatria del Peru, Cap. Ill, Lima, 1621.

353

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

•

happiest children in the sierra. Their isolated condition
and cheerless surroundings were forgotten in the joy of the
moment, and they snuggled together around the passing
stranger as if he had been a life-long friend.

When lundieon was over and we prepared to renew our
journey the little tots were loath to let me proceed. They
clung to me and begged me not to leave them. ^^Quedese
con nosotros, Sefior/' said the oldest of the children, a
sweet little girl about ten years of age. ^^Aqw esta, su
casa'' — ^*'Stay with us, sir; here is your home,^' and she
pointed to the little wattled ichu-thatched chosita, where
we had taken our noonday repast.

Dear, innocent children, how my heart went out to them,
as I took my leave of them, and to their good, brave little
mother, whose touching words Adiosito pues, hijito,^ were
both a farewell and a benediction, whose accents were as
music in my ears for days afterwards. What Stevenson
wrote of the Polynesians could with truth be reiterated of
the simple good Indians and mestizos of the Peruvian Cor-
dilleras— **They are easy folk to get in touch with, frank,
fond of notice, greedy of the least affection, like amiable
fawning dogs.''*

We arrived at Celendin at four o'clock in the afternoon,
having made far better time than we anticipated, consider-
ing the rough mountain trail over which we were obliged
to travel. Our speed was due to the splendid mounts that
had been provided for us by the generous prefect of
Cajamarca. With ordinary animals, we should not have
reached our destination until after nightfall.

We were most cordially welcomed by the sub-prefect of
Celendin, who had been advised of our coming by one of our
Cajamarca friends. He at once conducted us to the com-

1 Both diminutives in this phrase are terms of affection and endearment,
such as are frequently used by the people of Peru. The meaning is, 'To
the dear, good God, then, my own little son." These words were a mother's
recognition of a little kindness shown to her darling children. I need not
say that I felt richly rewarded.

s The Bouth Beas, p. 7, New York, 1906.

354

IN THE HEAET OP THE ANDES

fortable lodgings that had been prepared for us, and then,
learning that it was our desire to proceed on our journey the
following morning, he lost no time in showing us the chief
objects of interest in the city.

Celendin, although little more than a century old, haying
been founded in 18Q2, counts about four thousand inhab-
itants, most of whom are engaged in agriculture, stock-
raising and in the manufacture of the so-called Panama hats,
for which the place is quite famous. Indeed, the people of
Celendin boast of making the best hats in the republic,
but the inhabitants of Bioja and Moyobamba contend that
the hats manufactured in their towns are far superior to
anything that is produced in Celendin.

The material of which the Celendin hats are made is
brought from the eastern versant of the Andes on the backs
of mules and donkeys, and a very large supply of it is re-
quired to meet the demand. The hats that are shipped to
Europe and the United States usually reach the market by
way of Panama, and hence the name of '^Panama hats,"
by which they have so long been known.

When I arose the following morning, I found a crowd
of sick people at my door waiting to see **The Doctor."
They had heard someone address me as Senor Doctor, and
concluded at once that I was a physician or surgeon, or
both. All the lame and halt and afflicted in the town had
gathered in front of my lodging and patiently awaited my
appearance. As there was no doctor nearer than Caja-
marca, the poor people looked upon my arrival as provi-
dential, and flocked around me in the firm hope of receiving
relief from their divers infirmities.

When I was apprised of the peculiar condition of things,
I had not the heart to undeceive the poor suflferers who
had flocked to me for assistance. I accordingly brought
my medicine case into requisition and wrote out prescrip-
tions according to the needs of my unexpected patients.
I was glad there were no laws in force against practicing
without a license, and glad, too, that I happened to have

355

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

just the mediciiieB that were required by the ailinents I was
called upon to treat. If all did not find relief from my pre-
scriptions, I am sure none of them suffered any harm.
Among my patients was a nonagenarian, who was slowly
dying of old age, without apparently being aware of the
fact. The poor man begged for a prescription for some
imaginary trouble, and, as I did not wish to tell him that
his case was hopeless, and that I could do nothing for him,
I gave him a half pint bottle of salt water, slightly colored
with a little claret, and labeled, B| Sodii Chloridi 3L Vini
Bubri Ji. Aq. qs. dd. 5iii. The viejecito — ^the dear old man
— ^as his neighbors called him, went away rejoicing, and if
imagination and suggestion availed anything, I am sure
he felt at least a temporary relief from his fancied disorder.

As at Cajamarca, so Ukewise afCelendin, a party com-
posed of the sub-prefect and a number of others, accom-
panied me some miles on the way to my stopping place
for the night, which, in this instance, was the little pueblo
of Balsas on the east bank of the Maranon. When the
time of parting came, and the usual words of ** farewell''
had been pronounced, the sub-prefect, who was the per-
sonification of courtesy and kindness, clasped my hand
warmly and said, ^'Hasta otra vista; en mi Ud tiene wn
amigo'^ — ''Until we meet again; in me you have a frigid.''

The magic effect of a kind word I No one can realize it
so well as the traveler in a strange land, and among a peo-
ple on whose attention he has no claim. But how often did
I not have reason to make this reflection during my wander-
ings in Peru, where everyone, from the humblest Indian
to the noblest scion of a Spanish grandee, was ever ready
to perform acts of kindness and shower favors upon me
when least expected?

Shortly after leaving the sub-prefect and his frigid, we
began the ascent of another mountain range — the sierra
that borders the west bank of the Maranon. We had spent
nearly two hours in laboriously scaling the precipitous flank
of the sierra when, before I expected it, we were standing

356

IN THE HEAET OF THE ANDES

on the cumbre nearly ten thousand feet above sea level.
And, before I had time to view the prospect before me,
one of my escort, who was familiar with this part of the
country, pointing his finger to the eastward, exclaimed,
''AUi esta el Maranon''— ''There is the Maranonl^'

And so it was. At the bottom of a mighty gorge executed
in hard, metamorphic rock, by titanic forces acting
through untold aeons, was the famous father of waters that
I had so longed to see, and the first glimpse of which I had
looked forward to with such eager anticipation. From
where we stood it seemed like a narrow, luminous band, and
was far from resembling the broad river that fancy had
pictured. And so bright was the sun, and so dear was
the atmosphere that the bounding current appeared to be
but a stone ^s throw from the position we then occupied.
For similar reasons, the opposite side of the stupendous
channel seemed to be within reach of a gunshot. But long
familiarity with the mountains had taught me that noth-
ing is more deceptive than distance in a diaphanous atmos-
phere, with gigantic objects in the field of view. And the
sequel will show that I was not mistaken.

Lieutenant Maw, of the British navy, who was the first
Englishman to cross the continent by way of the Amazon,
was so enthusiastic about the view which greets the traveler
at the point where we first saw the Maranon — ^the name
given the upper Amazon — that he writes: **I cannot con-
ceive that anything on earth or water could exceed the
grandeur of the scenery, nor do I believe any person ca-
pable of describing it justly. ^^ ^

The scenery is indeed magnificent, and no one can con-
template it without being deeply impressed. The gorge of
the Maranon does not, it is true, exhibit the superb coloring
that distinguishes the noted canon of the Yellowstone, nor
the precipitous cliflfs which characterize the Grand Canon

1 Journal of a Passage from the Paoifio to the Atlantic, Grossing the Andes
in the Northern Provinces of Peru, and describing the River Maraflcn or
Amazon, p. 46, London, 1829.

357

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

of the Colorado, but it is, in many respects, more imposing,
and excites emotions that neither of the other marvels of
nature is competent to inspire. The quebrtida of the
Maranon is much deeper than the great canon of the Colo-
rado river, although the latter channel is so deep that, if Mt.
Washington were placed in it, its summit would be a thou-
sand feet below the upper brink of the canon.

When I first saw the Maranon, the sun had so far de-
clined that the western side of the gorge lay in a shadow
that here and there was intensified by dark bushes and
clumps of trees laden with myriads of orchids and epiphytes,
some a mass of vari-colored foliage, others floral clusters of
richest bloom. On the opposite side of the river, the warm
light of the tropic sun fell on broad stretches of multi-
colored rock, which, in the distance, looked like rare old
tapestries that Nature's cunning hand had spread over
ravines and hung from precipices. There was an endless
series of curiously carved peaks and buttresses, of pictur-
esque glens and rising vales, over which the color ran in
countless modulations of pearl and rose, of saffron and
olive, of lazuli and sapphire. Below the landscape was
suffused with vague hues of varying intensity ; above were
shadows of gathering cloud-flecks that scurried across the
azure canopy of the sky. But along the distant sky-line
cloud and rock were confounded and the whole landscape
shimmered before us like some magic phantasmagoria, that
had been prepared for our entertainment by the genius of
the Maranon.

We lingered long in the contemplation of this marvelous
picture of scenic splendor, and experienced the same ex-
quisite pleasure as must have thrilled the bosom of the
conquistadores when their eyes first rested on this greatest
of rivers. But, like all first experiences, our emotion on
beholding the Maranon was something that can never be
repeated. It was like a first love that touched a virginity
of sense — something unique, ineffable.

Our ecstasy was broken by the words of our arriero who,

358

IN THE HEART OF THE ANDES

fearing that darkness would overtake us before we should
reach our destination^ cried out, **Vamono8, Senores, hay
mucha bajada^' — **It is time to go, gentlemen, there is a
long and steep declivity to descend.''

He was right, and it was well that he called us from our
fine, careless rapture, or we should have been obliged to
spend the night d la belle etoUe somewhere on the pre-
cipitous slope of the deep gorge we were about to enter.
I knew that we had a long tiresome ride before us, but,
notwithstanding all my experiences in mountaineering, my
judgment respecting time and distance was, in this instance,
completely at fault.

The descent of Quita-Sol, the day before our arrival at
Cajamarca, had been arduous enough both for man and
beast, but it was easy in comparison with what we had to
endure in this bajada of the Maranon. Hour after hour
we continued on the steep, zigzag trail without apparently
making any progress. The river below seemed to make
sport of our efforts to reach it and appeared to recede from
us as we approached. Even after riding several hours,
we seemed to be no nearer our goal than when we started.
Presently the sun had reached the crest of the sierra in
front of us and then darkness came on apace. Fortunately,
the clouds that threatened to make further progress im-
possible, soon vanished, and the moon and stars appeared
with unwonted brilliancy. This was something, but at
times their kindly light was cut off from us by overhang-
ing cliffs or narrow, deep ravines, through which our mules
felt their way, as if their nimble feet were endowed with
a peculiar sixth sense denied to mortals. Our feelings
were, then, I think, akin to Dante 's while groping his way
down the treacherous and dismal slopes of Malebolge, or
to those of ^neas when he and Cumaean Sibyl

'*Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbras'' *

1 ''Through shadows, through the lonely night they went."

359

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

in quest of the shade of Anchises in the realms of Dis.
Never before did I so long for light as during this fear-
some journey in the deepening gloom, and when, finally,
we emerged from the obscure chasm, through which we had
perforce to pass, and were again in view of the beneficent
queen of night, I instinctively broke forth into Newman's
beautiful words,

''Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,

Lead Thou me on !
The night is dark, and I am far from home —

Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene,— one step enough for me.''

At length, however, we were at the bottom of the gorge.
Before us was the Maranon and hard by was a steel sus-
pension bridge recently erected, that spanned its impetuous
waters. The bridge was soon crossed and a short time
afterwards we were before the governor's house in Balsas.
We were nearly a mile and a half lower than when we
began our descent into the gorge, and the little pueblo that
seemed but a stone's throw from the precipice, whence we
caught our first view of the river, was reached only after
eight hours of hard, continuous riding.

Both men and animals were tired and hungry, but, as ihe
sub-prefect had telegraphed the governor announcing our
arrival, we had reason to believe that he would be prepared
to receive us. But he was not at home, and the telegram,
which had been sent him was, for some unaccountable
reason, delayed in transmission, as often happens in our
own country, where the telegraph is sometimes no speedier
than our district messenger boy.

But, as luck would have it, the local telegrapher was
present and, recognizing our necessities, at once kindly put
the telegraph office — a large and commodious building —
at our disposition. Without delay he ordered grass to be
brought for our tired mules, and in a few moments more he

360

IN THE HEART OF THE ANDES

had several bright, young Indian women preparing onr
evening meal. Had I not had frequent evidence before of
their culinary skill, I should have expected to remain fast-
ing for at least an hour or two after our arrival. But
scarcely had we finished the ablutions, which our long,
dusty journey rendered imperative, than we found a well-
prepared and substantial repast awaiting us. Needless to
say all did full justice to it, and not long after were sleep-
ing as soundly as if couched in the palace of the god of
dreams.

We were in the saddle earlier than usual the next morn-
ing, as we had a long ride ahead of us before reaching
Tambo Viejo, where we purposed spending the night.
After skirting the Maranon for a short distance, we de-
flected to the right and followed a small stream that had
its source in the mountains to the east of the river. Dur-
ing the early part of the day, owing to our comparatively
low elevation, it was quite warm, and in marked contrast
to the temperature of the mountain heights. But, as we
continued our climb up the precipitous slope, which rises
above the eastern bank of the Maranon, the mercury
gradually dropped until the temperature was quite
agreeable.

Outside of the agave and various species of cactus, con-
spicuous among which were splendid specimens of the
large candelabrum cactus, there was little vegetation, and
the region through which we passed, except along the water-
courses, was almost treeless. But the landscape was not,
therefore, without interest. The various rock formations,
the curiously tilted and contorted strata, the effects of
long continued erosion, were quite sufficient to keep the
mind occupied, and to supply it with matter for specula-
tion. A professional geologist would have reveled in the
scenes that defiled before us on our long way up the moun-
tain, and he would have found himself at every turn pro-
pounding new theories to account for the strange phe-
nomena that unceasingly arrest one's attention.

361

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

After twelve hours of uninterrupted riding we arrived at
Tambo Viejo, which, as we stood on the western side of
the gorge the day before, seemed but a gunshot distant.
And yet to traverse the distance between the two points
necessitated twenty arduous hours in the saddle. But this
is not all. Near the crest of a mountain to the eastward,
which we saw the day before, and which seemed to over-
hang Tambo Viejo, stands Chachapoyas, whither we were
bound on our way to Moyobamba. But near as it then
appeared, and notwithstanding our twenty hours' ride to-
wards it, it was still three long days' journey to the east of
Tambo Viejo. Thus deceptive are distances in the diaph-
anous atmosphere of the Cordilleras.

Tambo Viejo— the old tambo— is nothing more than a
shed where travelers may find shelter from the rain.
There is not a single human habitation within miles of it
where provisions can be procured. We were now enter-
ing the part of the country where the traveler must depend
on such food supplies as he may have brought with him.
Thanks, however, to our Cajamarca friends, we were well
provided for, not to speak of the stores which we had
brought with us from Lima.

When we arrived at the tambo, it was empty, and we
prepared to make it our resting place for the night. But
scarcely had the necessary preparations been made, when
a large party of men, women and children, among whom
was a family on their way from Lima to Chachapoyas,
came along. As the tambo was not large enough to shelter
all, I had my tent pitched near by, which I occupied with
the chief officer of my escort. The arrieros and peons had
to be content to sleep on their esteras — ^mats — in the open
air. Fortunately, it did not rain, but everyone complained
of the bitter cold, although my thermometer never regis-
tered a lower temperature during the night than 46® F.
This, however, was really cold for those who were thinly
clad and who had come from warmer climates. It was
then that I learned the value of the snug sleeping bag, that

362

IN THE HEAET OF THE ANDES

belonged to my camping outfit, for I was as comfortable
as if I had been in a Q^rman feather bed.

It was interesting that evening to watch the cooks while
engaged in preparing the evening repast for the various
parties that were congregated in this spot. Most of them
were satisfied with a dish of chupe and some fruit. The
pidce de rSsistcmce of my dinner was a rasher of Chicago
bacon, garnished with fried potatoes. This, with some of

the good things still left in Senora L *s hamper, made a

feast fit for a king. Bacon never seemed so toothsome as
on this occasion, and was, I then thought^ quite as worthy
of the honors of knighthood as ever was — ^if one chooses
to believe the story — ^that famous loin of beef at the hands
of James I.

Most of the wayfarers retired to rest shortly, after par-
taking of their dish of chupe, but, although the moon had
not yet arisen,

**The azure gloom
Of an Italian night, where the deep skies assume
Hues which have words and speak to ye of heaven,'*

laid a spell on the spirit and was an invitation to stroll
along the mountain path which led towards fantastic, aerial
piles, from which were dimly reflected our dying campfires.

My surroundings were romantic in the extreme and
kindled the imagination as would the entrance into the
penetralia of fairyland. But I had not proceeded more
than a few score paces when a peculiar music broke upon
my ear. It proceeded from one of the rocky pinnacles that
were barely discernible in the distance, and I at once rec-
ognized it as the pathetic, melancholy notes of the quena,
which I had so frequently heard in the southern part of
Peru.

The quena is the flute of the Quichua Indian and is rarely
heard, except in the sierras. By the aid of this instrument
the Indian gives expression to his sorrow and to the tribu-
lations of his afflicted spirit. At times the plaintive tones

363

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

are the oittpouring of the woes of parted lovers and in one
of the songs often heard, the sentiments expressed are
voiced in words of which the following is a translation :

''When the sun rises in brilliancy^
When it sets in gaudy lights;
When the moon and stars come forth,
I shall ever be thinking of you.
0 do not for a moment deprive me
Of these enchanting thoughts.
Adieu ! beloved one of my life,
You will hear me mourning in the winds."

More frequently, however, the notes of the qnena tell
of the woes of a conquered and oppressed race. But it is
rarely that these dolorous tones are heard during the day.
The descendant of the Incas awaits the nightfall, and
then, Philomela-like, he betakes himself with his quena —
the symbol of his melancholy character and of his unfor-
tunate people — ^to some solitary spot where all nature is
in repose and where he may call forth the tender accents
of his cherished instrument without fear of interruption.
The quena, indeed, is to the Indian of the Peruvian plateau
what the Super flumina Babylonis was to the children of
Israel. The burden of the quena, as I heard it that night
on the crest of the Andes, like the song of the Hebrew
exiles on the banks of the Euphrates, was Sedimus et
fievimus — ^we sat and wept — ^when we remembered the de-
parted glories of the land of our birth.

The melancholy musician had in me an attentive, though
unobserved listener, as long as his doleful notes awoke the
echoes of the mountain heights. He proved to be one of
our party, and a son of Cuzco, who, immediately after his
evening repast, had retired to this solitary spot to give
vent to the emotions of his soul and relieve his sad heart
by evoking tones that told of the sorrows of his race, and
recalled the erstwhile glories of the Inca 2iion, the sacred
city of the Children of the Sun.

364

IN THE HEART OF THE ANDES

We struok our tent the following morning just as the
rising snn was tinging the rockj pinnacles around us with
crimson and gold and were soon on the way to Leymebamba,
our day's objective.

^^l^e views before us this morning/' I transcribe from
my diary, ''are of rarest magnificence. It is 'scene after
scene, picture after picture, glory after glory ; ' such as one
may behold only in the higher regions of the Cordilleras.
The narrow sunbeams, passing through the peaks of the
sierra ahead of us, smite upon the ochreous precipices to
the west of the Maranon and glow into various shades of
vermilion and Venetian red, while the white and gray
strata below them gleam with rose and amber, purple and
amethyst. Far down below our path is a verdant dale,
where some lover of wild nature has made his home far
from the haunts of men. It is the only inhabited spot for
miles around. The garden of verdure, circled by walls of
barren rock, is like an emerald enchased in gold and ar-
rayed in the hues of the rainbow."

"l^en there are the night mists arising from the depths
of the valleys and ravines and forming lake-like expanses
and windless seas that all but submerge the countless is-
landed summits which are waiting to greet the lord of the
day. But iEis the shafts of light become broader and strike
the undulating surface that encompasses the ridges and
crests below our path, the silver surges break and vanish,
but only to reappear and rally in the deep clefts and wind-
ing valleys, whence floating still upwards they couch in
quiet masses, iridescent with the morning light, upon the
broad breasts of the higher hills, whose leagues of massy
undulation will melt back and back into that robe of ma-
terial light, until they fade away, lost in its luster, to ap-
pear again in the serene heaven, like a wild, bright, impos-
sible dream, foundationless and inaccessible."

The ever-changing landscapes were such as would have
delighted the artistic souls of Titian, and Corregio and
l^toret, while the marvelous effects of light and shade,

365

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

and the interminable play of sunshine^ were of a kind to
enrapture a Cuyp, a Eubens, a Claude. How I yearned,
while contemplating these visions of delight and glory, for
the pen of Byron, whom Buskin has so aptly characterized
as **the most accurate and powerful of all modem de-
scribers,'* or the magic brush of a Turner, not, indeed,
adequately to describe or transfer to canvas what I beheld
— ^that were impossible — ^but merely that I might have some-
thing of a record of what, at the time, were my impressions
and emotions.

Almost before I was aware of it — so rapt was I in the
contemplation of the enchanting vistas that constantly
arose before us as we silently pursued our course ^^In the
sweet air made gladsome by the sun" — ^we had attained the
crest of another sierra, where the Indian speaks only with
bated breath. It was the Cumbre of CaHa-Caila — ^hush-
hush — a place held by the Quichuas in special veneration,
as were all lofty eminences in the times of the Incas.

On the highest point of Calla-Calla, near our pathway,
I observed a large, rocky pinnacle surmounted by a cross.
This did not specially attract my attention, as I had fre-
quently seen crosses in other parts of Peru on the loftiest
peaks. There is one, for instance, on a pinnacle overlook-
ing Calera pass, the greatest elevation of the Oroya rail-
road. There is likewise one crowning the volcano of
Mount Misti, near Arequipa.

What, however, I did find deserving of notice, was a
peculiar mound near where the cross was erected. It was
what the Peruvian Indians call apachitas ^ — ^a kind of
adoratory or shrine of pagan origin, at which the Quichua

lAlso called apachetcu or apaoheotaa. Hie correct form, according to
Gktrdlaso, is apachecta» and '^meanB that which is raised, but, in conformity
with the idiom of the language, as we before said, the Indians include much
in one word. B7 this word they intend to say 'We give thanks and make
an offering to Him who enables us to raise this burden, giving us strength
and vigor to ascend such rugged heights as these.' They never used the
word until they had reached the summit of the pass, and, for this reason, the
Spanish historians say that they called the summits of the passes apachitas,
because they were heard to say this apachecta." Op. cit., lib. II, Cap. IV.

366

IN THE HEART OF THE ANDES

wayfarer is wont to make some kind of offering. It is usu-
ally a small stone or pebble. Sometimes it is a quid of
coca, or a handful of earth, or a worn-out sandal or
alpargata. One of our peons added a pebble to the pile,
while another cast on it a bunch of green grass which he
pulled from the wayside.

Originally, Padre Arriaga informs us, these apachitas
were nothing more than idols to which votive offerings
were made as a thanksgiving for relief from fatigue, or
in order that the one making the offering might receive
from the spirit of the place strength to carry his burden.^
So far as I could learn, the custom is now more a matter of
habit than anything else, and is usually devoid of that
superstitious character which it possessed in the time of
the Incas, except, possibly, in the southern and middle
parts of the republic where apachitas are much more nu-
merous than in the northern part.

These apachitas, peculiar though they may seem at the
first blush, have their counterparts in other parts of the
world, notably in New Mexico and Arizona, where similar
stone heaps — tapu — are found in and around many of the
Indian pueblos. Their existence, however, does not imply
that there was ever connection between the Indians of
Peru and New Mexico, as some have imagined, for similar-
ity of customs among peoples widely separated does not
necessarily indicate community of origin.

The same may be said respecting the crosses everywhere
observable on the more conspicuous eminences of Peru.
Something analogous obtains in all parts of the world, and
has its origin in the earliest religious observances of our
race.

**It was customary in the Middle Ages,'' writes Lanciani,
'Ho consecrate the summits of hills and mountains to
Michael, the archangel, from an association of ideas that
needs no explanation. Similarly, in classical times, the
Alpine passes had been placed under the protection of

1 Ewtirpaoion de la Ydolatria de loa Indios del Peru, p. 37, lima, 1021.

367

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Jupiter, the Thunderer, and lofty peaks crowned with his
temples. Without citing the example of Mont Saint
Michael, on the coast of Normandy, or of Monte Gargano
on the coast of Apulia, we need only look around the neigh-
borhood of Rome to find the figure of the angel wherever a
solitary hill or a commanding ruin suggested the idea or
sensation of height. Deus in altis habitat." ^

It was the same in Greece, in Judea and other Semitic
lands, where the cult of high places was evidenced by the
erection of shrines and temples on the summits of hills
and mountains. Among the Assyrians, as is attested by
certain cuneiform inscriptions, Ekur or Thur — ^mountain-
house — signified both God and his temple. Bel is synono-
mous with ^^ great mountain," and the sun-god appears
under the symbol of a sacred mountain. And so strongly
does this fact appeal to the Peruvian scholar, Pablo
Padron, that he uses it as an argument in support of his
theory of the Sumero-Assyrian origin of the Quichua and
Aymara languages of primitive Peru.

l^e altitude of Oalla-Calla, the third high sierra which
we had crossed since leaving the Pacific, is but little more
than a hundred feet lower than Puna-pishgo-guayuna —
the cold place where the birds die. The temperature of
the two summits was, strange to say, identical, viz : 46^ F.
This was the lowest temperature I found anywhere in the
Cordilleras during all my wanderings among them. At
no time had I ever suffered from cold, although my ill-
clad companions always complained of the low temperature
of the mountain i>a8ses^ — and at no place, excepting on

1 Pagan and Chriatian Rome, pp. 226-227, Boston and New York, 1893.

sThe pass of Chirmas-cassa — the harmful ice — ^where three hundred of
the Inca Yupanqui's men were frozen to death during his campaign against
the Ohadiapojas, could not have been far from Galla-Calla. "A great mass
of snow/' says GarcOaso, "suddenly fell and smothered them, so that not
one escaped." Op. dU, lib. VIII, Cap. II. This snow-fall, I cannot but
think, must have been a most unusual occurrence, but the memory of it
had probably much to do with the belief, current among the early Spanish
chroniclers, in an inaccessible mountain chain, extending from Santa Marta
to the Strait of Magellan, that is never troddoi by man or animal or bird.

368

IN THE HEART OF THE ANDES

the lofty mountain peaks, did I ever see snow on the ground
save in the innnediate vicinity of the Galera tunnel of the
Oroya railway. This point is just above the line of per-
petual snow, which, in the Andean range from Panama to
Bolivia, has an average altitude of a little more than fifteen
thousand feet.

Crossing Calla-Calla, I observed the same peculiar fea-
tures in the landscape that had so much impressed me
on the crest of Suma Paz in Colombia. On the western
side of the sierra, outside of occasional clumps of trees and
patches of verdure along some mountain stream, all was
bare rock and arid soil, with nothing to relieve the eye but
a stray aloe or cactus. On the eastern slope, however,
there was a wealth of vegetation of every kind. But what
specially impressed me were the delightful green pastures,
which reached to the very summit of Calla-Calla on which
were grazing large numbers of sheep, cattle and horses.
And at every turn, as we began our downward course to-
wards Leymebamba, there were clear, rippling streams
just starting on their long journey to the distant Amazon,
and charming cascades around which were gathered banks
of flowers of many gorgeous colors, while in the dim dis-
tance were

''A thousand shadowy-pencill'd valleys"

that extended upwards to the faintly-flushed peaks of the
Cordillera. And high above us were circling condors glid-
ing through space with outstretched pinions that were al-
most motionless.

About two hours before sunset we were in the small
town of Leymebamba, where we were hospitably received by
the governor. As a lodging place for the night, he gave
us the choice of quarters in his own house or in the casa
de ayuntamiento — ^town hall— or in a newly constructed
school house. We elected the latter as offering more pri-
vacy, and here we enjoyed a good night's rest. But I shall
always recollect Leymebamba as a place where our arriero

369

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

• had exceeding difficulty in getting the necessary pasto —
forage — ^for his animals. Of all the places we had yet
visited it was in the words of Homer,

''Fatter far to feed
A diff-bred goat, than raise or please a steed,''

for it, like Ithaca of old,

''Doth least provide
Or meads to feed a horse, or ways to ride."

The day after leaving Leymebamba we journeyed down
a picturesque valley, in which there were many chositas —
cabins — surrounded by beautiful green fields betokening a
soil of great fertility, but that which most interested me
was the marvelous profusion of orchids everywhere visible.
Every ledge of rock, every tree and bush, even every thorny
cactus, was laden with them and seemed but a blaze of
rose and purple and lavender. Nowhere else had I ever
seen such magnificence of orchid life, and never did I so
long to make a collection of these floral beauties, as I did
on that never-to-be-forgotten day. But I was not equipped
for making such collections, and so had to be satisfied to
enjoy them where they had been planted by the deft hands
of Flora, or placed by the piety of the Indians, who made
lovely bouquets of them for their numerous shrines along
the way. It was, indeed, touching to see the care which
these poor people took in supplying their favorite Santos
— saints — ^usually la Virgen Santisma or San Jose, with
fresh orchids, not once but several times a day. Some of
the shrines and statuettes within them were fashioned with
considerable artistic taste, but the rich ramillete of orchids,
generally some lovely delicately-tinted Cattleya, was never
missing.

Our next stopping-place was a small caserio, counting
only five or six houses, called Chillo. From this place
we started early the following morning for Oonde Ohacha,
a charming little village on the banks of a broad mountain

370

IN THE HEART OF THE ANDES

stream. Here we had our breakfast, after which we felt
refreshed and ready for the remaining part of the day's
journey, which was to bring us to the historic town, the
inhabitants call it Giudad — City— of Chachapoyas.

Chachapoyas — from Chachapuya — ^means, according to
Padre Valera, **a place of strong men.'' ** Before its con-
quest by Tupac Inca Yupanqui, the province bearing this
name, was peopled," Garcilaso tells us, *'by a numerous
race of brave men and very beautiful women." So beau-
tiful, indeed, were the women, that Cieza de Leon assures
us that **many of them were worthy to become the wives
of the Incas, or the inmates of the temple of the sun. ' ' ^

The present city of Chachapoyas was founded in 1536
by Captain Alonzo de Alvarado under the name of Civdad
de la Front era. It is located near the foot of a lofty sierra,
in the midst of a fertile and salubrious region, at an alti-
tude of little more than seven thousand feet. It numbers
about eight thousand inhabitants and, when connected with
the contemplated railroad between Paiti and the Amazon,
will be a place of great commercial importance. It is the
seat of a bishopric and the capital of the department of
Amazonas. Besides the cathedral, it counts seven churches,
and two chapels. It has a diocesan seminary and a num-
ber of well-conducted schools for the youth of both sexes.
The houses are mostly of adobe, with tiled roofs. Alto-
gether, the place makes a favorable impression on the
visitor, an impression which is greatly enhanced by the
cordiality and charming manners of its people.

I went directly to the prefectura, where I was at once
received and treated as a member of the family. The
Senor Prefecto, who was of Spanish descent and well ad-
vanced in years, was a typical gentleman of the old school.
He had all the courtesy of a Castilian hidalgo and all
the chivalry of a conquistador. I loved to think that he
was a descendant of one of the gallant band that accom-
panied Alvarado from Trujillo, over probably the same

1 Op. cit, p. 278.

371

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

route I had myself traversed, when they set out to make
the region between the Maranon and the Huallaga a part
of the possessions of the Eang of Spain. So strongly did
his amiable character appeal to me that I never recall my
visit to Ohachapoyas without seeing the benign visage of
the gracious and generous old man, whom all his people
revere as a friend and father. The two days I spent in
the home of this gentle and cultured type of a past age
were days of unalloyed delight, and when he bade me fare-
well, with the words Dios le guarde d Vd., some miles out-
side of the city, whither he and his aid had accompanied me
on my way to Moyobamba, I felt as if I were taking leave
of a friend of years instead of a passing acquaintance of a
few hours.

Our first stop after leaving Ohachapoyas was at the vil-
lage of Soloco, where we spent the night in the house of our
new arriero who had supplied us with saddle and sumpter
mules for our journey from Ohachapoyas to Moyobamba.
Shortly after our departure from Soloco, we found our-
selves in the montana, that forest-dad region which com-
prises the whole of Peru Oriental.

In addition to this alteration in the aspect of the land-
scape, there was also a marked meteorological change.
When I left Oasa Grande, I was assured that I should
encounter an aguacero — a shower — ^before the end of the
day. *'Hoy es el Cordonazo de San Francisco ^ y siempre
llueve d este tiempo" — ^'^This is the feast of St. Francis
and it always rains at this time. ' ' But it did not rain that
day nor for several days subsequently. In Oajamarca, it
is true, there was a slight rainfall — aguacerito — ^but, after
we once entered the Montana, we had what my companions
called an aguaceron — a heavy downpour — ^which continued
with little cessation for three days and nights.

Hitherto our pathway had been fairly good, but now it

iThe name given by Spanish sailors to the autumnal equinox, on account
of the storms that are supposed to prevail about that time, or St. Francis'
day, which falls on the 4th of October.

372

IN THE HEART OF THE ANDES

became in places almost impassable. Over certain mo-
rasses it was the worst kind of a corduroy road, and it was
a marvel to me that our animals were able to proceed with-
out breaking their legs. In other places the trail was like
a deep, narrow ditch, through which our mounts could
barely force their way. While passing through these
trenches the rider was obliged to hold his feet up around
the pommel of his saddle at the imminent risk of breaking
his neck. Then there were long stretches of bare, slippery
rock, alternating with sections where our path was strewn
with trees that had recently fallen. But our mules man-
aged to clamber over or crawl under these obstructions.
Besides all these obstacles, there were steep, stony stair-
ways leading up and down dizzy precipices, where it was
at times difficult for one to keep one's place in the saddle.
My companions grumbled at the weather and the wretched
road, and frequently gave vent to their pent-up feelings
by a vigorous caramba shot out between the teeth with a
combination of a Scotch trill and a north-of -England burr.
Once, when we had to cross a particularly marshy spot,
three of them insisted on guiding their mules, against the
better judgment of the animals, in a certain direction which
the mules seemed to know instinctively was impassable,
and, before they had gone more than a few rods, all were
so deep in the bog that it was only with the greatest diffi-
culty that we were able to extricate riders and mounts
from their dangerous position. Indeed, it looked, for a
while, as if both animals and men were going to disappear
beneath the yielding quagmire. This mishap was particu-
larly mortifying to the captain of cavalry and a corporal
who prided themselves on their horsemanship. In this
case the customary caramba was inadequate to express the
disgust of the mud-covered officers, and they patiently con-
tinued their journey, until they found a stream of water
where they could cleanse their soiled habiliments. I
escaped a similar contretemps, because I had learned by
experience to have unlimited confidence in the superior ad-

373

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

dress of my mole, and in this case, as in so many similar
ones, my confidence was fully justified.

Unlike my escort, I had no fault to find with the weather.
They spoke of it as bad, as execrable, but to me every day
I spent in the Cordilleras was good, only some days were
better than others. Thanks to my water-proof poncho, I
was always able to keep dry and, far from complaining of
the ceaseless downpour, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was
indeed a grateful change from the parched earth and cloud-
less skies, with which I had so long been familiar, to the
exuberant vegetation of the montana and to regions where
I had an opportunity of observing the wonderful cloud-
forms which are such striking features of the rainy belt of
the eastern Cordillera.

Never shall I forget the second day of our journey after
we left Soloco. It was between the dark, windowless tambo
of Yentanilla, where we spent the night, and a still more
primitive stopping-place called Tingo Bamos. Between
these points, we had to cross another mountain range whose
altitude was something over eleven thousand feet, where the
thermometer — strange to say — again registered 46° F. as
it did on the summits of Calla-Calla and Puna-pishgo-
guayuna.

That day I was in the saddle eight hours continuously,
and, during all that time, it rained without intermission.
But as I felt then, and as I recall it now it was one of the
most delightful days I spent during nearly a year's wander-
ing in the tropics. I did not think of taking luncheon, for I
never experienced the slightest sensation of hunger. I was
too preoccupied with the wonderful palms and tree-ferns
that adorned my path. Well did Linnaeus call palms the
princes of the vegetable world. But if he could have seen
the wondrous tree-ferns that greeted my delighted eyes
during that memorable day, vying with the palm in height
and surpassing it in the length and breadth of its delicate,
lace-like fronds, he surely would have named them the
princesses of the plant kingdom.

374

IN THE HEART OF THE ANDES

I was intent, too, on studying the extraordinary effects
of earth-sculpture, which gave rise to the most bizarre of
rock-formations and the most peculiar of mountain con-
tours. And then there were the countless mountain
streams of crystal water, the charming cascades and water-
falls that made the virgin forest vocal with sweetest and
most soothing melody.

But over and above the beauties of plant life and the
wonders of rock-formation, I think I was that day more
under the spell of the marvels of the sky. The ever-chang-
ing clouds presented a display of form and color I never
before beheld in any part of the world. It was as if the
spirit of the Andes wished, on this last range which I was
to pass, to give me an exhibition of its magic power that'
should be the culmination of all the pleasures enjoyed while
traversing its secret and mysterious recesses.

There were clouds of every conceivable form and color,
now at rest, now in motion; at one time formless masses
wreathing lofty peaks or draping shattered cliffs; at an-
other enormous swirling, writhing drifts of vapor full of the
energy of the storm; while yet again the tortured mists

''Called out shapes
And phantoms from the crags and solid earth
As fast as a musician scatters sounds
Out of an instrument."

In these weird shapes of the drifting brume, in these fan-
tastic cloud-wraiths that danced on the verge of dizzy
precipices, or swept over abysmal chasms towards some
cloud-mantled pinnacle high overhead, I discerned in fancy
the departed spirits of Indian chieftains or Valkyrie-like
figures bearing fallen heroes to the Inca Valhalla.

During the greater part of the day, whether at rest or
in motion, the clouds were gray and gloomy and not in-
frequently collected in dark nimbus heaps that might well
have been the favorite abode of the Eddie Thor. But as
the day's journey was drawing to an end, the sun suddenly

375

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

broke through the misty veil that had so long concealed if
from view, and for a moment flamed with a splendor that
caused the landscape to glow with all the gorgeous hues
of the opal and the sapphire, the topaz and the hyacinth.
This, however, was but prelusive to a much more gorgeous
spectacle, to a vision of one of those prismatic clouds that
then swept between the sun and myself, which Buskin has
so well described as ' ^ Threads and meshes and tresses and
tapestries, flying, falling, melting, reappearing; spinning
and unspinning themselves, coiling and uncoiling, winding
and unwinding, faster than eye or thought can follow, and
through all their dazzling maze of frosty filaments shines
a painted rainbow in palpitation; its pulses of color in-
terwoven in motion, intermittent in fire, — emerald and ruby
and pale purple and violet melting into a blue that is not
of the sky, but of the sunbeam ; — ^purer than crystal, softer
than the rainbow, and brighter than the snow. ' ' ^

This scene was a glorious finale to a day of dreams, of
symphonies of sound and color. An hour later we were at
Tinga Bamos, our halting place for the night. It consisted
of three small, open, palm-thatched sheds, about six feet
square and so low that we had to stoop on entering them.
But they answered our purpose. They protected us from
the rain and that was all we desired. I had a cot placed
in one of them, preferring it, for a change, to my tent.
And, shortly after our frugal evening meal I was in the
realm of dreams, enjoying again all the delightful pictures
that had flitted before me during the preceding day of rap-
ture in Andean wonderland.

The succeeding day was spent in the heart of the mon-
tana with no incident worthy of record. The rains contin-
ued and the roads became worse from hour to hour. The
evening found us at a small caserio called Ptu:atambo, where
we spent a comfortable night under a ranchito similar to
the one which had sheltered us the night before, but larger.

Although we were refreshed by our night's rest, it was

1 The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century, Lecture I.

376

IN THE HEART OF THE ANDES

quite different with our mules. For when they were
brought to us in the morning, we found them covered with
blood. Some of the pack animals were so weak that it
looked for a while as if they would be unable to carry their
burden any further. They had, during the night, been the
victims of the blood-sucking murcielagos — desmodontoiJ
bats — and one would have imagined, from their pitiful
condition, that they had been the prey of the vampires of
European folklore. My only regret was that I was unable
to secure one of these blood-thirsty Desmodi for the ben-
efit of those doubting Thomases who, like Orton, dismiss
them as merely * ' diabolical imps of imaginative travelers. ' ' ^

For the information, however, of those who may desire
the facts in the case, I translate a paragraph from Fig-
ueroa's Relacion de las Misiones en el Pais de los Maynas,
which reads as follows : —

** This plague (of bats) must be counted among the
general plagues that molest these lands, and the Spaniards,
in order to deliver their domestic fowls from this pest, con-
struct their poultry-roosts, so that they can be closed in,
and they even build them under ground. But, even in these
enclosures and subterranean coops they often find that
their birds have been killed by the bats. Nor are
human beings free from them when they sleep without a
protective covering; for they awake with small pools of
blood from the wounds which were made in the feet, hands
and face.^ So numerous at times are these pests, that no
fowls are left alive. They do not even spare cattle, and
pigs; for only recently the bats destroyed all the cattle,
counting among them a large number of pigs and nearly a
hundred cows. * ' * And all this occurred in the very region

1 The Andes and the Amazon, p. 205, New York, 1870.

sThe bite of these bats is usually unobserved, as it is attended with only
a slight tidcling sensation, of which the sleeper is quite unoonsdous.

*Pp. 247-248, Tom. I, in Colecoion de Lihroa y Doownentos Referentes 6
la Historia de America, Madrid, 1904. Compare Notioias Autentioaa del
Famoao Rio MarafUm, published by Marcos Jimenez de la Espada, in BolenHn
de la Sooiedad Qeografioa de Madrid, Tom. XXVII, pp. 01-412.

377

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

traversed by Prof. Orton, of which he declared the bats to
be only the ** diabolical imps of imaginative travelers/*

Nor is this all. According to the late Dr. Peters of Ber-
lin, who was a specialist in these peculiar cheiriopters, all
American bats, far from being harmless fruit-eaters, as
so frequently asserted, are blood-suckers, and some of
them are as great a pest to-day as they were in the time of
Figueroa.

We left Pucatambo early in the morning, and after two
hours* ride through a dense, gloomy forest, which was a
reminder of the selva oscura, in which Dante found him-
self astray, we came to a place known as Punta de la V en-
tana — Window Point. And most appropriate is the name.
It is a small clearing, nearly a mile above sea level, which
stands on the verge of a precipitous declivity, from which,
as from a window, the traveler has a most enchanting pros-
pect.

Before us, and nearly three thousand feet beneath the
projecting rock on which we stood, was a vast, verdant
ocean, a glowing, green expanse of interminable forests,
relieved by smiling savannas, and dotted with numerous
towns and villages in which the wandering eye was lost
in admiration and awe.

''The breaths of kissing night and day
Were mingled in the eastern heaven,''

and, in Sir Philip Sidney's graphic words, **T^e morning
did strew roses and violets on the heavenly floor against
the coming of the sun. ' '

The picture before us was ravishingly beautiful, and my
feelings, I think, must have been akin to those of Moses,
when, after his long wanderings in the wilderness, he stood
on the top of Phasga on Mount Nebo, and riveted his wist-
ful gaze on the Land of Promise. And this similarity of
sentiment was not without cause, for I then beheld, as I
soon had reason to know, the land of milk and honey of
fruitful, fortunate Peru.

378

CHAPTER XIX
A PERUVIAN PARADISE

After leaving Chachapoyas our bridle-way became daily
worse and worse, so that at times it was almost impass-
able. Oar arriero usually told us in the morning what
kind of a road we might expect during the day, and his
usual qualification for it was malo or muy malo — ^bad or
very bad. But, as we prepared to make the descent of La
Ventana, he ejaculated — hajada maUsima — ^by which he
wished us to understand that the path we were about to
descend was execrable in the extreme.

The hajada was indeed malisima — ^the worst section of
road by far that we had yet encountered. Only experienced
mountain mules would attempt to make such a rough, pre-
cipitous descent. Even my own mule, veteran as he was,
often stopped before the more di£Scult places in order to
determine whether it was best to walk or jump or slide.
At times he actually groaned when contemplating the
rugged path before him. Putnam's feat of horsemanship
in dashing down a precipice whither the British dragoons
dared not follow seemed easy in comparison with this ter-
rible ride down the vertiginous slope of La Ventana. But,
thanks to our sagacious mules, we found ourselves at the
end of nearly three hours, at the bottom of this abrupt
declivity and grateful that no bones had been broken. It
was decidedly the worst section of road that we had met
with in our long ride from the Pacific.

After this drop of more than a half mile, we noticed a
marked change in the vegetation. One of the first spec-
imens of plant life to attract our attention was a clump of

379

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

large, luxuriant plantains. We had, it is true, frequently
seen both plantains and bananas between Chachapoyas and
La Ventana, but none that compared with the large, ex-
uberant growths that give such beauty to the lowland land-
scapes of tropical latitudes.

Here, then, we had the first evidence of that land of
promise of which we had caught a glimpse from the sum-
mit of La Ventana. For was not that bunch of fruit — so
great that it required two men to carry it — ^which was
brought by the twelve spies to the Children of Israel as a
proof of the fertility of the soil of Canaan, a bunch of plan-
tains and not a bunch of grapes, as is supposed? There
are those who think so, as there are also those who aver
that the forbidden fruit in Eden was also the plantain
and hence the name given it by LinnsBUS — Mt^a Paradi-
saica. At all events, I have seen in the plain of Jeridio
just such noble plantains as I found at the foot of La Ven-
tana. And what a coincidence that, what was exhibited to
Moses as a sample of the fruits of the promised land, should
also be the first fruit which delighted my eyes as I en-
tered the land of promise of Peru I

When we were within about an hour's ride of Bioja,
my Cuzco friend, the Indian musician whose quena had
so entertained me at Tambo Viejo, approached me and
said, ''Santo Toribio, el Amiga de las Indies , ha venido par
acd*' — ** Saint Toribio, the friend of the Indians, came this
way. * ' It was true. This apostle of Peru had extended his
missionary labors even to this distant region, and that, too,
when travel was far more difficult than it is at present.
But that his memory should still, after three centuries, be
so green among those uncultured people for whom he gave
the best years of his life, was something that made a deep
impression upon me. It was, however, but another evi-
dence, added to many similar ones which I already pos-
sessed, that the Indian is far from being ungrateful, as
frequently represented, and that he appreciates at its full
value what is done in his behalf. If he is slow to forget

380

A PBEUVIAN PARADISE

an injury or an enemy, he is not quick, as is so often as-
serted, to forget a benefit or a friend.

As we drew near Bioja, we were startled by a loud, shrill
sound like that of a factory or locomotive whistle. I knew
there was no locomotive within five hundred miles, but I
was surprised to hear a steam whistle of any kind in this
distant comer of the Andes. Imagine my surprise when
I discovered that the piercing note, which I had heard, was
produced by a certain species of cicada, which is very com-
mon in these parts and which I frequently heard after-
wards. It is said that their notes can be heard as far
as a mile away, and although I had not an opportunity of
verifying this statement, I am inclined to think that it is
true.

This insect — cicada tibicen — ^is a distant relative of the
cicada of which the poets have sounded the praises from the
earliest times, and to which Anacreon, Cowper and Goethe
have dedicated some of their most beautiful verses. I have
never, however, been able to imderstand what has made
cicadas and grasshoppers such favorites with poets, for
to me their stridulating notes are far from pleasing.* Yet
Anacreon in one of his odes, addressed to the cicada, does
not hesitate to declare :

''Thou to all mankind art dear;
Dear to all the tuneful Nine
Seated round the throne divine;
Dear to Phoebus, god of day,
He inspired thy sprightly lay,
And with voice melodious blessed,
And in vivid colors dress 'd.
Thou from spoil of time art free;
Age can never injure thee.
Wisest daughter of the earth!
Fond of song, and full of mirth;

1 Probably because they were "the representatives of the Athenians as
children of the soil/' and because they informed the Muses in heaven who
honored them on earth!

381

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Free from flesh, exempt from pains,
No blood riots in thy veins:
To the bless 'd I equal thee;
Thou'rt a demideily."

•

The lofty crest of La Ventana was suffused with the
last smile of the departing sunbeams when we alighted
before the hospitable home of the sub-prefect of Bioja.
The day's ride had been trying, notwithstanding the many
interesting objects that greeted us along our pathway, but
fatigue and hunger and thirst were forgotten as soon as
we passed the threshold of the suh-prefectura, where we
found the same cordial welcome that had been every-
where extended us during our long journey across the
Cordilleras.

Bioja, formerly called Santo Toribio, in honor of the
apostle of Peru, is located on a charming sandstone pla-
teau nearly half a mile above sea level. It counts about
three thousand inhabitants, most of whom are engaged in
the manufacture of somhreros de paja — straw hats— known
also as sombreros de Guayaquil^ because large numbers of
them, made in Ecuador, are shipped from that part. In
Europe and the United States they are usually called Pan-
ama hats, while in many parts of South America, they take
their name from the material — jipijapa or hombonage —
from which they are manufactured.

The scientific name of the bombonage is Carludovica
palmata. It belongs to the screw-pine family and bears
leaves which resemble those of the saw palmetto. The
plant is from five to ten feet high, and grows wild in the
hot and humid regions of Colombia and Ecuador, and in
the montana of Peru the toquUla — ^filaments — for making
hats are obtained from the tender, fan-shaped leaves about
two feet long, which are cut from the heart of the plant
just as they begin to unfold. After the green parts of the
leaves are removed, the white parts which remain are di-
vided into narrow strips and boiled in hot water for two

382

A PEEUVIAN PARADISE

or three hours. They are then dried and bleached in the
sun, when they are assorted and ready for use.

Every house in Bioja is a small hat factory, and every
man, woman and child is a hat-maker. Indeed, hat-making
is practically the sole industry of the town. Here one
will find sombreros of every degree of fineness, from those
worn by the native peons to those which are exported for
royalty and plutocracy. The poorer quality of hat may
be made in a day or two, while the finest variety requires
the continued labor of aa expert for many months. The
prices vary from fifty cents to fifty dollars, according to
the fioieness of material and workmanship. Sometimes,
however, the material is so soft, silky and pliable and the
workmanship so exquisite that hats are produced that
readily sell for two hundred dollars. These are so delicate
and flexible that they can be folded and carried in the pocket
like a silk handkerchief, without the slightest injury.

Much, however, as I was mterested in the hat industry
of Bioja, there were other attractions that had a greater
claim on my attention. These were the wonderful exhibi-
tions of fruit and flowers that greeted the eye at every
step. Never before did I witness such a profusion of
bloom, such abundance of fruit. My host gave me a list
of no fewer than thirty-three domestic fruits and twenty-
six wild ones— all edible— which grow in and around the
town. This list embraces only the species. Many of the
cultivated species have numerous varieties. Most of them
I had seen in other parts of the tropics, but there were
many fruits of the temperate as well as of the torrid zone
that were quite new to me.

And such luscious fruits I They appeared to be the
quintessence of rich juices and delicious perfumes, and
worthy of being ranked with the golden apples of the Hes-
perides. Tears before, when I first tasted the oranges of
Cordoba, Mexico, I thought they were unrivaled. But they
are surpassed by the nectarine fruits of Bioja. I was, of a
truth, in one of those favored haunts of Flora aad Pomona

383

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

''Where glowing nature seems most prodigal
Of life and beauty, where the eye beholds
Orchards that blossom while their ripe fruits fall."

As I wandered through the fruit and flower gardens of
this fair town and, in silent admirationi strolled through
''Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gum and balm,"
it did not require a great stretch of fancy for me to im-
agine that I was contemplating a vestige of the wreck of
Paradise. I then recalled the vision of Frate Alberigo, the
monk of Monte Cassino, who was favored with a view of
the abode of the blessed. He went forth, he tells us, into
a most delightful plain. "But of what extent, what glory,
what beauty this splendid, sweet and charming plain is,
no tongue, no language, can tell. It was filled with all
pleasure and joy and delight. There is the perfume of lilies
and roses, there is the fragrance of all grateful odors, there
abound manna and unalloyed eternal happiness. In the
middle of this plain is Paradise. ' ' * Had Frate Alberigo
been transported to the plateau of Bioja, he could scarcely
have described better its surpassing wealth of flower and
fruitage.

And here, too, is the perpetual spring of the Golden
Age — ver erat aeternum— of which Ovid so sweetly sings
in his Metamorphoses. And, although but a few degrees
from the equator, the climate is deliciously mild. At no
time did my thermometer record a higher temperature than
78° F. So luxuriant was the vegetation, carpeting and
scenting the earth with verdure and bloom, that it really
seemed as if

Zephyrus did breed
Sweet flowers by his gentle blast

Without the help of seed." *

1 Alberioi Viaio. Sec 20, in Osaervcufioni 9opra VOriginaUta di Damie,
p. 178, da Franceeoo Canoellieri, Roma, 1814.
'Ver erat etemum; placidique tepentibuB auris
Mulcd>ant Zephyri natos sine semine flores.

Ond, Metamorphoaeon, Lib. I, vr. 107| 108.

384

A PBEUVIAN PARADISE

The direct road from Eioja to Moyobamba is about fif-
teen miles but, on account of the heavy rains that had
fallen a few days before our arrival it was quite impas-
sable. We were, accordingly, compelled to take a circui-
tous route, but I was glad of this, for it enabled me to see
several towns and hamlets I should otherwise have missed.
In all of these the chief industry, as in Bioja, is the mak-
mg of hats and the preparation of toquilla for shipment to
Celendin.

Our path between Bioja and Moyobamba was over a
comparatively level plain — smiling savannas and haciendas
alternating with charming woodlands. Sleek herds of
cattle roamed over the savannas and the haciendas exhib-
ited broad acres covered with maize and sugar-cane.

The Indian com was such as would delight the eye and the
heart of an Iowa or Kansas farmer. Only once — on the
banks of the Meta, in Colombia — had I ever seen a more
luxuriant field of this important staple. The stalks were
nearly fifteen feet high and each stalk bore two or three
ears of com. Some of them had four. So fertile is the
soil and so propitious is the climate that it requires only
three months from the time of planting for the maize to
attain maturity. Three crops a year are common, but even
four are possible. There is no fixed season for plaating.
The husbandman may sow and reap in every month of the
year. While one man is planting, his neighbor in the adjoin-
ing field is collecting into his granary the same kind of crop.
No plowing is necessary. When a clearing is effected, aH
that is necessary is to make a hole in the groxmd with a
pointed stick and deposit the seed. Three months later,
with but little care, the field is ready for the harvest, thus
rivaling in fertility the Elysian Fields, of which Hesiod
writes :

((

And yearly thrice with sweet luxuriance crown 'd,
Springs the ripe harvest from the teeming ground.*'

385

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

There was a time when the tobacco produced in these
parts, especially in the neighborhood of Tarapota, was
justly famous, even in the markets of Europe. But un-
fortunately, the plant is now rarely cultivated and then
chiefly for domestic consumption. Grapes grow wild here
and the wine produced from them is excellent. The low-
lands are well adapted for the cultivation of rice, but so
few are the tillers of the soil and so difficult is it to find the
requisite laborers, that it can be imported from China at
a less price than it can be raised here. Wheat, barley and
potatoes also flourish, but one rarely sees a field of these
food-stuffs.

^^Faltan brazos'^ — ^* laborers are wanting,*' was the an-
swer given to my question regarding the absence of many
plants and vegetables which, considering the marvelous
richness of the soil, one would expect to find here in rare
abimdance. The cholos and Indians, who are satisfied with
little, make shift, like their ancestors, with a small chacra
— ^plantation— of yucca, maize and plantains. This sup-
plies them with all the food they require, while the ubiq-
uitous trapiche — sugar-mill — ^provides them with the aguar-
diente which is consumed in such large quantities by all
classes. It is, indeed, a matter of surprise to the foreigner
to see what a large amount of alcoholic liquor is used in
the tropics. But its evil effects are in a great measure
counteracted by copious perspiration. Half the quantity
that could be taken with impunity in the lowlands, would
be very pernicious in the cool regions of the sierra. Hence
the old maxim, attributed to the Jesuits, "j&n pais caUente,
aguardiente; en pais frio, agua fria" — **In the warm coun-
try, brandy ; in the cold country, cold water. ' '

The woods through which we passed were a natural
gallery of pictures of rarest sylvan beauty, a riot of lush,
growing plants and forest monarchs. Palms and ferns,
gorgeous heliconias and wild-pineapples with their rich
amber-red fruits, were a succession of delights which made
us quite oblivious of the passing hours. Our path under

386

A PBEUVIAN PARADISE

the overhanging branches was like a great forest aisle
dappled with flowers and sunshine. Ever and anon there
was

''A flash of harmless lightning,
A mist of rainbow dyes/'

and we were then conscious of the swiftly-darting hnmming
bird, the beauteous coUhri which imparts such life and color
to tropical nature. Then silently and leisurely there wafted
before us

''Leafless, stemless, floating flower
Prom a rainbow's scattered bower,"

and we recognized the glorious Morpho cypris, the radiant-
blue butterfly eight inches across the wing, whose name
recalls both the goddess of love and beauty and her cher-
ished isle in the cerulean sea.

Further afield, in a bright, grass-covered glade, was a
veritable shower of related species of every form and
size and hue, some floating airily along our path with a
gentle, undulating motion, others gliding with bird-like
wing over a bank of flowers, others still flashiog so swiftly^
by that it was diflBcult for the eye to follow their mazy
course. Instead of the plain yellows, subdued browns and
dashes of red, orange and blue, that characterize our north-
em species, there was a brilliant display of emerald-green,
oobalWlue'and flamtag erixnson, relieved by dark ^W
borders, or backgrounds of velvety-black. Sometimes the
wings were decked with scales of deepest green or red, or
with spangles of burnished silver or molten gold, while at
others there was an iridescent play of colors, like that of
mother-of-pearl or richest opal.

It is among these numerous and vari-colored species of
butterflies that one finds some of the most striking illustra-
tions of that peculiar phenomenon of animal life known as
mimicry. So closely do certain unprotected species re-
semble others which are protected from their enemies by

387

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

peculiar tastes and odors that even the professional en-
tomologist is not always able at first sight to distinguish
one class from the other. And so perfect is the mimicry
that it extends not only to form, color and habits, but even
to the dots and bands and veins of the wings. ^ ' It may be
said, therefore,'* writes Bates, *'that on these expanded
membranes Nature writes, as on a tablet, the story of the
modification of the species, so truly do all the changes of
the organization register themselves thereon. Moreover,
the same color-patterns of the wings generally show with
great r^ularity, the degrees of blood relationship of the
species. As the laws of Nature must be the same for all
beings, the conclusions furnished by this group of insects
must be applicable to the whole organic world ; therefore the
study of butterflies — creatures selected as the types of air-
iness and frivolity — ^instead of being despised, will some
day be valued as one of the most important branches of
biological science. ' ' *

But more remarkable than their beauty of color or their
variety of form or power of mimicry is the extraordinary
number of species of these gorgeous insects found in the
tropical zone. It surpasses by far the number found in
our temperate climes. So great is it that one may collect
from sixty to seventy species in a single day, while in and
around the city of Para on the Amazon, the number of
species already catalogued exceeds seven hxmdred. * ' When
we consider that only sixty-four species of butterflies have
been found in Britain and about one hxmdred and fifty in
Germany, many of which are the result of the work of
hundreds of collectors for a long series of years, we see at

once the immense wealth of the equatorial zone in this
formof life.''2

Not far from the butterfly glade, we came upon another
exhibition of insect life which was fully as interesting as

1 The Naturalist on the Amaaona, Cha^). XII.

2 Natural Selection and Tropical Nature, p. 275, by Alfred RuBsel Wallace,
London, 1891.

388

A PEEUVIAN PARADISE

that of the beautiful lepidopters just described. There
was, however, no beauty of form or color in this second
exhibition. Far from it. It was a termitarium — a colony
of termites or white ants. It was too large to call a nest,
for it was a bulky hillock, fifteen feet in diameter, and
nearly eight feet high. I had often, in other parts of the
tropics, seen similar ant hills, but this one was of unusual
proportions and remarkable for its myriads of feverishly
active inmates.

They are called ants, although they are so diflferent in
structure and habits from true ants that they belong to a
different order. Termites are neuropterous, while true
ants are hymenopterous insects. But the members of the
two orders resemble one another in being endowed with
highly specialized instincts, and in living in highly organ-
ized social conmiunities. The white ant community, how-
ever, is usually regarded by naturalists as belonging to a
higher type than that of the true ants so familiar in north-
em latitudes.

Although white ants inhabit all parts of the tropics it
is in the equatorial regions of South America where they
are most abimdant and where they exhibit the largest num-
ber of species. Their nests, according to the species, are
foimd in the branches and under the bark of trees and in
peculiar paper-like structures resembling immense hornet
nests. They also occur under the ground, where they con-
struct complicated chambers varying from the size of a
small basket to that of an incipient catacomb. The upper
parts of these formicaries are in certain places so numer-
ous that they look like haycocks in a harvest field, and their
sugar-loaf roofs are so large that they might at a distance
be mistaken for Indian cabins. If a human edifice were to
bear the same proportion to one of the larger termitaria
as does the size of a man to that of a white ant, it would be
a mile high. And similarly, if a man's strength, in pro-
portion to his bulk, were as great as that of a termite, he
could carry nearly a ton.

389

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

But the size of the ant houses and the strength of their
hnilders — ^wonderful as they are — are far less marvelous
than their extraordinary numbers and social organization.

It has been calculated that the progeny of one que^i ant
numbers no less than fifty million individuals and that a
single termitarium, occupied by several different colonies,
sometimes contains as many subjects as the thickly popu-
lated Chinese empire.

More astonishing still is the fact that all the inhabitants,
except the king and queen, of these busy communities are
blind and always work in the dark. But it is these blind
subjects, called ^ ^neuters," because they are sexless, that
do all the work of the community. They are the builders
and foragers and nurses of the young ants that multiply at
the prodigious rate of eighty thousand a day.

Yet, numerous as they are, there are no sluggards, or
criminals or degenerates among them. All labor contin-
uously for the common good, and with as much order and
system as if they were under the direction of some govem-
iag board or commxmal spirit. But all is absolute indi-
vidualism, for, so far as is known, there is no governing
class, and yet all the beneficent effects of government are
wrought out with the regularity and precision of an auto-
matic machine. To such a community one could with truth
apply the words of Sir Thomas Moore, who writes, * * But in
Eutopia, where every man has a right to everything, they
do all know that if care is taken to keep the stores full, no
private man can want anythrag, for among them there is
no unequal distribution, and although no man has anything,
yet they are all rich. ' *

Well then could Pliny in contemplating an ant hill, ex-
claim, '*What reason, what power, what bewildering per-
fection I " ^ And it was the consideration of the extraor-
dinary activity of ants and their wonderfully diversified
instincts, that caused Darwin to declare that ^ ^ The brain of

1 In his tarn parvis, atque tam nollis, quae ratio quanta yis, quam in€K-
trieabilis perfectio! Hiatoria yaturaUa, lib. XI, 2.

390

A PBEUVIAN PARADISE

an ant is one of the most marvelous atoms of matter in the
world, perhaps more so than the brain of man. ' ' *

Ah, if the people living in this favored region had only
a small fraction of the energy and industry of the termites
of the community just referred to, the paradise which so
far has been little more than potential would soon become
an actuality I Nature has provided man with a soil that
is as fertile as that of the Nile valley, with a climate like
that of the Fortunate Islands, and with a variety of fruit
and flower, of useful plant and tree, that is unrivaled in any
other part of the world.

And not only is this the case with the land in the imme-
diate neighborhood of Bioja and Moyobamba. The same
can be said of tens of thousands of square miles of land in
the Peruvian montana. The Pampa del Sacramento, that
extensive territory bounded by the Ucayali, the Huallaga
and the Maranon, has long been famous for its extraor-
dinary fertility and natural resources. And yet it is com-
paratively uninhabited, and its value as a place for settle-
ment is almost unknown, even among Peruvians themselves.

One of the chief reasons why it has not been colonized
long since, is because it is so isolated and so far away
from suitable means of communication with the rest of the
world. But when the Paita-Maranon railway shall have
been constructed — ^and the sooner the better for the prom-
ising land of Peru — ^her wealth and resources will be
doubled and quadrupled. For there is no doubt in my mind
that the future will prove that the most productive part
of this great republic is the Parte del Oriente, that im-
mense tract bounded by the eastern slope of the Andes and
the western frontier of Brazil.

But confining ourselves to the small area of land in the
immediate vicinity of Bioja and Moyobamba, the potential
paradise here existent could soon be made actual if immi-
gration were only started in this direction. And it should
not, it seems, be a difficult matter to secure emigrants from

1 The Descent of Man, Vol. I, p. 146, London, 1871.

391

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Europe, where the conditions of existence are daily be-
coming more trying, if the proper measures were taken.
The lot of such emigrants would, in the territory under con-
sideration, be incomparably better than it is now where the
struggle for life is so acute.

An electric railroad less than a hundred miles long and
operated by water-power, which is here unlimited, would
put this Peruvian paradise in connection with Turimaguas,
which is accessible by steamers of considerable size and
draft. Two days* journey below Yurimaguas is Iquitos, on
the Amazon, where there are ocean steamers for Europe
and the United States.

Some of my readers may think me guilty of exaggera-
tion in the account I have above given of this prospective
paradise of Peru, but I have endeavored to describe only
what I have seen and to avoid stating anything which I
do not believe to be true. Here the earth, as Jerrold said
of a certain part of Australia, *4s so kind, that just tickle
her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest.**

While indulging in the foregoing reflections, we were aj)-
proaching the place we had so long yearned to see — the
quaint old town of Moyobamba. When we were within
about a mile of it, a young uniformed officer on horseback
approached me, and introducing himself as the aid of the
prefect of Moyobamba, said that he had been delegated by
this functionary to meet me and escort me to the prefecture,
where I was to remain as a guest xmtil I was ready to con-
tinue my journey towards the Amazon. The prefect, the
officer declared, would have come in person to greet me,
but having been absent from his office, he was not aware of
my coming until it was too late.

** Verily,*' I said to myself, **the farther one gets into
the heart of Peru, the kinder and more courteous their
people become.** One can truthfully say of them what
Ulloa writes of the old nobility of Lima, * ' Courtesy shines
in all their actions, and their complaisance to strangers is
without limits. The reception they give them is equally

392

A PEEUVIAN PARADISE

free from flattery and a haughty reserve; so that Euro-
peans, whether they visit them out of curiosity or com-
mercial motives, are charmed with their probity, their po-
liteness, candor and magnificence. ' ' ^

The prefect was awaiting my arrival at the front door
of the Prefectura, and, when I dismounted, greeted me with
the cordiality of an old friend. **You are welcome,'* he
said, **to Moyobamba. But what a quick trip you have
made from Chachapoyas. The prefect of that place tele-
graphed me that you were coming, but I did not expect you
until to-morrow or the day after. Had I thought you would
arrive to-day, I should have done myself the pleasure of
meeting you outside the city instead of sending my aid.

**The prefect of Chachapoyas also asked me to have a
number of cargueros * in readiness for you, as he said you
desired to hasten on to Balsapuerto without delay. The
cargueros are already secured, but I cannot permit you to
depart at once, as you have planned. You must see some-
thing of Moyobamba, and you must give our people an
opportunity of greeting you, at least. It is not every day
that a countryman of yours comes to this distant part of
Peru. In fact, so far as my information goes, you are the
first writer from the United States to journey from the
Pacific to the Amazon by way of Cajamarca and Moyo-
bamba. Lieutenant Hemdon, more than a half century
ago, crossed the Cordilleras several hundred miles farther
south and made his way to the Amazon by way of the Hual-
laga, but he did not visit Moyobamba. Nearly twenty years
ago a traveler from your country. Major Kirby by name,
reached the Amazon, on his way from Lima, by going down
the Urubamba and Yucayali, a route that took him still
farther away from our town.

*'Few travelers seem to be willing to undertake the long
journey by mule, which you have so happily terminated.
In view of all these facts, and of the desire of our people
of having an opportunity of making your acquaintance, I

lOp. cit., Vol. II, pp. 66, 57. « Porters.

393

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

have presumed that you would be willing to modify your
itinerary somewhat and accept our hospitality for at least
a few days, if you cannot remain longer. ' *

Needless to say, such cordiality was irresistible. In-
stead of pushing on to Balsapuerto the following day, as I
had purposed doing, I spent the greater part of a week at
the Prefectura and was glad I did so, for it gave me an op-
portunity of meeting some of the most hospitable and charm-
ing people that it was my privilege to find anywhere in
Soutii America.

There was a continued series of receptions and visits in
the capital of the department of San Martin, and of ex-
cursions into its interesting environs. We boated on the
Mayo, an afSuent of the Huallaga, and visited a number of
the chacras and trapiches that dot its fertile banks. Every-
where we went we found the same richness of soil, the same
luxuriance of vegetation, the same multiplicity of fruit and
flower that had so deeply impressed me in and around
Bioja. In garden and field, in stream and forest there was
the same Eden in posse; the same marvelous profusion of
everything grateful to sight and taste and smell, which we
are wont to associate with the home of our first parents as
depicted in the noble verses of Paradise Lost.

But here, as in other parts of this favored region, as in
Bioja, as in the Pampa del Sacramento, the paradise is but
inchoate. Nature has done her part, but man thus far has
contributed but little towards the development of its mar-
velous possibilities. If one seeks the reason of this neglect
and of the backward condition of agriculture and other
industries, one receives the same answer that is always
given to a similar question in the region of the eastern
Andes, ''Faltan hrazos'* — **laborers are wanting.'* I have
heard the same reply in the llanos of Venezuela and Colom-
bia and the tablelands of Ecuador and Bolivia. Men are
everywhere needed to develop the boxmdless resources of
mine, plantation and forest; but nowhere, on this mighty
continent, is there more demand for human labor than in

394

A PERUVIAN PARADISE

the montana of Pern. And nowhere wiU the reward of
labor be more certain, or the remuneration greater and
more enduring.

But here, as elsewhere, means of commnnication are an
indispensable prerequisite. It is on account of the lack of
suitable highways of commerce that the population of
Moyobamba is to-day far less than it was a generation ago,
and that it is still decreasing at an alarming rate. To-day
there are many vacant houses, while others are crumbling
into ruins. Whole families annually leave the place, while
the proportion of women to men actually living here is four
or five to one.

Where are the men, I asked. ^^Estan al interior'^ — * * they
have gone to the interior;'* gone to seek fortune in the rub-
ber forests of the Purus, the Ucayali, the Napo and the
Putumayo ; gone to Yurimaguas, the head of navigation on
the Huallaga, and to Iquitos, the enterprising and prosper-
ous young city on the Amazon.

As I wandered through the streets of Moyobamba and
saw its declining glory, a feeling of sadness came over me.
How had the primeval promise and hope of the Garden-
Plain ^ failed of fruition, or slumbered through the tedious
generations I When Alonso de Alvardo planted his colony
here nearly four centuries ago, he had reason to believe that
he was laying the foundations of a city with a splendid
future. Moyobamba has indeed the basic elements of a
great city. Its elevated mesa, laved by the waters of the
picturesque Mayo ; its climate always salubrious and agree-
able; its location in the midst of the most fruitful land in
the world, all testify to the wisdom of Alvardo 's choice.
And so sure of its ultimate greatness was the old conquis-
tador that he planned the city on a magnificent scale, fore-
casting a metropolis that in time should be a worthy capital
seat of the eastern part of golden Peru.

1 The name Moyobamba is composed of two Quichua words, Muya — garden —
and pampa — ^plain — and is a most appropriate epithet for this Eden in the
wilderness.

395

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Even to-day Moyobamba covers nearly as much ground
as Lima, though its population is but a small fraction of
that of the City of the Kings. Although comprising fewer
than five thousand permanent residents, it has the propor-
tions of a great city. Its streets are broad and ample ; its
homes have each a spacious garden adapted to yield the
choicest produce of tropical and temperate zones. Grapes
are here that rival the best of Italy; citrous products, in
profusion, that equal the choicest of Cuba or Mexico. And
as I contemplated the splendors of flower and fruit; the
lilac and magenta of the orchid ; the purple of the grape and
the gold of the orange, I was minded of Goethe's graphic
word-picture of Sokontala. How well, indeed, it would
portray Moyobamba, if Nature's lavish prodigality were
even but feebly seconded by the industry of man. Thus
sings the poet :

**Will8t du die Bliithe des Friihen, die Friichte des Spateren

Tahres,
Willst du was reizt und entzuckt, willst du was sattigt und nahst,
WiUst du den Himmel, die Brde mit einem Namen begreif en ;
Nenn ' ich Sakontala, Dich, und so ist alles gesagt ' ' ^

Goethe's illustrious countryman, Alexander von Hum-
boldt, in speaking of the future of the Amazon basin, de-
clared, ' ' It is there that the civilization of the globe will be
one day concentrated.''* Had he explored the eastern
versant of the Andes from the Pongo de Manseriche to the
southern border of the Pampa del Sacramento, he would,
I doubt not, have located the capital of the world 's future
civilization in the neighborhood of the Peruvian Sakontala
— ^fairest Muyapampa.

i"Wouldst thou the blossoms of spring, as well as the fruits of the autumn,
Wouldst thou what charms and delights, wouldst thou what plenteously

feeds^
Wouldst thou include both heaven and eartii in one de^gnati<m,
All that is needed is done, when I, Sakontala name."

s"C'est 1ft que tot ou tard, la dvilization du globe doit se ooncentrer un
jour."

396

A PERUVIAN PARADISE

.Contemplating this luxurious Eden — Eden simtuosa —
the Peruvian poet Pardo y Alliago exclaims: **Does not
such a profusion of gifts, such richness, evince that the will
of God holds centuries of felicity and greatness in reserve
for Perut But to comhat our negligence, He prudently
reserved the completion of His work and made the har-
vesting of the heaven-given fruit contingent on the desire
of man.'' ^

The day will come, and it may not be far distant, when
the dream of the poet shall be realized ; when the prophecy
of the man of science shall be fulfilled ; when rehabilitated
Moyobamba, fertile in harvests and flocks, shall be an em-
porium of eistrth's boimty and a Paradise of Delights.

i"Tal profusion de dones, tal rfqueca.
La Tolimtad de Dioe no haoen patente
Que sigloB de ventura 7 grandeza
Guarda al Peru . . . T
Mas para combatir nuestra tibieza
El fin de &u obra reserv6 prudente; ,
T del mortal encomendd al anhelo
El fruto cosechar que form6 el delo."

El Peru.

397

CHAPTER XX
TRAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

The days passed so quickly and pleasantly in Moyobamba
that I was scarcely aware of the flight of time. The pre-
fect was a capital entertainer as well as a most genial host.
But he was more than that. While I was enjoying to the
fullest, his bountiful hospitality, he was quietly, but with-
out my knowledge, giving directions regarding my journey
to Yurimaguas.

The first part of it — ^to Balsapuerto — ^was through the
dense, uninhabited forests of the montana. This, with the
exception of the first day's journey, had to be made afoot;
for the greater part of the trail is impassable for horses
or mules. The time usually allowed for the trip is five or
six days. In the case of heavy rains and swollen rivers,
a longer time is required. From Balsapuerto to Yurima-
guas the traveler goes by water in a dugout, and can, when
going down stream, cover the distance between the two
places in two or three days.

Although I had brought with me from Lima a liberal
supply of provisions for our journey through this part of
the montana, the prefect was determined that there should
be nothing wanting that could contribute to our comfort
and enjoyment. Accordingly, when the day of departure
came, I foimd before the prefectura a dozen cargueros —
cholos and Indians — ^who were to transport my baggage
and the extra store of provisions that the prefect had or-
dered for the party. In addition to the cargueros there
were five soldiers in charge of the bright and gallant young
officer who had, as the prefect's representative, come out
to meet me as I was approaching Moyobamba. These men

398

TRAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

were to serve as my escort, to look after my tent, the prep-
aration of meals, and the general welfare of the party
during their mardi through the wilderness.

** These officers and soldiers,** said the prefect, *'are at
your disposition as long as they can be of any service to
you. They have orders to accompany you to Iquitos and,
if you desire it, they may go with you to New York. * *

From what I had heard about the difficulties and dan-
gers and delays of the journey between Moyobamba and
Iquitos, I had looked forward to this part of my transcon-
tinental trip with some degree of apprehension. When,
however, I saw all that the thoughtful and generous prefect
had done to minimize any possible difficulties or delays,
any apprehensions I may have entertained were instantly
dissipated and I now looked forward to the time to be spent
in the forest and in the dugout on the tributaries of the
Huallaga, as days of genuine pleasure and rarest delight.
And as the sequel will show, I was not disappointed.

As had been done at Cajamarca, Chachapoyas and else-
where, the prefect, his staff and a number of friends ac-
companied me several miles before saying farewell. But
before he left us, he wished to assure himself that all his
instructions had* been carried out, and, being satisfied on
this score, he called the officer in charge and the chief of
the cargueros before him, and in the most earnest manner
commended to their care and attention his departing guest.
Indeed, had I been his own brother, he could not have been
more considerate or generous, and as he pronounced the
final words, ^^Adios, el cielo vaya con Vd,'* I felt that I was
taking leave of one who possessed in an eminent degree
' * all the blazon of a gentleman. * *

Soon after leaving my noble host, we were in the heart of
the forest primeval — ^the German Urwald — and could, with
little flight of fancy, imagine we were traversing the dark
and trackless woods of the fore-world. Hour after hour
we marched in single file over the narrow, and at times,
imperceptible trail. Scarcely a word was spoken. The

399

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Indians of the party were naturally quiet and rarely had
anything to say, while my escort, probably divining my
wish to be left in imdisturbed communion with Nature in her
mysterious and majestic sanctuary, did not make any at-
tempt to engage me in conversation unless I spoke first.
Then they were all courtesy and readily proffered all in-
formation and assistance in their power.

We stopped about noonday for limcheon, after which we
pushed forward as rapidly as* the condition of the trail
would permit. It was over a succession of steep hills and
deep ravines, and at times, by reason of much fallen timber,
our progress was exceedingly slow. Fortimately, the
weather from early morning until about the middle of the
afternoon was all that could have been desired. The tem-
perature was mild and the sky overhead was clear, al-
though rarely visible on account of the thi(^ canopy of
foliage that concealed it from view.

But suddenly, dark lowering clouds appeared in front of
us, and, almost before I could unstrap my poncho, the rain
was falling in torrents. This forcibly brought to mind
the fact, so frequently observed in the tropics, that a clear
sky and a transparent atmosphere are no index of a rainless
day. For frequently the heavens may be bright and cloud-
less in the morning, and a few hours later there will be a
heavy downpour. This circumstance has given rise in
Peru to the popular saying,

**Bn cielo de sierra,
Co j era de perro,
Y lagrimas de mujer,
No hay que creer."^

Finally, after a hard day's ride, we arrived at our stop-
ing-place for the evening. We were seven and a half
leagues from Moyobamba, and had made what my escort
called a Jornada grande — a long journey — so long that
travelers usually give two days to it.

I'lMstnut a mountain tiky, a limping dog, and a woman's tears."

400

TRAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

Our tambo — ^tambito the cargneros called it, as it was
so small — consisted of a single palm-thatched shed, open
on all sides, and scarcely large enough to shelter more than
three or four persons. But this did not matter. In less
than half an hour two other tambitos were erected by some
of the cargueros, while others were busily engaged in pre-
paring their frugal evening repast. My tent was soon
pitched by my ever-willing escort, and it was not long be-
fore our skillful cook had spread before us as appetizing
a meal as any one could desire.

Never did I realize so fully, as on this occasion, what a
wonderful thing it is to be able to start a fire. It appears
simple to us, because modem science has removed the chief
difficulties that were formerly in the way. But it was not
always so. It is only when we reflect on the matter that
we realize what an important step in human progress was
made when man discovered the art of making fire at will.
The Greeks considered it as so extraordinary that they
pictured Prometheus as stealing it from heaven. And
among the things that excited Darwin's admiration during
his voyage around the world, was the ease with which the
Gauchos of South America and the South Sea Islanders
were able to start a fire by rubbing one piece of wood
against another.

Owing to the difficulty of keeping friction matches suf-
ficiently dry in the humid atmosphere of the montana, our
men used flint and steel whenever fire was required. But
their skill was not so much manifested in starting a fire
by this primitive method, which is employed in other parts
of the world as well, as in obtaining it when everything
was dripping wet. It mattered not how long it had been
raining, or how thoroughly everything was soaked, they
were always able to have a fire — ^they called it candela —
in full blast on a few minutes ' notice.

Our second day in the forest primeval was, to me at
least, one of peculiar interest and fascination. The agua-
ceron — ^heavy rainfall — that had prevailed during the

401

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

whole of the preceding night, had contributed greatly to
the volume of the creciente — ^flood — already existing, and
of which we had heard such ominous reports while yet in
the sierra. The rivers were so swollen that at times they
seemed absolutely impassable; but, thanks to our lusty
cargueros, who seemed familiar with every bowlder in their
rocky beds, we managed to cross them, although not with-
out considerable difficulty. At times everything, the earth,
the rocks, the very hills and moimtains, seemed converted
into water. At every step were tiny streamlets, and here
and there were roaring torrents that carried everything
before them.

In one deep quebrada I witnessed a spectacle which I
had never observed elsewhere. High above us on one side
of the ravine the flood was seen springing over the crest
of a precipice, clearing the loftiest tree-tops in its mighty
leap, and forming in its mad plunge a series of waterfalls
and cascades of bewildering variety and magnificence.
The sight was so unusual, and so beautiful withal, that my
Indian cargueros, who were usually quite indifferent to
such things, suddenly halted, and addressing themselves
to me, exclaimed in unfeigned astonishment, **Mira, mira,
el agua esta saltando par encima de los arholesi*' — *'Look,
look, the water is jumping over the trees. ' ^ The spectacle
was indeed unique, and we found ourselves unconsciously
repeating the familiar words of Tennyson :

''A land of streams! Some, like a downward smoke,
Slow dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go ;
And some thro' wavering lights and shadows broke,
Boiling a slumbrous sheet of foam below."

Our experiences during the succeeding days were little
more than repetitions of those of the first two days after
leaving Moyobamba. After the first day, it is true, we were
all obliged to journey afoot, but the prefect, with a kind-
ness I can never forget, had secured for my benefit the
services of two able-bodied cholos as cargueros de silla —

402

E Forest Between Moyobauba a

Fording a River i:

TRAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

chair-carriers — who were to carry me in a portable chair
in case of necessity or fatigue.

Such cargueros are common in the mountain regions of
South America, where horses and mules are not available,
and they are a God-send, if not a positive necessity, to
persons of delicate health or weak constitution, who have
occasion to travel. Humboldt had recourse to their
assistance in crossing the Cordilleras of New Granada,
and speaks in the highest praise of their strength and en-
durance. Some of them are of Herculean strength and can
easily carry day after day a man weighing two himdred
and fifty pounds.

Unless too tired, I always preferred to walk. But when
it came to crossing rivers and moimtain torrents, I was
always glad to mount the chair on the back of one of my
cargueros. He was better able to breast the strong cur-
rent than I was. Besides, as a sanitary precaution, I
wished to avoid getting wet when there was no occasion
for it.

Frequently the water-courses we had to cross were quite
broad, and sometimes the water rose to the arm-pits of
my valiant cargueros. Once in crossing a river just above
a cataract, my carguero slipped and lost his balance.
There was then a piercing scream from all our party, who
thought that both the carguero and I were about to be
carried away by the surging rapids. But, by a supreme
effort the carguero quickly regained his equilibrium and
the threatened disaster was averted. I felt then as I have
felt since, that the salvation of both of us was due entirely
to the strength and presence of mind of my stalwart
porter. This, however, was the only time that I was ex-
posed to danger, although we were obliged to ford rivers,
often wide and deep, no less than sixty-three times be-
tween Moyobamba and Balsapuerto.

Before leaving Eioja, I was told that we might expect
continual rains while on our way to Balsapuerto and that
we should consider ourselves fortunate, if we were not

403

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

delayed by high and unfordable streams at their flood.
There are no bridges nor ferries, and when the rivers rise,
after heavy rainfalls, there is nothing for the traveler to do
but patiently wait until the flood subsides.

By a special providence, it rained but little during the
daytime after the first day, but there were heavy down-
pours every night. It was then that I thanked my stars
that I had with me a good water-proof tent, for with this
I was as completely sheltered as if I had been under my
own rooftree, and, what was almost equally important, I
was able always to have dry clothing for the following
day's journey. My companions were quite satisfied with
their tambitos, although, owing to their hasty and imper-
fect construction, they were not always rain-proof.

Although the rivers were greatly swollen by the heavy
rainfalls during the night, their floods subsided so rapidly
that we were never delayed even for an hour. Only once
did I suffer any inconvenience from a rapid rise in the
river, and that was when I permitted my cargueros to lag
behind me so far that I had to pass the night without tent
or baggage. Then I had forcibly brought to mind the wis-
dom of the saying, which travelers in these lands should
never forget, "^i rio adelante, ni cargo atras" — '* Never
have river before you nor baggage behind. ' * The meaning
of this is, camp on the side of the river next to your goal, for
it may rise during the night and delay your journey. And
keep your baggage with you, if you wish to have it when
needed and desire to avoid vexatious delays.

On the occasion in question, we had arrived about five
o'clock in the evening at the broadest and deepest river
that we had yet encountered. My cargueros de silla wished
to delay crossing it until the following morning, but I in-
sisted in passing to the opposite side at once while the
river was fordable. A heavy rain during the night might
render it impassable for several days. They finally de-
ferred to my wishes, and we went to an old tambo, where
we purposed spending the night. But our baggage-

404

TRAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

bearers, for the first time, were several hours behind us,
and, by the time they reached the river, it had risen so
high that it was quite impassable. The consequence was
that I was without tent, change of clothing or provisions.
Fortunately, the officer in charge had a dry blanket, and
this he insisted on my using for the night. '^I am an old
soldier,'' he said, ^'and am accustomed to sleeping on the
bare groimd, but you who are unused to our climate, may
get a fever, if you do not keep dry.''

That night we were all supperless, except our baggage
carriers, who bivouacked on the opposite side of the river.
But my companions, who were used to such mishaps, did
not complain. As for myself, I was so preoccupied with
the wonderful forest scenes I had witnessed during the
day, that I was quite unconscious of hunger.

That night there was a continuous downpour until to-
wards morning, when the sky cleared and the stars ap-
peared with unwonted splendor. When I awoke, I foimd
that I had lain under an opening imder the thatch roof,
and was, in consequence thoroughly drenched. But I was
so exhausted the night before, owing to our long march,
that **My sleep fell soft on the hardest bed," and I was
not disturbed by the falling rain. Luckily, the rain was
not cold and I did not feel uncomfortable.

The view of the bright stars above me probably con-
tributed not a little towards making me forget what, under
ordinary circumstances, I should have considered a sorry
plight. Far away from home, under the spangled vault of
heaven, I recalled Dante's famous letter to a Florentine
friend, in which, in words of proud and noble dignity, the
homeless exile scornfully rejects the amnesty which had
been proffered him on conditions which he deemed humili-
ating and unjust.

' * Is this, ' ' he writes, ' ' the glorious recall whereby Dante
Alighieri is summoned back to his fatherland, after suf-
fering well nigh fifteen years of exile t Is this the reward
of innocence, manifest to all the world, of unbroken sweat

405

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

and toil in study t Far be it from the familiar of philos-
ophy, this abject abasement of a soul of clay 1 Not this the
way of return to my country, 0 my father 1 but if another
may hereafter be foimd by you, or any other, which hurts
not Dante's fair fame and honor, that will I accept with
no lagging feet. If no such path leads back to Florence,
then will I never enter Florence more. What then t May
I not gaze upon the mirror of the sun and stars wherever
I may be t Can I not ponder on the sweetest truths, when-
ever I may be beneath the heaven, but I must first make
me inglorious, nay, infamous, before the people and state
of Florence. Nor shall I lack for bread. ' ' ^

Never, probably, did these clarion notes of the great
Florentine more strongly appeal to anyone than they did
to me during that memorable night in the equatorial forest,
and never did his unique character loom up so noble and
so sublime. Owing, doubtless, to my peculiar surroundings
at the time, his words rang in my ears like a trumpet call
to higher things, and mere creature-comforts were quite
forgotten in the contemplation of things of the mind.

The day before arriving at Balsapuerto we reached the
most dangerous ford in the montana— dread Puchumaco.
It is a narrow path scarcely two feet wide, over solid,
slippery rock at the very edge of a large and impetuous
cataract. On one side of the path the water is entirely
too deep to be forded; on the other is the dizzy, roaring
waterfall. It would be quite impossible for one inclined to
vertigo to cross at this point unaided, and even the most
experienced cargueros, before entering the water here, al-
ways make the sign of the cross and invoke the aid of
Maria Santisima.

''It is an awful place,'* said a friend in Lima, who had
crossed it, ''and I hesitated a long time before attempting
the passage.''

' ' When we shall have crossed Puchumaco, ' ' one of my es-
cort declared, "we can tell exactly the time that will be re-

1 Epiatola IX, Amioo Florentino, translated by P. H. Wicksteed.

406

TRAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

quired to reach Balsapuerto. But it is impossible to do
so before, because, if the river be high, we shall have to
wait until it can be safely forded. We may be delayed a
day or a week, according to the amount of rain that has
fallen in the mountains. ' '

As we drew near the roaring rapids, I eagerly awaited
the opinion of the chief carguero respecting the possibility
of effecting the passage. But I was not kept long in sus-
pense. He stepped into the water, and, after estimating
its depth and the strength of the current, he quietly said,
**8e puede pasar'^ — '*We can cross.'*

But walking over that narrow, slippery ledge, and breast-
ing a strong current at the same time, was like walking a
tight-rope, only far more perilous. A single misstep and
the luckless wayfarer would be in the grip of the resistless
cataract. But Providence was still with us, and in a few
moments we were aU fervently exclaiming Gracias a Dios.
Puchumaco was behind us and we knew that we should be
at Balsapuerto the following day.

''The way is now clear 1'* said the young oflScer, ''and
there is nothing further to be apprehended. ' '

This was true, but it did not mean that the path before us
was easy or free from obstacles. Far from it. For it
was, in some respects, the roughest and most diflScult part
of our journey.

First came La Escalera — ^the stairway — a steep declivity
where there is almost a sheer drop of a half mile. The
precipitous declivity takes its name from a primitive ladder
which is nothing more than a long, notched trunk of a tree,
by which the traveler lowers himself from a massive ledge
of perpendicular rock. After this, he follows a vertiginous,
zigzag trail where at times he finds it diflScult to retain his
footing.

But even where the abyss yawns sheer, one becomes ob-
livious of danger in the contemplation of the magnificent
panoramas that are spread before one's view. For it is
only from such a coign of vantage that one can have a

407

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

true conception of some of the wonders of a tropical wood-
land. As observed from above, the impenetrable canopy
of the forest is like the ocean— dark-heaving, boundless,
sublime,

^^A populous solitude of bees and birds
And fairy-formed and many colored things.

• ••••••••

^'Of stirring branches and the bud which brings
The swift^t thought of beauty, here extend.
Mingling and made by Liove unto one mighty end."

As seen with the naked eye, the view before us is but
a vast plain of undulating verdure and as monotonous in
its immensity as the ocean itself. But with a good glass,
one can discover here and there, on this measureless back-
ground of green, glowing patches of creamy-white, coral-
red and rich purple.

One spot is a tree in full bloom and weighed down by a
dense mass of flowers which, beneath the rays of the trop-
ical sun, gleam against the dark green foliage with almost
dazzling brilliance. Another, much nearer the observer,
is composed of huge bunches of orchids and other epi-
phytes,

• •

''Painted with thousand colours, passing farre

All painters' skill,"

while not far distant is a forest giant overspread with count-
less creepers whose flaming scarlet flowers hang in deep
fringes from every twig and branch.

But I would not have the reader infer that such glorious
exhibitions of color are frequent or always visible. Such
is far from being the case. Unless one be favorably located
and specially look for them, they may escape observation
entirely. Indeed, I have traveled for several consecutive
days in equatorial forests without seeing a single floral
display at all approaching those just mentioned.

Wallace's experience in the tropics is even more remark-

408

TRAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

able. * * ConspicnoTis masses of showy flowers/' he writes,
^ ^ are so rare that weeks and months may be passed without
observing a single flowering plant worthy of special admi-
ration. Occasionally some tree or shrub will be seen cov-
ered with magnificent yellow or crimson or purple flowers,
but it is usually an oasis of color in a desert of verdure,
and, therefore, hardly affects the general aspect of the
vegetation. ' * ^

This almost total absence of flowers is particularly re-
markable when one is in the depth of the forest and under
its leafy canopy. To the traveler from temperate zones,
who expects to find luxuriance of vegetation always ac-
companied by masses of bloom and blazes of color, this
feature is always surprising. **But where,'' inquires
Bates, **were the flowers? To our great disappointment
we saw none, or only such as were insignificant in ap-
pearance."^ The illustrious botanist. Dr. Spruce, who
spent so many years in the Amazon basin, had the same
experience, for '*far the greater part of the plants gathered
by him in equatorial America had inconspicuous green or
white flowers."

Contrary to what is generally supposed,* the display of
floral beauty diminishes in proportion as vegetation be-
comes more luxuriant. I saw more flowers on the com-
paratively treeless slopes of the eastern Cordilleras in one
hour than I found in the montana in a week, and I have
seen more blossoms in one of our daisy-dad meadows than
I saw in the entii'e selva of the Amazon.

The truth is that **The equatorial forest is too gloomy
for flowers, or generally even for much foliage, except of
ferns and other shade-loving plants; and were it not that
the forests are broken up by rivers and streams, by moun-
tain ranges, by precipitous rocks and by deep ravines, there
would be far fewer flowers visible than there are. Some
of the great forest trees have showy blossoms, and when
these are seen from an elevated point, looking over an ex-

lOp. at., p. 264. >0p. dt.; pp. 46-47.

409

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

pause of tree-tops, the effect is very grand ; but nothing is
more erroneous than the statement sometimes made that
tropical forest trees generally have flowers, for it is doubt-
ful whether the proportion is at all greater in tropical than
in temperate zones. On such natural exposures as steep
mountain sides, the banks of rivers or ledges of precipices,
and on the margins of such artificial openings as roads and
forest clearings, whatever floral beauty is to be found in
the more luxuriant parts of the tropics is exhibited. But
even in such favorable situations, it is not the abundance
and beauty of the flowers, but the luxuriance and freshness
of the foliage and the grace and infinite variety of the forms
of vegetation that will most attract the attention, and ex-
tort the admiration of the traveler. Occasionally, indeed,
you will come upon shrubs gay with blossoms, or trees fes-
tooned with flowery creepers; but, on the other hand, you
may travel for a hundred miles and see nothing but the
varied greens of the forest foliage and the deep gloom of its
tangled recesses. * * ^

What has been asserted of the variety of flowers in
tropical forests may likewise be affirmed of the scarcity
of the larger forms of animal life. As there are many who
imagine that every acre along the equator is a veritable
botanical garden of rare and dazzling blooms, so also are
there many who fancy that every square mile is a menag-
erie, where one may find troops of howling monkeys and
scores of savage beasts of every kiud. Nothing could be
farther from the truth. There is, indeed, a great variety
of birds, reptiles and mammals, but they are so widely scat-
tered and so exceedingly shy and so well concealed that
they are rarely met with, except by a professional hunter,
who is thoroughly familiar with their haunts and habits.
Many are nocturnal animals and never seen in the day-
time, while the others so effectually hide themselves that
one may spend months in the depths of the forest, and
never see or hear any of the larger mammals. Nowhere

1 Wallace, op. cit., p. 266.

410

TEAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

will one find anything like the herds of buffalo that form-
erly roamed our western plains, or the divers troops of
ruminants and pachyderms that still throng the jungles of
Central Africa.

Truth to tell, if the baneful forms of animal life were as
numerous as sometimes represented; if savage beasts of
prey, venomous reptiles and gigantic serpents abounded
to the extent so often pictured by those dwelling in tem-
perate zones, the tropics would be quite uninhabitable so
far as man is concerned. But strangely enough, it is fre-
quently those who are thoroughly familiar with every
phase of life in the forests of the equator who unconsciously
contribute to the perpetuation of the erroneous views that
are entertained regarding the dangers which are supposed
to be everywhere imminent. **For when they tell their ex-
periences to those at home, they,'* as Im Thum justly
observes, ''tell only of moments made eventful to them by
exciting or evil experiences, and leave unnoticed the long
periods intermediate between such moments, in which
nothing of consequence occurred. * ' ^ They give in a single
traveler's tale **the concentrated miseries'' of years, and
their hearers, without suspecting it, imagine that they are
listening to the recital of a frequent and ordinary oc-
currence.

But such erroneous notions about the abundance and
danger of noxious animals are not, strange to say, confined
to people who dwell in northern latitudes. I have, to my
astonishment, found them prevalent in the immediate vi-
cinity of the equator, and among people who should know
better.

When I was in Cajamarca a good old lady, who was
otherwise well informed, tried to dissuade me from making
the journey, as planned, through the montana, because of
the countless dangers of all kinds which, in her estimation,
I was sure to encounter. When I asked her what they
were, she replied, ^^Tigres, viboras, culebras, garrapatas,

^ Among the Indians of ChUana, p. 107, London, 1883.

411

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

zcmcudos, mosquitos, avispas y otras sahcmdijas nocivas
innumerahles'^ — ^** Tigers, vipers, snakes, ticks, mosquitoes,
gnats, wasps and other noxious insects without number. ' '

What were the facts in the case? During my entire
journey between Oajamarca and the mouth of the Amazon,
I did not see, or even hear, a smgle tiger,^ or serpent of
any kind. I was never but once molested by insects, and
that was only for a few moments, when I inadvertently sat
on an ant MQ. Only once during my trip across the con-
tinent did I use my mosquito-bar, and even then mosquitoes
were so few that my companions dispensed with sucli
protection.

More remarkable still, during all the long weeks I was
in the heart of the tropical jungle, I never saw a single
tapir, peccary, puma, sloth, manati, armadillo, monkey or
any of the animals which are popularly supposed to abound
in such countless numbers in the Amazon basin. And yet
I was always straining my eyes to catch at least a glimpse
of some of these interesting denizens of the forest. But
it was in vain. Fact in my case was stranger than fiction.
My experience across the Andes and down the Amazon was
but a repetition of that recorded in my work — Up the
Orinoco cmd down the Magdcdena — ^when the entire ab-
sence of all the larger forms of animal life was equally
remarkable.'

I spent nearly a year in the equatorial regions of South
America, and was most of the time in the wilds of the

1 The name cammonlj applied in South America to the Jaguar — FelxB onca,
sP. 364, et seq. Compare James Rodwaj, who, in his delightful work,
In the Omana Forest, declares that "To the stranger, the forest appears
almost deserted. Hardly the sign of aA animal is to be seen bj any but a
skilled huntsman, and hj him only after a most careful search. There are
no open places, but the whole is one vast game cover, in the recesses of which
millions of animals may be hidden without anj indication of their pres-
ence." Again he observes, "However rare and difficult to find may be those
which live on the ground, still they are to be seen by the naturalist and
skilled huntsman; but when it comes to the others — the great majority that
abide in the canopy above and rarely descend to earth — observation is almost
impossible," pp. 44-49, New York, 1894.

412

TRAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

forest and mountain and llanos, and, notwithstanding the
fact that I was always on the lookout for new specimens of
tropical f auna, the very ones I was most eager to see com-
pletely eluded my observation. My experience may be
unique, but it is certainly valuable in at least one respect
— ^in proving conclusively that the larger forms of animal
life are far less prominent than is usually depicted, and
that the dangers and discomforts of travel in the interior
of South America arising from savage beasts and venom-
ous reptiles and pernicious insects are far less than what
they are usually supposed to be in extra-tropical lands.

It was unquestionably vastly different from that of a
certain romancing Frenchman, yclept explorer, whose nar-
rative of travel would lead the reader to believe that sav-
age beasts and still more savage Indians are everywhere
lying in wait for one who presumes to enter their zealously
guarded domains, and that the choicest game birds and
mammals are always posing for the hunter and within easy
reach of his trusty rifle.

The pity is, that in the author's own country his book
is regarded as a veracious record of events and a faithful
picture of the regions which he traversed. In South Amer-
ica, however, where he is known, his work is classed with
the fictions of Baron Munchausen and Sir John Mande-
ville.

In the course of conversation with a number of gentle^
men who had met this author during his visit to the tropics,
one of them told me that the adventures recorded were but
**The inventions of exuberant fancy. '* *'Say rather,'* in-
terposed another, *'that they are tiie fabrications of exu-
berant mendacity.'*

''Why have you put such sensational stories in your
book?" this Gallic author was asked by one of his South
American friends. ^^Mais, que voulez vovsf*' he replied,
with a significant shrug of the shoulders. ' ' My publishers
and readers demand such stories and I have to satisfy them.
VoUd tout/'

413

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

What I have said about the rarety of the larger forms of
animal life visible in tropical America, can likewise be said
of the ear-splitting noises of which the forests, during cer-
tain hours of the day, are said to be the theater.

*'At early dawn," says Orton, '*the animal creation
awakes with a scream. ' * ^ I am familiar with most of the
country described by the author of this statement, and I
must say that my impression was quite the reverse. Aside
from the occasional screams of macaws and parrots, there
was little noise of any kind — certainly not more than is
heard in our northern forests during the summer season.

Speaking of the silence and gloom of the equatorial for-
ests. Bates, who spent so many years amid their dark re-
cesses, declared, ''They are realities and the impression
deepens on a longer acquaintance."^ Sometimes, it is
true, there may be a sudden scream, when some defenseless
fruit-eating animal *'is pounced upon by a tiger-cat or a
stealthy boa-constrictor," and in certain districts howling
monkeys may not infrequently make **a most fearful and
harrowing noise"; but the fearful uproar that is supposed
by many to pervade the tropical forest at stated hours of
the day is the exception and not the rule. For one may
travel for months in the most unfrequented regions without
once hearing a single sound louder than that made by a
screaming macaw or a chattering parrot.

What most impresses the traveler, when he enters for the
first time the primeval forests of the equatorial regions, is
the immensity, the gloom, the silence and solitude of his
environment. There is the feeling of awe, the sense of
solemnity, the strange mysterious horror that the people of
old felt in the dark forests of Germany and Gaul. Arbori-
bus suns horor inest.

In these mighty woods one seems to be in some vast
cathedral of Nature wherein the tall and multiform columns
eclipse in variety and beauty of form anything to be found

1 The Andes and the Amazon^ p. 204, New York, 1870.

2 Op. dt., p. 48.

414

TRAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

in the noblest of Greek or Gothic temples. Here one
catches ' ^ The exact tone and spirit of those solemn silences,
those suggestive glooms that brood eternally over the mys-
tic soil of the tropical forest,'' and can, at leisure, con-
template what Grant Allen has so well characterized as
the natural rivals of Kamak and Denderah ''where huge
columns rise buttressed to the sky from bare forest-glades,
supporting one vast dome of living green, through which
scarcely a ray of subdued light flickers timidly down to the
leafless and flowerless bed of leaf -mold beneath them. ' '

Another feature of the forest primeval that is sure to
impress the traveler is the marvelous variety of forms and
species which everywhere meet the eye. With the excep-
tion of a few palms, one rarely sees trees of social or gre-
garious habits like our northern oaks, pines, birches and
beechwoods. There are trees of every form and color and
dimension, but it is an exceptional occurrence when two of
a kind are found side by side. Often one may observe two
trees near together that look exactly like each other, but, on
investigation, they prove to be of different species. In-
stead of the dozen species that make up the woods of north-
em climes, those of the equatorial zone are counted by
hundreds.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the idea of evolution
and of the survival of the fittest should, in great measure,
have had its origin in the study of the manifold and diversi-
fied floral and f aunal forms of the tropics. And in the face
of the endless variety and boundless energy of the plant life
along the equator, one can understand how it was possible
for two investigators on opposite sides of the globe — Dar-
win in South America and Wallace in the Malayan Archi-
pelago— ^to arrive at the same conclusion respecting the
origin of species, and how such other tropical travelers as
Belt, Huxley, Bates and Fritz MtQler were prepared to give
the new theory their intelligent and enthusiastic support.

But, interesting as are the vigor and profusion and va-
riety of the vegetation of the tropics, that which more than

415

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

anything else is sure to claim the attention of the student
is the struggle for life that is everywhere manifest. For
here not only is ^'life at its fullest, its fiercest and its fier-
iest/' but kere also, both among plants and animals, ^Hhe
struggle for existence is carried on with a wild energy
which none can overlook. ^ '

What tragedies are covered by the solitary gloom of the
tropical forest can be adequately realized only by the natu-
ralist who has spent years under its weird canopy and has
familiarized himself with the peculiar habits of the fauna
and flora of this mysterious region.

The camivora prey on the herbivora. The puma and the
ocelot live on harmless nut and fruit-eaters, while wood-
peckers, barbets and other birds feed on insects. Every
river, creek and swamp teems with the lower animalculse
which supply food for the larvae of flies and mosquitoes,
which nourish countless shoals of small fish, while these
in turn become the prey of the larger members of the finny
tribe as well as of the ibis and the alligator.

But nowhere does the waste of life seem to be so great
as among the hundreds of species of ubiquitous termites.
Their enemies are innumerable, but, among the most active
of them, are ants, spiders, toads, lizards, bats, goat-suck-
ers, and above all, the voracious ant-bear. Certain ani-
mals like the deer, the water-haas and the peccary seem to
be even more unfortunate. In the forest they are the vic-
tims of the jaguar and the boa-constrictor, while, if they
approach the water to quench their thirst, they forthwith
become the prey of the alligator and the anaconda. Day
and night the struggle continues without intermission, and
with a fury and a loss of life that is appalling. The very
young and the old, the diseased and the helpless soon dis-
appear, and only the strongest and the fittest survive.

But great as is the struggle in the animal world, that
in the vegetable kingdom is still greater. Where the soil
is so rich, the climate so warm, the atmosphere so humid,
where moisture is so abundant, we should naturally expect

416

TEAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

a riot of plant-growth, bnt it is impossible to realize the
nature of the straggle that is constantly waging in the
depths of the forest, until one has been a witness of some
of its strange peculiarities. It is entirely different from
anything ever seen in northern latitudes, and some of its
features are so astonishing as to be incredible, were their
existence not proved beyond peradventure.

Where vegetation exists in such extraordinary profusion,
where soil and heat and moisture are so propitious, the
struggle for existence is chiefly manifested in the ceaseless
straining of each plant, shrub and tree after light. If they
could but speak, their own cry would be the words of the
dying Goethe, Mehr lAcht, mehr Licht — More light, more
light. In their effort to obtain the requisite amount of this
vivifying element, they crowd and push and elbow one an-
other until all but the strongest succumb to the inevitable.

But even after a tree has been victorious in its race for
light, it is not secure. Its expanding branches may rejoice
in the rays of the tropical sun, and it may possess the
strength of a forest giant; but enemies, apparently insig-
nificant, may compass its destruction. It may fall into the
clutches of the wild fig — Fic%^ dendroica ^ — and when once
within the constricting bands of this python-like strangler,
its fate is sealed. For when it is enclosed in the living fet-
ters of this irresistible strangler, the largest and most vig-
orous tree is soon deprived of light and vitality. Its leaves
drop, its branches wither and die, while myriads of termites
take possession of the trunk, and soon a mass of brown
humus is all that is left of what was once the pride of the
forest.

Or the tree may wax strong and dominate its fellows and
escape the strangling fig to fall in the end a victim of the

1 Galled hy the Spaniards, Matapalo—tTee killer — but more appropriately
named by the Germans, WUrgehoMtn — tree strangler. Another remaricable
instance of a plant that causes the death of its host by methods similar to
those of the matapalo, is the Olusia insignis, one of the most beautiful shrubs
in the tropics, which, on account of its thick, leathery leaves, that shine as
if polished, and its green, glossy branches, is always sure to arrest attention.

417

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

murderous lorantk like Sinbad, it may take this appar-
ent weakling on its shoulders and discover, when it is too
late, that it has developed into another Old Man of the
Sea.

. The loranthy a parasite of the mistletoe family, adheres
to its living support by sucking disks, and, extending its
octopus-like arms from branch to branch and from twig to
twig, is soon draining the sap of the tree in hundreds of
places. Even the sturdiest monarch of the forest is soon
weakened by such depletion, and forced to lag behind its
swifter and hardier competitors. It is then only a question
of time until it succumbs and yields its place to some more
fortunate rival, possibly one of its own offspring, which
it has hitherto sheltered, but has not permitted to outstrip
it in the race for light and life.

In a few years the loranth undoes the work of centuries,
but, it too, like its victim, has mortal enemies and sooner or
later runs its course. Thus the struggle for life ever con-
tinues. The individual may die but the species survives,
and by modification and selection becomes slowly but surely
better adapted to its environment, and better equipped to
ward off the enemies that would compass its destruction.

But much as I was interested in the fierce struggle for
existence, which is such a conspicuous feature of tropical
life, I did not disregard the many splendid vistas which
greeted the view, nor overlook the countless objects of
beauty that adorned my path.

To the lover of **a quiet journey of the heart in pursuit of
Nature, ' ' nothing can be more restful and stimulating than a
stroll through the weirdly solenm woodlands where eternal
twilight reigns supreme. Here, surrounded by laughing
streams, whispering leaves and rippling songs within the
shadows, one may enjoy a serene although intense pleasure
which cannot be found elsewhere. For nowhere is there
so much to appeal to every sense and to engage every fac-
ulty of the mind. Nowhere else is the interdependence of
animal and vegetable life so well exhibited, and nowhere

418

TEAMPING THEOUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

are witnessed those wonderful protective colors and con-
trivances with which every liviQg thing is provided.

In no other part of the globe are the many intricate
processes for the fertilization of flowers so well exemplified.
Here wind-fertilized trees, if any exist, are the exception
and not the rule. Birds and insects perform the functions
of air-currents in our northern climes. Flowers of brilliant
colors attract bees and butterflies by day, while blossoms of
rarest perfumes allure clouds of insects at night.

Plants are thus like animals, some working during the
day, others only after nightfall. The latter, during the
flowering season, are specially active, for then their leaves
must labor while the sun shines and their blossoms must
begia work as soon as it shall have set. During this time,
the entire forest is alive with myriads of insects, and the
atmosphere is saturated with perfumes which are diffused
by the shade-loving plants on the ground, and wafted from
the tree-tops high overhead. The work then performed by
tree and plant, leaf and flower, is something enormous.
But it is necessary for the conservation of the species.

It is said that the botanist Hsenke on first beholding a
Victoria regia fell on his knees and sang the Te Deum.
The devout lover of nature always feels like imitating his
example, aad chanting a hymn of praise, when contemplat-
ing the wonderful provisions Nature has here made for
perpetuating the divers forms of life that give such grace
and loveliness to this portion of God's beautiful world.

In the darker portions of the woods there is but little
undergrowth, for it is so obscure that even shade-loving
plants are unable to thrive. In such places the ground is
almost bare, for the leaves and fallen trees rapidly disap-
pear under the combined action of the elements and those
billions of forest scavengers — ^the ever-active and ubiqui-
tous termites. Here one will see none of the true mosses
that carpet the ground in our northern forests, although
certain club-mosses — Selaginella and Lycopodium — ^may
sometimes be visible. And here, where the forest giants

419

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

are always clothed with the vesture of summer^ and where
not a single ray of light can penetrate to the soil beneath,
there are none of those pretty flowers — anemones, blue-bells
and spring-beauties — ^that adorn the woods of higher lati-
tudes, where, however deep the shade, there is never an
approach to the profound gloom that forever prevails in
the montana of Peru and in the selva of Brazil.

Here where Nature is so lavish with her gifts, where she
actually runs riot in the rich exuberance of her never-fail-
ing energy, it were idle to dilate on the strange masses of
tangled vegetation that endrcle every glade, on the lianas
and cord-like aerial roots that are laden with fantastic
orchids and parasites, on the great domes of fan-shaped
leaves that crown the stately moriche palm, on the green
tracery and lace-like leafage whidi bedeck the graceful fern-
tree, the princess of tropical woodland.

It would be vain to descant on the surpassing beauty of
babbling brooks, bordered by festoons of delicate creepers,
or pellucid streams meandering under somber arcades
formed by towering trees whose branches weave high above
their superb canopy of richest foliage and flower. And
futile, too, would it be to essay to describe the graceful cas-
cades, that break the course of quiet rivulet and impetuous
torrent, the exquisite waterfalls which descend from dizzy
heights like bridal veils dropped from the sky, the count-
less springs that gush from the mountain side with waters
purer and clearer than those of Castalia or Hippocrene,
the beauteous grottoes, rivaling Calypso's,

''All overgrown with trailing plants
Which curtain out the day with leaves and flowers."

The famed beauties of Tempe pale into insignificance be-
fore the glories of a valley in the tropics, with its marvel-
ous wealth of plant-life, while as for tiie forest primeval in
all its variety and richness and gorgeousness, no pen, no
brush, however cunning the hand that may guide it, can
ever adequately depict it, nor can imagination, however

420

TEAMPING THROUGH A TROPICAL FOREST

fertile, conceive it in its splendid reality. This knowledge,
this exceedingly great reward, Nature reserves for those
only who visit her in chosen penetralia, and who know how
to hold conminnion with her while she unfolds the mys-
teries which render her to all but her votaries so enigmat-
ical— so inscrutable.

421

CHAPTER XXI
DEIFTINa IN A DUGOUT

The first positive evidence we had of being near Bal-
sapnerto was the lowing of an invisible cow just in front
of us. And, although we were still in the dark and tangled
forest through which we had been trudging for nearly a
week, we were sure that we were on the verge of a grass-
colored glade in the immediate vicinity of our eagerly-sought
goal on the Cachiyaco. And so it was. A few steps more
took us out of the woods into the midst of a beautiful green
meadow on the outskirts of the town.

The governor of Balsapuerto extended to me the same
cordial welcome that had been accorded me everywhere else
in his hospitable country, and had a bountiful supply of re-
freshments in readiness for us.

''I had,'' he said, **made all arrangements to go to
Yurimaguas yesterday, but, being advised of your coming,
I have waited for you so as to have the pleasure of your
company en route. You are to be my guest until we reach
Yurimaguas, where, I am sure, the sub-prefect will claim
you during such time as you may tarry there/'

We remained but a few hours in Balsapuerto, for there
was but little there to engage our attention. It is a village
of not more than two or three hundred inhabitants, mostly
ladians and mestizos, which derives its chief importance
from being a convenient half-way place between Moyo-
bamba and Yurimaguas. Much of the merchandise to and
from Moyobamba passes through this little town. It, there-
fore, like many other similar villages in South America, has
visions of future greatness as a commercial center — ^visions,
however, which are not likely to be realized.

422

DRIFTING IN A DUGOUT

Our baggage was transferred without delay to the gov-
emor^s canoe — ^a large but graceful piragua made from a
single log of cedar. It was something more than thirty
feet long and four feet wide and capable of carrying nearly
two tons. Over the middle of it was a waterproof pama-
cari, woven from palm leaves to shield us from the sun and
rain. It was manned by a ptmtero who stood at the bow
on the lookout for shoals and sunken trees, a popero, or
steersman, who used a paddle for a helm, and six bogas or
rowers.

Besides the crew, the boat carried six passengers, their
baggage, several days * provisions for the entire party, some
merchandise and last, but ijiot least, the government mail.

Among our provisions, not including what I had brought
from Moyobamba, were plantains, beans, preserves, eggs,
pineapples and a goodly number of live chickens. There
was, besides, a liberal supply of chicha and aguardiente
contained in large carboys like those used for the trans*
portation of corrosive acids. This was chiefly for the use
of the crew.

It was nearly three o^clock in the afternoon when the
governor gave the order for departure in the single word,
Vamonos. A few strokes of the oars and our boat, fol-
lowed by a small one containing some of my escort, was in
the middle of the Eio Cachiyaco, a tributary of the Para-
napura, which enters the Huallaga just below Yurimaguas.

As the palm-thatched roofs of Balsapuerto were disap-
pearing from sight, I beheld the Cumbre de la Escalera. It
was my last view of the Andes; for the tall trees, that
thenceforward bordered the Cachiyaco, made it impossible
to see them again. A feeling of sadness came over me
when leaving that majestic mountain chain on the heights
and flanks of which I had spent so many delightful months,
but the sadness was but momentary. For no sooner was
La Escalera veiled from sight by the sylvan rampart, that
towered up on each side of the river, than there appeared
in the east a bright and beautiful rainbow like the one that

423

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

gladdened my eyes as I was bidding adieu to the Pacific
before starting for the Amazon.

'^Btten aguero'^ — **a good omen,^' said the governor, ad-
dressing me. ^'You are going to have a safe and pleasant
voyage to Para/'

These were ahnost the same words that had been spoken
by the chief of my escort, when, some weeks before, we were
contemplating the beauteous rainbow that was beckoning
me across the Oordilleras. It was a good omen then, for
I had had an ideal trip across the great Andean range, and
I loved to think that the second omen would be equally
auspicious for a safe and pleasurable voyage to the far
distant Atlantic.

We spent the first night after leaving Balsapuerto on
a sand bank under a palm-leaf tambito, which some of our
Indians constructed while the others were preparing our
evening meal, which included, among other things, a chick^i
fricassee that would have done credit to a Parisian chef.

I had been told that I should find a temperatura infemdl
on the Cachiyaco, but so far was this from being the case,
during our first night on this river, that I passed it under
a double blanket.^ I was also assured that I should be de-
voured by mosquitoes and zancudos, but so free was our
camp from these pests that no one thought of using a mos-
quito net.

The following morning we arose at four o'clock, and,
after partaking of some delicious coffee, we were again in
our canoe gliding rio ahajo and listening to the rhythmic
cadence of dipping oars whose stroke was as perfectly
timed as if each boga was a part of some accurately geared

1 During a few days about the middle of June, owing to the pra^alenoe of
the southeast wind and the unusually rapid evaporation of moisture, the
temperature in the Amazon basin falls to 6(^^ F. This produces what the
natives call Frio de San Juan — cold of St. John — and is by them regarded as
quite as intense as that of one of our northern blizzards is by us.

This remarkable reduction of temperature was noted by the earliest ex-
plorers of the Amazon. Fray Laureano de la Cruz, O.S.F., makes a special
reference to it in his Nuevo Desouhrimienio del MarcHon.

424

DRIFTING IN A DUGOUT

machine. Each man exhibited the skill of a trained Ve-
netian gondolier^ and seemed to be a part of the craft he
managed so well. They had paddles abont f onr feet long
with blades eight or nine inches wide, instead of the oars
with which we in the north are familiar. These they
dipped into the water almost perpendictilarly and dispensed
entirely with anything like an oar-lock or a thole-pin.

More surprising than the regularity, was the rapidity of
their strokes. They averaged by actual count no less than a
hundred a minute, and this they kept up for hours at a time,
without the slightest indication of fatigue. What a splen-
did showing these red watermen would make in one of our
intercollegiate regattas! Our university oars would cer-
tainly be put to it to hold their own.

But it is not surprising that the Indian is so skillful
in handling his canoe, for he is as much at home on the
water as on the land. Indeed, some of his race learn to
swim before they are able to walk, and remain during life
almost amphibian in their habits. Their canoe is as much
their home as their hut, and they are never happier than
when threading the mazes of forest streams or shooting
rapids, or tracing the sinuosities of the majestic rivers,
which are such conspicuous features of the great Amazon
basin. What the llama is to the native of the Bolivian
plateau, what the horse is to the Arab, what the camel is to
the wanderer in the Sahara, the canoe is to the Indian of
the South American lowlands.

As I watched our graceful piragua, like the phasellus
celerrimus described by Catullus, swiftly gliding down the
Paranapura and fraught with all the mystery and magic
of forest life, and beheld in its simple structure

''All the tightness of the birch-tree,
All the toughness of the cedar,
All the larch's supple sinews,"

I could realize — ^what before had seemed difficult to compre-
hend— ^how the early missionaries and explorers were able

425

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

to make such long journeys in so frail a craft, and that, too,
with comparative speed and safety. With a boat like ours,
and an Indian like one of our crew to guide it, danger was
reduced to a Tninimum. So much, indeed, is an Indian a
part of his canoe, and so absolute is his control over it, that
a Greek poet, could he have seen the two together, would
have described the prodigy as an aquatic centaur.

There is quite a number of habitations on the banks of
the Paranapura, most of which are the homes of Jeberos
Indians, who, before their conversion by the missionaries,
nearly two centuries ago, were celebrated for their valor
and greatly feared by the neighboring tribes. They are
now, thanks to the labors of the ministers of peace, the most
docile, the most industrious and the most useful Indians in
eastern Peru. We called at several of these Indian homes,
most of whose inmates speak a dialect of Quichua, and
were invariably received with the greatest kindness and
courtesy. Here, as along the Orinoco and the Meta, we
found the male portion of these unspoiled childrai of the
forest to be Nature's gentlemen.

At the house of a chief, where we stopped to replenish
our commissariat, I was impressed, as rarely before, by the
gentle, affectionate and grateful nature of the Indian.
While the governor was talking to the father of the family,
my attention was attracted to two little girls about two and
four years of age. They were lovely children and, had
their skin not been so dark, they might well have served
as models for Correggio's putti, while their bright-eyed
brother near by might have been the original of one of Muril-
lo *s Beggar Boys.

The younger child was particularly beautiful, and, as
she showed no timidity in my presence, I began to caress
her, and give her some little trinkets I happened to have
with me. The little thing was so delighted that it wished to
come to my arms. Just then the mother entered the room
and I said to her, ^'Achallay huahua^' — *'What a lovely
child 1 " No further introduction was necessary. I became

426

DRIFTING IN A DUGOUT

at once a friend of the family and nothing in the honse was
too good for me. Noticing the trinkets I had given her
darling child, the mother wished to give me something in
return. She accordingly brought from an adjoining room
some fresh eggs and choice fruits and gave them to the little
one to hand to me. Beaming with delight it stretched its
tiny hands towards me and seemed the picture of happiness
when I accepted with pleasure its preferred gift.

The father then came from the garden and insisted on
my taking something from him also. This was a well-
mounted bird of gorgeous plumage, which constituted the
chief ornament of his ceremonial head-gear. Removing
this from its place he said, ^'Please accept this as a sou-
venir of a friend on the Paranapura. You like my child ; I
like you.**

I then felt as I had a thousand times before in my deal*
ings with the Indians — and I have come in contact with
them from the Arctic circle to the tropic of Capricorn — that
if you treat them with kindness, if you treat them as
human beings, they will do anything for you. But kind-
ness to their children, whom they idolize, appeals to them
even more strongly than kindness to themselves. Kindness
to the little ones, probably even more so than among civil-
ized peoples, is the open sesame to the parent's heart. The
Indians, like the people of Italy, *'are dying for need of
love ; only in returning love for love they become themselves
and enter into possession of their souls by the gift of
them.**^

The home of the Indian chief was a small but neat palm-
thatched cottage, surrounded by a beautiful garden. But,
like the cherished home of Lope de Vega — parva, propria,
magna ^ — it admirably answered all the wants of himself

iRuskin's Roadside Songs of Tuscany.

'Lope, whom Gerrantes calls a monstruo de naiuraleea — a portent of na-
ture— playfully described his little garden, in which he took great pleasure,
as containing a fountain, a nightingale, two trees, ten flowers, two Tines, an
orange-tree and a musk rose.

427

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

and family. He might have described it as did Ariosto the
little house wherein he polished the verses which have ren-
dered him immortal :

'^Parva ged apta mihi, sed nnlli obnoziay sed non
Sordida, parta meo sed tamen esre domns." ^

Here, in a blessed solitude that would have delighted the
heart of a St. Bruno, or a St. Basil ; far away from the fu-
tile strife of humanity, far away from its ** chagrined con-
tention for place or power or wealth or the eyes of the mul-
titude ; and all the endless occupation without purpose and
idleness without rest, of our vulgar world,** these good
people enjoyed the simple life of which we hear so much
but see too little, and each one of the happy group could
say, as did Amphion long ago in the market of Athens,
^^How many things there are in the world that I do not
want! *'

Here, truly, surrounded by such radiant, charming chil-
dren, one could easily dispense with the flask of wine, the
book of verse and the favorite singer of the Persian poet,
and still exclaim, in the serene joy of undisturbed tran-
quillity and perfect liberty.

Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enowl" •

The Indian family I have just described is not unique
nor exceptional. It is typical of scores of others I saw in
various parts of South America, who so strongly appealed
to me on account of their many noble qualities of mind and

1 "A small houBe, but suitable lor me and hurtful to no <me; it is clean and
has been purchased by my own money."

s Is the love of the simple life, of log' cabins and bungalows, that haa had
such attractions for men from the time of Baucis and Philemon to the days
of Thoreau and John Burroughs, an indication of a reversionary tiendency
to a life of wild nature? Charlevoix, speaking of the ixmreura de hois of
our great northwest, declared that "The savages did not become French, but
the French became savages." Or does it proceed from a desire to escape from
the stress and strain of an overwrought civilization with all its pretone and
artificiality? The question is an interesting one.

428

DRIFTING IN A DUGOUT

heart. They are not, it is true, like most of the red raen
with which our people in the United States are familiar —
poor debased creatures hanging about Indian agencies, de-
bauched by the white man's whiskey, and eking out a pre-
carious existence on the dole they receive from the gov-
ernment. Neither are they the cruel and treacherous
cutthroats that have been pictured by some of our western
land-grabbers who endorse Custer's epigram that ' *The only
good Indian is a dead Indian," or who flippantly repeat with
Artemus Ward, **Ingins is Pizin, wharever found," and
who, if they could, would have the entire race exterminated.

Far from this. The denizens of the South American
forest, ''unspoilt as yet by alcoholic civilization and un-
decimated by the free use of Martini-Henrys," are, as Co-
lumbus found them on his first arrival in the New World,
''a loving, uncovetous people, so docile in all things that
. . . there is not in all the world a better people."
They are as Las Casas knew them when, in his diocese of
Chiapa, he converted The Province of War into The Prov-
ince of True Peace, and effected by the cross what the
Spanish soldiery had not been able to accomplish by the
sword or the harquebus. They are like those described
by the saintly Bishop Palaf ox, of Pueblo, in his Virtudes del
Indio, and as they were found by Santo Toribio, the Apos-
tle of Peru, who spent his life in their service. They are
like the countless Indians who, in earlier days, gathered
around the missionary in the llanos of Venezuela and Co-
lombia, on the banks of the Amazon and in the wilds of
Paraguay, forming industrious and happy colonies, where
religion flourished with the arts of peace, and where were
resplendent all the domestic virtues of Acadia as mirrored
in Longfellow's Evangeline.

The Indians of the equatorial forests are poor, if you
will, but they are not discontented. Most of them are as
poor ''in accumulated wealth as the poorest peasantry in
Europe, but they are rich, knowing no want unsatisfied,
as a nation of millionaires, ' ' and free, like the birds of the

429

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

air, to go and come as they list.^ They are to-day as they
were in the time of Peter Martyr, who, quaintly Englished
by Eden, writes of them as follows — **Myne and Thyne,
the seedes of all myscheef e hane no place with them. They
are contente with soo lytle, that in soo large a countrey,
they hane rather snperfluitie then scarsenes. Soo that,
(as we hane sayde before) they seeme to lyne in the gonlden
worlde, without toyle, lyuinge in open gardens, not in-
trenched with dykes, dynyded with hedges, or defended with
wanles. They deale trewely one with another, without
lawes, without bookes, and without ludges. They take hym
for an euyll and myscheuous man, which taketh pleasure in
doinge hurte to other/ ^ ^

^The following description, by the Earl of Dimraven, of the red man of
North America is even mcM*e applicable to the Indian of the forests bordering
the equator:

"He is free, and he knows it; we are slaves, bound by chains of our own
forging — and he sees that it is so. Could he but fathom the depths of a
great city and gauge the pettiness, the paltry selfishness of the inhabitants,
and see the deceit, the humbug, the lying, the outward swagger and the
inward cringing, the toadyism and the simulated independence; could he but
view the lives, that might have been hcmorably passed, spent instead in strug-
gling for and clutching after gold, and see the steps by which many a re-
spected man haa climbed to fortime, wet with tiie tears of ruined men and
women; could he appreciate the meanness of those who consider no sacrifice
of self-respect too great provided it helps them to the end and object of
their lives, and pushes them a little higher, as they are pleased to call it, in
society; could he but glance at the millions of existences spent in almost
chronic wretchedness, lives that it makes one shudder to tiiink of, years
spent in close alleys and back slums, up dismal, rotting courts — ^without sun
ray, air, grass, flower or beautiful nature — ^with surroundings sordid, dismal,
debasing; if he could note how we have blackened and disfigured the face of
Nature, and how we have polluted our streams and fountains, so that we
drink sewage instead of water; could he but see that our rivers are turned
to drains and fiow reddng with filth, and how our manufacturers have so
impregnated the air we breathe, that grass will not grow exposed to the
unhealthy atmosphere — could he but take all this in, and be told that such
is the outcome of our civilization, he would strike his open palm upon his
naked chest and thank Qod that he was a savage, uneducated and untutored,
but with air to breathe and water to drink, ignorant but independent, a wild
but a free man." The Oreat Divide; TtxiveU in the Upper Tellotoetone it% the
Summer of 1874, pp. lOS-111, London, 1876.

s The First Three BngUeh Books on America, p. 78.

430

DRIFTING IN A DUGOUT

Many of them still retain the custom of painting them-
selves with annatto and other vegetable dyes in order to
enhanoe their beauty as they did when the Father of Amer-
ican History penned the following lines: '*And that they
may seeme the more cumlye and bewtifuU (as they take it)
they paynte their bodyes redde and blacke with the juce of
certeyne apples whiche they plante in their gardens for the
same purpose. Summe of them paynte their hole bodies;
summe but parts ; and other summe drawe the portitures, of
herbes, floures, and knottes, euery one as seemeth beste to
his owne phantasye. * * ^

The grace of form and bearing, the splendid physique,
the attractive demeanor which Catlin so much admired in
the North American Indian are equally conspicuous among
the aborigines of the Amazon. I have, he writes, lived
with ' ' thousands and tens of thousands of these knights of
the forest, whose whole lives are lives of chivalry, and
whose daily feats "^ in their sports and games constitute
''a school for the painter or sculptor equal to any of those
which ever inspired the hand of the artist in the Olympian
games or the Eoman forum. ' '

The late Dr. Harris, Conmiissioner of Education, aptly
described the Indian race by two words, *' Homeric chil-
dren. * ^ Mr. Leupp, sometime United States Conmiissioner
of Indian Affairs, who has evinced a clearer insight into the
character of the red man than many of his associates in
office, and who has displayed more competency in dealing
with certain phases of the long-vexing Indian problem than
most of his predecessors, thus comments on the happy
phrase of Dr. Harris: ''They'* — the Homeric children —
''have an oriental code of ethics which holds hospitality so

1 Peter Martyr, ut. sup., p. 161.

The Spaniards in their first contact with the aborigines were evidently
differently impressed by this style of adornment for, as the writer just quoted
obserree, "A man wolde thinke them to bee deuylles incarnate newly broke
owte of hell, they are soo lyke unto hel-houndes." Ibid., p. 91.

^IlluatraHon of the Manners, .Ousioms and Oondition of the Amerioan
Indiana, Vol. I, p. 15, London, 1846.

431

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

sacred that, if an Indian takes yon into his home as a guest,^
yon are absolntely nnder his protection dnring yonr stay.
Bnt the same code, which rigidly recognizes the rights and
privileges of friendship^ and even one's dnty towards the
stranger, who is temporarily sharing one's camp, ignores
every consideration in the treatment of an aiemy, except
the desire to inflict upon him any injury possible. The
maxim, ^ All's fair in war,' often current among whites,
who carry honor to the extreme of generosity in dealing
with a foe, to an Indian means what it says. His mind is
of the simpler type which, in a hostile atmosphere, knows
no sentimental restraints, bnt despises all forms except
such as may be needed to mislead an intended victim. Be-
move the fljlnring gloss, which poesy has spread over the
conduct of the worthies who figured in the siege of Troy,
and do we find any larger element of virtuous motive there
than in the standards respected by our aboriginal race?
Yet Homer's people we do not denounce as innately vicious
because the stage which human development had reached
in their era failed to foreshadow some of the best features
of our modem civilization." *

This is a fair characterization of our northern Indian, but
it does not adequately describe his more gentle, docile and
law-abiding brother of the tropics. I do not refer to the
civilized Indians of the Andean plateau, but rather to their
half -civilized brethren of the forest in that long stretch of
country which extends from the Casanare in the north to
the Grand Chaco in the south — a land that has witnessed
the labors and the triumphs of those noble conquistadores
of the cross, who, from St. Louis Bertrand on the Magda-
lena to St. Francis Solano on the Pilcomayo, made the. sav-
age a Christian, and brought him within the pale of civil-
ization. But of this more anon.

1 The statement Reoihe hien todo India silveatre al estrangero que viene de
pom — ^The Indian treats well all peacefully disposed strangers — is as true to-
day as it waa in \h% time of the early missionaries.

s The Indian and Hie Problem, pp. 6-7, New York, 1910.

432

DRIFTING IN A DUGOUT

The days I spent on the Paranapnra are among my most
cherished recollections of the tropics. At times we sped
through water like racing porpoises ; bnt usually we drifted
along with the current — ^laadly, dreamily — brushing by long,
whispering rushes, or under the shade of the dark green
forest-wall; beguiled ever by Nature's manifold life in the
glimjnering, opalescent waters of the river, or on the shim-
mering branches of the ceiba, palm and bamboo, or in the
luminous atmosphere aflush with quivering life — ^aflush
with innumerable wings, palpitating, glittering and aglow
with the most brilliant hues. In the first flush of dawn
the vapor-fleeced sky was suffused with the softest gra-
dations of color from gray and cream to pink and
orange. And as the hour of twilight approached the celes-
tial vault was ** roofed with clouds of rich emblazonry,*'
which exhibited all the modulations of tint, all the pure,
subtle €ifterglow of the setting sun that so fascinated me on
the Pacific

There was the same exuberance of vegetation which had
so delighted me in the forest primeval, from which we had
just emerged; but the aspect was different and the vistas,
which opened up at every turn of the river, were more en-
trancing.

The beauties of brooks and rivers in temperate climes,
which poets and painters from time immemorial have de-
picted in' such glowing colors, are tame when compared
with the glories of the water-courses of the equator. Every
bend of the river exhibits a new scene — some marvel of
plant or tree or flower. Here is a giant ceiba festooned
with creepers bearing the most gorgeous blossoms, there a
clump of stately palms with their tremulous plumes, and a
stone's throw from them a group of bamboos which Hum-
boldt classed among ^^the most beautiful adornments of
tropical vegetation. ' ' Further on is a towering cedar from
whose topmost branches depend lianas and cord-like aerial
roots which resemble the rigging of a Brobdignagian ship.
Nearer the water's edge are clusters of arums, marantas

433

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

and heliconiaSy while, if the current be not too strong, the
eye is now and then delighted by exquisite patches of water-
lilies, or the pretty shields of other aquatic plants.

But charming as are the vistas presented by the river,
the pictures offered by the tributary streams which drain
the forest on either side are still more enchanting. The
mouths of these streams seem at first sight like little bays
that indent the bank; for they are so curtained about by
masses of vegetation that a view of what is beyond is ef-
fectually concealed. A few strokes of the machete, how-
ever, enables our pilot to escape from the apparent aU de
sac, and a vigorous stroke of an oar sends our canoe into a
magnificent arcade of greenery fifty feet wide and hun-
dreds of feet long. The sides of this vaulted passageway
are veiled with a delicate drapery of vines and creepers,
which trail from tree to tree, and hang with orchid-
decked tapestries, which as much surpass the rarest
creations of Flemish looms as nature surpasses art. Here
the atmosphere is redolent of rarest perfumes produc-
ing, like the frangipani plant, the effect

''Of orris mixed with spice.
Sandal and violet with musk and rose, ' '

and surpassing in the delicacy of their fragrance the famed

''Sabean odors from the spicy shores
Of Araby the Blest."

Further onward in this matchless arcade the passage
narrows, and the sunshine is so completely curtained out
by the mass of foliage and scrambling plants that we seem
to be in the half-light of the under-world, with all its per-
vading, mysterious, whispering silence. The effect pro-
duced is then weird and impressive in the extreme, while
the little that is visible in the encircling gloom is well de-
scribed by Dante in one of his canzoni,

434

DRIFTING IN A DUGOUT

**Come pintura in tenebrosa parte
Que non si pud mostrare,
Ne dar diletto di color, ne d'arte." ^

Our second and last night on the Paranapura is noted
in my diary as the only place during my journey across the
continent where I used a mosquito-bar. And, wonderful
to relate, it was the only place where it was needed. This
I have always considered most remarkable, in view of the
experiences of other travelers in the equatorial regions,
who have complained of the clouds of mosquitoes and zan-
cudos which day and night made their life a torture. From
what I had been told, I expected to suffer more or less from
these insect plagues as soon as I reached the lowlands, but
I was fortunate enough to escape them entirely. During
my entire trip between the Pacific and the Atlantic, I did
not lose five minutes ' repose from insects of any kind. So
far as I am aware no other traveler has had a similar piece
of good luck to record.

The day we reached Yurimaguas we were in our piragua *
shortly after two o 'clock in the morning. The atmosphere
was deliciously fresh, the thermometer registering 69° F.,
and the ever-changing views on the river in the pale, sil-
very light of the moon, were ev^i more entrancing than
anything we had seen the preceding day, except the natural
arcades above described.

It was dunng these early morning hours that I first heaM
the melancholy notes of the little bird known as El alma
perdida — ^the lost soul. It is related that a young Indian
mother left her child in charge of her husband, while she
went into the forest to collect balsam. Alarmed at her long
absence, the man went in search of his wife, leaving his
child behind. When they returned to the spot where the
child had been left, it was gone, and to their repeated calls,
as they wandered through the woods in search of it, they

i"Lost like a picture on a gloomy wall,
Whidi oaniiot show its worth.
Nor give delight from color nor from art."

435

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

could get no response, except the mournful notes of this
little bird, which, to their over-wrought imaginations,
sounded like papa, mama — ^by which name it is still known
among the Quichuas of the montana.

As we neared Yurimaguas, another halting place in our
long wanderings, we passed quite a large number of canoes,
big and little, nearly all of which were manned by Indians.
Many of them were laden with fruits and vegetables for
the market. Some of the boats were in charge of Indian
women, who seemed quite as skillful with the paddle as the
men. In most cases there were several children aboard,
who, if able to lift a paddle, were sure to have one in their
hands, which they plied as dexterously as does a young seal
its flippers.

We arrived at Yurimaguas at noon the third day after
our departure from Balsapuerto. It was not without a
pang that I here took leave of the generous, kindly governor
of Balsapuerto and the gentle Indian bogas, who had con-
tributed so greatly to my pleasure and comfort by their
obliging disposition and by their marvelous skill as oars-
men. I gave each of them a suitable souvenir of our
journey together, and they were good enough to invite me
to be their guest the next time I should desire a piragua
and bogas on either the Cachiyaco or Paranapura.

From our piragua I went directly to the prefectura,
where the sub-prefect greeted me with the ^kme marked
cordiality as that with which I had been received elsewhere
in Peru, and nothing was left undone to render the day I
spent there eminently enjoyable.

In the evening the sub-prefect gave a dinner in honor
of El viajero Norte- Americano, to which he invited all the
representative men of the town. It was a most delightful
gathering and the good-fellowship manifested was quite
exceptional. Speeches were made in which special em-
phasis was laid on the friendly relations betweai Peru and
the United States, and toasts were drunk to the presidents
of the two republics.

436

DRIFTING IN A DUGOUT

All had many questions to ask about President Roosevelt,
and I was surprised at the knowledge which these men, in
the heart of the wilderness, displayed regarding the career
and policies of our strenuous chief executive. One of them
was so enthusiastic about him that he insisted in drinking
a second toast Al ilustrisimo Presidents Roosevelt, amigo
del Peru. This was the occasion for more speeches, in
which were portrayed the greatness and glories of Peru
and Yurimaguas, €ifter the opening of the Panama Canal
and the completion of the Payta-Amazon Eailroad. Then,
as our perfervid orators saw it, a branch road would be
extended from the trunk line to their enterprising town, and
Yurimaguas would at once become the great commercial
center of the upper Amazon basin.

A parting bumper was drunk to the health of the guest
of the evening, with the expression of the hope that we
might all meet at Panama in 1915 for the opening of the
great canal which, it was predicted, would bring Peru and
the United States as close together in commerce as they
now are in friendship and mutual esteem.

437

CHAPTER XXII

BATTLE-GROUNDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE
CONQUISTADORES OF THE CROSS

YurimaguaSy a flourishing town of neariy four thousand
inhabitants^ was founded in 1709 by a Spanish missionary,
and named after the Yurimaguas Indians, who were for-
merly one of the most numerous and powerful tribes 'on the
Amazon. They were forced to leave their former homes
in order to escape the Portuguese slave-hunters, who fre-
quently came from Para and carried off into captivity all
the members of the tribe whom they could find. So perni-
cious was the activity of these dealers in human flesh, and
so great was the mortality — ^fully ninety per cent. — of the
^ unfortunate victims of Portuguese greed and cruelty, tiiat
the number of Yurimaguas now living is but a small fraction
of those who peopled the forests of the AmaSon valley
three centuries ago. It is thought by some that the women
of this tribe were the Amazons whom Orellana encountered
when he discovered the river which has since borne their
name.

The town of Yurimaguas is interesting, among other
reasons, because it is the head of steam navigation on the
Huallaga. Two lines of Peruvian river steamers ply fort-
nightly between it and Iquitos, which is at present the
terminus of ocean liners. As, however, the Huallaga can
support vessels of much greater draft, than those which
now plow its waters, it is probable that, when commerce
shall demand it, small ocean steamers will ascend this great
affluent of the Amazon as far as Yurimaguas. This, at all
events, is the fond hope of the citizens of this enterprising
and ambitious burg.

438

CONQUISTADORES OP THE CROSS

Thanks to the kind offices of the sub-prefect, I found,
on boarding the steamer for Iquitos, that a special cabin,
large and well furnished, had been reserved for my in-
dividual use. After roughing it so long among the moun-
tains and in the woods, I felt as if I had been suddenly
transferred to a cabin de luxe of a transatlantic grey-
hound. For the comforts — ^they seemed luxuries to me
then — ^which I enjoyed on this trim little craft were in
marked contrast with what was possible on the simple
dugout which had safely borne me from Balsapuerto. And
yet I cannot say that I enjoyed the commodious steamer,
perfect as its appointments were, any more than I did the
narrow piragua in which I had spent some of the most de-
lightful hours of my life.

In addition to forty first-class and sixty second-class
passengers, our boat carried eighty head of cattle, besides
a goodly number of sheep and hogs, most of which were
destined for the Iquitos market. The majority of the cattle
had been brought from Balsas and Chachapoyas, and were,
considering their long drive, in excellent condition.

There are along the Huallaga quite a number of villages
and trading stations, the chief of which are Santa Cruz
and Laguna, most of whose inhabitants are Indians or
mestizos. The principal article of export from these places
is jehe — rubber — of which large quantities are collected in
the forest, for shipment to the United States and Europe.
Otherwise, what one sees along tiie Huallaga is but a rep-
etition of what is visible along the Cachiyacu and Par-
anapura. The scenery is the same, the fauna and flora
identical, and everywhere is the same struggle for life that
so engaged my attention in the rich forest expanse between
Moyobamba and Yurimaguas.

But much as these things had hitherto interested me, I
found, while on my way to Iquitos, matter of quite a dif-
ferent character to occupy my thoughts. This was the
Indian of the forest and his conversion by the missionary
of days long since passed.

439

ALONa THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

In many important respects, the aborigines of tiie woods
in South America are qnite different from their brethren
of the plateau or of the desert coast-land along the Pacific.
They are more nomadic in their habits, less amenable to
civilization, more restive under restraint, and more diffi-
cult, therefore, to reach by the ministers of religion. This
is particularly true of many tribes of the eastern part of
Peru, but it was more so during the period immediately
following the conquest.

Many families of certain Indian tribes, even before the
arrival of the Spaniards, had fled to the montana to seek
the peace and liberty which they could not find on the high-
lands, and they looked upon the first white men — ^whether
soldiers or missionaries — ^who entered their territory, with
distrust, or regarded them as intruders. Besides these,
there were other denizens of the forest who had probably
fallen into the lowest depths of savagery. There were
countless tribes, all speaking different tongues, and engaged
in ceaseless warfare one with the other. To civilize, and
Christianize these wild, ferocious nomads of the woods
seemed like leading a forlorn hope, but, nothing daunted,
the messengers of the Prince of Peace entered upon the
work in a spirit that quailed before no danger and knew no
defeat.

To me nothing in the whole history of Gospel ex-
tension is more sublime than the story of the evange-
lizing of the Indian along the Huallaga and the Amazon.
For great as were the difficulties and countless as were
the dangers along the valleys of the Orinoco and the
Paraguay, those connected with the missions of the
Huallaga and the Amazon were greater and more nu-
merous.

In the first place the missionaries were a long distance
from their base of supplies. In the beginning this was
Quito. To go from this point to Laguna, the chief mis-
sionary center on the Huallaga, involved an arduous jour-
ney of two months afoot and by canoe, through trackless

440

OONQUISTADORBS OP THE OEOSS

forests and often through the territory of inhospitable and
hostile tribes.

And when the evangelists arrived at their destination,
there was the ahnost insuperable difficulty of learning the
languages of the wild men of the woods. According to St.
Jerome, there were seventy-two different languages spoken
after the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel, but,
if we are to credit Padre Vieira, the number spoken by the
Indians in the upper Amazon was far in excess of this
figure. Every tribe, however small, had its own language,
which, we are assured, was as different from that of the
adjoining tribe as German is from Hebrew. This meant
that every missionary, if his field of labor was at all ex-
tensive, had to be a polyglot.^

But the greatest difficulty was not in the number of
tongues that confronted the ambassadors of Christ. It was
their exceeding difficulty — often little more than rough
guttural sounds and grunts and grimaces ^ — and the almost
total absence of abstract terms. To learn these tongues
so as to construct a grammar that could be used by their
associates and successors, and still more to find words to
convey to the benighted Indian even the most elementary
truths of religion, was, for the first missionaries, a tre-
mendous task. Even so simple a word as ** believe, '^ which
has no equivalent in many Indian tongues, offered enor-
mous difficulties to the catechist. What a laborious task
must not therefore have been involved in the explanation
of the Apostles Creed! • It was well that the missionary

1 According to Ameghino the number of languages and dialects in South
America exceeds eight hundred. Antiguedad del Hombre en La Plata, VoL
I, p. 76, Buenos Aires, 1880.

s Padre Dobrizhoffer, in his History of the Ahiponee, declares that "the
sounds produced by the Indians of the CSiaco resembled nothing human, so
do they sneeze, and stutter and cough."

• For an interesting statement of the difficulties of the languages spoken
along the Huallaga and the Amazon, see Notioiae Autentioae del Famoeo Bio
MaraAon, publicadas por primera vez por Marcos Jimenez de la Espada, Cap.
Ill, Madrid, 1889.

The author of this invaluable work is oonjectured by Jimenez de la Espada

441

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

confined himself to the fundamentals of religion and
eschewed such recondite topics as election, reprobation,
adoption and justification, with which John Eliot and his
Puritan associates thought necessary to indoctrinate the
Indians before recognizing them as Christians.^

The poet Southey, in A Tale of Paraguay, has beauti-
fully portrayed the crusader of the montana, the conquista-
dor of peace and virtue, in the following lines :

"Behold hun on his way! the breviary
Which from his girdle hangs, his only shield;
The well-known habit is his panoply ;
That Cross, the only weapon he will wield:
By day he bears it for his staff afield,
By night it is the pillow of his bed.
No other lodging these wild wood can yield
Than earth's hard lap, and rustling overhead
A canopy of deep and tangled boughs for spread. ' ' *

to have been an Italian miseionary by the name of Maroni. But whether it
was he or someone else, it is certain that the greater part, if not the whole,
of the yotioias was written in the valley of the Amazon. For, in referring
to the difficulties incident to its preparation he makes the following declara-
tion: ''He who knows the little or no tranquillity there is for writing his-
tories in the huts of the savages recently gathered together, their importunity
in besieging the missionary at all hours, and in fatiguing him with stuj^d
questions; the enervating effect of the excessively hot climate; the swarms
of mosquitoes and other insects, which infest even the eyes, when one wishes
to read or write, not to speak of other annoyances, will not be surprised at
the confused and unpolished presentation of my yotiouu,*' From the preface
— Al Lector Curioso,

Ck)mpare Up the Orinoco a/nd dotcn the Magdaletia, p. 150, in which a mis*
sionary on the banks of the Meta speaks of the same impediments to literary
work. But, notwithstanding the difficulties under which the two writers in
question were obliged to labor, it is safe to say that they have produced
two of the most important and instructive volumes that have ever been
written on the missions of South America. For the benefit of the reader,
who may not be able to secure the exceedingly rare Noticiaa Autenticas del
MaraHon, in book form, it may be observed that the entire work has ap-
peared, with notes, by M. J. de la Espada, in the Boletin de la Bodedad
Oeografioa de Madrid, from 1889 to 1892.

1 One of Eliot's successors. Sergeant by name, although a Calvinist, de-
clared he had "learned not to meddle with high themes, as predestination and
the origin of evil, but preached faith, repentance and morality."

s Canto III, Strophe 21.

442

CONQUISTADORES OP THE CROSS

His wants were few and he was content with the simplest
fare and raiment. He may have been of noble blood and
gentle nurture, but he was glad to exchange palace and
chateau for a pahn-thatched hut in Amazonian wilds. If
he had not a cabin of his own, he gratefully accepted such
shelter as was offered him by the denizens of the forest.
It mattered not that it was dark and smoky and noisome,
alive with loathsome iasects and the common abode of
jQlthy animals and jabbering or brawling men and women.
He knew how to make himself all to all men, and how to
win their hearts by patience, self-abnegation and sacrifice.
He ate what was placed before him and concealed any re-
pugnance that the strange and disgusting food, which was
frequently offered him, was calculated to excite. He knew
no luxuries, for all these he had left behind him in Europe.
His usual fare was cassava-bread and fish, maize and
plantain. If these could not be had he, like the Indian,
would uncomplainingly appease his hunger by roots and
nuts, ants, worms and other creeping things even more
repulsive.

If his nomadic and whimsical children chose to change
their place of abode, as often occurred in the beginning of
their conversion, the padre followed them. Frequently
their course was through dense morasses, when the wan-
derers were mired to the waist; at others it was along the
rough bed of a mountain torrent, which so cut and iuflamed
the naked feet as to cause the most excruciating agony.
It mattered not how long the journey lasted, or how great
were the privations and sufferings that had to be endured,
the brave and loyal shepherd never separated from his
flock. He feared no danger and shrank before no difficulty.
Perils, far from being a deterrent, had a charm for him,
and the martyr's crown, that often awaited him in the dis-
charge of duty, was the highest incentive to heroic deeds.

Freely these faithful ministers essayed
The arduous enterprise, contented well
If with success they sped, or if as marlyrs fell."

443

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Jly through the machinations of jealous sorcerers and
medicine men^ or through the perversity of rebellious chief s^
whose passions made them dread the restraining influence
of the Gospel^ he sealed with his blood the noble career to
which he had vowed himselfy there was anotiier ready and
willing to take his place. ** A rude field-cross by the comer
of some forest and tiie inscription hie occisus est, is all that
survives" to tell of his charity towards his fellow men, and
of his obedience to the command of the Master, ^'Euntes,
docete omnes gentes** — **Go and teach all nations."

^'We fools accounted his life madness and his end to be
without honor.

^^Now he is numbered among the children of God, and his
lot is among the saints. ' '

But while making known to the children of tiie forest the
essentials of the Gk>spel of Peace, the Spanish missionaries
did not forget to teach them, pari passu, the arts of civilized
life. They converted these wild hunters and fishermen
into skillful artisans, herdsmen and tillers of the soil. They
collected the roving and scattered tribes from the hidd^i
recesses of the forest, and formed them into peaceful com-
munities along the great waterways where fish and game
were abundant, and where they could be always under the
watchful eye of their spiritual guides and protectors. And,
almost before the civil authorities of Quito and Lima were
aware of the work that was being accomplished, the banks
of the Huallaga and the Amazon were dotted with flourish-
ing towns and villages, the homes of peaceful and happy
Indians of many tribes and languages, who were more
highly civilized than had been tiie Incas even in their
palmiest days,^ and whose children knew more of their
Creator and of His relation to His creatures than did the
wisest men of Cuzco. The conquistadores of the Cross,

lAnd more civilized than the Scotch Highlanders were less than two hun-
dred years ago when, according to Lecky's History of England in the
Eighteenth Century, Chap. VI, they were ''sunk in the lowest depths of
barbarism."

444

CONQUISTADORBS OP THE OEOSS

with only the crucifix in their hands, had in a few short
years accomplished what neither Inca nor Spanish arms
had been competent to achieve — the subjugation of the
countless warlike and antagonistic hordes of the montana.^

And, what is more, in teaching the Indian craftsmanship
and husbandry and stockraising, they prepared him not
only to live as a civilized being, but also to earn his own
living without any further assistance from the white man.
The result was that Spanish America was but little vexed
with that terrible Indian problem which, in our northern
continent, led not to one but to three centuries of dishonor.
In a few decades the followers of the Poverello of Assisi,
of Dominic and Ignatius Loyola, were able to effect what
our great statesman, Henry Clay, declared to be impossible
— ^the civilization of the red man.^

And they achieved more than this. Acting on recom-
mendations from their superiors, from bishop, sovereign
and Pope, they brought about an amalgamation of the
native and European races, and thus made impossible those
frequent wars of extermination of the aborigines that have
cost the United States tens of thousands of lives and more
than half a billion of treasure. Instead of our vacillating
and contradictory policy of treating the Indians at one

^"Reducirlos por armaft se ha tenido siempre por imposible, respecto de
que con mudarse de un lugar k otro 6 intemarse en lo maa espeao de la mom-
tafia, como lo han hecho en laa ocaaionea que se lea ha buacado, quedan
frustradaa las diligencias, perdidos los gastos j espuestas muchas vidas por
las enfermedadas que se contrahen. Y ee la unica esper anza que admitan
misioneros, j que estos con halagoe 7 otras industrias los atraigan, que ha
sido el modo oon que se has logrado las reduooiones que van referidas, 7 sera
ma7or la conquista de un misionero que la que puede hacer un numeroso
ejerdto." Memorias de loa Vireya que han Oobemado el Peru durante el
Tiempo del Ooloniaje Eepanol, Tom. IV, p. 63, lima, 1859.

s"Mr. Cla7 [when Secretary of State] said that it was impossible to
civilize Indians; that there never was a full-blooded Indian who to(^ to civ-
ilization. It was not in their nature. He believed they were destined to
extinction, and, although he would never use or countenance inhumanity
towards them, he did not think them, as a race, worth preserving. . . .
They were not an improvable breed, and their disappearance from the human
family will be no great loss to the world." Memoira of John Quinoy Adama,
Vol. VII, p. 00, Philadelphia, 1875.

445

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

time as sovereign and independent nations, — making with
them nearly seven hundred solemn treaties and covenants,
which were broken ahnost as soon as signed, and at an-
other as hosts and then enemies, and at still another as
wards, pensioners, paupers and lunatics, they recognized
them as children of a common falher and acted towards
them with a consideration that was in marked contrast with
the relentless cruelty and injustice which ever characterized
our dealings with them in our land of boasted freedom and
equality.

Even Baynal, who was certainly no friend of religious
orders, is forced to admit that certain of the missions in
South America ''had arrived at perhaps the highest de-
gree of civilization to which it is possible to conduct a young
people and certainly at a state far superior to that which
existed in the rest of the new hemisphere. The laws were
respected there, morals were pure, a happy brotherhood
united every heart, all the useful arts were in a flourishing
state, and even some of the more agreeable sciences.
Plenty was universal. ^ * ^

In these same missions, we are assured, ''not a mortal
crime was committed in a year. ^ ' And it is recorded of the
Cahuapanas, a tribe on the Amazon, that, so great was the
humanizing effect of Christian teaching la them, that such
a thing as a man abusing his wife by act or word was
entirely unknown.

Such results could never have been achieved, had not tiie
missionary's heart been in his work, and had he not had a
genuine affection for the people committed to his care.
That this love for his neophites existed, is evidenced by the
fact that only obedience could withdraw him from his
cherished children, and when he was separated from them
he was unhappy until he could rejoin them. Some of the
missionaries spent forty years and more among their spir-
itual children, and accounted these the happiest years of

1 Histoire Politique et Philoaophique des EtabliaaemefUM et du Commeroe de$
Europ4en8 dona lea Deuw Indea, Vol. IV, p. 289, Qea^ve, 1780.

446

CONQUISTADOBES OP THE CROSS

their lives. One of them^ who had labored long among the
Indians of the upper Amazon, expresses it as his belief that
the love which a missionary has for the children that he has
engendered in Christ is greater than that of any carnal
father or mother^ — excede a mi ver a todo amor de padre
y QAm de madre carnal.

This affection of the missionary was fully reciprocated
by his spiritual children. He could lead them where he
would. When he was with them they were happy; when
he was absent they were forlorn. Even to-day, after an
absence of a century and more, the father-priest, as he is
called, is a name to conjure with among many Indian tribes
of the montana, who know of him only through the tradi-
tions which have come down to them from their forefathers.
Wherever his ministrations have been felt, his memory is
still green. They still long for his return, and wonder why
he remains away from them so long. And if he were to
return again, he would be joyfully acclaimed by young and
old, as he was generations ago,

Their Father and their Friend, Priest, Ruler, all in all. " *

But when we consider the legislation which governed the
Spaniard and his relations with the American race, and the
point of view from which the aborigine was ever regarded,
it is not surprising that the results achieved in dealing
with the Indians have been so much more satisfactory in
Latin America than those realized in the United States, and
that the present status of the red man in Spain ^s former
colonies in the New World is incomparably superior to that
of his dusky brother in the north. In most parts of South
as well as of Central America, the Indian enjoys by law
the same rights of citizenship as the white man, and may
aspire to the highest offices in the gift of the people. Full-
blooded Indians, as well as half-castes, have, ever since the

1 Cf. Voyage (P Ewploraiion d' un Missionaire DominuxMh ohez lee Tribue
Sawoagee de V^quateur, Paris, 1889.

447

ALONa THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

conqueBt, achieved marked distinction in every walk of life,
from the vale of Anahnac to the pampas of Argentina.

**The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man^*
was not a mere idle phrase in the mouth of the Spanish
viceroy^ and still less in that of the Spanish missionary.
They endeavored honestly to carry out the instructions of
their sovereigns and the commands of the Popes regarding
the treatment of the Indians, and if their results sometimes
fell short of the wishes of civil and ecclesiastical authorities,
it was not the fault of legislation, but of the inefficiency
and corruption of the agents to whom the execution of the
laws was entrusted. For never in the entire history of
conquest were the laws made in behalf of the conquered so
just or so beneficent If the reader has any doubt of this
let him peruse the bulls and briefs issued in favor of the
American indigenes by Paul m in 1537, Urban Vill in
1659, Clement XI in 1706 and Benedict XIV in 1741. Let
him study the laws framed by Charles V, Philip n, the
Council of the Indies, and the bishops of the New World
in council assembled. Let him ponder the will of the im-
mortal Isabella, whose last thought was for her cherished
subjects beyond the sea.^

Pope Paul in pronounced a sentence of major excom-
munication against those who should deprive the Indians of
their liberty or goods, and to safeguard the weaker race
against those who should always be their fathers and pro-
tectors ex officio, the first council of Lima issued a decree
of excommunication against those having the cure of souls,
who should abuse or oppress the Indians under their charge.
And so much had Philip 11 the welfare of his new vassals
at heart that he enacted a law that * ' the offenses committed
against the Indians should be punished with greater sever-
ity than those committed against Spaniards. ' ' ^

Philip rV went even so far as to decree that those who

^Hiatoria Ecolesiastioa Indiana, p. 31, por Fray Geronimo Mendieta* pub-
licada por Joaquin Qarcia Icazbcdceta, Mexico, 1870.
* Beoopilaoion de las Leyea de laa Indias, Tom. II, lib. VI, Tit X.

448

OONQUISTADORES OP THE CROSS

did not conform to the instructions contained in the briefs
of Paul m and Clement Vni, respecting the Indians,
** should be handed over to the Inquisition to be judged/'

And yet more. **From a fear lest they'' — ^the Indians —
'^ should be imposed upon in their dealmgs with the Span-
iardSy they were," writes Helps, following Solorzano, ** con-
sidered by the law as minors. It is hardly possible to carry
legislation further in favor of any race or class. ' ' ^

But, notwithstanding all this beneficent legislation in
favor of the aborigine, he was, nevertheless, in many in-
stances, tiie victim of the gravest injustice and the most
barbarous cruelty. Of this, however, I shall not speak.
The eloquent Las Casas has told once for all the story of
the Indian's wrongs in a way that admits of no addition.
Still it is not Spain that is to be held responsible for the
inhumanity practiced, but those of her cruel sons whose
lust of gold and power made them robbers and oppressors
of those of whom they should have been the defenders and
guardians. No country ever did more to protect the weak
against the strong, to shield the innocent and the helpless
from the tyranny of the soulless invader. And how ably
she was seconded in her endeavors by her prelates and
missionaries, by Zumarraga in Mexico, by Piedrahita in
New Granada, by Loyasa and Toribio in Peru, by Domini-
cans, Franciscans, Jesuits everywhere, but especially along
the Amazon, the Orinoco, the Bio de la Plata and their
tributaries, who strove by every means in their power, to
enforce the decrees of Pope and sovereign, and continue
the great work so nobly begun by Las Casas I

But no legislation of the crown, and no devotion of the
missionary was competent to eliminate entirely the iniquity
of wicked governors, and the machinations of heartless
adventurers and ambitious soldiers of fortune. Separated

1 The Spanish Conquest in America, Vol. IV, p. 246, London, 1904. "Qooen/'
writes Soloreanoi, "de todos loe favoree 7 privilegios que & los menores
. . . se conceden, asi en lo judicial, como en lo extrajudicial." PoUtioa
Indiana, Tom. I, lib. II, Cap. XXVm, Madrid, 1776.

449

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

from Spain by the broad ocean, and from the viceroy by
trackless forests, these enemies of law and order felt free
to follow their own caprices regardless of the injustice or
suffering that might be entailed on the defenseless natives.
Where they did not openly violate the law, they treated it
as a dead letter. ^^8e obedece pero no se cumple" — **I
obey but I do not fulfill," was the attitude that many of the
representatives of the government in the New World as-
sumed towards the instructions which were received from
the mother country. And when we reflect that it took
months and sometimes years to reach the offenders and
right the wrongs they had committed, the wonder is that
the helpless Indian fared as well as he did.^

Fortxmately, Spain had but few such infamous agents as
Ovando and Pedrarias. And fortunately, too, in spite of
the inhuman tortures which individual Indians suffered at
the hands of the Spaniards, the race in South America has

iWhea we speak of the atrocities of the Spaniards towards the Indians,
in spite of the laws that were made or their protection \fj Rome and
Madrid, we must remember that we are dealing with an age when similar,
if not greater, cruelties were practiced on the negro in other lands, and by
peoples who affect horror at the treatment of the Indians in the Spanish
colonies of the New World. Let us remember that these hapless Africans,
unlike the Indians, had "no rights, no protection against the caprices of
irresponsible power"; that John Hawkins, who was the first Englishman
to take part in this nefarious traffic in human flesh, was knighted by Eliza-
beth for his achievements — "burning and spoiling the towns" of the natives
of Quinea; that the English Parliament, far from protecting the black man,
encouraged the slave trade, and that "in the century preceding the prohibi-
tion of the slave trade by the American Congress in 1776, the number of
negroes imported by the English alone into the Spcmish, French and English
colonies can, on the lowest computation, have been little less than three
millions, and that we must add more than a quarter of a million who per-
ished on the voyage, and whose bodies were thrown into the Atlantic"

"These figures," as Lecky well observes, "are in themselves sufficiently
eloquent." We haVe here almost as many negroes ruthlessly torn from their
homes and sold into "a hopeless, abject and crushing servitude," in one cen-
tury and by one nation, as there were Indians in the whole of the present
territory of Peru at the time of the conquest. See A History of England
in the Eighteenth Century, Vol. II, p. 242 et seq., New York, 1892, and Ban-
croft's History of the Colonisation of the United Btates, Vol. Ill, Chap. XXIV,
Boston, 1860.

450

CONQUISTADORBS OP THE CROSS

survived, and by its fusion with its conquerors, it has con-
tinued to propagate and to rise in the scale of humanity.

This is ihe reverse of what has taken place in our coun-
try. Certain individual Indians have been spared the
cruelties which were inflicted on their brethren under
Spanish rule, but the race has been forced to recede be-
fore the relentless advance of the white man, to go down
fighting for their homes and rights, or to be herded on
reservations, until driven thence by the cupidity of those
whom they are powerless to resist.

^'The Spanish national conscience recognized the obli-
gation of civilizing and Christianizing the Indians, a task
which Spaniards finally accomplished.'' This is manifest
everywhere in Spanish America, where even in the larger
towns and cities, Indians and half-castes constitute a ma-
jority of the population. And the process of amalgamation
that was begun in the first days of the conquest stUl con-
tinues, and the mixed race, resulting from the intermarriage
of whites and Indians, is daily rising in civilization and
culture, power and influence.

Unfortunately, however, for the Indians along the
Huallaga and the Amazon, as for their brethren in the ter-
ritory watered by the Orinoco and its afSuents, the splendid
missionary enterprise that achieved such remarkable re-
sults in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, has been
allowed to languish, and one now looks in vain for that
activity and zeal which at one time commanded the admi-
ration of the entire Christian world.

The first blow to the missions came when the Jesuits were
expelled from the Spanish colonies in 1767 by Charles in
for reason ocultas y reservadas.^ The second was de-
livered a few decades later by the leaders of the War of
Independence, when members of other religious orders were
driven from the scenes of their missionary labors. Since

I'^His razones solo Dios 7 70 debemos oonocerlas." Historia del Reinado
de Carlos III en EepaHa, Vol. II, p. 122, por Antonio Ferrer del Rio, Madrid,
1856.

451

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

then, owing to the constantly perturbed condition of a
greater part of the continent^ and the crippled financial
condition of most of the republics, little has been done for
the Indians in the vast territories watered by the Amazon,
the Orinoco and their tributaries; and, as a consequence,
many tribes that had, under the missionaries, made such
notable advances in civilized life, have lapsed into barba-
rism and returned to their former wild life in the recesses
of the forest.

Everywhere along the Paranapura, the Huallaga and the
Amazon, there exist the same evidences of ruin and aban-
donment as I had observed along the great waterways of
Venezuela and Colombia. Where, during the heyday of
missionary activity, there were flourishing towns and vil-
lages, there are now but a few rickety huts tenanted by a
few wretched Indians, or a riot of tropic growth, which con-
ceals every trace of former human habitations. Where
there were at one time extensive grazing lands, over which
roamed tens of thousands of cattle,^ the property of peace-

1 Before the expulsion of the miBsionariee there were on the llanos of
VenezueU and Colombia more than two hundred thousand head of cattle
in charge of mission Indians, where there is now little more than a wilder-
ness. In Paraguay, according to a recent traveler, "The vast estanciaSf in
which at the expulsion more than a million head of cattle pastured, were
but bare plains, in which the cattle that were left had all run wild or
perished from neglect.'' R. B. Cunnin^^iaine Qraham, A Vanished Arcadia,
p. 285, New York, 1901.

Great, however, as was the economic loss to Spain and subsequently
to the Spanish republics of South America, the loss in territorial posses-
sions caused by the expulsion of the missionaries, and the consequent return
of the Indians to their former wild forest life, was far greater. The decree
of Charles III at once jeopardized the integrity of his South American
colonies, and paved the way for the usurpations of the Portuguese in Brazil.
While the missions were in existence, Portuguese plans for territorial
expansion were successfully thwarted. But no sooner had the missionary
phalanx been removed, than the Portuguese began to move up the Amazon
and to extend their frontier toward the Cordilleras. "The possession of
these usurpations,'' as has well been remarked, "facilitated at a later date
the occupation by Brazil of the whole of the belt east of the Andes, the most
valuable part of all America." Cf. Noticiaa Seoretas de America, p. 542, por
Don Jorge Juan y Don Antonio de Ulloa, London, 1826.

It is interesting to speculate what would be the present condition of the

452

CONQUISTADOBES OP THE CROSS

ful and indnstrions natives, there is now a wilderness with
every vestige of civilization entirely obliterated.

When I contemplated these scenes of desolation made
desolate, my heart grew heavy. I pitied the abandoned
Indians who, while under the benign guidance of the padres,
had rapidly risen from the low states of savagery, in which
they had been found, and who gave promise of soon emu-
lating their brethren on the plateau as Christians and
citizens, and marveled at the mote-eyed policy of the govern-
ments concerned in not converting all this latent energy
into useful channels, instead of allowing it to go for naught.
Sound political economy, if not Christian charity and Chris-
tian statesmanship should, one would think, impel legis-
lators and philanthropists to make provision for again
taking up the work which was so unfortunately interrupted
by the expulsion of the missionaries who had so nobly
demonstrated their capacity as Christianizers and civil-
izers. To permit thousands of able-bodied men to roam
wild in the forest, when they could be made, as they were
before, useful and productive citizens, seems to evince not
only a deplorable lack of statesmanship but also a total
absence of that humanitarian spirit which should dominate
the councils of every Christian republic.

Say what we will against the Spaniards, the Indian of
the montana fared far better under Spain than he has ever
fared under any of the South American republics. For,
with the single exception of Charles m, in the instance
cited, the Spanish monarchs were always generous, and at
times munificent in their support of the Indian missions,
and gave the directors of them every assistance in their
power. Nor was there but a feint of sincerity in their pro-

Indians in the montafia, if the salutarj work of the missionarieB had not
been interrupted by Charles III and Bolivar. It is certain that the broad
zone east of the Andes, extending from the llanos of Colombia to the
pampas of Argentina, would be a much greater economic and political
asset than it is now, and it is equally certain that the frontier between
Brazil and the various Spanish republics would have quite a different loca-
tion.

453

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

f essed love for their dusky subjects of the American forest.
They were all moved by the same spirit that actuated
Philip n when he refused to abandon the Philippines, be-
cause they were a source of expense instead of revenue to
the Spanish crown.

And the leading conquistadores, in spite of their faults
and the cruelties of many of them, manifested a genuine
and practical interest in the conversion of the Indian, and,
like their sovereigns, were ever ready to cooperate with the
ministers of the Gospel in securing for the conquered races
the benefits of Christian civilization and culture.

''The conversion of the heathen,*' writes Prescott, **was
a predominant motive with Cortes in his expedition. It
was not a vain boast. He would have sacrificed his life for
it at any time, and more than once, by his indiscreet zeal,
he actually did place his life and the success of his enter-
prise in jeopardy. It was his great purpose to purify the
land from ihe brutish abominations of the Aztecs by sub-
stituting the religion of Jesus. This gave to his expedition
the character of a crusade. It furnished the best apology
for the conquest, and does more than all other consider-
ations toward enlisting our sympathies on the side of the
conquerors. ' ' ^

Even that '*son of sin and sorrow,*' Francisco Pizarro,
was not the base and mercenary character that he is fre-
quently depicted. Neither of him nor of his companions,
with certain exceptions, can one truly say that the lust of
gold was the sole ''stimulus to their toil, the price of
perfidy, the true guerdon of their victories.'* There may
have been, among his followers, "convicts and ruffians, the
sweepings of prisons and purlieurs, * * but it is paltering with
truth to say even of the conquerors of Peru,

Bajo color de religion
Van & buscar plata y ore. " *

1 The Conquest of Peru, Book XIV, Chap. V.

'"Under the color of religion, they go in quest of gold and silyer.**

454

CONQUISTADOBES OP THE CROSS

I do not say that Pizarro and his companionB did not
desire gold. They did desire it, and, under the circum-
stances, it could not have been otherwise. But the desire
for riches was secondary. For they recognized that, high
above gold, there is a sphere in which man ennobles himself
by serving God and humanity. They desired glory, but
they desired to secure it by propagating the religion of
Christ which their fatherland, notwithstanding the weak-
ness of poor humanity, loved with an ardor that has never
been surpassed.^ They were first and foremost crusaders
of the Faith, and could say with Calderon^s Principe
Constcmte,

''La fe de Dies 4 engrandecer yenimos
Suyo ser4 el honor, suya la gloria." *

They had the faith that guided Columbus across the Sea
of Darkness, that carried Cortes to the capital of Monte-
zuma, that conducted Quesada to the plateau of Cundina-
marca, that led Orellana down the mighty Amazon, — ^the
faith, which, as Lope de Vega beautifully expresses it, gave

''Al Bey infinitas tierras.
Y & Dios infinitas almas.'' *

With the conquistadores of the sword and the conquista-

dores of the cross acting in concert and striving to carry out

1 For an account of the conqueet that does more justice to Pizarro in his
dealings with the Indian than is usually accorded him, the reader is re-
ferred to Historia del Peru, Lib. II, Cap. XVTI, and Appendice XII, by P.
Ricardo Cappa, Lima, 1886. Referring to this subject, Br. E. Larrabure y
Unanue declares that "It is a fact not sulBciently understood that it was not
only the thirst of gold but also the lo^e of glory and patriotism that were
the prime movers which animated Nufiez de Balboa as well as the S3rmpathetic
Hernando Cortez, Francisco Pizarro and Alamagro, Juan de la Torre and
many others; and it is now time that we should be just, without inclining
the balance more to one side than to the other." MonografUu Historioo-Amer-
ioanas, p. 407, Lima, 1893.

s"We have come to aggrandize the faith of God. His will be the honor.
His the glory."

s''To the King infinite lands, and to God infinite souls."

455

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

the instructions of Pope and sovereign respecting the native
races, it is not surprising that such beneficent results were
achieved, and that the Indians of Latin America to-day
are so numerous and occupy so much higher a plane
in civilize4 life than do their maltreated brethren in
the United States. Had they not come under the baleful
influence of soulless adventurers or heartless encomenderos,
the results would be far more glorious, and the historian
would now be spared the recital of those stories of cruelty
and atrocity which have so dinmied the splendors of the
otherwise marvelous achievements of the Spanish con-
quest.

Eongsley, commenting on the present condition of Trini-
dad, and considering what the aborigines might be to-day,
had the relations of the Spaniards towards them been dif-
ferent, exclaims, ^^What might this place have become dur-
ing the three hundred and fifty years that have elapsed
since Columbus first sailed around it I What a race, of
mingled Spaniard and Lidian, might have grown up
throughout the West Lidies ! What a life, what a society,
what an art, what a science it might have developed ere
now, equaling, even surpassing, that of Ionia, Athens, and
Sicily, till the famed isles and coasts of Greece should have
been almost forgotten in the new fame of the isles and
coasts of the Caribbean Sea. ^ * ^

But if this could be said of the natives of the West Indies,
with how much greater truth could it be asserted of the
aborigines of Peru, of those wonderful Incas whose musical
speech is still heard from Santiago del Estero to the banks
of the Huallaga and the Amazon? What a beneficent moral
revolution would have been effected, if the example of the
earliest conquistadores, in marrying the noble daughters of
the Incas, had been followed by tiieir successors! What
a vigorous and intelligent offspring would have resulted
from the crossing of races so distinct and so superior as
those represented by the nustas of Cuzco and Quito, and

1 At Lasi, p. 164. New York, 1905.

456

CONQUISTADOBES OP THE CROSS

the hidalgos of Castile and Andalnsia ! How these daugh-
ters of the blood royal, raised to the dignity of wives of
the conquerors would, by their position and influence, have
contributed to the elevation of their less fortunate sisters,
by having them see that the foreigners, far from regarding
them as pariahs of an abject race, treated them as equals I
Had the repeated orders of the crown of Castile been
obeyed, that, so far as compatible with individual liberty,
the Spaniards should be induced to wed the princesses of
the line of Manco Capac, what a splendid race would now
conunand our admiration through the length and the breadth
of what was once the great Lica empire! Scholars and
historians like Garcilaso de la Vega and Bishop Piedrahita,
to mention but two half-castes resulting from such unions
— ^many others might be mentioned — suflfice to demonstrate
the wisdom of the policy of both Spain and the Church
regarding the amalgamation of the races of the New and
the Old Worlds.^

But great as was the work of the missionaries, wherever
the banner of Castile and Leon was unfurled, in civiUzing
and Christianizing the aborigines, I cannot close this chap-
ter on their achievements in the montana without some
reference to their contributions to our knowledge of the
country which they knew so well, and of the people among
whom they labored to such good purpose.

Strange as it may seem, the lands drained by the Hual-
laga and the Amazon were better known two centuries ago
than they are to-day, and most of the knowledge which we
now possess respecting the various tribes tiiat formerly in-
habited this broad territory, is derived from the works of
missionaries, some of whom wrote more than three cen-
turies ago. For, contrary to what is often thought, the
first explorers of many of the great rivers of South Amer-
ica were not government agents or the representatives of
learned societies, but the members of various religious

lOf. V America un Tempo Spagnuola, Tom. II, Gap. XIX, di Oaetano
Baluffi, Anoona, 1845.

457

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

orders, who distmguished themselves by writmg books and
making maps, as well as by preaching to savages.

Thus the first and best map of the montana of Pern, em-
bracing the immense territories watered by the Hnallaga
and the Ucayali, is the work of the Franciscan, Padre
Sobreviela, aided by a confrere, Padre Girbal y Baroelo.
^^This accomplished priest," says Baimondi, ^^ stands head
and shoulders above all the other missionaries who have
traversed the inhospitable forest region located at the east
of the majestic Cordillera of the Andes of Pern, and is one
of those who have contributed most to the progress of geo-
graphical science.

^ ' His map of the montana, published in 1791, the greater
part of which the distinguished missionary personally ex-
plored,** the same eminent geographer continues, * Ogives a
clear idea of the extent of the infinite labors of the small
and pacific crusade of the self-sacrificing missionaries who
sprinkled with their blood those virgin forests during their
gradual conquest of the heathen. It shows the numerous
pueblos, which those patient and valiant soldiers of the
Faith had succeeded in founding during their long and
laborious task — ^pueblos the result of many years of as-
siduous and constant labor — ^which have unfortunately dis-
appeared.^ It shows also that more than a century and a
half before Humboldt went to Peru, and more than two
centuries before our first American explorers, Hemdon and
Gibbon, descended the Huallaga and the Madeira, the zeal-
ous sons of St. Francis had made the famous Pampa del
Sacramento, bounded by the Huallaga and the Ucayali, the
theater of their missionary labors.*

1 El Peru, Ttoi. II, Cap. XXX.

3 The reader who is interested in the Franciscan missions on the Huallaga
and the Ucayali, may consult with profit, Crdmioa de la reUgiosisima
provincia de los Doze Apostoles del Peru de la Orden de N. P, 8, Franoiaoo
de la regular oheervanoia, Cap. XXXII to XXXIV, por el R. P. Pr. Diego de
Cordova Salimas, Lima, 1651, and Compendia Hietorioo de loe Trdbafoa,
Faiigas, Sudoree y Muertee que loe Ministroe Evangel%oo9 de la Serafioa
Religion han padeddo por la Con/oereion de lae AVmae de loe QentUea en

458

CONQUISTADOBES OP THE CROSS

The first map of the Amazon of any value was made by
Padre Fritz, a Bohemian Jesuit, who spent forty years as
a missionary among the Indians of the Huallaga and the
Amazon,^ He was the first to explore the Amazon from its
source to its mouth, and the first to correct the error of
Padre Acuna and others, who regarded the headwaters of
the Napo, and not Lauricocha, as the source of the world *s
greatest river.

When one remembers that this indefatigable explorer had
to make his long journeys up and down the Amazon and
its tributaries in a simple dugout, that his map was con-
structed without instruments for determining longitude,
and with only a wooden semicircle, three inches in di-
ameter, for obtaining latitudes, it is really surprising
that he was able to accomplish as much as he did. It
is only when one compares it with the map executed a
half century subsequently by the noted academician.
La Condamine, that one realizes the merit of his per-
formance.^

An adequate account of the contributions made to geo-
graphic and ethnologic science by the early missionaries in
South America, would require a large volume. Many of
their works have been published, some of them only re-
cently, while others still exist in manuscript in the archives
of various religious orders to which the missionaries be-
longed. And some of them, alas! have been lost or de-
stroyed. Thus, many priceless manuscripts treating of the
expeditions and labors of the missionaries among the divers

laa MontaHas de los Andes perienedentea a laa Provinoiaa del Peru, por
el P. Fr. Jo96 Amidi, Paris, 1854, and Memori<u de loe Vireya, Tom. Yl,
Cap. IX, for the Montafia Real, and the interesting map of this region made
in 1795 by the Franciscan missionary, Fray Joaquin Soler, but four years
after the publication of Sebraviela's map.

1 Sanson's map of the Amazon, which was based entirely on Padre Acufia's
Vuevo DeaoruMmiento del Cfran Rio de laa Amasmnaa, and made without the
aid of astronomical or geodetic data of any kind, has no merit whatever, ex-
cept that of being the first.

'Bee map in Relation Ahr4g6e d *un Voyage fait dona V IntMeur de V
Am^rique M4ridionale, par M, de la Condamine, Maeatrioht, 1778.

459

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Indian tribes^ now extinct, were lost at the time of the ex-
pulsion of the Jesuits by Charles IIL

To read certain recent works on South America, one
would infer that the exploration of most of the tributaries
of the Orinoco, the Amazon and the Plata has been the work
of German, French, English or American travelers during
the past hundred years.^ Thus, to give two instances of
many that might be adduced, three centuries before
Crevaux lost his life under the blows of the Toba in the
Gran Chaco, San Francisco Solano, a Franciscan, had de-
scended the Pilcomayo ''to its junction with the Paraguay,
through territories but little explored even to-day/* And
a century and a half before the ill-fated Frenchman, just
mentioned, had his brilliant career cut short, the very re-
gion he started to explore had been fully described by the
missionary. Padre Pedro Lozano, in an elaborate work
which gives a full account of its fauna, flora, inhabitants
and chief geographical features.

And, still more remarkable, nearly three centuries and a
half before Orton voyaged down the Napo he had been pre-
ceded by a son of St. Dominic, Fray Gaspar de Carvajal,
who has left us a precious record of the expedition in which
he took so conspicuous a part. But of this more in the
following chapter.

In the minds of many the montana of Peru and Ecuador
is still as much of a terra incognita as was equatorial Africa

1 Of. Bolefin de la Sooiedad Qeografioa de Madrid, Tom. VII, p. 388, et seq.,
wherein Marooe Jimenez de la Bspada shows that the Putiimayo, which a
certain French publication had stated was unknown until its exploration
by Crevaux in 1879, had been explored by Juan de Sosa in 1600, and that,
nearly two centuries before the intrepid Frenchmen had visited this part of
the world, the region drained by this great tributary of the Amazon counted
several flourishing Franciscan and Dominican missions.

More remarkable still, L' Ewploration, Paris, of Feb. 17, 1891, speaks of
a trip made by M. Charles Wiener down the old and well-known missionary
route by way of the Papallacta and the Napo as something that had never
before been undertaken — que n* aoait jamais 4t4 entrepr%9 — as an expedition
which the natives pronounced impracticable — une ^»p4diHan que lee gene d»
pays fugeaient entierment impraoHoablettt

460

CONQUISTADORES OP THE CROSS

before the expeditions of Speke, Stanley and Schweinfurth.
That this should be the case, shows how little attention
has been given to the numerous works, many of them of
rare merit, which have been written on the missions of the
Huallaga and the Amazon and its western tributaries.
Many of the most interesting of these books have been
written by missionaries who devoted the best years of their
lives to evangelizing and civilizing the Indians in these
little-known regions, while others were compiled from let-
ters and reports sent by the missionaries to their respective
superiors. If the general knowledge of these works com-
ported with their merits, few parts of South America would
be better known than the scenes in the upper Amazon basin
of the great missionary activity of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries.

And yet more. Like Africa of old, this same montana is
still, even by those who should be better informed, regarded
as a terra portentosa — a land infested by dread savages and
ruthless cannibals — ^which one may not traverse without
always being in imminent danger of losing his life. Such
a view, as has already been indicated, is utterly without
foundation in fact.

But, how much better would be the present condition
of this extensive country, how much thriftier and happier
the Indians would now be, if the padres, who achieved
so much for their forefathers, had been left among
them to continue their labor of love, can easily be
divined by those who will but glance at some of the
works bearing on the development of Christianity and
civilization in this much neglected part of our sister con-
tinent.

We honor, and deservedly so, explorers like Livingstone
and Mungo Park, Humboldt and Bonpland, who risked
health and life to extend our knowledge of the earth and
its inhabitants, but while we unite in giving them the meed
of praise which is their due, let us not forget the names
of Gaspar de Carvajal and Laureano de Cruz, Fritz, Veigel,

461

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Sobraviela and Soler, the heroic miBsionary explorers of
the Huallaga and the Amazon.^

1 Among the moflt Taluable works, beddeB those referred to, bearing on
the missicmaries as erangelizers and explorers of the Huallaga and the
basin of the upper Amacon, are the following: DesoUbrimimUo del Bio de
Uu Atneufotuu 9egun la Belaoion ka»ta ahora If%edita de Ft, Qaepar de Oar-
vajal, Sevilla, 1894; Hfuevo de9ouhrimienio del rio ManU^on, llamado de lae
Anuufonae, hecho por la religion de Ban FranoUoo, oho de 1661, por Fr.
Laureano de la Cruz, Madrid, 1890; Viage del Oapiian Pedro Teweira agwu
arriha del Bio de Uu Amatgonas, 1637-1038, BCadrid, 1889; Vuevo deeoubri-
miento del gran rio de las Amazonae por el Padre Cristobal de Aou^af
Madrid, 1641; El Marafion y Amaeonas, por el Padre Manuel Bodrigueg,
Madrid, 1684; Hieioria de laa Mieionee del MaraHon Eepanol, por P. Joee
Chantre j Herrera, Madrid, 1901 ; Betaoion de lae Mieeionee de la OompaiMa
de Jee^e en el Pais de loa Maynae, por el P. Francisco de Figueroa, Madrid,
1904; Lettree Edifiantee et Cwrieueee, Tom. II, La Partie, Amirique M&-
ridionale, Paris, 1841, and numerous articles in Meroario Perwmo.

462

CHAPTEE XXIII
ROMANCE OF THE AMAZON

edXarra, OdXaTra — ^The Seal The Sea! — ^was the joyous
shout of Xenophon's brave ten thousand when, after
their long and eventful march over the plains and moun-
tains of hostUe Persia, they at last, weary and footsore,
caught, from the heights of Mt. Theches, the first long-
desired glimpse of the shimmering waves of the friendly
Euxine. They felt then that the dangers and harassments
of their arduous expedition were finally at an end, and that
they would soon be among their own countrymen, from
whom they had so long been separated.

A similar feeling, but for a different reason, dominated
me, when, from the embouchure of the Huallaga, I descried
the broad waters of the majestic Amazon. I had, it is true,
seen it before, but it was then but a brawling stream, or a
canon-cutting torrent in the Cordilleras. Now it was the ^
mighty Orellana sweeping along in silent dignity and

'' Swell 'd by a thousand streams, impetuous hurl'd
From all the roaring Andes."

The reader will then understand the almost overmaster-
ing impulse, that swayed me at the first view of this long
and eagerly sought Father of Waters, and nearly impelled*
me to express my delight, as did the Greeks of old, by an
exultant shout. But although I repressed my emotion, so
far as the shouting was concerned, I made no attempt to
restrain my joy on attaining at last the goal of the heart's
desire, and the enthusiastic manner in which I exclaimed,
^ ^ The Amazon I The Amazon I ' ' afforded not a little amuse-
m^it to the native passengers, who could see no more

463

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

in this great waterway than in its noble tributary on which
we had been sailing, and which almost rivaled in magnitude
the stupendous flood which we were just entering.

The shades of night were falling as we reached the mouth
of the Huallaga, but, we had scarcely gotten out on the
broad expanse of the Amazon, wh^i river and forest were
lit up by the subdued light of the rising moon. The vision
was grand and sublime beyond expression. The silent and
tawny flood, as it rolled with resistless momentum towards
the distant ocean, cutting away its banks in one place and
building up islands in another ; the dark and solemn wilder-
ness investing this somber and immemorial waste of waters
— all were calculated to awaken emotions of sublimity and
awe such as I had rarely experienced before in any part of
the world.

So prodigious is the mass of water which this immense
river carries to the Atlantic that it surpasses, according to
Paz Soldan, that of the combined floods of the Obi, Lena,
Amoor, Yellow, Yang-tse-Kiang, Ganges, Lidus, Euphrates
and Yellow river — the eight great rivers of Asia. And so
deep is it that La Condamines was unable, near its conflu-
ence with the Purus, to find bottom at a depth of one hun-
dred and three fathoms. Its width varies with the seasons.
With the exception of the narrows near Obidos, it is usually
several miles wide, even in its upper reaches, but, during the
rainy season, the whole country is submerged over an area
of tens of thousands of square miles. Then the river pre-
sents the appearance of a vast inland sea and justifies the
name given it by the early explorers of Rio-Mar — ^River-
Sea. So great, indeed, is the flood that then comes pouring
down the eastern slopes of the Andes through the countless
water-courses that furrow this great moxmtain chain, that
the Amazon in places rises to a height of no less than thirty
or forty feet above what it is during the dry season.^

iThe difference between the highest and lowest level at Iquitos is from
thirty to forty feet; at Manaos and other points in Brazilian territory it
varies from forty to sixty-five feet.

464

BOMANCE OP THE AMAZON

When the inundation is at its height, the water in plaoes
rises abnost to the crowns of the giants of the forest.^
Then the view of this inland sea — the Mediterranean of
Sonth America — ^is indescribably imposing. Animals and
men seek refuge in the tree-tops, and calmly await the sub-
sidence of the flood. The noted missionary, Padre Fritz,
tells us how he was detained a prisoner for nearly three
months in the top of a tree, living on fish, wild fruit and
plantains, and how his life was in constant danger from
the number of crocodiles and other wild animals that gath-
ered about him during this trying period, contesting his
possession of this precarious lodgment and robbing him of
the scanty stock of provisions that stood between him and
starvation.

During such times the ocean seems to have invaded the
interior of the continent, as if to regain possession of the
vast territory which formed a part of its empire even dur-
ing late geologic time, and one then wonders if one will
ever again see terra firma rise above the turbid, relentless
and unbounded waste of waters. But, in spite of appear-
ances to the contrary, the deluge, after a few months' tri-
umph, gradually subsides, and the great Amazonian basin
resumes its wonted aspect. Wild beasts again seek their
lairs and the Indian unburies his store of mandioca, which,

1 The height of the trees along the Amazon rarely exceeds one hundred
feet, which is far below that of our towering pines and red-woods of Wash-
ington and California. There is, however, a notable exception, namely, the
Bertolettia exoelaa, commonly known as the Brazil-nut tree. This superb
tree frequently towers a hundred feet and more above the surrounding for-
est. Its stately trunk, which is often without a single branch for a hundred
feet, is sometimes from ten to fifteen feet in diameter and is surmounted by
a noble, thick-leaved crown, which is visible at a great distance. Although
not so high, a more imposing forest numarch is the Sumaumeira — Erioden-
dron Sunumma. There is one on the Rio Branoo, whose dome of foliage
can give shelter to ten thousand men. This eclipses completely the famous
chestnut tree on Mt. Etna and the mammoth Baobab of Senegambia. The
ancients would have deified such a product of telluric fecundity, and the
druids of Gaul and Britain would have held it in greater veneration than
either the oak or the mistletoe. The Sumaumeira is remarkable for being one
of the few Amazonian trees that periodically shed their leaves.

465

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

during the wild carnival of the sovereign of rivers, he had
entrusted to the keeping of mother earth.

A fact that cannot fail to impress one who travels from
the source to the mouth of the Amazon is the number of
names it bears. As it emerges from its birthplace, Lauri-
cocha,^ in the lofty fastnesses of the Cordilleras of Peru,
it is blown as the Tunguragua. But after coursing a short
distance through the deep ravines of the Andean plateau,
it receives the name Maranon, which it retains until after
it issues from the stupendous Pongo de Manseriche.
Somewhere below this point, some say at the mouth of the
Huallaga, others at the embouchure of Ucayali, the name
Maranon is replaced by that of the Amazon, by which the
great river is known, at least by the Spaniards, until it
enters the Atlantic. The Brazilians and Portuguese add
to the confusion of names by calling the section of the river
between the Peruvian frontier and the mouth of the Bio
Negro the Solimoes, from a tribe of Indians who formerly
occupied its banks in this part of its course.

But numerous and conflicting as are the present designa-
tions of the river, they are unimportant in comparison with
the diversity of names it bore in the early part of the six-
teenth century. Then it was variously known as Bio
Grande, the Bio Grande del Agua Dulce and the Sea of the
Bio Grande. The famous pilot, Juan de la Cosa, in his
mapamundi of 1501, calls the embouchure of the river by

1 Raimondi, contrary to the opinion of most geographers, contends that the
source of the Rio de la Nupe is the true fountain head of the Amazon. As
this woiic is going through the press it is announced that Dr. Wilhelm
Sievers, a noted explorer in and authority on South American geography, has
finally located the fountain-head of the Amazon in a snow mountain called
San Lorenzo, about one hundred miles southwest of Lauricocha. "Here the
waters from some glacier fronts are gathered into a stream that forms the
little Lake Caballo Ck>ca 15,580 feet above the sea. Out of this lake flows the
pure blue water that forms the most important source of the Marafion. It
is farther from the sea than any other water that joins the Amazon, and
according to common usage among geographers the little stream among the
snows of San Lorenzo is entitled to the distinction of being the ultimate
source of the Amazon."

466

BOMANCE OF THE AMAZON

the simple but expressive name, Mar Dulce — ^Freshwater
Sea, In his capitulation with Vicente Yanes Pinzon in
1501, King Ferdinand gave the newly-discovered river
the epithet of Santa Maria de la Mar Dnlce. For a while
the great water-course was called the Orellana, in honor
of the daring lieutenant of Gonzalo Pizarro, who first de-
scended it from the Andes to the ocean. Orellana himself
called it Bio de la Trinidad, and until the end of the seven-
teenth century the part, now known as the Maranon, was
regarded as an affluent of the Napo, which originally bore
the name of Bio Grande de Santa Ana. Nearly a century
after OreUana's exploit, two Franciscan monks. Fray
Domingo de Brieva and Fray Andres de Toledo, starting
from Quito, followed in the wake of the intrepid conquista-
dor, and, in consequence of this, the Portuguese for some
years subsequently called the river Bio San Francisco de
Quito.^

I shall not weary the reader about the origin of the name
Maranon, which has been a matter of controversy for
nearly four centuries. Whether it be derived from a navi-
gator called Maranon who, according to Zarate, was the
first to explore the river, or from a tree which abounds
on its banks and is known in Cuba as maranon — Ana-
cardium occidentale^— or whether, as Bodriguez will have it,
the name was given by soldiers who deserted the band of the
traitor. Lope de Aguirre,^ cannot now be determined.

Far more important than the attempt to get some clew

1 Fray Laureano de la Cruz evidently thought this the most proper name
for the river which he and his brothers in religion had explored, for in his
Nuevo Desoubrkniento del Rio de MaraHon Uamado de Uu Amammas, p. 62,
Madrid, 1890, he does not hesitate to declare, "Y ya de aqui adelante no le
hemos de nombrar de otra manera, pues tan justamente, le conviene el nombre
de Rio San Francisco."

s "Los soldados, que se le apartaron, padecieron tales desdichas, confusiones y
trabajoe, assi al baxar en su compania como al subir bolviendose azia el
Peru, que A vista de ellos, y de los enredoe, y marafias que andando por
aquel rio, y sus bueltas, le llamaron Rio de Marafiaa, y por significarlas
grandes, pas86 A llamarse, Marafion." El Maraiton y AmouKmae, p. 19,
Madrid, 1684.

467

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

to the origin of this mysterious name would be a concerted
effort on the part of the geographers of the world to elimi-
nate the confusion that has so long prevailed about the ap-
pellation of the greatest of rivers, and agree on one name
— Maranon or Amazon — ^by which it would hereafter be
known in all languages from its source to its mouth. To
avoid ambiguity, I shall, in what follows, call it by what is
now its most common and certainly its most romantic name
— the Amazon.

My emotion on first contemplating the immense expanse
of the Amazon, after we had left its great affluent, the
Huallaga, was enhanced by the books I had been reading
for some days previously. Among these was the rather
rare work of Rodriguez, just mentioned, which I had been
fortunate enough to find, some weeks before, in the Ubrary
of the recently-deceased bishop of Chachapoyas. Nothing
could have been more grateful to me than this unexpected
find at this particular time, for I had tried in vain to secure
a copy of this eagerly-desired work in Lima, Cuzco, Are-
quipa and elsewhere. Then, too, I had been reading about
the noble achievements of the conquistadores of the cross
in the valleys of the Huallaga and the Amazon, and of that
New Paraguay which had been established in this region
with its first headquarters at San Borja, near the Pongo de
Manseriche.

Wherever I went I was reminded of heroic deeds by sol-
dier and missionary, and felt that I was in very truth in
a region of romance and enchantment. Few parts, indeed,
of South America have been the theater of more notable
achievements in many spheres of endeavor, than the region
which centers at the confluence of the Huallaga and the
Amazon. There are few whose story is more stirring or
thrilling, or more replete with moving incidents of explora-
tion and conquest ; few that have witnessed such a succes-
sion of striking characters move across the stage of its
fascinating drama.

That chivalrous, but ill-starred conquistador, Pedro de

468

EOMANCE OP THE AMAZON

Orsua, sailed down the waters of the Huallaga after his
eventful march across the Andes from Trujillo, on his
famous expedition ipi search of Omagua and El Dorado. It
was near this spot that his treacherous lieutenant, Lope de
Aguirre, began that conspiracy which ultimately compassed
the death of his chief. There is a monument to the mem-
ory of this blood-thirsty villain near Chasuta, a village on
the Huallaga, above Yurimaguas, in the shape of a lofty
clifF which dominates the rapids of the river at this
point. It is known as El 8 alto de Aguirre — The Leap of
Aguirre.

Further down the Amazon, in the dark recesses of the
forest, there was once another monument to this monster
of cruelty and perfidy. It was in the form of a little mound
of earth, but it has long since disappeared. It covered the
mortal remains of the beautiful Ines de Atienza — ^who was
done to death by the traitor Aguirre— the valiant and faith-
ful fiancee of Pedro de Orsua, who insisted on accompany-
ing him on this fateful expedition, and who, as an old
chronicler writes, '^forsook not her lord in his travels even
unto death.'*

The atrocity of this bloody deed is commented on by the
poet-historian, Juan de Castellanos, as follows :

**The birds mourned on the trees;
The wild beasts of the forest lamented;
The waters ceased to murmur;
The fishes beneath the waters wailed ;
The winds execrated the deed
When Llamso cut the veins of her white neck.
Wretch! wert thou bom of woman t
No ! what beast could have such a wicked son 1
How was it that thou didst not die
In imagining a treason so enormous t
Her two women, 'midst lamentation and grief,
Gathered flowers to cover her grave,
And cut her epitaph in the bark of a tree —
'These flowers cover one whose faithfulness

469

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

And beauty were unequalled,

"Whom cruel men slew without a cause. ' " *

In 1538 the upper Amazon was explored by Alonzo de
Mercadillo as far as the Pongo de Manseriche. M. Jimenez
de la Espada says he descended the river to the mouth of
the Eio Negro, while about the same time the territory
between the Amazon and 'the Huallaga was the witness of
the hardships and the exploits of Alonzo de Alvarado, one
of the most generous and humane of the conquistadores.
He, if not Mercadillo, was probably the discoverer of the
Huallaga, but his greatest title to fame was his benevolent
dealings with the Lidians. His conduct in this respect was
certainly in marked contrast with that of some of the other
conquistadores. On his way from Trujillo to Moyobamba,
he went unarmed, and almost alone, everywhere winning the
hearts of the natives by his extraordinary affability and
kindness. If all his countrymen had been of his stamp,
the conquest of the New World would have been achieved
by love and not at the cost of blood and tears.

But the name that looms largest in this part of South
America and the one which has shed undying luster on the
Spanish name, is that of Francisco de Orellana, the im-
mortal discoverer and explorer of the river which should
still, as it did formerly, bear his name. And yet, para-
doxical as it may seem, it is less than two decades since
the true story of this memorable expedition was published.
For nearly four centuries Orellana, in spite of his marvel-
ous achievements, had been under a cloud. He had been

1 Ca«tellano8, Elegias de Varones Ilusirea, Elegia XIV, Ganto IV. The
full text of the epitaph, according to Castellaiioe, was

^'Conditur his lauris praefulgens forma puellae,
Quam tulit insontem sanguinolenta manns,

''Qloria sylvarum est extinctum cinere corpus,
Ast homini vivens displicuit facies.**

According to Padre Simon, Orsua took his betrothed to Moyobamba with
the intention of marrying her, and there is no endenoe that he did not make
her his lawful wife.

470

EOMANCE OP THE AMAZON

denounced as a traitor to his chief, Gonzalo Pizarro, and
as one who sacrificed others to his own ambition and desire
for glory. Even the chronicler of the expedition was for-
gotten, and his precious narrative was practically unknown
until the closing years of the nineteenth century. It is true
that most of it is embodied in Oviedo 's Historia General y
Natural de kirS Indias, but this monumental work, although
written in the early days of the conquest, was not published
until 1851. Even Prescott was ignorant of its existence,
and he, like other modem writers,^ was content to follow
Zarate and Garcilaso de la Vega, who, receiving their in-
formation from the followers of Gonzalo Pizarro, painted
Orellana as a deserter and a traitor. Zarate even goes so
far as to declare that the one who was the real chronicler
of Orellana 's expedition was, for some fancied act of in-
subordination, abandoned in the inhospitable forest border-
ing the Napo without food or arms, where certain death
awaited him from starvation or from savage beasts and
hostile natives.^

But who was the mysterious, long-forgotten chronicler of
Orellana 's wonderful voyage of exploration!

He was Fray Gaspar de Carvajal, a Dominican monk
and a countryman of Gonzalo Pizarro, who accompanied
his famous brother in religion, Vicente Valverde, to Peru
after he was made bishop of Cuzco. He was also the
founder of his order in Peru, and, like his noble confrere,
Las Casas, a strenuous protector of the Indians.

1 Among them Clementa R. Markham, who, in the woric EtcpeditionB into
the Valley of the Amaaons, published for the Hakluyt Society in 1869, eight
years after the publication of Oviedo's history, makes no mention of the
first account of the Amazon given by OreHaaa's annalist. He, like his
predecessors, relies chiefly on Qardlaso, Herrera and Acufia, and the greater
jmrt of his work consists merely of translations from these writers.

2 It is passing strange, a third of a century after the true facts were
published, to see this story still repeated by a Brazilian author, F. J. de
Santa- Anna Nery, in a work that deals with the Amazon ew professo. **11
les jette/' he writes of Orellana's abandonment of Carvajal and Sanchez de
Vargas, "sur le premier rivage venu sans armes, sans provisions, en pleine
foret vierge." Le Pays dea Anuufonee, p. 6, Paris, 1886.

471

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

When Gonzalo Pizarro left Quito for the Land of Cin-
namon, Carvajal, accompanied by Fray Gonzalo de Vera,
of the Order of Mercy, went with him as the chaplain of
the expedition. And when Pizarro sent his lieutenant down
the Napo in search of provisions, these two monks were
with those who went with Orellana. It thus happened that
Carvajal was one of the intrepid band of fifty-seven who
immortalized themselves by what Oviedo justly character-
izes as ^'una de las mayor es cosas que han acontecido a
homhres— one of the greatest things which have happened
to men/ ^

But Carvajal was more than the chaplain of the expedi-
tion. He was also its chronicler. His narrative did not,
however, find an editor until 1894, when Sr. D. Jos6 Toribio
Medina gave us the charming and scholarly Descuhrimiento
del Rio de las Amazonas segun la Relacion hasta ahora
inedita de Fr. Gaspar de Carvajal.^

The day before my departure from Lima, while rum-
maging through a second-hand book store, I was fortunate
enough to find a copy of this valuable work. I postponed
reading it until I got on the steamer at Yurimaguas and
was within sight of the Amazon, the mute witness of some

iPi^lished in Seville, pp. COXXXIX, 278. The full title of Gkirajal's
MS. is Relacion que 48oribx6 Fr. Onspar de Oarvafal, fraile de la Orden de
Santo Domingo de Owsman, del nuevo deaoubrimiento del famoao rio grande
que deecubrid por ventura el Capiian Franoieoo de Orellana deade eu
naoimiento hasta adlir d la mar, oon omouenta y eiete hombree que trajo
consigo y ee echd d eu aventura por el dieho rio, y por el nomhre del oapitan
que le deecubrid ae Uamd el Rio de Orellana,

As an evidence of how soon the truth regarding the discovery of the
Amazon and the part Padre Carvajal had in it passed into oblivion, it
suffices to state that the Dominican Melendez, in his Hiatoria de la Provin-
da peruana de San Juan Bautiata, published in 1681, declares that the per-
jured Tfi)e\, Orellana, cast Padre Carvajal ashore, that he might perish
there, because he had opposed his treason against Qonzalo Pizarro and
had preached against it. If the historian of his own order could be guilty
of such an ^regions blunder regarding one of its most distinguished mem-
bers, and that so soon after the great event in question, it is conceivable
how succeeding writers should have lapsed into an error that has found ac-
ceptance for nearly four centuries.

472

EOMANCE OF THE AMAZON

of the most heroic exploits in the annals of discovery. I
was glad I did so, for never did the perusal of any book
afford me more exquisite pleasure than did that of the
simple narrative of Carvajal's Descubrimiento. Beading
it on the waters of the great river, while passing under the
shadow of forest giants that may have sheltered the daring
crew in one of their bivouacs ashore, was like being trans-
ported back nearly four centuries, and made a spectator
of the memorable events so graphically described by the
observant Dominican.

In the light of his vivid descriptions, one could see the
resourceful, self-reliant Spaniard building from the green
wood of the forest the frail brigantines — the 8cm Pedro
and the Victoria — that were to convey them in their long
voyage on an unknown and unexplored river. One could
watch them, ignorant of everything except the profession
of arms, improvising a rude forge, making nails from
chains and the shoes of the horses that had died or been
killed for food, and using grass for rigging and their cloaks
for sails.

At one time they were on the verge of starvation, and
had nothing to eat except their leather belts and shoe-soles
cooked with certain herbs. At another their lives were
threatened by the impetuosity of the river currents and the
frequent whirlpools which they encountered. But their
greatest peril, one against which they had continually to
be on guard, was that from the countless tribes of savages
who inhabited the banks of the river.

According to CarvajaPs account, the Indians were then
incomparably more numerous than they are at present, for
the voyagers sometimes saw as many as twenty pueblos in
a single day, and many of these were several leagues in
length, and contained thousands of armed warriors. Some
of the tribes, it is true, were friendly to the strangers and
these supplied them with provisions, but others were hos-
tile and assailed the Spaniards with showers of poisoned
arrows which gave to their brigantines the appearance

473

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

of porcnpines — que parecian nuestros hergantines puerco
espin.

Finally, however, after untold hardships and dangers;
after almost two years of unparalleled adventure and prow-
ess; after sailing through pielagos de immensidades —
oceans of immensity — for more than a thousand leagues ^
down an unknown river, without pilot, chart or compass;
knowing not whither they were going or where their voyage
would terminate, these dauntless sons of Spain, true to the
best traditions of El Cid Campeador, found their way to
the island of Cubagua — the present Margarita — ^where they
were acclaimed by their astonished countrymen as heroes
of one of the most stupendous undertakings recorded in
history.*

But remarkable and romantic as was the expedition of
Orellana, that of Orsua, of which mention has already been
made, was scarcely less so. It was in 1559, scarcely twenty
years after Orellana started to unravel the mystery of the
Amazon, or die in the attempt,* that the dashing young
knight of Navarre was authorized by the Marquis de
Canete, the viceroy of Peru, to lead an expedition in search
of Omagua and El Dorado. The account of this expedi-
tion, authentic as it is, seems more like one of the cycle of

1 Carvajal estimates the distance traversed on the river at eighteen hun-
dred leagues. "Se montan la leaguas que hemes andado por este rio desde
done salimos hasta la mar mil j ochenta leguas, antes mas que menoe!"
p. 76.

sThis is not the place to discuss the alleged disloyalty of Orellana
to hb chief, Gk>nzaIo Pizarro. Suffice it to say that with all the docu-
ments before him, including the series of articles published by Jimenez
de la Eapada in La lUtstraoion EapaHola y Americana in 1892 and 1894,
entitled Tradcion de un Tuerto—e^ strong indictment against Orellana —
Don Jos6 Toribio Medina, in his masterly introduction to Padre Carvajal's
Belaoion, after a thorough examination of all the facts in the case, does
not hesitate, in opposition to all preceding writers on the subject, to make
the categorical statement, Orellana no fue traidor — Orellana was not a trai-
tor. And the verdict of most, if not all of Medina's readers, will, I think, be
that the one-eyed discoverer of the Amazon was not guilty of the charge of
which he has so long been accused.

« Seguir el rio 6 morir 6 ver lo que en &. habia. Carvajal, op. cit., p. 8.

474

ROMANCE OP THE AMAZON

Arthurian romances than a sober narrative of fact.
''Never since the civil wars in Peru/* writes an early
chronicler, referring to Orsua's expedition, ''have such
wonderful things happened, as in this affair of the river
Amazon. * *

What, however, was romance at the setting out of the
expedition, became, with the death of Orsua at the hands
of the tyrant Lope de Aguirre, a series of tragedies with-
out parallel in the annals of the conquest. "The career
of Aguirre,*' Markham well observes, "is certainly the
most marvelous and extraordinary in the history of South
American discovery, during that age of wonders [the six-
teenth century], and in the expedition, as it was conducted
after Pedro de Orsua *s tragic death, all that is wildest,
most romantic, most desperate, most appalling in the an-
nals of Spanish enterprise seems to culminate in one wild
orgy of madness and blood.**

It is beside my purpose to detain the reader by a recital
of the events of this extraordinary expedition, which was
terminated by the sanguinary death "of the mad demon,
Lope de Aguirre.*' Those who are interested in the sub-
ject will find a full account of it in the Elegias de Ihistres
Varones de Indias, by Juan de Castellanos ; in the Noticias
Historiales of Padre Simon, and, above all, in the recently
published narrative from which these two writers derived
their information, the Relacion de Todo lo que Sucedio en
la Jornada de Omagua y Dorado, written by the Bachiller
Francisco Vazquez, who was a member of the expedition.^

I cannot, however, pass over one feature of Aguirre *s
expedition that has always claimed the interest of geogra-
phers, and which is still a matter of controversy. How did

iThis precious document remained in MS. until 1891, when it was pub-
lished in Madrid by the Marquis de la Fuensanta del Valle. The English
reader may refer with profit to the Expedition of Orsua and the Crimea of
Aguirre, by Robert Southey, Philadelphia, 1951, and the Eo^pedition of Pedro
de Orsua and Lope de Aguirre in Search of El Dorado and Omagua, trans-
lated from Padre Simon by W. Bollaert, for the Hakluyt Society, London,
1861.

475

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

the traitor and his Maranones — the name given his follow-
ers— reach the Atlantic! Was it by way of the Amazon
or of the Orinoco f

The distinguished savant, La Condamine, who took so
conspicuous a part in measuring a part of the earth's
meridian on the Equatorian plateau, and who voyaged down
the Amazon in 1743, when he made the first map of the
river based on accurate observations, leaves the matter in
doubt. Southey and Humboldt are of opinion that the
ocean was reached by way of the Amazon, while Acuna in-
clines to the belief that it was by the Bio Felipe — Oyapoc
— or possibly by the Essequibo.

Padre Simon and Benito Acosta, the pilot of Captain
Pedro Texeira, contend that the voyagers entered the At-
lantic by the Orinoco. This is already shown in the map
of Sanson d' Abbeville, published in 1656, from informa-
tion furnished by the Portuguese pilot.* K the latter view
be correct, Aguirre and his companions were the first white
men to discover that wonderful river — ^the Cassiquiare —
which connects the Amazon and the Orinoco, and which
makes the hydrographic system formed by these two
rivers the most remarkable in existence. Such an achieve-
ment, if proved to have been a reality, would immediately
take rank with Orellana's astonishing voyage down the
Amazon.

To one who is familiar with the courses of the Orinoco
and the Amazon, and who reads carefully the accounts that
have been written about Aguirre *s expedition, especially
the very circumstantial Relacion of Vazquez, it seems al-
most certain that the expedition picked its way through the
tortuous Cassiquiare, and finally attained the Atlantic after
threading the mazes of the Orinoco delta.

lAcufia, oontrary to the indication in the map which accompanies The
EafpediHon of Pedro de Oreua and Lope de Aguirre in Search of El Dorado
and Omagua, publiBhed by the Hakluyt Society, declares categorically that
in no way — de ninguna manera — did Aguirre enter the ocean at the mouth
of the Orinoco. Nuevo Deeouhrimiento del Qrwn Ria de lae Amammae,
Num. IXV.

476

EOMANCE OP THE AMAZON

If this fact should ever be substantiated, the conclusion
would at once follow that Aguirre passed through the
Cassiquiare nearly two centuries before it was traversed
by the Portuguese in 1743, or by the Spanish Commission
which, in 1756, was delegated to settle the boundary line
between Brazil and Venezuela.*

While the expeditions of Orellana and Aguirre were, in-
deed, remarkable and deserving of all the encomiums that
historians have bestowed upon them, they were, in a way,
both eclipsed by the third voyage that was made down the
Amazon. This was in 1636, and is known in the annals of
discovery as El Viaje de los Legos Frandscanos — The
Voyage of the Franciscan Lay-brothers. Marcos Jimenez
de la Espada truly characterizes it as ^'La aventura geo-
grafica mas temeraria que homhres han arrastrado en las
aguas del Amazonas'' — ''The most daring geographical
enterprise which men have ever adventured on the waters
of the Amazon. * ' ^

The expeditions of Orellana and Aguirre were under-
taken only after long and careful preparation, whereas the
two Franciscans, Fray Domingo de Brieva and Fray
Andres de Toledo, started on their extraordinary voyage
on the spur of the moment, and without supplies of any
kind. Accompanied by only six Spanish soldiers and two
Indians, they entered a dugout and began the long and peril-
ous voyage from the eastern confines of Quito to the ocean.
Three months later they appeared, as if by enchantment,
before the town of Curupa on the lower Amazon, and
shortly afterwards they were telling the story of their
amazing adventure to the astonished inhabitants of Para.
That they should have made this long voyage of more than
twelve hundred leagues in a small canoe, with only such
provisions as they could find in the forest, or procure from

1 Compare, however, footnote on pages 110 and 111 of Ewpeditian of Pedro
de Orsua and Lope de Aguirre, above mentioned.

2 Viaje del Oapita/n Pedro Teweira Aguas curiha del Rio de las AmatBonas,
p. 30, Aiadrid, 1889.

477

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

the Indians along the river, was indeed astonnding, but
what seemed ahnost incredible to their hearers was their
statement that they never had any mishap of any kind, and
that, notwithstanding the inmiense number of savages that
inhabited the banks of the Amazon, they slept every night
on shore as securely as if they had been at home in their
own convents.*

Although nothing could have been less ostentatious than
this expedition of the two friars, it was destined to be far
more prolific in results than either of the two that pre-
ceded it.

Orellana, it is true, had visions of a great future for the
Amazonian province of New Andalusia, of which he was
made governor as a reward for his services to the Spanish
crown; but his dreams were never realized, for he had
scarcely returned to the mouth of the Amazon when he
sickened and died. His companions buried him under one
of the age-old trees of the ever-green forest which is bathed
by the waters of the majestic river which he had discovered,
and there, after the labors and hardships of a strenuous
life, he found repose in the midst of that exuberant nature
which is a fitting monument to his undying memory.

Aguirre, after his memorable expedition across the conti-
nent, was deserted by all his band except one, and met death
at the hands of two of his Maranones near Barquicimeto
in Venezuela, not, however, until after he had crowned his
countless atrocities by imbruing his hands in the blood of
his own daughter, who had accompanied him from Peru
with a Spanish woman named Torralva.^ Before thrust-
ing the fatal poniard into her heart he said to her, ' ' Com-
mend thyself to God, my daughter, for I am about to kill

1 "Hideron bu viaje durmiendo todas laa noches en tierra tan aegaroB
como si eetuvieran en bus oonventos sin sueederleB cosa adverBa, sino todas
prosperaB, todas felices." Fray Diego de Cordoba 7 Salinaa, Oronioa de la
religioainma provinoia de los dooe Apostolos del Peru, Cap. 31^-34, Lima, 1651.

2 This Torralva, from Molina de Aragon in Castille, was, so far as known,
the first white woman to cross the South American continent by way of the
Amazon. Aguirre's daughter was a mestiza.

478

ROMANCE OP THE AMAZON

thee, that thou mayest not be pointed at with scorn, nor be
in the power of anyone who may call thee the daughter of
a traitor. ' * ^ Aguirre 's * * memory survives until the present
time in Venezuela as that of an evil spirit, and when at
night the jack-o*-lantems dance over the marshy plains,
the solitary wanderer crosses himself — ^whispers, * The soul
of the Tyrant Aguirre/ **

Eighty years elapsed after the voyage of Aguirre, and a
full century after that of Orellana, and during this long
interval nothing further was accomplished in the valley
of the Amazon in the way of exploration or conquest.
Scarcely, however, had the two monks arrived at Para from
the region of the Napo when preparations were inmiedi-
ately begun for an expedition up the river on an imposing
scale, by the then governor of the lower Amazon. A fleet
of forty large canoes, manned by twelve hundred Indian
oarsmen, and carrying seventy Portuguese and four of the
six Spaniards, who had descended the river with the two
friars, departed under the command of Captain Pedro
Texeira, who took with him a Franciscan monk. Fray Au-
gustin de las Llagas, as his chaplain, and the lay brother,
Fray Domingo Brieva, who was to serve as the guide —
Guia y norte de la armada — ^up the river which he had so
recently descended.

The expedition left Curupa the 17th of October, 1638,
and, after nearly eight months of navigation, which was
always prosperous, and attended by no untoward event
whatever, it arrived at the town of Avila, but a few days *
journey from Quito.^

Great was the surprise and consternation of the royal
audience of Quito and of the viceroy of Lima, when they
learned of the unexpected arrival at the foot of the Andes
from the coast of Brazil, of the Portuguese armada. It is

1 Fray Pedro Simon, Noticiaa Hiatariaies de las oonqiUstias de Tierra Firme,
en lae Indiaa Oooidenialea, Sexta Noticia, Cap. II, Bogotft, 1882.

s "Al cabo de ocho meses de nayegacion, que tuyieron con feliz, y prospera
fortuna, sin suoederles el menor fracaso^ 6 desastre, llegaron al deseado
puerto de Payamino," Ck>rdoba y Salinas, ut. sup., p. 203.

479

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

true that Portugal was then under the dominion of Spain,
and had been for more than half a century, but there were
even then unmistakable indications of that rebellion which
very soon afterwards resulted in Portuguese independence.
It was bad enough that Texeira's voyage should open up
a new road to Peru for English and Dutch pirates and
buccaneers, but it was still worse for Spain to have her
hated rival, Portugal, in control of the great waterway of
the Amazon.

The worst fears of audience and viceroy were soon justi-
fied, for shortly after Texeira's return to Para, which was
effected without delay, Portugal threw off the Spanish yoke,
and the Portuguese began at once to push the frontiers of
Brazil towards the Andes, and, in so doing, encountered
little more resistance than what was offered by the Spanish
missionaries of the upper Amazon. The expedition of the
two Franciscans from the Napo to Para was thus, although
indirectly, productive of results incomparably more mo-
mentous than those following the voyages of Orellana and
Aguirre, for it at once paved the way for that vast exten-
sion of territory on the part of Portugal which eventually
made Brazil the largest commonwealth in South America.

I have said nothing about the return of Texeira and his
men from Quito to Para, for that has been fully described
by many chroniclers who have written on the subject, nota-
bly Fray Laureano de la Cruz, and the Jesuit Padre Acnna,
whose work, Nuevo Descuhrimiento del Gran Rio de las
Amazonas, is still supposed by many to be the earliest ac-
count we possess of the Amazon and the region it waters.
How ill-founded is such an opinion is shown by the fore-
going pages. It is due, therefore, to the memory of the
brave and neglected Franciscan lay-brother, Domingo
Brieva, who made his first descent of the Amazon in a dug-
out, and who acted as Texeira *s guide from Para to Quito
and return— thus traversing the great river from end to
end no fewer than three several times — ^to recall the nature
and the importance of his services to the cause of geo-

480

EOMANCE OP THE AMAZON

graphical exploration and discovery. Few contributed
more than this humble monk to opening up the valley of the
Amazon to the explorer, the colonist and the missionary,
and few have been so completely ignored.

Acuna passes over Fray Domingo 's achievements by what
Jimenez de la Espada justly designates silencio muy raro,
but a silence that the curious reader will find explained by
the illustrious Americanist in his masterly introduction to
the Viaje del Capitan Texeira, and in his valuable notes on
Noticias Autenticas del Famoso Rio Amazon, referred to in
the preceding chapter. He will also find much light on the
subject in the simple and unaffected narrative, already
mentioned, of Laureano de la Cruz, whose work, notwith-
standing its importance, was unknown to bibliographers
until 1890 and remained unpublished until 1900.^

The name Amazon, or the Amazons, by which the river
discovered by Orellana is generally known, is, as the reader
is aware, derived from a tribe of female warriors, who,
according to the early chroniclers, inhabited the region east
of the Eio Negro. Orellana is usually credited with invent-
ing the story of their existence, but it seems with little foun-
dation.^ Carvajal, it is true, tells us that the expedition
found Indian women aiding the men in their attacks on the
Spaniards, but this is quite different from affirming his
belief that a tribe of women, like the Amazons described by
the old Greek writers, actually existed in the valley of the

1 Speaking of this sUenoio muy raro, Jimenez de la Espada observes : "Acaso
dependa de involuntario oMdo, pero oomo no es este el unioo que el P.
Acufia padece en los asuntos personales de fray Domingo y los de la orden
frandscana, relativos al viaje primero, 6 de la subida, del capitan Texeira
y aun al la bajada, que hicieron juntos el capitan y Padre, bueno serft que
sigamos oyendo & nuestro fray Laureano, para que nos entere de algunos
curiosoe lances occurridos con montivo de las mencionadae ezpediciones
que vienen muy al proposito de eetos Prelimmares," Viaje del Capitan
Texeira, p. 32.

« Castellanos, for instance, writes : —

"De aqui, sac6 despues bus invendones
El capitan Francisco de Ordlana
Para llamalle rio de Amazonas."

481

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

great river of which he has left us the first written account.
As a matter of f act^ the discreet Dominican confines him-
self to giving the answers which a certain Indian, who was
interrogated by Orellana, gave regarding the manner of
life of these women warriors, and does not commit himself
to an expression of his own opinion about the matter.

Laureano de la Cruz, who heard similar stories from the
Indians about a tribe of female warriors is equally non-
committal. He said he saw nothing and could secure no
information that would justify the reported existence of
such women.

It was reserved for Padre Acuna to give th^ story of the
Amazons the vogue it has so long enjoyed. He devotes
two whole chapters to the subject, and concludes that **The
foundations for asserting the existence of a province of
the Amazons in this river are so numerous and so strong
that it would be invalidating human testimony not to give
them credit. It is inconceivable, * * he says, ' * that a lie about
the matter should obtain in so many languages and nations,
and have at the same time all the semblance of truth. ' '

How far Acuna is deserving of credence in such matters
may be inferred by what he says regarding other marvels
existing along the Amazon. Among these — the coinage of
a credulous fancy — are a nation of dwarfs who are no
larger than very young children — criaturas muy tiernas —
a nation of giants sixteen pahns high, and a nation whose
inhabitants have their feet reversed so that one who was
unaware of this fact, and wished to follow in the footsteps
of these strange people, would go in the opposite direction
taken by them. More than this, the valley of the Amazon,
he assures us, abounds in treasures of gold and silver that
exceed those of Peru and Potosi. In it is found a lake of
gold and a volcano filled with precious stones, not to speak
of other teratological extravagances which were so start-
ling that his distinguished contemporary and brother in
religion. Padre Euiz de Montoya, felt constrained to pro-
nounce them as beyond belief.

482

ROMANCE OP THE AMAZON

This chapter of early Amazon adventure and romance
would be incomplete without some reference to the extraor-
dinary experience of Madame Godin des Odonais who, in
1769, left Biobamba in the province of Quito, with the inten-
tion of joining her husband in Cayenne, at the opposite side
of the continent. So marvelous indeed was it, that, were it
not thoroughly attested, it would seem incredible. No
woman, it is safe to say, ever endured greater hardships,
braved greater dangers and lived to tell the story of it all.

When she started on her journey her escort consisted of
her two brothers, a physician, a negro servant, a nephew
nine or ten years old, three young women domestics and
thirty Indians to act as porters of herself and baggage.
These Indians, however, had scarcely arrived at Canelos,
a small village east of the Andes, when they deserted her.
Canelos itself, they found, had been so ravaged by small-
pox that only two of its inhabitants — ^both Indians — ^were
left. To make matters worse, there was not a single canoe
in the place and the party had to remain until the two
Indians could make one.

The canoe finished, Madame Godin payed the Indians in
advance to take her down the Bobonaza to Andoas, a mis-
sion station about a hundred and fifty miles down the river.
But two days after leaving Canelos these Indians also
abandoned her, leaving her without a guide. The xuif ortu-
nate party then proceeded on their journey without assist-
ance until the following day, when they found an Indian
just recovering from an iUness, who consented to accom-
pany them and act as steersman. But the third day an
accident occurred by which the poor fellow was drowned.

When they were yet five or six days distant from Andoas,
their canoe foundered and they had to leave it and build a
hut on the banks of the river, and send to Andoas for an-
other boat and Indians to man it. After waiting twenty-
five days for the expected assistance, and despairing of
receiving it, they constructed a raft on which they embarked
with their provisions and effects. But the raft soon struck

483

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

against a submerged tree ; all the freight was lost, and the
passengers barely escaped with their lives.

Placed in a more trying situation than ever, they resolved
to follow afoot the sinuous banks of the river through the
thick tangled mass of shrubs and lianas. But their prog-
ress was so slow that they concluded to shorten their jour-
ney by taking a straight course through the woods^ and, in
so doing, they discovered after some days of aimless wan-
dering that they were hopelessly lost.

Wearied by such long marches in an almost impenetrable
forest, their feet lacerated by thorns and brambles, their
provisions exhausted, and dying of thirst, their only sus-
tenance was certain wild fruits and palm leaves. At last,
overcome by hunger and fatigue, and too weak to stand,
they fell to the ground and awaited the approach of death.

In three or four days they expired, one after another,
with the exception of Madame Godin. She, stupefied, de-
lirious and tormented with a choking thirsl^ remained for
two days prostrate beside the corpses of her two brothers
and those of her other companions. At length, however,
she recovered sufficient strength and courage to resume her
wanderings. She was then without shoes and her clothes
were reduced to tatters. Cutting the soles from the shoes
of her dead brothers, she used them as saQdals.

On the second day of her random wanderings she found
water, and the following days some wild fruits and fresh
eggs, apparently of some kind of partridge. She was
scarcely able to swallow, so constricted was her throat by
lack of food, but her skeleton frame managed to subsist on
such food as chance placed within her reach. Nine days
after leaving the spot where her brothers and domestics
had died, she reached the Bobonaza, where by the rarest of
good fortune she encountered two Indians who were in the
act of launching a canoe. She begged them to take her to
Andoas, which they readily agreed to do. Thence she made
her way down the Pastasa to the Amazon, and then to La-
guna on the Huallaga. There she was kindly received by

484

ROMANCE OF THE AMAZON

the superior of the missions^ and, after her health and
strength were sufficiently restored, she continued her voy-
age down the Amazon, and eventually succeeded in rejoin-
ing her husband in Cayenne.

But the recollection of the long and terrible scenes of
which she had been a witness, the horror of the solitude and
of the nights in the wilderness, the dread which was in-
tensified every moment, so deeply affected her that her hair
became white.

Her husband, who has left us in a letter to his friend, M.
de la Condamine,^ a graphic account of the awful experience
of his wife, well remarks that it is too improbable for a
romance, for it does not seem possible that a lone, deli-
cately-nurtured woman, accustomed to all the comforts of
life, could survive privations and hardships which caused
the death of her brothers and servants, and left her to con-
tinue the struggle unaided and alone. It would be indeed
difficult, if not impossible, to find a parallel to such en-
durance on the part of a woman, and, for this reason,
Madame Godin^s name will ever be indissolubly linked with
one of the most remarkable adventures, and one of the most
thrilling of the many romances that have made the Amazon
so famous.

Nearly a century and a half have elapsed since Madame
Godin's memorable journey, but the forests and rivers she
traversed are still as wild and as picturesque as they were
in her day. Indeed, they have witnessed but little change
since Orellana's voyage nearly four centuries ago. If we
may credit the statements of Carvajal and Laureano de
la Cruz, the chief difference between the Amazon valley,
as they saw it, and as the traveler finds it to-day, lies in
the incomparably less number of aborigines that now peo-
ple the banks of the great river, as compared with the
countless thousands that greeted the Spaniards and the

1 Published at the end Relation Ahr4g6e d* tm "Voyage Fait dans V In-
i4rieur de V Am4rique Meridional, par M. de la Condamine, k Maestrioht,
1778.

485

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Portugnese under Orellana and Texeira. War and dis-
ease and sooUess Dutch and Portugaese slavers have re-
duced the number of Indians to a small fraction of what
it was when this region was first visited by Europeans.
One still sees a native village here and there^ and an occa-
sional hut surrounded by maize^ plantain and mamhot, but
the dense population that so surprised the early chroniclers,
is a thing of the past. Many tribes have disappeared en-
tirely, while others have retired far into the recesses of the
forest, where a white man never penetrates.

The islands, too, that so thickly dot the river for a thou-
sand leagues, and which were once the favorite haunts of
the liberty-loving red men, are now ahnost entirely depopu-
lated. In the upper Amazon alone in the time of Padre
Fritz, there were more than fifty islands inhabited by four
different Indian tribes, among whom were no fewer than
thirty-eight reductions. Nearly all of these are now aban-
doned, and, instead of sixty thousand Christian Indians
who, two centuries ago flourished under the benign rule of
the missionaries of San Borja and Laguna, we find to-day
only a small fraction of this number, most of whom are
neglected and practically forgotten by those to whom these
poor children of the forest have a right to look for the same
assistance and instruction that were enjoyed by their fore-
fathers.

And although this part of South America has, for more
than a century, been the favorite resort of explorers and
naturalists and ethnologists from Europe and the United
States, it is still but imperfectly known. Notwithstanding
the famous researches and explorations of the missionaries
mentioned in the preceding chapter and of those of La
Condamine, Spix and Martins, Poeppig, D'Orbigny, Castel-
nau, Hemdon, Gibbon, Bates, Spruce, Wallace, Agassiz,
Hartt, Chandless, Penna, Coutioho, and scores of others
who have immortalized themselves by their scientific
achievements in the Amazon basin, this greatest of the
world's forests still holds countless secrets for those who

486

ROMANCE OP THE AMAZON

are willing to venture into its unexplored depths. So far,
indeed, is our knowledge of the immense selva of the Ama-
zon from bemg complete, that we can, to borrow an expres-
sion of the conquistador, Francisco Preciado, who declared
that there was in the New World country enough to con-
quer for a thousand years, confidently assert that there is
still in this exhaustless territory enough virgin material to
occupy the conquistadores of science for ten centuries to
come.

487

CHAPTER XXIV
SAILING UNDER THE LINE

The first place of importance at which we arrived after
leaving Yurimaguas was Iqnitos^ the capital of the depart-
ment of Loreto. It is pleasantly located on the left bank
of the Amazon about six hundred miles below Yurimaguas,
and counts from twelve to fifteen thousand inhabitants, be-
sides a large floating population. The city, which ranks as
the most important port in Peru after Callao, is quite cos-
mopolitan in character, for it has representatives from al-
most all parts of the world, including, of course, the ubiqui-
tous Chinese,

Here I left our trim little steamer, the Mirafiores, in
which I had spent two delightful days, and became the
guest of the prefect of Iquitos, who at once planned for me
a series of excursions up the Ucayali, the Napo and the
Putumayo. I regretted then, and have often regretted
since, that lack of time made it impossible for me to avail
myself of his courteous offers, for nothing would have
given me greater pleasure than to continue my wanderings
in tropical wilds, especially under such favorable auspices.

Iquitos, which is a place of recent foundation, is to-day
something like Leadville, Colorado, was three decades ago.
The difference is that in the American town in its palmy
days everybody talked silver, whereas in Iquitos the usual
topic of conversation is rubber and the prevailing market
price for this precious commodity.

**We care nothing for politics or religion here,^' said a
prominent business mau to me; **the only thing we have any
interest in is the English sovereign. * *

For this everything is sacrificed, health and even Ufe.

488

SAILING UNDER THE LINE

And to secure the much coveted latex of the Heva Brasilien-
sis, men penetrate the dark and dismal swamps bordering
the Amazon^ and the fever-infected districts of its tribu-
taries, no matter where, in which rubber trees are known to
abound. This tree, of whatever species, is indeed the tree
of life and death in this part of the world, for, while it
furnishes the means of subsistence to countless thousands
in all parts of the globe, it is likewise the cause of prema-
ture death for growing multitudes in every part of the
Amazonian basin.

How vast is the wealth hidden in the forests bordering
the Amazon and its affluents, may be gauged from the fact
that the rubber annually exported from this part of the con-
tinent fetches in the markets of Europe and the United
States the enormous sum of $50,000,000. And so abundant
is the store of rubber in regions that have not yet been
visited that this amount could, if necessary, be duplicated.

No wonder that agriculture and grazing and other indus-
tries are neglected in this part of South America ; that every
one is seeking his fortune in the rubber forest instead of
looking for it in other spheres of activity, where there would
be less danger to health and life, and where remuneration
for energy expended would be fuUy as great, if not greater.

All along the river front in Iquitos are large warehouses
filled with crude rubber collected from all the forests along
the Huallaga, the Ucayali, the Napo, the Javari, the Tigre
and their countless tributaries. At times the river about
the wharf is crowded with boats of all kinds — river steam-
ers, launches, schooners, brigs, large and small — all laden
with rubber just brought in from the forests, and often
from points many hundred miles distant. There are also
dugouts of every size, manned by Indians of various tribes,
some of them fantastically tattooed and garbed in the prim-
itive costumes used in the wilderness. It is an interesting
and picturesque scene and one characteristic of the Amazon.

In the center of these motley craft are several ocean
steamers discharging merchandise from the United States

489

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

and Europe, or taking aboard for foreign markets their
regular consignments of the great staple which is the chief
mainspring of the commercial activity of the entire Ama-
zonian basin from Iqnitos to Para. All is bustle and
confusion — ^English, Germans, Spaniards, Chinese coolies,
Morocco Jews, Indians of many tribes, all shouting and
gesticulating at the same time and reproducing in divers
tongues all the confusion of Babel.

On leaving Iquitos, where I spent several delightful days,
I felt that I was bidding adieu to Peru and its charming
people, among whom I had spent some of the happiest
months of my life. It is true, I was to be in Peruvian terri-
tory until I should reach Letida, the military post near the
Brazilian frontier, but I would have little occasion to see
much more of its inhabitants.

As I was going to the steamer — a freighter bound for
New York — ^ttie dear old melody of Home Sweet Home was
wafted to my ears. It came from an Edison phonograph
on the opposite side of the street. Never was music more
grateful and never did it evoke fonder memories than at
that moment, when my year's wanderings through mountain
and forest were nearing the end. It is true, I was still
more than five thousand miles from home, but I could now
reach it by simply remaining on the steamer I was about to
board. But even this was unnecessary. The dulcet notes
of the old familiar air, as if by magic, annihilated space
and time and I was in fancy amid the loved ones, from
whom I had been so long separated by broad seas and un-
traversed wilds.

The prefect and a number of friends came to the steamer
to wish me feUz viaje, but the last to say Adios^and this
they did with tears in their eyes — ^were my good, devoted, af-
fectionate escort who had accompanied me from Moyobamba
and who had contributed so much to the pleasure of one of
the most interesting and enjoyable parts of my long jour-
ney ID South America. I never recall my delightful ex-
periences in the montana, or along the Paranapura and the

490

SAILING UNDBB THE LINE

Hnallaga^ without seeing before me the beaming faces of my
loyal, whole-souled companions who, during all the time
we were together, had no thought but that of my comfort
and pleasure.

But in justice to all, I must here state that these members
of my escort were not the only ones to whom I owe undying
gratitude for their loyalty and self-sacriScing spirit. All
those who had accompanied me on the long journey across
the Andes were of the same type. Whether Spaniards,
mestizos or Indians, they were ever ready, day and night,
to render me any service in their power, and this they
always did with such promptness and unfeigned cheerful-
ness that I was often struck with astonishment. ^^Es nues-
tro deter** — **it is our duty** — they said, when I expostu-
lated with them for doing more thau was necessary, espe-
cially when they were fatigued after a long day*s journey.
I can truly say that I have never met more unselfish, more
honest or more faithful people than those devoted, noble
young fellows who composed my escort from Trujillo on
the Pacific to the capital of Loreto on the Amazon. May
heaven's choicest blessings always be theirs!

The first place of importance at which we stopped after
leaving Iquitos was Manaos, the capital of Amazonas, the
largest state of Brazil. But it is a long distance between
the two cities — ^nearly fourteen hundred miles,^ — ^and our
steamer spent five days in going from one port to the other.

There is little occasion to describe the sights along the
Amazon between these two points, for they are essentially
the same as what is observed along the Huallaga and the
Paranapura. The only difference is that everything is
on a grander scale, and the ever-changing vistas are more
magnificent. Aside from the tawny Amazon — ^the visible
equator, as it has been aptly called — the eye sees nothing
but interminable stretches of verdure, an unbroken virgin,
forest, which is ahnost coterminous with the vast basin

i^Aooording to the nayigators of the Amazon, the exact difltanoe is eleven
hundred and fifty-one knots.

491

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

of the Amazon and the Orinoco. In the western part alone
of this immense selva there is a cirde of woodland eleven
hundred miles in diameter, which is to-day practically what
it was in the time of Orellana — an ocean of exuberant vege-
tation such as exists in no other part of the globe.

In March, when the great river is highest, the Amazon
overflows its banks and then becomes an inland sea two
thousand miles long and from thirty to forty miles wide.
The part of the lowlands thus inundated during the rise of
the river constitutes, during the dry season what the Bra-
zilians call varzeas — ^flood-plains — ^as distinguished from
tierra firme — the land that is always above the reach of the
annual inundation. They resemble the alluvial flats near
the mouth of the Mississippi with their network of lakes
and bayous. In parts of the upper Amazon valley these
swamp-lands are more than a hundred miles in width, and
here one can actually contemplate the earth as we fancy it
to have been during the Carboniferous Period.

The- Amazon has been characterized as ' * a fresh-water
ocean with an archipelago of islands.*^ This is true not
only because of its physical appearance but also by rea-
son of its fauna, especially its cetaceans, among which are
several species of porpoises and the odd-looking manatee,
to which, on account of its appearance, the Brazilians give
the expressive name peixe-hoi — ^fish-cow.

Then too, the silent, onward sweep, which is barely visi-
ble, of this majestic fresh water sea, is more like the flow
of the ocean than that of an inland stream. *'It is true,^*
as Agassiz has remarked, **that in this oceanic river sys-
tem the tidal action has an annual instead of a daily flow,
that its rise and fall obey a larger orb, and is ruled by
the sun and not by the moon ; but it is, nevertheless, subject
to all the conditions of a submerged district and must be
treated as such. Indeed, these semiannual changes of
level are far more powerful in their influence on the life
of the inhabitants than any marine tides. People sail half
the year above districts where for the other half they

492

SAILING UNDER THE LINE

walk, though hardly dry shod, over the soaked ground;
their occupations, their dress, their habits are modified in
accordance with the wet and dry seasons/' ^

The varzeas above mentioned, which extend from the
foothills of the Andes to the Atlantic, are intersected by
countless channels — ^mere clefts id the dense masses of vine
and shrub and tree — ^which the Indians appropriately name
t^arape^— canoe-paths. It is along these narrow canals,
scarcely wider thaa a dugout, over-arched by graceful,
feathery bamboos, glossy heliconias and drooping palm-
fronds, that one will find the most superb exhibitions of
floral beauty and splendor to be seen in the tropics. Only
here and there are the matted, arching boughs penetrated
by a stray sunbeam, but this is enough to bring out the
glorious sapphire of a fairy-blue butterfly, that flits in front
of our canoe, or the emerald and topaz flashes of the
beauteous humming birds— kiss-flowers, the natives say—
which dart about the palm blossoms or the sweet perfumed
orchids, that here possess a delicacy and a fragrance that
are quite indescribable.

Occasionally these igarapes lead to a grass-covered glade
in the midst of which is a beautiful mirror-like lakelet, to
which the Indians give the picturesque name of round-
water. Here one will find great flocks of snowy white
herons, blue bitterns, black divers, roseate spoonbills,
countless ducks of various hues, lovely egrets, screaming
parrots and macaws, not to speak of various species of
smaller birds that contribute their share to the open-air con-
cert.

But to me the most attractive features in the splendid
landscape that defiled before us were those *' princes of
the vegetable world'' — ^the palms. I never wearied con-
templating them, so numerous, so diverse, so graceful, so
noble. Here they are scattered among the other trees of
the forest, there they are grouped alone, thousands of them

1 A Journey in Braail, p. 256, hy Profeesor and Mn. Louis Agassiz, Bos-
ton, 1868.

493

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

in all their beauty and royal magnifio^ioe. At one plaoe,
near the river's bank, I noted a large clump of Miriti^
palms, of unusual size and perfection, and in the midst
of it a campo santo — ^the last resting place of the inhabit-
ants of a near-by village, over which was wafted the cease-
less requiem of the shore-lapping waves of the majestic,
solemn river-sea.

How simple it was, and how appropriate 1 The palm is
the symbol of victory and of a happy resurrection. As a
God's-acre, as the Germans devoutly name the final rest-
ing place of their dead, this pakn grove was absolutely
matchless, and, to my mind, the most beautiful burial place
in the world. Some one has said that ^^It was an old
Indian taste that nature should do its part towards the
adornment of the God's-acre.'' Here this idea is realized
in a superb manner, and in a way calculated to teach a
lesson to those who squander fortunes on cold granite and
chilly marble.

Villages and human habitations are few between Iquitos
and Manaos — ^f ar less numerous than they were in the days
of Orellana and Texeira. The houses, or rather huts of the
natives, are like those in other parts of the fluvial region
of the tropics — palm-thatched sheds or cots of bamboo
wattle-work. As to their inmates, they can best be de-
scribed in the words of the Italian traveler, Osculati, who
visited this region in the first part of the last century and
who declares that all of them, ^^ women, men, children,
chickens, monkeys, birds, etc., are huddled together," and
that all, except the animals mentioned, ^' spend the greater
part of their time stretched in their hammocks in the most
complete immobility." *

Around this primitive habitation is the usual plot of
ground for the cultivation of maize, plantains and manioc.

And such maize ! I have never seen anything like it ex-

1 Mauritia flewosa, known also as Moricbe palm.

^ Esplorczione delle Begioni EquatoriaU hmgo il Ifapo ed U Fmme delle
AmaagOfU, p. 167, Milano, 1850.

494

SAILING UNDBB THE LINE

cept in the fertile valleys of the Meta and Orinoco. Here
one can raise three crops a year of this valuable food-plant
and of the very best quality. Is it any wonder then that
the ancient Peruvians worshiped a plant that for little labor
furnished them with their chief means of subsistence !

Manioc — Mamhot idilissima—is even more serviceable
to the inhabitants of equatorial regions than maize,
for its root supplies the natives at a minimum of labor
with meat and drink — ^meat in the form of flour, called by
the Spaniards pan de tierra caUente, and drink, in the vari-
ety of chicha prepared from the juice which is extracted
from the root.

Scarcely less useful to the inhabitants of the tropics than
maize and manioc is the plantain, of which there are nearly
a hundred varieties. This plant is never absent from even
the humblest homestead. It is prized not only on account
of the value of its fruit as food but also because it requires
but little care. It was on account of the varieties and
abundance of plantains and bananas, and the fact that they
yielded an inexhaustible supply of wholesome nutriment in
return for nominal labor on the part of the consumer, that
certain political economists long ago declared that civiliza-
tion could never reach a high plane in the tropics until
these rich fruit-bearing plants were destroyed by law and
the people living there were compelled to work for a liveli-
hood.^ As it is, bounteous nature supplies the inhabitants
with all the food they require, without exertion on their
part except during a few days of the year. The rest of
the time they spend in absolute idleness with no incentive
whatever to labor, and happy id the thought that lavish
nature will always make ample provision for their wants,
which are as few as they are simple.

Many travelers complain of the monotonous character of

1 "We hear it frequently repeated in Spanish colonies that the inhabitants
of the warm region — tierra odUente — ^will never awake from the state of
apathy, in which for centuries they have been plunged, till a royal oedula
shall order the destruction of the banana plantations — platanales," Hum-
boldt, PoKtiodl Essay, Book IV, Chap. 9, p. 380, London, 1822.

495

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

a journey on the Amazon, but such travelers are not lovers
of nature. They declare there is nothing visible except a
broad muddy river and an interminable expause of green.
It is true that one does not see along the Amazon the glori-
ous autumn tints of our northern woods — ^the rich crim-
sons and dark purples, the soft browns and golden yellows
— that rival in splendor the hues of the rainbow. Un-
known is the rotation of seasons, their grateful contrasts
and the gifts with which each of them is laden. Unknown
are the long trance of winter and the bright awakening
of Flora's children at the first breath of spring. All this
is true, but notwithstanding the '* ceaseless round of ever-
active life, which weaves the fairest scenery of the tropics
iuto one monotonous whole,'' there is, nevertheless, in
every component part of this marvelous floral and faunal
display, a beauty and a variety aad an infinitude of ex-
quisite detail that are the exclusive products of the eternal
summer of the equator.

*'To the student of nature," as Wallace pertinently ob-
serves in this connection, 'Hhe vegetation of the tropics
will ever be of surpassing interest, whether for the variety
of forms and structures which it presents, for the bound-
less energy with which the life of plants is therein mani-
fested, or for the help which it gives us in our search after
the laws which have determined the production of such in-
finitely varied organisms. When, for the first time, the
traveler wanders in these primeval forests, he can scarcely
fail to experience sensations of awe, akin to those excited
by the tractless oceau or the Alpine snowfields. There
is a vastness, a solemnity, a gloom, a sense of solitude and
of human insignificance, which for a time overwhelm him;
and it is only when the novelty of these feelings have passed
away that he is able to turn his attention to the separate
constituents that combine to produce these emotions, and ex-
amine the varied and beautiful forms of life which, in in-
exhaustible profusion, are spread around him."^

1 Op. cii. p. 269.

496

SAILING UNDER THE LINE

The meteorological phenomena observable along the
Amazon were for me things of never-failing interest.
Chief among these was the action of the trade winds on
the temperature of the valley. Although our course was
almost directly under the equator the thermometer rarely
rose above 75° F. One entry in my diary, made near Ta-
batinga, reads as follows : * * Temperature at 7 a. m. 68*^ F. ;
at 10 A. M. 67° F. Cool enough for a light overcoat.'^ An-
other entry made near Obidos, reads, **Very cool all day.
Temperature from 68° F. in the morning to 66° F. in the
afternoon. ' ' Still another observation at six o 'clock in the
evening on board our steamer in mid-river, gives the re-
markably low temperature of 62° F. at Pard, which is some-
times supposed to be a place where one gasps m a fierce, un-
intermitting, iatolerable heat.^

The maximum heat encountered at the chief towns be-
tween Iquitos and Para is never so high as it often is in
New York and Chicago, notwithstanding the difference in
latitude of nearly three thousand miles. These facts show
that climate does not depend entirely on latitude. They
demonstrate, too, the beneficent action of the trade winds
in reducing the temperature, especially in those parts of
the Amazon valley where the air currents are imimpeded
by forests and mountains.

Mention must also be made of the turhonadas — suddmi
rainstorms — ^which are so frequent on the Amazon. While
we are contemplating the placid, mirror-like surface of the
broad river, whose sole function seems to be to reflect the
clear blue sky and the vine-draped forest giants, that
stand like sentinels along the ever-green banks, a dark
cloud appears in the east.^ It moves towards us with fear-
ful rapidity, and almost before we are aware of it, the
storm brei^ upon us with a flash of lightning and a roll

I The absolute maximum temperature of PaHl — which is but little more
than one degree from the equator — ^Is 91^ F., conaiderably lower than it fre-
quently is in the northern parte of the United States.

'Because these t%trhonada$ always come from the east, the Indians declare
that "Hie path of the sun is the path of the storm.''

497

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

of thunder. The sudden squall lashes the day-colored
waters of the river into a dangerous whirl of wave and
foam that compels all smaller craft to seek safety in some
protecting igarape. Such tempests are rarely of long du-
ration, but the precipitation is sometimes extraordinary.
Castlenau witnessed a downpour between Nauta and Pebas
in which the rainfall amounted to eighty-one centimeters in
a few hours — as much as the total precipitation in Venice
during the entire year, and more than the mean annual
rainfall of either Paris or London.

Although the fall of the Amazon for the last two thou-
sand miles of its course is but little more than an inch to
the mile, its erosive power is enormous. This is shown by
the immense masses of earth which are constantly being
torn from the banks by the resistless current, the formation
of new channels in every direction, the destruction, one
after another, of the countless islands that dot the river
from the Pongo de Manseriche to the ocean. This resist-
less movement, which carries everything before it, is due
to the immense volume of water which is continually poured
into the main channel by the innumerable tributaries that
enter the great river on both sides for a thousand leagues,
and which must have an outlet. At times the flood is cov-
ered with floating tree-trunks and tangled masses of v^e-
tation that resemble floating islands, or the jangada of
Jules Verne. These are frequently arrested by sand banks,
or grounded in shallows, and thus become the nucleus of an
island, which rapidly grows by accretion until it eventually
becomes the fit habitat of animals and men.

Five days after leaving Iquitos we dropped anchor be-
fore the city of Manaos, the capital of Amazonas, the
largest state in the great republic of Brazil.^ It is
situated on the left bank of the Bio Negro, about six miles
from the Amazon, or the Solimoes, as it is here called
by the Portuguese. The confluence of the two rivers is re-

1 Ite area is more than four times that of Texas and more than twenty-
two times that of New York.

498

SAILING UNDER THE LINE

markable on account of the inky blackness of the waters of
the Eio Negro — Black Eiver — ^which remain separated for
a distance of several miles from the tan-colored flood of
the Amazon, giving the great river immediately below the
city the appearance of having a double current, each of a
different color.

So dark are the waters of the Bio Negro that they have
extorted the admiration of voyagers from the earliest days
of exploration. Orellana's chronicler, Padre Carvajal,
describing the river, says, **The water was as black as ink —
era negra como tmta — and for this reason we gave it the
name Bio Negro ' ' — a name it has since retained.

The color of this river, it may be added, like that of many
other Bio Negros in South America, is due to the decaying
vegetation of its headwaters and that of the forest swamps
which border its numerous and sluggish affluents.

Manaos is an enterprising city of between forty and
fifty thousand inhabitauts, and, like Iquitos, is an important
rubber emporium. It is quite an attractive place, and con-
tains several imposing public and private buildings. But
the most remarkable and most conspicuous edifice is the
theater on the Avenida Bibeiro. It is a large and ornate
structure, with a beautifully-painted and decorated interior,
and will compare favorably with the most notable play-
houses in the United States. One cannot help wondering
why such a magnificent building was erected in this place
—in a territory so sparsely populated, and where appar-
ently there is but little demand for it. To the casual vis-
itor it seems like a monument of reckless extravagance.

As I was wandering through the warehouse where rub-
ber was prepared for shipment, I was surprised to learn
that the lumber used for the boxes in which it is packed is
all imported. Much of it comes from the United States.
Only -a few days before my arrival, a single vessel from
New York brought a million feet of pine lumber from
Maine, all of which was intended for boxing rubber. But
lumber is imported not only for the purpose named, but

499

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

also for general carpentry work and all kinds of bnilding
construction. Indeed, it is safe to assert that the greater
part of the lumber used in the larger Amazonian towns is
imported either from the United States or from Europe.

This is certainly like carrying coals to Newcastle. Why
people living along the Amazon, in the heart of the largest
and richest forest in the world, where there are countless
species of the best kinds of wood, should import the lumber
they use, is not apparent to one who is unfamiliar with the
conditions that obtain there.

In the Amazonian forests there are at least two or three
hundred kinds of woods, but, paradoxical as it may appear,
the greatest commercial di£Sculty comes from the large
number of species. For, although the kinds of timber are
so numerous, it is rarely that it is possible to find a large
number of trees of the same species, in the same place.
They are so scattered and at so great distances from one
another, that their cutting and hauling would, as a rule, be
extremely expensive.

Smith, in his Brazil, the Amazons and the Coast, ex-
plains the difficulty as follows: ^'Lumbermen deal in large
quantities ; they want so many hundred thousand or million
feet of a certain kind of wood. Now suppose I should agree
to furnish a million feet of pao d* arco ; ^ I would be baffled
in the outset because the trees are few and far between;
I must cut a road for every one ; and then in a square mile
of timber land I would get no more than fifty or a hundred
logs. By rare good luck I may find an exceptional spot
where the species that I am searching for exists in quantity,
but such tracts are limited and often far from the river
banks, where they are valueless at present.^' *

For this reason, and because of the suicidal export tax
and the prohibitive freight rates, very little lumber is
shipped from the Amazon valley to foreign countries. So

1 Meaning bow-wood, because, being tough and elastic, the Indians use it
for making their bows.
«P. 201, New Yoric, 1879.

500

SAILING UNDER THE LINE

far, the only exportation worth mentioning has been to
Portugal, and the total amount shipped thither in 1906 did
not have a market value exceeding seventy-five thousand
dollars. There is no doubt a promising future in this great
forest region for some enterprising lumber company with
plenty of capital. Even now there is a fortune awaiting
the first one to put on the markets of the world the scores
of rare cabinet woods which abound in every part of Ama-
zonia. For the interior furnishing of houses, no more
beautiful woods can be found than the cedar of Brazil —
cedreUa odorata — the acapu and pao amarello, a yellow
wood used for flooring.

The voyage from Manaos to Para differed in no respect
from that in the upper reaches of the river. The scenery
was the same and the fauna and flora, with few exceptions,
were similar to those which we had already seen.

About fifty miles below Manaos is the embouchure of the
great river Madeira, so called by the first Franciscan ex-
plorers, on account of the immense amount of timber — ma-
deira— ^that was observed floating down stream at the time
of their passage.

The Madeira just now is attracting special attention in
the commercial world on account of the long-projected
railway, which is at last being built around the falls of San
Antonio, six hundred and fifty miles from the Amazon.
When this road shall be completed, communication between
the Amazon and all parts of Bolivia will be easy and rapid.
Hitherto, owing to the numerous rapids above San An-
tonio, freight, destined for points on the Beni, Mamore and
Madre de Dios, had to be transported partly by land and
partly by water in canoes — ^for a distance of nearly two
hundred miles. Even under such unfavorable conditions,
the amount of freight shipped into and out of Bolivia by
this route has been considerable, but the outlet for trade
which the railroad will furnish will open up a new era for
the northern and, in some respects, the most productive
part of Bolivia. Already the amount of rubber received

501

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

from this section of South America is quite large, but, with
improved communications, the quantity of this commodity,
which will be exported from this region, will be greatly in-
creased. The completion of the railroad will mean a great
deal for the Bolivian republic, for, owing to the absence of
a suitable outlet for its products, some of the richest parts
of the country have hitherto remained undeveloped and
practically unknown.

The people of Amazonia^ interested me immensely,
for they constitute a most complex population, the result
of the intermixture of three distinct races, — ^the Portuguese,
the Indian and the negro. The union of the white and the
negro, as with us, gives the mulatto, while that of the Indian
with the white and the negro produces respectively the
mameliico and the carafuz. These half-castes and their in-
timate and continual amalgamation with one another con-
stitute the Brazilian of the present day. He is essentially
a mestizo and all the three races mentioned have contrib-
uted to the fixation of the actual type, although in Ama-
zonia there is far more Indian than African blood in the
half-breed inhabitants who, at least in the larger towns and
cities, compose the majority of the population.

The passengers on our steamer included representatives
of many races and climes. Among them was an English-
man on his way from the diamond mines of Matto Grosso ;
a Swiss gentleman and his bride, — a Peruvian lady, — ^who
were bound for the rubber forests of one of the most distant
affluents of the Purus ; a full-blooded Indian and his twelve-
year-old wife, who had the same destination; two Chinese
merchants, who were investigating the business outlook in
Amazonia, with a view to bringing their countrymen to this
part of the world ; but, by far the most singular character
aboard was an aged Hebrew, with a long white beard, who
might easily have passed for the Wandering Jew.

1 The name sometimes giyen to the whole Amazon valley but more specif-
ically used to designate the two great northern states of Brasil — ^PaHl and
Amazonas.

502

SAILING UNDER THE LINE

Although far advanced in years, he was still hale and
hearty and was continually evolving plans for accumulating
money. He had been in all parts of the world in search of
fortune, and had alternately met with success and failure.
Me had fished for pearls in Ceylon, searched for rubies in
Siam, sapphires in Cashmere, and diamonds in South Af-
rica. He had been an exchange broker in Peru and Colom-
bia, and had been jeweler to Dom Pedro, the last emperor
of Brazil. He was returning from Iquitos, whither he had
taken a large cargo of merchandise from New York, includ-
ing a consignment of Milwaukee beer. When I met him he
was, like myself, on his way to New York.

**In many of my ventures in South America,'^ he said,
**I made a pile of money, but in Iquitos I lost heavily. It
was all because of the Morocco Jews there, who forced me
to sell at their own price. The Morocco Jews are a bad
lot — ^the worst Jews in the world. But I am going back
there again with another cargo of goods, and the next time
I shall make a pile of money" — ^this was a favorite expres-
sion of his — **in spite of those robbers from Morocco.'*

Then suddenly changing the subject, he asked, '*Did you
notice how black the Bio Negro was! I am sure there is
gold along that river. ' ' And as we came in sight of Monte
Alegre, near Santarem, he said, '*I*11 bet there are precious
stones in those highlands. I shall investigate when I come
down this way again, for I have no doubt there is a pile of
money to be made there. * *

But, notwithstanding the fact that he was always think-
ing of **a pile of money," he was a most interesting charac-
ter, a pleasing conversationalist, with an extraordinary
fund of information on every topic. He was an accom-
plished linguist, and had a knowledge of the world that was
surprising. And in spite of all his vicissitudes, he was as
hopeful and optimistic as a young man with a bright future
before him, and was as full of projects as if he were going
to live forever.

As one descends the Amazon below Manaos, one remarks

503

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

the gradual widening of the main channel of the river. In
some places the breadth is so great that it is impossible to
see more than one of the banks at a time. And then the
network of side-channels and igarapes and bayons becomes
so complicated that only the most skillful pilots can find
their way to their destination.

It is along these concealed waterways, where Ihere is an
abundance of fish and game, that the liberty-loving Indian
prefers to make his home. It is here also where the serin-
gueiros — ^rubber collectors — ^have their huts, except during
the rainy season from February to July, when the ground
is under water, and the seringaes are deserted. The best
quality of rubber, called in Brazil horracha or seringa ^ is
obtained here from the Hevea BrasUiensis, and is known in
commerce as Pari rubber.

At Obidos the traveler is made aware of a remarkable
change in the bed of the river. The channel is much nar-
rower and deeper and the immense flood rushes through it
with increased velocity. From a broad inland sea, the
Amazon here contracts to such an extent that its width is
but little more than a mile. For this reason it has been
called the Bosphorus of the Amazon, and its strategical
value, as the gateway to the interior of the continent, has
been recognized from the days of the earliest voyagers.

Here highlands began to appear for the first time since
we had left the Andes. And so enchanting was the view of
something rising above the forest-clad plain, which we had
so long been traversing, that Monte Alegre, which my He-
brew friend insisted was a likely place for precious stones of
all kinds, seined to me rather, like another Delos, to be the
chosen home of Aphrodite. The joyful mount, **with rich
luxuriant verdure clad" and rendered musical by ^^ streams

1 So called by Padre Manoel da Eaperanctt because lie discovered that tlie
Gambelas Indianfl used it for making bottles in the form of sjringes —
aeringaa — whence the name seringueiros. Caoutehouo was the name applied
to the substance by the Maynas Indians of the Upper Amazon, and was ii^
troduoed into France by La Condamme, after his return from South Amer-
ica, in the middle of the eighteenth century.

504

SAILING UNDER THE LINE

sonorouS; sweet and fugitive,'* loomed up in the distance
from the sea of greenery like the ^^formosa ilha alegre e
deleUosa''—^^tlie delightful, lovely island, glad**— the beau-
tiful Isle of Loves— described by Camoens, which Venus, as-
sisted by Cupid and the Nereids, prepared for the reception
and entertainment of Vasco da Gama and his hardy mari-
ners, after their epoch-making discovery of the passage to
India by the Cape of Good Hope.

As I passed the mouth of the Tapajos I looked wistfully
towards the south, for ever since I had left the Orinoco,
at its confluence with the Meta, the desire had been grow-
ing on me to cross the continent from Lake Maracaibo to
Buenos Aires, by way of the Apure, the Cassiquiare, the Ma-
deira or the Tapajos and the Paraguay. Such a journey
would, it is true, entail some hardships and a great deal of
traveling in a dugout, but it would be far more romantic
than traveling by steamer. It would, besides, take one off
the beaten path and through some of the wildest and most
interesting parts of South America. Once on the Apure,
one can travel by water almost to the source of the Tapajos,
whence, by a portage of a thousand feet, one can reach the
headwaters of the Eio de la Plata, and thence continue by
boat to the fair capital of Argentina. In fact, canoes com-
ing from Santarem have, during high water, crossed the
watershed near Diamantino,^ and descended the Paraguay
to Villa Maria. Will this desire of mine ever be realized T
Quien sahef Speaking for my single self, it is certainly * * a
consummation devoutly to be wished.**

As we approached Para I noticed quite a number of fish-
ing smacks and montarias — ^Indian canoes — scattered along
the river, all engaged in making provision for the city mar-
ket, which is justly celebrated for the quantity and variety
and excellence of tiie fish there offered for sale. According

1 "The Fazenda do Estiyado, near Diamantino," writes Be Caetelnau, "is one
of the most curious points of the continent/' for "here, but a few paces apart>
are the sources of two of the greatest rivers of the world, — ^the Amazon and
La Plata." BwpMHon dana Ua Parties OentrdleB de I/AmMque du Bud,
Tom. II, p. 357, Paris, 1850.

505

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

to Agaasizj 'Hhe Amazon nourishes nearly twice as many
species as the Mediterranean, and a larger nnmber than the
Atlantic, taken from one pole to the other.'' Still more
remarkable is his statement regarding '^the intensity with
which life is manifested in these waters. All the rivers of
Europe united, from the Tagus to the Volga, do not nourish
one hundred and fifty species of fresh-water species, and
yet in a little lake near Manaos, called Lago Hyanuary, the
surface of which covers hardly four or five hundred square
yards, we have discovered more than two hundred distinct
species, the greater part of which have not been observed
elsewhere." The eminent naturalist estimated the total
number of species, which he had been able, in less than seven
months, to collect in the Amazon, between Para and Taba-
tinga to be from eighteen hundred to two thousand.^

And yet, incredible as it may seem, we never saw a single
fresh fijsh of any kind on the table of our steamer during
our entire trip down the Amazon. When one of the passen-
gers spoke to the steward about procuring some, he replied
that they cost too much and that he had positive orders from
his company to economize and keep down expenses to a
minimum.

Four days after leaving Manaos, we came to anchor oS
the queen city of Amazonia — a city that rejoices in the name
of Nossa Senhora de Belem do Grao Para, but which is
usually known as Para. It was founded in 1615 by Captain
Francisco Calderra del Castello Branco, and numbers about
one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants. Among its
many attractions are its beautiful parks and colonnades of
royal, miriti and assai pahns and the dark mango trees
draped gracefully with cypress vines and Convolvuli, which
are seen in many of the gardens around the houses. But
to me the most interesting place in Para was the Botanical
Garden, where are collected the chief floral beauties of
Amazonia — rare and delicate plants, with the most fragrant
blooms, and countless palm trees, some of which, like the

1 Op. dt. p. 882.

506

SAILING UNDER THE LINE

bussu and the jupati, have enormous, plnme-like leaves from
forty to fifty feet in length, while others, like the Maa^imU-
tana regia with its noble crown of great glossy leaves, tower
high above all their fellows.

As I was wandering through the market examining the
fruits and fish that were there displayed in great profusion,
I ran into my Hebrew friend, who was enjoying a glass of
vinho d' assai — the juice of the assai palm — ^which had been
prepared for him by a comely young mameVaca who was sur-
rounded by a crowd of natives, all clamoring for a di'aught
of their favorite beverage. Indeed, so fond of this drink
are the people of Pari, and so proud of their city, that they
declare that

** Quern vein para Pari parou;

Quern bebeu assai ficu. ' '
(**Who came to Pari was glad to stay,
Who drank assai went never away.")

After inviting m^ to take a glass with him, the old gen-
tleman, much to my surprise, informed me that he had con-
cluded to leave our steamer, on which he had intended to
remain until his arrival in New York, for which he was
booked.

'*I can,'* he said with considerable feeling, '* stand it no
longer. I cannot eat the food served on the steamer, and
it would be impossible for me to remain longer aboard with-
out danger to my health. For more than a week past I have
been half starved. Think of it! We have, since leaving
Iquitos, been in the best fruit and fish region in the world,
and the only fruits we have had were oranges and bananas,
and the only fish, canned salmon, and dry codfish. Not
once have we seen fresh fish on the table, nor any of the nuts
and fruits that are so abundant in the Amazon valley.
Look at the variety of fish and fruit here. It was the same
in the market of Manaos, and yet there was absolutely no
provision in this line made for the passengers of our
steamer. I spoke to the steward about the matter to-day,

507

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

and what do you think he told me? He said he had orders
from his company to keep down expenses and that pas-
sengers would have to be satisfied with what was given
them. That is the way with monopolies. You are help-
less when you are unfortunate enough to fall into their
dutdies. I am told that the annual dividends of the com-
pany are thirty-five per cent. Dios miol It must make a
pile of money. And to think that it all comes from our
pockets and tiiose of people like us, who are forced to pat-
ronize the grinding monopoly !

^^No, I can stand it no longer. Eager as I am to reach
New York at the earliest possible date, I shall wait here for
the arrival of a European steamer and return to New
York by way of Lisbon and London. ^ ' In bidding me good-
by, he expressed the hope that we should soon meet each
other in New York, or in some other part of the world.

Who was this mysterious man and whence did he come!
I never learned his name nor the land of his birth. In my
diary, he is called Kartaphilos, one of the many traditional
names of the Wandering Jew.

By reason of its location near the mouth of the Amazon,
where it can control the trade of half a continent. Para
should be a city with a great future. But much remains to
be done both in the city itself and in the valley of
the Amazon before Para can attain to her manifest
destiny.

For years past the chief product of the great Amazon
basin has been rubber. To secure this, everything else has
been neglected — ^agriculture, grazing, manufactures. The
balsams, gums, dyes, spices, drugs, and cabinet woods which
are so abundant, have remained practically untouched.
Here is the most fertile rice land in the world and yet most
of the rice consumed the whole length of the river is im-
ported from China. The vast territory extending from
Para to the Andes is capable of yielding maize enough to
supply the world, but the cornfields are almost entirely
confined to the small Indian plantations, whidi barely suf-

508

SAHilNQ UNDER THE LINE

fice for the consumption of the owner and his family. No-
where do cane, cotton and cacao grow in greater luxuriance,
and still their cultivation has received comparatively little
attention. Great as was the fecundity of the Nile valley,
when it was the granary of Bome, that of the Amazon is
incomparably greater, for it is capable of becoming, under
proper development, the granary of the world.

When the oppressive export laws, that now obtain, shall
be abolished; when the foreign steamship monopoly, that
at present so retards the march of commerce in the Amazon
valley, shall be broken; when **the colossal trafl5c, of which
the whole basin is susceptible, * ' shall be thrown open to fair
competition, which now exists only in name ; when European
colonists can be induced to make their homes in this most
fertile part of the globe ; and when foreign capitalists shall
be encouraged to invest their surplus milUons in developing
the marvelous resources of this favored land, then and not
till then will the vast region, drained by the great father of
waters, be in a fair way towards justifying the fond hopes
that have been so long entertained respecting its place in
the world of commerce and civilization.

But even when all this shall have been done, one thing
more will be required, before permanent success can be
guaranteed. Measures will have to be taken to secure
proper sanitation along the valley, especially in the larger
cities and in the various ports of call. Yellow fever, which
has so long been so terrific a scourge in Pari and Manaos,
will have to be stamped out and all danger from other
tropical diseases, which in the past have claimed such heavy
life-tolls, will have to be eliminated.

Thanks to the memorable achievements of Pasteur and
those who have followed in his footsteps in the United
States, notably Beed, Carroll, Lazear and Agramonte, this
is now possible. It will be necessary to protect man in his
towns and camps and trade routes from the ravages of the
stegomyia and (mapholes, which have wrought such havoc
since the time of the conquistadores. The stigma that has

509

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

so long attached to Brazil^ of being Le tombeau des Stran-
gers— the white man's grave — ^will have to be removed.

Mudi has already been accomplished in various parts of
the great republic toward suppressing the dread visitant
that has so frequently decimated its fairest cities and most
important marts. Bio and Santos, owing to the prevalence
of yellow fever, were once veritable death traps for the
white man, and in their harbors ^^ ships once rotted and fell
to pieces for want of crews — ^all had died of the accursed
disease." To-day, thanks to Dr. Oswaldo Cruz and his
associates, ^'no one fears, and no ship rots."

What has been achieved in Bio and Santos and Havana
and Panama, can likewise be accomplished in Pard and
Manaos and throughout the length and the breadth of the
Amazon basin. Yellow and malarial fevers, and other trop-
ical diseases, that have so long acted as a deterrent to immi-
gration, and which have so long retarded the development
of the country, can be eradicated here as well as else-
where. It is now no longer a question of theory or experi-
ment but a matter of administration. The presence of any
of the devastating diseases mentioned argues either igno-
rance or criminal negligence. There is to-day no more
reason why yellow fever should still claim its victims in
Para and Manaos and Guayaquil, than in Mobile or New
Orleans or Galveston. Science has furnished us with the
means of successfully coping with the fell destroyer, and
that community betrays mal-administration of the worst
type where yellow fever is still allowed to continue endemic.

Col. Gorgas, chief sanitary officer of the Isthmian Canal
Conmiission, whose successful battles with yellow and ma-
larial fevers in Havana and Panama have commanded the
admiration of the entire civilized world, in a notable ad-
dress on The Conquest of the Tropics for the White Race,
recently delivered before the American Medical Association,
expressed himself as follows :

^^The advances in tropical sanitation in the last fifteen
years have shown that the white man can live in the tropics

510

SAILING UNDBE THE UNE

and enjoy as good health as he would have if living in the
temperate zone. This has been demonstrated both by onr
two military occupations of Cuba and by our present occu-
pancy of Panama.

* * The returns for labor are many fold greater in the trop-
ics than they are in the temperate zone. I thiuky theref ore^
that during the next few centuries the tendency will be for
the white man to drift to the tropics. I dare to predict that
after the lapse of a period, let us say, equal to that which
now separates the year 1909 from the Norman conquest of
England, localities in the tropics will be the centers of as
powerful and as cultured a white civilization as any that
will then exist in the temperate zones.

^ ' I believe that our work in Cuba and Panama will then be
looked on as the earliest demonstration that the white man
could flourish in the tropics and as the starting-point of the
effective settlement of these regions by the Caucasians. * '

It is true that, thanks to the efforts of the Liverpool
School of Tropical Medicine, which, in 1905, inaugurated a
vigorous campaign against the stegomyia colopus from Para
to Iquitos, sanitary conditions have been considerably
ameliorated along the Amazon. But there is yet much to
accomplish before yellow fever shall be effectually ban-
ished. For, during our brief stay in Manaos and Para,
there were several deaths from the dread disease, and for-
eigners who were not immune lived in constant apprehen-
sion of its recurrence in malignant, epidemic form.

When the campaign now being conducted against yellow
fever and other tropical diseases shall have been brought to
a successful issue, and when the obstacles, above enumer-
ated, to the development of commerce and immigration shall
have been removed, then may one see at no distant future,
at least a partial verification of the prediction made sixty
years ago by Lieutenant Hemdon, when he penned the fol-
lowing lines:

* * I have no hesitation in saying that I believe in fifty years
Rio Janeiro, without losing a tittle of her wealth and great-

511

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

nessy will be a village to Para and Pard will be what New
Orleans would long ago have been but for the activity of
New York, and her own fatal dimate^ — the greatest city of
the New World; Santarem will be St. Lonis; and Barra'' —
the present Manaos — ** Cincinnati/' ^

The French astronomer Flammariony in his weird ro-
mance— Omega: The Last Days of the World — ^makes his
hero and heroine — ^the last human pair on earth-— expire at
the foot of the pyramid of Cheops, the most enduring mon-
ument of our race. If I should venture an opinion on such
a problematic matter, I should be disposed to assert that the
extinction of human kind is more likely to occur somewhere
in the great Amazon valley, for it, in all human probability,
will be the last place on earth to feel the touch of eternal
frost, which, sooner or later, will hold in its frigid grip all
the planets and suns of the fathomless universe.

1 Ewploration of the Y alley of the Amotion, p. 367, Waahington, 1854.

512

CHAPTER XXV
HOMEWARD BOUND

After leaving Pard, my Wa/nderjahr in the wake and in
the footsteps of the conquistadores was practically at an
end. Thence onward, nntil my arrival in New York, there
was little to be seen except sea and sky. I was, of course,
interested in the great island of Maraj6— larger than Sicily
and with a greater area than Massachusetts — ^which lies
between the estuaries of the Amazon and the Tocantins. It
is true that the greater part of the immense Amazonian
flood enters the ocean on the northern side of the island,
but enough of it passes through the southern channel, some-
times called the Rio Para, to justify one in regarding Maraj6
as located entirely in the embouchure of the Amazon. That
the great river should hold in its embrace an island of this
magnitude, not to speak of others to the north, gives one
a vivid conception of its inmiensity. Its mouth is eighty
miles in width, and so great is the volume of water poured
into the ocean that the yellow water of the Amazon can be
distinguished from the blue wave of the Atlantic at a dis-
tance of more than fifty miles. But, unlike the Orinoco, the
Nile, the Ganges and the Mississippi, the Amazon, strange
to say, has no delta. Its immense volume of water, three
times that of the Mississippi, rolls through the broad chan-
nels— Mar Dvice, sweet-water sea — to the north and the
south of Maraj6, encountering at virtually a single point
the opposing will of the broad Mar Oceano.

We left the Amazon and the equator at almost the same
moment, for the northern part of the equinoctial line and
the northern shore of the great river's mouth almost coin-
cide.

513

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

My last view of South America was synchronous with
the appearance on our port quarter of a magnificent double
rainbow. This was the third time during my journey across
the continent that I had been favored by what my Peruvian
companions always insisted was a good omen for the trav-
eler. The first time was when I was leaving the Pacific;
the second after I had crossed the Cordilleras, and was
started on my way down the Paranapura. If the view
of my Andean friends was correct, a double rainbow should
betoken more of good and success than a single one. I
loved to think so at the time, and the happy termination
of my wanderings a fortnight later more than realized my
fondest hopes.

As the hazy coast line of Amazonia receded from view and
I realized that I was leaving behind me the beauteous con-
tinent of the Southern Cross, I experienced a sense of long-
ing I had never known before. Longing, however, does not
wholly express the feeling that then took possession of me,
for it was more than longing. It was what the Portuguese
call saudade, what the Germans denominate Sehnst^ht,
words that have no equivalent in English, and which signify
not only intense yearning and regret, but also sweet remem-
brance. I regretted leaving South America, where I had
spent such a delightful, such an instructive year, and would
fain have returned, if duty had not beckoned me homeward.
The Wanderlust, which was strong when I left New York
nearly a twelvemonth before, far from being abated, was
stronger and more insistent than ever.

I recalled with pleasure the happy months I had spent
while contemplating the wonders of the mountains and
rivers and forests of our sister continent and enjoying the
bounteous hospitality of its charming and generous people,
and began forthwith to make preparations for a more ex-
tended journey in a land that possessed so many and so
varied attractions. I had seen much, but much more re-
mained for another visit.

And best of all — and I wish to emphasize specially this

514

HOMEWARD BOUND

feature of my wanderings — the journey, long as it was, was
devoid of every untoward incident. There was never any
delay but once, and that was because the steamer on which
we had engaged passage had to be docked for repairs. But
this vessel belonged to au European and not to a South
American company. There was never any danger even in
the wildest and most untraveled parts of the country, and
only once did I regret that I was not provided with fire-
arms. That was on the Meta, when I saw cloud-like flocks
of wild ducks flying over our heads, and had no means of
securing a few of them for a change of diet. The people
everywhere, whites, mestizos, Indians, were always kind and
considerate, and only twice had I reason to complain of a
lack of courtesy and fair treatment, and that was at the
hands of two supercilious Europeans — agents of two for-
eign corporations — ^men who seemed to fancy they were
furthering the interests of their companies by resorting to
sharp practices which they would never dare attempt where
condign punishment would immediately follow.

When, before leaving New York, I annoxmced my itinerary
to some friends, whose travels in South America had been
confined to the places reached by steamers and railroads,
they endeavored to dissuade me from what they pronounced
a rash and dangerous undertaking. They warned me par-
ticularly against certain parts of South America where, they
assured me, was rampant

**What ever hideous thinge the earth his enemy
Begets, or what soever sea or ayre hath brought to syght
Both dreadful, dire and pestilent, of cruel, fiercest might. ' ' *

But heedless of the warnings given me, I went to the re-
gions that were pronounced so beset with danger. And,
while grateful to my friends for their kindly interest in me,
I shall ever feel that I should have missed the most inter-
esting and the most enjoyable part of the tropics if I had
hearkened to their monitions. I found none of the

1 Seneca, Heroules Furena, Act I, v. 80-32.

515

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

''All monstrous, all prodigious Uungs,
Abominable, unutterable and worse.

Oorgons, and hydras, and chinueras dire,"

which they imagined would confront me at every turn, and
experienced none of the hardships which, they declared, were
inevitable.

More than this, I left New York an invalid, and pre-
sumably requiring the conveniences and comforts of home.
But no sooner did I begin to rough it in the wilds of the
equatorial r^ons than health and strength returned apace,
and it was not long before every vestige of illness had en-
tirely disappeared.

And nowhere did I suffer any inconvenience from change
of climate or food. Only once was I inconmioded by the
heat, and that was when I was trying to take a siesta in my
stateroom while on the Huallaga ; and only once did I suffer
from the cold. This was at the foot of Chimborazo, where
our train ran off the track, and where we had to spend a
chilly night in a windowless car, with no means of heating
it. Although I frequently spent many days in succession
on horse or mule back in a continual downpour, I never got
wet, and never felt any ill-effects from exposure. Of
course, I always took whatever precautions prudence dic-
tated, and followed, as I should have done in my own coun-
try, the ordinary rules of hygiene in eating and drinking.
Where I could not find a clean bed in the humble homes of
the natives, I always had recourse to my cot and blankets.
Where the huts or tambos were small or crowded, I always
used my tent, and in this, whether on the summit of the
Andes or in the forests of the montana, I slept as soundly
as I ever did in the downiest couch.

As to food, I found no difficulty in satisfying the cravings
of hunger with the simple fare prepared for me by the na-
tives. So far, indeed, was this from being the case, that I
soon came to enjoy it. No one could have broiled a chicken

516

Forest View along the Auazon.

Botanical Garden, Para. Victoria Keuia in the Fobboround.

HOMEWARD BOXJND

better or prepared a better stew than did many of the In-
dian women who acted as my cooks during my peregrina-
tions. While traveling in uninhabited districts I drew from
my own stores which I always had with me for any emer-
gency. These consisted mainly of crackers, coffee, choco-
late, bacon — ^uncanned — ^potatoes, cheese and sardines.
Canned goods, as a rule, except certain cereals, proved a
failure. Whether it was because of the climate, or be-
cause they were not sufficiently fresh when I purchased
them — ^they were guaranteed to be just from the factory
— ^I am not prepared to say. In most places, I could get
chickens and fresh eggs, not to speak of an abundance of
fruit of various kinds. But wherever my provisions came
from, I never suffered from hunger more than a few hours
at most, and never found it necessary to eat what was un-
wholesome or repulsive. I always carried a good filter
with me to insure pure water, and by this means I never
experienced any of the evil consequences which result
from drinking the contaminated waters of rivers and
streams.

On my way across the Andes to the Amazon, I had,
thanks to a thoughtful friend in Lima, a case of good old
claret. Nothing during my long and arduous ride across
the Cordilleras could have been more serviceable or more
agreeable than this choice beverage. It was, especially at
the end of the day's journey, more than a grateful draught
or stimulant. It was meat and drink, and restored at once
the flagging energy of myself and companions and pre-
pared us to enjoy our frugal evening repast, which fre-
quently was nothing more than a dish of chupe or sancocho.
Indeed, so beneficial was it as a restorative that, if I were
to make a similar journey in the tropics, which is likely,
one of the first items on my list of provisions would be a
case or two of generous old Bordeaux.

I am aware that some of my readers will think that my
experience is tinged with more of the couleur de rose than
is found in the narratives of certain South American

617

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

travelers, but I have endeavored to give an honest account
of persons and things as I found them.

Sterne, in his Sentimental Journey, tells of one Smel-
fungus, who ** traveled from Boulogne to Paris — ^from
Paris to Rome, and so on — ^but he set out with spleen and
jaundice, and every object he passed was discolored or dis-
torted. He wrote an account of them but 'twas nothing
but the account of his miserable feelings. ' '

Sterne met this same Smelfungus on his way home ^^and
a sad tale of sorrowful adventures he had to tell, ' * wherein
he spoke of moving accidents by flood and field and of the
cannibals which each other eat; the Anthropophagi, — ^he
had been flay'd alive and bedeyiPd, and used worse than
St. Bartholomew at every stage he had come at —

^'I'lltellit,'' cried Smelfungus, '* to the world.*' **You
had better tell it,** said I, **to your physician.**

If the genial hmnorist could read certain books that have
appeared on South America, in which its people are tra-
duced and their country misrepresented to such an extent
as to provoke from them an indignant protest; if he could
read of the dangers from man and beast, that are recounted
at such length, and of the extraordinary adventures that
are described, but which never had any existence outside
the writers' fertile imaginations, he would, I think, be dis-
posed to reiterate for their behoof, the salutary advice he
gave Smelfxmgus.

Owing to the heavy mist that enveloped the ocean, I was
unable to get a view of the Polar Star until the second
night after leaving the equator. This was the first time I
had seen it for many months, and the first glimpse of it
was like meeting an old friend. I knew now that we had
left the southern hemisphere behind us. The Coal-sack and
the Magellanic Clouds are rapidly approaching the south-
ern horizon, and Achemar,Canopus and the Southern Cross,
that have so long been my joy at night, follow them pari
passu. The Great and the Little Bear rise up over our
prow, while

518

HOMEWARD BOUND

''The Charioteer
And starry Gemini hang like glorions crowns
Over Orion's grave low down in the west."

Yes, we are bound for Niflheim, the home of fogs and
frosts, but I am glad, for it is also my home, and, none
too soon can I reach it, though happy has been my year
in the land of flowers and sunshine.

As I have stated, my memories of South America are of
the pleasantest, but I should have noted one exception, and
it is an important one, although it concerns rather my
country than myself personally.

While admiring the marvelous resources of the lands
bordering the equator, and observing the enterprise of the
Germans, English, French, and Italians in every depart-
ment of industrial and mercantile activity, I could not but
be struck by the backwardness of the United States, where
trade opportunities are so exceptional and where there is
in Johnsonese phrase, **the potentiality of growing wealthy
beyond the dreams of avarice.^* For, outside of the flour-
ishing corporation of W. R. Grace & Company and a few
mines and railways, which are controlled by American
capital, the United States, so far as conamerce is concerned,
is deplorably inactive.

Not once, south of the Caribbean, did I ever see a single
steamer fly the stars and stripes, except an armored cruiser
in the harbor of Callao. All freight and passenger traflBc,
even that from the United States, is controlled by British
and European companies. Nowhere did I find an Amer-
ican bank. All financial transactions in South America
are in the hands of our conunercial competitors. The bulk
of the great annual trade prize, of more than $2,000,000,000,
goes to Great Britain and Europe. Our commerce with
Latin- America is gradually growing, it is true, but not by
any means at the rate it should, and the balance of trade
is still enormously against us.

This deplorable state of affairs is due, in part, to the
fact that our people are still ignorant of the marvelous re-

519

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

sources of onr sister republics and that they have not yet
learned of the great commercial and industrial awakening
that is to mark the beginning of a new era, not only in
South America but throughout the entire business world.

The cycle of domestic and foreign disturbances, that
have so long been a bar to social and economic progress, is
being succeeded by an age of law and order, of mercantile
enterprise and general prosperity. Militarism, that for
generations has kept the continent in a ferment, is making
way for commercialism, and for just government by the
people for the people. The ** stage of strife and discord,
of individual selfishness, of unrestrained ambition, of ir-
responsible power, ' ^ has had its day, and revolutionists and
dictators are everywhere being recognized as the greatest
foes of their respective countries, and their ambitious
schemes are, therefore, promptly suppressed.

Vexatious boundary disputes are now referred to arbi-
tration, while other controversies are settled through
diplomatic channels, quite as satisfactorily as among
European nations. And such settlements, it has been ob-
served, are always followed by a more rapid development
of domestic industry and foreign commerce. The foreign
trade of Argentina amounting to $700,000,000 and the com-
merce of the other republics aggregating a much larger
sum, all make strongly for peace, and inspire a feeling of
confidence among foreign investors that before was quite
unknown. Other important peace agencies are the frequent
Pan-American congresses, and, above all, the Pan-American
Union, whose headquarters are in Washington.

As a consequence of this immense change for the better,
immigration is pouring into certain sections of South
America at the rate of several hundred thousand a year,
and it will not be long until this beneficent wave shall have
spread over the entire continent. Foreign capital, in im-
mense amounts, is annually flowing into the greater num-
ber of the republics, where it is as fully safeguarded, and
where the returns from it are as gratifying, as they are

520

HOMEWARD BOUND

certain. That such is the case is evidenced by the untold
millions that European investors are annually placing in
the mines and railroads, and in the countless industries
that are springing up in every direction. It is shown by
the rapid growth of such cities as Rio Janeiro, which now
counts nearly a million inhabitants and Buenos Aires,
which is growing more rapidly than any metropolis in the
United States, except Chicago and New York, and which,
after Paris, is the largest Latin city in the world.

From present indications, the development of South
America will be as great during the twentieth century as
that of the United States during the nineteenth. England
sees this, Germany, France and Italy see it, and have shown
their faith in the future of the republics south of the Carib-
bean by investing not millions but billions for the develop-
ment of their exhaustless resources.^ Even far-off Japan
sees it, and, to make sure of her share of the rapidly in-
creasing trade of this newly-awakened continent, which has
more than two and a half times the area of the United
States, she has established a line of steamers between the
ports of Nippon and those of western Latin-America.
James G. Blaine, that gifted, resourceful organizer of the
first Pan-American Congress, who was able to project the
historian's knowledge into the statesman's comprehension
of the future, saw it, and left nothing undone to render
his hopes a reality. Roosevelt and Root saw it when they
championed ship subsidies in order to meet similar sub-
sidies paid by the principal maritime nations of the world
to enable our commercial competitors to operate their
steamship lines at a profit.*

1 It is estimated that more than $800^000,000 of American capital is now
invested in Mexico. There is still room in South America, in places where
securities are gilt-edged, for many times this amount.

^The total amount of the subsidies annually paid by our commercial com-
petitors to their steamship lines is about $29,000,000, a large part of which
goes to the lines engaged in South American trade. Obyiously the only
way for the United States, in the face of such conditions to secure her share
of traffic, is to have her own lines of steamers and meet subsidy by subsidy

521

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

Mr. Boot observes with truth that **We are living in a
world not of natural but of subsidized competition. State
aid to steamship lines is as much a part of the commercial
system of our day as state employment of consuls to pro-
mote business.^*

President Eoosevelt in his message to Congress in
November, 1905, declared that **To the spread of our
trade in peace and the defense of our flag in war a great
and prosperous merchant marine is indispensable. We
should have ships of our own and seamen of our own to
convey our goods to neutral markets, and in case of need
to reinforce our battle line. It cannot but be a source of
regret and uneasiness to us that the lines of conmiunication
with our sister republics of South America should be
chiefly under foreign control. It is not a good thing that
American merchants and manufacturers should have to
send their goods and letters via Europe if they wish security
and dispatch.*^ ^

But, in order that the United States may act a becoming
role in the great conmiercial and industrial movements that
have been inaugurated in South America, in order that she
may secure proper representation in the great enterprises
that are so rapidly multiplying in every sphere of material
development, in order that she may exert the influence and
enjoy the prestige that comports with her position among
the great nations of the world, it is not sufficient that she
have well-organized banks in all the great cities, and fast,
commodious steamers to all the principal ports. These
agencies, necessary as they are, must be followed up by
cultivating intimacy and friendship with our Latin- Amer-
ican neighbors, if we would successfully overcome the handi-
cap due to differences of lineage and language. Our inter-
course with them must be more frequent, our knowledge
of their manners and customs and traditions must be more
complete, our understanding of their wants and methods

1 Presidential Addressee and State Papers, Part IV, p. 623-24. Gf. also
Part V, p. 1109 et seq. and 1120 et seq.

522

HOMEWARD BOUND

of transacting business more perfect, while at the same time
a mutnal sympathy between the Spanish- American and the
'Anglo-American must be cultivated that shall be in the
language of Blaine, **as broad as both continents/'

Mr. Eoot, in his memorable journey to South America in
1906, did more to remove the suspicions and apprehensions
that have long been entertained in certain parts of the
southern continent about the Ta/nkee Peril and the Yankee
Colossus than could have been accomplished by half a
century of diplomacy. He effectually dispelled the idea, so
long prevalent in South America, that **our assertion of
the Monroe Doctrine implied or carried with it an assump-
tion of superiority and of a right to exercise some kind of
protectorate over the countries to whose territory the
doctrine applies. * * In stirring words, that should be graven
on tablets of gold in every legislative hall in the Pan-
American Union, he assured the delegates assembled at the
third conference held at Rio Janeiro that **We wish for
no victories but those of peace; for no territory except
our own, for no sovereignty except the sovereignty over
ourselves. We deem the independence and equal rights of
the smallest and weakest member of the family of nations
entitled to as much respect as those of the greatest empire,
and we deem the observance of that respect the chief
guaranty against the oppression of the strong. We neither
claim nor desire any rights or privileges or powers that we
do not freely concede to every American republic. We
wish to increase our prosperity, to extend our trade, to
grow in wealth, in wisdom, and in spirit, but our concep-
tion of the true way to accomplish this is not to pull down
others and profit by their ruin, but to help all friends to a
common prosperity and a common growth, that we may all
become greater and stronger together. * * •

Shortly after his return to the United States, in a notable
address before the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress,
on Gommercidl Relations luith South America, Mr. Root
made an equally important pronouncement for the en-

523

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

lightenment and guidance of our people respecting the re-
sources and inhabitants of our sister continent, in which,
among other things, he stated, in words which should never
be forgotten by our merchants or government officials, that
* * The material resources of South America are in some im-
portant respects complementary to our own; that conti-
nent is weakest where North America is strongest as a field
for manufacturers ; it has comparatively little coal or iron.
In many respects the people of the two continents are
complementary to each other ; the South American is polite,
refined, cultivated, fond of literature and of expression
and of the graces and the charms of life, while the North
American is strenuous, intense, utilitarian. Where we ac-
cumulate, they spend. While we have less of the cheerful
philosophy which finds sources of happiness in the existing
conditions of life, they have less of the inventive faculty
which strives continually to increase the productive power
of man and lower the cost of manufacture. The chief
merits of the peoples of the two continents are different,
their chief defects are different. Mutual intercourse and
knowledge can not fail to greatly benefit both. Each can
learn from the other; each can teach much to the other,
and each can contribute greatly to the development and
prosperity of the other. A large part of their products
find no domestic competition here ; a large part of our prod-
ucts will find no domestic competition there. The typical
conditions exist for that kind of trade which is profitable,
honorable and beneficial to both parties. ' '

No statements could have been more timely or could ex-
press more clearly what should be the attitude of our coun-
try towards the republics of South America than the two
just quoted. In these President Boosevelt's brilliant am-
bassador of peace to the southern continent has indicated
how the different nations of the western hemisphere can
advance one another's interests without jeopardizing their
own, how the prosperity and happiness of each can be
furthered by all working in unity and harmony.

524

HOMEWARD BOUND

This is the psychological moment for the XJmted States
to be up and doing; the time for her to grasp the golden
opportunities that now present themselves in every de-
partment of hnman endeavor, and to secure those points
of vantage in the great centers of trade and industry that
are so essential for her success in the future.

We are no longer the debtor nation that we have been
for so many decades. Our foreign obligations have been
met and we are now in a position to invest a portion of our
rapidly accumulating surplus outside of our own country.
Nowhere shall we find a better outlet for excess capital than
in South America. Everywhere there are electric and
steam railways to be built, telegraph and telephone systems
to be inaugurated, water and electric power plants to be
erected, factories and docks to be constructed, agricultural
and stock-raising enterprises to be developed, mines of
iron and copper and tin, of silver, gold and diamonds to be
exploited, and other industries, too numerous to mention,
but certain to yield good dividends, to be financed. And
lastly, but probably the most important undertaking of all,
there is the great Pan-American railroad — that matchless
thoroughfare — ^to be completed, which is to unite the two
continents by bands of steel and make it possible for one
to travel in a Pullman car from New York to Buenos Aires.

Merchants and capitalists cannot begin too soon their
campaign to secure their share of the enormous and rapidly
growing trade of South America. They should be prepared
in time by the establishment of banks, and mercantile
houses and fast steamship lines to reap all the advantages
that will accrue to them from the opening of the Panama
Canal, which is destined to revolutionize the trade routes
of the world and put the Pacific coast of South America
within easy reax^h of our Atlantic and Gulf ports. If our
merchants and bankers were to exhibit a tithe of the enter-
prise and perseverance and diplomacy which have made the
Germans so prominent in every one of the South American
republics, if our statesmen were to display the wisdom and

525

ALONG THE ANDES AND DOWN THE AMAZON

initiative and foresight of Bismarck and William 11, who
have built up a merchant-marine that is nnrivaled, and ex-
tended the commerce of the VaterUmd to every comer of
the globe, we could entertain the hope of being able to
retrieve the losses we have sn£fered by having onr trade
carried in foreign bottoms, and of regaining the prestige
that was ours when the stars and stripes fluttered on every
sea, and when our ships carried over ninety per cent, of our
export trade, instead of the insignificant nine per cent, which
it carries to-day.

It was a year, abnost to the hour, from the time I left
home until I caught the first glimpse of the Statue of
Liberty in New York harbor, on my return from the land
of pahns and perpetual summer. I had visited all the lands,
and more, which I purposed seeing on setting out on my
long journey through the tmtraveled and little known re-
gions bordering the equator. And without haste and with-
out difficulty, I had been able to make it in the time I had
allowed myself before my departure. I left home as an
invalid seeking health and recreation. I fotmd both, and
returned to my own with health restored and with a greater
capacity for work than I had known for years. Naturally
I was gratified with my success — gratified not only that
I had accomplished what I had set out to do in a given time,
but gratified also that I had thereby proved that one may
traverse even the wildest and least populated parts of
South America with comparative ease and comfort.

But much as I had enjoyed every hour of my Wandertage,
happy as I had always been in the contemplation of the sub-
lime and the beautiful on Andean heights and in Amazonian
plains, grateful as were the babny breezes and delicate per-
fumes of the equinoctial regions, where at times I fancied
I would fain tarry forever, still I was never so delighted
to return to the land of my birth as on this occasion.

As at the time of my departure a twelvemonth before,
so now also was New York in the grip of the Frost King,
and all nature seemed to be dead. But the contrast with

526

HOMEWARD BOXJND

all I had left behind me but two weeks previously appealed
to me in a singular manner, and made me realize, as never
before how pleasurable is the recurrent change of seasons
in our northern latitudes as compared with the uniformity
of climate in the tropics which, in spite of the splendid
luxuriance and endless variety of plant-life, becomes at
tunes so monotonous as to be almost oppressive. The leaf-
less trees and the snow-covered ground possessed for me
tmwonted beauty; the arctic blasts that lashed the ocean
into foam, gave forth a music which, until then, I had never
recognized. And as I stood forward on the upper deck,
while we were steaming into the great city ^s harbor, where
loving hearts were awaiting me, I was minded of Petrarch's
return home, after a long absence, and of his noble apos-
trophe to his country, so apt now to express my own
sentiments :

''Hail, land beloved of Ood, 0 holiest, hail!
To good men safe, a menace to the proud;
Land of the great, the shores more gracious far,
More rich of soil, more beautiful than all ;
Qirt with twin seas, famed for thy gleaming mount,
Of arms and peaceful laws the holy shrine;
Pierian home, with wealth of gold and men,
Nature and art united on thee pour
Their gifts, making thee mistress of the world.
To thee at last I yearningly return,
Still, still thy citizen.

Thee, fatherland, I own and greet with joy,
Hail, beauteous Mother, pride of nations, hail I

527

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534

INDEX

Acona, Padre, strange silence of,
r^farding the Franciscan explo-
rations of the Amazon, 481;
teratological extravagances of,
482

Agoirre, Lope de, extraordinary
character of expedition of, 475;
first European to reach the Ori-
noco from the Amazon by way
of the Cassiquiare, 476, 477;
tragic death of himself and
daughter, 478, 479

Alvarado, Alonzo de, one of the
most humane of the conquista-
dores, 470

Amazon river, 463 et seq,; immen-
sity of, 464; annual inundations
of, 465; divers names of, 466J
468; source of, as recently deter-
mined by Dr. Sievers, 466; a
fresh water ocean with an archi-
pelago of islands, 492, 493; ero-
sive action of, 498; mouth of,
513

Amazon valley, upper, present con-
dition of, but little changed since
Orellana's time, 485; decrease in
population of, 486; offers room
for explorers for ages to come,
487; varzeas of, 492; igarapes of,
493; wonderful variety of palms
in, 493; Indian villages in, 494;
meteorological phenomena in, and

temperature of, 497, 498; variety
of valuable woods in and slight
importation from, 500, 501; se-
ringueiro huts in, 504; remark-
able fertility and future prosper-
ity of, 508, 509; sanitation of,
509, 511

Amazonia province, complex popu-
lation of, 502

Amazons, female warriors, described
by the early chroniclers, 481;
Padre Acufia on, 482

Ambato, markets and fairs of, 82

America, North and South, compli-
mentary, 524

Americans, meaning of word in
South America, 99

Andenes, description of, 129

Andes, appearance of, 123; Pres-
cott's error regarding, 124; re-
stricted meaning of word, 168

Apachitas, origin and significance
of, 366, 368

Arequipa, city of, 143 et seq.; hos-
pitality of people of, 143; schools
and scholars of, 144, 145

Atahualpa, ransom-house of, 334;
prison of, 335; execution of, 335
et seq,; character of, 338

Atienza, Ines de, tragic death of,
469, 470

Aymara, Indians, 166 et seq,; a
love song of, 176; as distin-
guished from the Quichuas, 202

535

INDEX

Bananas, abondanoe and variety of,

in tropics, 495
Bats, blood-sacking, 377, 378
Bellacazar, Sebastian, achievements
of, 54, 70; remarkable interview
of, with Alvarado and Aknagro,
71, 72; his qnest of El Dorado,
98
Branl-nnt tree, size of, 465
Brieva, Fray Domingo, achieve-
ments of, as an explorer of the
Amazon, 477, 478, 480, 481
Butterflies, large and beautiful, 387 ;
mimicry and extraordinary num-
ber of species of, in tropics, 388

Cacao, barometer of Ecuador's com-
mercial standing, 61
Cajamarca, delightful location of,

314, 315; charming people in,

315, 316; tragedy of, 335 et seq.,

Canal between the Atlantic and the
Pacific, 14; Gomara and Acosta
on, 14, 15; estimate of, oy Hum-
boldt, 16; Goethe's prophetic view
of, 17; and President Roosevelt,
12, 19; earthquakes along, 20;
sanitation of, 21, 24

Canal Zone, salubrity of, 24; equa-
ble temperature of, 24; earth-
quakes in, 20

Capac, Manco, first appearance of,
156-159

Gargneros, strength of, 403

Carvajal, Fray Gaspar de, chaplain
of Orellana (discoverer of the
Amazon), and chronicler of the
expedition, 472; his account of

Orellana's wonderful achieve-
ment, 473, 474
Casa Grande, great sugar planta-
tion of, 289 et $eq,
Celendin, town of, 354, 350; Man-
ama hats" of, 350
Chachapoyas, location and prefect

of, 371, 372
Chagres river, floods of, 6
Chicama valley, fertility and cli-
mate of, 290, 291
Chimborazo, view of, 69; first as-
cent of, 70; experioice at base
of, 80, 81, as seen from Guaya-
quil, 109, 110
Chimu, the Great, 265 et seq.; ruins
of, 272; huacas in, and their con-
tents, 273, 274; beautiful pottery
of, 274; concealed treasures in,
275, 278; antiquity of, 278, 279;
questions suggested by, 279 et seq.
Chuno, as article of food, 202, 206
Chupe, preparation of, 202
Cicada, a remarkable species of, 381
Clara, Santa, island of, 44, 45
Cloud effects in Andes, beauty of,

299, 375, 376
Coast, rainless, of Peru and Chile,
119, 120; explanation of, 121,
122; irrigation in, 123
Coca, Erjrthroxylon, cultivation and
use of, 177 et seq.; Acosta on,
179; remarkable properties of,
180, 183; as an aliment, 206; as
an ansBsthetic, 206, 207
Colon, town of, described, 3-5
Columbus, Christopher, and the ^Se-
cret of the Strait," 12; ports on
Caribbean named after, 12
Conquistadores, motives of, in their
campaigns, 454, 455; patriotism
and love of glory of , 455
Contumaz&, town of, 305

536

INDEX

Copacabana, sanetnaiy of, 160, 169
Cordilleras, the, as seen from the
river Guayas, 47, 48; significance
of word, 168, 302; all^ped low
temperature of, 312; temperature
of at Ponarpishgo-gaaynna, 352;
beautiful view in, 365, 366; tem-
perature at Calla-Calla, 368
Corporation, Peruvian, railroads of,

127 et seq.
Cortes, Hernando, first to propose a
canal between the Atlantic and
the Pacific, 14
Costa, La, meaning of term, 301
Cotopaad, volcano of, 85; eruptions
of, 85 et seq.; catastrophes caused
by, 86, 88; view of, 90, 91, 96, 97
Couriers, Inca, fleetness of, 214
Current, Humboldt, effects of, 122,

123
Cuzco, city of, 216 et seq,; another
Rome, 216, 217, 220, 238, 241;
former social and political impor-
tance of, 217; cathedral of, 218;
famous churches of, 218, 219;
temple of the Sun, riches of, 219;
fortress of, 225, 228; view from,
237, 238; former and present
population of, 239, 241; future
of, 240, 241

Dugout, Indian, description of, and
crew of, 423, 425

of Humboldt current on, 42, 43;
short twilight at, 40

Era, new, dawn of, in South Amer-
ica, 520

Escort, my, tribute to, 491

Fauna, in tropical forests, incon-
spicuousness of, 410, 411; errors
regarding, 411, 413

Firefiies, remarkable, 308

Fish, extraordinary number of spe-
cies of, in the Amazon, 506

Fish, flying, 43

Flor, la, del Espiritu Santo, 8

Floral exhibitions in the tropics,
358, 370, 383, 408, 433, 434;
comparative rarity of, 409, 410

Forest, the tropical, peculiaritiee of,
398 et seq,; gloom and silence in,
414; extraordinary numbers and
variety of plant species of, 415;
tragedies in, 416; struggle for ex-
istence in, 416-418; processes of
flower fertilization in, 419; at-
tractions of, 418-420

Franciscans, the, labors of, among
the Indians, 327; as explorers
and colonizers, 458, 477 et seq,;
momentous results which followed
their voyages up and down the
Amazon, 480 et seq.

Fritz, Padre, and his labors, 459

Earthquakes in the Canal Zone, 20; Garua, cause of, 122; peculiar phe-

in Ecuador, 51, 76, 77; at Are-
quipa, 147, 148
Equator, crossing the, 38-43; low
temperature of on west eoast of
South America, 42, 43; influence

nomenon of, 129
Godin, Madame, adventures of, on
the Napo and the Amazon, 483
et seq,; awful experiences of, in
the wilderness, 484, 485

537

INDEX

QoTgBBf C6L, on sanitation of the
Canal Zone, 21-23

Guano, how produced, and value
of, 135, 136; Inca legislation re-
garding, 137

Ouayaquil, city of, 49 ei 8eq,; com-
mercial importance of, 53; un-
sanitary condition of, 52 et $eq,;
foundation of, 54; Ghiayaquil and
Quito Railway, 56 et aeq.

Huallaga, river, steamers on, 439;
Indian missions along, 440 et eeq,

Humboldt, Alexander, on the Isth-
mian Canal, 16, 20

Humming birds, 387

Incas, cradle of, 152; wealth of,
220, 223; wise men among, 231;
chronicles of, 231, 232; language
and literature of, 232 ei $eq.;
acequias of, 290, 293-295; civili-
zation of, 339 et eeq,; distin-
guished descendants of, 344; an
Inca musician, 263, 264

Indians of Ecuador, character of,
94, 95; of Bolivia, honesty of,
166, 167; at arrival of Spaniards,
conquistador's statement concern-
ing, 167; trustworthiness of, 316,
317; family of, in Sierra, 335,
336; gratitude of, 380; boatm^
of, 425; home of, on the Parana-
pura, 426, 428 ; effect of kindness
on, 427; simple life and love of
freedom of, 429 et seq,; charac-
teristics of, 431, 432; amalgama-
tion of, with Europeans, 445, 446;
Raynal on civilization of mission,
446; legislation in favor of, in

Spanish America, 448 ei eeq.;
why this legislation was not al-
ways effective, 449, 450; the con-
version of, a predominant motive
of the Spaniards in their con-
quests, 454; Eingsley on the de-
scendants of, and Europeans, 456;
distinguished half-castes, 457

Investment, opportunities for, in
South America, 521, 526

Iquitos, importance of, as a eom-
merdal center in the upper Ama-
zon region, 488-490; cosmopoli-
tan character of people of, 490

Irrigation in Peru, 123, 139, 141,
294

Jew, A Wandering, 502, 503, 507,
508

Latacunga, description of, 85; fre-
quent destruction of, by eartli-
quakes, 85; drawbacks of, 91

League, as unit of distance in South
America, 300, 301

Leymebamba, reception at, 369, 370

Liight, zodiacal, near equator, 126,
127

Lima, city of, 242 et eeq.; founda-
tioa of, by Pizarro, 244, 245;
plaza mayor of, 246; cathedral
of, 247; other churches of, 251,
252; saints of, 252; as a center
of learning and culture, 254 et
eeq.; learned societies, museum
and library of, 256-261

Llamas, as described by Peter Mar-
tyr, 65; value of, 176; burdens
carried by, 177

Lumber, shipment of, from the

538

INDEX

United States to the Amazon val-
ley, and .the peculiar reason for
it, 499, SOI

Madeira riveri prospective impor-
tance of, as fluvial highway, 501,
502

Maiioe, tri-annual crops of, 385;
worshiped by ancient Peruvians,
495

Man, antiquity of, in Peru, 285 et
seq.

Manaos, city of, 491, 498; impor-
tance of, as a rubber emporium,
499

Manioc, meat and drink of natives
of equatorial regions, 495

Maranon, first view of, 357^ 358;
experience near, 359 et aeq.; scen-
ery along, 361

Matachin, meaning of name, 9

Medanos, form and peculiaritiee of,
141

Melgar, Mariano, yaravies of, 144,
145

Mines, silver and gold, in Bolivia
and Peru, 183, 184

Missionaries among Indians, as por-
trayed by the poet Southey, 442;
authors under peculiar dif&culties,
442; their forest homes and their
spirit of sacrifice, 443, 444; ac-
complish what nmther Inca nor
Spanish arms were competent to
achieve, 445; love of, for their
neophites, 446, 447; missionary
explorers, chroniclers and map-
makers, 458 et seq,; antedate by
centuries the labors of modem ex-
plorers, 460; value of their books
and manuscripts, 461

Missions, Indian, along the Hualla-

ga, 440 et aeq.; dif&culties of, by
reason of the numerous and per-
plexing languages and dialects of
the aborigines, 441, 442; and by
reason of the manner of life of
the natives and the machinations
of their medicine men, 443, 444;
homes of peaceful and happy
Indians, and centers where flour-
ished the arts of civilized life,
444, 445; suppressed by Charles
in, 451, 452; present languishing
condition of, 452, 453

Misti, Mount, beauty of, and rav-
ages caused by, 147, 148

MoUendo, roadstead of, 138, 139

Montana, meaning of word, 301;
roads in, 372, 373; fertility of,
391

Monte Alegre, beauty of, as seen
from the Amazon, 504, 505

Montesinos, Fernando de, chronol-
ogy of, 194; on ancestors of
Peruvians, 228, 229; on ancient
Peruvian alphabet, 231, 232, 282

Moreno, Garcia, achievements of,
56, 57; highway constructed by,
93, 94; inaugurates railroads,
106; founder of schools and col-
leges, 106; great astronomical ob-
servatory of, 107; character, ca-
reer and tragic death of, 107, 108

Morgan, Henry, at Venta Cruz, 10

Nombre de Dios, once ''The Treas-
ure House of the World," 2

Nunez de Balboa, Yasco, discoverer
of the South Sea, 1 et seq,; route
across Isthmus of Panama, 2;
discoverer of the Pearl islands of
the South Sea, 30; takes posses-
sion of the Pacific, 32, 35

539

INDEX

Obeenratory, astronomical, of QoitOy
106, 107; at Arequipa, 146

Ocllo, Mama, qoestions regarding;
157-n69

Orchids, abundance and beauty of,
358, 370

Orellana, Francisco de, the discov-
erer of the Amazon, 470 et aeq.;
not disloyal to his chief, (lonzalo
Pizarro, 474

Panama, city of, 25-28; old wall,
coast of, 26; cosmopolitan char-
acter of, 26; future importance
of, 28

Panama, Isthmus of, rich in histori-
cal associations, 1 et aeq.; visited
by Columbus and other early ex-
plorers, 1 et aeq.

Panama, Old, 27-30; once grandest
metropolis of the South Seas, 29

Panama railway, scenery along, 6, 7

Panoramas, magnificent, in the
Andes, 164, 165, 358, 365, 366,
375, 376, 378, 408

Par&, attractions and importance
of, 506 et aeq,; future of, 511,
512

Paranapura river, scenery along,
422 et aeq,; Indians along, 426 et
aeq,

Payta, present and past condition
of, 115; prospects of, 116; con-
templated railroad from, to the
Amazon, 116, 119

Paz, La, view of, 173; population
of, 174 et aeq,; culture and hos-
pitality of inhabitants of, 185-
189

Pizarro, Francisco, at Gallo Island,

36-38; burial place of, 247, 248;
Southey on, 248; character of,
248, 251; cities founded by, 250;
capture and execution of Ata-
hualpa by, 335-337; not the mer-
oenaiy character so frequently de-
picted, 454

Pizarro, Gonzalo, goes in quest of
the Land of Cinnamon, 472; not
deserted or betrayed by OreHana,
as usually supposed, 474

Plantains, abundance and divers
species of, 495

Plateau of Ecuador, barrenness of,
82 et aeq,

Porto Bello, former important port
on Caribbean, 2

Potosf, marvelous silver mines of,
183, 184

Puchero and other Peruvian dishes,
350, 351

Puna, island of, 45, 46

Puna, elevated tableland of Vem
and Bolivia, 150

Quichua Indians, as distinguished
from the Ayamaras, 202

Quichua language, origin of, 284;
by if^om spoken, 229, 384; al-
leged relationship of, with Old
World languages, 285; literature
of, 232 et aeq,

Quito, description of, 100 et aeq.;
former isolated condition of, 101;
beauty of, 102; education in, 103,
104; astronomical observatory of,
104, 105

Railway, Oroya, trip on, 127 et
aeq,; highest in the world, 151

540

INDEX

Rainbow, saperstitions regarding. Sodium nitrate, deposits and value

297,298

Rains, tropical suddenness of, 400;
abundance of, 402, 403, 405

Relations, closer, between North and
South America, necessity of culti-
vating, 522, 525

Resources, natural of South Amer-
ica, and future possibilities of,
519 et seq,

Rio Negro, origin of name, 499

Riobamba, account of, 73, 74; view
from, 74) 75

Rioja, chief industry of, 382, 383;
abundance and variety of fruits
of, 383; equable climate of, 384

Roads, Inca, 96, 317 et seq.; fictions
regarding, 326

Roosevelt, President, and the Pan-
ama Canal, 19; on the sanitation
of the Panama Canal, 22; inter-
est of Peruvians in, 437; cham-
pion of ship subsidy, 521; on
development of our merchant ma-
rine, 522; on necessity of culti-
vating closer relations with South
America, 524

Rubber industry, in Iquitos, 488,
490; at Manaos, 499; in Bolivia,
502

Sacsahuaman, fortress of, 225, 228

Sanitation of the Canal Zone, 21,

23; of Guayaquil, 52, 54; of

the Amazon valley, 509, 511

Scientists, Oerman, achievements

of, in Ecuador, 60, 61
Ship subsidy, necessity of, for se-
curity of South American trade,
521, 522
Sierra, meaning of word, 301
Sillustani, necropolis of, 199, 200

of, 142

Soroche, effects of, 132, 134; cause
of, 133, 134, 149, 150

Steamship Company, Peruvian,
splendid vessels of, 135

Soul, the lost, story of, 435, 436

Stars, superstitions regarding,
among the Incas, 164

'Strait, Secret of the,'' and Chris-
topher Columbus, 12; and Her-
nando Cortes, 13

Sugar cane, in Ecuador, 61; in
Peru, 290 et seq.

Sumaumeria, forest monarch of
tropics, 465

Sun, Children of, 209, 210 ; favorite
resort of, 213; achievements of,
228 et seq.; hope of, 240; com-
munism of, 343; music of, 233,
364

Tambo Mayo, pueblo of, 349, 351

Tapajos and Rio de la Plata, con-
tiguous rources of, 505

Temperature, low on the highlands
of Ecuador, 65 et aeq.; experience
of Alvarado's soldiers with, 67,
69; in lowlands along equator,
424

Termites, colonies of, 389; marvel-
ous activity and organization of,
390

Texeira, Captain Pedro, vo3rage of,
up and down the Amazon, 439 et
seq,; importance of to the Portu-
guese, 480

Thomas, St., legends regarding, 170,
192

Tiahuanaco, ruins of, 189 et seq,;
legends concerning, 191, 192; an-
tiquity of, 193, 197

541

INDEX

l^ticaea lake, deeoription of, 151 et
aeq.; fish in, 154, 155; legends
and traditions concerning, 155 et
aeq,; early printing-press on shore
of, 182; moonlight excursion on,
162, 164; view of Cordillora
from, 165

Toribio, Santo, Apostle of Pern,
253

Travel in tropics, safety and com-
parative ease of, 515, 516; equip-
ment for, and hygienic precau-
tions necessary, 516, 517

Travelers' tales regarding tropics,
225, 312, 413, 518

Trephining among Indians of Peru
and Bolivia, 206, 207

Trujillo, former gloiy of, 270; fes-
tivities in, 251, 252

Tumbez, at time of. conquistadores
and to-day, 114

on Island of Puna, 46; and Atsr
hualpa, 334
Varzeas of the Amazon, 492
Vegetation, tropical, surpassing in-
terest of, 496
Venta Cruz, visited by pirates and

buccaneers, 10
Vilcamayo, river, source of, 202, 203
Virgins of the Sun, temple of, in
Cuzco, 223; tmnple of, in Caja-
marca, 328; true character and
occupations of, 329 et eeq.; Polo
de Ondedargo on, 332, 333
Volcanoes of Ecuador, 75 et eeq.;
ejection of fish from, Humboldt
on, 88, 90

Wafer, Lionel,
Panama, 8

on monkeys of

University of San Marcos, when

founded, 254
Urcos, lake, reputed treasures in,

211, 212

Yankee peril. Secretary Root on,
523

Turimaguas, head of steam naviga-
tion on the Huallaga, 438

Valverde, Vicente, Bishop, death of,

Zodiacal light. See Light, zodiacal
Zone, canal. See Canal Zone

(2)

542

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