CHAPTER XI.

PUNO AND LAKE TITICACA.--COCA AND ITS PROPERTIES.--THE LLAMA AND HIS KINDRED.--EXCURSION TO THE SACRED ISLAND OF THE INCAS.

Puno is not an attractive spot. Lying at a great elevation, it has a cool climate, and its inhabitants pass a good part of the time in trying to keep warm. There are no trees in the neighborhood; before the opening of the railway the only fuel was the dried dung of llamas and other animals, and a small shrub known as tola. The nights are always cold, the thermometer sometimes descending fifteen degrees below the freezing-point, and even touching zero; people retire to bed very early, and remain there till after sunrise, as the best means of escaping the cold. Frank and Fred were obliged to follow the local custom, in spite of their overcoats and rugs. Notwithstanding the severe temperature of the place, the means of warming the houses do not receive much attention. Since the railway came, and rendered it possible to have coal, a few stoves have been set up, but they are not in general use.

Nine tenths of the five thousand inhabitants of Puno are of the native races; the Aymaraes occupy the southern part of the town, and the Quichuas the northern, the former being the most numerous. The rest, which includes the wealthier and more intelligent fraction of the population, is made up of people of Spanish descent, a few German and English merchants, and two or three American _attaches_ of the railway. Puno owed its origin to the rich silver mines in the neighborhood, which were discovered and operated about two hundred years ago. A romantic story is told concerning these mines, and the romance is by no means free from tragedy.

Jose de Salcedo, a Spaniard, was in love with an Indian girl, and was beloved in return. She revealed to him the secret of the mines, and he worked them with enormous profit; his wealth attracted the attention of the royal officers, who found a pretext for arresting him, and taking him to Lima. He was condemned to death, and his property was confiscated to the government, which meant that the officials expected to transfer his wealth to their own pockets. Salcedo offered to pay a thousand marks of silver a day if they would wait until he could appeal to the king, but his offer was refused.

He was executed in the public square at Lima, and the governors proceeded to take possession of his property. He was well liked by the tribe to which his Indian maiden belonged, and as soon as the natives heard what had been done they stopped the drains of the mines, and flooded them with water. There is now a small lake over the entrance of the mine, and the Indians have ever since refused to give any information concerning the extent of the deposit, or the direction of the veins. These people will keep a secret with the utmost fidelity; torture cannot wring it from them, and they are indifferent to bribes or any other inducement. At the present time they know of rich deposits of silver in various parts of the country, but absolutely refuse to give any information concerning them.

"The Cathedral of Puno," said Fred, in his note-book, "is the most elevated building of its size in the world. It was begun in 1757, and is an imposing structure, with a specially handsome front; it is at one side of the grand plaza, where every morning is held the market for the sale of provisions. We visited the market the morning after our arrival, and were greatly interested in what we saw and learned there.

"Most of the sales are managed by women, who sit on the ground in rows stretching away from the fountain in the centre of the plaza, each with little heaps of dried potatoes, fish, _charqui_ (dried beef), peppers, beans, pease, maize, barley, and similar things for sale. Each heap has a price fixed for it, and the rise and fall of the market are regulated by the size of the heap, the price remaining the same. Pease, beans, and pepper come from the coast, as they do not grow at the altitude of Puno; flour is too dear to be used by the lower classes, though it has fallen somewhat since the opening of the railway. Beans and pease must be reduced to powder before cooking, at this altitude, and potatoes are frozen, and then dried and pulverized, like the beans and pease.

"We were guided through the market by one of the English-speaking residents, who called our attention to coca, which was sold as an article of food, in the form of dried leaves. We had already seen the leaves, and heard of their qualities, but this was the first time we had seen them for sale at the side of the usual articles for supplying the table. Our informant said that coca possessed wonderful properties; I will give his words as nearly as I can remember them:

"'Coca is the dried leaf of the shrub _erythroxylon_, and is called _cuca_ by the natives. It grows in the mountainous parts of Peru and Bolivia, at elevations varying from two to six thousand feet, and is a shrub or small tree about six feet high. Its leaves are gathered, and dried in the sun, and are chewed with a little quicklime, in much the same way that the natives of India and the Malay regions chew the leaf of the betel or areca palm, and certain Americans chew tobacco. Its effect is narcotic and stimulating, and the most remarkable stories are told of the endurance of the people who use it.

"A Peruvian or Bolivian Indian will travel for days without any sign of weariness, with only a small supply of coca and some dried maize; he chews the coca while walking, and it really seems to be his chief reliance. He will work or travel for twenty or thirty hours continuously, without sleep or rest, if he is allowed plenty of coca; Indians have been known to travel seventy miles a day for three days with no other sustenance than this article. In the silver mines, where the employers feed their laborers, they limit the quantity of other supplies, but give the Indians all the coca they want.'

"I asked if there were no unpleasant after-effects from the use of this drug, as in the case of opium and other narcotics.

"'Unhappily there are,' was the reply, 'but they are usually less serious than in the case of opium. Sometimes the habit increases to such a degree that the stomach cannot retain other food, and there is a constant craving for coca. The system cannot be sustained by this stimulant alone; the victim is reduced to a skeleton, becomes feverish and restless, and ultimately dies in consequence of his passion. But, as far as I have been able to learn since my residence in the country, the deaths from coca are not near as numerous, in proportion to those who use it, as those from opium, in China and other parts of the far East?

"Dr. Bronson said that an extract or alkaloid of coca, called cocaine, had recently come into use in Europe and America as an anaesthetic, for operations on the eye, and other sensitive parts of the human organization. The patient is fully conscious of what is going on, but does not experience the least pain. Its properties as a local anaesthetic were discovered in 1884, by Dr. Koller, of Vienna; and it is freely used by oculists in New York and elsewhere. It is a very costly substance, being worth some hundreds of dollars an ounce, but the quantity used for paralyzing the nerves of the eye during an operation is surprisingly small. One or two drops of a solution containing from two to four per cent. of cocaine are generally sufficient for a short operation, and twice or three times that quantity, at intervals of five or ten minutes, for a longer one.

"Thirty million pounds of coca are annually consumed in South America. The finest is grown in the Yungas district, in Bolivia, where it is cultivated somewhat as tea is cultivated in China. Its properties were known to the ancient Peruvians, and it was used in their religious ceremonies; it received divine honors, and under some of the Incas its use was reserved for the nobility. Even at this day the Indians sometimes put coca in the mouths of their dead, just as the ancient Greeks placed an obolus in the mouth of a corpse to insure its ferriage over the Styx. The miners of Peru throw quids of coca against the veins of silver, under the belief that it causes them to be more easily worked.

"So much for coca. Another curiosity of Puno is the large number of llamas we see in the streets, either running at large or used as beasts of burden. The llama, guanaco, alpaca, and vicuna were 'the four sheep of the Incas,' according to Professor Orton; the first clothing the common people, the second the nobles, the third the royal governors, and the fourth the Incas. Llamas and alpacas are domesticated; guanacos and vicunas are wild. They all go in flocks, and, in their wild state, one of their number always keeps watch; if danger threatens he stamps his feet, and gives the alarm, and it must be a very swift pursuer that can overtake them.

"The four animals belong to the same family, and some naturalists say the llama is nothing more than the domesticated guanaco. The llama is found all through South America, from northern Peru to the Strait of Magellan; it has been well described as having the head of a camel, the body of a deer, the wool of a sheep, and the neigh of a horse. It prefers a cold climate to a warm one; in the torrid zone it lives at a high elevation, while on the cool plains of Patagonia, near the level of the sea, it is found in great numbers. In Patagonia it is not domesticated, but in Peru, Bolivia, and Chili it is used as a beast of burden; it is about three feet high at the shoulder, and its head five feet when the animal stands erect. It can carry a burden of not more than a hundred pounds, lives on very scanty food, endures cold without suffering, and requires no drink as long as it can find succulent herbage. The pens where the animals are shut up at night have no shelter against the cold winds, which they do not mind in the least, and they are said to require very little care from one year's end to another.

"Those that we saw in the streets seemed to have things their own way, and to be indifferent to the presence of men; but when we tried to approach one he refused our acquaintance and walked away. When angry the llama stamps his feet, and ejects a saliva that causes a burning sensation if it falls on the unprotected skin; we did not care to make the experiment, and therefore refrained from irritating one of the animals.

"The alpaca is not used as a beast of burden, but is reared for its wool flesh, and skin, especially the former. You know that the alpaca wool is fine; so is that of the vicuna, which closely resembles the alpaca. The wool of the llama is about six inches long, and its fleece often weighs ten pounds. The llama is interesting from being the only native domesticated animal in South America. The horse, ox, sheep, hog, and all other animals useful to man, came from other countries.

"The principal sport of some parts of South America, especially of Patagonia, is the chase of the llama or guanaco. The hunters go on horseback or on foot, and 'stalk' their game by moving slowly towards them, being always careful not to alarm the animals. In this way they may get near enough for a shot with their rifles, but very often the guanacos are wary, and decline close acquaintance. Every hunter who can afford it keeps a lot of dogs trained to the chase, and it is interesting to see how well they understand their work.

"If the guanacos are grazing singly on the plains the chances of overtaking them are doubtful, even for the swiftest and strongest dogs. But when a herd is being chased each animal tries to crowd into the centre of it, and so much confusion is caused that the aggregate speed is considerably diminished. Knowing this, the dogs are always eager to pursue a herd, while they look with indifference upon a solitary guanaco."

When the subject of llamas and their kindred was under discussion, Frank suggested that it would be a good plan to introduce the llama into the United States, and wondered why it had not been done. Visions of a Llama Stock Company filled his mind, but they were dispelled by Dr. Bronson, who said the experiment had been tried, and was a failure.

"When was it made?" the youth inquired.

"In 1857," was the reply; "and the singular fact is that the difficulty in adapting the llama to our country is that the food he obtains is too good for him. What we give to our cattle and sheep does not seem to agree with him; he prefers inferior grasses, together with pea-vines, bean-stalks, straw, and such things, which our cattle would starve upon; and where he has been turned out to graze in low regions he invariably suffers from disease of the skin. In 1857 somebody shipped seventy-two of these animals from Peru to New York; only thirty-eight lived to reach the city, and were wintered on a farm on Long Island. In the spring those that remained were sold for museums and menageries, and some of them were sent to Australia. It is quite possible that the llama would thrive on the great plains between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains; the only difficulty would be in protecting the herds from the lawless hunters until they had become sufficiently numerous and wild to take care of themselves as the antelopes do."

After a glance at the town, with its open market and massive cathedral, our friends strolled to the shore of the bay on which Puno is built. It is a sluggish body of water, fringed all around with _tortora_ or rushes, which grow profusely, and serve many purposes. They are used for making baskets, lining the walls of houses, filling beds, thatching roofs, and in other ways are of material advantage to the inhabitants of the region bordering the lake. They are an important item of fuel, though they burn too quickly to give off much heat; cattle feed upon these rushes, and as our friends stood on the shore of the bay they saw cows and oxen in the water nearly up to their backs, making their breakfasts on tortora.

Some distance out from the shore a steamboat was lying at anchor. The guide said there were two steamboats on the lake, but the shallowness of the water prevented their coming up to Puno; they were obliged to communicate with the land by means of small boats, which were rowed or pushed along the narrow channel through the bed of reeds. These steamboats were placed on the lake before the construction of the railway; they were brought in pieces on the backs of mules, and put together on the shore. Other steamboats were promised, and it was expected that the railway would lead to a considerable commercial development which might require a dozen boats in the next decade.

Lake Titicaca is about one hundred and twenty miles long by fifty or sixty in breadth, and its greatest measurement is nearly north and south. It stands in an immense basin, roughly estimated to be six hundred miles long by two hundred broad, or three times the area of the State of New York. It receives several large streams, and discharges into Lake Aullagas; the latter lake has not been carefully surveyed, and though our friends made diligent inquiry they could learn very little about its size, or the nature and direction of its outlet. The lake is very deep in places; it never freezes over, but ice forms sometimes in the bays and shallow places.

Arrangements were made for a trip on the lake to visit Titicaca and Coati islands, for an inspection of the monuments of the Incas and their predecessors. Through the influence of the officials to whom he brought letters of introduction, Dr. Bronson engaged the steamboat for a moderate compensation, which included the wages and board of the crew, but left the passengers to take care of themselves. A supply of canned and other provisions was readily obtained from a merchant of Puno, and in a few hours the party was under way. The captain wanted to wait until the next morning, but the Doctor realized that one delay would be an excuse for another, and wisely insisted upon leaving the same afternoon.

While they were waiting for the small boat to carry them to the steamer Frank made a sketch of the head-dress of one of the Aymara women who was looking on at their proceedings. It had a cap fitting close to the head, and held in place by strings under the chin; near the top of the cap was a horizontal piece of stiff pasteboard, oval in shape, and extending far out from the head on every side. Around the edge was a valance of black silk, or some similar material, which partially protected the face of the wearer from the sun and wind. It was not unlike a small parasol in appearance, and has been worn here from time immemorial.

The rest of the dress of the Aymara women includes a gown of blue, brown, or black material, and a shawl which is fastened at the neck with a large pin, shaped somewhat like a spoon. Sometimes a handkerchief is fastened around the neck, but it is rarely worn except on gala days.

The Aymara men wear short trousers, very broad in the legs, and incase their feet in sandals, or shoes of rawhide. They wear ponchos over their shoulders, and on their heads they constantly have skull-caps, which are covered, when out of doors, with broad hats of braided grass. Men and women keep the hair long; it is invariably black, except in extreme age, when it assumes the frost that never melts, like the hair of people in other parts of the world.

Though living side by side for centuries the Aymaraes and Quichuas preserve their distinctness, rarely associating, and never uniting in marriage. The Aymaraes hold their market at Puno in the plaza in front of the cathedral, as already described, but the Quichua market is held in another square. A Quichua woman can be distinguished from an Aymara one at a glance, as she is without the remarkable head-covering, but the dress of the men has only some slight points of difference, that cannot be observed by a stranger. The Aymaraes are thought to represent an older race than the Quichuas; the men are larger and more powerful, but the women are less inclined to good looks.

Though the two people remain distinct they are perfectly friendly, and their huts are often quite near each other. In their resistance to the Spanish conquest they made common cause, and in every revolt against their oppressors they have fought side by side. Both are grave, dignified, silent, and sad, and as we look at them they seem to be musing over the misfortunes of the last three centuries, and the degradation that has followed the occupation of their land by the avaricious invaders.

These musings of Frank and Fred were cut short by the announcement that the boat was ready. Pushing along the tortuous channel through the reeds they made slow progress; but all journeys have an end, and in due time they reached the steamboat. Steam was already up, and as soon as the party was on board, with its belongings, the paddles were put in motion, and the prow turned in the direction of Titicaca Island.

Lake Titicaca is the largest body of water on the surface of the globe at an elevation exceeding twelve thousand feet, and probably the most elevated lake navigated by steam. Before the introduction of steamboats the only mode of water transit was upon balsas, or rafts, made of the tortora or rushes already mentioned; the lake is liable to be swept by sudden winds, and the party who ventures upon it in one of these frail craft runs a good chance of a wetting. The steamboats have not by any means driven the balsa from the lake, but they have rendered it less obligatory on strangers to trust themselves to its limited accommodations and its certainty of discomfort.

It was after dark when the steamer reached Titicaca Island, and ran into a little bay where there was a shelter from the wind. As nothing could be seen on the land, during the night, it was decided to sleep on board, and make an early visit to the shore in the morning. The Doctor and the youths made a hearty supper from their provisions and some hot tea, and then spread their beds on the floor of the cabin, which had no berths or other sleeping accommodations.

Several balsas came from shore in the morning, and afforded means for landing on the sacred island of Peru. Titicaca Island is about six miles long by four in width; it is high and rugged, and the shores are deeply indented in many places. It contains the ruins of a Temple of the Sun, a palace of the Incas, and several other buildings, which have sadly gone to decay. Frank and Fred ascended the steep acclivity at the landing-place, closely followed by the Doctor, and were soon at a little village near by, where they obtained a guide to show them through the ruins.

Near the village there were the remains of a building; tradition says it was the place where pilgrims to the sacred islands were required to remain for several days after their arrival in order to go through certain ceremonies of purification. There was a broad platform in front of the building, the latter being divided into two parts, measuring thirty-five feet one way by twenty-seven the other. The upper part of the walls had fallen, but the lower portion was well preserved. The walls were of limestone, carefully cut, and set in tough clay, which seems able to resist the ravages of the climate.

About half a mile from the landing-place is "the Palace of the Inca" on a cliff overlooking the lake. Its walls are broken at the top, but enough remains to show the style of the ancient architecture, and the forms of the windows and doorways. Frank wondered that the earthquakes had not destroyed the palace long ago; the Doctor said this part of Bolivia is rarely visited by disturbances of the earth, the whole basin of Titicaca being singularly free from them. The home of the South American earthquake is practically confined to the western side of the Andes.

Near the palace they were shown "the Bath of the Inca," at the base of a hill which was evidently terraced at great expense. The walls of the terraces were made of cut stone, and the whole work was laid out with the skill of a surveyor. Here the Incas had their gardens, but the ground is not now cultivated, and little more than the terraces remain to show what it once was. The bath is a tank or basin of stone about five feet deep, and measuring twenty feet by forty on its surface. Vines and other plants grow over the walls, and at one end of the tank there are three streams of water each about two inches in diameter. The sources of these streams is unknown; they come through subterranean channels, and are flowing to-day exactly as they flowed during the time of the Incas and their imperial splendor.

At the farther end of the island is the sacred rock of Manco Capac, but there is little to be seen there except a high wall surrounding a natural dome of sandstone. The Doctor did not think the sight would compensate for the time and fatigue of the journey, and the stone was left to take care of itself. The youths consoled themselves by studying the engraving in Mr. Squier's work and reading the tradition concerning the rock.

It was here that Manco Capac is said to have descended to earth, and down to this day the natives approach the place with great reverence. It was formerly believed that no bird would alight upon it, and no animal would dare to set his foot there. The presence of mortal man was forbidden. It was here that the sun rose to dispel the mists around the mountains and over the land, and for many years none but the priests could even come within sight of the rock. At one time it was plated with gold and silver and covered with a veil, which was never removed except on the occasion of religious festivals.

The sloping sides of the hill crowned by the rock are terraced and walled off into platforms; these platforms contain the remains of small buildings, which are supposed to have been the residences of the priests and attendants upon the worship of the founder of the line of Incas. There was formerly a garden on the terraces, and the earth for its construction was said to have been brought on the backs of men a distance of four hundred miles!

Doubtless the work of the Incas was performed under the same oppression as that of the rulers of ancient Egypt. The latter built the Pyramids by the unpaid labor of their subjects; the former terraced the rugged sides of Titicaca Island, and erected their temples and palaces with little thought of the lives that were lost in the toil. The history of the Old World is repeated in the New.