Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-10-04
ACROSSLAKE TITICACA
Aaoat on the Highest Navigable
Water on the Globe.
THE DRY ToRTUGAs OF PERU.
A Lake Of Unknown Depth, With Many
Tributaries but NO Visible Outlet
Danger Of NavigatiOn-The Steam.
err,

From TEE srAa's Travelling Commissioners.
PUNo. PERU, September L
n. FLOAT ON Lake Titicaca! How the
Mv very name recalls school days and
| XSvgeography lessons. However pleased
vthe traveller may be to find himself
Asailing the highest navgable water on
the globe re must pay the price Of many dis
comforts for his rare experience. Not only
is there sirroche to contend with, which makes
q nervous person feel as il grim death were
clutching his heartstrings with icy' fingers
and piling q thousand pounds weight upon his
chest, while all the blood in the body seems to
fill the head to bursting, crimsoning the face
and leaving the lower extremities cold as ice,
but the most weather-beaten voyager is
bound to suffer all the pangs Of seasickness,
though he may have circumnavgated the
globe without qualm Of it.
| Consulting . map of South America you will
find Titlcaca about midway down the continent,
but only 1926 miles inland from the Pacific. It
lies at an altitude of IL $50 feet above the level
of the sea, in an enormous basin, whose east
ern border is bounded by the loftiest cordillera
| of the Andes, an unbroken, untrodden, snow
crowned wall, several Of whose peaks rival
| Chimborazo in height and sublimity. In
shape the lake is an irregular oval, extending
almost due north and south, 100 miles long, its
greatest width being about 81 miles. 1t has
an average depth OF 1 900 feet, but in many
places line and plummet have failed to find
the bottom. Though many rivers, fed by
| mountain SHOWS, flow into it there is no visible
outlet except the Desaguadero river, broad,
| deep, swift, but not turbulent stream, ITO
miles long. which itself has many tributaries
and fall of 500 feet and discharges into Lake
| Aullagas, away to the southwark. OF the latter
lake very little is known except that it has no
| outlet to the sea unless it be subterranean,
| though receiving the drainage of the great
| upper basin and having several other powerful
feeders besides the Desaguadero. During rainy
seasons and dry its water always remains at
precisely the same depth, though no fewer
than nine considerable streams flow into it
| THE LAKE AND SURROUNDING COUNTRY.
| Lake Titicaca never freezes over, whatever
the weather, though even in summer time ice
| frequently forms near the shore, where the
bays are shallow. This mysterious body Of
| water exercises a very marked and important
influence on the climate Of this cold region,
| being always from ten to twelve degrees
| Fahrenheit warmer than the surrounding at
mosphere. Its islands and peninsuas feel this
| influence most perceptibly and corn and bar
| ley ripen upon them, though on the mainland
| hereabouts they never reach maturity. The
| great basin which contains Jiticaca has been
| estimated to be 600 miles long and 200 miles
wide, with a total area of perhaps 100, 900 miles,
| or three times that of the state Of New York.
| The slope of the basin is gently toward the
south. Lake Iiticaca occupying its northern
extremity and Lake Aullagas the southern,
| connected by the Desaguadero. Prof. Squier,
who studied the locality long and carefully,
| says: THE American hemisphere affords but
three really notable examples Of the interest
| ing physical phenomenon to which the basin
| of Titicaca belongs The first is the great Utah
| basin with its salt lake; the second is the
smaller basin Of Lake liza, in Central America,
| and the third is the vaster, more elevated and
| in all respects more interesting basin of Lake
| Titicaca. The latter possesses a fuvial system
| OF Its own, having no outlet to the sea-
WINDS AND STEAMERS.
The prevailing winds are from the northeast
Blowing continually, they often come with
prodigious force, rendering navigation ex-
tremely hazardous by the frail balsas Of the
natives and very disagreeable if not dangerous
| by the steamers. Before the comparatively re-
| cent introduction of the latter these balsas, or
/ RATS and canoes made OF rushes woven to-
/ gether, were the only boats on the lake. Very
pretty and picturesque are the curious little
| craft when seen at distance, but they are not
| inviting a means of transit over ice-cold
| waters of measureless depth, especially in a
storm. Each balsa is furnished with square
| SAIL also made of woven reeds, which can be
! furled, raised or lowered at the will of the
boatman. The steamers, which by tight
squeezing will accommodate twenty-four pas
| seHgers each, are of 100 tons burden. Being
never heavily loaded, they roll and tremble and
! toss about on the stormy waves III a way calcu-
lated to appall the stoutest heart and upset the
strongest stomach, while winds howl, shrek
and moan among the rigging like legion OF
| lost spirits or as II the angry gods Of 1iticaca
Island, whose temples the Europeans have de-
strOyed, were in revengeful pursuit Going
straight across from Chililaya to Puno the trip ID
only ITO miles and is usually made i'll twelve or
fourteen hours, but one can get quito enough
of it in that length of time, l assure you. The
little steamers that required ten years in the
building were brought piecemeal over the
mountains on the backs OF mules, before the
day Of the railroad, much as Cortez carried his
historic ships from Vera Cruz to the lakes OF
| Tenochtitlan. Their state rooms are the
smallest that can possibly be made to accom-
MEDIATE human beings and along the walls Of
the salon, which serves both for dining and
| smoking room, are cushioned benches which
''let out" at might into two tiers OF tolerably
comfortable berths.
Titicaca has several considerable bays ex.
tending inland, notably those Of Puno
Achacache and Huancane. Puno bay is SC
shallow that the steamers could not come near
the shore until q canal three miles long had
been excavated. This work was accomplished
when Mr.. John Thorndyke. a well-knowu
American, connected the lake with the sea by
means of a railroad across Peru. Mr.. Santiago
(James) Beaumont, a gentleman from Pater
son. Nj, who is still connected with this rail
way and Titicaca navigation, not only made the
, canal but ordered the steamers and put them
together when the pieces arrived.
REEDS FOR BUILDING.
Though the Bolivian shore Of Titicaca il
rough and abrupt, the mountains on that sid,
pressing boldly down into the water, the west.
ern and southern sheres are low and compare
lively level, the swampy edges overgrown will
q species Of tall, strong reeds called tortera
These reeds serve the natives for as IL any pur
poses as bamboo does the Chinaman They are
used instead of lath for lining the walls o
houses, for matching roofs bottomng chairs
filling beds, making baskets, boats and bridges
They are also an important item in the way o
fuel, though they burn too rapidly to give of
much heat. Cattle feed upon them and at an
time of the year COWS and oxen may be seei
nearly up to their backs in the marshes. Fo
several years the Chililsya bridge across the
of reeds supported by balsas below, until thu
/, fine new bridge was built few years ago. A
that river is the dividing line between Peru an,
Bolivia, a custom house 10 located at each en-,
;, OF the bridge. II there were any hunters here
abouts they would l6nd plenty Of sport in thes
reedy Marshes where myriads Of water fow
: find shelter. among them black and scarle
ducks, snipe, herons, &c. These, together wit
4 o variety OF fishes, contribute largely towar
Q the support OF the population in region 8
cold that the corn crop 10 precarious, whea
. will not ripen at all. and potatoes, shrunk t
: their smallest size, are bitter as SO many gree
;, olives and where the only indigenous animal
ut for food are the bscatcha (rabbit), the liam
and the vicuna, the latter becoming yeari