Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-07-12
THE AHDEAN PASSES.
THE REcORD-UNI0N CORRESPONDENT
AMONG STRANGE PEOPLES.
Cities and Hamlets in Central Bolivia
The Youthful Cure of Chulumani
Forgotten Wealth.

Especial Correspondence of the RECORD MON.
CHULUMANI, Bolivia. 1890.
To have visited the capital and one or
two mining regions, and to have made a
tour of observation into any interior val.
ley is equivalent to having seen every
rod of Bolivia; for throughout its vast ex-
tent there are few variations, except those
caused by altitude, in changes of climate,
and different industries pursued by the
people. So very cold is the atmosphere OF
La Paz, at an elevation of over $4,000 feet,
that the traveller finds it difficult to be-
lieve himself really within the semi
tropics, and to realize that were it not for
these mountain ranges topped with eter-
nal snow the whole country would be like
the Yungas valley, filled with sunshine
and luxuriant vegetation.
Chulumani, capital of the province OF
Yungas, is a typical town of interior
Bolivia. With population of only about
$500, it covers nearly as much space as
the city of Chicago. Having been built
haphazard up and down the hillsides, a
bird's-eye view makes its roofs of ancient
and clumsy tiles, which were long since
turned by time from dull red to mossy
green and gray, appear 10 be piled directly
on top of one another. As in all Spanish
America, the building material is stone,
adobe and plaster, but little wood being
used, even the floors being generally OF
tiles, bricks or cement. Except the huts
of the Indians all are enormous structures,
sometimes rambling around two or three
inner courts; and though many of them
contain several shops and shelter num-
Der of families, one finds nowhere those
neat little houses, which can be furnished
without much cost and easily kept in order,
so much in demand at the North. Here,
the newly-married pair must take case
large enough for a garrison, or live in rooms
above some shop, or remain with the old
folk, according to their taste and means.
Perhaps that accounts for the fact that most
of the.great houses are scantily furnished,
their long and lofty apartments looking as
bare and cherries as so many town halls,
without a trace of that coy home look
which American and English housewives
delight to produce. Though the Spanish
is said to be the richest of all languages,
it has no such word as .'home," nor any
thing nearer it than hogas (hearth) which
really signifies nothing in that direction,
since in all South America, among rich
and poor, in the highlands and lowlands,
there is not hearth to sit by, nor stove,
CRATE or other continuance in which fire
may be built for warmth and cheerfulness.
Though the capital of an important
province, Chulumani contains neither
hotel nor tambo; therefore all travellers
must depend upon private hospitality.
Through letters of Introduction our party
was received with open arms into the
house of strangers, where several rooms
were assigned to us and the best food the
land affords provided for our entertain
ment The worst of it is that ones gen.
erous entertainers would feel grievously
insulted if offered money in return for
their hospitality. Gifts are received,
however, under the guise of regalos or
souvenirs of friendship, and one needs to
carry about the country a regular Yankee
peddler's stock of motions" to distribute
In payment for his board
The arrival of strangers and especially
OF Americans, creates an immense sensa-
ton in these small communities, and in
our walks abroad, though escorted by the
Jefe Politico, whose office corresponds to
that of Mayor in the United States, the
local doctor and the cure, we were fol-
lowed by gaping crowd which increased
at every turn. Outside our own party
there was not an English-speaking person
IN the whole department of Yungas. In
Chulumani there is nothing of greater in
terest to be seen than the quaint old town
itself. The only mandatory, if so it may
be called, is an establishment where cocoa
leaves are pressed into bales, each weigh
ing wenty-tive pounds, by primitive ma
chh.e in the hands of four Indians.
There is but one sign-board in the city,
anG nat where it is least needed -on the
institute" or Catholic College; blue
painted strip, whose golden letters are in
the form of books, with an ink-stand stuck
full of pens for a period. The girls occupy
the lower floor, the boys the upper, and
precisely at o'clock on every day of the
week but Sunday school begins and holds
till in the afternoon. The Institute
being across the narrow street directly OPP
posite our bedroom window, we were
awakened every morning by childish
voices piping Catholic hymn; and all
day long we had the benefit of the lessons,
as, according to universal custom in these
countries, the children study aloud, this
one shouting out his arithmetic, that one
his grammar, and third his spelling les
son. The scholars are of all classes, from
the well-dressed sons of the Jefe Politico
to the bare footed Indian children. Some
of the boys are designed for the priest
hood, and all are sedulously trained in the
Catholic route 10 heaven. That the path
was somewhat thorny was evidenced by
the frequent sound of blows and the
howlings of some poor little urchin.
Then there Is the market plaza, always
crowded with Indians and Cholos. where
all the merchandise that reaches this Sc
cluded spot is exposed for sale in open
booths or on the ground, from Indian en-
broidery to Partisan fabrics, meat, fruit
and vegetables. Fronting one side of this
plaza Is the village church, and as Sunday
is the great gala and business day Of the
week, We were compelled to force path
through the crowd, stepping over little
heaps OF vegetables, cheese and other COM
modltles on our way to the sanctuary.
TO kneel among throng of Indians on
a floor whose bricks have been worn thin
by the knees of centuries of worshipers,
while mass is chanted and incense burned,
Is not an uncommon experience; but few
in any land were treated TO
finer music on that bright Sunday morn
ing than we in this far country. One of
our party, type Of the best class Of Span
is a musical composer of
genius; and having been invited
by the cure, he assembled the rickety organ
loft and made the long-silent and decrepit
old instrument speak as never In the
palmiest DAYS of It's youth | am afraid
that the music, mostly improvised, now
solemn, now joyous, was hardly in accord
with the mass but that it reached the
dullest heart was shown by the tears
that fell from many eyes. The poor In
dian, the barefooted Cholo girl with her
baby of unknown parentage slung on her
back and the lady pf birha, IaoS-.a ,......