Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-21
ON THE INCA ROADS.
Up the Andes to the Highest NaViga-
BILE Waters on the Globe.
PAVEMENTS OF SLABS OF STONE.
Bridges Swung on Rawhide Ropes That
Have Lasted for Ages.
DEATH FOR REVEALING A SECRET

On THE WING IN SOUTH AMERICA,
August 1.-THE time has come to leave
this remote republic and seek the world
once more. There is no way out of it but
that the early Spaniards used, up, by zlgzlg
windings, from the sequestered valley of La
Paz to the Andean plateau and thence, fol-
lowing the old highway of the 1ncas among
the mountains, to Lake Titicaca. Small
steamers ply between Chililaya, village on
the Bolivian border of the lake, and Puno,
on the Peruvian side Cnililaya is 56 miles
from La Paz and diligencia runs between,
making the round trip only once week,
timed so as to meet the regular arrival and
departure ofthe steamers.
The diigencid is lum mbering coach of the
oldest Concord" pattern, resembling an ark
more than carriage, with four seats inside
OF it and several perches on the top, which
by tight squeezing can be made to accommo
date from Is to 20 passengers. The fare one
way is S5 Tor each person. This, however,
does not include luggage, all o. which must
be sent the day be ore to the coach Office,
where it is duly weighed and charged for at
an average OF So per hundred pounds, and
is then sent on ahead IN freight wagons,
when 1t is not forgotten.
ONLY TWO VEHICLES.
Though the start is made promptly at 7
o'clock, a very early hour in this country,
the accommodating officials will not send
the coach to your door, and therefore the
mountain must go to Mahomet. Besides the
stage there is another vehicle that may be
hired for private use, if ones purse is long
enough. 1t is called ''Tillbury," from the
name of the English manu- acturer, and is
an odd cross between q double phaeton and
l. -
where between $50 and 500, according TO
the mood of the owner and the exigencies of
the occasion. If your need Is great, such,
for instance, as having to convey an in
valid, the highest price will invariably be
charged.
Think of being whirled over the Andes,
sitting at ease in n carriage! We have
crossed and recrossed these mighty mount
AIMS in many places, generally on mule
back, over perilous trails; and / am glad to
tell you that though grand and pictur-
esque from any point of view, the Andes
can nowhere be seen with greater satisfac-
tion thar right here on the easy road be-
tween La Paz and Chililava. When the
plateau is reached at last, the view spread
out beneath is more magnificent than
tongue or pen can adequately describe.
ROADS OF THE INCAs.
This vast Andean plain, of which Lake
Titicaca is supposed to be part, lies at a
mean elevation of $1,000 ieet, and is 1S0
leagues long by 30 leagues wide-a Bolivian
league being nearly three miles and half
instead of three miles according to the meas
urement eff North America. The broad road
is excellent, though not even drained, being
neither wet nor dusty, and hard as if mac
adamized. Part of it leads along the
ancient highway of the Incas, a wonderful
work, which still endures in good condition
though constructed nearly 800 years ago.
Perhaps the best monuments left by those
people of the past are their camiHos reales,
or "royal. roads," which extended from
Cuzco, the capital, to the remotest parts of
their empire. One OF them led to the sea
and the other, which is followed to La Paz,
ran along tine crest of these cordilleras, the
combined length OF both with their branches
being about 4, 900 miles.
Says a recent writer: "In contemplating
them we know not which to admire most,
the scope of their projectors, the power and
constancy of the Incas who carried them to
completion, or the patience of the people
who constructed them under all the OBJ
stacles resulting from the topography of the
country and from imperfect means of execu-
tion. They built these roads IN deserts,
among moving sands rejecting the fierce
rays of a tropical sun; they broke down
rocks, graded precipces, leveled hills and
filled up valleys, without the assistance of
powder or instruments of iron; they crossed
lakes, marshes and rivers, and without the
aid of the compass followed direct courses
in forests of eternal shade. They did, in
short, what even now, with all of modern
knowledge and means of action, would be
worthy of the most powerful nations on the
globe"
PAvEMENTS AND BRIDGES
In ascending mountains too steep to ad-
nit of grading, broad steps were cut into
the solid rocks, while the ravines and hol-
lows were filled with heavy embankmenrs
fanked with parapets and planted with
shade trees and fragrant shrubs. The
"royal roads were from 18 to % feet wide
and paved with immense blocks of stone. At
regular distances tambos were erected for
the accommodation of travellers
Where rivers were to be crossed strong
cables of twisted rawhide were stretched
from one bank to the othe-, something after
the style of the great Suspension bridge at
niagara. Poles were lashed across trans
versely, covered with branches, and these
were covered with earth and stones so as to
form solid floor. A kind of wicker balus-
trade was made by extending other cables
along the sides, which were interviewer with
branches of trees. Some OF these old bridges
still exist which are known to be over 400
years old. Another way, yet used in many
parts of South America for crossing deep
ravines and mountain torrents, was to sus-
pend a wicker-work basket, or car, on a
single cable, to be drawn by ropes from side
to side.
THE POSTAL SERVICE.
To these conveniences were added a sys- |
tenn of posts, by which messages and small |
packages could be transmitted from one ex- |
tremity of the IDcas' domain to the other, |
in an incredibly short time, though the |
Indians of those days possessed no domestic |
animals heeter of loot than man. The serv-
ice of these posts was performed by rum |
ners, stationed in small buildings erected at |
easy distances all along the principal roads. |
Many of these pOst-houses may still be seen,
and as proof that these runners were swift, |
though the course was often rugged, it is |
asserted that fresh fish caught one day on |
the seacoast. used to be eaten by the Inca |
the next day in Cuzco, more than 300 miles |
away! The messengers were especially |
trained for the service, and wore distinctive |
uni orm.
A few wears ago, when the Government |
extended the Inca road beyond La Paz in !
the direction of Obrajes, the work was be- |
gun with religious ceremonies. presided over |
BY the bishop, assisted by the priests, the |
president the diplomatic corps and other |
prominent personages. In cutting through |
a hill close to the city, the workmen came |
upon a number OF crushed and buried |
houses, skeletons, household utensils, etc.,
doubtless the work OF an earthquake at some |
forgotten period. Along this wonderful |