The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-07-06

= -
md luggage left, every soul in the house
was i'll at once, from the proprietor to the
stable boy; and before our return several
well known faces had been laid away in the
pantheon.
The round trip between the cities of La
Paz and Chulumani, the latter being the
capital of the department of Yungas, IS a
distance of about 212 Yankee miles, reck-
oned by reducing the Bolivian league,
which is G, 100 English yards Though most
Of the products that are used in and eX-
ported from Bolivia come from the narrow |
Yungas valley, ard though the government !
annually expends a large sum on the al |
legged road thereto, the only highway OF
centuries is mostly narrow trail, cut
round and round the edges of the noun
tains, sometimes Zigzagging to and fro over
their perpendicular faces like the lacking of
a ship, in places where neither man nor
mule could walk straight up like "a fly on
the wall. But few places are wider than
barely TO allow two mules to walk abreast,
and many miles of it compel single file pro
cessious. Horses are never used on this
journey, for they cannot survive the rapid
change between heregions of
ETERNAL SNOW AND PERPETUAL SUMNER.
While horse might possibly reach the low
lands, if sufficiently sure footod, on the re-
turn he would surely die of sirroche, which
in reality is heart-failure brought on by lack
of oxygen in the air. Mules are employed
instead and the sturdy little donkeys of the
Indians, hundreds of them being constantly
on the road. laden with every Imaginable
commodity Llamas, those strange animals
that are found only in the Andes, are also
used as beasts of burden in the mountains,
but as they cannot live below certain ele-
walton they are never seen near sea level.
The wonder is that any road at all could
ever have been made in these stupendous
heights. On the first day out, about eigh-
teen miles from La Paz and 4, 900 feet above
| it, the highest point is attained, called Alto
! del Cruz, which is 2,400 feet higher than
| the very top of Pixies Peak, or about
! 16, 900 feet nearer the stars than you are at
home. The Alto extends almost on dead
| level for several miles before gradual de-
scent begins. at any time of the year the
traveller away up here is apt to encounter a
snow storm, the big, round flakes that
LOOK LIKE HAIL MELTING
as they fall, wetting his garments through
1 and through, while singing wind chills
him to the marrow. In addition to the
usual programme, thunder storm wa:
thrown in for our entertainment, lightning
playing in the clouds below and hollow
echoes reverberating from peak to peak
OF course, our animals suffered severely
and were obliged to halt every few mo
ments, painting painfully; while we, be
tween the wet and bitter cold, had not
breath to spare with which to urge then
onward.
To add to the general melancholy of thu
most desolate spot, we passed the body of
! dead man lying prone across the road, wit
CLASSY eyes staring up to the cherries sky
Whether he mad been murdered or had die
from natural causes, we dared not pause t
, Investigate, for if the former the finders o
the corpse might be held for months in L
Paz to give testimony in the slow process
of the Bolivian courts. A number of In
dians had just discovered the unfortunate
and to their care we left him.
: From time immemorial these lionel
2 mountains have been infested with band
of highwaymen, who murder even the poe
: Indian on his return to Yungas from tn
| sale of his little crop of cocoa, for the SAX
- of the few dollars his half-year's work ha
0 gained.
TIE INDIAN HIGRwAYMEN,
s though less numerous than those of lighte
color and more cowardly, are much more
! be dreaded, for they do not fight openl.
Z but skulx like snakes behind the rocks IN
: with unerring accuracy of aim. Their ow
battles with one another are always fougl
with stones and sings, la David and G.
Hath. and very seldom does an Indian ia
q to bring down his man. Sometimes, aft
y unusual atrocities have been perpetrate
# troops are sent out to hunt down the ASA
e sins, and then for a time comparati'
: safety is insured. A general robber hu
20 had been made shortly before our journt
n in whica large number had been captures
If and. as soldiers were still continuing Il
e search, we had no occasion for fear. In Il
e prison at Chuiumani we saw nine of Il
e newly-captured banditti, three of who
were women. and more vallainous- lookil
n group it were hard to find.
8 On the first days ride from La Pa
lie though one is unused to the saddle, the e
b. traordinary altitude, and the terrible roat
lie thirty-three miles must be made to react
ID sleeping place, The only alternative being
S, night IN the open air. AT intervals
"a along the uninhabited part of the highw
N the government has caused places OF shelf
q. for man and beast to be erected. These a
Id called tambos FAC SMILES of the misons
s. Mexico, and each is in charge of fami
or who, if well paid for it, will supply food !
Nv the mules, and generally something edi
for the human guests. But in every
I'd stance
TIE MULES GET THE BEST OF 1T.
Of course, the traveller has brought
in own mattress and blankets, and store
to provisions, and some sort of amateur CO..
We ing continuance by which he can at le
az making a cup of tea. But you can cas-
" imagine that after a long days ride in
lie mountains, the average explorer does
re feel much in the mood for cooking, bis Fl
impulse being TO tumble mattress do
ot anywhere, roll himself up in a blanket q
its make mental calculation of his blisters {
he bruises, while the tambo people proceed
al prepare for him whatever they plea
in The evening meal, which is called by co
,st teSy dinner, consists of two things: Y
he coffee and chupe, the latter a kind OF tn
en- soup made of dried sheep which has b.
It'll stewed to the tenderness of an old boot-t
Use mixed with good deal of rice, vari
al seeds and vegetables, prominent amt
at which are onions, ali made hotter thar
ne. many spoonfuls OF i've Goals by means
int red peppers and ali. 1t is the national d
,h- of Bolivia, among all classes high and !,
Did and thousands of families subsist entir
al upon it. OF course, the chupe varies fl
its bad to worse according TO what the C
Ter is able to put into it, but is really mot
in bad,'' as the English say, when one E
,he used to it.
ew Sometimes another dish is added to
menu; but, as rule, if you are SO unr
sonabie as to initiate Oliver Twist in c
ing for more, you must supply it from y
cal own stores.
as Now and then one finds tambo WI
Cd | Of he lin