Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-21

less. Other fields, freshly planted or just
being pIowed, are covered with clouds Of
blackbir industriously searching for
worms and seeds. Women and children are
digging potatoes that resemble chestnuts In
size and color. There is considerable snow
IN places between the potato hills, but as
those tiny bulbs are all to be frozen before
being considered ft to eat, an extra FROST
biting will not make much difference.
Somewhere toward noon we stop at way
side tambo for breakfast, an adobe casa OF
comfortable size, the corral Tor mules and
cattle in front, all enclosed, like tort,
within walls of adobe as high as the house.
1t consists of cabbage soup. hot, though
watery; beef, for which dentists ought to
pay premium, with fried eggs on top;
BUTTERFLIES bread, trife sour. and coffee;
each dish served with ceremony in separate
courses, to the tune of a dollar head.
Displayed for sale, on shelves around the
dining room walls, are tin cans OF salmon,
sardines. pickles, etc., and bottles of native
beer, cognac and other liquors, for the bene-
fit OF those who are willing to pay about ten
prices for inferior articles.
PoTosI's WEALTH OF SILVER.
Midway between Illimani and Sorrato.
those stupendous sentinels that stand one az
each end of this journey, rises Potosi, 30
famous in the past Tor its silver mines.
whose lesser height attains something over
q, 900 feet. It is said that the marvellous
richness of Potosi was first discovered by au
accident. Early in the sixteenth century,
an Indian named Diego Icualca, was ehas-
ing a vicuna on the mountain side, when,
happening to slip on the steep ascent, he
seized hold of a shrub to steady himself.
The bush tore loose from the ground, and
hot Nho I11f ~ noaff tn
quantity of pure silver clingiug to its rootsl
Knowing the rapacity of the Spaniards, who
had already possessed themselves of the
country and were searching it for treasure,
he determined to keep his find a secret. Un-
fortunately, however, he'had one confdant,
a slave, who betrayed him. So the mine
very soon became public property, and
though during the next three centuries more
than S2.904, ,600,00 were taken out of il,
neither Diego nor his descendants realized =
penny of that prodigious amount.
That the modern Indians are not guilty. Of
the indiscretion of telling their secrets, may
be inferred from the comparatively recent
case of Sonora POso, who lives near the foot
of Potosi, and faithful peon whom she had
befriended- Desiring to show his gratitude
to his benefactress, he revealed to her the
fact, long known among all the Indians Of
the neighborhood, but zealously kept to
themselves, that on remote part of her
estate was gold mine, Of whose existence
she had never heard. While on the way
thereto, accompanied BY the sonora and her
agent, the Indian suddenly fell dead at
their feet, shot through the heart by an un-
known hand.
About P. M. this stage of our journey is
concluded by the arrival at Chililaya, as
desolate and uninViting village as one can
readily find. Its,principal street, struggling
for some distance along the lake, is exposed
to the chilly winds that constantly sweep
that highest navigable body of water on the
globe, and colder airs blown from the An
dean snow fields on the other side. The
place is important only as the western ter
minus OF the Titcaca steamers that connect
with the railway running across Peru to the
sea. FANNIE B. WARD.