Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-12
HARD BOILED EGGS
Are an Unknown Luxury TO the
People of Lofty PunO City.
CAN'T MAKE WATER HOT ENOUGH.
Climate and Customs at Height Of 1880
Feet Above the Sea.
TIE ROMANCE OF A SUBMERGED NINE
rcoRRKsroSpEscr OF THE DISPATCH

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPATcB.I
PUNo, PERU, August 30.-This eastern.
most town of Peru is not an attractive
place, lying, as it does, more than L, SOC
feet above the level of the sea, with nc
vegetation in its vicinity, line of barren
mountains on one side and storm-swept
Lake Titicaca on the other. Yet there is q
fascination about it which inclines the
traveller to linger. 1t is essentially an In
dian town, fully nine-tenths of its populs-
tion (about 5000 all told) being Aymaras
and Quichuas. The former tribe is most
numerous, but both are well-to-do, after a
comfortless fashion of their own, generally
owning their own houses and having enough
to eat-such as it is. At any rate there are
no beggars in Puno, though many Peruvian
cities that are apparently richer, are swarm
ing with them.
Though so little can be raised here
wheat not at all, corn never ripening, and
bitter potatoes growing no bigger than the
end of your thumb-the great lake is an ex-
haustless store-house, furnishing plenty of
fish ami always covered with wild fowl of
many species. Biscatches (rabbits) abound
in the neighboring hills, and vIcunas are
sometimes found. A good many sheep are
raised in the vicinity, but the Indians eat
mutton only after it has been frozen and
dried.
TOO HIGH TO COOK.
Pease beans, peppers, and other staples
OF Peruvian life. are ali brought up from
the coast, as they cannot be cultivated at
TINS chilly altitude. They cannot even be
cooked tender at such an elevation until
they have first been dried, like the potatoes,
and reduced to powder. Such thing as an
egg "hard boiled" cannot possibly be had
here. Flour has fallen a good deal in price
since the railway now brings it over the
mountains, but it is still much too dear to
be used by the lower classes.
Though the nights are always cold, the
thermometer descending from 10 to 20 de-
grees after sunset, and sometimes, even at
the height Of the season they miscall sum-
incl" touching the freezing point, there is
not house in the town which contains any
arrangement for making fire, beyond the
adobe ranges for cooking purposes A
South American range is merely mound
or shelf of sun-dried mud, extending across
one side of a kitchen, with small places hoI-
lowed out at intervals, in which the Puno
housewife burns llama dung, or the twigs of
q mountain shrub called tOla. The houses,
with their enormously thick walls and few
windows, have an inner atmosphere damp
and cold as that of a vault in the cemetery.
When the sun shines the people wisely stay
out OF doors; then, in order to keep warm,
they go to bed very early and arise late in
the morning.
PIANOS ARE POPULAR.
Among the wealthier one-tenth of the COM
munity there are many pleasant people,
mainly the families of English and German
merchants and Americ9n employees of the
railway and steamship lines. Most of their
hcmes. however uuprepossessing on the out
side, are large and commodious and contain
unexpected luxuries. For instance, pianos
are universal in the better houses, though
these instruments cost ten times as much
here as in the United States, having to be
imported from the other side of the world,
and until recently having to be brought up
from the sea-coast on muleback. l have |
been astonisned more than once on entering |
what appeared TO be poor hovel, destitute |
of the commonest comforts. with earth floor, |
straw root and wooden shutters in lieu of |
glass windows, to find inside both a piano |
and sewing machine.
At this altitude the dry, thin air is as hard |
on furniture as on human beings causing /
wood to crack and curl up as quickly as it |
shrivelS the skin and wrinkles it like |
dried fig, making girl Of 20 look as old as |
her grandmother ought to. Bureaus, tables, |
etc, are bound to split very soon; chairs |
lose their rungs and fall apart in no time; |
drawers cease to it and floors and ceiled |
walls shrink wide apart, leaving unsightly |
crevices. Billiard balls have to be kept in |
oil when not in use, and bar OF polished |
iron NAV lie out of doors indefinitely with |
out danger OF rusting. The washerwoman |
does not bother herself with clotheslines, |
nor even does she spread the wet linen out |
on the grass; she merely wrings the things |
and toSses them down in heap, where they |
speedily dry.
ORNAMENTAL PAVING.
The patios and court wards of the better |
casas are paved in elaborate patterns with |
small black and white stones brought from |
Titlcaca Islands; as, for example a wide |
circle of jet-black stones surrounds large, |
central star made of snowy |
white ones, the outer edge OF the black cir |
Gle bordered by running vine, with leaves |
and flowers made of white pebbles set into
the black ones. The effect is as striking as
1t is uncommon, and the work is durable |
enough to Outlast century
Before the late war with Chill there was
q famous college in Puuo, where many en-
Gated. 1t is defunct, now that the country
has become so poor, and no public institu-
tons are maintained here by the Govern
ment beyond couple of schools, the big
hospital of San Juan de Dios. and border
garrison. Considering its smallness, the
town is exceptionally rich in spacious
pIazss, and there are no fewer than five
iountains-one for every 900 in
habitants. Its cathedral, which is said to
be the most elevated building of the kind in
The world, is really magnificent structure,
With particularly handsome front.
BUILT WITHOUT MONEY.
Begun in the year 1859, It was built en-
.irely by the Indians, at the command of
he priesthood, without a cent of pay FOR
heir labor or materials. 1t fronts the main
plaza with its stately fountain; on one side
u 1t is the quartet where ragged soldiers are
always lounging, and on the other is the
street down which runs stream crossed by
many funny little adobe bridges. which
Ierves as a dividing line between the
Quichua quarter and that of the Aymaras.
Short, coarse grass of a peculiar pale-green
'olor covers the plaza and springs up thickly
ImOng the stones OF the cathedral steps and
IS wide platform. just outside of the
main door of the church is a tall wooden
ross, bearing about it all the implements
md adJuncts of the gloomlest tragedy of
history. Perched on top is the cock that
rev to repentant Peter; there is a handful
# nails and the hammer that drove them;
he scourge, the spear, a sponge and pitcher
f wormwood. Even the dice with which
he Jews raffled off His raiment is there
the latter neatly hung at one side), show,
ng that "double-sIxes" won!