The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-10-12


habitants. Its cathedral, which is said to
be tae most elevated building of the kind
in the world, is really magnificent struc
ture, with q ar.icularly handsome front.
Begun in the year 1859, it was built CD tirely
oy the Indians, at toe command OF the
priesthood, without q cent OF pay for their
labor or materials. 1t fronts the main
plaza with its Stately fountain. on one side
OF IL is the quartet where rae G I'd soldiers
are always lonnging. and on lae other is
the street down which runs a stream
crossed by many funny little adobe bridges,
which serves as dividing line between
the Quichua quarter and that of the Ay
maras. Short, coarse grass of a peculiar
pale-green color covers the plaza and springs
up thlcsly among the stones of the csthe-
oral steps ana its wide platform. just
outside OF the main door of the church is a
tall wooden cross, bearing about it all the
implements and adjuncts Of that gloomiest
tragedy Of history. Perched on top is the
COCK that crew 10 repentsnt Peter; there is
Il handful of nails and the hammer that
drove them; the scourge, the spear,
sponge and pitcher of NORWOOD. Even
the dice with which the jews ratified of
His raimontis there the latter neatly hung
at one sidc), showing that double skies"
won.
PUNo OWES IT'S ORIGIN
to Some fehulousiy rich silver mines in the
vicinity, which were discovered and first
operated little more than two centuries
ago. a romantic tale is told or the first
worked lode. the gis, CT which is about as
follows: a young Spaniard ri good lam
lily, named Don Jose de Saicedo, feii in love
with beautiful Aymara girl and u a loved
by her IN return The existence OF treas
ure in these mountains was known TO the
girls father aud TO all the indians for miles
around, out The secret had been SO care
fully guarded by them that no Que of the
hated Castilan race had ever suspected it.
Jose's sweetheart revealed il to hin. and he
Began to work the vein very cautiously
ana by night. He found il enormously
rich and his sudden change in fortunes at
iracteu the attention or The royal officers.
Knowing that he had married an indian
grl, they mist, listed how it was and logged
i:s footsteps until the truth came out.
Fhen they found Il Dretexu 20 arrest him on
some false caarge of treason 30 the govern
InenI. and took him to LIMA the seal of the
! wee regal court and also OF tie inauisiton.
Afler u mock trial and the employment of
! al,.bolical fortunes to wiring from him
lhe statements they dems ndod, he vas sen
fenced 10 death, aud zl his property, in
iiasing the nine taa5 Id Yer reaiiy De
lo.igsr to hii, was given to the govlrun lent.
; Flls n.caut tnIt TAO Officials them selves
i1esn, 10 transfer hl- wealth to their own
F.: pockets as soon rs he h,4j oeeii executed N
! Inc nuolic sQnare lit Lima they fastener tU
SECURE Ihe IT a-ure. But what vas their
Iisa.AY H. I;nd oil he loraiiiy kopelessiy
Il .oaed with water, Idcited by Jose's In
t!au 'yllr, her .-loe had stopped al tia
secret afsilaa AND tue coDseHu. lst;e wdS tcat
d snsilt lHk. covered and Still cover, the On
! trance 10 the mines. 10 ths day the IN.
! tiAns lave Stead ~ Refused 10 give any in
3 formation concerning tie d faction Of the
veins W
TflG EXTENT OF TIE DEPOSIT,
! though they doubtless know all abousit
Taese seemingly humble people can keep d
secret with lhe utmost fidelity, being
absolutely Indifferent to brides or any other
! inducement. AT the present time it is said
that they know the location OF rich deposits
in various parts of the country, but will
give no Information concerning them and
poor as they are. will not WORK the Veins
! themselves, fearing to share IL melancholy
fate of poor Don Salcedo.
Cold as it is, the markets of Puno arc
held in the open air, the QIichuas occupy
ing one plaza fer the sale OF their goods
the Aymaras another. The sales are most
y ,
ground in rows, eacn with her small stock
of caenos, (frczen pctatoes), chdfQai, (driec
tisnl, peppers, pease, beans, etc, piled VI
in little hrapS on q blanket Each heap has
4 fixed price, which never varies whatever
the fiuctuation of the market. For ex-
ample. a heap OF dried pease which YOU
might hold in Two hands, costs ten cents
Ii she market falls, the heap is enlarged
and you get few peas more; If il rises
you get smaller heap; but ten cents you
must pay every time. Neither have these
women tie remotest idea OF selling theil
stock IN the lump. oc at wholesale. Should
you ask one of the women what she will
take for all the peas on hand, she cannot
tell until all the basketfui has been sorted
out into little piles and their value com
puted at ten cents per pile.
4 One day in Puno l was much interested
in observing from my window o group OF
Qaichus women, who sat from dawn til
dark on the frosty ground of big, bare
plaza, their llainas tethered behind them
waiting for possible customers, but with
nothing in the world TO sell except some
small lunches of barley. Young women
and old were dressed exactly alike, in shor
dresses OF dark blue flannel, spun. wovel
and dyed by themselves: the very full skirt
shirred down over the hips, the short jack
cts of the same material meeting at tn
bosom, but showing the white chemise be
meath, the large sleeves gathered slight,
ct the wrists and hanging loosely il
aesthetic style and large hats of the sam
blue flannel, deliberately trimmed with rec
wooden rick rack' braid.
ALL WE'RE BARE-rooTED
but looked perfectly comfortable and
I though they did not talk much aud seldom
smiled, seemed happy and contented
Hour after hour they patiently squatto
there. busily spinning wool of brightes
hues, using hand-spindles which the,
twirled rapidly between the palms.
During the DAY / walked over to inter
} view them-brt alas, they could not speal
a word OF English or Spanish, and you
scribe is not versed in Quichua. SO CONVEX
sation lauguished. But learned from then
one thing viz. that feminine instincts ar
, about alike the wide world over, whateve
. may be their environments. Every one o
these unsmiling, strong featured and in
!, Gustrious women showed as much curiosit
and interest IN the Ito them) peculiar Gu
! OF my garments as l had in theirs, and tn
admiring attention of each was instantl
attracted to bracelet Of Mexican coins Of
my wrist. One offered me all the wool sh
had spun in exchange for it; anothe
wanted to swap her bran new hat, a thir
her poncho, and others pointed to thei
llainas as possible mediums of exchange.
. But nobody came 20 tuy their poor littl
: punches of barley, and still they spun OF
, contentedly At length as twilight wa
deepening, an old man strolled over and pur
chased the entire stock on the plaza, TO