The record-union., 1891-02-15
EN- ROUTE TO CUZCO.
The "Record-UniOn'' Correspondent
Makes a PerilOus Journey.
A Pilgrimage to the Birthplace of an
Ancient Civilization-Over Rivers,
Mountains and Valleys on the Deck
of q Mule.

| Especial correspondence of the REcoRD-UNIoN7
AREcUIPA, Peru, 1891.
1t would be a pity for the sojourner in
this part of Peru to miss seeing Cuzco.
| the ancient capital of the Incas, though
the journey thereto is exceedingly weari-
some and rarely under taken by travellers
"of the feminine persEasion.'' Indeed, /
doubt If any Anglo-SiaXon females but
ourselves have ever visited the place
unless perhaps Mrs. Agassiz may have
done so when she assisted her husband
so bravely in his South American re-
searches. However, the journey is
neither so long nor SO difficult as the
340-mile expedition we made not long
ago on mule-back, over all the ranges of
the Andes to eastern Bolivia.
In going to Cuzco ones plans must be
carefully matured in advance, making all
possible provision against accidents and
bitches in the programme. One must be
sure that the rainy season is well over.
for there are many bridgeless streams to
be forded that become impossible tor
rents in which men and beasts are swept
away during the annual time of rain. OF
course one or two foreigners can hardly
make the pilgrimage by themselves with
safety, and the average tourist is strongly
advised to do as we did. viz: to engage
the services, as guide and escort, of T..
q. Hantieldt, well-known Arequipa-
mean who makes business trips to CuZco
regularly each month. Knowing every
yard OF the route and all the people there
aboutS, he can tell one exactly what to
do and to avoid, and-more important
stlll-will supply suitable animals and
honest servants, which the stranger
would find great difficulty in securing
for himself.
The cost of thesrouNd trip, including
railway fares, horses, mules, and all eX-
penSeS en- route, not counting whatever
provisions one chooses to carry, is about
S25 per capita; and the time occupied each
way varies from five to seven days, ac-
cordlng to ones endurance in the saddle.
There are no hotels along the route, and
one must depend upon private hospitality,
which is freely accorded to those who
bring letters of recommendation. Every
village has its tGn5o, however, similar to
the inns OF Egypt in Mary's time, where
the animals are fed and sheltered, and
where one might manage to ''put up'' in
case of stern necessity, depending upon
ones own supply OF food, or foraging
among the neighbors; but it is always
easy to obtain introductions to the vari-
Gus cures and the families OF well-to-do
farmers, and through them to be more
comfortably housed.
In providing the outfit for this journey,
one should not forget that to offer money
in payment for food and lodging outside
OF a public house would be resented as
an insult by these hospitable people; and
therefore one must go stocked with gifts
in order to get even with ones entertain
ers. Bottles of wine are always accepta-
BILE, also butter. tea. canned goods and
r1,f, L.
the interior. Eggs are cheap and plenty,
but though there are cows on all the way
side farms, milk is unobtainable. In any
case, enough bread to last the entire trip
should be taken from Arequipa. because,
though hard and dry as the surrounding
rocks, it is infinitely preferable to the
black, unleavened Jumps of dough in use
among the country people. Timed beef,
ham, fish and fruit are indispensable,
with condensed milk and boxes of Eng
HSh biscuits, or Crackers as Americans
call them. AS one suffers greatly from
thirst along the road, the water being
warm and not always obtainable, it is
best to prepare every morning the days
supply of cold tea, mixed with claret and
sugar. What little butter is to be found
in this region is odd enough to deserve
paragraph. If one is not a sufficiently
good traveller to forego butter entirely, he
must pay almost its weight in silver for
pale, lardy sort of a lubricator, wrapped
up in bladders, in square packages weigh
ing about two pounds each. Being thus
hermetically sealed, it viii keep in
definitely if the air is not let in; but
when once opened, it proceeds to become
nasty with marvellous rapidity, and in q
days time will fill the air with an odor
beside which Limburger cheese is as altar
of roses.
BY the way, it may not be amiss to
mention that our butter supply, as well
as letters of introduction to all the priests
and cures on the road to CuZco, We're fur
nished US by one of the sandalled and
gray cowled monks of the Recoleta,
known far and wide as ''Father Tom;''
and incidentally I may tell you some
thing about this familiar character of
Arequipa. The good-looking, white
haired friar (now past seventy years old
prides himself greatly ON being ''an
American though his face is as unmis-
takably Irish as his brogue. Known in
the order as Fray Francisco Tomas, his
real name is Thomas Keegan, and he
loves to tell strangers that, many years
ago, in New York, he served the elder
Vanderbilt as coachman. Afterwards he
drifted to San Francisco, where he ac-
cumulated considerable property. When
about forty years of age he was so i'll with
fever that his death was hourly expected:
and in q lucid interval he prayed to the
turn for health to devote the remainder
of his life to her service as friar. Con-
trary to all expectations he Immediately
began to mend, and regarding his recov-
cry as due to the direct interposition of
the Holy Mother, he at once assumed the
gray cowl and hempen girdle of the
Francescans. 1t is sometimes rather
hard lines for the poor old man, because
Though it is said he still owns enough
California property to maintain him in
comfort-he must take his turn with the
rest in begging from door to door, for the
Recoleta Brotherhood subsist entirely on
charity. He must never have more than
ten cents in money about him, must
never wear hose, though his bare feet in
their ox-hide sandals are sometimes frost
bitten when he goes into the mountains
to visit the sick and afflicted, and must
always walk rather than ride unless the
distance be too great for human endur-
ance. Yet more cheerful and merry
looking man does not exist than stock
ingless Father Tom,' in his coarse gray
gown and rope girdle.
Going from Arequipa to Cuzco, one
may now save nearly half the time in the
saddle by riding due east on the Mollendo.
Cuzco and Puno Railway, to Jullaca pro
nounced Hool-yack-ah), distance of IS9
miles, and then changing to the Cuzco
division of the road for Santa Rosa, the
present terminus, 81 miles in north
westerly direction. As there are no
hotels either in Jullaca or Santa Rosa
nothing better than an empty car to sleep
in-one is advised to go on to Puno and
take fresh start back over the same road
to the junction next day. Even in Puno
the public accommodations are little bet
ter than none, but its poor hotel is a
palace compared TO anything else one will
lind on the road to Cuzco. An explorer
should not look for beds of ease" and
on this hard journey one NAV comfort