The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-03

them in water and allow them to freeze
night after night until they become soft.
Then the skins are rubbed off by treading
upon them with the bare feet, and the po-
tatoes are thoroughly dried in the open air.
After drying they are as white as snow and
as hard as stones. Such potatoes form one
of the chief foods of the Bolivians. They
are staple article among the Indians of
the Andean highlands. They have to be
soaked for three or four days before they
can be eaten, and are often served in the
form of stew. i have tasted them sew
eral times. All the life of the potato seems
to me to have been taken out of them, and
I find them insipid and by no means appe-
tizing. Perhaps l might be able to eat
them If did not so frequently see the dirty
bare feet of the Indians with which they
are sauced. In addition to the above pota-
toes, Bolivia has a number of varieties
which we do not have. 1t has bitter pota-
toes of a dirty yellow color. which will
grow on the highest plateau 1t has tubers
which look like potatoes, but which have an
acid taste and must be exposed to the sun
before cooking, and others which look like
roots and which taste somewhat like
turnips.
INDIAN CORN AND FRUITS.
I am much interested also in the Indian
corn which find here. There are many spe-
cies of maize here which we never see in
North America Bolivia has varieties of corn
the grains of which are twice as large as
those of the largest species of corn grown
by our farmers. Some kinds are of a bright
yellow color every grain being as big as my
thumb nail. This corn, when 1 bit into it,
crumbled up almost like -four, and 1 can
see that it can, with a slight bruising, be
turned into meal. Another variety is white
and third is Of a mulberry color. being
called maize morado." 1t also has a very
fioury kernel, and told that 1t is used
in making and coloring liquors. The most of
these varieties of corn are grown in the
Yungas country, to the east and far lower
down than La Paz. The corn there grows
from ten to twelve feet in height. 1t seems
to me the varieties might grow we'll in the
United States, and / have forwarded sam
pies to our secretary of agriculture, with
view Of testing the matter Another plant,
of which have already spoken as growing
here, is the quinua or guinea pronounced
keen-wah.) 1t might be grown at Leadville
or on some of the highest parts of the
Rocky mountain plateau. You see it almost
everywhere on these Andean highlands. 1t is
carefully cultivated, and it's grains, when
threshed out, are of the size of mustard
seeds. They are sweet to the taste and make
an excellent mush when cooked.
1t seems curious to find all sorts of fine
fruits away up here on the roof of the
world. There fruit peddlers on nearly
every square of La Paz, and the market
is filled with fine varieties Of ounces,
pears, oranges and pineapples. There are
sweet and sour lemons and there are white
grapes, each berry of which is the size of
a damson plum. There are clingstone
peaches asebig as the White Heath, and
there are figs and other fruits which we
do not have. One peculiar article looks
like a mammoth green bean pod. 1t is
known as the "Picae." When opened it
shows big black beans incased in a pulp
which looks like the finest of white spun
silk. You eat this pulp, and when cold it
tastes to you much like a finely favored
ice cream. These fruits come from forty
to sixty miles away from the eastern slopes
of the Andes, perhaps a mile lower down
than La Paz. Within from fifty to hun
dred miles from here you can get into trop-
zeal Bolivia, and by going that distance can
have all of the climates from tropical heat
to frigid cold. The snow never melts on
Illimani The climate here is about that of
Paris, and in the Yungas and the Benz re-
gions not far away the pineapples and the
palm trees grow. There are wild oranges
and wild cotton trees. There are coffee
plantations, and in the forests the Indians
are gathering rubber to be shipped down
the Amazon to Para, whence some of it,
perhaps, will go to the United States to be
used in your bicycle tires.