Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-26

came. Lake Titicaca was the center of a
civilization generations older than that of
the 1ncas, and upon its shores still stand
ruins, so old that the Incas could not tell
the Spaniards anything about them, and
only said that the mighty monuments were
made by a race of giants who lived about
this lake before the sun appeared in the
heavens. These ruins are those, which lie
near the little town of Tiahuanaco. They
cover an area of about three miles and
consist of the remsins of massive walls,
terraced mounds and the ruins of a great
edifce which is sometimes called the temple.
This building covered about four acres, and
it was made of great blocks of black stone,
each thirty inches thick. THE stones, like
those of the famed buildings of Cuzco, were
fitted together without mortar and were so
carefully laid that it was impossible to in
sert a knife blade between them. From
these ruins some Of the most curious ar
Genealogical relics have been taken, many of
the most valuable having been secured by
Prof. Adolfe Bandolier, who is spending his
life in this region as the collector for the
New York museum.
! Prof. Bandolier has made many new dis
c~overies and Investigations about Lake Titi-
, caca and he Is inclined to believe that the
most of what has been published about some
parts of this region Is almost pure fiction.
He has spent months upon Titicaca island,
which some authorities claim was the Gar
den of Eden of the Inca mythology, the spot
on which their Adam and Eve first lived
upon earth and from which they started out
to found Cuzco and build up the race. Ac-
cording to this theory our first parents were
the children of the sun. There were two of
them, Nance Capac and Mama Cello, his
sister wife, On this account, so says Squier,
who is one of the authorities on Lake Tit
caca, the Incas considered this lake, and
especially Titicaca island, holy. They built
their temples here, had wonderful palaces
and even brought soil to the island from the
mainland in order that corn might be grown
upon the island. This corn, 80 says one OF
the old chroniclers, who Prof. Bandolier
thinks had a very lively Imagination, was
considered SO sacred that when a grain of it
was put in one OF the public warehouses il
sanctihed and preserved all other grains,
and it was also said that a man who could
have as much as one grain of Titicaca island
corn in his storehouse would not lack for
food during his lifetime There are today
many ruins on Titicaca island, and the very
rock on which Nance Capac and his sister
wife stepped when they first landed from
the sun is shown. This rock, says the samt
chronicler. was once plated with gold and
kept covered with a veil. The inhabitants
OF the island are now chiefly Aymara In.
dams, who are said to be descendants of tn,
tribes who were so numerous about Lake
Titicaca years ago. They live in little hut.
OF mud or stone matched with straw, anC
show no signs of having had gorgeous tenn.
pies or the more extensive civilization which
they possessed when the Ineas were thei
masters. They are Catholics and are super
stitious in the extreme.
Boats of straw.
How would you like to sail over Lake Fri
in a boat made of straw. / can see a dozel
straw boats from where I am writing. Som
of them are filled with people and one ha
a mule. a donkey and a llama In 1t in addi
ton to its human freight. The captain o
each boat is an Aymara Indian. who stand
up as he poles the boat along. There is
boat over there which has a straw sail an
which Is skimming along over the waves