The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-31
A COCO TRAIN RESTING FOR THE NIGHT

times during the Journey At such
times 1 could only put on my water
proof and my Bolivian cap. This last
is knitted affair." covering the head
and face, with holes for the eyes, nose
and mouth. 1t makes one look actual
ly devil sh, but it is such a comfort that
it should be adopted for winter travel
ms and sleigh-riding in our country.
COACHMEN AND ANDEAN MULE.
My coachmen In livery were in fact
Bolivian Cholos. They were half
breeds, "a cross of the Spaniards and
the Aymara Indian, and as cruel
mixture as you will find among the
races. They had no sympathy what
ever for the mules, and their treat
ment of them was so cruel that I sew
eIal times protested against it. In the
first place, the harness was twisted cut
of all shape There was not tug that
was straight and not a collar that ut.
AS a result, the necks of the animals
were raw and sore, and this became
worse as we. went on the gallop over
the road. I remember one little yellow
mule who had lost two patches of skin,
each as big as the palm of your hand,
from the front of his shoulders before
he was put into the harness. I OBJ
jected to taking him, as there were
other and better mules in the corral
but he was hitched up all the same
places in the team. This was just be-
low me, next to the wagon and right
under the driver.
We started off on the gal!op, but the
little fellow soon began to lag behind.
Then the torture began. The driver
cut at him with whip, which brought
the blood to the hide at almost every
place it touched, and the helper, who
ran along with the coach and whipped
up the lazy mules, picked out the lit
tie fellow as his special work. We
had not gone five miles before the back
of the mules legs were bleeding in a
half dozen different places, and 1 could
see that his collar was red with blood
from the sores on his neck. From
time to time I noticed that the driver
when he found his whipping and whs-
ting failed to stir up the mules took
up heavy tug with an iron chain and
ring at the end of it and ratified it.
This never failed to brighten the
I mules into increased speed. AS the
little yellow fellow again fell behind
I found the secret of the inspiring
sound of the tug and chain. The driv-
er swung the tug about his head and
| brought 1t down with terrible thud
upon the little mules back. 1t is
wonder it did not break the bones, for
the heavy iron chain hit him on the
spine, and the pain must have been
intense. The blow in this case did not
break the skin, though I saw subse-
quent ones given to other mules which
made bloody gashes in their backs.
We changed mules every fifteen or
twenty miles and rarely had team
that was not more or less SCARED and
bloody when we got through.
COUNTRY HOTELS OF BOLIVIA.
During the trip I had some chance
to get taste of the country hotels Of
Bolivia. The stations where we stop
ped to eat and sleep were more like
COW stables than hotels AS rule the
mules were housed in the courts on
which the one-story huts forming the
hotel faced. None of the rooms had
windows, and the floors were of mud
or stone. In some cases the beds were
lodges of sun-dried bricks upon which
a mattress had been laid The only
light 1 had was the candle 1 brought
with me, and my candlestick was a
spot of melted grease which I dropped
on the table or chair before setting
the candle down. There were always
several beds in a room, and I had room
mates in the shape of native Boliyians
every night.
Before going to bed the woman who
kept the hotel always came in and col
lected dollar for the use of the bed
ana dollar for dinner. We started
at every morning, and at 4:30 1 was
usually up and ready for the cup of
tea which was made for me before
leaving. This, with a couple of bis
cults, constitutes the breakfast of all
the hotels of Bolivia. Our regular
| breakfast, which we had at II or -
o'clock, was more like a dinner than
breakfast. 1t began with vegetable
soup and followed with two or three
stewed dishes, all of which fairly swan
in grease. The dinner was of the same
order. Before leaving La Paz I had
taken the precaution to have a lunch
| put up for my use on the road This
| cost me ten Bolivian dollars, but 1t
| seemed cheap enough when found it
was about all I had that I could eat
| on the road. Such were the accommo-