Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-06-18

struction. They mako engines as good as
any used In our country, and have some
which are especially adapted to the heavy
grades of the Andes. The shops are in
charge of an American. a Mr.. Beaumont of
New jersey, but all of the men are Peru
vians. Mr.. Beaumont told me that Of the
1000 hands employed in one capacity or
another on the road there were not more
than ten foreigners. 1t may interest our
railroad men to know the wages which
their kind receive down here. l give them
in American gold values and not in the Sill
Yer in which they are paid. Trackmen re-
ceive IS cents a day, and brakemen a SINH
lar amount. Engineers get 800 month,
and conductors are paid from $50 to S65 q
month. according to position and length of
service. Men employed in the shops get
from IS cents and upwards per day. There
are no trades unions and the men never
strike. They work nine hours day, and
with those who are out on the road the day
lasts without extra pay until the cars come
in.
A City of Vaults and Iron Bars.
Arequipa is the second city Of Peru. 1t
has about s., 900 people. and is still lighted
by coal oil, though an electric lighting
plant is now being put in. The town lies in
the little valley of the Chile river. which
makes an oasis of green in the midst Of
the desert. and gives Arequipa about fifty
odd square miles of irrigable land. AreQuipa
is the commercial capital Of the south
ern part of the country, and a great part
OF the trade of Bolivia passes through IL.
Nest of the business is done by the Ger
mans and English. and there is not an
American house in the city. 1t is the neat
est, prettiest and brightest town have yet
seen in South America. 1t is 400 odd years
old, and Is battered and knocked up by the
earthquakes of the past. but as you go
through it you get the Impression that the
town is almost brand new. 1t looks as
though 1t had come from a band box. The
houses are mostly one-story stone boxes,
but their walls are painted in the most del
iCate tints of blue. pink cream, green and
gold. l posted my letters in post office
| tinted In ashes of roses. 1 bought the fruit
i ate for breakfast in a Sky-blue fruit
store, and cashed a draft on London i'll
| bank which had outer walls the color Of
gold. Another popularity of AreQuipa is
| that most of its rooms are made in the
shape of vaults. The stores are vaults ten
to fifteen feet wide and from ten to thirty
feet deep. with doors looking out upon the
streets. In many cases there is no way out
| az the back, and the only light. except that
from the door, comes in through holes in
the roof. l ate my dinner at the hotel in
Arequipa in a vault. l was shaved in u
vault and my sleeping room had a vaul.ed
roof. L went out on the roof once or twice
TO look over the city. These vaulted roofs
gave 1t the appearance of a Chinese grave
yard rather than that of an American
town. The streets are narrow and paved
with cobbles. Down one side of each street
there is i rushing stream of mountain wa
| ter. which carries off the sewerage. and
which, as 1t gurgles through the streets at
night, makes you dream of rain and go to
the window as soon as you awake to see IL
it really is clear or not. 1t rains only a
part OF the year in Arequipa, but when it
| does rain II sometimes pours. AT such
times the streets are flooded, and the wa
ter from the roofs Is carried out by little
| tin pipes. as big around as a broomstfck
to just over the middle of the sidewalk
| where it goes down the backs of the 1,esks
| of the unwary passers-by.
In walking through AfeQuipa you might
| get the idea that the city was full of bur-
glars. Every house faces the sidewalk
and every window is covered with iron
| bars. The houses themselves look like
fortresses and the locks on the doors are
| of mammoth size. The barred windows
and locked doors are not for the burglars
| They are not to keep thieves out, but to
| cage the girls in. The windows havo seats
| behind the bars, but no Peruvian beau
| stops to chat at these with his Lady love-
| The bars of iron are as thick as your nm
ger and 80 close together that the most
! ardent lips could not meet between them
| This secluslon of the women by the Span
| ish people Is probably relic of their ad-
| mixture with the Moors centuries ago
| The wrapping up OF the heads in black
| clothes was originally so done that only
one eye showed out 1t was worse than
| the wells Of Egypt or Constantinople Now
! the whole face is displayed and many OF
| the better class girls wear hats. A Peruy-
ian parent, however, never let's his girls
| go out alone upon the street. There are
| no moonlight drives and walks with low
| ers here and when you call upon your
| sweetheart you have to entertain the whole
family. and II you go with your girl to the
bull fight you take mamma, papa. auntie
and old maid sitter with you.
Harvard Men Watch the stars.
| The most interesting thing in -Arequipa.
however. is the Harvard College obserya-
tory. Just about twenty years ago Uriah
II. Borden died and left 100000 to Har-
ward College with the understanding that
| the money was to be used to establish
an observatory at the very best place tina.
could be found In the whole world for
| study OF the stars and meteorological can-
! cittons The college authorities flrst tried