Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-04-30

of these sand hills are stopped on their
| course by what are known as the al
| goroba bushes or trees. They gather
about them making hills. which spot
| the desert in places with patches OF
green. There are, you know. no roads
| here such as we have at home. The
chief animals used to carry freight are
| donkeys. mules and horses. though the
| latter are mostly for riding, The ways
| across the desert are bride paths. and
the people 20 long distances. Some
| times one of these moving sand hills
| covers up the paths. storm spreads
the sand over them and travellers are
lost. No stranger could travel over
this desert without guide, who gen
orally directs his course by the stars
at night and during the day by the
! wind. which always blows from the
south. l can imagine no more terrible
| place in which to lose your bearings
| than this desert. You might travel
! for days without finding anything To-
| eat or drink. You would see the long
lines of skeletons OF animals which had
| been lost, upon some OF which the gal
| linasos or buzzards might be still pick
| ing at their bones, passed cord or
| so of human skulls. many bones oil
donkeys and cattle during a recent ride
across the desert and at one point
stopped by a pile of skeletons which
| had been dug up from an Inca ruin and
| left there toableach.
SMALL CHANCES FOR UNDER
| TAKERS.
1t is curious thing that there are
| no bad smells on the desert Flesh
| does not rot and you could leave n
| dead chicken in your back yard at Pa
| casmayo and never get smell. The
| air is SO dry that 1t sucks all of the
/ juice out of anything left on the sands.
| A short distance north of here is the
! valley of the Piura river, which has
| the same surroundings Not long since
a traveller. In passing through this
| valley, saw an open coffin In the Gene
| terry, and within 1t the body Of a dead
| priest clothed in nothing but purple
J shirt and white cotton drawers. The
body was lying alone out under the hot
| sun of the TROPICS. and the man, who
| was devout Catholic, offered to bury
| 1t, expressing great Indignation that
| one of the fathers should be so treated.
| The priest Of the town. however. re-
fused to permit anything of the kind.
saying; my dear sir you do not un-
| derstand. That Is the body of my
| friend, which I have put out there to
dry. SO that ! may send him to his
| family in Guayaquil."
AMONG THE RUINS.
This dryness of the air is the cause
of the mummlos of Peru being found
| in such good preservation. There are
| plenty of mummies to be had here.
| and every now and then one is dug up
in the excavation of the ruined cities
| of the Indians. who had possession of
the country when the Spaniards came.
| The mummies are found in sitting
| posture, wrapped in cloth and tied up
| with strings All about here / see the
| vestiges of the works OF the Incas.
| They had a civilization on the average
| higher than that OF Peru today. They
| cultivated a vast deal more of the land.
| and their irrigation works included
f! thousands of acres which are now des-
| ert. / went, the other day. up through
the resort of the Inca ruins of Jeque-
| tepeque. / doubt whether any of you
have ever heard OF them. Stlll they
mark the site of what must have been
! once populous city They are situated
| high up above the lands which are now
J irrigated by the little river which flows
| near them. Just below the ruins are
| the remains of what We're once Ins
| Notifications, great mounds of sun
| dried bricks. the ruins of which are
| still about 200 feet high. The remains
| of the city are In the heart Of the des-
| ert They cover several hundred acres
| and the walls in many places, higher
than your head still stand, while with
| in them the outlines of the houses can
| be plainly seen. In the center of the
| city there is large mound. probably
the site of an Inca palace, or of a
temple devoted to the vestal virgins Of
| the sun. ] rode my horse up to the
top of this mound. and in my minds
eye could easily repeople the ruined
streets below me. Al about me Were,
bits of pottery, the broken dishes or
| that great nation OF the pas Here
you could see the outlines of square,
| and there the remains of large house.
which may have been the residence of
one of the rich nobility from whom
the Spaniards got their gold.
| PERU'S LONG DRY SPELL.
| Notwithstanding this part of the Pa
cihc coast has had no rain for a long
| time. the people are expecting 1t this
year Do you know why? 1t is because
1t does rain here almost regularly every
seven years, and the last big shower
was in 1891. There was shower seven
| years before that and ] am told that
| about every seven, eight or nine years
| there is period of y week or more that
the rain pours down, and as 1t touches
| the earth, vegetation almost instantly
| springs up. Almost within a night the
| desert becomes covered with green
| There are great fields OF green grass
and flowers by the thousands come in
bloom. There are plants which we have
| only in hot houses ana flowers more
brilliant than any we know. This vege-
| tation often lasts but few days. 1t
has, however, been known to continue n
month. and at its height the cattle are
driven from the irrigated valleys out
upon the desert TO feed The seeds OF
| all sorts of plants, tres and flowers seem
to keep perfectly In the hot, dry sand
| and to be ready to jump into life II
touched with moisture I doubt. In fact.
/ If there is more fertile soil on the
| globe than that OF the desert OF Peru
II seems to be fully equal to that
which borders the Nile valley, and
| wherever It can he irrigated II pro,
duces in many instances two crops II
year Planting goes on here all the
| year around in the Irrigated valleys,
and I see corn dropped In the same
neighhoihodd whore II Is almost ripe
| enough for husking.
FARMING IN NORTHERN PERU.
! The only cultivated portions of the
coast region ofFPeru are, as | have
stated the little valleys of the rivers
fed by the Audean rains and snows.
There are on the coast of Peru about
forty of these valleys. which the waters
have cut out OF the desert. At the emo
or many Of them you find little towns,
which form the ports of the country.
and In the interior there are numerous
villages and small cities. The capita,
of Peru, Lima pronounced I.ee-ma).
is in the valley of the RImac river
Paita, where we first stopped on on,
way south, is the port for the valley of
the Piura river and hero we are near
the mouth of the Jeuuetopauue (Uek.-