Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-26

brought for hundreds of miles to this point
upon mules and on steamer days it is not
to see a thousand mules being
loaded and unloaded here. In 1895 more
than 81, 900, 900 worth of imports came into
Bolivia by way of Lake Titicaca and more
than 100000 worth of Bolivian goods were
shipped out. There are now steamers once
a week from Puno to Chililaya and return
and nearly all passengers and freight to
and from La Paz, which is, you know, the
biggest city and the commercial capital of
Bolivia, go over this route. / am now on
my way to La Paz. The city is about forty
five miles, or almost a days ride by stage,
from here, and all baggage, freight and
passengers are carried there by horses or
mules. The United States mail for Bolivia
is brought across Lake Titicaca and carried,
with other foreign mail, on a wagon to La
Paz. l tried to bride the mail carrier to
take me with him today, but the weight
of the mail bags was / 600 pounds, and he
said that this was all his eight-horse team
could haul on the gallop and that / must
wait for the stage of tomorrow.
The ship in which l crossed Lake 1iticaca
is the largest and finest of the fleet. There
are three other steamers belonging to the
Peruvian corporation or English syndicate
which has a monopoly of the traffic, and in
addition they have little steamers which
bring copper, silver and tin up the Desagua-
dero river from the rich mining region OF
Oruro. The Titicaca steamer line was
founded by the Peruvian government as a
part of Its transportation system, which, as
l have said before, was the most expensive
ever planned or built. The first steamers
cost more than their weight in silver. They
were made in England and shipped to the
Peruvian coast and thence carried on the
backs of men and mules over the Andes
1t was ten years after the ships were landed
on the coast before they got to the lakes
and the English engineers drew salaries dur.
ing the delay while bossing the job. One
OF the larger ships was afterward cut in two
and a section of hull fifty feet long inserted
This work was done by the railroad shop.
at Arequipa, and the ship so heightened IL
used on the lake today. The smaller steam.
ers ply to and fro from the lesser ports
They visit most OF the towns upon the coas
and carry freight and passengers to tn,
numerous islands.
The sacred Isles of Lake Titicaca.
Lake Titicaca has many beautiful Islands
The most of them are rocky, ragged noun.
tain peaks, which have their bodies undel
the water and a thin coating of soil on thu
rocks above it. Eight of the islands ar,
inhabited. and these are cultivated to the
very tops of the mountains. If the United
States could be as carefully titled as tn,
parts of Peru through which / have tray,
eled, where every available bit of land II
used, 1t would, | believe, furnish enough
food for all of the people OF the world AM
leave enough grain left to slut the Chicag,
markets during a corner on wheat. Patche
of soil as big as a bedquilt are surrOunde'
with stones and carefully titled. Bits O
land between the rocks are green will
scanty crops OF potatoes, barley and guinea
which are about the only things that viii
grow at this altitude, and you see peopl
working on the sides of hills where the
almost have to hold on with one hand Will
they use the rude little hoes OF this par
OF the world with the other. This grub
bling for a bare existence goes on over tn
greater part OF the plateau in which LAX
Titicaca lies. 1t is the plateau which forme,
the chief center OF the Inca civilization
which prevailed here when the Spaniard