Evening star., 1898-07-30

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 I had was the candle 1 brought with
me and my candlestick was spot of melt
ed grease which dropped on the table or
chair before setting the candle down.
There were always several beds in room
and had room mates in the shape of ma
tive Bolivians every night. Before going
to bed the woman who kept the hotel al
ways came in and collected dollar for the
use of the bed and dollar for dinner We
started at 5 every morning, and at 4:3O 1
was usually up and ready for the cup of
tea which was made for me before leaving.
This with a couple of biscuits constitutes
the breakfast of all the hotels of Bolivia.
Our regular breakfast. which we had at IL
or II O'Clock, was more like dinner than
a breakfast. 1t began with a vegetable
soup and followed with two or three stew
ed dishes, all of which fairly swan in
grease. The dinner was of the same order.
Before leaving La Paz had taken the pre-
caution to have a lunch put up for my use
on the road. This cost me ten Bolivian dol
lars. but it seemed cheap enough when /
found 1t was about all l had that I could
eat on the road. Such were the accommo-
dations on one of the most travelled roads
of this country. The fare on the mule
trails Is far worse. AS to prospectors and
these who get away from the beaten
tracks, there is often no chance to get any
thing. The only places where you can
sleep are in the huts Of the Indians, and
they will not allow you to come in If they
can possibly prevent 1t. They do not like
strangers, and money seems to be no in
ducement to them. The only way to get
nights shelter in such cases is to tell
your muleteer to unsaddle and to go in
and take possession of the best part of the
hut. II there is anything at hand which is
eatable. take 1t and give the Indian some
money for 1t. If you ask to buy 1T he will
refuse. and even if he has plenty will say
ne has nothing. The chances are that
when you leave in the morning, having
paid him for your nights lodging, he will
be pleased. but ne will offer you nothing
and will give as little as he can. AS a rule
they are towards, and they will submit to
a great deal of abuse without fighting.
Poorer Than China.
1 have never seen country where the
people have to work SO hard for a bare liv-
ing as on this Bolivian plateau. 1t is bad
enough in China and India, where the
poorer classes live in mud huts and till to
the utmost their little patches of land
But in those countries the land will pro-
duce three crops year and the laborers
get something for their work. Here 1t is
so high that only potatoes, barley and
grain called quinoa. which Is much like bird
seed, and which makes very fair mush,
will grow. The barley does not ripen, and
IL 10 ioiSSu CHicuy IoF lOuuer IOr tne mules,
donkeys or cattle. The potatoes are very
small and few in hill, and the soil is such
that it is only here and there that you find
patch that can be farmed. The effort to
get land that can be cultivated at all is so
evident as to be almost painful The
stones have been picked from a great part
of the plateau. We passed long stretches
of country where there were vast piles of
stones scattered over the fields, and in sew
eral places l saw Indian women going
along bent double picking up stones in the
gathered up skirts Of their dresses, and
the plateau is covered with a scanty
growth of grass. Upon such places there
are herds of sheep and llamas feeding.
Each herd is watched by an Indian shep-
herdess, who has a spinning spool in her
hand and keeps on spinning while she tends
her flock. She uses a sling to keep the ami
mails from straying, anu with unerrng aim