The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-31

tatoes. barely and a grain called qui-
non, which is much like bird seed, and
which makes a very. fair mush, VIII
grow. The barley does not ripen, and
it is raised chiefly for fodder for the
mules, donlley VS. CT cattle. The potatoes
are very small and few in hill, and
the soil is such that 1t is only here
ard there that you find a patch that
can be farmed The effort to get land
that. can be cultivated at all is so evil
dent as to be almost painful.
The stones have been picked from a
great part of the plateau. We passed
long stretches of county Whe. there
were vast piles of stones scattered over
the fields, and in several places I saw
Indian women go ng' along bent double
picking up stones in the gathered up
skirts of their dresses, and thus carry
ing them to the piles. Much OF TIE
plate; is cove-e d with a scanty growth
of grass. Upon such places there are
herds of sheep and llamas feeding.
Each herd is watched by an Indian
shepherdess, who has a spinning spool
III her hard and keeps on spinning
while she tends her flock
She uses a sling to keep the animals
from straying, and with unerring aim
sends a stone straight at the llama CT
sheep that steps on to the fields of her
neiglGbors. There are no fences in this
part of Bolivia. The cattle in the f1cldS
are, as a rule, staked or hobbled by ty-
ing rope about their front legs just
above the ankles. You often see a
drove of donkeys so fastened, and
horses and mules are ted in this way
all over Peru and Bolivia.
BOLIVIAN FARMING
Such farming as is done is after the
crudeSt methods. saw no signs of ma
lure being anywhere used, though
there were great piles of it lying at
every stable where we got new relay
of mules. I have been told that the
natives know nothing Of the uses of fer
tiizers, and that they only bring up
! the land by letting it lie fallow and by
a rotation of crops. The tools are in all
cases of native make. The only Amer
lean tools I have seen are Hartford
| axes. Potatoes are dug by the women,
who use little strips of iron shaped
something like an arrow with wide,
fiat stem.
This is grasped in the middle with
the hand, and the woman bending dou-
bic scoops the potatoes out Of the hills.
Barley is cut with little sickles with
saw teeth, and such rude hoes as are
used have handles so short that the
workers must have to bend close to The
ground to use them. The blowing is
all done by oxen with rude wooden
plows, to which point made of a fiat
iron bar about two inches wide is fas-
tened. A long tongue or beam extends
from the pillow to the yoke, which is
tied to the horns of the oxen, the
weight of pulling the plow being done
with the head and not with the Shout
derS, as with us.
FREIGHT WAGONS OF ANDES.
I have given you some idea of how
freight is carried here by wagon. Very
few goods are taken from one part of
the country to another on wheels. The
greater part is carried on donkeys,
mules, lIamas or on the backs of men
and women. There are no baggage
wagons or drays in La PaZ. We met
with none on the road to Oruro, al
though we passed droves Of animals
loaded with all sorts of burdens. There
were scores Of donkeyS carrying bun
dies of COCO leaves on their backs to
the towns further south There were
llamas loaded with bundles of silver ore
stalking proudly along with cooked
ears and there were many trains of
mules carrying goods of all kinds. Each
train was managed by one or two In
dian men and women, who walked with
Or behind the animals. and who, as
far as 1 could see, never ride them.
Most of the women had bundles on
their backs and not few carried lit
tie babies there slung in shawls. All
prospectors here use mules for trav
cling over the country. All supplies
for the mines must be carried through
the mountains in this way. The ma
chinery for mining in Bolivia must be
made in sections, no piece of which
can be larger than a mule can carry
on it's back, and every bit of machin-
cry has to be carried in this way. The
merchandise which our exporters Ia
tend for Bolivia should be put up in
boxes or bales of about 100 pounds each
so that two of the packages will just
form a load for mule Otherwise the
| chief centers Of Bolivian trade can
| not be reached
Frank G. Carpenter.
Read about Hotel Empire, New York on