The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-07-10
AM@NG THE NYMNRHSo
Their Feuds, and How They Fight
Each Other With Sings; How
Children Are Sold iD 3d.
Iivia; Their Huts.

hunger. Many OF the Indians go out and
work for hours on nothing bu: a chew of
coca, and in going over these high noun
tain passes they always chew il. At noon
and breakfast times they put in supplies
OF the mixture but keep on chewing all
day long. year in and year out. Strange 10
say this continuous chewing does nol seem
10 cause Indigestion. and am told that it
has no evil effects Not i few Of the half
breeds use coca. but / have yet 10 find
any whites who are addicted 10 the habit.
They Drink Raw Alcohol.
The Bolivian Indian drinks raw alcohol.
This pc esteeEs the most desirable OF bev-
eraSts. ard a large part OF his earnings
goes toward keeping himself and his fam
lily in chronic state Of iaebri ETY.. On
feast days. and am told that the Indian
claims 200 feass days ont OF every 3s5.
men. women and children ge, drunk and
keep 50 until the alcohol and their money
run out Drunkenness Is, l an told, the
Indians idea of the acme OF Pleasure.
Speaking OF alcohol and aguardiente or
sugar brandy, which is largely used here.
reminds me OF curious method they have
of carrying such liquors over the coun-
try. II must all go on the backs Ct men
or mules, and the receptacle in which II
Is taken - usually a goat skin. TIE skins,
l am authen.Eally informed, are torn
from the bodies OF the goats while still
living, as such skins make more pliable
and better bags. The goats are hung up
by the horns. Then a slit Is made about
the neck and a couple Of men. seizing hold
OF the skin. fairly rip IT from the body Of
the tortured and dying animal.
Chicha or Bolivian beer.
Another drink, which il liked by both
Indians and Cholos or the mixed races
here, IS known as chicha. You will find
chicha saloons in every block OF any b.
HVian city. La Paz has hundreds OF them.
Each is owned by d Cholo woman or girl
and | have been told tina, many # these
women salo0nkeepers are no better than
they should be. The chicha Is Kept in an
immense earthen jar and is ladlad out in
glasses much like the beer schooner OF our
country. The liquor looks ike very thin
and very dirty buttermik with a decidedly
yellowish tinge. / have not as yet been
able 10 acquire a taste for IL, ana since
have heard how the best OF it IS made l
have not had trouble in giving up trying
10 do so. Chicha Is made of Indian corn
or maize. 1t is a drink that was rsed by
the 1ndang here ages ago. and you still
fnd II everywhere along the west coast of
South America. The best made in Bo-
Iiv+a comes from the city OF Cocha bamba.
Here is how il is made: The grains of
ripe corn are first bruised with Il heavy
stone. Then they are handed over 10 a
pal Ci tiI young women WHO chew
them thoroughly. mixing the grain with
their saliva until they have turned IL into
a paste. when they spit il out into dish
or cup and begin on a fresh chew When
a SUFFICIENT amount of the pas.e or corn
and Spitile has been collected i, is spread
out upon board 10 dry. II Is rext nut
into a big earthen vessel az large around
as a wash tub and about as hign As you-
waist. This is filled with water AMI boiled
over slow fire for four days II is then
cooled, filtered and put into eartner YES
sells and left 20 ferment. After about
weeks fermentation II is ready u drink.
II now smells like old yeast and tastes not
unlike old buttermIlk Good chlcha will
make a man drunk, but many of the In
dams can drink a gailOn at a time with
out being perceptiby affected by II When
the Indians Of the pilcom1yo haze their
harvest they celebrate the occasion with a
great feast. Each village prepares o,,an-
titles OF chicha, and the Inditns OF the
whole section so from one village 10 an
other, and there is a grand chlcAa drunk
They continue their drinking until all the
chicha il consumed. The women sit
around a fire with the men behind Them
They pass the chieha first to the men and
then drink themselves. AS drunkenness
comes on their orgies grow more ard more
wild and toward the las; they act more
Ike beasts than like men and women.
FRANK q. CARPENTER