Omaha daily bee., 1898-07-31

doGkeys or cattle. The potatoes are very
small and few in a hill, and the soil is such
that it is only here and there that you find
a 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
several places I saw Indian women going
along bent double picking up stones in the
gathered up skirts of their dresses, and
thus carrying them to the piles. Much Of
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
animals from straying, and with unerring
aim sends a stone straight at the llama or
sheep that steps onto the fields of her
neighbors. There are no fences in this
part of Bolivia. The cattle in the fields
are, as a rule, staked or hobbled by tying
a rope about their front legs Just above the
ankles. You often see a drove of donkeys
so fastened, and horses and mules are tied
in this way all over Peru and Bolivia.
Such farming as is done is after the crud-
est methods. / saw no signs OF manure be-
ing anywhere used, though there were great
piles of it lying at every stable, where we
got a new relay of mules. l have been told
that the natives know nothing Of the uses
Of fertilizers, 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 American
tools l have seen are Hartford axes. Pc.
tatoes are dug by the women, who use little
strips Of iron shaped something like an ar
row with a wide, fiat stem. This is grasped
in the middle with the hand and the woman
bending double 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 work
ers have to bend close to the ground to use
them. The blowing is all done by oxen
with rude wooden plows, to which a point
made of a fiat iron bar about two inches
wide is fastened. A long tongue or beam
extends from the plow to the yoke, which
is tied to the horns of the oxen, the weight
of pulling the pillow being done with the
head and not with the shoulders, as with
US.
Freight Wagons of the Andes.
i have given you some idea OF now 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, llamas 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 bundles of coco
leaves on their backs to the towns further
south. There were llamas loaded with
bundles of silver ere 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
Indian men and women, who walked with
or behind the animals, and who, as far as
| could see, never ride them. Most of the
women had bundles on their backs and not
a few carried little babies there slung in
shawls. All prospectors here use mules for
travelling over the country. All supplies
for the mines must be carried through the
mountains in this way. The machinery for
mining in Bolivia must be made in sections.
no piece Of which can be larger than a
mule can carry on its back, and every bit
of machinery has to be carried in this way.
The merchandise which our exporters in
tend for Bolivia should be Out up in boxes