Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-30

mummies to be had here, and every now
and then one is dug UP in the excavation
of the ruined cities of the Indians, who had
possession of the country when the Span
lards came. The mummieS are found in a
sitting posture wrapped in cloth and tied
up with strings. All about here l see the
veSuSeS of the works of the Incas They
mad a civilization on the average higher
tndn that OF Peru today. They cultivated
a vast deal more of the land. and their ir-
rigaton works included thousands of acres
which are nov desert L went, the other
day. up through the desert to the old Ir,ca
ruins of JeqUetepeque. 1 doubt whei her
any Of you have ever heard of them. still
they mark the site of what must have
once been a populous city. They cfc sit
uated high up above the lands which are
Tow irrigated by the little river which flows
hear them. Just below the ruins are the
remains Of what were once Inca fortifica-
tons. great mounds of sun-dried bricks
the ruins of which are still about 200 feet
high. The remains of the city are in the
heart of the desert. They cover several
hundred acres, and the walls in many
places, higher than your head. still stanl,
while within them the outlines of the
houses can be plainly seen. In the center
of the city-there is a large mound probably
the site of an Inca palace, or of a temple
devoted to the Vestal virgins of the sun |
rode my horse up to the top of this mound
and Ia my minds eye could easily repeople
the ruined streets below me. All about
ne were bits of pottery, the broken dishes
of that great nation of the past. Here you
could see the outlines of Il square and there
the remains of large house. which NAV
have been the residence of one of the rich
nobility from whom the Spaniards got
their gold.
Peru's Long Dry Spell.
Notwithstanding this part of the Pacific
coast has had no rain for a long time, the
pc ope are expecting 1t this year Do You
Know why? 1t is because il does rain he,e
almost regularly every seven years. and
the last big shower was in 1891. There was
a shower seven years before that. and 1
am told that about every seven, eight or
nine years there is a period of a week or
ore that the rain pours down, and as il
touches the earth vegetation almost in
simultaneously springs up. Almost within a
night the desert becomes covered with
green. There are great fields of green
grass, and flowers b. the thousands come
out in blossom. There are plants which
we have only in hot houses and flowers
more brilliant than any we know This
vegetation often lasts but a few days IL
has, however, been known to continue a
month, and at its height the cattle are
driven from the irrigated valleys out upon
the desert to feed. The seeds of all sorts
OF plants, trees and flowers seem to keen
perfectly in the hot, dry sand, and to be
ready 70 jump into life if touched with
moisture. l doubt, in fact If there is a
more fertile soil on the globe than that of
equal to that which borders the Nile val
ley, and wherever 1t can be irrigated il
produces in many Instances two crops a
year. Planting goes on here all the year
around in the irrigated valleys, and i see
corn dropped in The same ~neighborhood
where 1t is almost ripe enough for husking.
Farming In Northern Peru.
The only cultivated portions of the coast
region of Peru are, as 1 have stated, the
little valleys Of the rivers fed by the An
dean rains and SHOWS. There are on the
coast OF Peru about forty of these
valleys, which the water has cut out of
the desert. At the end of many OF them
you find little towns. which form the ports
Of the country, and in the interior there
are numerous villages and small cities
The capital of Peru, Lima pronounced
Lee-ma), is in the valley of the Rimac
river. Paita. where We first stopped on our
way south, is the port for the valley of the
Piura river, and here we are near the
mouth Of the Jequetepeque QIeketepeke)
river. At the different ports north of here
we took on thousands of bags of rice. boxes
Of tobacco and Quantities of skins and
hides. As I write this I can see droves OF
as tat cattle as any which are ever shipped