Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-19
HUNTING THE CHlNCHILLA.
American Secured q Corner on Il
Little Animals i'm Bolivia.

American Secured Corner on the
Little Animals i'm Bolivia.
From the New York Times.
left New York on February last, going
to Colon, where l crossed the isthmus. re-
embarked on Pacific steamship, and sailed
down the coast to Bolivia, where L took a
coach-there being no such thing as rail-
road in all Bolivia--f1nally arriving at the
foot Of the Andes, where my tour OF the
country commenced. In all, my travels
covered in the ne1ghborhood of 10 900 miles,
beginning at La Paz and extending as far
as the Punta Renas, in the Strait Of Ma
gellan. l was in search of chinchflla furs,
which are secured from the Indians OF the
Andes. The chinchilla is a little animal
that looks something like a squirrel, and
also like rabbit. 1t is trapped at an ele-
walton Of from 5000 to $1,000 feet by the
1mchas and Amanas, who trade in the furs.
Formerly the animals were smoked or
ferreted out of their holes, and In some
cases caught with dogs: this was very in
furious to the skins, however, and they are
now generally trapped in the night time by
the Indians. They are very wild, and a
considerable amount of skill is necessary In
capturing them Each tribe puts its stock
at the disposal Of its chief, who sells the
skins. l have known one tribe to accumu-
late as high as $4,000 worth Of the skins at
one time and dispose Of them at one sale,
dividing the money acquired among the
tribesmen.
you ask me IL j nave ever experienced
any trouble with the natives. l have been
very fortunate as a general rule with them,
for II you treat them right they Will In
most cases reciprocate and treat you like
wise. When / was in La Paz a revolution
was in progress There was considerable
fighting going on in the vicinity Of the
town and / experienced some difficulty in
getting out Of the place. The secretary of
the American legation, Mr.. Wales, finally
came to my rescue. however, and succeeded
in getting me passed through the lines,
threatening that unless they permitted my
free egress an American fleet would bonn
bard the SeacoaSt towns. This struck me
as a rather original proposition. since b.
lfvia has no coast line at all The threat
worked all right, however, and l was more
than satisfied with the outcome of the
bluff.
At another time I was present, or rather
in the vicinity of, great national religious
festival at old church in the Andes
The Indians, you know, are very religious
and have original ways of showing it. AT
this festival they came from Brazil, Argen-
tina and Bolivia. In front of the church
for about 100 yards extended a stone path
way. The stones were small in size and
very pointed making walking on them very
laborious, and when | tell you that each
Indian had to get on his hands and knees
and crawl all the way to the, church you
can appreciate the fervid fanaticism that
marks their devotion. On this occasion the
stones of the walk were covered with blood.
After they reached the church there was
another celebration in which weird dances
predomnated. While they are supposed to
be good Christians in peaceful times, they
are, on the other hand cannibals in times
of war. Several cases where human beings
have been butchered and then eaten have
been brought to my notice. They will
torture an enemy by pulling out his toe
nails, gouging out his eyes removing
bones from his jaw, besides performing
other barbarous tortures beyond the power
of man to describe. 1t is absolutely neces-
sary, you see, to treat them right, especial
ly If you have any longing to see your
native land again.
attended one of the native fairs held
on the Argentine boundary. Huara was
the name of the village where the show
took place. 1t is normally place Of about
500 Inhabitants, but on this occasion the
visitors swelled the total to more than TO-
600. Trading in mules the principal
diversion of the pleasure seekers, who
would pick out an animal and then pay
guacho, or cowboy, a dollar to break him.
which he would do In five minutes time.
He would throw, saddle and bride him
Mexican bit would be used, the torture of
which would require only few minutes in
which to subdue the beast.
The great curse of the country Is the
potato alcohol which, though it is a gov
eminent monopoly, is nevertheless, despite
all attempts to stop it's sale to the In
dams, always on hand. Give him this fiery
liquor and there Is no telling what he will
do.
Mr. Herzg brought back with him three
live chinchillas, which are the first of the
little animals to be brought to this coun
try. He will give them to the Central Park
Zoo,