The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-08-07

Their Golden Temples. 7.
 Special Correspondence of the Journal and Courier.)
 Puno, Peru, July 1, 1903.
 Through the courtesy of Titicaca Nav
 igation company, one of the small
 steamers that ply in the lake was
 placed at our disposal flor three days,
 that we might visit the Sacred Islands and other objects of interest in and around this world-renowned body of water. ...sN
 The name of the lake is of Quichua
 origin, Titi signifying in that language
 ''The Gate of the Mountains" and Caca Thigh Rocks of Lead,g so-called, poba-
 bly,, because of a certain place on the old Inca highway where its dark blue waters may be seen between two enor- 1 nous rocks, From this point, little | way below PJuno, we set sail one early | morning; and after a few hours sea-
 sticky run found ourselves anchored in 1llIlC Ddy 1hoOlAAo aAi~ | high and rocky shore of Tlticaca Island. 1 To this largest and mast fomous of the sacred group the Incas traced their di- I vine origin, and to this day it Is held in profoundest veneration by their de- 1 scendants, because tradition claims
 that Manco Capac and Mama Della this
 sister, who was also his wife) both chill dren of the sun and directly commits stoned by that lurninary to found a dy-
 nasty on earth-here made their first
 appearance. t By the way, the word Ca pac signifies powerful" on the Peruvi-
 an tongue, and was applied to several of Manco's successors Inca means king or monarch.
 l That quaint writer, Pedro de Leon,
 writing of the island, says: Tt was
 called sacred because of ridiculous story that there was no light in the
 world for many days, and suddenly the sun arose respIendent out of Tfticaca Island; and hence they built there a
 temple to it's glory, which was held in
 great reverance and had Virginis and
 Priests with mighty treasures belong ing to it. s er Garcilasso, the most reliable of all the
 old chronicIers, tells us that besides building temples on the Sacred Island, 1.-the Indians thought to dignify it in ev-
 cry way as being the spot where their
 Adam and Eve, coming straight from
 heaven, first planted their feet. "They l leveled it's asperities as far as possible, removing rocks and building terraces. The latter they covered with rich earth brought from afar, in order that corn ] might be cultivated, which otherwise could not be grown on account of the cold. The yield was small, but the ears l were regarded as sacred and were dis Il tributed among the temples and con vents of the entire kingdom. one year to one temple or convent, and the next l year to another, so that each might have the advantage of a portion of the grain which was brought, as it were, from heaven. This was sown in the l gardens of the Temple of the Sun and l the Canvent of the Virgins; and the I yield was again distributed among the people of the various provinces. Some few grains were scattered among the
 stores of the public granaries. as holy things which would preserve from cor l ruption the food of the people; and it was believed that every Indian who had in his storehouse so much as one grain grown on the Sacred Island could
 never lack food during his lifetime" Titicaca Island is only four miles long | by six miles wide. It is high and rug ged in outline and deeply indented by many tiny bays. There is little vil- | lage at one end, where guides may be secured, if needed, to explain the little that is known about the various ruins. } From the landing place one scrambles up a very steep ascent to this hamlet, which in itself cantains nothing of in terest; but just behind it is the first ruin where, in the golden days of the Incas, all visitors to the island were obliged to tarry awhile, to go through certain ceremonies of purification be- fore being permitted to enter any of the sacred edifces. The walls of this struc- ture are of limestone, the hugh blocks
 carefully cut and set in aough clay. The upper part of it fell away long ago,
 but the lower portion is still tolerably we'll preserved. The house was former ly divided into two parts, measuring thirty-five feet one way and twenty seven the other, with broad platform
 in front of it.. -'' Climbing with some difficulty half a
 mile farther up the stony declivity, one
 comes to ''The Palace of the Inca,'; which is situated on the brow of cliff
 overlooking the lake. with a terraced
 hill behind it., Its walls are very much
 broken, but enough remains to show
 the style of architecture, the forms of
 the windows and doorways and the
 general plan. of the whole. Close be-
 hind this royal palace lies what isi
 known as The Bath of the Inca" ba-5 sin of solid stone, measuring on it's sur-i
 face thirty-five feet by forty-five, with
 dtpth of nearly six feet. The smooth walls around this generous bath-tub are
 now overgrown with vines and weeds,
 and at one end three little streams of
 water, each about two inches in diame-
 ter, still 'trickle into it. Though ire
 quently starched for, the source of
 these streams cannot be found. Com
 ing through unknown subterranean
 channels, they flow to-day. after more
 than three hundred and fifty years of
 dfsuse, exactly as they must have done
 for the convenience of the Indian empe- TOTS. Immediately beyond the tank
 rises the terraced hill which served as
 one of the sacred gardens. It was evil