The Republican journal., 1903-07-30
PUN()
-, THE SHORE OF LAKE TITICACA.
w Lou r1yING''-IN ALTITUDE ONLY.

,sp4clal correspondence of The Journal
ID, <o PERU, June 20, 1908. This
..nmost town of Peru is not an at
tive place, lying, as it does, nearly
',..+.au thousand feet above the level of
Is,ea with no vegetation in its vicin-
~. .rofnl.swept Lake Titicaca on one
..nd encompassed on the others by
.vn.ar ridges of barren mountains.
,..t-,ere is fascination about Puno
-.t mclineS the traveller to linger
..,. Nowever uncomfortable he may
and impresses every detail OF his
.,.o.udings indelibly upon his mem
49,. ough many more beautiful scenes
...,. gotten 1t is essentially an In
.. -,vn. fully nine tenths of its pop
.u about 5000 all told. being
...4...s and Quichuas. The former
most numerous, but both are
... 10, after a comfortlesS fashion
.al oNn Each head of a family
.. +, house and all have enough to
.l.h as it is. At any rate there
.... urggarS in Puno, though many
r..,.u cities that are apparently
cher fairly swarm with them.
III so little can be raised in this
r.... region-Wheat not at ali, corn
. rIpening. and bitter potatoes
.a.. a- TO bigger than the end of your
.,.. d. The great lake is an exhaust
--, are-house, furnishing plenty of
..u always covered with wild fowl
...G.v species Biscatches rabbits
... in the neighboring hills, and
one of the five sacred sheep
--. andes, whose fur is very valua-
~ sometimes found y good
..-. -ueep are raised in the vicinity,
nt vie Indians eat mutton only after
been frozen and dried. Peas,
h-.- peppers, and other staples of
..-.f.au life, are all brought up from
-"a,l, as they cannot be cultivated
bills chilly altitude. They cannot
.- r. cooked tender at such an ele-
.-.l NTH they have first been dried
va. .e potato, and reduced to powder.
~ Il thing as an egg "hard-boiled''
1ot possibly be had here. Flour
talen a good deal in price since the
...ty now brings it over the noun
- hut it is still much too dear to be
.. yy the lower classes.
eh the nights are always cold,
-- .rmometer descending from fiji
twenty degrees after sunset,
tQuently touching the freezing
ven at the height of the season
aIs.call summer, there is not
The town which contains any
--ment for making fire, beyond
.Ne ranges for cooking purposes
American range, by the way.
s4y mound OF shelf OF sun
d, extending across one side of
eueu. with small holes scooped
teIyals along its top, i'll which
4t housewife burns llama dung,
rnnes the tWigs OF a mountain
allied tola.
uGses. with their enormously
lis and few windows, have an
tmospAere damp and cold as that
5t in a cemetery. When the
4ts, the people wisely stay out
..s. then, in order to keep warm,
.. -Dto bed very early and arise late
morning. The early bird
.. .o business whatever hereabouts.
the Weather one-tenth of the
Gty there are many pleasant
.. mainly the families of English
man merchants and American
yves Of the railway and steamship
Most Of their homes, however
assessing outside, are large and
odious, and contain unexpected
les For instance, pianos are
rsal in the better houses, though
.r5. Instruments cost ten times as
acre as III the United States,
% to be imported from the other
sd. ut the world, and until recently
to be brought up from the sea
o-' on mule-back. | have been as
-asard more than once on entering
.a, appeared to be a poor mud hoyel,
LEST, tie of the cOmmonest comforts,
ot -arth floor, straw iroof, and wood
e urters in lieu of glass windows, to
inside both piano and sewing
lne.
this altitude the dry, thin air is as
a 90 furniture as on human beings,
using wood to crack and curl up as it
uytis the skin anG wrinkles the face
l'e dried fig, making girl of TWEEN
vok as old as her great grandmother
astt to. Bureaus, tables, ETC., are
'lul to split very soon; chairs lose
--r rungs and fall apart in no time;
LAYERS cease to fit, and floors and
~aed walls shrink wide apart, leaving
slightly crevices. Billiard balls have to
@ept IN oil when not in use, and bar
' joIished iron may lie out of doors
.n.uitely without danger of rusting
r. Washer-w woman does not bother
self with clothes lines, nor does she
s.vad the wet linen out on the ground:
4eleiy WringS the things and losses