The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-31

the angry gods of Titisacas sacred is-
 lands, whose temples the Europeans
 have destroyed, were in revengeful
 pudsuit. Going straight across the lake,
 from Puno to Chililaya. the trip is only
 one hundred and ten miles, and is usu-
 ally made in twelve or fourteen hours;
 and one can get quite enough of it, even
 in that short time, assure you. The
 little steamers, that required ten years
 in building, were brought piecemeal | over the mountains on the backs Of
 mules before the day of the railroad, | much as Cortez carried his historic | ships from Vera Cruz to the lakes of l TenochtitIan, in the valley. of Mexica. | The state-rooms of these are the small | est that can possibly be made to ac- commodate human beings, and when in | one of their berths you have an uncan- ny feeling of being laid out in your cof- fin. All along the walls of the salon, which serves both for dining and smok-
 ing room, are cushioned benches, which at night "let out'' a few inches and
 serve as beds. ... ....... i. .--..
 There are eight habitable islands in
 Lake Titicaca. viz: Titicaca, Coati, So- to, Amatene, Thqueli, Aputo, Campana- rio and Toquare. The largest of them | is Titicaca, six miles long by about four wide-high, bare and rugged in outline.
 This is the celebrated Sacred Island
 of the Incas, to which we shall make
 special Journey before many days. An other of the islands. which is also fix miles long but not quite so broad as Ti- lticaca, was formerly the Siberia, or Dry Tortugas of Peru, to which criminals
 were banished for life, or for. stated pe-
 riods. Besides a large colony of priso- ners, there was, and still is, an Indian village at one end of the island. This eramped but bleak and barren spot must have been perfect sheol upon I earth in those. days when criminals of
 all sorts, young and old, male and fe- male, were .herded like beasts together.
 A few cents per capita was distributed
 every morning among them, with which
 they might purchase food enough to
 sustain life from the Indians, paying
 the highest prices for everything. They
 were allowed to build huts for them
 selves, the rudest materials being fur
 nished; but no provision for fire was
 t made at this freezing altitude, and as aI nothing grows on the island. fuel for
 cooking purposes had also to be bought
 Of the Indians. .'Man's inhumanity to
 man" was never more forcibly illustra-
 ited. It is said that scenes of robbery,
 murder and violence were of daily oc- , currence the young and weak having little chance of retaining the pittance
 given by the government. Sometimes , number of coDviets pooled their issues and cooked over one fire, but more Ire
 quently it happened that the strongest i. did not buy fuel at all but drove away
 those who needed it most from the lit , tie blaze they had scrinlped themselves : | of food to purchase, so true 1t IS that [ common suffering does not tend tc 5 make good companions, nor Wretched. :, ness soften the human heart. So grea' t Twas the penalty for assiting a prisoner
 from the island that it was never at , tempted; and to swim any distance 1T z these icy waters is impossible
 d On the main land nearest to this Tor. | tugas is an Aynara village, which a rev $ l years ago numbered nearly a thousand $ Indians. "A philanthropic English phy : ], sicion. filled with desire to elevate tn o condition of the Aymaras, went, wit if his wife and family. to live in this set s clement. The Indians, however. resent [ ed the intrusion, and one night mur l- dered the whole family in their beds r The atrocity was not discovered fo Y several weeks-not until distant friends V falling to hear from the good doctor ,r usual came over to see how he wa le getting along. As the most dilligen F. search failed to discover just who Wer
 the murderers, the Indians shieldin "a one another, the government settled th l. matter by sending out body of trooE ly.l who massacred about two-thirds of tn lg people of the village, to teach them De' ae ter manners in the line of ospitality. " Tine saddest of all the islands is Lax 1e Titieaca is one very near to Pun lv called San stevan (Saint Stephen se which has become Protestant grav' of yard. It came about in this wa! lv Many years ago, for some unknoW ad reason, a Spaniard who fell during u fit war for independence, was buried her re Perhaps he chose the site himself.
 CT queer old monument marks the spe h, built up of small. rough stones, in u ss shape of a somewhat shot and fat Gle de patra's needle Close beside this IS u d, grave of Captain Pernberton, ali En he fish skipper who commanded the fir
 boat on the lake, and who, being he .z- etic, could not be buried in consecrat Ls- ground. It is said that even this ba ms ren rock was begrudged him for a bu ed, ial place, the pious natives of the vicl on age threatening to dig him up and scs ed ter his bones abroad, which they dout set less would have done had he lain in Ids more accessible place. K g- The next addition to this desola if cemetery was made when Professor (