Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-04-06
DIFFICULT TO MOVE.
Pianos Carried Across the Andes on
Backs of Natives.
Instruments Logged Many Miles over
the Mountains at Small Cost
How the Job Is
Done.


Moving day in some portions of South
America is attended with far more in
Conveniences than it is in the cities of
the United States, according to a gen.
tleman recently returned from that re-
gion. Just imagine" he says, being
able to have a piano carried over 300
miles for a ten dollar bill, and that, too,
by way OF difficult paths over our
tains 1000 feet above the level of the
sea. And yet that is possible in
Ecuador and other of the countries trav-
ersed by the Andes mountains.
THE pianos are carried by the ma
tives, who, although seldom weighing
more than 140 pounds and rarely being
over five feet five inches in height, will
carry as much of a burden as a burro,
and sometimes more. 1t is a common
sight in those countries to see one of
these little fellows, with a load weigh
ing fully 200 pounds suspended from the
back of his neck, going along at his pc
culiar Jogging gait, at the same time
urging forward a burro.
The regular price for carrying a
piano from Guayaquil, on the Pacific
coast, to Quito. the capital of Ecuador,
a distance of 800 miles, on the other side
of the Andes, is 20 sucres, which is
equivalent to about ten dollars in United
States money. To engage the men to
take the piano to Quito is a compare
lively easy task, as there are always
hundreds of them Longing about the
principal square in Guayaquil.
"All you have to do is tell the first ma
tive you meet of your desire, and he will
Immediately call together a dozen Of
his comrades, as willing and eager to
undertake the long, arduous journey as
II 1t were for two blocks instead of over
nearly 400 miles of the most difficult.
desolate and God-forsaken country on
the face of the earth.
'The men will quickly secure a pole
25 feet long and about five inches in
diameter, Of tough bamboo wood, to the
middle of which they will strap the
piano in such a way that about eight
feet of the pole will project from each
end. Then six men will take their places
at either end, swing the pole on their
shoulders and away they go at a dog
trot on their long trip.
"The first 70 miles between Guaya-
quill and the mountains is through a
low, level country, and this section Is
covered in little more than two days.
But after this country is passed the
route lies through the main range of the
| Andes, continually going up grade for
| 240 miles before they reach the fcL.
"This $40 miles is travelled a,Cr~ var
row paths which at their very widest
are not over 80 inches, frequently mar
rowing down to 18. AT intervals of
about 200 feet are passing places, about
| five feet wide and 20 feet long. These
| paths for mile after mile u along
| ravines of tremendous depth, where one
misstep would send n down 1000 feet
or more. Sometimes the paths are just
barely wide enough to get the piano
through.
when the days journey is finished
the men make preparations for their
simple meal, which usually is nothing
more than flour mixed with water until
1t reaches the consistency of custard.
This -four is carried in horns, which are
slung over the back after the style of a
hunters horn. And 1t is op food Of this
kind that these natives live. year in and
year out.
after this meal they lounge around,
talking and smoking cigarettes, until
| ntghtfall, when they throw themselves
on the ground for their nights rest, for
they never sleep in a bed from n years
end to the other. Nearly az the natives
| are Of mixed blood-IndiaE and Span
fish.
"There is no way of taking the pianos
to the interior except by this method.
On the other side of Quito, toward the
Atlantic, lies another range of the
Andes, which is almost as high as the
| one to the westward and still harder to
traverse. After crossing the mountains
| toward the east lies an unexplored wild
thousands of miles in extent.
at will take at the lowest IL days to
| carry a piano from Guayaquil to Quito.
| Each man will receive about seven cents
a day, or IS cents for his work for II
days, and out of this he must provide
his own provisions. If they are lucky
they may get another load back to
Guayaquil.
Nearly every article of modern use
comes from the coast, as comparatively
nothing is manufactured in the noun
tains. Large mirrors and huge pieces Of
furniture have been brought over these
narrow mountain trails in the same
! manner as the pianos"