The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-01-01

play of a moment age had become a
conventional priest and three or four
everyday men, There was a little
patio about which was built a one
story tile-covered abode shack, a game
cock struttlng around conscious Of the
| admiration OF his harem-and, moth
ing more. 1t was very simple place.
Merry Makers Excused.
The merry makers excused them
| selves and Father Diez invited me in
| to the house. There was a sitting
| room, severe and unattrtctive, with
its dirt floor and its bare adobe walls.
A row of chairs arranged stiffly
around the walls added to the Sc
verify. A small table and sort of a
| cupboard, on which | saw a nearly
| empty bottle Of brandy and a number
! of entirely empty glasses, were the
| only articles of furniture to be seen.
Opening into the sitting room was
small bed room and I could see
through the open door two beds. /
guessed that l would occupy one OF
them and the priest the other. My
guess turned out to be right. But
| It wasn't bed time yet 1t was only
four O'Clock in the afternoon, and
since l had not eaten anything at
midday 1 was very hungry rather
| Diez offered me drink of brandy and
| would have ordered something cooked
! for me, but ! insisted On waiting for
the evening meal.
We then went to visit the schools
and finishing with that we took a walk
| around the village. / judged from the
way that the people Of the town greet
ed Padre Diez and from the evident
| interest he took in them all that the
| relations between priest and people
| was that of father and children, and
| III the short time that / spent with
| him / became almost to feel as
! though We're, too. one OF his parish
| toner's. That night we sat talking for
a long time over the dinner table,
/ and in the morning early the good
father babe ME goodbye, urging me to
come again.
From this point we went down
| about four thousand feet in a dis
| lance OF three miles, Down below uS
| in gorge was n river that We had
| to cross. That done, We began the
| climb again and the next day at IL
| O'Clock We reached the top Of the d.
| vide, the point at which the waters
| are turned on one side into the At
lantic and on the other into the Paci-
| flee. We were now about Il 900 feet
above sea level, and although the sun
was shining brightly, and although we
were but a. few degrees from the
equator, yet ] felt cold.
We followed down a ravine on the
other side Of the divide and about four
clock in the afternoon We came OUT
upon a comparatively level plateau
On the left few miles away stood q
mountain that attracted my attention
! With sheer perpendicular front Of
| rock it looked like a castle of giants
| We were now riding through the
Nellesmoro estate, tract 50 miles
long and 90 miles wide. The seventh
generation of the Vellesmoro family
| are living on this estate, after a Pc
| rio1 Of more than two hundred years
| From the time it was first granted th
| the Vellesmoros in 1904 by the King
| of Spain for military services, down
to the present time some Of this faL4-
| lily have lived upon il AMI possessed
its great wealth. l now found that
the mountain which had attracted my
attention was rich in copper. silver
and gold ores. These ores are brought
from the mines by mules and carried
to the railroad three days away. Be
| sides the precious ores, coal OF the
| best grade is abundant here and it
| pays the Vellesmoro brothers to ship
it to New York.
Great Wealth.
| But the mineral wealth IS only a
! part of the great wealth of this estate,
for the crops that grow in tropical and
! temperate latitudes are found on it,
| The Vellesmoros live here apparently
unconscious of the great wealth. po-
| tential wealth at least, that surrounds
| them.
Now I am not telling this to set the
| boys dreaming of the great fortunes
they are going to find in the Andes.
but just to show you how rich is
| Peru and some OF the other South
| American countrie..
| A few hours ride soon brought us
to another picturesque town at the
| foot Of mountain. This was Gaia
| banda, where we were to be joined
| by the inspector Of schools for that
| town. We rested here night and
| started next morning to visit other
schools farther back in the noun
tains, but Santos had been enjoying
| himself SO much that he had to be
| left behind.
Another gendarme, a fat Indian
| boy about 1g years old was secured.
| We were riding now in plain view
Of snow-covered mountains. When
we were an hour or so out Of Gaia
| banda I found that the gendarme
didn't know the road and that Silva.
the inspector, had been over it only
once. And so l was not surprised
after a while to discover that we were
lost. We had been following a trail
that was extremely rough In cross
Ing ravines in some places it was
SO steep that the mules would simply
put their four feet together and slide
down. The climb up on the other
side would be eorTespondingly steep,
and at times it would be necessary
TO dismount and let the mules scran-
bic up. For such roads give me q
mule, for q stumbling horse might
easily tumble over precipiece with
his rider and load thousand feet
below.
Well. We were lost. We didn't care
to go back over the road we had trav-
al l.,