Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-02-20
perched on Side of the Andes--Indinns
of the Forests n People Apart.
(From the New York Times.)

(From the New York Times.)
Tie republic Of Peru covers an area
Of territory nearly 10 times the size of
England, with total population equal to
less than half that of Greater London !
Its Typographical conditions are perhaps
the most remarkable Of any country in |
the world
on the Pacific side stretches littoral |
400 miles long and 50 miles wide, tree
less. without vegetation. except that
grown under irrigation, and absolutely |
ranless, due to the "blanketing' of the |
trade winds by the Cordilera of the An
des. which shuts off this peculiar zone
from the interior. The enormous noun |
tain chain of the Andes extends like a
wall parallcling the coast of South Amer
lea for 400 miles throughout Ecuador,
Fcru and Chile, and in the part pertain |
ing to Peru, 1900 miles or more in length.
it cannot be crossed, except In one single
instance, at elevation OF less than 1900
feet to 1900 feet above sea level.
Two railways ascend this mighty wall
the Oroya and the Southern. about so
miles apart, the first reaching an eleva-
ton of 1850 feet, and the second 1850
feet above sea level. These railways ter
inmate at the summit or merely branch
along the great plateau, no line yet hav-
! ing been built to descend the eastern
| slope through the savage. and, in some
cases, UNEMPLOYED territory lying upon the
headwaters OF the Amazon. tho affluents
OF which mighty stream have their rise
| amid the perpetual snow cap and glaciers
which cover the Andinc submits. The
| traveller who desires to reach eastern
| Peru from the seaboard or the railway
| terminus, or those whose business necessi-
| tateS his crossing the Andes in another
part, must journey on muleback over the
worst mountain trails in the world, scarce
! ly better in many cases than when Pizarro
and his band first assembled the ordilera,
and to reach the navigable waters of the
| Amazon he may avail himself of canoe
or raft To shorten the fatigue of the sad
| die.
Arduous though this journey is. there
! is nothing about it that the resolute travel
er cannot accomplish The crossing Of the
Andes. IS however, exceedingly trying
due to the Arotic-or rather Antartic-
condition Of climate and the effect of the
sickness often in those who have not be-
!
writer has crossed these submits on
various occasions, and rarely did the sew
! ere rain, hail. snow. sl-et and wind storms
common TO this Tibet of America fail to
concentrate their attentions upon him.
/ on one occasion he traversed an unex-
pored pass across the perpetual ice-cap,
! the first white man to do SO. but at the
risk Of his life
Andes, the submits and plateaus of
J which are bare of arboreal vegetation,
| tree life is encountered at an elevation
of about HOO feet, and in change Of
climate Is experienced. The air grows
warm, the mists lie heavily. the vegeta-
ton becomes dense, Towering shrubs APP
pear, at length the traveller plunges into
| the upper part of the Amazon forests,
which continue unhroken throughout that
part of Peru and Bolivia, and extend
across Brazil for 1900 miles to the shores
! of the Atlantic. The upper portion Of
/ these forests, In Peru, Is known as the
Montana, tht word referring not TO the
region of the mountains, but the woods;
and it is here that the rubber Industry"
| has its home.
Peru is thus divided naturally into
| three Zones-the coast, the mountains and
the forests. The Peruvian people are also
divided into three sections--the white peo-
pie of Spanish descent. the mestizos, or
| mixed race of Spanish and indigenes, and
| the Indians. These Indians are separated
| into two very different classes-the Indi-
ans of the mountains and the Indians OF
the forests-far removed from each other
| in race. language, habits and habitat
The highland Indians are the same peo-
pie who formed the population Of the Inca
! empire. the Quechuas and Aymaras, and
| liVed for unknown centuries under the
bcneficent laws evolved by the Incas and
| thef predecessors and who were so ruth
| lessly sacrificed to the greed and misrule
oil tho Spaniards. These hardy and docile
Inhabitants of the uplands' are Christian
lied, and 10 n certain extent blended with
the mtstizos. and they go by the generic
name of Cholos
| All along the plateaus and high valleys
OF the Andes, from Cuzco to Quito, more
| man 100 miles, are scattered and remains
OF the remarkable monuments and meg
alltnc structures raised by the lncas
ana pre-incas, and the Vulnerable walls
| Iortresses and one-tinie cultivated ter
races OF those ancient inhabitants whom
tho highland people to-day refer TO as the
Gentiles While 1t cannot be said that
the Cholos are Systematically robbed and
| outraged by the whites and mestizos of
| Peru ana Bolivia, for they enjoy theo-
| retcal'y the protection of the law of tho
republic their lot IL, on the other hand
| nara one. In times OF revolution they
re mere food for powder NRd In times