The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-07-21

Bishop Stuntx About South Ameri-
ca-Wbat the Church Is Doing i'm
An Educational Way. Are Mission
aries Wclcome?-A Great Intcliec- |
tual Awakening.
La Paz, Bolivia.
Before leaving Washington. l had
a talk with Senior Don Ignacio Cal
dcron. the minister from Bolivia to
the United States, with regard to my
trip to his country. Among the other
things he asked me to investigate
and report upon to the American peo-
ple were the efforts that are now
being made to start an industrial mis-
SION among the Aymara Indians about
lake Titicaca / have been making
inquiries as to this in my travels
about the lake and La PaZ, and have
found the beginning of a work that
may form the opening wedge for the
civilization Of millions.
You have all heard of the semi
civilized nations who inhabit this An
dean plateau shortly after Columbus
discovered America. at the time the
%Spaniards came The whole country
was then peopled with Semi-civilized
tribes. There were the Chibchas in
Colombia. the CaraS and Chancas OF
Ecuador. the Quichuas Of Peru, the
Aymaras in Bolivia. and farther south
Iht UId NV - Ndl0
to nave never been conquered. The
Chibchas were skilled in weaving and
the making of pottery They had paved
highways. and their farming VAS car
ried to a high degree of success. They
had weights and measures, and a cur
rency in the form of gold disks. The
Araucanians had a cOnfederacy, n
they met in grand council to decide
their public affairs. The Caras had a
high civilization. with a military and
tribal organization, and the Aymaras,
who formed the chief race Of Bolivia,
were akin to the Quichuas. those
wonderful Indians Of Peru. the sub
Jects OF the IncaS.
At the time the Spaniards came, it
Is estimated that there were from
twenty TO forty millions OF these In
dams on the high plateau OF the
Andes. They were enslaved by our
Christian white race, and the life was
ground out of them. AS late as 1875
the Peruvian Indians are said to have
numbered 100000 but 200 years
later this number dropped to 1900
600. while hat OF the whole Inca
empire, which had numbered 10000
600. had been cut dow to less than
1900, 900.
Today n greater part Of the popu
iatlon Of Ecuador is made up Of In
dams. There are about 1000, 00t
Aymaras and Quichuas here in Bo'
Iva. and there are more than twice
as many. mostly Quichuas, in thu
Peruvian republic. All of these In
dams are i'm a low state of ~civiliza
ton. Not one in a hundred Of then
can read or write. and the great ma
Jority are more like animals than lik'
civilized men. They are mere newer
of wood and drawers of water. Nearl.
all are the slaves of the alcohol habit
all soak their brains with cocaine, b.
chewing the zoe leaf. and altogethe
they are a race from whom activ
mentality seems to have departed
They are nominally Catholic: bu
allied to their Catholicism are man,
superstitions connected with the wor
ship OF the sun. They have ais
strange customs such as eating tn
dead bodies Of their enemies, and cal
Tying written messages to the goo
when they die. as l shall describ
later on.
These Indians live in mud hut
scattered over the high plateau OF tn
Andes. Their huts are without wiz
dows. n are lighted only by tn
doors. which are SO low that one ha
10 stoop to go in. They have thatche
roofs made of the grass Of the pan
pas. Their only furnishings are tn
SKINS OF alpacas, llamas and shee
upon which they sleep at night, an
IN some cases a ledge of mud. bui
up across one side OF the hut as
bed. They cook in clay pots over
IRE of the droppings of llamas. n
are no chimneys and the smoke ge
out AS II can.
some Of the Indians have flocks
Sheep and own alpacas and llama
now and then you find one who h:
horses or donkeys and cattle. Son
are independent sGuatters havlI
'heir huts out on the pampas b
many more are the poems or de
slaves OF the whites and the hal
breeds. or Choios. who wi most
inc good land of the Andes. l ha'
already described the condition
.nese poems in one province Of Per
me conditions are not SO bad in son
OF "a other provinces. and also