El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-07-04

not more than the size OF a thimb1a
They are all sold by the pile and a
half dozen or ten make up the average
Fruits Plentiful
Going on with our walk through the
market we see many fruits and erai1s
that are strange to our eyes Here is A
woman who sells quinua or the seeds
of a plant akin TO our pig weed. The
seeds are as large as grains Of mus
tard. and as white as snow. They are
sweet to the taste, and make an excel
lent cruel. There are also wheat bar
ley and oats, sold in lnfinitesimal uuan-
titles. There are sweet and sour lem
ons and white grapes as big as rina
DamsOn plums. There are paltas or
alligator pears of twice the size n
those that come to our markets. and
the picae, a fruit that looks like A
mammoth bean pod 1t has a green
skin. and inside il pulp like the finesr
Of white spun silk, which, when cold
tastes like a finely favored ice cream
There are also oranges, apricots and
bananas, as well as tunas, the fruit OF
the catus- All Of these come from the
Yungas valley, which is reached
through the break in the great basin
through that break you rapidly de-
scend until you reach a tropical eli
mate, where the vegetation is dense
and where there are bananas and pine
apples, royal palms and wild cotton
trees. There are also coffee planta-
tions and gardens in which the coca
leaves are raised to give the indians
their favorite chew. Bolivia has every
product under the sun, and its tropical
valleys supply the highlands with
fruit
Some Of these indians have come
from those regions. Here is one WON
an selling coffee beans, fresh from the
grove; next her is one with a pile OF
artichOkes, while further on a third is
peddling sections Of sugar cane, half as
long as my arm. She sells them for
cents a stick.
women Bear Burdens.
It is interesting 10 watch the traffic
which moves in and out through the
crowds. Nearly every woman has a
load on her back, and there are indian
men carrying baskets, bags and bun
dies Weighing as much as themselves.
The most OF the marketing is brought
in upon donkeys, and not little on
llamas- Here comes a drove Of llamas
up a side street Their heads are in
the air, and their ears stand up like
those Of a fox terrier They turn their
heads this way and that, and are evil
IDENTIFY surprised at the strange things
about them Each llama is loaded with
a bag Of freight, tied on to its back
with ropes that pass over the back and
under the belly. Those uamas are
= 50
not wood. nor oil. but dried llama ma
uure. Each beast has IS or so pounds
of this stuff on its back, and before
nightfal the trainload will have been
distributed throughout the city from
kitchen TO kitchen.
All OF the vegetables and meats in
this market will be cooked with llama
manure There is no other fuel used
in Ia PaZ, and that Notwithstanding II
is a city OF $4,000 inhabitants One
reason for this is the great cost OF
coal The freight rates from the
coast. from where all the coal comes,
are $3.50 a ton, and this brings the
price Of that fuel here TO about $50
gold This makes il prohibitive for
ordinary use, and the result is there IS
not a furnace or hot water heating
plant in the whole city.
The llama fuel is used much like
II is burned in small stoves
II gives forth but little smoke and no
sparks II is a safe fuel La Paz sell
dom has fires which do any great dam
age and. indeed, / am told that only a
few buildings have been burnt down
within the past 50 years The houses
never catch fire from the chimneys. Tor
the simple reason that they have no
Moreover. they are built OF !
mud bricks. with trimmings OF stone
rather than wood, and IL is difficult 10
start q fire in them