Omaha daily bee., 1914-07-19
The Trustees have
established 4 school ="

4 or one kind or another They work about
| two days of the week for their rent
These Indians form the nucleus OF the
missionary work, and 1t is among them
that the industrial movement is now
going on. The trustees have established
a school, and both children and grown
Ups are attending it and learning to read
They have introduced new plants and
grasses. and they are experimenting with
grains to see If better conditions Of farm
| ing cannot be created on these high
plateaus. They expect to improve the
breeds of sheep and to bring in goats
and American cattle. They hope also to
teach the Indians the several trades and
to uplift them in every possible way.
Finally Won Confidence.
During my stay here l have met Mr..
Hugo Wenburg, who is now managing
the farm. He tells me that the Indiana
would have nothing to do with the mis-
sionaries at first. They had been told
by their neighbors that the Americans
would work them to death and that they
would be cheated out Of all that they
had The trustees had great trouble in
getting their confidence, but finally sue
ceeded, and a great desire for education
has sprung up. The Indians are send
ing their children to the school, which,
owing to the lack of buildings, is now
held in the patio or open square inside
the farmhouse. The school day is short
as the children have to work for their
parents The hours are from to in
the morning, but the children are so
anxious to learn that they come before
the teachers are awake. The little In
dams are bright and are about as quick
to learn as the Cholos or whites.
/ asked Mr.. wenburg how he was get
ting along introducing new methods of
| farming. He replled:
stick to old Ways.
I'VE have had great difficulty in get
ting the Indians to try anything new,
but am sure that as soon as they can
see that our ways are better we shall
have no further trouble. Among other
attempts we have made was the intro
duction Of the American plow. The In
dian plows are of wood and are little
more than forked sticks, that cut g fur
row of only two or three inches. We
imported some plows, but had great
trouble in persuading the Indians to
yoke their oxen to them. The plows are
yoked to the horns Of the oxen and the
oxen push the plow-tongue along with
their heads. We showed them that we
could plow twice as deep with our plow
as they could with theirs, and when our
crops rise high above theirs I am sure
we shall have no further trouble"
In talking about the superstltions OF
the Indians, Mr.. Weinberg said that they
believe in witchcraft and that death is
usually occasioned by some one bewitch-
ing them. When a person dies his rela-
| tives and friends are anxious that the
witches should not pursue the soul Of the
man after death Not long ago a man
died on the farm, and his family came
to the overseer and asked him to take a
piece of paper with a cross on the top
and to write below that: "I have died
because l am bewitched by my enemies,
and here pray to the Lord that l may
be free from them in the future" This
! sheet of paper was put into the hand of
the dead man and was buried with him.
Natives Ordinarily Quiet.
In the same connection Mr.. Wenburg
says that the Indians are very quiet as
an ordinary thing, but they may become
| grow savage At such times a man may
even kill and eat his victim. The Indian
overseer now on the farm belonged TO
family who killed and ate man in that
way. They then throw his bones into
the lake, This was discovered and. as a
punishment, the neighbors took away the
land that belonged to them.
During my stay at Cerro dc Pasco
Of Fvg
that is going. on among the Indians Of
Peru. The heads Of this work are inter
denominational, and they come chiefly
from Great Britain and Canada. They
have a mission station at Arequlpa and
large industrial farm not far from
Cuzco. The farm formerly belonged TO
the Jesuits, but some time after they
were driven out of the country it was
bought by this organization. It is Of
vast extent, consisting of something like
$1,000 acres Of good land on the plains
and running from them high up the
slopes of the mountains and including the
valleys between AS in the case of the
farm on Lake Titicaca the Indians went
with this land. They had their own lit
tie holdings scattered over It. and owned
their own flocks. working a part Of each
]
established schools on the estate, and are
introducing our grains and grasses and
| new methods Of farming. / am told that
the Indians are learning to plow. They
use one-handed plows OF American make.
and now cultivate their land in deep and
straight burrows, a thing they did not do
in the past. The foreigners have brought
in new crops and new varieties OF the old
crops. Among other things they are e1-
perimenting with is the Irish potato, of
which they are raising as much as 500
bushels per acre.
Indian Boys Are Bright.
/ talked with Mrs. Austin, a fine Ca
madam woman, the wife OF one OF the
missionary farm managers. She tells me
that. the Indian uoys are very quick TO
learn and showed me a bright little fell
low. belonging to the farm, who spoke