The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-11

II tnat I've not too duh and ColOrless
word for a literary process 80 animated
and so chromt attic. by MrLrCEST Tom in
Peru: 4 Land Of Contrasts little,
Brown and Company. Travelling is
all in your eye" and this traveller
vision is spectroscopic: In desert and
town, mountain and jungle rainbow
dance across 1t. The book is made II
everything that could not he put into
cyclopTdla article or a handbook. of
Peruvian life. ancient and modern, it
takes the soul and let's the unromantic
substance go. Leaving out commerce
and politics and all routine, 1t is a
poem of misty places and strange pco-
pie. And this mlstiness and this mys-
terry are not accidental. for the author
sees Peru as a land Of paradox. of con-
trasts " Violent extremes" whore the
most pansiakinE diary keeping visitor
will find his carcfullest contemporary
lettings quite unconccrn, with the
matter OF his really poignant memoir
les" and where facts are best APP
preached by indirection:
Up from the shore stretches the bare
immensely of desert, ending IN one tremu-
lous horizon with the ocean and with the
wilderness % mountains against the pul-
Light. All sensation OF color IL lost in this
great sensation Of light an ardent light
shining through things" no: on them. Even
the clouds expire from excess Of light II
reduces all colors to mere hot vibratIon
The translucent mountains swim IN sea
NJ light, rejecting from II from wide
stretches Of water. Though sensation NJ
color Is lost In light their huge forms are
distinct in the radiant atmosphere. but I'M
real as II half yelled.
This ia immoral use Of Language.
There IL no innocence in pulsatinG sky.
hot vibration, translucent mountains.
But passages like this must convince
even the wariest OF readers that in Peru
deserts are hot, and dazzle. Mirage Is
star'lngly clear, Earthquakes are con-
slant no matter how much the politi-
cal status Of Peru may change from
century to century; the politics Of
earthquakes needs study The frequency
of minor shocks encourages no sense
Of security; when carths bowels 10
not rumble tho underground world Is
boarding strength for fury Of do
struction." The Peruvian desert is in
the south white with boraN; in the
north. wet with petroleum. Rcd plains,
sand seas with dust laden whIrlwinds
D y
~ dry bones, Inca skeletons. and here
and there by the grace Of God n green
strip where a river comes down from
the mountains, generating cities. bless
ing the land with cotton. sugar cane.
alfalfa for the herds-and curslng 4
with fevers.
g., ord ,ho nor,htonor, =, .,,r
80, -,
-, ., 90 W
Leon leiIs oi hie'al HidrNclS' garden
with ho"ers or gold golden Insects
golden birds on golden houChs, gold
| butterflies: and patch Of golden maize
stalk. leaves. cob OF me shining stuff
Tho Inca sa, on roId alto or cold
L,th.d in q goIdor NH wiz, water ,j,cd
! ,t,rn,,,, cola W. +, rooa ,,I,,r,',in, ,
/ Were there no rebels against the mo.
notonv of prccious yellow? There must
have been giants in the land, and their
mcgalithic monuments Guido the Pyra
mlie Their Joined courses OF stone wert
| laid true. and to last Their engineers
performed miracles of irrigation Fran
| cisco piZarro and Diego de Almaerc
had not much To teach these weavers
pottcrs. goldymiths-exCept the art Of
pillage, which they proceeded to demon
| stratc with expcrt'sc. Peruvian In.
dams equipped the Spanish Armada.
/ Cold II gives the author one of hor
:clishcd parsdoNcs: the most incorruptl-
4 bile Of metals. the tap root of human
! corruption:
! Peru has always been cursed nv wealth
The gold Of the Incas was tho cause Of
their destruction, the wealth Of the Span
'sh conqueror' theirs; It brought about wars
| ",n"nk themselves anu rsnaseS o' 'oreeI
pll",es upon t"e se"S, "nen W" era q,
precious me'a,S sre"eu /" "ane 'sI'hns "'
a. oo,',oo - usaI,n 49,, =, - -" ..,w,
exhan.tad nv foreIencrs Than cana ,he d,s
covery Of nitrate fields where fortunes ar,
merely scraped on the top Of the ground
/ But that particular territory has been an,
neSed by prosperous nelghhor
And there is irony of human fate
along the trail of adventurers who
| seeking fahIed treasure in tho desert
have measured off with animate calip
crs miles Of money in nitrates
Mountain Peru is Colossal brutal
land. fresh from the cataclysm. a great
uneasy Wilderness: cold. sterile massos
of rock thrashed by terrific storms. A
thin lichen is the only plant life in lars,