El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-12-26

level and it is surrounded by silver
clad mountains from 10000 to zZ,OOU
feet high You feel the altitude when
you ride over the lake. You seem 10
be on the very roof of the world ana
know If you could climb over those
mountains you would drop off into
space.
All of the mountains surrounding the
lake are covered with snow and the
lake itself is so blue that it makes
one think of the grOttO at Capri, when
is famous all over the world. There
are many islands in the lake, and IN
the distance they seem to float upon
the water as though they were balloons
or balls and not the Outcroppings OF
the highest chain of our hemisphere
One island I remember rose out or the
lake like a gigantic mushroom OF soll
blue velvet and another resembled a
mammoth whale whose head and lal
stood high above the blue waves, These
were optical illusions due to the at
mosphere, but they were phenomena
have seen nowhere else.
There are many other lakes on the
plateaus of the Andes in Peru and &c
uador, and also in Colombia, including
Lake Guatavita, which the indians WoI
SHIPPED and into which they threw OF
ferings of gold and silver. I have al
ready written OF Lake Urcos, in when
the golden chain of Cuzco lies buried
and there are probably Inca treasures
in most Of the bodies of water when
lie between the two great Andean
Mountain $4,000 Feet High.
Mount Aconcagua is about $4,000 feet
! high and it kisses the sky far above
any other point on our hemisphere
Mount MercederiO in Argentina is only
ZOO feet lower, and Tupungato and So
rata are each more than 1000 feet
The same is true Of lllimani, which
like Sorata, looks down on Lake TIL
caca. and Chimborazo in Ecuador is
very near the same height. The aver
age range of the Andes throughout Is
more than 1900 feet high. 1t is the
highest range on earth, with the eX-
ception of the Himalayas, which are
about 5000 feet higher.
We are now sending wireless mes
sages right over the Andes. Peru mas
a wireless station on one OF her IooI-
hills which is farther below the tops
of the mountains than the height oil
Pixies Peak Nevertheless, they have
/ sent messages right over the range and
have had them received by wireless
/ stations in Rio de JaneirO, nOtwith-
! standing the whole continent lies be
/ tween. Rio de Janeiro is on the IeVel
of the sea. Those messages climbed
up over $1,000 feet and then slid down
( to sea level, travelling distance long
er than from Boston to the Great salt
Lake. The highest of the Himalayas
[ is Mount Everest. 1t measures 29,OOU
feet.
All Capped With Perpetual Snow.
All of these big South American
I mountains are capped with perpetual
snow Even those of Ecuador, which
/ lie on the equator, have ice all the
year round. There are glaciers almost
| everywhere, and you can go by the
| railroad to within a stones throw OF
! them in Peru and see them hanging
! down over your train as YOU pass.
/ The volcanoes of the Andes are num-
/ bered by scores. and many of them are
still splitting out ashes and flames anC
molten rock There is no other place
/ in the world which offers so good Z
field for the study of geology.
| There are new formations at every
] step, and the skin seems to be tori
from old Mother Earth and her innel
/ workings laid bare.
Mount Misti is 10000 feet high, and
/ on my way from Bolivia to Chile L saw
! great windows of lava near the vol
. often break out in eruption. In SOM
! places you see great fields Of lava
( and again cascades Of lava, where tn
! molten rock has CONCEALED and hard
| ened on its way down the hills Nov
! the lava is in millions Of fragment
| the size of your fist. Now It is a fin'
| sand and now the fragments have beel
| rolled over and over until they ar
| boulders. The plateau of Bolivia
/ which is as big as Virginia, is covered
| with boulders of many cOlors.
Rocks Are Picturesque.
! The rocks of the Andes are as pic
| turesque as those of the Colorado can
| yon or the Yellowstone Park. Nov