El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-06-13

the Island OF the sun one has to throw
tne anchor Of his boat on the rocks OF
| the shore, for the lake is so deep al
/ that point that the graphing hooks
cannot reach bottom.
! Think Of a body Of water almost as
] Dig as Lake Geneva and more than two
miles and a half above the level Of the
/ ocean, rising and falling under the
/ WINDS Let IL be more than 800 miles
! inland from the Pacific, upon q basin
! which, next TO Tibet, Is the lOftiest in
] nablted plateau Of the world Remem-
| Der that you must cross a mighty des-
l ert and climb one Of the highest rail-
| road passes on earth to get TO il, and
you have some idea Of Lake TiUCaCa
I ana Its sister, PamDa Auilagas.
Beautiful Skies
have written much. o. the skies Of
| the Andes as seen from the pampas and
desert Those that cover Lake Titicaca
have also other beauties that are pecu-
larly their own The clouds rise up
from the shores like walls, fitting into
a vault Of heavenly blue, so that you
world. The scenes change every mo-
menL The fleecy white masses are
blown this way and that by the winds
from the pampas.
A little later the sun went down. The
sky was still full Of clouds and the
blazing god Of the Incas covered IL with
hundred unts Of wonderful hues. The
sunset was reflected in the waters of
the lake, and we sailed through one
maze Of gold, copper and blue above
and below.
As we. rose the next morning the air
was so clear that we could see for miles
The islands seemed to float upon the
waters. They looked like blue balloons
rising from a sheet Of silver rather
than the OutcrOppings Of the highest
mountain chain on our hemisphere
Coat, the Island Of the Noon, 1 re-
member, rose out Of the lake in the
shape Of a gigantic mushroom Of blue
velvet Another island looked like a
huge whale, whose head and tail stood
high above the water, and there We're
other optical illusions, due TO the at
mOsphere, that seems TO work here like
the mirage over the desert
There are hundreds of islands in Lake
Titicaca- They are the tops Of partially
submerged mountains. the peaks of the
Andes that are here up to their necks
IN - the water Most OF me Islands have
hillsides covered with farms. There are
many indian huts. IN places the hills
are terraced so that they form great
steps running around with the cuTyiner
shores Of the lake and covered with
patches Of potatoes, quinua and barley
Ruins OF Incas.
Upon these islands are ruins of the
old Inca civilization. The Island of TIT
caca, or as II IS called the Island or the
sun. was where the first Inca appeared.
1t was there that the sun dropped down
upon earth the first representative of
civilized man. Nance Capac and Mama
Ot4los MS Wiz 20 take the golden rod
he gave them and go forth and found a
great city where il should sink into the
earth. The Quichua indians still rev
erance that island, and you NAV see
there today the ruins Of the temples of
the meas, the walls Of which were I
bedded in gold.
Titicaca Island was. especially holy.
The indians looked upon it as a gar
den Of Eden and thought that the grain 1
grown upon il was blessed by the sun.
They brought soil from the mainland 10 I
build up its terraces. and the corn
grown upon il was considered so pre- /
ciOus that II sanctified and preserved /
all other grains. Therefore it was car
-ied about over the country, and small /
portions Of IL were put IN the public 4
warehouses It was also said that a I
nan who could have as much as one
grain Of Titicaca Island corn in his
5torehouse would not lack for food
turing his lifetime. On this island is
It'll shown the rock where Nance Ca
)ac and his sister wife stepped when I
hey dropped down from the sky. They
we're. you know. the ACam ana Eve OF
he meas, to whom the rock was more (