The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-06-16

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copyrighted 1914. by Frank q. Carpenter
GUAQUI, Bolivia.
Fake a seat on the aeroplane of
your Imagination and point its nose
toward the sky. Pull the lever and
guide yourself straight upward until
you are more than two and a half
miles above the level of the sea. Then
fly about 1000 miles straight to the
south. Cross the Gulf of Mexico and
the Caribbean sea: twist your way in
and out among the high peaks Of the
Andes. through Colombia. Ecuador
and Peru: then descend just so feet,
and you are at Guaqui. Bolivia. on the
shores of Lake TitIcaca, the highest
body of water hat is now traverSed
by a steamer. You are further up in
the air han the top of Fujiyama,
Japan. You are more than twice as
high as Mount Washington, and less
than 500 feet below the top of Pixies
Peak. You are on the shores of an
inland sea almost half as big as Lake
Eric. and in plain sight of "a snow
clad wall OF extinct volcanoes, some
of which are nearer to heaven than
any point on the North American con-
tiuent. Much of the high plateau that
borders the two sides of the lake is
1900 feet above sea level. and the
lake itself is more than 1880. Mt.
Sorati. at one end of the aged wall
of glaciers in front of you. is more
than $4,000 feet high; and the gla-
ciers on Mt. Illimani are so tall and Sc
steep they have never been climbed
AS | stand here on the shores of the
lake | seem to be on the every roof
OF the world and as | ride over the
waters | feel as though. if l climbed
up their shores, L Would drop off into
space.
l came to Lake Utica from Cuzco
riding for 200 miles on the railroad
through the high valley between tn
Andean ranges. The whole way
was in plain sight of mountains. som
of which rose two miles above me
and / could look over pampaS tn,
sod of which was as smooth as tina
OF the lawn in front of your dwell
ing. These high Andean plains
which are so far above the sea tina
twenty-six Washington monument
resting n or top of the other woul,
not reach to their altitude. were GOV
cred with sheep, alpacas and llama
aud spotted with the mud huts of tn
Indians. The latter part of the jour
ney was over plains hat once form
ed a part of the bed of the lake an,
l crossed many streams that wer
winding their way down into it.
As l came nearer Lake Titicaca
the cultivated patches increased. TIL
soil was richer. and there were hun
dreds of Indians working their crop
IT barley. potatoes and uuinua. TIL
1lOcks of sheep became larger, and
was told that there are hacienda
nearby. each of which has fiocks mum
boring thousands.
We stopped at uliac and an hou
later landed at PunO. a tin and mu
town of one and two story building
rooted with galvanized iron. | re
seeing an American vino
mill close to the station. that SCENE
to wave it's arms in welcome to me a
the train took me out on the lon
pier To the steamer Yavari. There
for my trip across the lax
from Peru to Bolivia. The distanc
is 40 miles, and we were Steamin
all night and the greater part of tn
morning. | am now at Quapui. tn
Bolivian port on the southern end
the lake and not very far from TT
mouth of the river DesaEuadero. TIL
river forms the outlet of the lake.
carries its waters into Lake Poop
which is only "A few hundred feet low
er down nearer the sea. There al
a dozen rivers hat flow into Lal
TiticaCa. but the only one that tioy
out OF il is the DeSaSuadero. TIL
river connects Lake Titicaca wit
Lake Pampa AuiiauEas. OF Lak Pc
po. as it is sometimes called. I-al
Poopo is only one-third as large
Lake Titicaca. and it has no visib
outlet. Lake Titicaca receives eve
minute more than 5000 tons of wat
from the streams that flow into
while less than sixty tons per mimi
are known to flow out. Lake Poo
is it's only reservoir. and the Dasagu
dero is the downspout from one to t
other. These two lakes receive I
drainage Of a great part of the A
dean plateau. Their outlets must
Subterranean.
You can get no idea of these LOT
lakes from the encyclopedias or ge
eraphieS. They are represented
the map as oval in shape. ana [
authorities will tell you that La