The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-05-10

a city of cnve dwclIers. "An
The Oldest City of South Amer
lea Now Reached by Railroad.
How 1t Was Foundcd-Manco
Capac and His Gold Divining
Rod-A City of Churches and
Converts and It's Glorious
Cathedral, Which Has Gold
and Silver Treasures Worth
One Million Dollars-A Stroll
Through the Streets-Busines
Sections. Where the Merchants
Are Cave Dwellers-A Look
at the Market, Where Cholo
and Indian Women Are the
Butchers, Bakers and Peddlers.
How Vegetables and Fruit Are
Sold by the Pile-The Original
Home of the Irish Potato.
Cuzco's Mule Car Line, Which
Runs Once Day-Hotels,
Prices, Etc.
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.
YAM in Cuzco, once the famed capital
or the Incas, and now by all odds
the most interesting city OF modern
Peru 1t lies here in the heart OF the
Andcan plateau. about 500 miles by
rnil from the Pacific Ocean. at the port
nd far
with the changes of trains, IT takes
almost four days to reach ii. The cars
cross the Andes at n pass that Is sew
eral hundred feet higher than the top
OF Pixies Pcali, and then drops down
TO n plateau that has the same altitude
os the SHOWS which kiss the Sky on the
summit OF lujiyama, the sacred noun
tain of Japan You travel over this
plateau for about 200 miles. and then
enter a beautiful valley about 1000
feet lower. The plateau Is covered
with grass. and Is spotted with the
matched mud huts OF countless Indians
of the Incas descendants. II has good
pastures. and upon st arc feeding tens
OF thousands of sheep and great flocks
OF aipacas and llamas. II has emnll
cultivated patches here and there, but
SITS general aspect is dreary and bleak.
Tho valley has n different appear
ence II seems like a Garden Of Eden
rs you descend from the pampaa. There
IRE great fields of grain and acres OF
potatoes and beans. There arc patches
Of qutnua and tracts OF green barley,
which lust now are sprinklcd with the
yellow blossoms Of the mustard that
has grown up among II. This land :GS-
longs 10 the haciendados or tho .Hhire
or half-brecd Pcruvians. 1t has some
large houses, but everywhere scattered
through the farms are Indian villages
with their mud huts. the homes of the
1aborers. Some OF the fields are sur
rounded by low fences Of stone or mud
walls, md many of them are In ter
races that rise. step Ivy step. from tho
valley. high up tho slopes of the noun
tEina. There are some pastures. ana
everywhere arc beautiful villa flowers
The whole country looks fertile. rich
end well kept.
There are cattle and sheep and alpa-
ras, all eating together as they are
watched over ny Indian hcrdmen. tho
whole forming a picture OF prosperity
that s. aCccutuatcd by tho poverty OF
the highlands from which you have
dropped.
1t IS at the head OF this beautiful
valley that Cuzco Is situated. II lies
on the slope o. the mountain, and "a
you stand above IL on the site OF the
old Notifications built by the Incas
.his srent fertile tract is spread out
before you.
1t is probable thHt 81 was this sight
that made the first Inca king. Nance
Capac, chOosc Cuzco as the capital OF
his nation. He saw - hundreds Of
wears before Columbus discovered
America, and the empire he founded
was already from four TO "ix centuries
old. when st WAS conquered and de-
etroYcd ny the Spaniard pizarrc. Ac-
cordins, 10 tradition. * haG been founded
by a race that was descended from a
child Of the sun. and placed By him on
an island ia Lake Titicaca. a prince
ana princess OF this race were given
Il golden roo by the sun god ana told
to 40 forth and civlizc tho snvagcs,
which then Inhabited tho high plateau
Of the Andes. They wcro told 10 SO.
lect as the site OF their city where that
rod should sink into the earth. AS the
etory goes. They travelled across the
came by the railroad. Gnd whom they
reached hero the golden rod fell and
disappeared in the ground.
On that spot they outlined the chief
plaza and about IL grew UP ancient
Cuzco Whether this story be true or
not. 81 is certain that here the Incas
buit . great city, and that for gen
erat;ons this was the capital of their
empire, that reached 1000 or =. 900 miles
north and south The Inca dominions
look In what Is now the city OF Quito
IN Ecuador. and extended to far below
where now stands Santiago, the cap!-
tai Of Chile.
CuZco itself then contained over 900.
coo inhabitants. and the people ruled
from IT were numbered by the tens OF
millions. They were BY far the most
civilized Of all South America, and II
is q question whether they wero no,