The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-02-24

were as yellow as gold. This church
looks out upon the plaza. which con-
tains abou h only vegetation in the
whole town. h is a garden IS big
as a bed quilt, filled with stunted
palm trees and thirsty-looking tro-
pical plants. There is no water to
be seen outside that Of the ocean, |
and much of the drinking supply is
peddled about upon donkeys in ten
gallon kegs from house to house.
The most of the traffic Of Paita is
upon donkeys. 1 saw caravans Of
them bringing vegetables, sugar and
rice to the port, and when I went to
the post office l walked by the side Of
the mail wagon, which was really a
dray drawn by a mule.
Notwithstanding all this. Paita is
the chief port Of northern Peru, and
it promises to grow very fast when
the canal is completed. 1t will GER
tainly need some sanitation before it
can be made q safe port for our great
waterway. lust now the town swarms
with fleaS. 1t has had bubonic plague
in the past, and it's buildings are such
that they would form a paradise for
the plague-carrying rats. Near the
custom house a large warehouse is
now going up. The building already
has the form OF a framework of poles,
upon which they are lacking canes Of
split bamboO. It rests on the ground
and the rats will be able to climb
up the walls as on q ladder The
streets here are not paved, and the
sidewalks are mostly Of wood. How
ever, the air is so dry that, outside
the bubonic plague, which has now
disappeared, the region is exceeding
ly healthful, and as far as [ know
yellow fever has never been known.
H--.-- 49, l~.o IL A--o
tramped through every part Of the
town, visiting the main streets and
slumbs, and have not had one often
Sive odOrs greet my nOstrils. There
l are no bad smells in the desert. In
I this dry air flesh does not rot, and
o could leave a dead chicken for a
! week in the street, and if the Vultures
would let it lie there it would not
!, emit an odOr. .
I The air is such that it sucks the
juices out OF anything left out OF
g doors. 1t is as healthful as Egypt. II
will keep a corpse or a anO
i. it is the dryness OF the air that ha
a preserved the mummies ofPeru., like
those of Egypt. There are many
Q fruined cities of the Indians scattered
: over the desert. and from some OF
Q them mummieS have been dug which
n look almost as fresh as when they
were buried. They are quite as fresh
3 as the I1uIllf1litS Ill Tic IIluSSuIA q
v Cairo. They were usually cured II
3 a sitting posture, wrapped in clotf
and tied up with string.
q During my last visit to Peru [ Wis
O tied a number of cities from which
such mummies nave been dug, ant
e year them saw piles of skulls iron
ten to fifteen feet in height. Nothing
seems to decay in the desert. an
e there are long lines Of skeletons 0
$ animals scattered here and there owe
the sand.
!: During a former trip to this deser
d | visited some Of the ruins Of cite
n hat were in existence long before tn
a Incas came. In the JeQuetepequ
"a (Hek-e-te-pe-ke) valley back Of Pa
4 I found a large noun whic'
was Once the site of a palace or pos
20 sibly a temple devoted to the vesta
y virgins Of the sun. All about me wer
nation OF the past. The remain
20 showed that the building vas nearl
square, and it was 500 feet wide q
10 the base. 1t was made OF adobe an
then plastered on the outside wit
# mud and washed with color.
OF Not far from that place up in tn
re AIDES in Caja1narca, where Atamualp
pv was imprisoned by Pizarro until h
ar filled the room which formed his eel
I'D as high as he could reach, with gol'
in Ia for his liberty. Ate
m Pizarro had gotten the gold he ha
the Inca chief killed. A little fartht
south OF here is the town OF TruJlll
which was founded by Pizarro an
or named in memory OF his native hon
in Spain. The town is older tina
Lima, and it has now about 1000 {
ia. 90. OOO people. There are great run
a nearby.
nd Tn this same desert is the Chinlcar
$3.50 -ICrE ( NC n 90 hF
NJ Hewett Nyring unearthed potter
q which is supposed to have been mac
" by "a people who were old when Il
he Dyramids were young. IheE I'VE
les from 1000 to 10000 y rs ago Inc
cir had y remarkable civilizat! | II q
of nottary WAS exuuisitely shaped and
80 ramarkable artistic beauty. ma
he before me some photographs OF