Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-05-24


Bolivia. The valley is walled by snow
capped mountains. 1t has many peaks that
are three or four miles above the sea,
mighty volcanoes that have poured out ram
parts of lava that has CONCEALED, as it were,
in its flow. This great valley winds in and
out. The most of it is over 1900 feet
above the sea, but there are great depres-
sions here and there in which the land slopes
down to the altitude of thousand feet, CIV
ing it all the crops of the tropics and the
temperate zone.
This plateau is one Of the most thckly
populated parts of South America and it has
some of the strangest people of the new
world The majority of them are Indians,
and several millions are the descendants OF
the Ouchuas, the subjects or slaves of the
Incas. The Inca empire extended from be-
yond Quito to far down into Chile and its
people were in many respects more civilized
than the Spaniards who conquered and en-
shaved them. When Pizarro came they
were numbered by millions and it is said
that there were eight millions of them IN
Peru alone They were civilized and indus
trious. They were excellent farmers and
they irrigated vast tracts which under the
Spaniards soon went to waste. 1t is OF the
descendants of these people that write you
today By terrible expressions their NUM-
Der has been cut down 10 at least one-third
OF what it was in the past but there are still
in Peru perhaps two millions OF them, near
" all of whom live on this high plateau of
the mountains
| saw the Quichuas first in the northern
part of the Andes They populate the high
valleys of Ecuador and are still to be found
all the way from there south to Bolivia,
where the Aymara Indians begin Right
here at Cuzco | am in the heart Of their
ancient empire, and in the center of the pop
ulation of today.
I have seen the Quichuas by hundreds in
every town at which I have stopped and
have photographed their little huts, scat
tered over the pampas; | have seen them
toiling along the trails with enormous loads
on their backs, or going barefooted, driving
their llamas and donkeys loaded with the
crops OF their masters to the markets Of the
cities | have watched them as they sat on
the stone floors of the plazas with their
little stores of vegetables, grain or fruit
spread out before them, and have observed
them in the streety carrying great barrels of
water and other burdens from house to
house as the servants of the Cholos and
whites These Indians, who were formerly
among the most civilized peoples of the
world outside of Europe, are now about the
most degraded and miserable of any on
earth. Since the Spaniards came they have
been practically the servants OF the whites
been ground out of them, and through gem
erations of abuses and of exploitation on the
part of their masters, added to the use of
alcohol and coca, they have become nearer
pure animals than any race now borne as
burden on the shoulders of white men.
In the short time I have been in South
America | do not pretend to pass judgment
as to the present status of the Quichua civ
ilization The above opinions are the gist
of those | have gathered from men who
have lived in South America for many years
Some of the views come from natives, and
some from foreigners who have been long
in the country. Let me give you few of
the talks I have had on this subject The
first is from mining operator who is at the
head of the company which in the past
decade has operated quartz mines here in
the Andes, yielding more than 81 100000 in
gold. He is man of close observation and
a large employer of Indians. He is, more