The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-14

fconvright. 1914, by Frank G. Car
 penterD
 Guaqui, Bolivia
 zAKE a seat on the aeroplane of your magination and point
 it's nose toward the sky. Pull ISfs6sSI the lever and guide yourself sfraight upward until you are more than two and 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 Co- lombia, Ecuador and Peru; then de- scend just 800 feet, and you are at Guauui. Bolivia, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the highest body or water that is now traversed by steamer You are further up in the air than the top of Fujiyama, Japan You are more than twice as high as Mount Washington, and less than 1500 feet below the top of Pike's Peak. You are on the slopes of an inland sea all most half as big as Lake Erie, and in plain sight of a snow clad wall of eX- tinct volcanoes, some of which are nearer 10 heaven than any point on the North American continent Much of the high plateau that borders the two sides of the lake is 13,000 feet above sea level, and the lake itself is more than l2.50O. Mt. Sorati, at one end of the ragged wall of glaciers in front of you Is more than 22,000 feet high, and the glaciers on Mt. Illimani are 4a1 nd been climbed. As l stand here on the shores of the lake l seem to be on the very roof of the world and as l ride over the waters I feel as though, if l climbed up their shores l would drop off into space.
 I came to Lake Titicaca from Cuzco, riding for 200 miles on the railroad through the high valley between the Andean ranges. The whole way I was in plain sight of mountains, some of which rose two miles above me, and l could look over pampas, the sod of which was as smooth as that of the lawn in front of your dwelling. These high Andean plains, which are so far above the sea that 26 Washington mon
  CT would not reach to their altitude were covered with sheep, alpacas and llamas, and spotted with the mud huts of the Indians. The latter part of the journey was over plains that once formed part of the bed of the lake, and l crossed many streams that were winding their way down into it.
 As I came nearer Lake Titicaca, the cultivated patches increased. The soil was richer and there were hundreds of Indians working their crops of barley, potatoes and quinua. The flocks of sheep became larger and 1 was told of which has flocl1s numbering thou sands
 We stopped at Juliaca and an hour later landed at Puno, a tin and mud town of one and two-story buildings roofeo with galvanized iron. l remember see ins American windmill close to thu station, that seemed to wave it's arms il welcome to me as the train took me ou On the long pier to the steamer Yavar There l embarked for my trip acros the lake from Peru to Bolivia. The c.s tance is 120 miles, and we were steamini all night and the greater part of thu morning. l am now at Guaqui, the Boil vian port on the southern end of tn, lake and not very far from the moutl of the river Desaguadero. This river forms the outlet of the lake. It carrses it's waters into Lake Poopo which is only a few hundred feet lower dowr nearer the sea. There are dozen river. that flow into Lake Titicaca, but tn, only one that flows out of it is the Desa guadero. This river connects Lake Titi caca with Lake Pampa Aullaugas O Lake Poopo, as it is sometimes called Lake Poopo is only one-third as large a Lake Titicaca. and it has no visible out let. Lake Titicaca receives every min ute more than coco tons of water from tn streams that flow into it, while less tha i, 60 tons per minute are known to flow ou Lake Poopo is it's only reservoir, an the Desagadero is the downspout fror one to the other. These two lakes re ceive the drainage of great part of tn Andean plateau. Their outlets must b subterranean.
 You can get no idea of these lofty lake from the encyclopedias or geographies They are represented on the maps a oval In shape. and the authorities wi tell you that Lake Titicaca is 57 mile wade and 120 miles long. Some authori tes state that the lake has an area 0 36J0 square miles, while others put tn area at more than 5000. From some de scriptions, you might imagine it a grea lake has never been carefully surveyed have a map of it made by the railroa that shows that it has as many grea bays as the tentacles of an octopus. has depths that have never bee sounded. It is spotted with islands, an its waters wind in and out in places lik river, giving a moving picture of mag nificent scenes, including the islands mountains and coasts
 In crossing to Guaqui, I went owe places that were 1000 feet deep, an right next to the famous Island of tn Sun, where the Inca race had its begin ming, l saw one where depth of 2OC feet has been reached. In landing upo the Island of the Sun one has to thro, the anchor of his boat on the rocks c the shore, for the lake is so deep at tha point that the grappling hooks cannc reach bottom.
 Think of a body of water almost a big as Lage Geneva and rising and fal n 1nda he x1c T T.$ te l.