Omaha daily bee., 1914-07-19
copyrighted. 1914 by Frank C. Carpenterl


investigate and report upon To the Aneri-
can people were the efforts that are now
being made to start an industrial mission
among the Aymara Indians about AXE
Iiucaca. I have been max nr INQUIRIES
as TO this In my travels about the lalS
ana La Paz, and have found the beginning
OF work that may form the o in z
Neage for the civilization OF millions.
Aou have all heard of the semi civilized
nations who inhabited this Andean pla-
teau shortly after Columbus overed
America, at the time tie Spu.a.Gs
came. The whole country was tuen peo
pied with semi-civilized tribes There
were the Chibchas in Colombia, the Ca as
and Chancas Of Ecuador the Quichuas
of Peru. the Aymaras in Bolivia. and far-
ther south the brave Araucaniens, who
are said never to have been conquered
The Chlbchas we're skillet in weev.n ng
and the making OF pottery. Tn Y had
paved highways, and their farming was
carried to high degree OF success They
mad weights and measures and cur
rency in the form Of god disks. TIE
Araucanians had a confederacy, and Il ey
met In grand councils to decide thei
public affairs. The Caras had a high civ
ihZatton, with military and tribal or
ganization, and the Aymaras who formed
the chief race OF Bolivia, were akin to the
Quichuas, those wonderful Indians of
Peru, the subjects Of the Incas.
Once PopuIous Country.
At the time the Spaniards came Il is
estimated that there were from 10000. .OOC
to 100000 of these Indians on the high
plateau of the Andes They we're en-
slaved by our Christian white race. and
the life was ground out of them. As
late as 1915 the Peruvian Indians are said
to have numbered S,OOOOOO. but 200 years
later this number had dropped to 1900, 900
while that Of the whole Inca empire
which had numbered 2OOOO,OOO had been
cut down to less than 100000
Today the greater part OF the popula-
ton of Ecuador is made up of Indians
There are about 100000 Aymaras and
Quichuas here in Bolivia. and there are
more than twice as many, mostly Out.
chuas, in the Peruvian republic. All of
these Indians are in a low state of civ
ilization. Not one in a hundred of them
can read or write. and the great major
ity are more like animals than like civil
lied men, They are mere hewers of
wood and drawers OF water. Nearly all
soak their brains with cocaine, by chew
ing the coca leaf, and altogether they
are race from whom active mentality
seems to have departed They are nom-
nally Catholic; but allied to their Cath
oliclsm are many superstitions connected
with the worship of the sun. They have
also strange customs such as eating the
dead bodies of their enemies and carry
tpu bo
they die, as l shall describe later on.
Live in Mud Huts.
These Indians live in mud huts scat
tered over the high plateau of the Andes.
Their huts are without windows, and are
lighted only by the doors, which are SO
low that one has to stoop to go in. They
have thatched roofs made OF the grass
Of the pampas. Their only furnishings
are the skins of alpacas, llamas an"
sheep, upon which they sleep at night,
and in some cases a ledge of mud, bni'
up across one side of the hut as a bed.
They cook in clay pots over a fire of the
droppings of llamas. There are no chin
neys and the smoke gets out as it can.
Some of the Inuians have flocks of
sheep and own alpacas and namas. Now
and then you find ono who has horses
or donkeys and cattle. Some are inde-
pendent squatters having their huts out
on the pampas. but many more are the
poems or debt slaves of the whites and
the half-breeds, or Cholos. who own most
of the good land Of the Andes. l have
already described the condition of these
poems in one province of Peru. The con-
ditions are not so had in some of the
other provinces, and also in parts OF
Bolivia. But everywhere the most of the
Indians are little better than the slaves
of the landowners. and so far as | can
learn but little attempt has been mao,
TO elevate them. The Roman Cathoh
church, which is such a great force l.
our country, is practically dead as fal
as any civilizing work is concerned o.
the Andean plateau, and its priests have
either despaired of doing anything wit
these Indians or they do not care to OF
tempt 1t. The field is, believe. one that
that church should take up. The Indians
are more or less subservient to 1t, and
the Catholics could accomplish more o.
the work of regeneration in a fixed tim.
than the Frotestants. At present the
Protestant missions are 70 be credited
with most Of the attempts at elevatn
the Indians that are now going on
one Man supports school.
The industrial school which the min
lister from Bolivia has asked me u in
Nestigate is supported by money left by
an Italian, enc Antonio Chuiott1, who
was converted to Christianity in the
Pencil Hall mission in Los Angeles. He
had gone &c the United States as a
young man, had settled in California, and
had, as understand it, there made a
little fortune in milling. Later on he
emigrated to Argentina, where he livei
for number of years He there became
interested in the uplifting OF the Indians
OF South America, and when he saw he
had not much longer to live, decided to
leave his money for that purpose, giving
it to the Argentinians. There was some
difficulty, however. as TO the laws of Ar
gentna that prevented his making a will
10 this end, and he therefore came to
BOLIVIA where the Iezulaticns srs dif-
ferent Here he left his estate, co St
irg Of about $500. for the starting Il
this mission. The money was PUT in the
hands of the Methodist Episcopal Church
mission, or rather into the hands OF
three trustees, one OF whom was the Rev
George Mcbride. the president OF the
American institute of La Paz; another,