The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-03-17

cross il. All along through the VAL
ley there are patches OF crops There
are little fields OF alfalfa. not as big
as a bed quilt, and terraces which run
step by step up the sides OF the noun
tains. all covered with green. Every
bit Of available land is used. The
stones are picked off and the walls
are built round little patches OF soil
not as large as the hotel dining table.
The valley Of the Rimac IS quite
wide near the ocean, and there You
see cattle and sheep There are some
large fields with mud walls about
them. and also haciendas with COM
Portable buildings.
As we go further into the noun
| tains the fields grow smaller ana
| smaller. All the farming IS By irrl-
| cation. and tina in terraces where he
| strips Of cultivation are often only
three or four feet in width. Neverthe-
| less, these little farms run Tar up
the mountains. l am told that a work
man fell out of a field yesterday and
rolled down fifty feet. Above these
| terraces are the marks of other ter
| races which were once used by the
Incas. They titled a hundred acres
| where modern Peru ulls one.
All the way from the ocean TO the
tops of the Andes we passed towns
and villages. AT the sea IS the port o.
| Callao. on one of the finest harborS
of the west coast. Seven miles furth-
er inland lies the city OF the kings.
the Peruyians capital Of Lima, and
going on up the valley, at an attitude
Of 5000 feet, you stop at ChOSlca, a
summer resort, where a score OF big
Cholo women. clad in short skirts and
shawls and white Panama bats. stand
on the station platform. selling or
anges. tomatoes, peaches. Waterfnei-
ons and strawberries. | there bought
six n at three cents apiece and
an alligator pear that weighed &
pound for a nickel. Higher still we
came to the towns of the Indians.
Here the houses were all OF one story.
the most Of them being rude stone
huts thatched with straw. The peo-
pie do not build in the fields, for the
land is too vaiuable there. They hud-
die together out on the edges Of the
valley or on the rocky places close to
the river. They go out to work Oh
the terraces and patches Of soil, and
you now and then see them driving
their Ilanlas loaded with burden over
the trails. Here they are herding
sheep. standing up and spinning wool
as they do SO, and there bending over
} digging the soil. They are short and
copper colered, and they look worked
to death.
) We stopped at for din
ner, being served with plates Of soup
containing chunks Of meat as big as
your fist, and a ha1f-dozen vegetables
e all stewed together. We had also
S beefsteak and eggs. and red ~strawber-
I rieS fresh from the vines.
Here and there along the trip we
I passed mining towns, and we stopped
| awhile at Casapalca, where the greal
a smelter Of BackuS & johnson send
volumes Of sulphur into the air. Much
Of the ore is brought in by llamas
e and we saw hundreds OF these little
camel-like beasts trotting along with
their loads Of silver and copper
y Casapalca is 1860 feet high, ant
the climb from there to Ticlio is NOR,
than 1000 feet Just below Ticlio i
n the Gallera tunnel that goes through
l. Mount Meiggs to the other slope o
Is the mountains. At that point you cal
see the streams bowling both ways
IS n can stan on one place and throw
e chips into waters that hoW to boil
II oceans. l knew Of this. and had pre-
or pared two small bottles with message
m in them. They were tightly corked
re L put one in each stream and Sc
n them adrift. One Of those bottle
OF Hoated away dow i'll the eastern sid
re OF the Andes 1t may reach the Uca
y ya1i, one of the tributaries Of the Am
II azon, and go on it's long voyage q
ct three or four thousand miles into tn
es salt water Of the Atlantic. The othe
Us Hoated rapidly toward the Pacific.
VI Will soon reach the Rimac river, an
if it can Withstand the rocks it wi
be at Callao in something less than
is one-huHdred-mile journey.
es RED MEN IN POW-WOW