Evening star., 1916-01-02
'TRAVELETTE
BY NIKsAH.
La Paz.


La PaZ is not one of the better known
South American cities, even though it
is the capital of Bolivia, but for all
that it occupies a lofty position in the
scheme of things. You look down on
La PaZ when YOU first see it, but YOU
have to be IA 900 feet in the air to ac-
complish the feat
/ The city lies in a mountain basin.
and an average altitude of it's streets
would be nearly two miles and a half
Such an average would be very hard
to arrive at, though, because the
streets of La Paz run very much up
and down. Taken in connection with
the rare air. which makes any sort of
hill climbing an ordeal, stroll
through the city becomes a formida BILE
undertaking for the uninitiated
If you are susceptible to high alti-
tudes you will probably have a spell
of the mountain sickness, or sorrocho,
when you first reach La PaZ. 1t Is an
ailment something like seasickness.
though hardly as violent. If you try
to settle your nerves with a cup of
boiling coffee you will be surprised
to find that you can drink it almost
bubbling. This is because 1900 feet
above the sea water boils about twenty
degrees lower than the usual tenn
perature. The same tricky altitude is
stumbling block to guileful race
horse men who come to La PaZ pre-
k.
Their horses cannot perform as well
by many seconds as they do at sea
level.
You see La Pez at her best early on
a summer morning. The light buoy
ant air is bracing as wine, the level
rays of the rising sun gild the adobe
| huts of the suburbs until they burn
with glory like the temples of the
vanished 1ncas. who squandered un-
| told treasure on their gods here CEN
trin pniy
| in the heavens, the snow clad crest of
illimani. one of the proudest peaks of
the Andes, rears its great head to the
westward. rush of life and vigor
seems to fill your veins. You stand on
! the roof of the world.
Kief.
Every year 100000 pious Russians
make pilgrimage to kief. AS they
plod over the low green steppe that
lies east of the Dnieper. they see the
holy city with it's golden cupolas and
| crosses set high on the farther bank
| like the vision of some old painter.
! The sparkling dome of the bell tower
of st. Sophia is visible for miles across
| the plain.
The hills of Kief rise sharp from the
river bank, SO that parts of the town
are 800 feet above the surface of the
water, and yet so close that they look
pleasure boats plying over the Dnie-
per's placid breast. Beyond the river
stretches the steppe--the endless
| featureless Russian steppe, that
reaches ever eastward. until it pas
lures the horses of the nomad tribes
who make the wild strength of the
| cars domain.
Thence come many of the pilgrims
TO cross the Dnicper on Kiefs great
bridge that is more than half mile
long. They hasten to the Cathedral OF
st. Sophia. oldest church in the Rus
sian empire. and to the great monas-
terry with its twelve churches, where
lie the bones of more than a hundred
saints. ST. Sophia has ten great cupo-
las. four of them spangled with stars
the other six each surmounted by a
cross. The monastery is chiefly cele-
brated for its winding catacombs, or
caves, where the saints are buried. II
is the chief goal of the hordes of pill
grims.
! kief Is old-older than the begin
nings OF history. There are caves IN
her hills where primitive man dwelt
| old Roman and oriental coins, of the
kinds mentioned in early books of the
Bible, are turned up when they Law
new water pipes in Kief. She Is nc
pushing interloper In the sisterhood oi
| the worlds great cities. but a metrop
| oils rich In history, beautiful with the
taccumuiated art Of many centuries.