Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-01-28

prepared by the National Geograp hic So
ciety, Washington D. c.
Peru has come twice into the public
eye in recent weeks, once because of
the centennial celebration of the Battle
Of Ayacucho, the Yorktown of South
American independence and again
with the meeting at Lima, the Peruvian
capital, of the third Pan-American con-
gress. Official ENJOYS represented the
United States on both occasions.
Lima cannot be considered apart
from Callao, its port, which lies on the
Pacific eight miles from the capital.
The towns have already spread toward
each other and before long will cOnsti-
tute in fact, as they do in effect. a
single city Ports apparently meant
little to the lncas and their precursors,
30 the history of this sheltered bay,
which constitutes one of the best har-
bors on the Pacific coast of South
America, may be considered to have
begun shortly after Pizarro and his
bearded comrades entered Peru in 1882.
From Callao in the years that fol-
lowed sailed constant stream of gal
Icons loaded with the gold and silver
that the conquistadores stripped from
the rich continent on which they had
gained a foothold. Lima, only eight
miles inland, became the seat of the
viceregal government by which all
South America was ruled, and Callao
was practically the only gate through
which the treasure gathered by the
colonial agencies was poured into the
lap of the Spanish king. Close to
Calao often lowered British and Dutch
pirates to swoop down on the treasure
ships.
Callao was the first Pacific port in
South America to have completed mod
ern harbOr works. Treasure is still
being taken from Peru through Callao,
but now it is in the form of copper ore
from the rich mines of the interior. 1t
is transported to the port on modern
railroad, instead of on the backs of
men and donkeys as in the old days,
and is loaded on great ocean freighters
by modern power cranes.
half hour after boarding an cleo
trio car in the city of Callao the trav-
Pler alights at one of the many plazas
IN Lima, thriving city of 100000 in
habitants. Not far away he will find
the center of the city's life and tradi-
tions-the Plaza Mayor, or, great
square" All of the city's street car
lines radiate from this center as though
representing the influence and power
that radiated from the same spot to all
South America when Lima was the
"City of the Kings" On one side Of
the Plaza Mayor rises the cathedral
with its lofty twin towers. Pizarro is
said to have laid the foundation stones.
His mummy is now exhibited inside the
structure.
Oldest University in Americas.
Facing another side of the main
plaza is the old viceregal palace, still
used for governmental purposes. Not
far away is the oldest university in
the western hemisphere, the Univer-
sldad de San Marcos, established more
than half century before the Pilgrims
landed at Plymouth. In the Lima of
the present the classic old universidad
shares the educational field with
thoroughly modern technical colleges
devoted to engineering, medicine, an5
agriculture.
Lima and CallaO, thought of vaguely
perhaps by many as somewhere near
the northern nend of South Americas
Pacific coast, are approximately 1,6O0
miles south of Panama-as far from
the isthmus as Key West is from Nova
Scotia Though only ten degrees south
Of the equator, and therefore well with
In the tropics, these cities, due to the
dryness of the western slopes of the
Andes and to the cold Humboldt cur
rent that washes the coast, have an
equable climate. The temperature in
summer December to May) seldom
rises above so degrees Fahrenheit, and
In winter rarely falls below 60 de-
grees.
The battle of Ayacucho took place in
very different part of Peru, the cool
somewhat bleak Sierra region among
the Andean tablelands and valleys.
This is the most fascinating part of
Peru to those interested in the ancient
civilizations of America, for this was
the area in which blossomed the won
derful Inca empire 1t is worth the
while of the traveller bound for Cuzco,
the ancient holy city of the Incas, TO
desert the railway some 70 miles
south of the old capital and journey
along the Inca highway by a mule
drawn vehicle.
Life Among the Quichuas.
This old highway was worn by the
feet Of many pilgrims and of many
llama trains in the days before the
Spanish conquest. The home life In
these hoisones. the fertile mountain
basins which are linked with the valley