| Show EN ROUTE TO CUZCO I The Birthplace of An Ancient Civilization 1 1 I A PILGRIMAGE ON MULE BACK Over Rivers Mountains and Valleys A Lake I Famous in Peruvian Tradition The Lake of Urcos AIIEQUIPA Peru Jan 151S91 Special correspondence of THE HJIALDlt would be a pity for the sojourner in this part of Poru to miss seeing Cuzco the ancient capital of the Incas though tho journey thereto is exceedingly wearisome and rarely undertaken by travelers of the feminine persuasion Indeed I doubt if any AngloSaxon ffchiales but ourselves ever visited the placeunless perhaps Mrs Agassiz may have done so when she assisted her husband so bravely in his South American researches However the Journey is neither so Ions nor so difficult diffi-cult ns the threehundrcdandfortymile expedition we made not long ago on mule back over all tho ranges of the Andes to eastern Bolivia is corse TO cuzco ones plans must bo carefully matured in advance making all possible provision against accidents and hitches in tbe pro gramme One must be sure that the rainy season is well over for there are many bridgeless streams to bo forded that become be-come impassable torrents in which men end beasts are swept away during the annual an-nual time of rain Of course one or two foreigners can hardly make the pilgrimage by themselves with safety and the average tourist is strongly advised to do as we did viz to engage the services as guide and escort of Mr EC Hanlieldt awellknown Arequipanean who makes business trips to Cuzco regularly each month Knowing every yard of tho route and all the people thereabouts be can tell one exactly what to do and what to avoid andmore important impor-tant stillwill supply suitable animals and honest servants which the stranger would find great difficulty in securing for himself him-self THE COST Or THE ROUND TKIP including railway fare horses mules and all expenses en route not counting whatever what-ever provisions one chooses to carry is about 25 per capita and the time occupied occu-pied each way varies from five to seven days according to ones endurance in the saddle There are no hotels along the route and one must depend upon private hospitality which is freely accorded to those who bring letters ot recommendation recommenda-tion Every village has its tam o however how-ever similar to tho inns of Egypt in Marys time wherein the animals are fed and sheltered and where one might manacre to put up in case of stern necessity necessity ne-cessity 1 depending upon ones own supply for food or foraging among the neighbors but it is always easy to obtain introductions introduc-tions to the various cures and the families of welltodo farmers and through them to be more comfortably housed In providing the outfit for this journey one should not forget that to offer money in payment for food and lodging outside of a public house would be resented as an insult by these hospitable people and therefore one must go STOCKED WITH GILTS in order to get even with ones entertainers entertain-ers Bottles of wine are always acceptable accept-able also butter tea canned goods and other similar luxuries which are rare in the interior Eggs are cheap and plenty but though there are cows on all the wayside farms milk is unobtainable In any case enough bread to last the entire trip should be taken from Arequipa because though hard and dry as the surrounding rocks it is infinitely preferable to the black unleavened unleav-ened lumps of dough in use among tho country people Tinnedbeef ham fish and fruit are indispensable with condensed milk and boxes of English biscuits or crackers as Americans call them As one suffers greatly from thirst along the road the water being warm and not always obtainable it is best to prepare every mnrninc thednvs sunolv of cold tea mixed with claret and sUgar What little butter U is to be found in this region is odd enough to deserve a paragraph If one is not a suf licieutly good traveler to forego butter entirely en-tirely ho must pay almost its weight in silver for A PALE TAKDT SORT OE LUBRICATOR wrapped up in bladders in square packages pack-ages weighing about two pounds each Being thus hermetically sealed it will keep indefinitely if the air is not let in but when once opened it proceeds to become be-come nasty with marvelous rapidity and in a days time will fill the air with an odor beside which Limburger cheese is as attar of roses By the way it may not be amiss to mention men-tion that our butter supply as well as letters let-ters of introduction to all the priests and cures on the road to Cuzco were furnished ijs by one of the sandalled and gray cowled monks of tho Recoleta known far and wide as Father Tom and incidentally I may tell you something about this familiar character of Arequipa The goodlooking whitehaired friar now past seventy years old prides himself greatly on being an American though his face is as unmistakable unmistak-able Irish as his brogue Known in the order as friar Francesco Tomas his real name is Thomas Keegan and ho loves to tell strangers that many years ago in Now York he served the elder Vanderbilt as coachman AFTERWARDS HE DRIFTED TO SAX FRANCISCO where he accumulated considerable property prop-erty When about forty years of age he was so ill with fever that his death was hourly expected and in a lucid interval he prayed to the Virgin for restoration promising prom-ising in return of health to deote the remainder re-mainder of his life to her service as a friar Contrary to all expectations heim mediately began to mend and regarding his recovery as duo to the direct interposi ama of tho holy Mother he at once as umed the gray cowl and hempen girdle of the Francescans It is sometimes rather hard lines for the poor old man because though it is said he still owns enough California property to maintain him in I comforthe must take his turn with the i rest in begging from door to door for the Recoleta brotherhood subsist chiefly upon charity He must never have more than 10 cents in money about him must never wear hose though his bare feet in their oxhide sandals are sometimes frost bitten and must always walk rather than ride unless the distance be too great for human endurance en-durance Yet more cheerful and merry looking marf does not exist than stocking less Father Tom in his coarse gray gown and rope girdle GOING TROM AREQUIIA TO CUZCO one may now save half the time in the saddle by riding due east on the Mollendo Cuzco Li Puno railway to Juliaca pronounced pro-nounced Hooiyaekah a distance of 1S9 miles and then changing to the Cuzco division of tho road for Santa Rosa tho present terminus eightytwo miles in a northwesterly direction As there arc no hotels in Juliaca or Santa Rosanothing better than fin empty car to sleep inono is advised to go on to Puno and take a fresh start back over thesamo road to tho junction junc-tion next day Even in Puno the public accommodations are little better than none but its poor hotel is a palace compared to anything else one will find on the road to Cuzco An explorer should not look for beds of ease and on this hard journey one may comfort himself with the thought that he is following an archaeological bypath by-path in the footsteps of tho most learned scientists of the age somo of whom crossed the ocean from the capitals of Europe for the sole purpose I am not goiug to give you an itinerary of the trip for the path has not changed materially since Professors Orton Squier and Markham went over it and wrote their excellent books Permit me to briefly notice no-tice a few of the more prominent points en route and advise those who wish more detailed de-tailed information to purchase the books aforesaid One should leave Santa Rosa BT THE FIRST GLIMMER OF AWX her there are at least twentyfour miles of 1 indescribably bad roads to ba traversed on horse or mule back and La Raya to cross tho highest ridge in all the journey where winds are strongest and storms are incessant inces-sant This first day is by far the hardest of the entire trip as much because one is not yet used to it as because the road is incomparably in-comparably worse and at all hazards one must reach Aguas Calientes before nightfall night-fall To the right of a lofty snowclad mountain named Vilacanota one follows for some miles and finally fords a small water course which seems to rise in one of the hot springs so numerous in the locality and which Peruvians regard as the mother spring of the great Amazonas river system sys-tem The little stream which here takes the name of the nearby mountain is known as the Chalca farther on and afterwards after-wards as the Urubamba Many miles further northward having gained much strength and volume it joins tho Rio Tambo and their united waters form the famous Ucageli the largest of Perus tributaries tribu-taries to the Amazons The second night out one is booked to sleep at the village of Licuain a ride of only eighteen miles through charming scenery There is a possible drawback however in the Licuain river which must be forded several times and is likely to be rather hgh There is a road on the left of it but travelers are WARNED TO TAKETO THE WATER instead for there are vastswamps on that side with quicksands treacherous enough to engulf an army andbesided one must pass through the unfenced hacienda of An tacucca which is celebrated far and wide for its wild cattle Nobody goes over that dangerous road if he can avoid it there being no place of refuge should he be attacked at-tacked by the torros Fancy a party of United States tourists including two women ririintr nenranhlv nlonir on mule back when ir berdoY wild bulls came charging full tilt upon them and not a wall or tree or bush to hide behind I In the vicinity vi-cinity of the hot springs Aguas Calientes there are acres of plump mushroom and no passerby whose palate has been properly prop-erly educate will fail to secure a supply for his evening meal whether he takes it at the tambo or as we did in the hospitable home of Don Pablo Paul Mejias The third night one sleeps at Tinta a hacienda owned by an educated Italian Sefior Don Francisco Masciotta who is sure to give the pilgrim a hearty welcome The road thereto lies through an ancient Indian village called Raccha built within the crater of an extinct volcano Among other curioslties it contains a remarkable wall which is said to be the remains of the palace built by an Indian prince eldest son of Tupac Yupangui who revolted against paternal rule and here maintained his independence inde-pendence Near it is one of the many small round towers so frequently found in this part of Peru which are believed to I have been t astronomical observatories wherein the Incas determined the meridian passage of the sun OX THE FOURTH DAY one may take a leisurely jaunt of only fifteen fif-teen miles to Checacupe where he will be made to feel quite at homo by Colonel Martin Mar-tin Alvarez who is a regular king in his little worlda large landed proprietor a member of Congress and a wealthy wool merchant There are yet forty miles to Cuzco and a rapid rider could accomplish that distance in one day but what is the I use of tiring onas self when it is so much more comfortable to take things easily I One better go only half the way say to I Quiguijana though it is a miserable little hamlet with but one redeeming feature a I remarkable old bridge Unless one has a letter toj the cure and that itinerant individual in-dividual happens by rare good fortune to be at home the night must be passed among the bugs and other pests of a wretched posthouse Next morning one is glad to take an early start for Huaroe twelve miles away and even to forego breakfast until he reaches the casa of the local magnate who rejoices re-joices under the highsounding name of Senor Don Fructuoso Eguiletas We wen tout t-out of tho way a few miles to view the little lake called Urcos famous in Peruvian tradition for being the burial place of that great GOLD CHAIN OF THE INCA HUASCAR We read that the celebrated chain was long enough to encircle the grand Plaza Mayor of Cuzco and that every link of it was as heavy as a strong man could carryall carry-all of pure gold Of course the story is nonsense nevertheless we spurred our beasts to the perilous brink and faithfully tried to believe that we saw bold shining through the dark waters No securer hidingplace for heavy treasure could be found because the lake has a bottom of unfathomable un-fathomable ooze which speedily swallows anything thrown into it and affords no footing for divers Twelve miles beyond is Zucro hacienda where the traveler is advised to stop overnight over-night This very fine estate a mile or two from thd village of Oropesa belongs to the Garmendia family and includes a cloth manufactory Only twelve miles beyond Oropesa Cuzco in the midst of a tropical valley After leaving the Highlands the weather prows warm and warmer paro quets and monkeys palms and figtrees are seen and one sultry afternoon midwinter midwin-ter at home we came cantering into the stony streets of the old old city that had seen several centuries before the United Stales was born FANNIE B WARD |
