us most strongly were the beautiful 

 blankets which were sometimes offered 

 for sale. It seemed as if these differed 

 in each locality, conforming perhaps to 

 a custom of bygone days. The blankets 

 we saw near Totora were of coarse 

 weave, very heavy, and with wide 

 stripes of subdued colors merging into 

 each other and giving a pleasing rain- 

 bow effect. At Sucre the stripes were 

 very narrow and of many brilliant 

 colors, and in one restricted locality 

 beautiful geometric designs added 

 greatly to the attractiveness of the pat- 

 tern. Tn the vicinity of La Quiaca on 

 the Argentine frontier, most of the 

 blankets were made of llama's wool, 

 410 



Tlic woman, wlio^e dress shows her to be a rliola, 

 or Spjinish and Indian half breed, has tlie services 

 of a full blooded Quichua highlander in her bread 

 making. The mud oven was heated for several 

 lioiirs, and then the embers were raked out; after 

 which small cakes of dough tossed in baked rap- 

 idly, not more than one minute intervening be- 

 tween placing in the dough and taking out the bread 



and were white with a narrow brown 

 border, and fringed on all four sides. 

 The fine, silky wool of the vicuna is 

 made into squares or ponchos of such 

 close texture that they are practically 

 impermeable to rain ; they are greatly 

 esteemed by their owners, who will part 

 with them only for an exorbitant sum. 



When market day is over, and all the 

 produce from the uplands has been sold, 

 the greater part of the proceeds is spent 

 for coca leaves from the lower country. 

 The Indians then abandon themselves 

 to a night of singing, dancing, and 

 drinking. The song always begins in 

 a very high key, and the shrill, pen- 

 etrating voices of the women rise clear 

 and piercing above the low drone of 

 the men. There is only one tune, as 

 far as I could discover, and an inter- 

 minable number of verses are suntj to 



