.1 GLIMPSE INTO SOUTHERN BOLIVIA 



415 



we were to be trusted, she became talka- 

 tive and seemed to take an interest in 

 our occupation. She spoke Quichua 

 only, in common with the entire tribe, 

 who make no attempt to learn Spanish; 

 or if they are able to understand it. will 

 make no effort to speak it. 



Upon seeing a number of wood- 

 peckers which we had collected, she ex- 

 pressed a great deal of satisfaction; for, 

 according to the Indians' belief, if a 

 pair of these birds makes a nest 

 near one of their houses, a member of 

 the family will die within a short 

 time. The ovenbirds {Fitni(iriiis) are 

 looked upon with favor and are en- 

 couraged to remain in the vicinity of 

 the dwellings. Should a pair of the 

 cheery singers place their huge, domed 

 nest of ]nud near by, good fortune will 

 follow in their wake; the abandoned 

 nest is used in making poultices which 

 are said to be a certain cure for a va- 

 riety of ailments. 



Any one guilty of robbing a bird's 

 nest will, it is supposed, become vio- 

 lently ill; but as birds flock to the 

 plantations in such great bands that an 

 appreciable amount of damage is done 

 to the fruit and ripening grain, their 

 increase in numbers is discouraged by 

 filling many nests with small stones. 

 After the seeds have been planted, a 

 network of strings is stretched across 

 the fields, and a dead hawk suspended 

 from a post in the center serves as a 

 scarecrow to frighten away the maraud- 

 ing visitors. When the crops ripen, a 

 small boy called the piscomamchaclii is 

 stationed in each plantation. He is 

 armed Avitli a sling and keeps up an 

 incessant fusillade of stones; fortu- 

 nati'ly his aim is poor, but he siu'cccds 

 in killing a few birds eacb (biy. 



The Quichua of today leads a seden- 

 tary and pastoral life. His fields suji- 

 ])ly potatoes which are turned into 



chuho by simply allowing them to freeze 

 and dry. From the wheat which he has 

 learned to cultivate, a splendid quality 

 of bread is made. His flocks provide 

 flesh and milk, and the wool so essential 

 to his well-being in the high altitudes; 

 and the tola bushes and peaty growth 

 known as yareta furnish an adequate 

 supply of fuel. The demands of civili- 

 zation, however, will alter his mode of 

 existence until little will remain to re- 

 mind us of the contented nation which 

 at one time willingly l)owed to the be- 

 neficent rule of the Cbildrenof the Sun. 



Cases of scientific specimens on one stage of 

 their long journey from Bolivia to the American 

 Museum in New York. The three boxes weighed 

 nearly two hundred pounds, but the Indian car- 

 ried ttiom without diilicultv 



