132 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Boyce on His Way to Inca Ruins. 



Lake Titicaca are always icy cold and, curiously 

 enough, no metal, even iron or steel, will rust in it. 

 There are very remarkable ruins of prehistoric times 

 in this region, those at Tiahuanaca being called the 

 "remains of the oldest city in the world." 



After an inspection of these ruins I was whirled 

 away in a special car toward La Paz. I first saw the 

 Bolivian capital, in the dusk of the evening, from 

 Alto La Paz. At that point I was above old La Paz, 

 and, illuminated by thousands of electric lights, it 

 glowed and sparkled in the valley below like a pic- 

 ture in Fairyland. The capital is surrounded by enor- 

 mous snow-capped mountains, one of which is 22,500 

 feet above sea-level. It is cold in LaPaz much of 

 the time, and Americans, especially, find it hard to 

 keep warm. But the city is most picturesque, the 

 walls and roofs of the houses being painted in varie- 

 gated colors, ranging from solid red or blue to the 

 most delicate shades of pink and lavender. An odd 



J thing is that the street cars in LaPaz stop running at 

 7 o'clock in the evening, and there are no theaters. 

 The reason for the latter fact is that singers and 

 actors coming into this high altitude cannot "catch 

 their breaths" long enough to sing or speak their 

 lines properly. On climbing from one street to an- 

 other one often has to stop and "breathe hard" before 

 proceeding. In these high altitudes strangers are 

 - sometimes attacked by a sickness called "soroche," 



a dizziness and nausea that is extremely disagreeable. 

 In time, however, one becomes accustomed to these 

 high regions. 



The pure-blooded Bolivians of Spanish descent 

 constitute the aristocracy of the country, and the 

 women have pretty faces and big brown eyes. They 

 dress much like the women of the United States, 

 except when going to church, when they wear black 

 clothes and half hide their faces with "mantos" 

 draped about the head. The Indian men wear trousers 

 split at the back up to the knee to give them greater 

 freedom in walking up hill, and ponchos brightly colored 

 shawls through the middle of which tre head is stuck con- 

 stitute their chief adornment. The Indian women wear a 

 scanty skirt and shawl, and often, peeping out from a sec- 

 ond shawl tied over the shoulders, one sees the ruddy face 

 of an Indian baby. The babies are strong and seldom 

 cry. I found the photographing of the Indians often diffi- 



the fortress is a level plot on which Cuzco's modern society 

 dances every clear Sunday afternoon. Near by is a great 

 natural rock slide, work away in spots to a depth of six 

 inches. Here the Incas used to have sliding races, the 

 one who was daring enough to first reach the bottom re- 

 ceiving a pot of gold. 



The ruins of Ollantaytambo, north of Cuzco, are most 



interesting. Here the Inca monarchs had their summer cult; sometimes they took to their heels, believing the 

 residence. The ruins are on a height at the edge of a camera to be some sort of amazing "gun" which was being 

 precipice a thousand feet deep, commanding a gorge pointed at them, 

 through which the Urubamba River runs 

 to the Convencion valley in the wild 

 regions of the Amazon. They show one 

 an odd grotto cut in the rock near the 

 top of the great winding stone stairway 

 that leads to the ruins. This grotto is 

 known as the seat of the Inca's daughter. 

 In its center is an alter six feet square, 

 cut out of solid stone, where, it is said, 

 the Inca high priests performed religious 

 rites, accompanied by human sacrifice, be- 

 fore the emperor and his court and the 

 people assembled on the plains below. 



There are numerous other extremely 

 interesting things to see in and about 

 old Cuzco, and all through these moun- 

 tain-lifted highlands. But far south of 

 Cuzco, on the dividing line between Peru 

 and Bolivia, one comes by rail to Lake 

 Titicaca, which sets one to marveling. It 

 is the highest body of water in the world 

 navigable by steam, being 12,500 feet 

 above sea-level. It is the largest lake 

 in South America, its length being 15J 

 miles, with an average width of 44 miles. 

 You see, it is quite a little ocean right 

 up among the mountain tops. I crossed 

 it to Bolivia on a steamer that was 

 brought in parts from Europe by sea, and 

 from the coast was brought up to the 

 great plateau by rail, then put together 

 on the shore of the lake. The waters of Scene on the Road to Inca Ruins. 



