An Obstacle Removed. 



429 



within five miles of Puno on account of the shallows. 

 There are also two or three trading schooners ; but the 

 halsa is the characteristic craft This is simply a bundle 

 of twisted rush, with a mat for a sail ; the only wood 

 about it is in the rudder and mast.* But steam will 

 work a complete revolution in this cradle of the Incas. 

 Puno has already become an important place by being 

 made the terminus of the railwav ; and when connected. 



Balsa Navigiition on Lake Tilicaca. 



as proposed, with Cuzco and La Paz, it will be a commer- 

 cial centre such as the old Incas never dreamed of. So 

 now it is a fixed fact that the Andes, the most abrupt and 

 lofty range of mountains on the globe, can be crossed in a 

 day. A belt of iron has made a smooth pathway over this 

 wall of granite, so long an insuperable obstacle to the prog- 

 ress of Peru, and on it the commerce of the Pacific and 

 the Amazons will join hands. 



* The rushes, or totora, so abundant in the shallow parts of the lake, are 

 eight or ten feet long. The cattle wade in to feed upon them ; and the peo- 

 ple eat the lower part as salad, and make balsas, mats, and roofs of the rest. 



