224 ■ THE ROAD TO BOLIVIA 



it appears to have come from Germany, and it is remarkable how 

 rapidly the Germans are absorbing the commerce of this country. 



There are fine cattle on all the ranges, much better than on the 

 lower altitudes, and as the train a])proaches the center of the basin 

 the po|)ulation seems to increase and a])pears more prosperous, until 

 we come to Juliaca, where the railroad divides, one branch running 

 to the city of Puna, Ijake Titicaca, where a line of steamers furnishes 

 transportation to Bolivia, and the other to the ancient town of Cuzco, 

 the capital of the Inca empire. 



Four hundred years ago Cuzco was the most important cit}'' in 

 America, with a population of 200,000 or more and a wealth that 

 few communities of human kind have ever surpassed. It is now a 

 dismal, dirty, half-deserted habitation of from 30,000 to 40,000 igno- 

 rant and indolent Indians, with perhaps 500 or 600 whites, who own 

 the property and conduct what little business is done there. Cuzco 

 was the residence of a long line of kings, who lived in splendid cir- 

 cumstances, surrounded by courts of enormous riches, and remark- 

 able taste for art and architecture, considering the isolation in which 

 they lived and their ignorance of other nations be3'ond the mountains 

 and ocean that confined them. 



P^ach successive Inca . built a ne^^' palace at Cuzco, and several 

 erected temples and convents that rivaled the royal residences in 

 extent and magnificence. It is almost impossible to believe the nar- 

 ratives of writers who went there with Pizarro and witnessed the city 

 before it Avas plundered and destroyed ; but the ruins are mute wit- 

 nesses of its former opulence and power. The means of grace are 

 abundant — for a population of less than 40,000 there are 30 churches 

 and 11 convents and monasteries, which are marvels of architectural 

 beauty. The courts and cloisters of the convents are admirable in 

 their proportions and challenge admiration with the great cathedrals 

 and monasteries of Europe. In La Mercede lie the remains of Juan 

 and Gonzalvo Pizarro, the brothers of the conqueror of Peru, and 

 those of Almagro, his partner in the conquest. These temples were 

 more splendid in their day than anything that existed in the new 

 world, Init are now the crumbling victims of time and negligence. 



[7V> he concluded in the July number.] 



