CHAPTER XXI 



A MULE-BACK JOURNEY ON THE SANTA CRUZ TRAIL 



TO SUCRE 



Samaipata is in no particular dififerent from the towns 

 through which we had passed during the previous two 

 weeks. Perhaps provisions were somewhat more abundant, 

 and a small number of mules and sheep grazed in the near- 

 by pastures; but the general distress and dejection were 

 very much the same, and never failed to give one the im- 

 pression that the settlements were tottering on the brink 

 of obhteration. Everywhere we heard tales of woe about 

 the prevalence of malarial fever during a part of the year, 

 and that this disease was the cause of the desolation and 

 extermination of the people; but as none of the places was 

 lower than five thousand feet above sea-level, and the coun- 

 try is of a semiarid type, I am unable to understand how 

 malaria could work such havoc, and am inclined to attrib- 

 ute the dreadful inroads to some other little-known under- 

 lying cause. 



Since leaving Cochabamba we had made very good time; 

 although there had been several halts en route, the distance 

 covered each day was comparatively great, ranging some- 

 times up to forty miles, considering that we always travelled 

 with our pack-train. Such long rides were made possible 

 by the fact that all arrieros were mounted; if they travelled 

 on foot, as in Colombia, the distance traversed each day 

 would be about half. Fast travelling, however, was hard on 

 the mules. When we reached Samaipata our animals were 

 in poor condition, so we left them in charge of an attendant 

 and engaged a complete new outfit for a short side-trip 

 toward Santa Cruz. 



One of our main objects in undertaking this entire long, 

 arduous journey was to attempt to determine the southern 



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