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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



A CHOLO BOY OF LA PAZ 



at length in the drawing room, his de- 

 votion might wane, for there is no 

 method employed of heating rooms arti- 

 ficially ; no furnaces, stoves, or fireplaces 

 in any of the native houses. For culinary 

 purposes braziers are employed, charcoal 

 and the taqui of the llama being used as 

 fuel. A compassionate American, for- 

 ever enshrined in my memory, loaned us 

 a coal-oil stove just imported from the 

 States, and our first evening in the city, 

 and all that followed, were spent in close 

 proximity to this beloved heater. 



We found the little fur shops an at- 

 tractive feature of the town. Tawny vi- 

 cuna and silvery chinchilla skins adorned 

 the walls. The chinchilla is becoming 

 •scarce and its coarser relative, the visca- 

 cha, is sometimes sold to unwary cus- 

 tomers as a substitute. Like all animals 

 whose skins have a high market value, 



the chinchilla has been killed in and out 

 of season and is destined to extinction. 

 The ruddy, silky fur of the vicuna has 

 few rivals in beauty and was greatly 

 valued by the Incas. In their day this 

 wild cousin of the llama, of the original 

 cameloid stock, was hunted in the 

 Andean highlands even more extensively 

 than it is today. 



If La Paz is a peacock, the market 

 place is its tail. Here the maids of the 

 iridescent skirts hold court. The stalls 

 occupy an entire square under cover, the 

 overflow lining both sides of the street 

 for blocks. I felt that I was attending 

 a fancy dress ball and looked about for 

 masks. Color ran riot. Seated on the 

 ground, encircled in petticoats ranging 

 in shade from scarlet, rose, and pink to 

 purple, violet, and lavender, the Chola 

 merchants displayed their wares spread 



