The next day was a wretched lost one. On waking at 5 a.m., I took my accustomed dose of quinine, and, dressing leisurely, went out to the corral, expecting to find the boys saddling the mules; but neither mules nor mozos were visible, and the unpleasant fact forced itself on my unwilling belief that the mules had bolted during the night, and that the mule-boys were after them on foot. This was confirmed, in mixed Aymará and Spanish, by the old woman of the house to which the corral was attached. About seven o’clock, Marco returned with five of them, the other four having apparently taken the direction of La Barca. Juan had gone after these on foot; so, having dispatched Marco on one of the animals, all Alfredo and I could do was to wait patiently, take care of the four left in our charge, and nurse our discontents as well as we could. We had bought a small sheep for a couple of pesos on arriving at Llollia last night, so we made ourselves a breakfast of roast mutton, which we toasted in one of the ground fireplaces of the country, and waited the day out. These fireplaces are worthy of note. A hole is dug in the ground about eighteen inches in depth and two feet in diameter, and over this a framework of clay is made, with holes of different sizes, to receive the various cooking-pots. Roasting must be done on spits passed through the holes; so the meat comes out very much smoked, unless great care is taken to have only embers in the bottom of the oven. For rough cooking, the affair answers its purpose well, and one would be inclined to think that a good idea for camp ovens might be taken from it, if a curved sheet of cast or wrought iron were used instead of the clay frame, as good clay would in many places be difficult, perhaps impossible, to obtain, and would take too long to manufacture. The plan of digging a hole in the ground for a camp oven is, of course, not a new one; but it would seem that the curved top would be much simpler and lighter for transport than the camp ovens that are in general use.
QUICHUAN OVEN (LLOLLIA).
Section through oven.
Section through Oven and Air Intake.
The Indians of Llollia and the district are of the Aymará race, and are strong and well built generally. In their own way they are certainly industrious, for it is very unusual to meet either a man or a woman who is not spinning, whether indoors or out of doors, seated or walking. They are all owners of large flocks of sheep, whilst many of them also have droves of llamas and alpacas, the last of which are said to yield large profits from the sale of the famous alpaca wool. Both men and women wear nothing but dark blue homespun clothing, with stockings of the natural colour of the wool. The men wear their hair long, twisted round the top of their heads in small and narrow plaits, which have very much the semblance of plaited horse-tails. They are scarcely ever seen without the universal poncho over their shoulders. The women wear a countless number of woollen petticoats, which are puckered up round about their waists in a most elaborate manner, and, reaching about half-way down the calf of the leg, display a pair of ankles and feet which, to all appearance, might be made of bronze or copper. A square of woollen cloth, or shawl, is worn tied round the neck, secured in front by a couple of spoon-shaped skewers; whilst, generally at their backs, a baby is seen stowed away in the folds of the shawl—for babies are almost as numerous in the hovels on the tops of the Andes as they are in some of the back slums or courts of St. Giles. Their head-dresses are also peculiar, being something mediæval in shape and look. A frame of straw is made up in form of a lozenge, with a hole in the centre to fit the head, and this is covered with dark blue or red cloth; a curtain hanging down on all sides about six inches deep, making a capital sort of sunshade. One would not think that the women required any protection from the sun’s rays, for their faces are like their hands and ankles, of a deep brown colour, from the accumulated dust of years; whilst a red glow, that the cold winds give them, aids the semblance of their skins to well-seasoned mahogany. Washing of any sort is unknown on the higher Andes, where the strong cold winds makes even a traveller feel inclined to follow the universal custom, and let well alone.
QUICHUAN WOMAN OF LLOLLIA.
Towards the close of the day, much to our joy, the animals turned up, the boys having had to return all the way to La Barca, where the four mules had been captured and placed in the corral. It was fortunate for us that they did not attempt to swim across the river Desaguadero, as it was evident that they had made up their minds to return to Oruro. Perhaps they thought they would be ferried over although they arrived without riders, for our boys were told that at daybreak they were all found waiting on the shore close by the ferry-boat. Thus all we lost was an entire day—bad enough, but to have lost the animals would have been much worse; so we consoled ourselves and prepared to continue the journey early to-morrow, making as long a day of it as we could. At first I thought that some of the Indians had done us the trick of letting out the mules, so as to get paid for fetching them back, or as vengeance for our not having bought barley of them; but I convinced myself that the mules got over the mud walls of the corral, they being very low.
On the following day, January 12th, our work was from Llollia to El Cruzero, fourteen leagues, and although we roused up at five o’clock, it took a couple of hours to get the cargoes up and ready for the start. Notwithstanding a heavy hail-storm and rain yesterday evening and during the night, the road was not bad for travelling, as the pampas were more elevated and sandier than those nearer Oruro. Hereabouts there are many ranchos scattered over the pampa, and good crops of barley, potatoes, and quinoa were growing. This “quinoa” is a small grain about the size of millet or rape seed, and is eaten by the Aymará Indians in the same way as gram or rice is eaten by the Indians of Hindostan. When boiled or soaked it throws out a gelatinous substance that causes it to form a mass, in which state it is used by the Indians as their principal article of food. By Bolivians of higher grade, it is only used to thicken the chupe, or soup, and in that way is very agreeable. There were also many flocks of sheep, llamas, and alpacas, as well as many vicuñas, which in these parts are very tame.