Harry A. Franck.

Plattsburg, New York, August 1, 1917.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
IUp to Bogotá[3]
IIThe Cloistered City[22]
IIIFrom Bogotá Over the Quindío[39]
IVAlong the Cauca Valley[63]
VDown the Andes to Quito[85]
VIThe City of the Equator[127]
VIIDown Volcano Avenue[167]
VIIIThrough Southern Ecuador[190]
IXThe Wilds of Northern Peru[209]
XApproaching Inca Land[244]
XIDrawbacks of the Trail[270]
XIIThe Roof of Peru[300]
XIIIRound About the Peruvian Capital[324]
XIVOverland Toward Cuzco[342]
XVThe Route of the Conquistadores[374]
XVIThe City of the Sun[405]
XVIIA Forgotten City of the Andes[454]
XVIIIThe Collasuyu, or “Upper” Peru[480]
XIXOn Foot Across Tropical Bolivia[517]
XXLife in the Bolivian Wilderness[543]
XXISkirting the Gran Chaco[573]
XXIISouthward Through Guarani Land[600]

ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE
In the Monte Grande, the “Great Wilderness” of Bolivia, the commander of the garrison insisted on sending a boy soldier, with an ancient and rusted Winchester, to “protect” me from the savages[Frontispiece]
One of the wood-burning steamers of the lower Magdalena, on the route to Bogotá[4]
Along the Magdalena we halted several times each day for fuel[4]
Hays catches his first glimpse of the jungles of Colombia[13]
The stewards of the “Alicia” in full uniform[13]
A village on the banks of the Magdalena[17]
Jirardot; end of the steamer line and beginning of the railroad to Bogotá[17]
A typical Indian hut on the outskirts of Bogotá[20]
Indian girls and women are the chief dray-horses of the Colombian capital[20]
Bogotá and its sabana from the summit of Guadalupe[28]
The central plaza of Bogotá from the window of our room[28]
A chola, or half-Indian girl, of Bogotá backed by an outcast of the “gente decente” class[32]
A street of Bogotá. The line of flaggings in the center is for the use of Indians and four-footed burden bearers[32]
Celebrating Colombia’s Independence Day (July 20th)[37]
Meanwhile in another square the populace marvels at the feats of “maroma nacional” of an amateur circus[37]
A section of the ancient highway, built by the Spaniards more than three centuries ago[44]
Fellow-travelers at the edge of the sabana of Bogotá[44]
Approaching the Central Cordillera of the Andes[49]
Hays, seated before the “Hotel Mi Casa” and behind one of his $5 cigars[53]
A bit of the road by which we mounted to the Quindío pass over the central range, with forests of the slender palms peculiar to the region[53]
The first days on the road; showing how I would have traveled by choice[60]
On the western side of the Central Cordillera the trail drops quickly down into the tropics again[60]
Like those of the days of Shakespeare, the theater of Cartago consists of a stage—of split bamboo, with a tile roof—inside the patio of the “hotel”[64]
Cartago watching our departure[64]
Along the Cauca Valley[69]
In places the Cauca Valley swarmed with locusts[69]
Worse than the locusts[72]
The market-place of Tuluá, with the cross that protects it against all sorts of calamities[72]
A view of the “sacred city” of Buga, with the new church erected in honor of the miraculous Virgin[76]
A horseman of the Cauca in full regalia[76]
The scene of “Maria,” most famous of South American novels, and once the residence of its author[80]
The home of “Maria”; and a typical hacendado family of the Cauca[80]
The market-place of Cajibío, in the highlands of Popayán[96]
Crossing the Cauca River with a pack train by one of the typical “ferries” of the Andes[101]
A village of the mountainous region south of Popayán[101]
Hays, less considerable weight, and a fellow-roadster[108]
An Indian woman weaving teque-teque or native cloth, by the same method used before the Conquest[108]
Quito lies in a pocket of the Andes, at the foot of Pichincha, more than 10,000 feet above sea-level[120]
A view of Quito, backed by the Panecillo that bottles it up on the south[129]
A patio of the Monastery of San Francisco, one of the eighteen monasteries and convents of Quito, said to be the most extensive in the Western Hemisphere[129]
The family of “Don Panchito” with whom I lived in Quito[133]
Girls of the “gente decente” class of Quito, in a school run by European nuns[133]
Quito does not put its faith in small locks and keys[140]
Ecuadorian soldiers before the national “palace”[140]
A corner of Quito—looking through a garbage-hole into one of the many ravines by which the city is broken up[144]
After the bullfight a yearling is often turned into the ring for the amusement of the youthful male population of Quito[149]
A group of the Indians that form so large a percentage of Quito’s population[149]
The undertaker’s delivery wagon[156]
Probably not his own in spite of the circumstantial evidence against him[156]
Almost everything that moves in Quito rides on the backs of Indians[161]
An Indian family driving away dull care—and watching me take the picture of a dog down the street[161]
The street by which one leaves Quito on the tramp to the south[165]
Long before Edison thought of his poured-cement houses, the Indians of the Andes were building their fences in a similar manner[165]
Typical huts of the páramo of Tiopullo[168]
Beyond the páramo of Azuay the trail clambers over broken rock ledges into the town of Cañar[168]
Indians carrying a grand piano across the plaza of Cañar on a journey to the interior[172]
The Indians of Ecuador draw their droves of cattle on after them by playing a weird, mournful “music” on the bocina, made of a section of bamboo[172]
Ruins of the fortress of Ingapirca, near Cañar[176]
A mild example of the “road” through southern Ecuador[176]
Cuenca, third city of Ecuador, lies in one of the most fertile and beautiful valleys of the Andes[181]
A detail of the “Panama” hat market of the Azogues[184]
Arrived at the wholesale establishments of Cuenca, the hats are finished[184]
My home in Cuenca, with the Montesinos family[188]
Students of the Colegio of Cuenca[188]
The “English Language Club” of Cuenca in full session[193]
An hacienda-house of southern Ecuador, backed by its grove of eucalyptus-trees[193]
Plowing for wheat or corn on the hacienda of Cumbe[200]
The church, and the dwelling of my host, the priest of Oña[208]
Loja, southernmost city of Ecuador, backed by her endless labyrinth of mountains[208]
The guinea-pigs on which I feasted upon breaking out of the wilderness on the Peruvian frontier—and the cook[213]
The Indians of Zaraguro are different, both in type and costume, from the meeker types of Quito and vicinity[213]
In the semi-tropical Province of Jaen, in north Peru, sugarcane grows luxuriantly[220]
The sugar that is not turned into aguardiente, or native whiskey, is boiled down in the trapiche into crude brown blocks, variously known as panela, chancaca, rapadura, empanisado, papelón, etc., weighed and wrapped in banana-leaves, selling at about 5 cents for 3 pounds[220]
The teniente-gobernador, or “lieutenant-governor,” of Jaen[229]
The two of us[229]
The main street of the great provincial capital of Jaen[236]
The government “ferry” across the Huancabamba[236]
A woman of the jungles of Jaen preparing me the first meal in days at the typical Ecuadorian cook-stove[248]
Peruvian prisoners earn their own livelihood by weaving hats, spinning yarn, and the like[248]
The ancient city of Cajamarca lies in one of the most magnificent highland valleys of the Andes[257]
The only wheeled vehicle I saw in Peru during my first three months in that country[264]
One of the many unfinished churches of Cajamarca[264]
One of the few remaining simpichacas, or suspension bridges, of the Andes[272]
A typical shop of the Andes[272]
Detail of the ruins of “Marca-Huamachuco,” high up on the mountain above the modern town of that name[289]
Pallasca, to which I climbed from one of the mightiest quebradas in the Andes[289]
Catalino Aguilar and his wife, Fermín Alva, my nurses in the hospital of Caráz[296]
An Indian of Cerro de Pasco region carrying a slaughtered sheep[296]
Though within a few degrees of the equator, Huaráz, capital of the most populous department of Peru, has a veritable Swiss setting of snow-clad peaks and glaciers[304]
Threshing wheat with the aid of the wind[304]
Crossing the Central Cordillera of the Andes south of Huaráz, barely nine degrees below the equator[308]
The fortress of the former Inca city of Huánaco el Viejo[317]
A typical residence of the Indians of the high páramos[317]
The arrieros with whom I left Huallanga, and the family inhabiting the hut shown in the preceding picture[321]
The immaculate staff of the Cerro de Pasco hospital[321]
The semi-weekly lottery drawing in the main plaza of Lima[328]
All aboard! A Sunday excursion that was not posed[328]
The bleak mining town of Morococha, more than 16,000 feet above sea-level[336]
The American miners of Morococha live in comfort for all the altitude and bleakness of their surroundings[336]
A typical miner of the high Peruvian Andes[340]
Miners of Morococha,—a Welch foreman and two of his gang[340]
A hint of what the second-class traveler on Peruvian railways must put up with[349]
The wide main street and a part of the immense market of Huancayo, said to be the largest in Peru[349]
A detail of the market of Huancayo, with a bit of pottery like that of the days of the Incas[356]
“Chusquito” descending one of the few remnants of the old Inca highway I found from Quito to Cuzco[356]
Huancavelica, one of the most picturesque and least-visited provincial capitals of Peru[365]
On the “road” to Ayacucho I overtook a lawyer who was importing a piano[376]
Carrying the piano across one of the typical bridges of the Peruvian Andes[376]
The striking headdress of the women of Ayacucho[385]
The friendly and ingratiating waiters of our hotel in Ayacucho[385]
A religious procession in the main square of Ayacucho[392]
A gala Sunday in the improvised “bullring” of Ayacucho[392]
A familiar sight in the Andes—a recently butchered beef hung in sheets along the clothes-line to sun-dry into charqui[400]
A typical “bed” in the guest-room provided for travelers by many Peruvian hacendados[400]
The fatherless urchin who fell in with me beyond Andahuaylas[405]
My body-servant in Andahuaylas, and the sickle with which he was supposed to cut all the alfalfa “Chusquito” could eat[405]
A view of Quito, capital of Ecuador, from the summit of the Panecillo[408]
View of Cuzco, the ancient Inca capital, from the summit of Sacsahuaman[408]
Building a house in Peru[412]
The patio of the “Hotel Progreso” of Abancay[412]
A religious procession in Abancay[417]
A chola of Abancay, wearing the dicclla which all put on at the age of puberty[432]
A chiefly-Indian woman of Abancay[432]
The first view of Cuzco[437]
An Indian of Cuzco, speaking only Quichua[444]
Indian women of the market-place, wearing the “pancake” hat of Cuzco[444]
An Indian required to pay for the day’s mass proudly clings to his staff of office[449]
Youth from a village near Cuzco, each with a coca cud in his cheek[449]
Our party setting out for Machu Picchu across the high plains about Cuzco[453]
Ollantaytambo, the end of the first day’s journey, in the valley of the Urubamba[453]
Spring plowing in the Urubamba valley[460]
As we rode eastward into the sunrise down the gorge of the Urubamba, glacier-clad Piri above threw off its night wraps of clouds[464]
The semicircular tower and some of the finest stone-cutting and fitting of Machu Picchu[464]
We came out on the edge of things and Machu Picchu lay before us[469]
The resounding gorge of the Urubamba, with terraces of the ancient inhabitants on the inaccessible left bank[472]
One of the many stairways of Machu Picchu[472]
The temple of the three windows, an unusual feature of Inca architecture[476]
“Rumiñaui” seated on the intihuatana, or sun-dial, at the top of the town[476]
The babies of Bolivia sit in a whole nest of finery on nurse’s back[485]
Arequipa is built of stones light as wood, cut from a neighboring quarry[485]
Indians plowing on the shores of Titicaca[492]
Sunrise at Copacabana, the sacred city of Bolivia on the shores of Titicaca[492]
One of the two huge figures facing the grass-grown plaza of modern Tiahuanaco at the entrance to the church[501]
The ancient god of Tiahuanaco before which the Indian woman, herding her pigs, bowed down in worship[501]
Arequipa, second city of Peru, in its desert oasis, backed by misty volcano[504]
“Suddenly the bleak pampa falls away at one’s feet”[504]
Llamas of La Paz patiently awaiting the return of their driver[508]
Down the valley below La Paz the pink and yellow soil stands in fantastic, rain-gashed cliffs[508]
Cholas of La Paz, in their native garb[513]
“Sandy” leading his train of carts loaded with construction material for the railroad to Cochabamba[528]
The “gringo bench” of Cochabamba,—left to right, “Old Man Simpson”; Tommy Cox; Sampson, the Cockney; Owen; and Scribner[528]
The home and family of the alcalde who could not read[536]
Our impromptu celebration of Christmas Eve in Pampa Grande[536]
A street of Santa Cruz de la Sierra after a shower[545]
Conscripts of the Bolivian army practicing their first maneuvers in the central plaza of Santa Cruz[545]
Manuel Abasto, a native of Santa Cruz de la Sierra[552]
Through the open doors of Santa Cruz one often catches a glimpse of the patio, a garden gay with flowers[552]
Konanz seated on our baggage in the pelota de cuero[560]
The force of one of the four fortines, or “fortresses,” with which the Bolivian government garrisons the Monte Grande against the savages[560]
Jim and “Hughtie” Powell, Americans from Texas who have turned Bolivian peons[564]
A jungle hair-cut[564]
The old stone and brick church and monastery of San José[573]
The fatherly old cura of San José standing before the Jesuit sun-dial[573]
Henry Halsey, the American rancher, of tropical Bolivia, and his family[577]
Saddle-steers take the place of horses and mules in the muddy parts of tropical Bolivia[577]
A German of tropical Bolivia and his “housekeeper”[581]
Santiago de Chiquitos, above the gnat-line, backed by its reddish cliffs[581]
“Don Cupertino,” chief adornment of eastern Bolivia, with his family and dependents[589]
The tipoy, a single loose gown, constitutes the entire garb of most of the native women of tropical Bolivia[593]
A girl of Santiago de Chiquitos selling a chicken to the cook of “los americanos”[593]
The shoemaker who lived next door to “los americanos” in Santiago de Chiquitos, and his latest “wife”[597]
A birthday dance in Santiago de Chiquitos, in honor of the German in the center background[597]
A view from the promenade-deck of the steamer[604]
A Paraguayan landscape, with native cart[604]
The mixture of types in the Argentine[608]
MAP
The author’s itinerary[40]

VAGABONDING

DOWN THE ANDES

CHAPTER I
UP TO BOGOTÁ

When we had “made a stake” as Canal Zone policemen, Leo Hays and I sailed from Panama to South America. On board the Royal Mail steamer the waist of the ship, to which our tickets confined us, was a screaming pandemonium of West Indian negroes, homeward bound from canal digging, and a veritable chaos of their baggage and household goods—and gods—ranging from tin trunks to pet monkeys, from battered phonographs to plush-bound Bibles. We preëmpted deck space for our suitcases and sat down upon them. It chanced to be the same day on which, eight years before, I had set out on a “vagabond journey” around the world.