Evening Star Newspaper, April 30, 1898, Page 17

THE EVENING STAP, SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 1898—24 PAGES. SUNSET VIEW CUBA'S TWIN SISTER) Porto Rico Has Suffered Much the | Same Fate. | ONCE THE HOME OF PONCE DE LEON | Has Always Been the Victim of Spanish Cruelty. PARADISE Spee NATURE <A BY Star. BoUT A THOU nd miles due seut A: st from Havana five hundred from Cape Maisi, the east- ern tip of Cub. opens northward the magnificent harbor of San Juan de Puerto Rico—Saint John of the Rich, or Noble Port, distant from New York about 1.610 mi and from the Danish island of miles, last-nam: to the eastward. knewn, the Island of hern have attention of the conjectural the a} roi the t of b s at nt. And yet the 1d was discovered by Columbus, Liss, on nd voyage, when on h thern We he Indies to h oast of Haiti d was Boi Juan F dit San E having landed in hesutif of Agvadilla, on its north- Wes found ther h nobl fous mountain views and tful springs of water ed up all these excellencies in jen “ In the ordin: ed by th aniards, who w arch of gold, and mi d tl isiands by its relative abund- © Rico Fifteen y came diced ir the tit not been rich or prot- fter the passing of ( nother navigator who r of conquistador, one Juan Pence de Leon,the governor of a province of Santo Domingo, sixty miles distant. The Indians of his section told him wonderful ries of the rich island across the cha) ituble. lembus nel, and in the year 1408 he landed | Aguadiila with a force of men and a pack | of bloodhounds, bent upon its conquest. : Leon lives in history as the no- | + gentlest of th galliard ad- | mW Corte: ico, and Pizarro, who ‘quisitions of who d gentle a Span- ut he saw nothing in putting to death the Indian ch ba, tg gold, nor in se rocent women and en tamo hound, “ Bere- * who drew a bowman for and who tore to pieces every ran down i took. He s ns, whom tw sent after him ae slain with a p by a Carib Ex pingting the as not our gallant ¢ Indians. nul Spaniards who discovered and e West Indies carried it out to i welcomed ¢ The advan elling and if the tain a con Ho over t the reader who first showed him the | s finally j | more advanced than ate conclusion. Findin popu some two millions in t | last decade of the a next century j one left of t FROM CASA BLANCA, PORTO RICO. the others, which they put into execu- h it were better had it been They resolved to test the amir e day, haviag caught one of the they held his head under water fer the space of three hours, until they were so tired they had to let him great joy, he then showed no it t several di « cique ef the sue w out they were stili suspiciou ook turns watching by the ¥s, until unmistakabl. Hssolution conv ced them <8 of the expe signal for an uprisin; coming ever from the paniarc but the nto Do- mingo much faster than the Indians could kill them, gave up the unequal con final: J t building called they became bie to exte convinced that it ‘minate them, and in despair. Ponce de Leon's Home. Ponce de Leon and his mail-clad soldi led cn the present site of San uan in 1511, and the most interesting relic be found there tod: cient the “Casa Blanca,” which built by the cor quistador and occupied him while governor of the island. H: lived several years, here he planned the tion which resulted in the discovery impo: oO scale, in the old fort at St. Augustine; and they were similar to those of Havana be- fore her walls were torn Gown. The penin- sula upon which the Morro and the light- hcuse stand is thrust out into the sea, on one side breasting the thundering surges of the Caribbean, and on the other guarding the placid waters of a beautiful and almost, land-locked harbor. This harbor is one of the finest in the West Indies, large, shel- tered and carable of accommodating any number of the largest ships, giving anchor- age in from three to six fathoms. It opens toward the north too, invitingly, tantaliz- ingly offering a r2fuge to the vessels of the great republic with whose destinies its own tray soon be linked. It may, perhaps, b> acquired by treaty, or it may be taken by storm: and if the latter, the old stone forts will offer but small resistance to the balls and shells of modern cannon. They will collapse as quickly as a wal! of cards, and the soldiers behind the frowning battle- ments will be driven pante-stricken to the country. For Spain, both in the manner of its defensive works and in its gov- ernmental system, is the victim of tradi- tion and age-worn custom. Its govern- ment, as we know, is hide-hound as well as hideous; hideous, because it is a relic of the times of Philip Il and the inquist- tion. It no more represents the Spain of today than Don Quixote represents its chivalry. The people of Spain are by na- ture generous and impuisive, though in- clined to methods we Amcricans would re- pudiate; but their government is obsolete, as well as their fortifications. The writer has seen about all of them, in the islands of the Caribbean, as well as in old Spain it- se) and unhesitatingly pronounces them weak and wellnigh defenseless. Town of San Juan. Though the main portion of San Juan is inclosed within the wal's, through which entrance is only obtained by well-guarded gateways, yet there is a small town by Iit- self in the Marina, between the fortifica- ticns and the wharves. Here is a fine pub- lic garden and pleasure space, with booths and restaurants, as well as the public cock- pit, where battles royal are frequently waged. The buildings of the inner city are of stone, massive and substantial, like these of Havana and the City of Mexico; in fact, of the old-world type, and in case of a bombardment there would be little dan- ger of a conflagration. The captain general and chief officials reside here, and the so- ciety of the city is most agreeable to one ccming here with letters of introduction. It was the writer's privilege to participate in its pleasures a few ars ago, and he sincerely hopes nore of the very agreeable men and gracious ladies he met there will be harmed, should the exigencies of war demand the bombardment of San Juan. It was during this visit that he secured the photographs illustrating this article, | for the taking of which ke had a special | permit from the alcalde of the capital; yet, | So suspicious were the S; sh officials that @ policeman was alw HOUSE OF PONCE DE LEON. of Florida and which primarily was a | p an objection whenever the camera search for the famous fountain of youth. | was pointed toward any portioa of the an- Ik is th ing of the old conquistador clent forts. Yet he visited the Morro, with F al Ponce de -Leon. ‘y and the tra on the coast me wich our own hi te that overtook him lorida which interest a : of as woven such a sentiment- ound the of gallant name Yes, from the narrow windows, looking out over the crenelated wall around the castle garden, Ponce de Leon stward toward Bahamas and ploration and ly for the disco’ of the Foun- h, Bimini, which was said to thin the forests of one of the Guided by an old Indian won searched t archipe 4 ong others the island di ed out northward and we even then bus, twenty years before, and which then ¢ inhabitant 5 been carrie the be killed in the unsatisfiéd from the find later erganized another e and was wounded in nba, where he died, orought back to Puerto Rico. ure still kept here in a leaden case in the Church of St. Domir nd if the should be taken by our troops, it is po: that Pence the Lion-hcz ay the monument to his memory wh Spanish ingratitude has so long deni him It sesms but a righteous avenge ut that he was led to his death by one the race he ‘9 cruelly wronged, Porto le may is of an India from the ve ips have so for th ckading of Hav. ppreaching conquest of Cub: Rico will abound in historic paral- and paradexes, but perhaps none will in that the slaugh- The islands shall be of a country through the vey of r It will be ate, E but be som les, What UNDER THE SEA WALL OF and the wear I tind som. crrve? at are peculiar to thi im the shape of stone burial or sacrificial ction that is mus ror Otis. Mason, years agi ograph on these attention of the s wrote works that att jfile world, and which remains today a monument to his attsin- ments. as well as to the genius of these aborigines. So much for the gentle Indians of Porto Rico. They ned to the Spaniaris ali their mines of gold, gave them all their farms and gardens; but the rapacious mon- sters were unsatisfied. They provoked them to rebellion, and then remorselessly employed the processes of swift extermina- ticn. The Iadians, at first amazed, then panic-stricken, thea sullenly resentful, cculd not understand why these immorials (as they regarded them) should desire eith- er their gold or their lives. But though at first looking upon these men as heaven-de- scended, they finally were undeceived, and lLegan to retaliate. Two Indians a little acted the ns they made. There | THE | is vasily more a a men-} FORT-—SAN JUAN, PORTO RICO. s been said ef other Ameri First the Pilgrim Fath Then they fell on the al zine pplicable to the Spaniards America But that is a subject too lengthy for recital in this connection. Picturesque Fortifient an pioneers— s fell on thelr knees, Equally ancient with the Casa Blanca are the fortifications surrounding the city of San Juan, for their foundations were laid during the reign of Ponce de Leon himself. The capital city, with a population of some: 25,000, occupies an island, connected with the main by a bridge and a causeway, and is complstely inclosed within massive walls of stone and hardened mortar, with a height in places of from 50 to 100 feet. Like Havana, it has its Morro, or citadel (liter- ally a round or Moorish’ tower), and the fortifications are on a comprehensive scale, with bastions and drawbridges, ornate s2n- try boxes hanging over the sea, and grim, gray walls towering threateningly. One ney find their counterpart, on a smaller its deep dungeons and spected the military town within the castle walls and read the inscriptions, some of them over 200 years old, on the antiquated guns. Some modern cannon have mounted since then, but that does not ter, for the Spaniard cannot aim a gun to save his life. If any one of our ships is ever sunk by Spanish guns it will be through accident, and not from malice aforethought, for the Spanish gunners, the records show: us, re as inherently ine pable of shooting straight as if afflicted with strabismus. It would be preferable that old San Juan should be taken uninjured, with all {ts memories and relics intact, than that it shouid feel the effects of our guns. There is no doubt that the harbor is mined, but in order to demolish the walls it will not be n ary to enter, as a ship may lie outside and drop her shells all over the cit covered wi in- been, Conditions of Life. As to local conditions, San Juan is not an attractive city, under its present man- agement, owing to its filthy streets and lack of attention to sanitation. It is likely to have a visit every y from Yellow Jack, when, owing to its situation, he might as well as not be kept at a distance. The residents are acclimated and do not suffer much, but the casual visitors in summer are in danger. It may be as well to note, in this connection, that the West Indian ar is divided generally into two seasons, the wet and the d or there m: be two brief rainy seaso: when the sun pesses over their zenith, in the vernal and autumnal equinox, and in the latter the hurricanes occur. The dry months are usually from November to April, inclusi and the wet and sickly from May to No- vember. The longest day scarc exceeds thirteen hours, and the difference between the maximum and minimum of heat is much less than with us, in summer, the annual mean being about 75 to 80 degrees, with a daily range of not much more than ten degrees, and an average winter tem- perature of 70. Then there is the daily alternation of the sea and land breeze, the former setting in about % in the morning and continuing through the day, the lat- ter beginning soon after sunset and hold- ing until about an hour after sunrise, the hottest times being in the intervals be- tween the two. If one could run the gaunt- let of the coast belt and get to some high situation in the interior, he would be com- paratively safe at any season in any island of the West Indies. That the city is not a healthful one ts shown by the frequent funeral processions that pass through the streets and seek the “campo santo,’ just outside the walls. This cemetery Mes between the sea watl of the fort and the ocean, and one of the sentry boxes overlooks the entrance. In- deed, the columbariae, in which the better class of the dead are pigeonholed, are built nst the wall itself, and as the graves in the other portion are rented for short- term leas only not exceeding five years, the sentinels on the parapets have grue- some spectacles below them of piles of bones heaped in the corners of the yard. This custom of reinterment is a Spanish one, and prevails throughout their colonies, not only here and in Cuba, but in Mexico as well. If, as has been asserted, a na- tion's regard for the living may be judged From Casa Blanca. by its care of the dead, these loathsome and ghastly evidences of Spanish neglect speak eloquently against the Spaniards. But San Juan is only one port of the is- land, and there are some harbors that are as fine, if not as large and land-locked. One other on the north coast is Arrecibo; on the east are Humacao and Fajardo, on the west Aguadilla and yaguez, as beau- tiful as the heart of man could desire, with their gushing springs nd background of pointed mountains, and on the south coast are Arroyo, Guayanilla and, Ponce. This last is the largest, the city having a popu- lation of about 35,000, With a vast export trade, chiefly in sugar and molasses. A fine post road comnects! it wtth San Juan, running diagonally across the island, with a daily diligence between the two. A sy tem of railroads is in Course of construc- tion that will soon connect all the chief coast towns and open up portions of the in- terior. fe The island is about 120 miles in length by fifty or sixty in breadth, dnd as nearly rectangular as nature® will allow in its coast line. The interior is one vast con- geries of mountains, presenting the appear- ance from a steamer’s deck of a limitiecs sea of hills with rounded summits and with such gentle slopes as to be Susceptible of cultivation to their very summits. The highest mountain of the great central range is called Luquillo, and attains an al- titude of 4,000 feet. Then there are in- rumerable other hills and mountains. be- tween which are rich valleys a i jiarge and small, though none even at their mouths. The where is very fertile and cultivable, even to the mountain crests, the hill pastures of Porto Rico being celebrated for their suc- culent grasses, upon which feed cattle and horses, which are favorites throughout the islands south. These are shipped in large numbers, and constitute the chief wealth of a great many people engaged in the busi- ness. soil every- A Natural Paradise. Among the hills, also, are thousands of cafetales, or coffee estates, for here the coffee finds congenial soll and climate for its perfect development, and is a source of Entrance to Cemetery—San Juan. profit to the many planters who prefer a life of comparative leisure to the bustle of the town and city. In the valleys grow the sugar cane, cacao, bananas, plantains, and, in fact, all sorts of tropical fruits. As the banana industry has been vastly increased in the Island of Jamaica during the past decade, and has rescued many a planter there from ruin, so {t will be in Porto Rico, which has every essential for its profitable cultivation and facility for shipment. 2 With its beautiful scenery, its almo fect climate. its boundless exuberance and range of vegetable products, and conse- quent facilities for subsistence with the minimum of lafior, Porto Rico may well be termed an earthly paradise. If that we per- all; ff its people were intelligent and con ionable; if its goverrment were as mild and equabie as its climate, and if there were united effort here tending to Improvement of society and the tion of political burdens, then it might be so regarded. But, while nature has done everything for this island, while a great portion of its 3,600 square miles can be put under cultivation, and. there ought to be enough to subsist many more than it 000 inhabitants in comfort, the me race whom the accid=nt of, discov« in power have done worse than rd the meliora- its development. Poverty where, since the taxes are s administered, as the alien office holders, asst diery. sted by foreign sol- Useless to Revolt. As in Cuba, the pecple have been for centuries trodden under foot. They have greaned beneath the weight of their bur- dens, have in vain protested against their numberless outrages. If Cuba has been long regarded as Spain’s milch cow, 0 also has Porto Rico, and that the latter has not already risen in successful ze- volt is owing, not to the temper of the people, but to the impossibility for a revo- lution to succeed. In Cuba the configura- tion of ihe island lends itself to forward- ing the schemes of an insurgent band, for there are swamps and forests, caves’ and bayous innumerable, almost, in which they Loading Cattle. can lurk and hide. Here it is different, f while the interior is mountainous and ru ged, yet pertion is accessiple 1 roads and trails. In Mexico, as we know, the land was vexed by revolution afc revolution, until American capital went down there and built railroads througi hitherto inaccessible sections for President Diaz to send his troops over; then 1 resulted. The same conditions combine thk: United States. While, if we were to an Cuba, there might prevail a state of u rest and even of revolution for many year: owing to the impossibility for trained treops to cope with small bands of in- surgents operating in a wild country, bere it would be just the reverse. In a word, Porto Rico would be a manageable pror erty, easily taken, easily held and go) erned. As to its value, a glance at th map, showing its strategical advantage: commanding as it floes the Atlantic and a ic, is sufficient. Caribbean routes of tra! peuiioiene to make sland a desirable acquisition for the x SS Psychic Pecullarities of the Criminal. From Appleton’s Popular Selence Monthly. Intimately connected! with the physical conditions of the crinifnal gre his psychic peculiarities. These cqpsist,¢hiefly in great instability of character, coupled with over- whelming development/éf some passion and the atrophy of some others! The criminal acts from impulse, although he often dis- plays, as madmen do, a low eunning in find- ing means to carry out his.impulse. He is intensely vain, priding pimsejf on the num- ber of crimes he has committed. He is fur- ther devoid of all remorse, fond of boast- ing of his evil deeds” and of describing them in detail. Thus“Lombroso gives the reproduction of a photograph in which three murderers who had assassinated one of their number causgd themselves to be represented in the v ‘of committing their deadly deed, a gotoggaph taken for the benefit of their less unage associ- ates. This inordinate vanity is often in itself the primary cause of terrible crimes, espe- clally in young men who have just attained puberty, an age observed to be especially fruitful in crimes of violence. The critical character of this period, even in well-bal- anced minds, is abundantly known} little wonder, then, if it prove fatal to those whose constitutions urge them to extremes. It {s noticed also that the criminal needs to lead a life full of noise. The necessity of orgies entailed by the irregularities of his feelings is: often the moving cause of some act of violence, such as robbery and assassination, calculated to produce the means of indulgence. : Giles—“It seems drea@fuly extravagant to go to such an expensive tailor.’ De Jinks—“What could Ido? Be was the only one who would-t ~me.”—Boston Traveler. IN RUINED CITY LAND OF DRY SAND Queer Features of Life in Peru's Great Desert. RAINS BUT ONCE IN SEVEN YEARS Valleys €an Be Made to Blos- som Like the Rose. ON THE PACIFIC —__+ SUNSETS (Copyrighted, 1888, by Frank G. Carpenter.) Special Correspondence of The Evening 8 PACASMAYO, Peru, April 2, 1898 HAVE JUST E turned from a ride across the desert of Peru in a hand car. There is at this point a railroad which goes over this great South American Sahara on up the Jeque- The road ar loaned made for the trip, and a couple 02 native Pe- hed the motive power. W! me at Kalamazoo ruvians furn them behin: mann, a young American who liv >s here, and myself in front, we rode out from the shore and wound for miles in and out over these wonderful Peruvian sands which lie at the foot of the And woand then we stopped to examine the black volcanic rock with which much of the desert i and again we went off to photograph the traveling sand hills which I shall descri further on. ce then I have time on the desert. I have miles over it on he h and Mr. Rudolph D. Kautf- covered, spent rid bac ed the queer little towns which are found in the shert irrigated valleys which run here and there through it. This desert nds from the borders of Ecuador, 2,000 s southward, along the Pacific coasis of Peru and Chile It is ong as the dis- tance from New York to Salt Lake Ci and in no 4 more than eighty mi wide. I have seen something of the other great deserts of the world. From the top of the Pyramids I have looked ov dreary white rocks and sands of I have sailed along the deserts of Ai in going through the Red sea, and from the Mount of Olives bleak wastes between Jerusalem Jordan. 1 have extensive over the du i rocky highlands of our w nd have had my . This Peruvian desert is like nothing se in the world. Its formation is a won- der to the average man. Ha Desert Wax Made. I can explain it best by atmosphere forms the clothing earth, and that old Mother Earth ying that the the of wo well only when her clothes are decid; wet. The mount are great wringers, which squeeze the rain out of the air and by the differences in tempera- ture cause it to fall upon the land. T Ar kiss the sky at higher poin’ any other mount on the globe, w the single exception of the Himalay The direction of the winds which swe over South America is such that they all come from the e: Iam now not as far from the equator s a few weeks ago. when. 1 w h the tropical mud amid th The sun from thi mus of Pa drawing up v me, but the wind ward and westwar is the cool, dry, raink sweeps down upon us from the A air started on from the west cc ca. As it ept over the Atlantic ed itself full of w; pump- ter, and when it reached the coast of Brazil it was well Ik it ed the continent it di moi: feeding the great river South Americ i covering the land with It d and verdu tropical dropped more more it climbed up the eastern slopes of the Andes until when it reached the top it left its last water there snow. The result is that that comes down to the w the melting of the snows. to form a river here and the a and it is in the ‘ou find the habitable parts o2 region of Peru and northern is enough e through the enother habitabl> region fur- the mountains, between the two ranges of the Andes, which here run almost parallel, and a wild strip on the eastern slope, which will, by means of the railroads of the future, some time of the most productive parts of the globe. Peru altogether is a very large count It would make tore than nine states the size of New York. It runs from north to south in the shape of a gr wedge, which, if laid upon the surface of our count would go as far south New, Orle which point it would be about as i the distance between New York and Wash- ington. The Traveling Sands of Peru. One of the wonders of this desert Is its traveling sand hills. Back of where I now am there are great mounds containing hun- dreds upon hundreds of tons of fine gray sand. These mounds are always moving onward under the influence of the winds. ‘They are in the shape of a perfect crescent and their little grains, mot so large as a mustard seed, are ever rolling up, up and over the top of the crescent, going always toward the north. They climb over hills, they make their way through valleys, as uneasy but as steady in their march as was the Wandering Jew. Here at Pacas- mayo there is a railroad which crosses the desert on its way up the Jequetepeque val- ley, When it was built the engineers thought nothing of these sand hills, which were far to the southward. The sands, however, are no respectors of railroads. ‘They moved onward and swallowed up the is ther up in encroaching upon the track. A stream of water from the river had been let in through a ditch at the side in a vain at- tempt co carry away the sand, and men were at work shoveling the dirt ay be one | OF JEQt PEQUE. the hills were quite hard, shoes were not covere these sand hills are stopped on their course by what are known as the algorola bushes or trees. They gather about them, making hills, which spot the desert in places with patches of green. There are, you know, no reads here guch as we have at home. chief animals ui to carry freight are a ses, though the lat- nd that even my by sand. Some of ter are mostly for riding. The ways across the desert are bridle paths, and the people go long distances. Sometimes one of these moving sand hills covers up the paths, a storm spreads the sand over them and travelers are lost. No stranger could travel over this desert without a guide, who gen- erally directs his course by the stars at night and during the day by the wind, which always blows from the south. I can imggine no more terrible place in which to loss your bearings than this deseri. You might travel for without finding any- thing to eat or dri You would see the long lines of ske Is which had been lost, upon some of which the gal- linasos or buzzards might be still picking at their bones. I passed a cord or so of human skulls, many bones of donkeys and cattle during a recent ride across the des- est, and at one point stopped by a pile of skeletons which had been dug up from an Inca ruin and left there to bleach. Small Chances for Undertakers, It is a curious thing that there are no bad smells 01 the desert. Flesh does not rot, and you could leave a dead chicken in your back ‘dat Pacasmayo and never get a smell. The air dry that it sucks all the juices out of anything left on the sands. t A short distance north of here is the valley of the Piura river, which has the me surroundings. Not long traveler, in passing through this saw an open coffin in the ery, within it the body of a dead priest clothed ia nothing but a purple shirt and w cotton drawers. The body was lyin out under the hot sun of the tror the men, who was a devout Catholic, fered to bury «t, expressing great indig tien that one of the fathers shoud ve permit anything of the k dear you do not uni is the body of my frien hich I have put out there to dry, so Usat I may send him to his family in Guaya- av of the air is the cause of Peru being found in such Sood prese:vation, Leese are plenty of Across the Peruvian Desert o Hand Car. mummies to be had here, and every now and then one is dug up in the excavation of the ruined cities of the Indians, who had ssion of the country when the Sp ds came. The mummies are found in sitting posture wrapped in cloth and tied up with strings. All about here I see the vestiges of the works of the Incas. They had a civilization on the average higher than that of Peru today. They cultivated a vast deal more of the land, and their ir- rgation works included thousands of acres which are now desert. I went, the other day, up through the desert to the old Iuca of Jequetepeque. I doubt whether any of you have ever heard of them. Still mark the site of what must hi e been a populous city. They cre uated high up above the lands which how irrigated by the lite river which flo hear them, just below the ruins are t remains of what were once Inca fortifi tions, great mounds of san-dried bricks, the ruins of which are bout 200 fect cal high. The remains of the city are in the heart of the desert. They cover several hundred acres, and the in pluces, higher than your head, still stan 1, while within them the outlines of houses can be plainly seen. In the ¢ of the city*there is a large mound, pro! the site of an Inca palace, or of a temple devoted to the vestal virgins of the su rcde my horse up to the top of this mo: and in my mina’s eye could easil the ruined streets below me. t me were bits of pottery, the broken dishes of that great nation of the past. Here you could see the outlines of a square and there the remains of a large house, which may have been the residence of one of the rich nobility from whom the Spaniards got their gold, Peru’s Long Dry Spel Notwithstanding this part of the Pacific coast has had no rain for a long time, the re expecting it this year. Do you vy why? It is because it doe n here aimost regularly ever; big shower was in 1891. shower seven years befor am toll that about every nine years there is a period of a week or y The: nore that the rain pours down, and as it touches the earth vegetation almost in- stantaneously spriags up. Alm within a night the desert becomes covered with jsreen. There great fields of gre era and flow the thousands come out in blossom. There are plants which we have only in hot houses and flowers more brilliant than any we know. This vegetation often lasts but a few days. It has, however, been known to continue a month, and at its height the cattle are driven from the irrigated valleys out upon the desert to feed. The si of all soris of plants, trees and flowers seem to keep perfectly in the hot, dry sand, and to be ready to jump into life if touched with moisture. I doubt, in fact, if there is a more fertile soil on the globe than that of the desert of Peru. It seems to be full equal to that which borders the Nile va! ley, and wherever ii can be irrigated it produces in many instances two crops a year. Planting go2s on here all the year around in the irrigated valleys, and I see corn dropped in the same neighborhood where it is almost ripe enough for husking. Farming in Northern Peru. The only cultivated portions of the coast region of Peru are, as I have stated, the Kttle valleys of the rivers fed by the An- dean rains and snows. There are on the coast of Peru about forty of these valleys, which the water hes cut out of the desert. At the end of many cr them you find little towns, which form the ports of the country, and in the interior there are numerous villages and small cities. The capital of Peru, Lima (pronounced Lee-ma), is in the valley of the Rimac river. Palta, where we first stopped on our way south, is the port for the valley of the Pivra river, and here we are near the mouth of the At the can see droves of are ever shipped | to Chicago being driven out upon the pier te be joaded for Lima and the ports fur- ther th, and when walking out this morn’ 1 took phs of the fat beeves as they were swung by a derrick high up ir the air and dropped into the lighter, in which they were taken to the steamer in the harbor. Where Red Cot Grows on Trees, This is not the best cotton-raising se ” of Peru, but in every ride which 1 take into the o I see bus’ and t lining the s and fr et white with mus Q ura tton pl the world wh 1 gon trees. Th ru fifteen and more t two or three ft rom ten to twen tule hotel h which = 1. The cotton from the landlord says, to pay for all the eggs consum: This native Peruvian vite ts Nike our cotton. It ts of diffe brown being quite tawny and se eckiediy red in color. The white cotton ts The quality Peru cotte ised in ment Piur north of wh now am grows in the river valleys after the se years’ rain, which there is much bh than at Pacasmayo. At such times the rivers flood the country, bringing down rich slime from the mountains, and when te rains have ceased every one starts to plant- ing cotton. The demand for labor is gach many people go there at the time of the rains for the work whi@h they know will be needed. The wages paid ul from 1o 30 cents for a day of ten hou Ratsir this cotton may be called the luxury of The 1 is so rich that : not need manuring or till: ploughed, but holes as with a and up. A plant soon sprouts and thi s Know they are of three good crops within the next vear or so. The first crop matures in nine months and the others follow. After these three A Cord of Human §' crops there are irregular for a ops from the r of ve mn to @ height of tift feet All that is necessary is to keep hem trimmed and pick the cotton. In the lands along the river which can be irrigat- ed the crops are regul nd from two to three crops a year are common. The ¢ ton s, in fact. thr out most nd you see buds, nd cx wool on the the same In the irrig: the cotten tH) and 400 pour the acre 1 imated that the z and by st about $1 gold per This cotton 8 very valuable S wool. The fiber is mo ol than cotton, and when it is gil would easily pass for wool. It is manufacturers of hats, hoster ar to mix With wool, und is svid irticles into which it goes fir ter finish, and to render to shrink. The fiber is than any other, ex the Sea Ist n cotton, I am told the h it will grow is limited. lerabl Sunset on the Western Pa Imost desy air of giving you a ° country along thes? li le Irrigated valleys of Pe Nature nas painted things differently here than in any other part of the world. Now you imagine yourself in B t the next step you think of t hiands of Mexico, and again are in horn California or on ihe Pacific enast Asia. The very sky is differeat. 1 am opping here with Mr. B. H. Kauffmann, an Ohio man, who came to Souti Ameri: twenty odd years ag: largest shipping and who now has t nd importing busin: this part of Peru. His how beach, and waves roll in with that of Atlantic City or Cape Ma evening the sun sets upon the fore us in a blaze of coior such never seen elsewhere The tints ar gorgeous than these of the In tian ocean and more soft and beautiful than those ly or Greece. Such colors have nev and such scenic eff p unknown in our part of the world. The es of the sun at its setting won- It looks twice are homes, and n to- sea the w © pull it to their surface, so that it es tue form of @ balloon, the low f which is slowly sulanerg ater the top spreads out and y olden ome resting on the on, sinks lowe! & nd silver and to the most 2 tints of purple and red to match the soft bright col- ors of the skies. Last night, just bet« n went down, had double bows in the Ande ugh there wa sign of rein here The a se clear that you can s: as far 3 the eastern parts of the United Sta S now midsu: nd we i aftern¢ 3 ywher> notwithstanding the for northern Peru. A Land of Fruits. ver been in a land that has of fruits. We nt kinds at last dir which were near here. oranges, ing apples hard and nerries, Watermcions ard muskm: mangoes and cherries. ligator pear, which has a fl tastes not unlike fresh butter mer the ve a udy There Is no be this, desert, ha. h though it oppressi: Tek ou raised are banan , limes and lemons grow- b; de with Phere . almost nd pears. s luscious as thos lums, dates and eaten with salt. Then there are the palta the tumbo and the papaya, and in som cocoanut and.other species In every littie town an t 3 road stat > are women peddling fruit, and the prices are such that an buy ail that you can eat for a few cents. The coffee I drink here ie from berries which come from th plants of a plantation nearby e sugar with which it is sweetened is ground on_a su nt miles away. Our milk and put from the cows on Mr. Kauffman’ tation, and we b from the NM sorts of v rkets of Pacasmayo CARPE She—“Are year as ever? He—*Well—er—that ts, I'm not in a posi- tion to answer. I have a young man tak- ing my dictation at present.”—Detroit Free Press. pewriters as expensive this Quite Respectful. From Punch. Fair Cyclist—“Is that the incumbent of this parish?” Parishicner—“Well, the vicar. But, cali, wotever some of us thinks, we never ‘im a hencumbrance!”