THE SWITZERLAND OF SOUTH AMERICA--BOLIVIA
In the very heart of the South American continent there is a vast
table-land nearly as large as the great Mississippi valley, that some
titanic convulsion has boosted up nearly three miles in the air. This
great plateau is hemmed in by mountains, the coast range on the west and
the main range on the east.
These mountain peaks rise as high as twenty-two thousand feet. In these
heights, two and one-half miles above sea level is Lake Titicaca, which
is one hundred and sixty miles long and thirty miles wide. This lake,
which is the highest body of water in the western hemisphere, is fed by
streams of water from the Andes and is so cold that ice is formed along
the edge every night in the year although the lake itself is never
frozen over. The lake has no outlet and the color of the water is a
steely blue.
This lake forms the northwestern border of Bolivia. Situated as it is,
including both mountains and table-land, Bolivia has been called the
Switzerland of South America. It is more than twelve times as large as
the state of Iowa and is the cradle of the ancient civilization that
made up the world-famous Inca empire which existed many centuries ago.
The people of Bolivia today have the blood of this ancient race in their
veins and they are an industrious people. Visiting a mission school in
Buenos Aires I was much impressed by one young man who seemed to be the
peer of the two hundred students in the school.
On talking to this young man I found that he was from Bolivia. How he
heard about this mission school I have forgotten, but the story of how
he tramped two hundred miles over the mountains and then across the
great Argentine plains determined to reach this school and work his way
through, could not be forgotten. On Sunday morning I went to the
American church and this fellow was at the door as an usher and the
friendly greeting and winning smile he had for everyone gave me great
respect for him and his people as well.
Portions of this great Bolivian plateau are very beautiful. One noted
naturalist coming from Paraguay said as he beheld this region, "If
tradition has lost the records of the place where Paradise is located
the traveler who visits these regions of Bolivia feels at once the
impulse to exclaim: 'Here is Eden.'"
Here grows the famous chincona tree from which we get quinine. Also the
coca plant from which we get cocaine. Perhaps when the dentist pulled
your tooth he used cocaine that came from this country. The natives chew
the coca leaf as a stimulant. It is actually said that by the use of
this leaf a man can go for many hours without food and perform feats of
endurance that seem to us impossible.
The cultivation of the coca plant is one of the important industries of
eastern Bolivia. The plant grows as a shrub and must not be confused
with the cocoa tree from the beans of which our chocolate and cocoa are
made. The Bolivians produce eight to ten million pounds of coca leaves
annually. The telegraph system of portions of this region is made up of
fleet-footed Indians and it is said that with a supply of coca leaves
and parched corn they can run fifty miles a day.
Here too grows the quinna which is not only a substitute for wheat but
more nutritious and easier raised if reports are true. Cotton and sugar
are produced in Bolivia as are the nutmeg and castor bean. Oranges and
all such fruit are also grown in some parts of this country. But the
supply and variety of medicinal plants is remarkable. The list includes
aconite, arnica, absinthe, belladonna, camphor, cocaine, ginger, ipecac,
opium, sarsaparilla and a lot of others.
But this great inland country is noted the world around for its rich
mines. Mount Potosi is often spoken of as a mountain of silver. It is
said that not only millions but billions of dollars worth of silver have
been taken from this one mountain. There are said to be six thousand
abandoned mines on its slopes to say nothing of the hundreds that are
being worked today. The city of Potosi used to be the largest city in
the western hemisphere and was ten times its present size when the early
settlements of the United States were but small villages.
While the silver in this mountain is not nearly exhausted by any means,
yet it was discovered that deeper down is a mountain of tin. Bolivia has
been furnishing more than one-fourth of the world's supply of tin for
many years.
On the hills back of the city of Potosi can still be seen the thirty-two
lakes or reservoirs that used to furnish water for the city and mines.
It took half a century to complete this great ancient water system. The
largest of these lakes is three miles in circumference and thirty feet
deep. Each lake is surrounded by five sets of walls and two of these
reservoirs are sixteen thousand feet above sea level. All this mighty
work was done before railroads were ever dreamed of. Only recently a
railroad was built into this mining city and many of these abandoned
mines are being opened again.
The capital of Bolivia used to be Sucre. In fact, it is still the
nominal capital of the republic. Here live many of the wealthy mine
owners of the region. The Supreme Court is held here and the new
government palace is a stately building. The richest cathedral in
Bolivia is here and the image of the Virgin in it is made of solid gold
adorned with jewels and is worth a million dollars.
There are nine public parks or plazas in the city of Sucre and through
one of these flows two streams of pure water. The one on the north side
runs north and finally reaches the Atlantic Ocean through the great
Amazon river while the other flows southward reaching the sea through
the Rio de la Plata river.
The capital of Bolivia as we know it is La Paz, but only the legislative
and executive departments are in this city. Although La Paz is more than
twelve thousand feet above sea level it is located in the bottom of a
deep canyon. Back of the city is the giant peak of Mount Illimani which
pierces the sky at the height of twenty-one thousand feet. While the
weather is always warm in the day time it gets very cool at night,
sometimes freezing cold. As they have no heating stoves it is very
uncomfortable to sit quiet.
The farmers of Bolivia live in little villages as a rule and know but
little of the comforts of life. Their houses are built of mud and both
people and animals often live in the same room. Their farms have to be
irrigated and the people are skilled in this work. The plows used are
wooden sticks and generally pulled by oxen. As in other South American
countries the land is mostly owned by wealthy men who let it out on
shares to common farmers who are generally kept in debt and have but
little independence.
The question of fuel for cooking purposes is one of their great
problems. As our early settlers on the western plains had to use buffalo
chips for fuel, these people use a great deal of donkey and llama dung
for the same purpose. They bake their bread in small community ovens
that are built something like a large barrel with a dome shaped top. On
bread baking day they build a fire of moss, bushes and dry dung and heat
the stove oven. Then they remove the coals, put their bread in and when
it is baked you may be sure that it does not smell very good.
The great beast of burden in Bolivia is the llama, which looks something
like a cross between a camel and a sheep. Like the camel it can go for
days without food or drink. It can be turned out and will make its
living browsing on coarse grass, moss and shrubs that grow on the
mountains. It is an intelligent animal and if loaded a little too
heavily will lie down and refuse to budge until the load is lightened.
The women of these Indian farmers and herders dress rather queerly. They
put on many bright colored skirts all of a different hue. As the day
grows warmer they remove a skirt showing one of a different hue. They
are proud of their skirts and take much pride in showing each other
their fine clothing.
These women too are nearly always at work. If they are walking along
driving llamas they are working as they walk winding wool into yarn or
knitting some garment. With juices from plants the yarn is colored and
by means of a loom which any woman among them can make they weave this
yarn into a kind of cloth.
In Bolivian cities there are large markets to which these Indian women
especially resort. On the ground are little piles of fruit, coca leaves
and other products. They have no scales and sell by the pile. The
gardeners will sell their products of onions, beans, parched corn and
all such stuff in this way.
Thus the people of this great inland empire live above the clouds. One
of their railroads is a half mile higher than Pike's Peak in places and
one of their cities, Aullagus, lacks but a hundred feet of being as high
as this. They have four cities more than fourteen thousand feet above
sea level, twenty-six above the thirteen thousand foot line, and
seventy-three cities above the twelve thousand foot line. Of the one
hundred and fifty-one cities in Bolivia most every one is above the
eleven thousand foot line. Truly this land is the "Switzerland of South
America."