UNFREQUENTED PATHS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 573, 30 July 1909, Page 4

UNFREQUENTED PATHS.

.IN THE SHADOW OF THE ANDES. •

I TRAVEL NOTES BY DR. GANS. . f 'Among tho passengors to arrive in Wellingl ton yesterday from tho * other side'of the [ "Pacific was Dr. Hermann Gans, of FrankfortI on-Main, a Qorrdim States officer, whose i duties coincide somewhat with thoso of a \ District Court Judge. Not thatiDr. Gans [ 'has arrived at that-Shakespearean »go when f - ono connected with tho law must give out ' "wise saws and mollein instances" at cvory '< breath Ho, is quite a young man—young r„ enough to love adventure for its own sake, f and ho has had enough ot it during tho past \ threo or four months to satisfy an ordina~\ c irian foi v a 1 lifetime- Between fivo and sjx j months agOj he conceived tho notion of seck- | ing unfrequented paths in South Amenta, so i he took ship for Bra/11, and, after a bncf stay th'ero and in tho Aigontino Republic, f orossed tho- Andes °to yalpaiaisp _ It is l ratjher important to lis on llns'sidu* of tho Pacific to know that tho lailwny crtmuction ' between Valparaiso and the Argentine is apf preaching completion' Thcru'it-enly a break ' of 'about four -hours on innje-luck between I the rail-heads, so that tho day is notso fai dis- ; tant when a now route to England from Aubt tralasia may bo presented to the Valparaiso- , Buenos Ayres roiito, '(via tho \udbs " l)r \ Gans says that ho could nqt help noticing | tho contrast in the lato of recovoiy (after 'tho'big earthquakes} of Valparaiso and San f. Francisco. Tho United States city,, which , ho know very well, had almost lighted itself, ' but Valparaiso was being rebuilt much moio leisurely. ~ \ \\ In Thin' Air. , s , , In a Chilian steamer, uith a hundred head ; of cattle stamping below, Dr. Gans.]oi]rnoycd, I to Aijtofagasta, out of wh ch port comes much j sajtpeta-e, and bubonic plague finds its way ' Thonce by tho most wonderful lailway to La , Piz, a Bolivian city elevated 16,000 ft above j thp sea. Though hoisting ,i population of I 60',000, La Pan is primitivo to a degree Na- '. tive Indian life may bo seen in tho middle V of its tramlcss strcots Tho doctor snys, in j- a whispei, that these Indians aro still faicl 3 W'bp clandestinely cannibalistic. Peoplo ' .disappear mysteriously, and aro not lieaid ( of.agam—winks and 9nrugs tell ono the rest I I It is a'dangerous country in which to di- i r verge from the beaten track, and tho word F "track" is used advisedly as thero aro no b roads tho name. Theio isno flat m f the l city of La Paz—it is all hills The i]< doctor asked for a bath as soon as he had ' recovered his breath after walking fiom tne i Thero wero no baths in the leading | h'* hotel—tho best they could do for him was a j rubber and so he tubbed Tho r.ir is so ' i rarefied at La Paz that one finds oneself * ' stopping evory ten steps or so to gain breath I This affects tho heart, and revolts the sysf" tern,' ' ' I f "Sorocha," l f \ / * i "Sorocha" is tho name given to the heart ' trouble that frequently attacks strangers to f' this city of tho clouds It may knock you ', up for eight or ten days, you may easily die, \ in fact, if your he.irt is not sound In this i cheerful place folk suffoung from inflamma- \ ti6n of tho lungs aie givon little oi no I chance. If thoy want to live they must hurry * dowa tho slopo te a moie congenial atmcf_ sphere The natives seldom seem to suffer ' from "soiocha," our visitoi On tho I contrary, they aro a small, but activo and '' v wiry race, and will inn along with a \ trunk neighing a hundred*!eight at a pace impossible foi an ordinary man to keep up j to.. The city is very beyond the f Spanish invasion, and tho times ot tho tcon- ; quistadores. Tho principal 'hotel was a monastery, with wmdowless rooms "> abutting on to a central courtyard The fulli .blooded natives are small,'' vinlo, unattrac- >( people, but tho "cholos" (half-casto > Spaniards) vvero, in many cases, very hand- *' some, tho girls particularly so Theso young < ladles'put all (heir savings into then clothes, j and, when fully diessed, occupied as much { space as did tho crinoline of tho early Vic- [ toriiu cia, as thoy woro tho wholo of their i petticoat wealth at tho one time Tho hardil* ness of the men, and their enduring quali- ■ ties, was largely attributed to then habit i of chewing coca (fiom which cocaino is e\f --tracted) almost continuously An,ordmaiy f mouthful would_rcnder a stranger insensihlo k —not so the nativo, Hvho was saturated with ' the diug ' ' ) ' Not satisfied with the city, Dr Gans got ! him seivants and mulest and 'penetiuted t' somo distanco into tho junglo lands of the j hack country, watmed by great riveis that [ empty themselves hundreds' of miles away i. injfo tho head waters of the mighty Amazon j .Through Peru and Ecuador.' I i From the scenic point of view tho country ■ h gorgeous, but malarial Thero was big •' gamo in plenty, and, among tho ti opines ; which Di Gans siuucd, was a hugo boa t constnotoijtho akin ot winch he has biought f along with'him Ho crossed Lako Titicaca, I said to be tho highest fako in tho vvoild f (about 14,000 ft abovo sea level) on tho j Petuvian boidei, aiid from thero made an excursion to Cuzco, the capital of the Incab [ until overthrew the last of |' them—Atahualpa and Manco Capac Ho [, was'astounded by the lemaiiis of vhat must | have been a vpiy advanced civilisation I llienco ho journeyed to tyrcqmpa (Pom), a f lock), and distnct vvheio ram never falls, , and on to Limn, the advanced capital of j . Peru, and so down to Callao Thero ho took f ship to Guayaquil (Fcuador), notonous for I the prevalence ot vollow fevei Tho steamei i by t which bo travelled caincd a new ciew to II a German sailing vesid, v.nose entno comt picment, from the captain to tho boy f had succumbed to tho ghastly embraces of "yellow jack " From tho emmonco of Quito i (capital of Ecnadm) ho saw hei 40 smoking . volcanoes, including gieat Chimborazd, icf turned to the sea, and tiavdlcd thiough Esmeralda (Mo\ico) to Salma Cnu, a giow- ( ,mg port which Di Gans thinks is destined i to JjLComo ono of tho chief ports on tho 1 coast Thoiu tho Pullman and civilisation 1 wea-e encountered, and m comfort Dr, Gans travelled through virgin junglo of tropical . density and colour to Mexico City—a modern i v city. Ot Gans is greatly interested in all mav , ters appertaining te prisons, and was mi terested to learn of tho State's tiec-planting , by prison labour During his stay m Wcl- , luigton ho intends to inspect tho local prison I and obtain all information about "the sysL tern, " Aftei leaving New Zealand ho will , visit Austiaha, Japan, China, Siam, Java, t ' aud'lliJia I . , = ~—,