INTO BOLIVIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 73, 22 April 1909, Page 4

INTO BOLIVIA.

AMONG THE QUICIIUA INDIANS INTERESTING MISSION WORK. SPANISH CIVILISATION. Carrying the torch of an incipient civilisation and enlightenment into the dark places of the earth go the missionaries, practising a sacrifice and self-efface-ment that deserves a bigger and swifter success than usually results. Into the heart of China, the frozen slopes of Greenland, the obstinate South Pacific Islands, the Red Indian territory, the track has been blazed, and the Quicima Indians, of Bolivia—the " tame " natives —for ten years have known the pioneers of modern Christianity because one man at one time read a book—a strong plea for the practically untouched mission field of South America, And reading, he went out, through the Argentine first, and later up the West Coast of South America, across the Andes slopes to Cochlbaoiba on the Bolivian slopes. There .Mr and Mrs George Allan began their labour, and thence, in company with Mr and .Mrs .lolmson Ttirnbull: and Miss Annie Cresswell, they are returning. ! | Mr Allan gave a Wellington Post re-j ! prcscntative the other day some intercst- ; ing notes on the people and the lunil| I wherein the mission work is being prose- \ euted. On tin' party's return to Bolivia, headquarters will be set up at San IV ! dro, and a small school for the exclusive 1 use of the natives will be established. 1 During the ten vears sojourn in the j eouutrv Mr Allan learned the native (Quichna) language and has translated the Gospel of St. John. Regular meetings ami visitiugs were carried out, and Bibles distributed. From the projected native school a big impetus to the work is anticipated. AX INDUSTRIOUS PEOPLE.

Three important characteristics of the Quichuas impressed the missionary: their industry, their aloofness from the mostly reprobate Spaniard, and their aversion towards the Spanish language. Centuries of oppression and tyranny have subdued them, hat have not crushad their spirits utterly to the extent of absorption or a general mingling of the blood. The ((uichuas—there are a round million of them —still retain a quiet dignity, are very self-contained, and, despite handicaps, are nourishing as regards numbers. Their chief vice IS drink : a maize decoction about the calibre of light beer, and pure alcohol, which affects them disastrously. Living on a plateau of 12,0(10 feet as they do, these Indians rear Hocks of sheep and llamas on the higher slopes, while down in the sheltered valleys, a little agriculture is carried on, the'maize, potatoes, and barley (hiding a ready market on the plateau proper. PRIMITIVE METHODS.

Maize is the staple product, and the chief food, but wheat and alfalfa are also cultivated. The fields are tilled with a wooden plough. Here and there a more fortunate husbandman has an iron bar as a plonghshore, lashed to his contrivance. The grain is threshed by the feet of posies and bullocks. On the native Bolivian fields no harvester, no stripper, no reaper and binder rattles through the harvest. Men, armed with big syeles toothed like a crosscut saw, do all' the mowing, and do it expeditiously. The same primitive methods obtained in the Indian mining ventures, before the advent of British and Yankee machinery and capital. The shafts descended into the earth on the slope, up and down which the natives marched with.hide buckets on their heads. The ore was milled between two huge stones, with concave and convex surfaces meeting. Two bars, eiich about Oft long, were

thronged to tiie stones, and stalwart arms drove them round. As a eonse<]iie:iee of tins crude process, the ■'dumps," when the foreigners arrived, were found lo be very payable concerns. To-day. .silver, copper, and tin mines, worked by the. natives under white superintendence, are yielding much profit. The natives' share is what they can earn, by peace work ; on a good day a sum equivalent tn about 4s (id. AGRICULTURE. Mr Allan says that most of the good land in the country is in the hands of the whites. Families of Indians, for the privilege, of living on the estate, are given a small plot for their own maintenance: the big bulk of the time is spent in cultivating the ground for its Spanish owner. In consequence, the native tenants have but little time to spare for their own small '-cabbage patch." If the rains happen to go astray, the plots suffer. For live vears previous to Mr Allan's advent in 'l8!MI--1000, there liad been successive failures, and no less than 20,001) Indians left t'oncliibaniatn, the granary of Bolivia, starved out. .Meanwhile the barns of the white men were in small need of replenishing. In some districts, however, there arc large tracts called •• commons, the properly of certain branches of a tribe, which are worked for the tribe's benefit.

A LIBKRAL GOVERNMENT. Ten years ago a Liberal Government replaced the aggressively Conservative administrative then in power in Bolivia, with, Air Allan thinks, happier results. In 100,) liberty of worship was granted. This reform Government appears anxious to do something for the natives in the way of education, but the gulf between the white people and the Indians, and even between the half-castes and' the pure-bloods, is so great that efforts in this direction have not been very successful. A premium of 17s (id per liead was oll'ered to aay native who could write, speak, and read the Spanish language, and good monetary inducements were advanced to teachers who would lake up the work, but without avail. The white pedagogue fon red too much tile ostracism his work would entail. As a further attempt, the Government gathered at La Pas as conscripts ~a large number of natives who were drilled and trained for a twelve month. But it was found tliat when the men turned, girt with certain authority, they imitated their overbearing teachers, and abused their privileges as lie did, by tyrannising their fellows. Tn the district chief authority is represented by the Alcalde, who car rics a black rod, silver mounted, as a badge of office. I'nder him arc the Sequenda and the llunco.