CHAPTER XXIII--A MARVELLOUS LAKE IN A MARVELLOUS LAND--LA PAZ
"Mebbe," said Rodrigo, "if you knew the down-south Bolivians as well asI do, you would not respect them a great deal. Fact is, boys, there islittle to respect them for.
"Brave? Well, if you can call slaves brave, then they're about asbully's they make 'em.
"I have mentioned the inland sea called Lake Titicaca. Ah, boys, youmust see this fresh-water ocean for yourselves! and if ever you getmarried, why, take my advice and go and spend your honeymoon there.
"Me married, did you say, Mr. Bill? It strikes me, sir, I know a trickworth several of that. Been in love as often as I've got toes andfingers, and mebbe teeth, but no tying up for life, I'm too old astarling to be tamed.
"But think, _amigo mio_, of a lake situated in a grand mountain-land,the level of its waters just thirteen thousand feet above the bluePacific.
"Surrounded by the wildest scenery you can imagine. The wildest, ay,boys, and the most romantic.
"You have one beautiful lake or loch in your Britain--and I havetravelled all over that land of the free,--I mean Loch Ness, and thesurrounding mountains and glens are magnificent; but, bless my buttons,boys, you wouldn't have room in Britain for such a lake as the mightyTiticaca. It would occupy all your English Midlands, and you'd have togive the farmers a free passage to Australia."
"How do you travel on this lake?" said Dick Temple.
"Ah!" continued Rodrigo, "I can answer that; and here lies anothermarvel. For at this enormous height above the ocean-level, steamboats,ply up and down. No, not built there, but in sections sent from America,and I believe even from England. The labour of dragging these sectionsover the mountain-chains may easily be guessed.
"The steamers are neither so large nor so fine as your Clyde boats, butthere is a lot of honest comfort in them after all.
"And terrible storms sometimes sweep down from the lofty Cordilleras,and then the lake is all a chaos of broken water and waves even houseshigh. If caught in such storms, ordinary boats are speedily sunk, andlucky are even the steamers if shelter is handy.
"Well, what would this world be, I wonder, if it were always allsunshine. We should soon get well tired of it, I guess, and want to gosomewhere else--to murky England, for example."
Rodrigo blew volumes of smoke before he continued his desultory yarn.
"Do you know, boys, what I saw when in your Britain, south of the Tweed?I saw men calling themselves sportsmen chasing poor little hares withharriers, and following unfortunate stags with buck-hounds. I saw themhunt the fox too, men and women in a drove, and I called them in my ownmind cowards all. Brutality and cowardice in every face, and therewasn't a farmer in the flock of stag-hunting Jockies and Jennies whocould muster courage enough to face a puma or even an old baboon with asupple stick in its hand. Pah!
"But among the hills and forests around this Lake Titicaca is theparadise of the hunter who has a bit of sand and grit in his substance,and is not afraid to walk a whole mile away from a cow's tail.
"No, there are no dangerous Indians that ever I came across among themountains and glens; but as you never know what may happen, you've gotto keep your cartridges free from damp.
"What kind of game? Well, I was going to say pretty much of all sorts.We haven't got giraffes nor elephants, it is true, nor do we miss themmuch.
"But there are fish in the lake and beasts on the shore, and rod and gunwill get but little holiday, I assure you, lads, if you elect to travelin that strange land.
"I hardly know very much about the fish. They say that the lake isbottomless, and that not only is it swarming with fish, wherever thereis a bank, but that terrible animals or beasts have been seen on itsdeep-blue surface; creatures so fearful in aspect that even their suddenappearance has turned gray the hairs of those who beheld them.
"But I calculate that this is all Indian gammon or superstition.
"As for me, I've been always more at home in the woods and forests, andon the mountain's brow.
"I'm not going to boast, boys, but I've climbed the highest hills of theCordilleras, where I have had no companion save the condor.
"You Europeans call the eagle the bird of Jove. If that is so, I want toask them where the condor comes in.
"Why, your golden eagle of Scottish wilds isn't a circumstance to thecondor of the Andes. He is no more to be compared to this great forestvulture than a spring chicken is to a Christmas turkey.
"But the condor is only one of a thousand wild birds of prey, or ofsong, found in the Andean regions or giant Cordilleras.
"And at lower altitude we find the llamas, the guanacos, and herds ofwild vicunas.
"You may come across the puma and the jaguar also, and be sorry you'vemet.
"Then there are goats, foxes, and wild dogs, as well as the viscacha andthe chinchilla, to say nothing of deer.
"But on the great lake itself, apart from all thought of fish, you neednever go without a jolly good dinner if the rarest of water-fowl willplease you. Ducks and geese galore, and other species too many toname."
"That is a land, and that is a lake," said Dick musingly, "that I shoulddearly like to visit. Yes, and to dwell in or on for a time.
"I suppose labour is cheap?" he added enquiringly.
"I guess," returned Rodrigo, "that if you wanted to erect a wooden huton some high and healthy promontory overlooking the lake--and this wouldbe your best holt--you would have to learn the use of axe and adze andsaw, and learn also how to drive a nail or two without doubling it overyour thumb and hitting the wrong nail on the head."
"Well, anyhow," said Dick, "I shall dream to-night of your great inlandocean, of your Lake Titicaca, and in my dreams I shall imagine I amalready there. I suppose the woods are alive with beautiful birds?"
"Yes," said Rodrigo, "and with splendid moths and butterflies also; solet these have a place in your dreams as well. Throw in chatteringmonkeys too, and beautiful parrots that love to mock every sound theyhear around them. Let there be evergreen trees draped in garments ofclimbing flowers, roaring torrents, wild foaming rivers, that duringstorms roll down before them, from the flooded mountains, massive treetrunks, and boulders houses high."
"You are quite poetic!"
"But I am not done yet. People your paradise with strangely beautifullizards that creep and crawl everywhere, looking like living flowers,and arrayed in colours that rival the tints of the rainbow. Lizards--ay,and snakes; but bless you, boys, these are very innocent, objecting tonothing except to having their tails trodden on."
"Well, no creature cares for treatment like that," said Roland. "If youand I go to this land of beauty, Dick, we must make a point of nottreading on snakes' tails."
"But, boys, there are fortunes in this land of ours also. Fortunes tobe had for the digging."
"Copper?"
"Yes, and gold as well!"
Rodrigo paused to roll and light another cigarette. I have never seenanyone do so more deftly. He seemed to take an acute delight in theprocess. He held the snow-white tissue-paper lovingly in his grasp,while with his forefinger and thumb he apportioned to it just the rightquantity of yellow fragrant Virginia leaf, then twisting it tenderly,gently, he conveyed it to his lips.
Said Dick now, "I have often heard of the wondrous city of La Paz, andto me it has always seemed a sort of semi-mythical town--a SouthAmerican Timbuctoo."
"Ah, lad, it is far from being mythical! On the contrary, it is veryreal, and so are everything and everybody in it.
"I could not, however, call it, speaking conscientiously, a gem of aplace, though it might be made so. But you see, boys, there is a dealof Spanish or Portuguese blood in the veins of the real whiteshere--though, mind you, three-fourths of the population are Indians ofalmost every Bolivian race. Well, the motto of the dark-eyed whitesseems to be Manana (pronounce Mah-nyah-nah), which signifies'to-morrow', you know. Consequently, with the very best intentions inthe world, they hardly ever finish anything they
begin. Some of thestreets are decently paved, but every now and then you come to a sloughof despond. Many of the houses are almost palatial, but they stand sideby side with, and are jostled by, the vile mud-huts of the nativepopulation. They have a cathedral and a bazaar, but neither is finishedyet.
"Well, La Paz stands at a great altitude above the ocean. It is wellworthy of a visit. If you go there, however, there are two things youmust not forget to take with you, namely, a bottle of smelling-salts andplenty of eau-de-Cologne."
"The place smells--slightly, then, I suppose," ventured Dick.
"Ha! ha! ha!" Rodrigo had a hearty laugh of his own. "Yes, it smellsslightly. So do the people, I may add.
"The natives of La Paz, although some of them boast of a direct descentfrom the ancient Incas, are to all intents and purposes slaves.
"Well, boys, when I say 'slaves' I calculate I know pretty well what Iam talking about. The old feudal system holds sway in what we call thecivilized portions of Bolivia. Civilization, indeed! Only in the wildsis there true freedom and independence. The servants on ranches andfarms are bought or sold with the land on which they live. So, Mr.Bill, if you purchase a farm in Bolivia, it won't be only the cows andcocks and hens you'll have to take, but the servants as well, ay, andthe children of these.
"Bolivian Indians, who are troubled with families that they consider atrifle too large for their income, have a simple and easy method ofmeeting the difficulty. They just take what you might call the surpluschildren to some white-man farmer and sell them as they do their cows."
"Then these children are just brought up as slaves?"
"Yes, their masters treat them fairly well, but they generally make gooduse of the whip. 'Spare the rod and spoil the child' is a motto theyplay up to most emphatically, and certainly I have never known the rodto be spared, nor the child to be spoiled either.
"Oh! by the way, as long as my hand is in I may tell you about theservants that the gentry-folks of La Paz keep. I don't think anyEuropean would be plagued with such a dirty squad, for in a householdof, say, ten, there must be ten slaves at the very least, to say nothingof the pongo man.
"This pongo man is in reality the charwoman of La Paz. It is he whodoes all the dirty work, and a disagreeable-looking and painfully dirtyblackguard he is himself. It is not his custom to stay more than a weekwith any one family. He likes to be always on the move.
"He assists the cook; he collects dried llama manure for firewood, asPaddy might say; he fetches water from the fountain; he brings home themarketing, in the shape of meat and vegetables; he cleans and scrubseverywhere, receiving few pence for his trouble, but an indefinitenumber of kicks and cuffs, while his bed at night is on the cold stonesbehind the hall door. Yet with all his ill-usage, he seems just about ashappy as a New Hollander, and you always find him trotting aroundtrilling a song.
"Ah, there is nothing like contentment in this world, boys!"
"Yes, Mr. Bill, I have seen one or two really pretty girls among theBolivians, but never lost my heart to any of them, for between you andme, they don't either brush or comb their hair, and when walking withthem it is best to keep the weather-gauge. And that's a hint worthhaving, I can assure you."
----
On the very next evening after Don Rodrigo spoke his piece, as hephrased it, about the strange customs and habits of the Bolivians, allwere assembled as usual in the biggest tent.
Burly Bill and his meerschaum were getting on remarkably well together,the Don was rolling a cigarette, when suddenly Brawn started up as iffrom a dream, and stood with his ears pricked and his head a little toone side, gazing out into the darkness.
He uttered no warning growl, and made no sound of any sort, but his tailwas gently agitated, as if something pleased him.
Then with one impatient "Yap!" he sprang away, and was seen no more fora few minutes.
"What can ail the dog?" said Roland.
"What, indeed?" said Dick.
And now footsteps soft and slow were heard approaching the tent, andnext minute poor Benee himself staggered in and almost fell at Roland'sfeet.
The honest hound seemed almost beside himself with joy, but he had senseenough to know that his old favourite, Benee, was exhausted and ill,and, looking up into his young master's face, appeared to plead for hisassistance.
Benee's cheeks were hollow, his feet were cut and bleeding, and yet ashe lay there he smiled feebly.
"I am happy now," he murmured, and forthwith fell asleep.
Both Roland and Dick trembled. They thought that sleep might be thesleep of death, but Don Rodrigo, after feeling Benee's pulse, assuredthem that it was all right, and that the poor fellow only needed restand food.
In about half an hour the faithful fellow--ah! who could doubt hisfidelity now?--sat painfully up.
Dick went hurrying off and soon returned with soup and with wine, andhaving swallowed a little, Benee made signs that he would rest andsleep.
"To-morrow," he said, "to-morrow I speak plenty. To-night no can do."
And so they did all they could to make him comfortable, and great Brawnlay down by his side to watch him.