Chapter I: Preface

In September, 1908, I left New York as a delegate of the United States Government and of Yale University to the First Pan-American Scientific Congress, held at Santiago, Chile, in December and January, 1908-09. Before attending the Congress I touched at Rio de Janeiro and the principal coast cities of Brazil, crossed the Argentine Republic from Buenos Aires to the Bolivian frontier, rode on mule-back through southern Bolivia, visiting both Potosí and Sucre, went by rail from Oruro to Antofagasta, and thence by steamer to Valparaiso. After the Congress I retraced my steps into Bolivia by way of the west coast, Arequipa, and Lake Titicaca. Picking up the overland trail again at Oruro, I continued my journey across Bolivia and Peru, via La Paz, Tiahuanaco, and Cuzco, thence by mules over the old Inca road as far as Huancayo, the present terminus of the Oroya-Lima Railroad. At Abancay I turned aside to explore Choqquequirau, the ruins of an Inca fortress in the valley of the Apurimac; an excursion that could not have been undertaken at all had it not been for the very generous assistance of Hon. J. J. Nuñez, the Prefect of Apurimac, and his zealous aide, Lieutenant Caceres of the Peruvian army. I reached Lima in March, 1909.

The chief interest of the trip lay in its being an exploration of the most historic highway in South America, the old trade route between Lima, Potosí, and Buenos Aires. The more difficult parts of this road were used by the Incas and their conqueror Pizarro; by Spanish viceroys, mine owners, and merchants; by the liberating armies of Argentina; and finally by Bolivar and Sucre, who marched and countermarched over it in the last campaigns of the Wars of Independence.

Realizing from previous experience in Venezuela and Colombia that the privilege of travelling in a semi-official capacity would enable me to enjoy unusual opportunities for observation, I made it the chief object of my journey to collect and verify information regarding the South American people, their history, politics, economics, and physical environment. The present volume, however, makes no pretence at containing all I collected or verified. Such a work would be largely a compilation of statistics. The ordinary facts are readily accessible in the current publications of the ably organized Pan-American Bureau in Washington. Nevertheless, I have included some data that seemed likely to prove serviceable to intending travellers.

Grateful acknowledgment for kind assistance freely rendered in many different ways is due to President Villazon of Bolivia, the late President Montt of Chile, and President Leguia of Peru; to Secretary, now Senator, Root and the officials of the Diplomatic and Consular Service; to Professor Rowe and my fellow delegates to the Pan-American Scientific Congress; and particularly to J. Luis Schaefer, Esq., W. S. Eyre, Esq., and their courteous associates of the house of W. R. Grace & Co. Although business houses rarely take the trouble to make the path of the scientist or investigator more comfortable, it would be no easy task to enumerate all the favors that were shown, not only to me, but also to the other members of the American delegation, by Messrs. Grace & Co. and the managers and clerks of their many branches.

Acknowledgments are likewise due to the officials of the Buenos Aires and Rosario Railroad, the Peruvian Corporation, and the Bolivia Railway; and to Colonel A. de Pederneiras, Sr. Amaral Franco, Don Santiago Hutcheon, Sr. C. A. Novoa, Sr. Arturo Pino Toranzo, Dr. Alejandro Ayalá, Captain Louis Merino of the Chilean army, Don Moises Vargas, Sr. Lopez Chavez, and Messrs. Charles L. Wilson, A. G. Snyder, U. S. Grant Smith, J. B. Beazley, D. S. Iglehart, John Pierce Hope, Rankin Johnson, Rea Hanna, and a host of others who helped to make my journey easier and more profitable.

I desire also to express my gratitude, for unnumbered kindnesses, both to Huntington Smith, who accompanied me during the first part of my journey, and to Clarence Hay, who was my faithful companion on the latter part.

Some parts of the story have already been told in the “American Anthropologist,” the “American Political Science Review,” the “Popular Science Monthly,” the “Bulletin of the American Geographical Society,” the “Records of the Past,” and the “Yale Courant,” to whose editors acknowledgment is due for permission to use the material in its present form.

HIRAM BINGHAM.

YALE UNIVERSITY, NEW HAVEN, CONN. _20 November, 1910_.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. PERNAMBUCO AND BAHIA 3

II. RIO, SANTOS, AND BRAZILIAN TRADE 16

III. BUENOS AIRES 29

IV. ARGENTINE INDEPENDENCE AND SPANISH-AMERICAN SOLIDARITY 46

V. THE TUCUMAN EXPRESS 60

VI. THROUGH THE ARGENTINE HIGHLANDS 69

VII. ACROSS THE BOLIVIAN FRONTIER 81

VIII. TUPIZA TO COTAGAITA 92

IX. ESCARA TO LAJA TAMBO 104

X. POTOSÍ 117

XI. SUCRE, THE _DE JURE_ CAPITAL OF BOLIVIA 133

XII. THE ROAD TO CHALLAPATA 148

XIII. ORURO TO ANTOFAGASTA AND VALPARAISO 164

XIV. SANTIAGO AND THE FIRST PAN-AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 180

XV. NORTHERN CHILE 198

XVI. SOUTHERN PERU 211

XVII. LA PAZ, THE _DE FACTO_ CAPITAL OF BOLIVIA 224

XVIII. THE BOLIVIA RAILWAY AND TIAHUANACO 241

XIX. CUZCO 254

XX. SACSAHUAMAN 272

XXI. THE INCA ROAD TO ABANCAY 280

XXII. THE CLIMB TO CHOQQUEQUIRAU 296

XXIII. CHOQQUEQUIRAU 307

XXIV. ABANCAY TO CHINCHEROS 324

XXV. BOMBON TO THE BATTLEFIELD OF AYACUCHO 341

XXVI. AYACUCHO TO LIMA 360

XXVII. CERTAIN SOUTH AMERICAN TRAITS 379

INDEX 393

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

RIO FROM THE CORCOVADO (page 21) _Frontispiece_

LOOKING DOWN INTO THE LOWER CITY, BAHIA 12

THE CORCOVADO FROM RIO 20

THE HARBOR OF SANTOS 24

THE DOCKS OF BUENOS AIRES 30

AVENIDA 25 DE MAYO, BUENOS AIRES 34

THE USPALLATA PASS 50

OUR COACH LEAVING THE HOTEL AT LA QUIACA 82

THE ANGOSTA DE TUPIZA 86

FANTASTIC PINNACLES IN THE VALLEYS NORTH OF TUPIZA 90

A QUICHUA FAMILY GOING TO PLOUGH 94

THE VALLEY THROUGH WHICH WE HAD COME 98

OUR FIRST GLIMPSE OF A SNOW-CLAD BOLIVIAN MOUNTAIN 112

VIEW OF THE CERRO FROM THE ROOF OF THE MINT 120

THE CERRO OF POTOSÍ FROM THE SPANISH RESERVOIRS 124

AN ANCIENT QUICHUA ORE CRUSHER 124

THE MARKET-PLACE OF POTOSÍ 128

GREENER AND MORE POPULOUS VALLEYS 132

THE PICTURESQUE OLD CHURCH OF BARTOLO 134

A PASTURE FOR SHEEP AND ALPACAS 138

A QUICHUA WOMAN WEAVING AT QUEBRADA HONDA 138

THE GREAT RIVER PILCOMAYO 142

OUR HOTEL IN SUCRE 142

AN ABANDONED TAMBO 150

OUR FIRST VIEW OF THE GREAT TABLE-LAND OF BOLIVIA 150

A FRIENDLY LLAMA BABY 160

MY MULE ON THE LAST DAY’S RIDE 160

THE PREFECTURA AND PLAZA OF ORURO 166

A QUAINT OLD BALCONY IN ORURO 170

A CORNER IN ORURO 170

BATTLEFIELD OF MAIPO NEAR SANTIAGO 186

MOLLENDO 212

THE CATHEDRAL OF AREQUIPA AND MT. CHACHANI 216

AN OLD DOORWAY IN AREQUIPA 216

CHACHANI AND MISTI 216

MONOLITHIC IMAGE AT TIAHUANACO 228

THE MARKET-PLACE OF LA PAZ 232

A REMARKABLE STAIRWAY AT TIAHUANACO 232

BALSAS NEAR GUAQUI ON LAKE TITICACA 240

AN OLD CHURCH NEAR THE BOLIVIA RAILWAY 240

GREAT PLATFORMS OF STONE WEIGHING MANY TONS 250

PART OF THE GREAT MONOLITHIC DOORWAY 250

LLAMAS OF CUZCO 258

CUZCO FROM SACSAHUAMAN 258

SACSAHUAMAN 266

THE PLAZA, CUZCO, WITH CATHEDRAL AND JESUIT CHURCH 266

A SECTION OF THE LOWER TERRACE, SACSAHUAMAN 274

AN INCA VASE FROM CUZCO 278

ARTICLES OF DRESS AND A DECORATED MULE HALTER FROM CUZCO 278

THE GOBERNADOR OF CURAHUASI AND HIS FAMILY 288

A CHASM DOWN WHICH PLUNGED A SMALL CATARACT 298

THE WONDERFUL CAÑON OF THE APURIMAC 298

SUNRISE AT CHOQQUEQUIRAU 302

THE FRAIL LITTLE BRIDGE OVER THE APURIMAC 302

A STORY AND A HALF HIGH, BUILT OF STONES LAID IN CLAY 308

THE PARTY WALL RISES TO THE PEAK 308

THE INTERIOR OF THE BUILDINGS NEAR THE OUTER PRECIPICE 312

THE UPPER SIX STEPS OF THE GIANT STAIRWAY 312

SKULLS, ETC., FROM CHOQQUEQUIRAU 316

INTERIOR OF A BUILDING AT CHOQQUEQUIRAU 316

OUR CAVALCADE ON THE BRIDGE OF PACHACHACA 324

SOME OF THE SHEEP HAD VERY LONG CURLY HORNS 334

THE CLUB AT CHINCHEROS 338

THE LARGE PLAZA OF AYACUCHO 342

THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER PAMPAS 342

AYACUCHO 346

THE COURTYARD OF THE HOTEL 346

A PICTURESQUE CORNER IN AYACUCHO 350

CROSSING THE PONGORA RIVER ON THE SHAKY SUSPENSION BRIDGE 350

THE BATTLEFIELD OF AYACUCHO 354

THE BATTLEFIELD AS IT APPEARED TO THE SPANIARDS 354

THE BRIDGE OVER THE HUARPA 362

URUMYOSI 366

THE HUT NEAR PAUCARA 366

THE TOLL-BRIDGE OF TABLACHACA 368

SUNDAY MORNING IN HUANCAYO 372

MAPS

THE AUTHOR’S ROUTE ACROSS SOUTH AMERICA 3

SOUTHERN PERU 81

SOUTHERN BOLIVIA 281

CHOQQUEQUIRAU AND VICINITY 307

LOWER PLAZA CHOQQUEQUIRAU 310

UPPER PLAZA CHOQQUEQUIRAU 314

CUZCO AND NEIGHBORING FORTRESSES 318

The frontispiece and the illustration at page 20 are from
photographs by Marc Ferrez. Those at pages 50, 216, 226, 232, 258,
298, 302, 324, 342, 346, 350, 354, and 362 are from photographs by
Mr. C. L. Hay; and those at pages 150, 160, 170 from photographs by
Mr. H. Smith.

ACROSS SOUTH AMERICA

Sketch Map to illustrate =ACROSS SOUTH AMERICA= by HIRAM BINGHAM ]

ACROSS SOUTH AMERICA