Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 209, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 September 1918 — The City of The Sun [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The City of The Sun

THE traveler who is able to endure high altitudes will look about the world today before finding a more picturesque or interesting historic spot than the region of the Peruvian Andes, the original home of the Incas v Cuzco, the City of the Sun, was their capital and the seat of the old dynasty that ruled an empire extending from Quito in Ecuador to the southern coast of Chile. Here on the west coast of South America there existed a.civilization in the early part of the sixteenth century when the Spanish conquerors arrived which was more advanced and productive of agricultural results, especially, than that which has been seen sihce under the rule of the Peruvians of Spanish stock, writes Clayton Sedgwick Cooper in Christian Herald. Although these Inca remains are found throughout the Andean sections of Peru, the capital city of these races of men, who lived and worked and carried on an ordered civilization long before our fair North American lands were discovered or settled, continues to be the great center of interest to those who find in these early ruling races of South America subjects of fascinating study. Every part of Cuzco is remindful of the past. It is one of the most antique and spectacular of cities. It is too remote to have been very thoroughly modernized as yet, though a railway recently built, and qwned by an English company, connects it with the west coast at Mollendo, after a two days’ train ride. “Sorochee,” or mountain sickness, is common to travelers visiting these lofty regions where one reaches over 14,000 feet above sea-level. Yet the proximity to the equator affords a climate capable of permitting many kinds of agriculture on the rolling plains and in the rich valleys of this mountain world. White men are comparatively few. Mixed breeds abound. The Indians do virtually all the work, and under conditions that resemble slavery much too closely. -

Strange Scenes in the City. As one enters Cuzco through a wide green valley studded frequently with Indian villages, he finds this old and famous seat of power lying in a hollow of the hills, with green mountains all aboub-and an air of remoteness and age afforded by the decaying buildings and great Inca walls and temples. It is at once evident that the city with its wide plazas was built for a much larger population than that which is found there today. The sanitary condition of the town reminds one of Seoul, Korea, before the Japanese arrived. The medieval air of ecclesiasticlsm is felt In the old churches, the cathedral, and in the monasteries filled with Spanish 'priests. The Indians whose famous capital here at Cuzco ruled the land, now sell their trinkets and vegetables in the market places tinder picturesque booths and clad in their even more picturesque ponchos and flat, round hats; or bend double beneath their heavy loads as they trot through the winding streets. The Plaza des Armes of Cuzco Is unforgettable. It is a sea of color, color everywhere. There are Indian men and women in variegated clothing from the distant Sierras, modern cholos wearing hats made in Germany: a team of mules drags the antiquated Cuzco horse-car and long trains of' lofty-necked llamas sweep by you each with his back-full of alpaca from the high interiors. Shops and Their Keepers. We called it a four-ringed circus, and so it is; as you sit in this great

flower-filled square, more than eleven thousand feet above sea-level, the semitroplcal sUn shedding its warmth radiantly upon your head through the thin, transparent, cloudless air, you find yourself wondering which way to face lest something of the strange ever-unfolding scenes escape your gaze. One side of the square is lined by a row of little shops filled with 57 varieties of merchandise in which predominate gay-colored saddles and diverse accoutrements for the burros and pack animals, with profuse decorations of red and green and blue wool; before these shops sit Indian and cholo women holding in their hands spindle spools which they manipulate dexterously during the Intervals of trade, spinning the wool and weaving it into the poncho and caps and full shirts of the native dress. Above these quaint places of merchandise in the top of these two-storied houses that spread out over the sidewalks are homes with elaborately, carved balconies overhanging the street in old Spanish fashion, and with red tiled roofs that glitter in the bright sunshine. Cathedral and Fortress. On another side of the plaza stands the ancient hathedral, built as one Is told of the famous Inca stone and containing the brother of Pizarro and that Spanish conqueror’s partner, Almargo. On the doors of the chapel of Santiago, adjoining the cathedral, one can read the legend preserved in archaic sculpture of St. James coming down visibly on his white horse, standing with lance in rest, turning the tide of battle in favor of the Spaniards, thus noting the last throes of the famous Inca empire. Oft still another side of the square, •you can study the remarkable facade of the old Jesuit church and the ancient University of Cuzco founded in the sixteenth century, which buildings are said to be connected by an underground passage, associated with many an historic intrigue in the days that are dead.

These great piles of ancient masonry look straight away to the east where the great megalithic fortress of Sacsahuaman, that cyclopean structure often called the ninth wonder of the world, tops the hill 600 feet above the city, and where one climbs to behold the rock remains which guarded the aboriginal Inca empire of Manco Capac. On the summit stands a cross bearing the inscription to the effect that he who climbs the hill kisses the crucifix and says a prayer at the foot of the cross, to him a hundred days of indulgence shall be granted.

Part of the Old Inca Wall and the Temple of the Sun, Cuzco.