m the nearest
port. Our own troubles seemed as nothing. The cost of transporting on
muleback each of the larger pieces of the quartz stamping-mill was
equivalent to the price of a first-class pack mule. As a matter of
fact, although it is only a two days' journey, pack animals' backs
are not built to survive the strain of carrying pieces of machinery
weighing five hundred pounds over a desert plateau up to an altitude of
4000 feet. Mules brought the machinery from the coast to the brink of
the canyon, but no mule could possibly have carried it down the steep
trail into Caraveli. Accordingly, a windlass had been constructed
on the edge of the precipice and the machinery had been lowered,
piece by piece, by block and tackle. Such was one of the obstacles
with which these undaunted engineers had had to contend. Had the man
who designed the machinery ever traveled with a pack train, climbing
up and down over these rocky stairways called mountain trails, I am
sure that he would have made his castings much smaller.

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FIGURE

Mr. Tucker on a Mountain Trail near Caraveli
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FIGURE

The Main Street of Chuquibamba
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It is astonishing how often people who ship goods to the interior
of South America fail to realize that no single piece should be any
heavier than a pack animal can carry comfortably on one side. One
hundred and fifty pounds ought to be the extreme limit of a unit. Even
a large, strong mule will last only a few days on such trails as
are shown in the accompanying illustration if the total weight of
his cargo is over three hundred pounds. When a single piece weighs
more than two hundred pounds it has to be balanced on the back of the
animal. Then the load rocks, and chafes the unfortunate mule, besides
causing great inconvenience and constant worry to the muleteers. As a
matter of expediency it is better to have the individual units weigh
about seventy-five pounds. Such a weight is easier for the arrieros to
handle in the loading, unloading, and reloading that goes on all day
long, particularly if the trail is up-and-down, as usually happens
in the Andes. Furthermore, one seventy-five-pound unit makes a fair
load for a man or a llama, two are right for a burro, and three for
an average mule. Four can be loaded, if necessary, on a stout mule.

The hospitable mining engineers urged us to prolong our stay at
"La Victoria," but we had to hasten on. Leaving the pleasant shade
tree