J B Williams' Journey -
Over the Andes to Bolivia

On 5th December he got word that the cart was to leave that evening, but this was soon amended to loading that evening and starting in the morning and J.B.W. was up at 5am. He did not take kindly to the Spanish 'manyana' as he spelt it.

"...It is now about 12 o'clock, the man has gone for the mules. I am tired of waiting. Our chaps started drinking and so the cartman and I had hard work to get them away. We managed at last about 6pm. The road is very hilly, and narrows between high mountains. We can't make but very little progress. I drove a long while while the cartman and the others were sleeping. It is pretty rough travelling. All I had for supper was a piece of dry bread."

There were apparently two carts, but J.B.W. does not directly name his travelling companions or say how many of them there were. He usually refers to them en bloc as "the boys" except for "the Chinaman".

There are a couple of sketch/diagrams in the back of the notebook, showing six names and a stack of luggage, but it is difficult to decide whether these refer to his companions in one of the two carts or to the bunk space on the voyage up the Chilean coast. It is probably the latter as a C. Batten is mentioned and Charlie Batten was left behind in Tocopilla.

The travellers stopped first at a place called Toltorno and the cartman spread a piece of canvas over the shafts to make a manger for the mules. J.B.W. jotted a few notes in his diary whenever they stopped.

"...There is not a bit of vegetation to be seen. The hills are covered in dust... There is a lot of barrels by the way, filled with water for the mules... We are now in a wider place, like the bed of a river... this is Bariles. There is not a house to be seen. Everything is so dry and dusty, but there is a nice cool breeze blowing... It is like an open desert, only there are some mountains not far off... The mules are having a roll. It freshens them considerable. We must now pick up something to make a fire. I made some cocoa, and we had cold ham and bread and jam after, so we are doing pretty well. They pick up dried dung for fire. It burns well.

Saturday, 8 Dec. 1883. We are now arrived in another stopping place in the middle of a desert, sun shining very hot, no shelter of any kind but our cart. All that is here is a few barrels of water left for the mules to drink. They are left out in the burning sun, not even a shed to screen them from the sun. We have now had our breakfast on corned beef. As we were coming along this morn we passed a pile of stones with a little cross fixed on it. Our cartman told us it was the grave of a cartman who was killed by the wheels passing over him. We passed near a dozen carcasses of mules that died on the way.

This morn I looked a little way off and thought I saw a beautiful lake of water but was deceived like many poor thirsty travellers in the desert. It is what is called 'Puna'. I never saw anything more real in my life, and yet not real. This is the hottest day I have seen since I left home."

They stopped several times that day beside small rivers and the driver took the opportunity to shoot some wild duck to supplement the menu. At Chacani they paused... "right beside of a beautiful river, as clear as crystal, but instead of like Mara's water, bitter, it is salt, no doubt coming from near the saltpetre works."

When they crossed the river "It took the mules up as far as the belly" and, on the other side, they camped for the night. "It is a first rate place for the mules" remarked J.B.W., always concerned with the welfare of the animals. Next morning they were up early.

"Sunday, 9th Dec. The birds are singing lovely, like a spring morning. The boys are gone down beside the river with our cartman and his gun... The Chinaman, and the boy which belongs to the other cart and myself are left here. They lit the fire and I got some cocoa and cold ham for our breakfast...

The boys are now come back with a duck each and are having their breakfast... There is a nice silver smelting works here and a water condenser. It is pretty warm in this valley. There is also a nice store.

The Chinaman's dog has just come from Tocopilla. He has followed us all the way from Thursday till now... Have just seen a dead body in a wood box with some canvas over it. The driver said he was found dying on the road and they put him in a box for him to take to Tocopilla, but he would not. He is there now, all in sight, with a bit of canvas fixed over him. We left about 1pm. We had a hard job to get away from here as the mountain was so steep. We had to put nine mules to get up and then go back for the others. We got to the next place about 6pm and left again about 9pm."

Supper was wild duck, roasted over a fire of mule's dung.

They travelled by night and the road was so rough that they could scarcely keep in the cart. "We had to lie close together to keep steady." Their way led alongside a river, first on one side and then the other.

"...All the mountains each side might have been thrown up in a liquid state, as they are full of pebbles and large boulders. There is some beautiful scenery here, and the birds are singing lovely, quite a contrast to the desert we have passed...

After we left this place (San Salvador) we had an awful rough road. We had to pass right over the top of a precipice. I was almost afraid to look over. Only one false step would throw us over. Our next stopping place is called Santa Cruze. It is nothing but an open desert. We met a Bolivian here on horseback, drving a flock of sheep to Chianca. He stayed and had supper with us and then thanked us and went on his journey."

At Calama, where they arrived at 9am on Tuesday, 11th December, they noted a lot of Chilean soldiers exercising outside the town. "This place was taken from Bolivia". They stayed there three days and were glad of a rest from the jolting cart, in spite of having to sleep on the floor because there were only two bedrooms in the house where they stayed. Much of the town was in ruins from the recent hostilities and J.B.W.noted:

"...a lot of water, running all about and in the streets, but it is not fit to drink as it is salt... The people here are dark brown, with black hair, not much beard."

In the evening they watched the lightning flashing over the distant, snow-capped mountains and, when they walked out on "the moor", noted vast flocks of sheep as well as:

"...thousands of mules... They are fine, larger than most horses at home... Just come from a walk about the place. Could not stay any longer, the dust was blowing so. I expect we shall leave tomorrow. There is no cemetery here. Anyone can bury where they like. As we were passing we found the skull of a human body."

They spent Thursday visiting "Mr Matthews' farm", and the ruined church, and were to leave on Friday morning but storm clouds were gathering over the mountains and the driver was afraid to venture.

"Friday, Dec.14, 1883 Got up about 5 am and had a wash, the first time for two days. I never see anyone here wash. We are feeling better for it... We left Calama about 10.30am and had a long ride across a plain... The name of this place is Saire. It is like an oasis in the desert..."

But much of Saire had also been destroyed by the Chilean soldiers and the travellers cooked a beefsteak supper and journeyed on.

"Sunday, Dec.16. I got out of the cart about 4am and had a long walk to keep myself warm as it was very cold inside. We are nearing the snowy mountains. The air is icy. We could see the lightning flashing last night every second. After supper last night a fox came right close to our cart to see if he could find something. He cleared again before we had a chance to shoot him...

We got to Santa Barbara about 4pm. It is just two or three mud houses and a place to feed the mules. It is beside a river. Our driver shot a duck. There are some nice shrubs on the sand, something similar to our furze bushes, but much prettier. There are about a dozen carts here with us. They are going back laden with borax."

By now they were ascending the mountain. It was bitterly cold at night but hot by day and they travelled from 6am to 5pm. The driver had a hard job to get the mules through a ravine which was deep in blown sand. "It must be very bad for the poor mules."

"...We are now stopping on a plain, with mountains on each side. One side a burning mountain, can see the smoke coming out, the other side covered in snow. Just as we arrived a poor native woman came to know if we could baptise her infant, she was afraid it was going to die. The child was crying. We gave her two loaves of bread and she left again. If I understood their way I would have done it for her. I thought on poor Hagar in the desert with Ishmael. I don't know where she came from as there was not a house to be seen. She must have come a long way. They are taught that their children will be lost unless they are baptised... We shall leave here again about 10pm. We have just roasted some beef, mutton and duck for our supper..."

Of course, they didn't leave at 10pm, they left around midnight. J.B.W. could never come to terms with the easy-going native idea of time. He probably drove the cartman mad. Escotan, their next call, was in the borax region.

"...It is like a beach, miles long, nothing but borax. They have a machine here to dig it, then it is packed in bags and sent off by mule. There is another volcano in front of us. I think it is the Cotopaxi."

It cannot have been Cotopaxi, in Ecuador, many hundreds of miles north-west of where they were, but that was probably the only volcano he had heard about and he almost certainly had no maps with him.

"The fuel they use here is a kind of vegetable stuff, formed from the roots of trees. It is dug up like big turf. We are surrounded by mountains on every side. The pools are frozen and yet by day it is very hot.

There is a splendid lot of animals arrived with fuel. They are something like a camel, but a head similar to that of the sheep. They carry about 80 to 90 lbs... They have a splendid lot of wool on their backs. They call them Yamas, but it is spelt Llama..."

They stopped next beside a small lake and camped by a clear stream "good to drink, just like the rivers at home", and were able to have a wash, "the first for three or four days". By Thursday, 20th December, the altitude was affecting J.B.W. and he had:

"...a violent pain in my head. The air is very light. We have to move about very slowly. ...I went out this morning with the cartman and he shot four animals, a little larger than a rabbit and with a tail something like a fox. Their skins are beautiful. It is the kind they use to make boas...

We left again about 8am. Had a beautiful road, with shrubs each side about the size of currant bushes. Outside of them were rocks of all sizes and shapes which made a splendid scenery. The rocks were abounding with the same sort of animals that we shot at the last place. The cartman shot another."

At their next stop, on an open plain with no shelter, they were visited by a party of Indians. "They are very civil and polite. They brought us some milk in exchange for some bread."

The carts left again about 6pm but they were stopped in the night "by a spy to know who we were and asked if we had our passport" and word must have gone ahead because later next day they met two more 'spies' who had been sent out to intercept them and they were ordered to present their passports at San Cristor next morning.

"...the mountains are covered with beautiful shrubs, like as if they had been planted. We saw lots of Paraquites flying about close to us... It is very hot between the mountains... We are now camped on a plain, with mountains each side but at a good distance."

A heavy thunder and hail storm in the evening forced them to put canvas over the front of the cart to keep dry.

"Saturday, 22 Dec. 1883 We got up at day break. Our cartman has gone to San Cristor about 3 leagues off with our passports. We have just had our breakfast... Our cartman has just arrived and says he had some difficulty as they wanted to keep our passports. They took a copy of them so he brought back ours again. He got permission to go in, but not to come out again without another pass. They wanted to know who I was, how I did not come too. He told them he had only one saddle. They told him they can't trust Englishmen. They had a mind to send a man to search our boxes to see what we had..."

Border guards would seem to be much the same, the world and centuries over. However, they were allowed to proceed. J.B.W.'s 'passport', bearing the Tocopilla official British Vice Consulate stamp and dated 23rd November, 1883, is still in the pocket inside the cover of his battered notebook. It is handwritten in Spanish and describes J.B.W. as of short stature, reddish complexion, regular nose and mouth, grey eyes and, surprisingly, for a man not yet 28 years old, with grey hair. It does not mention a beard, but perhaps when nearly every man wore one it would be taken for granted.

They stopped overnight, on Sunday, 23rd December, at "a kind of lodging house". There were two mud houses and a yard for cattle. Llamas, with their ears be-ribboned, were being loaded with fuel for Huanchaca.

"...We went inside and saw a great deal of writing on the walls of people that had passed that way, some in Spanish, some in English. One name was J. B. James, Apr.22/81. I thought it might be Johnny James of St. Agnes.

At the next halt the natives... were afraid we were in league with the Chilanos and that we were spies. However, they were very civil to us and boiled our water for us to have our supper. Our chaps and cartman went shooting and shot several small birds...

We arrived in Huanchaca about 3pm and found J. Prout and all the friends all right. After dinner we went about a little and then we went to the house of a Mr Kemp who entertained us and several English boys very much.. We spent a very comfortable Xmas Eve. About midnight we went to the Roman Catholic Church to a mass meeting. It was the most ridiculous service that ever I attended. They were burning incense and making all sorts of hideous sounds and gestures. The poor natives are deluded by the Priests. It is a very nice building, and gilded very nicely."

On Christmas Day they inspected the Silver Works and were again entertained by Mr Kemp. Next day, after writing to his wife and his father, J.B.W. packed his belongings, ready to continue his journey on the morrow. This time the journey was on mule back and they rode from 7am to about 9pm by which time it was too dark to find 'the post house' and after wandering about a bit they had to camp out on the plain.

At 5am next morning they were on their way. J.B.W.'s comment "It is a long and tiresome journey." was surely something of an understatement. They stopped at Atoepe, which was quite a large town, but most of the houses were empty. J.B.W. thought "It must have been a grand place in the time of the Spaniards" and they had "a pretty good breakfast on cold pasty, boiled eggs and oysters", before leaving about mid-day next day. But where on earth did oysters come from, 200 miles inland over rough roads?

The travellers expected to get to their journey's end by evening, but this was the place where they got lost, as quoted at the beginning of the J.B.W. saga "just as it was coming dark." They found an Indian hut, but could not follow the directions given by the occupants, nor those of some Indian women in another house. That was when they got tough and forced the women to guide them until they found another Indian man and compelled him to take them two leagues to a building where metal from the mines was stored. There they spent the night.

"...The natives don't seem inclined to do any favor without force, then they are very good and do anything for you."

Although he does not say so in the diary, this may have been the time that my mother told me about. Her father always warned her never to go anywhere without some money in her pocket because, he said, when he was crossing the Andes, he wanted to reward an Indian who had guided him, but had no money on him. Years later, he told her, he met the man in the street and was able to pay him. Later in the diary he records meeting an Indian who had guided him, and giving him 20 cents, and this is possibly the same incident.

They still had about two leagues to go next day and the route was precipitous and zig-zagging so that J.B.W. was sometimes afraid of falling over the mule's head and sometimes backwards over its tail. But they arrived safely at their destination, Tatasi, about 10am on 29th December, 1883.

Next chapter - Working the Tatasi Mine
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Desert

Desert near Tocopilla

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Tocopilla

Tocopilla, and routes through the Andes

Created on
2nd July 2004