OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 291 



more abundant data tlian those accessible from Lake Titicaca and its 

 vicinity. 



Along the eastern coast of Lake Titicaca, the mountains forming its 

 former shores nowhere rise to any considerable height. The greatest 

 elevations arc found along the general line forming the western edge 

 of the high plateau, to the south of which the lake is situated, from the 

 Nevados of Tacorara to those east of Moquega, the Pichupichu, 

 Chachani, Coropuno. A lower nearly parallel range extends about 

 half-way between the line of the former and the axis of Lake Titi- 

 caca. This range, however, does not rise to more than 10,000 or 17,000 

 feet, and, sweeping to the northward at a distance of about one hundred 

 miles to the north-east of the lake, forms the water-shed between the 

 rivers leading to the headwaters of the Amazonas and those flowing 

 into Lake Titicaca, the eastern sides of this great basin being formed 

 by the northern extension of the huge range which culminates near 

 the south-eastern shores of Lake Titicaca in the snowy giants of 

 Guaina Potosi, Mamini, and Mampu. The range runs nearly north- 

 ward from the head of the Bay of Achacache, forming the southern 

 boundary of Caravaya on the north, and uniting with the northern 

 water-shed of the great Titicaca basin. This eastern range of snowy 

 mountains retreats from the shore of the lake about as far as the 

 western intermediate range, and forms at the same time the line 

 between the waters flowing to the Pacific and those belonging to the 

 basin of the lake. The hills of the peninsula of Copacabana do not 

 rise more than 800 to 1,000 feet above the level of the lake ; and, to 

 the south of the lake, low ridges form the dividing-lines of the tor- 

 rents flowing from the heights between La Paz and Corocoro into 

 the lower lake. The view from the crest of one of these ridges im- 

 mediatel)^ to the eastward of Tiahuanaco is truly magnificent ; and the 

 panorama of snowy heights rising from 8,000 to 10,000 feet above 

 the level of the lake is one of the most beautiful stretches of mountain- 

 scenery it has been my fortune to see. Rising as these mountains do 

 behind the islands of the lower lake as a foreground, with the low 

 hills beyond Huarina on the opposite shore of the lake at the base of 

 the snow-line coming down to within a couple of thousand feet of the 

 shore, we have within a radius of thirty-five miles no less than six or 

 seven peaks varying from 20,000 to 22,000 feet above the level of the 

 sea. Looking over the peninsula of Copacabana extends the upper 

 lake, with its sacred islands hardly visible on the horizon ; while to 

 the westward extend, as far as the eye can reach, the huge flat-topped 

 hills, the dividing-ridges between the torrents flowing into the lake, 



