6l6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



as are also fine wool fleeces, and bring in a great deal of money ; 

 they go to Oruro, Potosi, Lima, and all over the Kingdom. This 

 province contains the other lake, which lies below that of Chucuito, 

 and is called the Lake of Paria or Aullagas. There is no known 

 outlet to this lake, but it is considered certain that some springs 

 which give rise to the rivers flowing into the valleys of Tarapaca 

 and Pica, are derived from this lake. 



1636. The houses in this province and the great majority of those 

 in the Indian villages in the sierra and the cold country, are round 

 and vaulted on account of the cold, as I wrote in connection with 

 the Province of Chinchacocha. On all the plains, besides domesticated 

 cattle there is abundance of wild animals, such as guanacos, vicuiias, 

 ostriches, etc. ; there are many turrets, which are the tombs of the 

 ancients, as I have described elsewhere. The village of Toledo in 

 this province is an Augustinian curacy, and that of Challacollo, which 

 is across the Outlet River (Rio del Desaguadero), 3 leagues before 

 the town of Oruro called San Felipe de Austria. This village of 

 Challacollo is very large and rich. The Indians here belong to the 

 Uros tribe ; they are very primitive and brutish ; before the Spaniards 

 took over that country, they roamed like savages without any settled 

 habitation over those plains, rivers, and the Lake of Paria, living on 

 the roots of what they call totora, a species of cattail ; the Spaniards 

 settled them in villages, but because they have so little sense and 

 discipline, they have no individual private property. Their community 

 is very rich ; it owns large ranches of all kinds of stock, and in the 

 Cochabamba Valley, large farms and fields of corn, wheat, and 

 potatoes ; these establishments are managed by the Prior of the 

 Augustinian convent in that village, and the produce is all stored in 

 the convent and they give them whatever is necessary, for if they 

 did not treat them in this manner, I understand this tribe would 

 perish, since they cannot govern themselves or keep or preserve a 

 single thing ; in this way they have a superfluity, and the convent 

 likewise. They have large herds of swine which pasture along the 

 banks of the lake on its roots and fish ; they make much bacon and 

 ham from them, and export it to Oruro and other points ; and they 

 also take out of the lake large quantities of fish which they sell in 

 that same town. 



This village has an excellent hospital belonging to the community, 

 for the care of the sick, with a Spanish surgeon at a very good salary 

 to look out for them. In this hospital they have many luxuries and 

 all necessities for the sick ; but they are so unintelligent that if asked 

 if they are men, they reply : "No, Uros." This brief account must 



