¿54, A VOYAGE TO Book VIU. 



on the outfide, and of a dark brown colour ; and, 

 next to the preceding, makes the beil lime. 



All thefe fpecies of ilicU-fiil-j are found at the 

 bottom of the lea in four, fix, ten and twelve fathom 

 water. They are caught by drags j and what is very 

 remarkable is, that no (hells, eitlier the fame, or-thac 

 have any refemblance to them, are fcen either on the 

 ihores continually waihed by the fea, or on thofe tracks 

 which have been overflowed by an extraordinary tide. 

 They adhere to a fea plant, called Cochayuyo lake 

 herb, the Indians making no nominal diílinélions be- 

 tween the inland lakes, iind the fea, calling both 

 cochas. This plant relenibles the bejuco; its diame- 

 ter is about half an incli, and from iis root to its ex- 

 tremity of an equal ihicknefs. In length is from 

 twenty to thirty toifes, producing at every eighteen 

 inches, or fomething more, a leaf about a yard and a 

 half, or two yards in length; but the breadth, which 

 is in every part the fame, does not exceed two or three 

 inches. It is remarkably fmooth, which, together 

 with a vifcid liquor, with which it is covered, gives it 

 a very fine glofs. The fame m.ay be faid of the ftem, 

 which is extremely flexible, and itrong. Its colour 

 is of a pale green, but that of the leaves more vivid. 

 This plant divides itfelf into feveral branches, equal 

 in dimenfions to the main item. Thefe branches fuc- 

 cefijvely produce others of the fame proportion; fo 

 that the produce of one fingle root covers a prodigious 

 fpace. At the joints where the branches fpring, are 

 found this kind of íhell-fiíh, where they both receive 

 their nouriilimenr, and propagate their fpecies. The 

 extremities of thefe Cochayuyos, float on the furface, 

 and in fome lakes, where the water has remained along 

 time undifturbed, form a kind of carpet. At the 

 jundion of the (talk of every leaf with the ftem, h 

 a berry refcmbling a caper, but fomething larger, 

 fmooth and gloiTy on the ilirface, and exactly of 

 the fame colour with the ftem. 



The 



