i?i diminishing the Quantity of' Water in Rivers. 95 



gerous. According to a tradition which is much older than the 

 discovery of America, a marine monster maintained its residence 

 in this lake, and it had the credit of agitating the waters, and 

 making them overflow the road which skirts its margin. 



Some individuals of the highest credit have assured me, that 

 they themselves have witnessed on the surface of the lake, not 

 the real monster the Indians describe, but a mass of water sud- 

 denly elevate itself, and communicate as it fell such an agitation 

 to the liquid mass, that the waves quite inundated the road 

 which travellers are in the habit of frequenting In this account 

 will be readily recognised a phenomenon analogous to the famous 

 seiches of the Lake of Geneva. The Indians pretend that they 

 can predict, from the appearance of the atmosphere, this agi- 

 tation of the water, or, as they express it, when it is going to 

 be angry, and hold it is then prudent to delay their journey. 

 In the year 1(552 the road skirted, as it still does, the margin 

 of the lake, and the seiches, which occurred then as frequently 

 as they do now, often made the journey sufficiently dangerous, 

 as it is confined between the lake and a wall of elevated rocks. 

 The waters lave the said rocks, and their level has undergone 

 no more change than the sterile and desert country which sur- 

 rounds them. 



It may here, perhaps, be objected, that I ought not to have 

 introduced, as an element in this discussion, the description of 

 a lake which is situated on the extreme limit of vegetable ex- 

 istence. In the apprehension, then, that the instance I have 

 selected, inasmuch as I regard it a striking one, may be set 

 aside for the reason it exists in a locality composed of rocks and 

 almost denuded of vegetation, I shall supply the description of 

 some others, which are less elevated than is Tota, and whose 

 waters have remained stationary for ages, although they are 

 placed in the centre of a rich country, whilst at the same time 

 its agricultural aspect has undergone no change. I have exa- 

 mined some such near the equator, in the province of Quito. 



On leaving Ibarra to go to Quito, we traverse a delightful 

 valley, in which we meet with the lake San-Pablo, to which 

 the Indians continue its ancient name Chilcapan. I found 

 it was elevated about 8500 feet above the level of the ocean. 

 The temperature corresponding to this height no longer admits 



