HIDDEN TREASURE 501 



from whose top, if the day be fine, look to the east, 

 so that thy back be towards the town of Ambato, 

 and from thence thou shalt perceive the three 

 Cerros Llanganati, in the form of a triangle, on 

 whose declivity there is a lake, made by hand, into 

 which the ancients threw the gold they had pre- 

 pared for the ransom of the Inca when they heard 

 of his death. From the same Cerro Guapa thou 

 mayest see also the forest, and in it a clump of 

 Sangurimas standing out of the said forest, and 

 another clump which they call Flechas (arrows), and 

 these clumps are the principal mark for the which 

 thou shalt aim, leaving them a little on the left 

 hand. Go forward from Guapa in the direction 

 and with the signals indicated, and a good way 

 ahead, having passed some cattle-farms, thou shalt 

 come on a wide morass, over which thou must 

 cross, and coming out on the other side thou shalt 

 see on the left hand a short way off a jucal on a 

 hill-side, through which thou must pass. Having 

 got through the jucal, thou wilt see two small lakes 

 called " Los Anteojos" (the spectacles), from having 

 between them a point of land like to a nose. 



' From this place thou mayest again descry the 

 Cerros Llanganati, the same as thou sawest them 

 from the top of Guapa, and I warn thee to leave 

 the said lakes on the left, and that in front of the 

 point or ' nose ' there is a plain, which is the 

 sleeping-place. There thou must leave thy horses, 

 for they can go no farther. Following now on foot 

 in the same direction, thou shalt come on a great 

 black lake, the which leave on thy left hand, and 

 beyond it seek to descend along the hill-side in such 

 a way that thou mayest reach a ravine, down which 



