146 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



part o£ South America. In order to obtain a good view 

 of the image, weighed down with a king's ransom of 

 jewels, Agassiz paid for a high mass, and he and the 

 captain, both holding a huge lighted candle in each 

 hand, were allowed to crawl up to the figure on their 

 knees ! 



At the northern extremity of the peninsula of Copa- 

 cabana, lies the sacred island of Titicaca, the Mecca of 

 the ancient Incas. A narrow strait separates the island 

 from the mainland, across which the Incas were com- 

 pelled to pass on their pilgrimage to the sacred shrine. 

 Here Agassiz used his dredging apparatus for the novel 

 purpose of trying to scrape up any antiquities which 

 might have been dropped overboard. Quantities of mud, 

 however, soon clogged the dredge and rendered further 

 exploration useless. 



TO WOLCOTT GIBBS 



Arequipa, March 3, 1875. 

 I have just returned from a three weeks trip to Lake 

 Titicaca and have been quite successful. I chartered 

 a small schooner of about thirty tons and sent my as- 

 sistant, Garman, round the Lake to stop at all ports 

 and dredge and sound wherever practicable. He was 

 gone about five weeks and succeeded in getting together 

 an excellent collection of the Birds of the department 

 found along the Lake shores. He made some thirty 

 soundings at different points and dredged up quite a 

 collection of Crustacea, Mollusca, etc., from the deep 

 water of the Lake, making at the same time a collection 

 of the Fishes found in the Lake. Only three species 

 were known thus far. I think from the Lake Mr. Gar- 

 man added three more and this number (six) represents 



