Chap. XL PAUCAR-COLLA— COSTUMES. 181 



village of Paucar-colla late in the evening, a distance of 

 only twelve miles from Puno. As for the scenery, or the 

 nature of the country, between Puno and Paucar-colla, I can 

 remember nothing but vicious mules with their hind legs 

 kicking up in the air. 



Paucar-colla is built on an eminence, surrounded by broad 

 grassy plains, which slope down to the shores of the lake of 

 Titicaca. It consists of a few streets of mud-built, red-tiled 

 huts, ranged round a large plaza, with a chm-ch in a dila- 

 pidated state, also of mud. At this place I saw the last of 

 the Aymara Indians, or at least of their women, who can 

 always be distinguished by their dress, which differs from 

 that worn by the Inca or Quichua Indians. The xiymara 

 women wear an uncu, or garment brought together over 

 each shoulder, and secured in the mode of the classic Greeks, 

 with two topus, or large pins, generally in the shape of spoons. 

 The head-chess is a curiously-shaped, four-cornered red cap, 

 the sides curving outwards and stiff, with black flaps sus- 

 pended from it, sometimes hanging dowTi, and at others 

 thrown up over the top. The Quichua dress, used by the 

 women from here as far as Cuzco, is quite different: they 

 have a full woollen skirt, reaching down half-way between 

 the knee and ankle ; a bright-coloured lliclla, or mantle, over 

 the shoulders, secured across the bosom by a single topu ; 

 and as a head-dress the broad-brimmed black velvet montero, 

 with red and blue ribbons. 



I left Paucar-colla early next morning, and passed by 

 several fields of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), the harvest of 

 which was just beginning. The stalks are cut and tied up in 

 heaps, and then the grain is beaten out with sticks. It is 

 used by the Indians in their universal dish, the clmpe, and in 

 various other ways ; but it is an insipid and not very nutritious 

 grain. Just beyond the village there is a stream called the 

 Illpa, which, in the dry season, scarcely wets the mules' hoofs ; 



