182 CAIIACOTO. Chap. XI. 



but at this time of year it was swollen into a broad river, and 

 it was necessary to cross it on reed balsas, with the luggage, 

 while the mules swam. A very large troop of mules, laden 

 with aguardiente, was passing over at the same time — a long 

 and tedious business. There are many streams crossing 

 these roads, which are swollen during the rainy season, and 

 very serious delays are thus caused for want of a few bridges. 

 From the Illpa to Caracoto there is a broad plain extending 

 to the shores of the lake, with the town or village of Hatun- 

 coUa on one of the last spurs of the cordillera to the west.^ 

 This wide expanse, in the rainy season, is swampy and half 

 submerged. It was covered with flocks and herds, with huts 

 and out-buildings scattered over it, and surrounded by mud 

 walls. Here and there we passed pretty little cow-girls and 

 shepherdesses, now dressed in the Quichua, not the Aymara, 

 costume. Some of these little maidens, as they stood by the 

 wayside spinning wool, had such pretty faces, with the rosy 

 colour showing through their soft, bro^vn skins, and their 

 figures were so graceful and dignified, that they strongly 

 reminded me of the pictures of young Inca princesses in the 

 churches of Santa Anna, and of the Jesuits, at Cuzco : — 



" La vi tan fermosa 



Que apenas creyera 

 ■ Que fuese vaquera 



De la Finojosa." 



Potatoes, quinoa, and barley were cultivated in the skirts 

 of the hills bordering on the plain. 



The village of Caracoto is at the extreme end of a long 

 rocky spur, running out across the plain; a street of neat 

 mud huts, with a plaza and dilapidated church. At the post- 

 house a child had died, which was set out on a table with 

 candles burning before it, and the friends of the postmaster 

 were holding a wake, singing, fiddling, and drinking. Be- 



' Hatun-cuUii was once the capital of the great Inca province of tlie Collao. 



