190 COUNTRY BETWEEN PUNO AND AZANGARO. Chap. XI. 



islands ; also jet-black ibises, with dark rusty red heads and 

 long curved bills. After a ride of several leagues over a 

 grassy country covered with flocks of sheep, I reached the 

 summit of a range of liills, and got a distant view of the town 

 of Azangaro, in a plain with several isolated steep grassy 

 mountains rising from it, and the snowy Andes of Caravaya 

 hi the background. After a very wearisome descent I 

 reached the plain, and, riding into Azangaro, was most 

 hospitably and kindly received by Don Luis Quinones, one of 

 the principal inhabitants. 



The region which I had traversed between Puno and 

 Azangaro is all of the same character — a series of gi-assy 

 plains of great elevation, covered with flocks and herds, and 

 watered by numerous rivers flowing into lake Titicaca, which 

 are traversed by several mountain-ranges, spurs from the 

 Cordillera, which sometimes run up into peaks almost to the 

 snow-line, and at others sink into rocky plateaux raised 

 like steps above the plain. What strikes one most in tra- 

 velling through this country is the evidence of the vast 

 population it must have contained in the days of the Incas, 

 indicated by the ruined remains of andeneria, or terraces for 

 cultivation, rising in every direction tier above tier up the 

 sides of the hills. But it is now almost exclusively a grazing 

 country, and the Indians, employed in tending the large 

 flocks of sheep, only raise a sufficient supply of edible roots 

 for the consumption of their families, and the market of the 

 nearest town. Frequently the shepherds are what are called 

 yanaconas, or Indians kept to service by the owners of the 

 flocks, which vary from 400 to 1000 head. The condition 

 of this class of Indians is very hard, as they get only a 

 monthly allowance of an arroha of chunu (frozen potato) 

 or quinoa, and a pound of coca, or four dollars a month in 

 money. 



Puno, Juliaca, Lampa, Pucara, and Azangaro, are all 



