Chap. XII. GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 207 



sighted ; but Don Pablo Pimentel declares that it was done 

 through ignorance, the bark-collectors mistaking the motosolo 

 (C. micrantha) and carhua-carhua (Cascarilla Carua) for the 

 Calisaya bark.^ 



The above meagre notices are all that I have been able 

 to glean respecting the history of Caravaya ; and I will now 

 give a brief description of the geographical features of this 

 interesting region. 



The province of Caravaya consists of a narrow strip of 

 lofty table-land, bordering on that of Azangaro ; the snowy 

 range of the Eastern Andes for a distance of 120 miles ; and 

 the boundless tropical forests to the eastward, stretching 

 away towards the frontier of Brazil. It is bounded on the 

 east and south by Bolivia, on the N.W. by the province of 

 Quispicanchi in the department of Cuzco, on the north and 

 N.E. by the illimitable forests, and on the west by Azangaro. 



The lofty table-land to the westward of the sno\vy Andes 

 extends for 120 miles, the whole length of Caravaya, but is 

 only from five to ten miles broad. It is 13,000 feet above 

 the level of the sea, and here, about a century ago, after the 

 destruction of San Gavan, the tow^n of Crucero was founded, 

 as a central position for the capital of the province, and as 

 being free from the attacks of wild Indians. It derives its 

 name from the numerous roads which branch from it to the 

 villages on the eastern slopes of the Andes. Tliis narrow^ 

 plain, on which Crucero^ is situated, is very swampy, covered 

 with long tufts of ychu grass, and intensely cold. It yields 

 pasture to immense flocks of sheep ; and to the ciu-ious 

 hybrid, first bred by the cura Cabrera in 1826, between an 

 alpaca and a vicuiia, called the paco-vicima, with a black 

 and white fleece of long fine wool, which is wove into fabrics 

 like the richest silk.** 



^ Bosquejo, &c. I within Caravaya, called Macusani, 



' There is one other town, or rather | about 30 mUes north-west of Crucero. 



wretched village, on this Arctic plain, j *• A Quichua poem was written on 



