THE LAKE OF GU AT A VITA. 219 



themselves, build huts, till the ground, and form them- 

 selves into communities. He brought with him a woman, 

 to whom also tradition gives three names, Chia, Yube- 

 cayguaya, and Huythaca. This woman, extremely beau- 

 tiful and not less malignant, thwarted every enterprise 

 of her husband for the happiness of mankind. By her 

 skill in magic she swelled the Rio Funzha, and inun- 

 dated the valley of Bogota. The greater part of the 

 inhabitants perished in this deluge ; a few only found 

 refuge on the summits of the neighbouring mountains. 

 The old man, in anger, drove the beautiful Huythaca far 

 from the Earth, and she became the Moon, which began 

 from that epoch to enlighten our planet during the night. 

 Bochica, moved with compassion for those who were dis- 

 persed over the mountains, broke with his powerful arm 

 the rocks that inclosed the valley on the side of Canoas 

 and Tequendama. By this outlet he drained the waters 

 of the Lake of Bogota. He built towns, introduced the 

 worship of the Sun, named two chiefs, between whom he 

 divided the civil and ecclesiastical authority, and then 

 withdrew himself, under the name of Idacanzas, into the 

 holy valley of Iraca, near Tunja, where he lived in the 

 exercise of the most austere penitence for the space of 

 two thousand years." 



After the excursion to the Falls of Tequendama, 

 the travellers visited the Lake of Guatavita. It was 

 situated to the north of Bogota, in a wild and soli- 

 tary spot, on a ridge of the mountains of Zipaguira, at 

 a height of eight thousand five hundred feet. It was 

 held in veneration by the Indians in the olden time, who 

 were supposed to have repaired thither for the purpose 

 of ablution and purification. The travellers found the 



