ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 63 1 



of Carabaya, by which it is terminated to the northward. This whole privince abounds 

 in gold mines, whofe metal is of fo fine a quality, that its ftandard is twenty-three /'^ 

 carats, and three grains. In this province is the celebrated mountain of Sunchuli, 

 in which about fifty years fince was difcovered a gold mine remarkably rich, and of 

 the ftandard above-mentioned ; but when in its higheft profperity, it was unfortunately 

 overflowed ; and notwithftanding prodigious fums were expended in endeavours to 

 drain it, all the labour and expence, from the works being injudicioufly conduced, 

 were thrown away. 



V. The jurifdi£tion of Chucuito begins about twenty leagues weft of Paz, and fome 

 part of it bordering on the lake of Titi-caca, that coUedion of waters is alfo called the 

 lake of Chucuito. The extent of this province from north to fouth is betwixt twenty- 

 fix and twenty-eight leagues. Its temperature is in general cold and very difagreeable, 

 the frofts continuing one half of the year, and the other either fnow or hail is cbn- 

 tinually falling. Accordingly the only efculent produftions of the vegetable kingdom 

 are the papas and quinoas. The inhabitants have however a very beneficial trade 

 with their cattle, which abound in this jurifdidion, by faking and drying the flefh. -' 

 The traders who carry it to the coaft exchange it for brandy and wine ; and thofe 

 who go to Cochabamba carry alfo papas and quinoas, which they barter for meal. 



All the mountains in this province have their filver-mines, and formerly produced 

 largely, but at prefent are totally abandoned. 



The territories of the province of Chucuito are on one fide bounded by the lake 

 of Titi-caca, the magnitude of which merits fome account to be given of it. This lake 

 lies between thefe provinces, comprehended under the general name of Calloa, and ^ 

 is of all the known lakes of America, much the largeft. Its figure is fomewhat oval, if^^p^ 

 inclining nearly from north-weft to fouth-eaft its circumference is about eighty leagues, 

 and the water, in fome parts, feventy or eighty fathoms deep. Ten or twelve large 

 rivers, befides a great number of fmaller ftreams, empty themfelves into it. The water 

 of this lake, though neither bitter or brackifti, is turbid, and has in its tafte fomething 

 fo naufeous that it cannot be drank. It abounds with fifti, of two oppofite kinds j 

 one large and palatable, which the Indians call Suchis ; the other fmall, infipid and 

 bony, termed long fince by the Spaniards Boyas. It has alfo a great number of g^^i^ 

 and other wild fowl, and the ftiores covered with flags and rufl^es, the materials of 

 which the bridges are made, and of which an account will be given in the fequel. 



As the weftern borders of this lake are called Chucuito, fo thofe on the eaft fide 

 are diftinguiflied by the name of Omafcuyo. It contains feveral iflands, among which 

 is one very large, and was anciently one mountain, but fince levelled by order of the 

 Yncas ; it, however, gave to the lake its own name of Xiti-caca, which, in the Indian 

 language, fignifies a mountain of lead. In this ifland the firft Ynca Mancho-Capac, the 

 illuftrious founder of the empire of Peru, invented his political fable, that the fun, his 

 father, had placed him, together with his fifter and confort. Mama Oello Huaco, 

 there, enjoining them to draw the neighbouring people from the ignorance, rudenefs, 

 and barbarity in which they lived, and humanize them by cuftoms, laws and religious 

 rites di6tated by himfelf; and in return for the benefits refulting from this artful 

 ftratagem, the ifland has, by all the Indians, been confidered as facred ; and the Yncas 

 determining to erefl: on it a temple to the fun, caufed it to be levelled, that the fituation 

 might^ be more delightful and commodious. 



This was one of the moft fplendid temples in the whole empire. Befides the plates 

 of gold and filver with which its walls were magnificently adorned, it contained an 

 immenfe collection of riches, all the inhabitants of provinces which depended on the 



4 empire, 



