THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 45 



In the winter months the temperature of the lake is usually ten 

 or twelve degrees higher than that of the atmosphere. 



SACRED LAKES AND BEAUTIFUL TRADITIONS. 



THE largest island in this lake is the sacred island of Titicaca 

 bare and rocky, about six miles long and five miles broad. 

 Tradition tells us that here Manco Capac and Mama Oella, at 

 once his wife and sister, who were both children of the sun and 

 messengers of that luminary, started on their errand to civilize 

 the barbarous tribes which then occupied the country. Manco 

 Capac was directed to travel northward until he should reach a 

 spot where his golden staff would sink into the ground of its own 

 accord, and there he was to fix the seat of his empire In 

 obedience to these directions he traveled slowly along the western 

 shore of lake Titicaca, through the barren Puna lands, until he 

 reached the Vilcanota river, one of the principal branches of the 

 Amazon, when he descended its valley and, after a journey of 

 three hundred miles, his golden staff sank into the ground upon 

 the spot where the city of Cuzco now stands. Here he fixed his 

 seat of empire, and here arose the city of the sun, the capital of 

 the Inca Empire, which in time spread over a length of 37 of 

 latitude, and in breadth from the eastern base of the Andes 

 westward to where the Pacific beats against the deeply planted 

 feet of the Cordilleras. 



So runs the legend ; but there is much mythical matter incor- 

 porated into the traditions respecting Manco Capac. We find 

 his counterpart in the Fohi of the Chinese, the Buddha of the 

 Hindus, the Osiris of Egypt, the Odin of Scandinavia, the Jatza- 

 coal of Mexico, and the Votan of Central America. Still there can 

 be no doubt that he is a real historical character, to whom, how- 

 ever, have been attributed many of the achievements of those 

 who preceded him, and perhaps of some who followed him. 

 The time when he lived is altogether uncertain. Some, studying 

 the quippus, or knotted cords, which are the only records of 

 ancient Peruvian history, place his advent back to within five 

 centuries after the deluge. But the best authorities give the 

 date approximately at about four centuries before the arrival of 



