MOUNTAINS OF CUZCO. 301 



Magellan to the parallel of the port of Arica (18 28' 35"), 

 runs from south to north, in the direction of a meridian 

 at most 5 N. E.; but from the parallel of Arica, the coast 

 and the two Cordilleras east and west of the Alpine lake 

 of Titicaca, abruptly change their direction and incline to 

 north-west. The Cordilleras of Ancuma and Moquehua, and 

 the longitudinal valley, or rather the basin of Titicaca, which 

 they inclose, take a direction N. 42 W. Further on, the 

 two branches again unite in the group of the mountains of 

 Cuzco, and thence their direction is N. 80 W". This group of 

 which the table-land inclines to the north-east, forms a curve, 

 nearly from east to west, so that the part of the Andes north 

 of Castrovireyna is thrown back more than 242,000 toises 

 westward. This singular geological phenomenon resembles 

 the variation of dip of the veins, and especially of the two 

 parts of the chain of the Pyrenees, parallel to each other, and 

 linked by an almost rectangular elbow, 16,000 toises long, 

 near the source of the Garonne ;* but in the Andes, the 

 axes of the chain, south and north of the curve, do not pre- 

 serve parallelism. On the north of Castrovireyna and 

 Andahuaylas (lat. 14), the direction is N. 22 W., while 

 south of 15, it is N. 42 "W. The inflexions of the coast fol- 

 low these changes. The shore separated from the Cordillera 

 by a plain 15 leagues in breadth, stretches from Camapo to 

 Arica, between 27^ and 18 lat. N. 5 E. ; from Arica to 

 .Pisco, between 18| and 14 lat. at first N. 42 W., afterwards 

 N. 65 W. ; and from Pisco to Truxillo, between 14 and 8 

 of lat. N. 27 "W". The parallelism between the coast and the 

 Cordillera of the Andes is a phenomenon the more worthy 

 of attention, as it occurs in several parts of the globe 

 where the mountains do not in the same manner form the 

 shore. 



After the great knot of mountains of Cuzco and Parinaco- 

 chas, in 14 south latitude, the Andes present a second 

 bifurcation, on the east and west of the Bio Jauja, which 

 throws itself into the Mantaro, a tributary stream of the 

 Apurimac. The eastern chain stretches on the east of 

 Huanta, the convent of Ocopa and Tarma; the western chain, 

 on the we>st of Castrovireyna, Huancavelica, Huarocheri, and 

 Yauli. The basin, or rather the lofiby table-land which ia 

 * Between the mountain of Tentenade and the Port d'Espot 



