428 The Andes and the Amazons. 



railway surveys from the coast.* The lake rises in the 

 raiuy season four feet. It is so shallow on the north, 

 south, and west, that a fall of ten feet would probably less- 

 en the area one fifth. One can easily see that the lake 

 formerly extended over the lowlands around the north 

 end. The bay of Puno is choked up with tall rushes, and 

 a long stone wharf must needs jut out to enable even the 

 balsas to unload. The eastern shore, on the contrary, is 

 lofty and abrupt, and the water correspondingly deep, cer- 

 tainly over 120 fathoms. Across the lake can be clearly 

 seen from Puno the Bolivian cordillera, a succession of 

 sharp, rugged, glittering peaks, strongly contrasting with 

 tlie rounded, brown summits of the western cordillera — 

 the result of a different geology. 



Animal life around and within the lake is quite abun- 

 dant. Numerous water-birds, as ducks and snipes, but 

 especially grebes {Podiceps microjpterus), float or fly over 

 the surface. At least nine kinds of small but excellent 

 fish are brought to market, of which the most important is 

 called " boga." The muddy bottom is full of little shells, 

 so that when it is stirred with a pole or dredge they rise to 

 the surface like white foam.f 



Lake Titicaca is the natural highway between Puno and 

 Bolivia. At present there are two little steamers afloat, 

 of one hundred tons each, whose transportation from the 

 coast in pieces cost as much as the original price. They 

 are Avretchedly managed, are laid up about half the time, 

 get up steam by means of llama dung, and can not come 



* Pentland's estimates of lUimani, Sorata, and other Bolivian peaks, made 

 from the Titicaca basin as a base, must therefore come down 300 feet. 



t The following which I obtained seemed to be most numerous : Paludes- 

 trina culminea. Orb.; P. andicola, Orh. ; Ancylus Say anus. Orb.; Planor- 

 bis andicolus. Orb. ; and a Sphosrium, probably new. It is a singular fact 

 that one of the fishes {Trichomycterus dispar, Isch.) is found also in the Ri- 

 mac and Guayaquil rivers. 



