LAKE OF GU ATA VITA. 201 



considerable capital, and kept up an army 

 of thirty thousand warriors, which caused 

 him to be much respected by the neighbour- 

 ing tribes, who brought him and his people 

 gold dust in exchange for the produce of 

 their fields, they generally being cultivators 

 of the soil. This Lagoon, situated between 

 nine and ten thousand feet above the level 

 of the sea, and formed on the summit of a 

 conical mountain, they considered as the 

 residence of their protecting deity, to whom, 

 from a religious motive, they thought it 

 necessary to make offerings twice a year. 

 In consequence of this, all the Cacique's 

 subjects assembled at stated times, with 

 their gold offerings; and, forming in grand 

 procession, advanced with music to the 

 Lagoon, winding up the mountain by a well- 

 designed broad road, conducting to the sum- 

 mit, a few feet below which were then 

 washed by the water of the lake. Arrived 

 there, the Cacique and the principal chiefs 



