423 



on the banks of this lake, near Tiahuanacu, and 

 in the high plains of Collao, that ruins are found 

 which attest a state of civilization * anterior 

 to that which the Peruvians attribute to the 

 reign of the Inca Manco Capac. The eastern 

 Cordillera, that of Le Paz, Palca, Ancuma, and 

 Pelechuco, join, north-west of Apolobamba, the 

 western Cordillera, which is the most extensive 

 of the whole chain of the Andes, between the 

 parallels 14° and 15°. The imperial town of 

 Cuzco is placed near the eastern extremity of 

 this knot, which comprehends, in an area of 

 3000 square leagues, the mountains of Vilca- 

 nota, Carabaya, Abancai, Huando, Parinaco- 

 chas, and Andahuaylas. Although here, as in 

 general, in every considerable widening of the 

 Cordillera, the grouped summits do not follow 

 the principal axis in constant and parallel direc- 

 tions, a phenomenon was however observed in 

 the general disposition of the chain of the 

 Andes, from lat. 18° well worthy the atten- 

 tion of geologists. The whole mass of the 

 Cordilleras of Chili and Upper Peru, from the 

 strait of Magellan to the parallel of the port of 

 Arica (18° 28' 35"), is directed from south to 

 north, in the manner of a meridian at most 5° 

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

 find the two Cordilleras east and west of the 



* Garcilasso, Comentarios Reales, T. i. p. 21. 



