THE SACRED LAKE TITICACA. 



485 



To the aboriginal animals of the Puna have been added, since the Spanish conquest, 

 the ox, the horse, the mule, and the sheep. These do not inhabit the bleak Despo- 

 blado, though the horse and the mule, under the guidance of man, traverse as beasts 

 of burden its bleakest wastes and most rugged passes. The herds of oxen and sheep 

 are, during the wet season, driven far up into the Altos, often to the hight of 15,000 

 feet ; but when the cold frosty nights of the dry season arrive, they are driven down 

 to the valleys which furrow the table-land. Here there are haciendas, or estates, the 

 owners of which possess 60,000 sheep and 500 cows. These herds seldom see the 

 face of man, and have relapsed into a half savage state, rendering traveling dangerous 

 in many parts of the Puna. Von Tschudi, whose journey ings in this region are more 

 extensive than those of any other European, was more than once compelled to save his 

 life from the attacks of a wild bull by a well-aimed shot from his rifle. 



The frequent showers and snow-falls of the Puna give rise to numerous swamps and 

 lao-oons which afford nourishment to an abundance of birds. There is the huacha 



o 



goose, with a snow-white body and dark green wings shining with metallic lustre ; the 

 lic'i, a species of plover; the long-legged ibis and flamingo; and the gigantic coot, 

 which, unable to fly in the air, dives in the cold waters, and builds its nest on the 

 bare stones which rise above the surface. 



The frosts of winter and a perpetual spring are nowhere found in closer proximity 

 than in these Peruvian highlands ; for deep valleys furrow the windy Puna, and when 

 the traveler, benumbed by the cold blasts of the mountain plains, descends into these 

 sheltered gorges, he finds himself transported almost at once from, the rigors of a polar 

 climate to a terrestrial paradise. They are so high that the rays of the tropical sun 

 are not felt ; and protected by their abrupt rocky walls from the keen blasts of the 

 mountains, these pleasant valleys enjoy all the advantages of a mild and genial sky. 

 Rich corn-fields and green lucerne meadows would almost persuade the European 

 traveler that he had been by magic transported to his own home, were it not that the 

 sight of agaves and cactuses upon the rocky sides by day, and new constellations by 

 night, remind him that he is in another hemisphere. There are regions here where 

 the traveler may in the morning leave the snow-covered Puna hut in which he has 

 shivered over night, and before sunset pluck pine-apples and bananas on the cultivated 

 margin of a tropical forest, and repose under the feathery leaves of gigantic palms. 



But in this vast highland region there is nothing which possesses so deep a human 

 interest as Lake Titicaca, for in it is embosomed the sacred island, to which the Incas 

 traced their origin, and which to this day is to their descendants all that Jerusalem 

 and Mecca are to Hebrews, Christians, and Mohammedans. The lake lies at an 

 elevation of 12,864 feet above the sea, less than 3,000 feet lower than the summit of 

 Mont Blanc, and higher than any point in Europe except the ten loftiest peaks of the 

 Alps. It is 120 miles long and 50 or 60 wide. It never freezes over, though ice 

 forms near its shores. It exercises a very important influence on the climate of the 

 cold and desolate region in which it is situated, for during the winter months the tem- 

 perature of the waters is ten or twelve degrees above that of the atmosphere. Wherever 

 the shores are low they aflbrd pasturage for herds of cattle ; and multitudes of water- 

 fowl find shelter among the reeds and rushes. On the little islands barley, peas and 

 maize ripen, although they are not prolific. 



The largest of the islands is the sacred Island of Titicaca, bold, bare, and rocky, 



