On the islands of Titicaca and Coati there are also extensive ruins, the remains of temples and convents of virgins dedicated to the worship of the Sun and Moon; and Dr. Weddell mentions that there is a kind of phlox on these islands (Cantua buxifolia), its very elegant long scarlet flower being called by the Aymara Indians the "flower of the Incas." 6

Although I was unable to visit either the ruins at Tiahuanaco or those on the islands, I found time to examine ruins of the same character on the shores of the lake of Umayu near Vilque, where the great cemetery of the chiefs of the Aymara tribes of the Collao appears to have been. These ruins are at a place called Sillustani, on the north side of the lake of Umayu, where a high rocky table-land juts out so as to form a peninsula, which is literally covered with places of sepulture. Four of them are towers of finely-cut masonry, equal to that of Cuzco, with the sides of the stones dovetailing into each other. On climbing up the steep rocky path which leads to the table-land, the first on the right-hand side is perched on the very edge of the northern precipice. Half of it is destroyed, the other half is of well-cut stones, with a broad rounded cornice near the summit, and a vaulted roof, part of which remains entire. In the interior, near the foundation, there is a vaulted chamber entered by a small aperture, and full of human bones. The rest of the tower was filled up with small stones and earth, leaving a narrow shaft which ascended from the chamber to the summit, down which the bodies may have been lowered into the chamber.

On the left there is another smaller tower of exactly similar construction. Further on, and near the verge of the southern precipice, there are two other towers close together. One is thirty-six feet high, and built of the same well-cut masonry, with a cornice and vaulted roof, and a great lizard carved in relief on one of the stones near the base, which

6 It is now introduced into our greenhouses.

measures six feet by three." The other tower was apparently exactly similar, but it is now in a very ruinous state.

Besides these more remarkable edifices, the table-land is covered with other towers of rough unhewn stone and earth, and there are the remains of two square edifices built of cyclopean stones. The fallen parts of the towers were covered with masses of bright yellow composite called suncho, and a purple solanum; and they were frequented by the creepers called haccacllo, little green paroquets, a small quail called pucupucu, and the little ground-dove cullca; numbers of biscache rabbits burrowed in the ruins, while two or three lordly coraquenques soared in circles over the table-land. After carefully examining the old towers of Sillustani, I passed the night in a very small hut, close to the lake of Umayu, the waters of which were smooth as glass, an island in the centre, and blue ranges of mountains capped with snow in the distance. To get into the hut it was necessary to go on hands and knees, the doorway being only three feet high, with a hide door stretched on a wooden frame. The hut was built of rough stones and thatched with barley-straw; but inside there was a hospitable welcome and good cheer: the old Indian who dwelt there, and his young daughter, providing excellent boiled potatoes, cream-cheese, and fresh milk.

The ruins of Tiahuanaco, and on the islands in the lake, and the towers of Sillustani, are the principal remains of ancient Aymara civilization. Nothing is known respecting the people who raised these imperishable monuments, except that, in the middle of the eleventh century, a man and woman, declaring themselves to be children of the Sun, are said to have first appeared on the shores of the great lake, and, marching north, to have founded the empire of the Incas.

7 The lizard appears to have been a favourite device amongst the ancient Aymaras. There is also one carved on

a block of stone amongst the ruins of Tiahuanaco.

The circumstance that Manco Ccapac, the first Inca of Peru, originally appeared in the country of the Aymaras, has led to the belief that he was himself a chief of that nation; but I am more inclined to the opinion that he was one of a band of adventurers who had been brought from Asia, or her vast archipelago of islands, by the westerly winds of the South Pacific, and the southerly breezes of the coast, to the port of Arica; that he thence made his way to the banks of the great lake, where he became indoctrinated in the religion of the people; and that, for some reason, he continued his wanderings, until he finally collected a sufficiently numerous following to found an independent state at Cuzco. It seems certain, from emblems found carved upon the ruins, and from tradition, that the worship of the Sun and Moon was established amongst the Aymaras for ages before the conquest of their country by the Incas of Cuzco.

It was not for several generations after the foundation of the empire of the Incas, that their conquests were extended over the Aymara nation of the Collao; and it was not until about the middle of the eleventh century that the country on the shores of lake Titicaca became part of the great empire whose centre and capital was at Cuzco. From that time the islands of Titicaca and Coata, and the peninsula of Copacabana, became the most sacred and venerated spots within the dominions of the Incas; as the localities where their great progenitor Manco Ccapac was believed to have made his first appearance.

Copacabana means "the place of a precious stone," copa being a precious stone, and cavana a place where anything is seen.8 A rock called Titicaca gave its name to the island and lake: titi being Aymara for a cat, and caca a

The idol of Copacabana was made | and a fish's body, and it was adored as of a beautiful blue stone, hence the the God of the Lake.

name. It had an ugly human head,

I

rock, for on this rock a cat is said to have sat with fire shooting from its eyes. In Quichua titi means lead. On this rock, which is at the west end of the island of Titicaca,1 there was an altar where the Aymaras adored the Sun, and near it there were three idols joined in one, called Apu Ynti (the Chief Sun), Churip Ynti (the Son's Sun), and Yntip Huauqui (Brother of the Sun). The Inca Tupac Yupanqui (A.D. 1439-75) founded a palace and a village about half a league from the rock, and established a convent of virgins there.2

The island of Coata, a league to the eastward of Titicaca, was dedicated to the Moon, the name being derived from Coyata, the accusative of Coya, a queen; the Moon ranking as wife to the Sun. The ruins of the Accla huasi, or convent of virgins, on Coata island, are 120 feet long, the interior being divided into numerous cells, with rows of niches in the walls. They are now overshadowed by queñuatrees, whose dark foliage adds to the sombre melancholy of these silent memorials of the past. On both the islands there were, in the time of the Incas, large establishments of Virgins of the Sun, who were divided into three grades, according to their beauty. The most lovely were called Guayruro; the next Yurac Aclla, or white maidens; and the plain ones Paco Aclla, or beast maidens. Each grade was governed by a Mamacona or nurse, and an Apu-panaca or governor lived near the convent, who guarded it, and supplied its inmates with provisions. The occupations of the virgins were weaving, embroidery, and brewing sacrificial chicha, to be poured out on the altar of the deity.3

9 Calancha.

1 Facing the road on the mainland, between Juli and Pomata.

2 He nominated Apu Inca Sucso, a grandson of the Inca Viracocha, as Governor; who was father of Apuchalco Yupanqui, the grandfather of Don Alonzo Viracocha Inca, and his brother

Don Pablo, who governed the island of Titicaca, under the Spaniards, in A.D. 1621.

3 Fray Alonzo Ramas says that in 1611 an old woman, aged 120 years, died at Viacha, a day's journey from La Paz, who confessed that she had been a Virgin of the Sun.

After the conquest, the Spanish Viceroys handed over the province of Chucuito, and the islands in the lake, to the Dominican friars, who succeeded in introducing far grosser and more degrading superstitions amongst the Indians than they had ever practised on the islands of Titicaca and Coata; and in establishing, on the adjacent peninsula of Copacabana, a shrine, the pretended sanctity of which attracted devotees and rich presents from all parts of Spanish America.

Its origin appears to have been as follows:-A member of the family of the Incas, named Francisco Titu Yupanqui, not having money enough to buy an image of the Virgin for his church, painted a very bad picture, and the cura, Antonio de Almeida, either to please the Indian, or because there were few images or pictures in the country, allowed it to be placed near the altar. But the next cura, Antonio de Montoro, seeing that it caused more laughter than devotion, ordered it to be put in a corner of the sacristy. The poor artist then went to Potosi to learn to paint, and, after much labour, he succeeded in completing a picture which, the moment it was placed in the church at Copacabana, began to work miracles. It was set up in 1583, and the Inca painter died in 1608. The first thing the picture did was to banish all devils out of the province, and to cure many Indians of their diseases; and its fame became so great that in 1588 the Count of Villar, viceroy of Peru, solemnly delivered it to the care of the Augustine friars by a royal edict. Between 1589 and 1652 it is said to have performed 186 miracles. One Alonzo de Escote, for favours received, saved up money for the purpose of giving the Virgin a lamp, and at length he presented the richest then to be found in the Spanish colonies, twenty feet long, with sockets for as many candles as there are days in the year, all of solid silver. Even as late as 1845, when Dr. Weddell saw the church, it was very richly gilt.