Of the great lake which is within the province of the Collao, of its
depth, and of the temple of Titicaca.
This land of the Collao is very extensive (as I have said in former
chapters), and, besides the inhabited parts, there are many deserts,
snowy mountains, and grassy plains which yield sustenance to the wild
flocks which wander in all directions. In the centre of the province
there is the largest and broadest lake that has been found in the
Indies, near which are most of the villages of the Collao. The people
raise their crops on large islands in the lake, where they also keep
their valuables, as being safer than in the villages along the roads. I
remember that I have already said that it is so cold in this province,
that not only are there no fruit trees, but they cannot raise maize. In
the beds of reeds in this lake there are many kinds of birds, such as
large ducks, and they kill two or three kinds of fish in the lake, which
are very good, though they are held to be unwholesome.
This lake is so large that it has a circumference of eighty leagues, and
so deep that the captain Juan Ladrillero told me that in some parts,
when he was sailing with his brigantines, he found the depth to be
seventy or eighty _brazas_, in some places more, in others less. In this
respect, and in regard to the waves that are formed when the wind rises,
it appears like some gulf of the sea.[495] If it is desired that I
should say how so much water was collected into this lake, I am unable
to do so, for, though many rivers and streams fall into it, I do not
think that they would suffice to make it what it is, especially as a
river flows out of it into another smaller lake called Aullagas. It may
be that, after the deluge, this lake remained with the water we now see
in it, for if it communicated with the sea the water would be salt and
not fresh; besides it is at a distance of sixty leagues from the sea.
All this water flows out in a deep river which they called the
Desaguadero, and falls into the lake which, as I have already said, is
called Aullagas.
Another thing worthy of attention is, that we see how the water of one
lake enters the other (that is, the water of the lake of the Collao
flows into the Aullagas), but not how it flows out of the lake of
Aullagas, although it has been examined on all sides. On this subject I
have heard both Spaniards and Indians say that, in some of the valleys
near the South Sea, they had seen streams of water, which flow under
the earth towards the said sea; and they believe that this may be the
water of the lake, draining out and opening for itself a road through
the bowels of the earth, until it reaches the place to which all waters
go, which is the sea.
The great lake of the Colloa is called Titicaca, from the temple which
was built on an island in it. The natives held a very vain and foolish
belief, which was, that in the time of their ancestors there was no
light for many days, and that, when all was wrapped in darkness and
obscurity, the resplendent sun came up out of this island of Titicaca,
for which reason it was considered sacred, and the Yncas erected a
temple on it in honour of the sun, which was much revered and venerated
among them, and which contained many virgins and priests, and great
store of treasure, of which the Spaniards, at different times, have
collected a great deal, but most of it is still missing.[496] If, in
truth, the Indians ever really were in want of light, as they say, it
must have been owing to some eclipse of the sun; and, as they are such
sorcerers, they invented this fable, in which they were assisted by the
illusions of the devil, God permitting it for their sins.