Note 54 — Chapter IX

Mr. Pentland found a very perfect volcanic crater, with well-marked currents of lava issuing from it—a rare occurrence in the higher craters of the Andes—near to San Pedro de Cacha, in the valley of the Yucay (lat. 14° 12ʹ, long. 71° 15ʹ W., and at an elevation of 12,000 feet), near to the ruins of the Temple of the Inga Viracocha, a monument and a locality celebrated in Peruvian legend, the nearest point of the sea-coast being 175 miles distant. It is probable that many of the most celebrated mining districts of Alto Peru—Potosi, for instance, situated in a porphyry—have been upheaved at a very recent period. Modern volcanic rocks are not wanting in the valley of the Desaguadero; volcanic conglomerates exist in the deep ravines round the city of La Paz. lat. 16° 30ʹ; and the mountain of Litanias, which furnishes the building-stone for that Bolivian city (lat. 16° 42ʹ, long. 68° 191⁄2ʹ), is composed of a most perfect trachyte, and rises to a height of 14,500 feet above, and at a distance of 160 miles from the Pacific.