Note 414 — Chapter LXXXIII

The lake of Bombon or Chinchay-cocha is drained by the river of Xauxa, which flows into the Mantaro, one of the sources of the Ucayali, a principal affluent of the Amazon. The other rivers mentioned above, namely the Vilcas, Abancay, Apurimac, and Yucay, are also tributaries of the Ucayali. The erroneous surmise of Cieza de Leon and his informants, who would carry off all these streams into the Paraguay, is by no means surprising when we remember that maps were published in England not twenty years ago, which conveyed the waters of the Beni right across the line of drainage of the great river Purus, and poured them into the Ucuyali! The mistake of Cieza de Leon possibly arose from his having observed that the Xauxa flows south while in the mountains, and that all other tributaries of the Amazon flow north. The Xauxa does not change its direction until it enters the tropical forests, far beyond the ken of the early conquerors.