Chucuito commences twenty leagues west of La Paz, and borders the western shore of lake Titicaca. The extent of this province from north to south is about twenty-eight leagues, its climate, from the high mountains of which it is composed, is cold, and its chief trade consists in the cattle which are pastured in its elevated plains.
The Andes in this province contain many veins of silver, but none of them are worked at present, and the great lake Chucuito takes its name from this district; it is supplied with water from ten or twelve large rivers, and has no other outlet than by the Desaguadero, which flows from it into lake Paria, and is there lost. It abounds with fish, though its waters are bitter and brackish, and numbers of geese and other wild fowl frequent its shores, which are covered with strong flags or rushes of which the bridges in the country are constructed.
It contains many islands, one of which, Titicaca, was formerly a mountain, but was levelled by the Incas. This island gave the lake one of its names, Titicaca signifying Leaden Mountain; and Manco Capac having first appeared here, the succeeding Incas raised a temple of the sun in memory of the event.
This temple was one of the most splendid in the empire, and contained the greatest riches, owing to the obligation which all the Peruvians were under of visiting it, and depositing an offering on the shrine. On the conquest of the country by the Spaniards it is said all these riches, and even the walls of the temple itself, were thrown into the lake.
Towards the south part of the lake the banks approach each other, and form a bay, which terminates in the Rio Desaguadero, or the Drain, and over this river is a bridge of rushes, invented by Capac Yupanqui, the fifth Inca, in order to transport his army across the stream, which is between eighty and one hundred yards in breadth, flowing with an impetuous under current, though its surface is smooth. The Inca caused four large cables to be made of the long grass which grows on the high Paramos or deserts of the Andes, two of these were stretched across the stream, bundles of dry rushes or flags from the borders of the lake were laid across them, and fastened together; on these the other two cables were laid, and they were again covered with other bundles of flags, smaller than the first and firmly fastened together in such a manner as to form a level surface, and over this marched the Peruvian army to the conquest of Charcas.
This bridge, which is five yards broad, and one and a half above the river, is repaired or rebuilt, as circumstances require, every six months, in pursuance of a law made by the Incas, and followed up by the Spanish government, on account of its great utility.
The island Titicaca contains several settlements, and, among others, that of Copacavana, celebrated for its sanctuary of Nuestra Senora de Copacavana. The island produces fruits, flowers and vegetables, pastures much cattle, and in its woods are found wild rabbits and pigeons.
The Indians navigate this lake on balsas or rafts, supported by inflated skins, and carry on by this means a considerable commerce with the towns on the banks.
Chucuito, a small town on the banks of the lake, is the capital of this province, which contains, as do the shores in general, many settlements, villages and towns.
Paucarcolla, the last of the old provinces of La Paz, is bounded on the north-east by the lake; east by the same and Chucuito; north by Lampa; west by Moquehua in Peru; and south by Pacajes and Arica, also in Peru. It is eighty-six leagues long, and twenty-eight broad, and is watered by several streams flowing into the lake, of which the Rio Suches and the Taraco are the largest.