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I
I
Royal
Commentaries.
BooK
VIII.
be ready with their Boats and Canoes, which they rye to the branches of Trees
co fave themfelves, untill chofe Flouds are over, having no other place
wherein
to fecure rhemfelves : It falls into the Sea about the degree of thirty five, being
about
thirty
Leagues wide at the mouth; and
yet
here
below
it
is narrower than
it
is eighty Leagues above, where
it
is
fifty
Leagues broad;
Co
that joyning the
breadth of thefe four Rivers together at the places where they
fall
into the
Sea
we
may fay,
that
they
meafure
one
hundred and
thirty
Leagues in
bre~dth,
and
may be reckoned amoogfr the
Miracles
and Wonders of
Peru.
BeGdes
rhefe
four
great Rivers, there are multitudes
of
other
fmaller Rivers,
which
every-where
fall int-0 the Sea, as we may fee defcrlbed
in
the Waggoners, and Sea-Maps, to
which I
refer
my
felf;
which if joyned together, would make greater Rivers than
any we have
hitherto
mentioned.
A.ndnow
in
fuch
v~ll
Rivers
we
~i.ght
!ationally
~onclude, t~at
great plenty
of
F1ib
were produced m them ; but
1t 1s
quite otherw1fe, namely m
Pe-ru,
which is
the Councrey I chiefly treat of; for with other
parts
I meddle not. Some attri–
bute the caufe of
this
fcarcity of Filh in thofe Rivers to the rapidnefs of their
fueams, which are too violent for Fifh to remain in; and there are very
few
places
in thofe Rivers, where the Waters are
fiill
~
or tolerably quiec. More–
over
it
is obfervable, that the Fi!h which is bred there,
is
of another and
diffe–
rent fort to chat
in
Spain
;
they feem co be all of one kind, -without fcales, the
Head being broad and finooth, in failiion of a Toad,
with
a wide Mouth: How–
foever,
it
is
very favoury, and
pleafant'
to eat; and the skin is
fo
delicate and
f
weet that it
is
the bell: Meat
of
all: they call them
Challua,
which fignifies FHh.
Another
reafon
why
chefe
Rivers
of
Peru,
which fall
into
the
Sea,
are fo
ill
ffored
wj.chFHh
may
be,
becaufe the Waters are fhallow, as well as rapid; and
yet
in
the Winter they are too deep to be waded over.
In the great Lake of
Titicaca
are great quantities of Fi1b, which though
they
are
of
the fame gualicy and form with
thofe
in che Rivers, yet the
Jndia1u,
to dilHn–
gullh them from others, give them the name of
S11chi :
they are fo
fat,
chat when
they
are fryed, or fiewed, they need no other greafe than their own. There
is
likewife
in
this Lake another fort of Fifh, whiCh the
Spaniards
call
BogM,
the
In–
dian
word for them I have forgot ; it
is
a little finall FHh, of a bad tafie, and a
worfe tbape ; and
if
I am not greatly
mill:aken,
they have fcales, and might well
be called
HarrihuelM,
or
Sprats, for the fmallnefs of them: both fores of
chefe
Fillies breed abundantly
in
that great Lake, having room enough to fpawn
in,
and
have fufficiency of feeding, which
is
brought down by the Rivers which fall into
ir.
~
And thus much !hall ferve to have fpoken of Rivers, and of the FHh which
the Wacers of that
Countrey
afford. .
·
CHAP.
,.