Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/222

186 voyage of discovery to the Galapagos Islands is marvellous. These statesmen and warriors were no ordinary conquerors, and they were well fitted to rule the vast empire they brought together with such extraordinary skill and determination.

The basin of Lake Titicaca, the land of the mysterious megalithic city, was briefly described in the first essay. After the disruption of the ancient empire there was a long period of centuries of barbarism. The tribes which came to inhabit the country round the lake may have been partly descendants of subjects of the megalithic kings and partly descendants of invaders. They were a hardy race of mountaineers, strong and thick-set, and capable of enduring great fatigue. Like the Incas and Quichuas, they spoke dialects of the same original language.

Of these tribes the were on the crest of the water-parting between the Titicaca drainage and the Vilcamayu. The occupied the whole of the northern half of the Titicaca basin. They were the most numerous and powerful of the tribes in the Titicaca region. Along the western shores of the lake were the The  occupied the eastern side, and to the south were the  and  There was also an almost