all the dead rushes to the western side, mixing with the living beds, and forming a dense tangled mass. The lake abounds in fish of very peculiar forms, and in aquatic birds. The principal islands of the lake are those of Titicaca and Coati, near the peninsula of Copacabana; that of Campanario in the east, opposite the town of Escoma, and nine miles from the shore; Soto, also in the northern part, which is said to contain coal;[148] and Esteves, in the bay of Puno, where the patriot prisoners were confined by the Spaniards during the war of independence; besides a small archipelago in the lake of Huaqui. A very ancient civilization existed on the shores of lake Titicaca long before the appearance of the first Inca of Peru; the principal remains of which are to be found at Tiahuanaco,[149] near the southern shore of the lake of Huaqui. An extensive tract is here covered by huge blocks of carved stone. It was with much regret that I was obliged, by my duty, to give up my intention of visiting these interesting remains. M. de Castelnau mentions two colossal statues of a man and a woman, crowned with a kind of turban; a colossal head and a lizard carved on blocks of stone; a great conical artificial hill; and a monolithic doorway, the upper part of which is covered with very curious sculpture. In the centre there is a figure, probably representing the Sun, and on each side a number of figures all turned towards it, with wings, and sceptres in their hands: those on one side with their heads crowned, and those on the other with heads of griffins, and the bodies adorned with garlands of human heads.[150] All who have visited these ruins consider them to be of a distinct character from those of Cuzco, and other works of the Incas. The stones are more richly carved, and many of them have been united by means of a metal poured into transverse grooves. M. de Castelnau considers that the chief characteristic of Aymara ruins is the minute detail in the carving on the stones, while that of the Incas consists in the grand simplicity of the masonry.[151] [Illustration: THE TOWERS OF SILLUSTANI. Page 111.] On the islands of Titicaca and Coati there are also extensive ruins, the remains of temples and convents of virgins dedicated to the worship of the Sun and Moon; and Dr. Weddell mentions that there is a kind of phlox on these islands (_Cantua buxifolia_), its very elegant long scarlet flower being called by the Aymara Indians the "flower of the Incas."[152]