The most considerable lakes arc, the Titicaca, which is the most noted in South America, and lies between the two Cordilleras of Peru, in the province of Los Char eas. It is about 240 miles in circumference, of an irre gular form, and navigable by vessels of considerable burthen ; but subject to violent squalls of wind, which descend from the lofty mountains which surround it. It abounds with fish and water fowl ; and its banks arc covered with a fertile soil, and adorned with populous towns and villages. In one of its picturesque islands, Marco Capae, the founder of the Peruvian empire, is said to have first conceived the design of civilizing the naked savages of his country. This island was ed as sacred by the Peruvians, and contained one of their most splendid temples, which was enriched with the annual offerings of the worshippers of the sun. Phis immense accumulation of wealth was thrown into the lake upon the approach of the Spaniards, who have since made frequent attempts to recover it, but without success. The lake of lberi, or Caracaras, lies between the rivers Parana and U raguay. Its northern boundai y runs in a parallel line the banks of the former river for nearly 30 leagues, and extends as far to the south; it supplies the river Mirinay, which runs into the Ura guay ; and from its south-weste rn corner issue three other considerable s.reams, viz. the Sta Lucia, Corrien tes, and Bateles, none of which arc foldable. This lake receives neither rivers, brook, nor spring, but is nou rished entirely by the simple filtration of the waters of the Parana, a phenomenon of which there is no other example in the world ; and this filtration thus supplies not only the four great rivers which issue from the lake, but also the vast quantity of water which must be con tinualiy carried off by evaporation, from a surface of more than a thousand square leagues, which, from the experiments of Halleyonay, be estimated at above 70,000 tons a-day, supposing it the mean temperature of Eng • land. This expanse of water, however, is lor the most part very shallow, and filled with aquatic plants ; so that its interior is altogether inaccessible. The islands with wnich it is studded, are well stocked with deer and other game ; flocks of wild fowl are continually skim mmg on its surface ; its fish are remarkably sweet and fresh ; and many flourishing presidencies are establish ed on its shores.
Among the lakes of this country, there are many which are full of water during the rainy season, and arc perfectly dry throughout the rest of ihe year, and filled with sword-grass, and other aquatic plants. Of this description is the famous lake Xarayes, in the province of Los Chiquitos, which is formed by the overflowing of the Paraguay. The channel of this river being unable to contain the rapid accumulation of water produced by the rains which fall during the months of November, December, January, and February, it is spread over a flat and level country, to an immense extent, but so shal low. that though the Xarayes at its height is nearly 110 leagues in length, and 40 in breadth, yet in no part is it navigable. This lake was formerly supposed to be the source of the Paraguay ; and many stories were told con cerning a beautiful island near its centre, which, from the salubrity of its air, and the spontaneous fertility of its soil, was called the island of Paradise, and which was said to be inhabited by the Orejones, a Peruvian nation, who had taken refuge here on the conquest of their country. These, however, and other fables, with which the history of the °mimes are embellished, are merely the ebullitions of Spanish romance, without either foun dation or probability. Of the same nature with the Xarayes are the lakes Aguaracaty, and Neembucu, and all those cast of the river Paraguay, with an innumera ble multitude of others, on the banks of the different rivers, which traverse this extensive vice royalty.
A chain of salt lakes extends from west to east, be tween the Andes of Chili and the Rio the la Plata. One of these, in particular, which lies about 120 leagues S. W. of Buenos Ayres, is remarkably salt. It is nearly 18 miles in circumference, and the salt found at the bot tom is so hard and thick, that it is difficult to break it with iron tools. Two or three hundred carts arc annu
ally loaded with it, and carried to Buenos Ayres ; and what is very remarkable in this chain is, that a few of the lakes are fresh, though during the rains they are so swelled, that they often communicate with those that arc salt. Besides these lakes, all the springs through out the greater part of the flat country, west of the Pa rana and Paraguay, are more or less salt ; and few of their waters can be drank till they enter the Parana. The soil of this region, extending about 700 miles in length, and 190 in breadth, is saturated with fossil salt. Great quantities of it are refined for consumption ; but it is most abundant between Sta Fe and Cordova, and, in the vicinity of San Jago del Estero, the whole ground is covered with a white incrustation of this substance.
Every variety of soil, and every diversity of climate, is to be found in this extensive region ; from the barren and unhospitahlc steeps of the Andes, whose summits are covered with never melting snows, and the burning deserts of Chaco, to the fertile and delightful wallies which skirt the borders of the Uraguay and Parana. Here all the productions of the temperate and torrid zones find soils and situations adapted to their various natures. We may observe, however, that this variety of climate follows no exact gradation arising from the difference of latitude ; but the heat and cold of this country seems to depend rather on the direction of the winds, than the position or declination of the sun. A south, or south-cast wind, is always attended with cold, while it is as invariably warm with a wind from the north. At Assumption, which lies in nearly the centre latitude of the viceroyalty, M. Azara found, that in ordi nary days. clueing the summer, the mercury in Fahren heit's thermometer rose, in his chamber, to 85°, and, on some extraordinary occasions, mounted as high as 100° ; while in winter it fell as low as 45° ; and, in 1786 and 1789, water froze in the court before his house. The common winds in this country are the east and north. If the south-west blows, the sky becomes calm and se rene ; and a west wind is here scarcely known ; or if it be sometimes felt, it never lasts above a couple of hours. A south-east wind generally precedes the rains in win ter ; but it is most severe during the spring and sum mer, sometimes raising such clouds of dust, as com pletely to conceal the sun. Hurricanes arc very rare, but when they do happen arc rather violent ; as that on the 14th of May 1799, which overturned one half of the town of Atira in Paraguay, and killed 36 persons. Fogs, snow, and hail, are seldom seen, except on the summits of the mountains. Thunder storms, however, are both frequent and violent ; and, notwithstanding the level na ture of the country, and the absence of woods and rising grounds, the holt falls ten times more frequently here than in the south of Europe. In one of these storms, which happened on the 21st of Jan. 1793. the thunder bolt fell 37 times in the interior of the city of Buenos Ayres, and killed 19 persons. According to M. Azara, the storms of rain and thunder. which are so prevalent in this country, cannot be attributed to the influence of mountains and woods, as there is not a mountain within a hundred leagues of Buenos Ayres, nor a tree south of the river La Plata, or even on the north as far as Para guay, except on the banks of the rivulets. They must therefore be owing to some peculiarity in the nature of the atmosphere. It must contain a greater quantity of electric fluid than the atmosphere of Europe, and also possess some quality more suited to the condensation of vapour and reducing it to rain. The same author has observed, that the humidity of the atmosphere, and the violence of the winds, gradually increases from the city of Assumption to Buenos Ayres ; and that the thunder storms, on the contrary, are less violent as they proceed to the south. The salubrity of the climate, however, is surpassed by that of no other country in the world. Even in the vicinity of the marshes and inundated lands, which arc here to be frequently met with, the health of the inhabitants is not in the smallest degree affected.