The New Student's Reference Work/Titicaca

Titicaca (tĭt′ ḗ-kä′ kȧ), a South American lake, 12,000 feet above the sea. It lies partly in Bolivia and partly in Peru, and is 100 miles long and about 35 broad. Some remarkable ruins on its small islands seem to belong to a higher civilization than was found in the country when it was conquered by the Spaniards. There are pyramids covering several acres and doorways, pillars and statues sculptured in peculiar style. On the cornice of a doorway is a human figure with a crown of rays and crested serpents. The statues were all on a large scale, and the whole region is strewn with the great sculptured blocks. Two steamers ply on the lake, having been carried in pieces across the Andes in 1871, and a railroad from Arequipa to the lake has been built, which opens the country, with its rich stores of silver, copper and timber and its products of chocolate, coffee and alpaca-wool. See Andes, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru.