ht was very cold. Our
minimum thermometer registered 22 deg. F. near the banks of the lake at
night. Nevertheless, there was only a very thin film of ice on the
borders of the lake in the morning, and except in the most shallow
bays there was no ice visible far from the bank. The temperature of the
water at 10:00 A.M. near the shore, and ten inches below the surface,
was 61 deg. F., while farther out it was three or four degrees warmer. By
noon the temperature of the water half a mile from shore was 67.5 deg.
F. Shortly after noon a strong wind came up from the coast, stirring
up the shallow water and cooling it. Soon afterwards the temperature
of the water began to fall, and, although the hot sun was shining
brightly almost directly overhead, it went down to 65 deg. by 2:30 P.M.

The water of the lake is brackish, yet we were able to make our
camps on the banks of small streams of sweet water, although in
each case near the shore of the lake. A specimen of the water,
taken near the shore, was brought back to New Haven and analyzed
by Dr. George S. Jamieson of the Sheffield Scientific School. He
found that it contained small quantities of silica, iron phosphate,
magnesium carbonate, calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate, potassium
nitrate, potassium sulphate, sodium borate, sodium sulphate, and a
considerable quantity of sodium chloride. Parinacochas water contains
more carbonate and potassium than that of the Atlantic Ocean or the
Great Salt Lake. As compared with the salinity of typical "salt"
waters, that of Lake Parinacochas occupies an intermediate position,
containing more than Lake Koko-Nor, less than that of the Atlantic,
and only one twentieth the salinity of the Great Salt Lake.

When we moved to our second camp the Tejada brothers preferred to let
their mules rest in the Puyusca Valley, where there was excellent
alfalfa forage. The arrieros engaged at their own expense a pack
train which consisted chiefly of Parinacochas burros. It is the
custom hereabouts to enclose the packs in large-meshed nets made of
rawhide which are then fastened to the pack animal by a surcingle. The
Indians who came with the burro train were pleasant-faced, sturdy
fellows, dressed in "store clothes" and straw hats. Their burros
were as cantankerous as donkeys can be, never fractious or flighty,
but stubbornly resisting, step by step, every effort to haul them
near the loads.

Our second camp was near the village of Incahuasi, "the h