The region which they call Collao appears to me to be the largest province in all Peru, and the most populous. The Collas are first met with at Ayavire, and they extend as far as Caracoto. To the east of their province are the forests of the Andes, to the west are the peaks of the snowy mountains, which descend on the other side to the South Sea. Besides the lands which the natives occupy with their fields and houses, there are vast uninhabited tracts full of wild flocks. The land of the Collas is level in most parts, and rivers of good water flow through it.

These plains form beautiful and extensive meadows, the herbage of which is always plentiful, and at times very green, although in the spring it is parched up as in Spain. The winter begins (as I have already said) in October, and lasts until April. The days and nights are almost equal, and the cold in this district is greater than in any other part of Peru, excepting the snowy peaks, because the land is high, and comes up to the mountains. Certainly if this land of the Collao had a deep valley like those of Xauxa or Chuquiapu, which would yield maize, it would be one of the richest in all the Indies.