Cum enim viderent arcum illum non nisi pluvio tempore in conspectu venire, et tunc arborum cacuminibus velut insidere, persuadebant sibi aquarum illum esse Praesidem, arboresque proceras omnes sua in tutela habere." Franc.

Xav., Eder, _Descriptio Provinciae Moxitarum in Regno Peruano_ p.

249 (Budae, 1791).] Or we may take the Muyscas, a cultivated and interesting nation who dwelt on the lofty plateau where Bogota is situated.

They worshiped the Rainbow under the name _Cuchaviva_ and personified it as a goddess, who took particular care of those sick with fevers and of women in childbirth.

She was also closely associated in their myth with their culture-hero Bochica, the story being that on one occasion, when an ill-natured divinity had inundated the plain of Bogota, Bochica appeared to the distressed inhabitants in company with Cuchaviva, and cleaving the mountains with a blow of his golden sceptre, opened a passage for the waters into the valley below.[1] [Footnote 1: E.Uricoechea, _Gramatica de la Lengua Chibcha_, Introd., p.
xx.