346 HALL'S EXCURSIONS. 
x 
than less. Its sides, everywhere perpendicular, denote it to 
have been suddenly produced by volcanic action. A narrow 
winding path leads to the stream which flows through it. On 
the eastern side we find carbonate of soda. From the ravine 
it is about a league to the farm of Sicsipamba, where we 
arrived early in the evening. The Spaniards have little 
love of a country life, and this taste, or distaste, they have 
communicated to their South-American descendants. In the 
whole territory of Quito, and we may extend the observation 
as far as Cuenca and Guayaquil, there are not more than 
half a dozen country residences, which display any attention 
to decency or comfort. In the whole valley of Chillo we 
may reckon two: one belonging to the Marquis of San Jose, 
and the other to D. Vicento Aguirro. All the rest, though 
several of them have been constructed at a considerable 
expense, are monuments of neglect or decay. As they are 
almost all built on one plan and differ only in size, one 
description will serve for all. The style of architecture is 
monastic. A large quadrangle, surrounded by corridors, on _ 
one side of which are a chapel and a stone cross, or the remains 
of one in the centre: gloomy apartments, generally filled 
with grain, hides and lumber, in which the traces of painting 
on the mouldering walls and ceilings indicate that they were 
once intended to be inhabited, and one of which, more con- 
spicuous by its dirt and litter, is the residence of the mayor- 
domo, or bailiff, and his family : not a pane of glass to exclude 
wind, and scarcely a door will close on its hinges:—such is 
a farm-house, or rather, I should say, such are the farm- 
houses in this country. But to make amends for these 
defects, we find abundance of open corridors and miradores, 
or “look-outs,” as if plenty of fresh air were the only 
desideratum on the summit of the Andes. A few rose-bushes 
sometimes indicate the site of a garden; where, however, 
little is cultivated but alfalfa or tares, for fodder ; for of all 
arts, that of gardening is least understood or practised in 
South America. 
. Sicsipamba is the property of Don Jose Feliz Valdineso, 
