Cii 11. • SOUTH AMERICA. 191 



CHAP. II. 



Account of the Tyansaclionfi at Quito: n/iliappj/ 

 Occasion of our sudden Return to Guaijaquil. 



ON our arrival at Quito^ we made it our first 

 business to join the French company^ who 

 ■^vere pleased to express a great deal of joy at our rcr- 

 turn. INIr. Cíodin, duriiií»; our absence^ liad finished 

 ilic astrowoinical observations to the northward^, aufl 

 ^though Mesi^rs. Roui>;uer and de la Condamine, had 

 ^Iso i^'oiie t]irou2,h theui, yet they still purposed to re- 

 peat them; for these able academicians, who had at- 

 Avays shewn an indefatigable zeal for the perfection ftf 

 ^thc work^ were particularly attentive in observing- thp 

 .g-reatpst obiiquity of the ecli¡)tic ; at wliich observa- 

 tions "vve aJso assisted ; but several accidents hindered 

 iheni frpni being carried (xu without interruption'. 

 They therefore thought it most agreeable to tiieir 

 cliaracter, and the conmussion with which they liad 

 been honoured, to spend some more time in ascertain- 

 ing this impori ant j)oint, than to leave the couotrv 

 Ix^iore their observations were com{)leicd. Notwith - 

 standinij^ their stay vt as attended with so much incon- 

 venience and fatigue^ they could not tliink of leaving, 

 undetermined, a diiliqulty occasioned by a certain 

 motion which they observed in t'.ie stars, in order to 

 ascertain with the greater accuracy the quantity of the 

 arch, they divided themselves into two companies-. 

 ]3cmguer being at the head of one., and M. de la Coai- 

 damine accompanied by M. Iknguin, at that of the 

 other; the latter, while the geometrical mensuration 

 was can;y;ing on, a])plicd himself with indefatigable 

 labour, and advnirable skill, in drayving maps of thci 

 country, iw order to erect t lie signals in the most ail- 

 vaiitagepus places, lie also assisted both companies. 



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