2C4 AVQYAGETO BookV. 



people think them boih safe and easy, they are such 

 asan European stranger would willingly avoid. 



Besides, the natural difficulty of ail the roads 

 ainr>ng the mountains is increased by the neglect of 

 them, which is greater than could easily be conceived. 

 i( a tree, for instance, happens to fall down across the 

 ro^d, and stop up the passage, no person will be at the 

 pains to remove it ; and though all passing that way 

 are put to no small difficulty by such an obstacle, it is 

 iiuffered to continue; neither the government, nor 

 those who frequent the road, taking any care to have 

 h drawn away. Some of these trees are indeed so 

 large, that their diameter is not less than a yard and 

 half, and consequently fill up the whole passage j in 

 which case, the Indians hew away part of the trunk, 

 and assist the maules to leap over v/hat remains ; but, 

 in order to this, they must be unloaded; and, afier 

 prodigious labour, they at last surmount the difficulty; 

 though not without great lossof time, and damage to 

 the goods: when, pleased with having got over the 

 obstacle them'^elve¿;, thev leave the tree in the condi- 

 lion they found it ; so that those who follow are 

 obliged to undergo the same fatigue and trouble. 

 Thus the road, to the great detriment of trade, re- 

 mains encufiibered till time has destroyed the tree. 

 x\or is it only the roads over San Antonio, and other 

 mountums between Guayaquil and theCordillcra, that 

 arc thus neglecled ; the case is general all over this 

 country, especially where they lead over mountains, 

 and throiio-h the forests. 



On the i8ch, at six iii the morning, the thermome- 

 ter al Cruz (Ic Canos was at loio, and after travelling 

 along a road no better than the day before, we arrived 

 ata place, ar the end of the accliviiy of the moun- 

 tain, by the Indians called Pucará, which signifies a 

 gate or narrow pass of a muunt;iin; it' also signifies a 

 iort i tied place, and possibly derived its name from its 

 narrovvness and the natural strength of its situation. 



We 



