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206 A VOYAGE TO Book V. 



month having been conversant only u^ith the products 

 of hot and moist countries, very foreign to these, 

 w^hich nearly resemble those of Europe, and excited 

 in our minds the pleiising idea of our native soil. 



The corregidor entertained us in his house at Gua- 

 randa till the 21st of the same month, when we con- 

 tinued our journey to Quito. The thermometer was 

 for three days successively at 10044-. 



On the 2,2d, we began to cross the desert of Chirn-» 

 boiazo, leaving the mountain of that name on the 

 left, and travelling over different eminences and 

 heights, most of which were of sand, the snow for a 

 great distance forming, as it were, the sides of the 

 mountain. At half an hour after five in the evening 

 we arrived at a place called Rumi Machai, that is, 

 a stony cave, an appellation derived from a vast ca- 

 vity in a rock, and which is the only lodging travel- 

 lers find here. 



This day's journey was not without its trouble ; 

 for though we had nothing to fear from precipices, 

 or dangerous passes, like those in the road to Gua- 

 randa, yet we suffered not a little from the cold of 

 that desert, then increased by the violence of the wind. 

 Soon after we had passed the large sandy plain, and 

 being thus got over the severest part of the desert, we 

 came to the ruins of an antient palace of Yncas, situ- 

 ated in a valley between two mountains; buttheseruina 

 are little more than the foundations of the walls. 



On the 23d, at three quarters after five in the morn- 

 ing, the thermometer was at 1000, or the freezing 

 point, and accordingly we found the whole country 

 covered with a hoar frost ; and the hut in which we 

 lay bid ice on it. At nine in the morning we set out, 

 still keeping along the side of Chimborazo. At two 

 in the afternoon wearrrived at Mocha, a small, mean 

 place ; but where we were obliged tcr pass the night. 



On the 24th, at six in the morning, the thermome- 

 ter was at 100Ó ; and at nine we set out for Hambato, 

 I which 



