4 Meteorological Observations made in 
The Quitean Andes afford us another powerful illustration of 
this view of the subject. The following is the line of elevatiol 
between Quito and Chimborazo : 
va 
se 
2h 
Fe: 
ae 
Eh 
Quito. : ‘ . 9,537 feet 59° Fahr. 
Llactacunga : - -» 10,285 57° © 
Hambato ‘ : 61° 
Riobamba é : 9,377 57° 
Guaranda:s6-8 > V9,076 58° j 
The roads which descend to the coast of the Pacific are few 
almost impassible, and lead to no seaport of importance except 
Guayaquil. Journeys thither are undertaken with fear and hes 
tation; and the character of the Serranos is marked «with all the 
traits of isolation resulting from the geography of the country. 
Next to the direct influence exercised by climate on the frame 
of man, we may consider it relatively to the facility it affords of 
nourishing him, and advancing his progress in civilization. The 
most important presents made by the Old to the New World ae 
cattle and cerealia. The only domesticated quadruped known 
to the Indians was the llama, which furnished, like the sheep, with 
thick wool, unwillingly descends or is propagated in the sultty 
lowlands. ‘The horned cattle of Europe, on the contrary, have 
multiplied almost equally on the plains as on the paramos. Of 
the farm of Antisana, for instance, at an elevation of from 12,000 
to 16,000 feet, there is no less than 4,000 head. The herds rai 
ed on the plains of Venezuela, as on the Pampas of Buen 
Ayres, are, or were previous to the revolution, almost countless 
Two immense magazines of animal food are thus placed at the 
two extremes of temperature, in situations uninterfered with by 
agricultural labor. 'The horse has been destined to figure in the 
political changes of the New World. The fear and respect with | 
which he inspired the natives at the period of the Conquest is 
well known. ~ Horses have since multiplied prodigiously in ® 
parts of the country, but more especially in the plains of Veneat 
ela. There, during the war of independence, Paez, and othet | 
guerilla chiefs, at the head of an irregular cavalry, and maintained 
by the cattle, defied the efforts of the Spanish infantry, and kept 
alive the embers of the revolution. y 
The best kinds of horses are those that are bred in the lowlands, 
and brought to the mountains at about four years old, where the” 
acquire hardihood by the influence of a colder climate, and theit 
