xix IN THE ECUADOREAN ANDES 185 



and the houses oscillated to and fro, in a way to 

 quite upset one's notions of the earth's stability. 

 I cannot walk abroad in any direction without 

 seeing evidence of former earthquakes, far more 

 violent than this one, and some of them of not very 

 ancient date. 



A short time after this earthquake, I was talking 

 about it to a neighbour, when he remarked, " It is 

 seven years ago since we had an earthquake that 

 did any damage, and then only a single house was 

 destroyed, and it stood exactly where yours does, 

 which was built on its ruins." This was startling, 

 but I was reassured when I learnt that the house 

 overthrown was built of adobes, and therefore 

 easily thrown down, whereas the new one was of 

 wooden pillars and wattles, the interspace being 

 filled with earth, and both inside and outside 

 plastered and whitewashed ; and that the pillars, 

 being of " helechos " (trunks of tree-ferns), were 

 so tough as to sway backwards and forwards 

 without ever breaking. All the other houses in 

 the village had the uprights also of tree-fern. 



[On January 16, 1858, Spruce removed to the 

 town of Ambato, situated on the highroad from 

 Guayaquil to Quito, and about midway between 

 the two cities. This town continued to be his 

 head-quarters for two and half years, when he finally 

 quitted the higher Andes. 



A series of extracts (made by Spruce himself) 

 from letters to his friend Teasdale carry on the 

 narrative of his more general observations and 

 experiences during the year 1858. In this period 

 he visited Riobamba and Quito, as well as Banos, 

 several times, and made numerous excursions to 



