IN THE ECUADOREAN ANDES 191 



South America near upon thirty years. He was 

 formerly medical attendant to ex-President Flores, 

 and lecturer on Anatomy in the University of 

 Quito ; but he married several years ago a young 

 Peruvian in Cuenca, the widow of one of Bolivar's 

 generals, and he has since then resided in Cuenca 

 and Riobamba. He has but one child living- 

 a boy of about fifteen. Dr. Taylor is a native of 

 Cumberland, and has had a good education when 

 young ; he has still Greek enough to read and 

 enjoy Anacreon ; and what is much better, he is a 

 very kind-hearted, honourable man, which can't be 

 said of many Englishmen I have met in South 

 America. 



I found it a rather fatiguing day's ride to 

 Riobamba. Instead of starting at five in the morning, 

 as we ought to have done, it was ten when we got off, 

 in consequence of a delay in bringing in the horses. 

 The first 17 miles was mostly over loose sand, 

 where the horses sometimes sank to the knees. 

 This brought us to Mocha, a small village, some 

 1500 feet higher up than Ambato, and with a very 

 chilly climate. The chief industry of its scanty 

 population is the keeping of horses and mules for 

 hire to Quito and Guayaquil. From Mocha there 

 is a steep descent to a stream, and then we begin 

 to reascend towards Chimborazo. The ground 

 becomes firmer, and grassy, and at about two-thirds 

 of the ascent a road branches off to the right, 

 which leads to Guayaquil. It crosses the southern 

 shoulder of Chimborazo, at a height of over 14,000 

 feet. We keep straight on ; and up, up, up, till we 

 come out on an elevated grassy plain (the Paramo 



