254 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP, xx 



excursions, or as dealers in the various products of 

 the country. He sent home, however, to his friend 

 Mr. Teasdale a set of forty-four coloured drawings 

 of " Costumes and Customs of Quito," which are 

 now in possession of his son John Teasdale, Esq., 

 Solicitor, of York, and which he has kindly allowed 

 me an opportunity of inspecting. These were 

 executed by a native Indian (though some writers 

 doubt if there are any absolutely pure Indians left 

 in Ecuador), and are very spirited and life-like, 

 representing all the various trades and occupations 

 of the people in their respective working or holiday 

 costumes, and very naturally coloured, both colours 

 and brushes being made by the artist himself from 

 native vegetables or minerals. They serve to 

 illustrate not only the people themselves, but their 

 tastes in dress and ornaments, and support the view 

 of previous writers as to their possession of mental 

 faculties comparable with those of their conquerors 

 and masters. 



Yet they appear to be by no means prepossess- 

 ing, as exhibited in the accompanying portraits of 

 four Quito Indians, reproduced from photographic 

 prints in Dr. Theodor Wolfs Geografia y Geologia 

 del Ecuador. These recall in their coarse massive 

 features and stolid expressions many of the natives 

 of the North American plains and mountains, such 

 as the Cheyennes and some others, and suggest an 

 original identity of the mountain as opposed to the 

 forest tribes of both continents. 



The following description of the Ecuadoreans in 

 the U niversal Geography Q{ Elisce Reclus emphasises 

 the several characteristics of these people. " Except 

 during times of frenzy and ecstasy, the Ecuadoreans 



