DESERT OF ASUAY. 



condition their only resource was to take shelter in 

 a breach or chasm. The two companies were both 

 at that time on the desert, so that the sufferings of 

 both were equal. The Indians who attended them, 

 frequently deserted; and thus were they as often 

 obliged to perform everything themselves, till re- 

 lieved by others, who were sent from a distance. 



While thus labouring under a variety of difficul- 

 ties from wind and snow, from frost and cold, for- 

 saken by the Indians, with little or no provisions, 

 and a scarcity of fuel, fervent prayers were offered 

 for their preservation in Channan, at the foot of the 

 Cordilleras, for the inhabitants feared that they 

 must inevitably perish ; and when, at length, the 

 whole company passed safely through the town, the 

 people ran out of their houses, with expressions of 

 the most cordial delight. 



It was at first determined to erect signals of 

 wood, in the form of pyramids, but this intention 

 was soon abandoned. Signals, indeed, of any kind, 

 were either blown down by the wind, or carried 

 away by the Indians who tended their cattle on the 

 sides of the mountain. It was, therefore, deter- 

 mined to make the tents in which they lodged serve 

 as signals. 



Thus resolved, the astronomers, on descending 

 from the summit of Pinchincha, entered upon that 

 stern, and dangerous life, which continued for nearly 

 two years. During that time, they successively 

 occupied sixty-five stations in the most desert places. 

 In each, the inconveniences were the same, but they 

 became less harassing in proportion as their bodies 

 were inured to fatigue, and naturalized to the cold 



