QUITO. 305 



CHAPTER VI. 

 QUITO. 



The Town and its Inhabitants Interest in the Ascent of Mountains 

 Three Ascents of Pichincha Ascent of Chimborazo Letters from 

 Paris Despatch of Letters to Europe News of Baudin -Noble Self- 

 reliance Friends at Lima Humboldt's Portrait at Chillo. 



THROUGH the forethought of the Marques de Selvalegre, the 

 travellers found on their arrival at Quito an excellent house 

 prepared for their reception, where they were able to repose, 

 after the hardships of their journey, amid all the comforts 

 ' that could be expected either in London or Paris.' 



' The town of Quito is handsome,' writes Humboldt to his 

 brother in the letter above cited of November 25, 1 802, ' but 

 the sky is frequently overcast ; the mountains in the neigh- 

 bourhood show no appearance of vegetation, and the cold is 

 considerable. The great earthquake of the 4th of February, 

 1797, by which the whole province was convulsed and some 

 40,000 persons instantaneously killed, has in every way proved 

 a most disastrous event. It has so completely altered the 

 climate, that whereas Bouguer found the thermometer usually 

 stood at about 67, it now ranges from 41 to 54, rarely rising 

 to 70. Since that calamity, earthquakes are of frequent 

 occurrence, and occasionally the shocks are of great violence. 

 It seems probable that the whole of the more elevated portion 

 of the province is one vast volcano, and that the so-called 

 mountains of Cotopaxi and Pichincha are but small peaks, 

 the craters of which constitute the emission tubes (chimneys) 

 of the vast subterranean fires. The truth of this hypothesis 

 has unfortunately been only too clearly demonstrated by the 

 earthquake of 1797, for the earth then opened in all direc- 

 tions, casting forth sulphur, water, &c. Notwithstanding the 



TOL. I. X 



