2X4 CKOSSING THE ANDES. 



little less than nine thousand feet ; just the zone, under the 

 equator, of eternal spring. Five thousand four hundred 

 feet higher is the bleak pass leading over the highest 

 range to the plains of Quito. From the outskirts of the 

 town Chimborazo towers upward Avith one unbroken, 

 dizzy sweep of over twelve thousand feet. The trail 

 which we must follow leads us up to within seven thou- 

 sand feet of the summit of the mountain. Our Guayaquil- 

 ian friends had admonished us to cross the crest before 

 10 p. M., as later the winds sweep violently down the sides 

 of Chimborazo, and driving storms imperil the traveller 

 ujDon the pass. Although we charged our arricros to be 

 ready to start by five in the morning, it was nine before 

 they were prepared to move. Once mounted, we made 

 a rapid rise, occasionally catching a glimpse, through the 

 drifting masses of clouds, of the icy sides of Chimborazo. 

 Rising higher and higher, we became enveloped in cold 

 mists, and, approaching the snow-line, chilling winds 

 rushed down the mountain, driving the falling sleet di- 

 rectly in our faces. Accustomed to the enervating heat 

 of the tierra caliente, we were doubly susceptible to the 

 piercing cold, which completely benumbed our bodies. 

 The summit of the pass was gained by sci'ambling up a 

 steep slope of sand and gravel. The extreme rarefaction 

 of the atmosphere at this great elevation of almost three 

 miles (14,250 feet) rendered every exei'tion most fatiguing. 

 A large train of heavily-laden donkeys were being urged 

 up the precipitous bank ; many, completely exhausted, 

 had sunk upon the ground, and refused to rise, in spite of 

 the shouts and blows of the arrieros. When lifted to 

 their feet they would climb uj) a few stejDS, and then again 

 drop, as if lifeless, upon the sand. 



The highest point reached, and we were upon the drea- 

 ry waste of the Arenal — a belt of coarse sand and gravel 

 lying upon the sides of Chimborazo — a few hundred feet 



