BY EASY STAGES. 223 



table-lands, combined with the severe ride over the Cor- 

 dillera, while still weak from the effects of fever experi- 

 enced at Guaj^aquil, had completely exhausted Colonel 

 Staunton, who, unable longer to endure the fatigue of 

 riding, was carried in a litter borne upon the shoulders of 

 four Indians. Our cliolo * guide made use of the authority 

 of his position, to impress into the service of bearing the 

 litter any Indians .whom we happened to meet. , He had 

 mounted the colonel's horse, and possessed himself of his 

 gun, and, thus equipped, rode about with an air of the 

 gravest dignity. Observing an Indian in the distance, he 

 would put spurs to his horse, and, displaying his weapon, 

 would soon come up to and order the man to the relief of 

 one of the bearers. Some of the Indians, doubtless mis- 

 taking him for a recruiting-officer — for thus they recruit 

 in Ecuador — often led him in a hot pursuit across the 

 plain. After one had accompanied us a few miles, we 

 would reward him with a calabasli of chicha, the Indian's 

 national beverage, when, doffing the remnants of a wool 

 hat, he would say, with a low bow, " Muchas gracias^ se- 

 nores,'''' and go on his way rejoicing. 



Our road led across a barren plain, the di'eary region 

 over which reigns the restless Cotopaxi. All day long we 

 rode slowly over this arid waste, drooping listlessly in our 

 saddles, our faces veiled to protect them from the glare 

 of the scoriae-strewn plain. The only sound that arrested 

 the ear was the foot-fall of the Indians, who bore the lit- 

 ter with slow, measured tread before us. The desert as- 

 pect of the plain was occasionally relieved by straggling 

 aloes and cactuses, that seemed to find a congenial home 

 in the burning sands. Condensed in their solid rosettes 

 of thickened leaves or columnar shafts, they flourish dur- 

 ing seasons of protracted drought, when other plants be- 



* Cholos are the offspring of whites and Indians. In most of them 

 the Indian element largely predominates. 



