OUK AKTIST'S GKAVE. 255 



soned with cow-hide bridles and curious saddles with huge 

 wooden stirrups. Having started our baggage in advance, 

 each stepped astride his Bucephalus, bowed Ioav as he 

 passed under the archway leading from the court-yard, 

 and we were galloping through the streets of the capital. 

 Quitonians gazed in mute astonishment upon Avhat they 

 had seen but once before, an expedition bound for the 

 Oriente. Many were the prophecies that we would never 

 be heard of again. 



Leaving the outskirts of Quito, our path led us across 

 the beautiful plain of Inaquito, which spreads out to the 

 north of the city. There is always a saddened feeling 

 that steals over one, when he knows that he is taking a 

 last farewell of scenes which, by long and pleasant asso- 

 ciations, have become familiar. Such were the emotions 

 we experienced then ; still they were awakened not alone 

 by the fading view of the capital, but our thoughts were 

 turned to feelings of subdued sadness, because one must 

 be left behind. During our short sojourn at Quito we 

 had laid one of our little party, Colonel Staunton, in a 

 foreign grave, and it was just to our right, upon the plains 

 of Inaquito, that we passed the little cemetery where lay 

 that friend who had shared in the early labors of the ex- 

 pedition, and participated with us the delight of viewing, 

 for the first time, the beauty and grandeur of tropic scenes. 

 Turning from a gentle rise for a last view of the " City of 

 the Incas," our eyes wandered from its towers and domes, 

 and lingered upon that sacred sjDot ; and, as there came 

 pleasant, sad memories of the past, our hearts alone could 

 wdiisper the word — " Farewell ! " 



Colonel Phineas Staunton w^as Vice-Chancellor of Ing- 

 ham University, Le Roy, New York. He had cherished, with 

 an artist's longing, a desire to visit the tropics ; especially 

 did he wish to sketch the wondrous scenery of the Andes. 

 Said he, " Church has painted the ' Heart of the Andes ; ' 



