258 OVEK THE EASTEEN COEDILLEEA. 



alone will ever develop her vast natural resources. As a 

 result of the fanatical prejudice against Protestants, there 

 are, at present, only three or four American residents in 

 Quito. Nominal religious freedom is now enjoyed in most 

 of the republics of Soutli America, though trammelled by 

 meddling and arbitrary legislation, and often rendered in- 

 operative by the fury of an impressible populace, led by 

 the fanaticism of an ignorant, bigoted, and intolerant 

 clergy. Let us not be misunderstood. Not one word 

 would we say against Catholicism. All that we speak 

 against is luikind intolerance. All that we ask is a kindly 

 recognition of the right of every man to form an individual 

 opinion upon every question involving individual respon- 

 sibility, and countenance and protection in the enjoyment 

 of that opinion. This, we believe, will soon be secured 

 throughout South America. There are many there who 

 feel that the time for religious intolerance and exclusive- 

 ness has passed. There are many causes at work, among 

 which are none stronger than the demanded commercial 

 relations that must soon be assumed, which will speedily 

 break down and remove those factitious barriers that have 

 so long hedged about the prosj^erity and advancement 

 of the republics of our sister continent. 



From this digression let us return to our journey. As 

 Quito lies close under the Western Cordillera, we had to 

 traverse the entire width of the plateau, which, at this 

 point, is about thirty miles. These table-lands are not, as 

 might be inferred, level plains, but, besides being broken 

 by projecting spurs of the main Cordilleras, they are 

 traversed by deep cauons, with banks so high and precip- 

 itous that we were often obliged to follow their course a 

 considerable distance before finding a practicable crossing. 

 Our road was, at times, a single foot-path ; at others, an 

 innumerable number of deep ruts or paths, anastomosing 

 so as to form a broad net-work, leading across uncultivated 



