284 BOUGUER's voyage Td PERU. 



by the necks or defiles ; but that by which I made my way, partook of its great eleva- 

 tion above the level of the fea. I was at the foot of the Chimborazo, and, in the 

 mean time, I found myfelf already in the region where rain never falls ; to the greatefl 

 diftance around me I beheld nothing but fnow or hoar frofl. 



I followed exadly the fame route taken by the ancient troop of Spaniards, who are 

 handed down to us in hiftory. , This troop, commanded by Don Pedro Alvarado at the 

 beginning of the conqueft of Peru, and precifely two centuries before me, made this 

 voyage to the aid of Francis Pizarro : he took, as I have done, his way from 

 Puerto Viejo to Guayaquil, by way of Jipijapa ; from Guayaquil he afcended to the 

 foot of Chimberago, and went along the Ibuth fide of this mountain to Riobamba, 

 called at that period Rivecpampa : but in going over a hill, which could be no other 

 than that known now under the name of Arenal, feventy of his followers, no other- 

 wife acquainted with Peru than from report of its riches, and having taken no pre- 

 caution, perifhed with cold and laflitude, among whom were two or three of the 

 Spanifh women who firft ventured into the country. Having attained the height, I 

 muft neceflarily defcend. How was I furprifed at the novelty of the view ! I imagined 

 myfelf, after having been fucceflively expofed to the ardour of the torrid zone and 

 the horrors of cold, tranfported all at once, as it were, into the temperate climate 

 of France, and into a country, as embellifhed here, in the moft engaging feafon. 



At a diftance I beheld well-enough cultivated fields, a great number of towns and vil- 

 lages, inhabited by Spaniards or Indians, other fmaller and pretty towns, and all the open 

 and unwooded tracts, peopled as are fome of our provinces. The houfes, no longer con- 

 ftrufted with bamboos, as are thofe lower down, but built of folid materials, fome of ftone, 

 but for the moft part of large bricks dried under ftiade. Every village is ornamented with 

 a fquare, one of the fides of which is partly taken up by the church ; in no region 

 of the world have they failed to fet this place, which is a parallelogram, to the eaft, 

 from which ftreets divide in ftraight lines, open to the diftant country ; even the fields 

 are frequently interfecfted thus at right angles, which give to them the form of a gar- 

 den. Such is that part of the province of Quito, fituated by the Cordelier to the north 

 and fouth of this capital ; worthy, indeed, by its fize, its edifices, and number of 

 inhabitants, of its title. This city is about eight or nine hundred toifes in length, by 

 five or fix in breadth ; is the feat of a bifhop, and the refidence of the prefident of 

 the Audience, who is alfo governor of the province. It has a great number of reli- 

 gious fociedes in its bofom, and two colleges, which are a fort of univerfities, one 

 under the direction of the Jefuits, and the other under the Dominicans. The inhabit- 

 ants amount to between thirty and forty thoufand, one-third of whom are Spaniards, 

 or of Spanifh origin. Provifions are exceedingly dear. The on.y foreign merchan- 

 dize there is, and that carried on with difficulty, is at an exceffive price, as our cot- 

 tons, woollen cloths, and filk ftufFs. I have frequently given fix reals, or more than 

 a crown, a pound for iron, to make fome inftruments of; a drinking-glafs cofts eighteen 

 or twenty francs : but every neceffary of life is to be found there, and the country 

 furniflies them in abundance. 



It muft be confefled, when one is in the deferts, at a diftance from the Cordelier, 

 and look upon this briftled chain of fummits, it is impoflible to imagine to onefelf any 

 thing concealed among them. One would be led to believe that, in climbing thefe 

 mountains of fuch terrific afpeft, when we have reached the height, we fhould be com- 

 pelled by the inclemency of the weather to defcend on the other fide, where we fhould 

 meet with forefts like thofe we had left behind : it could never enter the mind that be- 

 hind thefe mountains extend a fecond range equally high, and that they ferve, neither 



one 



