CuNCHEBAJklBA. — LatACUNGA. 53 



rooms to let. They are ventilated only when opened for 

 travelers. The floor is of brick, but alive with fleas ; the 

 w^alls are plastered, but veiled with cobwebs. The furni- 

 ture, of primitive make and covered with dust, consists of 

 a chair or two, a table, and a bed of boards covered with 

 a thin straw mat. There is not a hotel in Ecuador where 

 sheets and towels are furnished. The landlords are sel- 

 dom seen ; the entire management of the concern is left 

 to a slovenly Indian boy, who is both cook and hostler. 

 No amount of bribery will secure a meal in less than two 

 hours. Ten years ago there was not a posada in the coun- 

 try; now there is entertainment for man and beast at 

 Guayaquil, Guaranda, Mocha, Ambato, Tacunga, Macha- 

 chi, and Quito. Riobamba has a billiard saloon, but no inn. 

 Leaving Ambato, we breakfasted at Cunchebamba, an In- 

 dian village of half a dozen straw huts. Thence the road 

 for a long distance winds through vast deposits of volcanic 

 debris, the only sign of vegetation being hedges of aloe and 

 cactus. Arid hills and dreary plains, covered with plutonic 

 rocks and pumice dust, tell us we are approaching the most 

 terrible volcano on the earth. Crossing the sources of the 

 Pastassa, we entered Latacunga,* situated on a beautiful 

 plain at the foot of Cotopaxi, seven hundred feet higher 

 than Ambato. Its average temperature is 59°. The pop- 

 ulation, chiefly Indians, numbers about fifteen thousand. It 

 is the dullest city in Ecuador, without the show of enter- 

 -prise or business. Kot even grass grows in the streets — 

 the usual sign of life in the Spanish towns. It is also one 

 of the filthiest ; and though it has been many times thor- 

 oughly shaken by earthquakes, and buried under showers 

 of volcanic dust, it is still the paradise of fleas, which have 

 survived every revolution. Ida Pfeiffer says that, after a 



* This is shortened in parlance to Tacunga. The full name, according to 

 La Condaraine, is Llacta-cunga, llacta meaning country, and cunga, neck. 



