62 



The Andes and the Amazon. 



hotel — owned by a Frenchman, but kept by an Indian. We 

 ride under the low archway, bowing with ill grace, like all 

 republicans unaccustomed to royalty, tie our beasts in the 

 court-yard, ascend to our spacious quarters on the second 

 floor, and, ordering coffee, seat ourselves in the beautiful 

 balcony to talk of Quito and Quitonians. 



Water-carriers. 



Quito, though not the highest city on the globe, is two 

 thousand feet higher than the Hospice of Great St. Bernard 

 on the Alps, which is the only permanent place of abode in 

 Europe above six thousand five hundred feet. When Mr. 

 Hassaurek was appointed United States Minister to Ecua- 

 dor, he thanked Mr. Lincoln for conferring upon him the 

 highest gift in his power. The mean result of our numer- 

 ous observations with Green's standard barometer places 



