78 



The Andes and the Amazon. 



be used only for very ordinary fabrics. The average length 

 is Rye eighths of an inch. One pod mil produce on an av- 

 erage three pennyweights. The mills of Chillo and Oto- 

 valo consume 425,000 pounds annually. The first sugar- 

 mill was erected by the Aguirres in 1840 at ISTanegal. 



Quito is more than a century behind this age of steam 

 and lightning. To form an adequate idea of the mechanic 

 and fine arts in that " city of the kings," we must transport 

 ourselves to the Saxon period of European civilization. 

 Both the material and the construction of the houses would 

 craze Sir Christopher Wren. With fine quarries close at 

 hand, they must build with mud mixed with stones, or plas- 

 tered on w^attles, like the Druses of Mount Lebanon. Liv- 



ludiau Dwellings. 



ing on the equatorial line and on the meridian so accurate- 

 ly measured by the highest mathematics of France and 

 Spain, Quitonians must needs leave out every right angle 

 or straight line in the walls, and every square beam and 

 rafter. Except on the grand road from Quito to Ambato, 

 commenced by President Moreno, there is not a wheel- 

 barrow to be seen ; paving-stones, lime, brick, and dirt, are 



