The Golden Mountains. 149 



above its snow-bound summit, with a voice of thunder heard 

 six hundred miles ! 



Lea\'ing this terrible "safety-valve" to the imprisoned 

 fu'es under our feet, we travel along the wooded flanks and 

 savage vallejs of the Llanganati Mountains, whose lofty 

 blue ridge is here and there pointed with snow.*^ It is uni- 

 versally believed that the Incas buried an immense quan- 

 tity of gold in an artificial lake on the sides of this mount- 

 ain during the Spanish invasion, and many an adventurous 

 expedition has been made for it. The inhabitants will tell 

 you of one Yalverde, a Spaniard, who, from being very 

 poor, had suddenly become very rich, which was attributed 

 to his having married an Indian girl whose father showed 

 him where the treasure was hidden, and accompanied him 

 on various occasions to bring away portions of it ; and that 

 Yalverde returned to Spain, and on his death-bed be- 

 queathed the secret of his riches to the king. But since 

 Padre Longo suddenly disappeared while leading an expe- 

 dition, the timid Ecuadorians have been content with their 

 poverty.f 



And now we have reached the perfect cone of Tungura- 

 gua, the rival of Cotopaxi in symmetry and beauty.:]: It 

 stands 16,500 feet above the Pacific, its upper part covered 

 with a splendid robe of snow, while the sugar-cane grows 

 in the romantic town of Banos, 10,000 feet below the sum- 

 mit. A cataract, 1500 feet high, comes down at three 

 bounds from the edge of the snow to the warm valley be- 

 neath ; and at Banos a hot ferruginous spring and a stream 



* Immediately south of Cotopaxi, the Cordillera consists of paramos sown 

 with lakes and morasses, and is rarely covered ^^dth snow, Llanganati is 

 probably from lldnga^ to touch: they touch the sources of nearly, all the 

 Ecuadorian ri^-ers. 



t The story is doubtless due to the fact that the eastern streams, which 

 issue from tlie foot of this cordillera, are auriferous. 



X From Tungiiri, the ankle-joint, alluding to its apical angle. It is a little 

 steeper than Cotopaxi, having a slope of 38°. 



