CORDILLEBA DE LA COSTA. 307 



and Ckillo are situated eastward of those hills; and those of 

 Quito, Inaquito, and Turubamba lie westward. The equator 

 crosses the summit of the Nevado de Cayambe and the valley 

 of Quito, in the village of San Antonio de Lulumbamba. 

 "When we consider the small mass of the knot of Assuy, 

 and above all, of that of Chisinche, we are inclined to regard 

 the three basins of Cuenca, Hambato, and Quito, as one 

 valley (from the Paramo de Sarar to the Villa de Ibarra) 73 

 sea leagues long, from 4 to 5 leagues broad, having a general 

 direction N. 8 R, and divided by two transversel dykes one 

 between Alausi and Cuenca (2 27' south Intitude), and the 

 other between Machache and Tambillo (0 40^. Nowhere 

 in the Cordillera of the Andes are there more colossal 

 mountains heaped together, than on the east and west of 

 this vast basin of the province of Quito, one degree and a 

 half south, and a quarter of a degree north of the equator. 

 This basin, which, next to the basin of Titicaca, is the centre 

 of the most ancient native civilization, touches, southward, 

 the knot of the mountains of Loxa, and northward the table- 

 land of the province of Los Pastos. 



In this province, a little beyond the villa of Ibarra, between 

 the snowy summits of Cotocache and Imbabura, the two 

 Cordilleras of Quito unite, and form one mass, extending to 

 Meneses and Voisaco, from 21' north lat. to 1 13'. I 

 call this mass, on which are situated the volcanoes of Cumbal 

 and Chiles, the knot of the mountains of Los Pastos, from 

 the name of the province that forms the centre. The volcano 

 of Pasto, the last eruption of which took place in the year 

 1727, is on the south of Yenoi, near the northern limit of 

 this group, of which the inhabited table-lands are more than 

 1600 toises above sea-level. It is the Thibet of the equi- 

 noctial regions of the New World. 



On the north of the town of Pasto (lat. 1 13' N. ; lon^ 

 79 41'), the Andes again divide into two branches, and 

 surround the table-land of Mamendoy and Almaguer. The 

 eastern CordiUera contains the Sienega of Sebondoy (an 

 alpine lake which gives birth to the Putumayo), the sources 

 of the Jupura or Caqueta, and the Paramos of Aponte and 

 Iscanse. The western Cordillera, that of Mamacondy, called 

 in the country Cordillera de la Costa, on account of its 

 proximity to the shore of the Pacific, is broken by the 



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