298 FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC. 



The longing desire which we felt to enjoy once more the 

 open view of the sea after eighteen months' constant sojourn 

 in the ever restricted range of the interior of the mountains, 

 had been heightened by repeated disappointments. In looking 

 from the summit of the volcano of Pichincha, over the dense 

 forests of the Provincia de las Esmeraldas, no sea horizon 

 can be clearly distinguished, by reason of the too great dis- 

 tance of the coast and height of the station : it is like looking 

 down from an air-balloon into vacancy. One divines, but one 

 does not distinguish. Subsequently, when between Loxa 

 and Guancabamba we reached the Paramo de Guamini, 

 where there are several ruined buildings of the times of the 

 Incas, and from whence the mule- drivers had confidently 

 assured us that we should see beyond the plain, beyond 

 the low districts of Piura and Lambajeque, the sea itself 

 which we so much desired to behold, a thick mist 

 covered both the plain and the distant sea shore. We 

 saw only variously shaped masses of rock alternately rise 

 like islands above the waving sea of mist, and again dis- 

 appear, as had been, the case in our view from the Peak of 

 Teneriffe. "We were exposed to almost the same disappoint- 

 ment in our subsequent transit over the pass of Guanga- 

 marca, at the time of which I am now speaking. As we 

 toiled up the mighty mountain side, with our expectations 

 continually on the stretch, our guides, who were not per- 

 fectly acquainted with the road, repeatedly promised us 

 that at the end of the hour's march which was nearly 

 concluded, our hopes would be realised. The stratum of 

 mist which enveloped us appeared occasionally to be about 



