"The Navel of the Wokld." 59 



Endless civil wars have followed independence. " Politic- 

 al ambition," says a late United States minister, " personal 

 jealousies, impracticable theories, official venality, reckless 

 disregard of individual rights and legal obligations, foolish 

 meddling and empirical legislation, and an absolute want 

 of political morality, form the principal features of their 

 republican history."* To-day they tread on the dust of an 

 ancient race whose government was in every respect a most 

 complete contrast to their own. 



At the foot of volcanic Pichincha, only five hours' travel 

 fi-om its smoking crater, lies " the city above the clouds," 

 •'the navel of the world," "magnificent Quito." On the 

 north is the plain of Rumibamba, the battle-field where 

 Gonzalo Pizarro routed the first viceroy of Peru, and the 

 scene, two centuries later, of the nobler achievements of La 

 Condamine, which made it the classic ground of astronomy. 

 On the southern edge of the city rises Panecillo, remind- 

 ing one of Mount Tabor by its symmetrical form, and over- 

 looking the beautiful and well-watered plain of Turubam- 

 ba. On the east fiows the Rio Machangara, and just be- 

 yond it stand the Puengasi hills hiding the Chillo valley, 

 while the weary sun goes early to rest behind the towering 

 peaks of Pichincha. So encircled is this sequestered spot, 

 the traveler, approaching by the Guayaquil road, sees only 

 a part of it, and is disappointed ; and even when standing 

 on Panecillo, with the entire city spread out before him, he 

 is not wholly satisfied. Buried between treeless, sombre 

 sierras, and isolated from the rest of the world by impass- 

 able roads and gigantic cordilleras, Quito ajDpears to us of 

 the commercial nineteenth century as useless as the old feu- 

 dal towns perched on the mountains of Middle Europe. 



* Four Years among Spanish Americans, by Hon. F. Hassaureh : a truthful 

 work, to which we refer the reader for details, especially concerning Ecuado- 

 rian life and manners. 



