Pkotestant "Dogs." — Climate of Quito. 91 



said a Quitonian lady of position, " that there should be a 

 place to throw Protestant dogs !" 



On St. Nathaniel's day died Colonel Phineas Staunton, 

 Vice-Chancellor of Ingham University, New York. An 

 artist by profession, and one of very high order, Colonel 

 Staunton joined our expedition to sketch the glories of the 

 Andes, but he fell a victim to the scourge of the lowlands 

 one week after his arrival in Quito. We buried him at 

 noonday* in the new cemetery, " wherein was never man 

 laid," and by the act consecrated the ground. Peace to his 

 ashes; honor to his memftry. That 8th of September, 1867, 

 was a new day in the annals of Quito. On that day the 

 imperial city beheld, for the first time in three centuries, 

 the decent burial of a Protestant in a Protestant cemetery. 

 Somewhere, mingled with the ashes of Pichincha, is the 

 dust of Atahuallpa, who was buried in his beloved Quito at 

 •his own request after his murder in Caxamarca. But dear- 

 er to us is that solitary grave ; the earth is yet fresh that 

 covers the remains of one of nature's noblemen. 



Turn we now to a more delightful topic tlfen the politics 

 and religion of Quito. The climate is perfect. Fair Italy, 

 with her classic prestige and ready access, will long be the 

 land of promise to travelers expatriated in search of health. 

 But if ever the ancients had reached this Andean valley, 

 they would have located here the Elysian Fields, or the seat 



* This was a new thing under the sun. Qnitonians "bury at dead of night, 

 with lanterns dimly burning." The dirges sung as the procession winds 

 through the streets are extremely plaintive, and are the most touching speci- 

 mens of Ecuadorian music. The corpse, especially of a child, is often carried 

 in a chair in a sitting posture. The wealthy class wall up their dead in niches 

 on the side of Pichincha, hypothetically till the resurrection, but really for two 

 years, when, unless an additional payment is made, the bones are thrown into 

 a common pit and the coffin burnt. To prevent this, a few who can afford it 

 embalm the deceased. One of the most distinguished citizens of Quito keeps 

 his mummified father at his hacienda, and annually dresses him up in a new 

 suit of clothes ! 



