EXCURSIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF QUITO. 
part of the Cochineal used in the manu- 
factories of Quito. We arrived early at 
Penipe, a pleasant village on the right 
bank, where there is a bridge of Bejucos 
over the Achambo; but it was now re- 
pairing, and we proceeded a league fur- 
ther, to the farm and stream of Aguas 
blancas, where we crossed a bridge of the 
same kind; and, passing through the ham- 
let of Elen, arrived late in the evening at 
Riobamba. 
e present city of Riobamba was 
founded after the destruction of the old 
town, by the earthquake of 1797. It stands 
in the midst of a sandy plain, almost des- 
titute of vegetation, and has no water but 
what is conducted, by a canal, from a dis- 
tance of several leagues, loaded with im- 
purities, and of a villainous flavour. One 
is astonished how such a site could be 
chosen for the capital of a considerable 
district; but the wonder is explained by 
the Spanish system of government. The 
then Corregidor, partly from caprice, and 
partly from interested motives, compelled 
the inhabitants to settle in this desert. In 
despotic governments, there is no tool so 
despicable, but has power to rule the fate 
and fortune of thousands. 
It is a lucky circumstance, that the Ca- 
puli flourishes on the poorest soils. Groves 
of this tree have been planted in different 
directions, and serve both to protect the 
town from the winds, and to form a barrier 
against the moving sands, which would 
otherwise inundate the streets. Cultiva- 
tion, also, which follows man under the 
most disadvantageous circumstances, has 
so far conquered nature, that fields of 
maize and vetches have grown up in the 
vicinity. But the traveller, who in all 
parts of Colombia traverses so many tracts 
of rich uninhabited country, wonders how 
a city should have grown up on plains 
resembling those of the interior of Africa. 
The climate participates of the disadvan- 
tages of the soil: piercing winds, from the 
surrounding Nevados, alternate with sun- 
shine, rendered more intense from the re- 
flection of the base of dry sand-hills, which 
compensate, by clouds of dust, their want 
61 
of vegetation. It must, however, be ac- 
knowledged, that no town in the world 
enjoys amore magnificent mountain pros- 
pect than the great square in Riobamba. 
To the North, rises the dome of Chimbo- 
razo, which here presents its most striking 
features of grandeur; a little further to the 
North, are the craggy peaks of Carqui- 
rago ; and fronting Chimborazo, on the op- 
posite Cordillera, rises Capac Urcu, called 
by the Spaniards “the Altar,” from its 
two extensive pinnacles, which may be 
termed * the horns ;” these, if Indian tra- 
ditions can be relied on, were once con- 
nected by a dome, loftier than that of 
Chimborazo. Nearly to the North, the 
picturesque summit of Tungaragua rises 
from the profundity of the valley of Banos, 
generally half concealed in a veil of clouds, 
the varying forms of which add to its 
effect, as its crater now glistens in the 
sun—now glimmers through their misty 
shadows. 
On the 9th we visited the site of old 
Riobamba, about two leagues to the South 
of the present city. The village of Caja- 
pamba and Sicalpi form the extremities of 
the plain on which it stood. Carved stones, 
roken pilasters, cornices, and capitals ex- 
tracted from the ruins, are encrusted in the 
mud-walls of the Indian cottages, and 
broken images, the relics of splendid tem- 
I visited the ruins, in 1825, considerable 
masses were still visible, but we now found 
only a few shapeless heaps of brick-work, 
and scattered fragments, without a vestige 
of architectural figures. Less, however, 
always existed than would have survived a 
city ruined by ordinary means of decay. 
A great part of the town was buried be- 
neath a neighbouring hill, the summit of 
which, sliding from its base, came down in 
a body on the city. A man was till lately 
living, who was ploughing on the spot at . 
the time of the catastrophe, and was con- 
veyed, unhurt, with his team, upon the 
avalanche of earth which entombed hun- 
dreds of the inhabitants. Many houses 
and public edifices were swallowed up, as 
the land rocked and opened its gulphs, de- 
