CHAT. I. THE PACIFIC RANGE OF ECUADOR. 13 



borazo."* In this matter he is, however, incorrect. It is more 

 convenient to give at this point all that need be said on the 

 subject than to recur to it again. 



The place where our road crossed the mountains was a true 

 pass, leading through a gap, from the head of one valley on the 

 western to another on the eastern side of a large and important 

 range of mountains. Two small huts on its summit were 

 termed Tambo Gobierno.^ I read the two mercurial barometers 

 here at 10 a.m., and there was a nearly corresponding (11 a.m.) 

 observation by Mr. Chambers at Guayaquil, and from these 

 observations it appears that the height of Tambo Gobierno is 

 10,417 feet. A short distance from us, both to the north and 

 to the south, there were points from 1000 to 1500 feet higher ; 

 and to the north, I found subsequently, the general elevation of 

 the range increased, and that there were a number of summits 

 13 - 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, — some, I believe, 

 closely approaching the height of 15,000 feet. The general 

 elevation diminishes when proceeding southwards, though it re- 

 mains considerable to its furthest extremity, where the River 

 Chimbo, suddenly changing from a nearly north and south 

 course to an east and west one, skirts its base. At this end, 

 the slopes rise abruptly from a few hundred feet above the 

 level of the sea to 7-8000 feet, and are magnificently wooded. 



On December 19 and 26, when proceeding from Guaranda 

 to Chimborazo, I had unclouded views of the eastern side of this 

 range ; and from December 27 to January 12, whilst encamped 

 upon Chimborazo, I commanded and looked down upon the 

 eastern side of the whole of the northern part of it. In the 

 following July, whilst making the circuit of Chimborazo, I saw 

 that that mountain was everywhere well separated from the 



^ See page 7 of his Report on the expedition to procure seeds and plants of the 

 Cinchona sitcciriibra, or Med Bark Tree^ London, 1861. 



2 They contained accommodation for neither man nor beast, and nothing- 

 edible except one very shrivelled, old Indian woman. 



