20 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. ii. 



pay double, — a fact which members of the diplomatic service 

 will do well to remember when they pass his way. 



Giiaranda had been fixed upon as headquarters for a time 

 because it was reported to be nearer to Chimborazo than any 

 other town or village. The road to Quito leads through it, and 

 passes over the southern extremity of the mountain, across a 

 plain called "the Great Arenal." The highest point of this was 

 commonly estimated to be about 14,000 feet above the level of 

 the sea. We were therefore assured of being able to transport 

 our baggage to that elevation without calling upon the natives 

 to do anything unusual. How much higher we should be able 

 to utilize them depended upon the nature of the lower slopes ; 

 and as we had no information about them, and did not know 

 hoAv far we were from the mountain, we set out at 4.30 a.m. 

 on the 19th to reconnoitre. 



It will seem almost incredible that we should have approached 

 so closely to Chimborazo without obtaining a glimpse of it. 

 Prescott says^ it affords a magnificent prospect to the mariner 

 on the Pacific Ocean. It was invisible from the Pacific, and 

 also at Guayaquil, at Bodegas, Tambo Gobierno, and Guaranda, 

 though at all those places we were informed that it might, could, 

 or should be seen ; and upon the 19th, if we had not been aware 

 that we actually touched its lower slopes, we might have gone 

 past it without entertaining a suspicion that we were underneath 

 a mountain of first-class magnitude, notably loftier than anything 

 in its vicinity. 



Upon leaving Guaranda there was a sharp descent to the 

 River Chimbo, which was crossed by a bridge 360 feet below 

 the level of the town, and the road then mounted by a pretty* 

 regular incline along the slopes on the eastern side of the valley, 

 and gradually bore away from the river. At 5.35 a.m. it was 

 light enough to see comfortably, and by 6.30 we were nearly 

 11,000 feet above the sea. At this elevation we made a short 



1 History of the Conquest of Peru, Book I., chap. i. 



