92 



TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. iv. 



replied ^' it is possible, it is possihle " with an emphasis and look 



that shewed we understood each other. 



A number of persons hon- 

 oured us with visits whilst we 

 were at Ambato, for it soon 

 got noised abroad that '^the 

 gringos '" had arrived. Besides 

 the usual individuals with 

 visions of gold mines and 

 dreams of buried treasure, 

 there was a General whose 

 sole impediment to opening 

 up a new route to the Ama- 

 zons was the immediate want 

 of fifty pounds. As this hap- 

 pened to be the exact sum for 

 which I felt a pressing need, 

 we did not do much business 

 together. Following him came 

 a gentleman who seemed to 

 think that we lacked occupa- 

 tion. Although he spoke Eng- 

 lish fluently, there was a certain 

 want of sequence in his re- 

 marks which made me fancy 

 that he was an escaped lunatic. 

 He kindly put his observations 



into writing in order that they might be studied at leisure, and 



I am thus enabled to present some of his suggestions in his 



own words. ^ 



In the course of his explorations, my Chief of the Staff 



discovered a compatriot, who was engaged in the manufacture 



1 The following is the opening paragraph of the document he sent me. "The 

 Government of the Equator have the desire to erect a piramid in the point of 



SENOR JUAN GUERRERO DUPRAT. 



