158 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. viii. 



little to their taste. They pined for work more iu harmony with 

 the old traditions ; for something with dash and go, — the sallying 

 forth in the dead of the night with rope and axe, to slay a giant ; 

 returning at dusk, with shouts and rejoicing, bringing its head 

 in a haversack. I sacrificed a day to meet their wishes, and told 

 them to select a peak, just as one may give a sugar-plum to a 

 fractious child to keep it quiet. 



Giants were scarce in , the neighbourhood of Fed regal. My 

 men looked upon Pasochoa with a sort of contempt, and at 

 Euminahui with disfavour, as there were at least half-a-dozen 

 ways up it ; and their choice fell upon Sincholagua, an attenuated 

 peak, appetizing to persons with a taste for Aiguilles, that had 

 stared us in the face when we looked out of the window at Mach- 

 achi,* which might be ascended in one way, and in one only. It 

 may be described as forming a northern extension of the massif 

 of Cotopaxi, and it stands to that mountain in much the same 

 relation as Carihuairazo to Chimborazo. 



In a section of Ecuador in this latitude, the ground (proceeding 

 from west to east) falls continuously from the summit of Corazon "^ 

 to the bed of the Kio Grande ; then ascends, to cross a ridge con- 

 necting Pasochoa with Ruminahui, and descends, gently, through 



1 Its height according to Messrs. Reiss and Stiibel is 16,365 feet (4988 metres), 

 and La Condamine 16,435 feet (2570 toises). It is probably the tenth in rank of 

 the Great Andes of the Equator. 



^ I am unable to say anything about the country on the Pacific side of Corazon. 

 We did not see it, and it is possible that for some distance to the west of this 

 mountain it has never been seen by any one. No reliance can be placed upon that 

 part of the Maldonado map. 



Amongst the curious mistakes of detail in this map may be mentioned the 

 insertion of the name of Ruminahui (Ruminaui) over the position actually occupied 

 by Pasochoa, and the entire omission of the former mountain. On this map, 

 nothing is made to intervene between Corazon and Cotopaxi. In La Condamine's 

 map, Ruminahui occupies its proper position, — Pasochoa, however, is omitted. 



Ruminahui (15,607 R. & S.) is a large and prominent mountain, though not one 

 of the greatest of the Andes of the Equator. From north to south it extends over 

 about twelve miles, and it fills the space between the eastern (right) bank of the 

 Rio Grande, and our track from Pedregal to Cotopaxi. 



