CHAP. X. THE BASIN OF CHILLO. 185 



This basin is bounded on the east by Antisana, which is one 

 of the loftiest of the Equatorial Andes, and is amongst those that 

 extend over a great space of ground. From east to west, that 

 part of it which is 12,000 feet above the sea or higher, covers 

 about twenty miles/ and from north to south it is not much less 

 extensive. On the south, the basin is enclosed by Sincholagua ; 

 on the west, by Pasochoa and the Puengasi ridge ; and on the 

 north by the southern end of an important block of mountains 

 (of which there is no indication on my map) called Guamani,^ 

 that extends right up to the Equator, and on the west almost 

 touches the village of Pifo. The drainage of this basin, united 

 with the Rio Pita (coming from Cotopaxi), and with the Rio 

 Grrande from the basin of Machachi, intersects the Plain of Tum- 

 baco, and falls ultimately into the Rio de Guallabamba. 



During our passage across the basin of Chillo, I did not at 

 any time get a glimpse of a single one of these surrounding mount- 

 ains ; and seldom saw more than two or three miles in any 

 direction, often not so much as a mile. I did not see a single 

 feature from which bearings for positions could be obtained, and 

 our track as far as the Hacienda of Antisanilla is accordingly laid 

 down from dead reckoning. The bottom of this basin is consider- 

 ably lower, and its temperature is appreciably higher than that of 

 Quito.* 



Shortly before my departure from Europe, Boussingault pub- 

 lished in the Comptes Reyidus of the French Academy of Sciences 



1 On the west, Antisana may be considered to extend as far as the Hacienda of 

 Pifiantura (10,308 R. & S.) 



^ The ramifications of Guamani, so far as I am aware, have never been explored. 

 Nothing is known of its eastern side. In the month of April, I overlooked this 

 region from the north, and fonnd there were no peaks in it fairly within the 

 snow-line. 



^ Though the land here was more under cultivation than the greater part of the 

 country we had traversed, the inhabitants were miserably off for food. Potato soup 

 was the only article of diet that could be relied upon. All our provisions were 

 taken from Quito. 



2 B 



