218 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. xii. 



on its southern outskirts, and he favoured me with a letter to 

 his tenant. The village called Cayambe was the nearest place 

 of any size to the mountain, and the only one where food was 

 likely to be obtained. 



The party on this journey consisted of the two Carrels, 

 Verity, and the principal arriero (Cevallos) we had taken several 

 times before ; who was assisted by a second mule-driver of a 

 jovial temperament, much given to strong waters, and by a very 

 willing and pleasant-tempered native, David Beltran. These three 

 men came from Machachi, and formed an excellent working team. 

 Four beasts were taken for riding, and four others for baggage. 



After proceeding a few miles from Quito, we quitted the main 

 road,^ and turned to the east, towards the Plain of Tumbaco, 

 which was at a lower level, gently sloping towards the north. It 

 was on the eastern side of this (upon what they called the Plain 

 of Yarouqui) that La Condamine and his associates measured 

 their famous base-line in Oct.-Nov., 1736 ; and the little pyramid 

 of Carabourou, marking its northern end, caught the eye, a 

 glittering speck of light, as we approached the edge of the great 

 Ravine or Quehrada'^ of Guallabamba.^ 



This immense chasm forms a boundary to Mojanda (also called 

 Yana-urcu), a mountain which is seldom referred to in geograph- 

 ical works, although it rises to the respectable elevation of 

 14,000 feet, and covers, perhaps, a greater area than any other 

 individual mountain in Ecuador.* While for the most part its 



1 This road to the North is a fairly good track, not a metalled road. 



2 Quebrada is a word that is heard very often in Ecuador. A ditch is a 

 quebrada, or an earthquake crack a few feet across, or a chasm more than 2000 

 feet deep, such as the great ravine of Guallabamba. 



3 Multitudes of lizards were seen in passing between Quito and Guallabamba. 

 We secured several specimens of Liocephalus trachycephalus (A. Dum.), and there 

 were I think at least two species that we failed to catch. Compare this with the 

 passage quoted at p. 176 from Mr. Hassaurek. 



4 Its slopes on the south-west terminate at the Quebrada of Guallabamba, and 

 on the north extend almost as far as the town of Otovalo. 



