262 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. xi\r. 



and made into packages of convenient size for mule-travelling. 

 The wood was varnished to hinder it absorbing moisture ; but on 

 this northern journey some of my people thought to do a clever 

 thing and scraped the poles to make them run in more easily^ and 

 thus made matters worse instead of better. The wood swelled, 

 and did not slide in as freely as before ; and in the hurry of the 

 occasion some of the canvas became puckered, and prevented one 

 of the lower halves from entering its socket. We struggled in 

 vain to rectify it ; and, when the tent was at last pitched, one or 

 another had, for the next fourteen hours, to support the faulty 

 corner to save the structure from collapsing. 



In the morning six inches of new snow was lying around, and 

 the mountain was loaded with it. Shall we proceed ? If this had 

 been dry, powdery snow I should have declined. There is no 

 objection, beyond the labour involved, to traversing new-fallen 

 snow upon mountain-slopes provided it will cohere, and adhere. 

 Particles of granular snow coalesce slowly ; and in cold weather, 

 particularly, several days may elapse before they will hind. 

 Happily, we never saw snow of this description in Ecuador, 

 although it is common in most high regions. Ovr snow was 

 generally ivet. It may have been the product of intense cold ; 

 but, falling through atmosphere with temperatures considerably 

 above the freezing-point, it arrived upon the ground in a thawing 

 condition, and had not the tendency to slip upon slopes, which 

 is a characteristic of the granular state. ^ 



We therefore proceeded, after a preliminary inspection, and at 

 11.35 a.m., on the 24th of April, stood on the very highest j^oint 

 of Cotocachi. One hundred and ninety minutes were occupied in 

 going from the camp (14,490 feet) to the summit (16,301 feet), 

 and we consequently ascended 571 feet per hour, a rate much 

 inferior to that attained on Antisana and Cayambe, which is to 

 be attributed to the caution employed to avoid disturbance of 



1 During the whole time we were amongst the Great Andes of the Equator we 

 neither saw a snow-avalanche nor the track of one. 



