268 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. xiv. 



only hotel at Ibarra/' and he well sustained his reputation for 

 hospitality. 



On the 29th of April we went over to Carranqui^ a village 

 of 700 or 800 persons^ about a mile and a quarter south of Ibarra, 

 and a little above it ; at this place proceeding as before, question- 

 ing every individual we met, exhibiting the things which had been 

 already acquired, and enlisting Priest and Jefo-politico in the 

 search, and speedily found that much was obtainable ; but my 

 increasing weakness, and inability to procure proper remedies, 

 warned me that it was time to return, and after a second visit to 

 Carranqui we went back to Otovalo, in possession of a collection 

 that proved the existence of great numbers of implements in stone 

 in Equatorial America, and raised a strong presumption that there 

 was, at some remote period, a Stone Age. I give here all the 

 remarks that will be offered upon this subject, although not a few 

 of the examples to which reference will be made were procured 

 at a later date. 



I place first a class of objects to which, so far as I am aware, 

 special attention has not hitherto been drawn by any traveller. 

 Those included in the group figured upon page 269 all belong 

 to a type which is numerous in Ecuador, and they should not 

 perhaps be classed either as Ornaments, Weapons, or Implements. 

 I call them Stars in Stone. They were found everywhere between 

 Ibarra and Riobamba, and became embarrassing by their very 

 quantity. The majority have six rays (and none have more), 

 proceeding symmetrically from the centre, and the whole are 

 fashioned alike upon each side. A certain number have only five 

 rays, and occasional examples are irregular in shape (see the top 

 figure, on the right). All are pierced by a hole, which has been 

 drilled from the two sides, and the size of this varies considerably. 

 In dimensions they range from three to five inches in diameter, 

 and from three-quarters of an inch to two inches in thickness. 

 Their weight is from five to twenty ounces. The larger part are 



