386 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. xx. 



ing the slopes that enclose the basin on the south, arrived at dusk 

 at the village of Nanti (10,669 feet). The next j^lace being a good 

 distance away, we stopped at the highest house or hut, which was 

 occupied by some half-Indians. In the night there were wailings 

 and lamentations, and Campana came to ask if I would sell a 

 candle, as the mother was dying, and there was not a light of any 

 sort to be found m the Avhole village ! 



Next morning, five and a half hours of hard going brought us 

 to the village of Guamote, and here we struck the southern con- 

 tinuation of the Moreno (or Quito) Eoad.^ At this part, and until 

 we diverged from it in the afternoon of July 10, it was mostly in 

 excellent condition, — a fine, broad highway, more than sufficient 

 for the wants of a thickly-populated district, though passing over 

 bleak, uncultivated moorland {paramo), which it would be too 

 complimentary to term a howling wilderness. From Guamote to 

 the end of this day's journey, we neither met nor passed either 

 man or beast, and the natural repulsiveness of the surroundings 

 was heightened by skulls and skeletons lying on each side of the 

 road, of unburied men who had perished in one of the revolutionary 

 combats.^ At 5 p.m. we came to a large (apparently deserted) 

 Hacienda, called Galti, and a little farther south halted for the 

 night at a hut (11,772 feet) about three hundred feet above the 

 road. 



On the 10th, we travelled without seeing a house or person 

 until we caught sight of the village of Alausi on the other side of a 



^ I could not learn what direction the road takes between Guamote and Chuqui- 

 poquio, or even whether that section v/as completed. On the Route Map it is not 

 laid down to the south of Guamote, as we moved too quickly to observe its numerous 

 changes of direction ; but it is to be understood that we travelled over the high road 

 between Guamote and the place where it was quitted, opposite to Alausi. South of 

 Guamote it rises to a considerable elevation. I stopped at what appeared to be the 

 highest point for a reading of the mercurial barometer, and found there that it was 

 about 11,362 feet above the sea. It descended upon Galti, and rose again to about 

 11,500 feet. 



2 Through this tract of country (Sibambe to Riobamba) it is proposed to carry 

 the Railway which is to be a joy to holders of Ecuadorian bonds ! 



