240 



PERUVIAN MONUMENT 



CANNAR. 



PLATE XVII. 



The lofty plains, that stretch along the back 

 of the Cordilleras from the equator to the third 

 degree of south latitude, end where a mass of 

 mountains rises from four thousand five hundred 

 to four thousand eight hundred metres of height, 

 which like an enormous dyke unites the eastern 

 to the western ridge of the Andes of Quito. 

 This group of mountains, in which porphyry 

 covers mica-slate and other rocks of primitive 

 formation, is known by the name of the Paramo 

 del Assuay. We were obliged to cross it, in 

 order to go from Riobamba to Cuenca, and to 

 visit those beautiful forests of Loxa, which are so 

 celebrated for their fruitfulness in bark *. The 



* Cinchona. 



