4 



hills, which the ancient inhabitants of this coun- 

 try raised for the interment of the sovereign, or 

 some other disting uished personage. It is alleged, 

 in favour of this opinion, that the Panecillo is 

 wholly composed of volcanic rubbish ; and that 

 the same pumice stone, which surrounds its ba- 

 sis, is found also on its summit. 



This reason might appear little conclusive in 

 the eyes of a geologist ; for the back of the 

 neighbouring mountain of Tiopullo, which is 

 much higher than the Panecillo, is covered also 

 with great heaps of pumice stone, probably ow- 

 ing to ancient eruptions of Cotopaxi and Ilinissa. 

 We cannot doubt, but that in both Americas, 

 as well as in the north of Asia, and on the banks 

 of the Boristhenes, mounds raised by men, and 

 real tumuli of an extraordinary height, are to be 

 seen. Those which are found amid the ruins of 

 the ancient town of Mansiche, in Peru, are not 

 much lower than the sugar-loaf of Callo. It is 

 nevertheless possible, and this opinion even ap- 

 pears to me the most probable, that the latter is 

 a volcanic hillock, isolated on the vast plain of 

 Llactacunga, and to which the natives have gi- 

 ven a more regular form. Ulloa, whose authority 

 |s of great weight, seems to have adopted the 

 opinion of the natives : he even thinks, that the 

 Panecillo is a military monument ; and that it 

 served as a watch tower, to discover what passed 

 *n the country, and to ensure the prince's safety 



