Sept.} 



TACAMES — CHIMBORAZO — QUITO. 



123 



similar to those of New-Guinea, being elevated upon posts, about ten 

 feet from the ground, and consisting of only one story. On the posts 

 or stakes driven into the earth, which support the building, the floor is 

 laid, above which most of the materials are bamboos. The roof is 

 thatched with a kind of long grass that is common in this country. 

 Each house has one door only, which is entered by means of a ladder, 

 the latter being hauled up into the house every night, when the family 

 is about retiring to rest, to prevent their being disturbed by wild ani- 

 mals, with which this part of the country abounds. 



The soil is very fertile, and yields two crops a year ; so that vege- 

 tables and fruit are always plenty in the town of Tacames. The 

 temperature is like that of Guayaquil, and accordingly it produces the 

 same kind of fruit, grain, and vegetables ; some of them in greater 

 perfection, on account of its more elevated situation. It likewise pro- 

 duces, in great abundance, vanillas, balsams, achote, copal, cocoa, 

 sarsaparilla, tobacco, and indigo. Considerable quantities of wax are 

 made here ; and the forests of the country afford a great variety of 

 trees, of large size and lofty height, fit for naval and domestic pur- 

 poses, including many rare and valuable woods. They likewise pro- 

 cure a considerable quantity of gold-dust from the streams of the moun- 

 tains, besides many valuable minerals. Notwithstanding the ample 

 resources of this place, however, it has hitherto been very little fre- 

 quented by nautical adventurers, either for trade or refreshment. 



The country between the river Tumbes and Tacames exhibits 

 several mountains of a volcanic character ; but that part of the Cor- 

 dilleras of the Andes abounds with them. Here rises the celebrated 

 Chimborazo, an immense cone, that can be seen far into the Pacific 

 Ocean, presenting to the eye of the mariner a most magnificent object. 

 It rises, according to Humboldt, to twenty-one thousand four hundred 

 and forty feet. That illustrious traveller ascended its slope as high 

 as nineteen thousand three hundred feet, the highest point on the globe 

 ever ascended to by man. It is covered, for several thousand feet, by 

 perpetual snow, and generally surrounded by fogs. Were Mount 

 iEtna placed on the summit of Canigou, or were St. Gothard piled on 

 the top of the peak of TenerifTe, the mighty Chimborazo would still 

 raise his snow-crowned head above them. The native Peruvians, 

 however, have a tradition that another mountain in that neighbourhood 

 was once even more elevated than Chimborazo. This was the altar- 

 mountain, called by them Copa-urcu. But that after a continual 

 eruption of eight years, it gradually sank to a lower altitude. In 

 proof of this fact, the top of the mountain presents, in its inclined 

 peaks, nothing but the traces of destruction. 



About one hundred miles north-east of Chimborazo stands the 

 celebrated city of Quito, the ancient capital of the incas. It is built 

 on the elevated volcanic region of Pichincha, nine thousand five hun- 

 dred feet above the level of the Pacific Ocean. It is the most elevated 

 large city of the globe, and the inhabitants formerly enjoyed a mild 

 and equal temperature of atmosphere, unrivalled in any other quarter 

 of the world. But the dreadful earthquake of the 4th of February, 



