430 



Noies on the Influence 



[No, 36, 



the apprehension, then, that the instance I have selected, inas- 

 much as I regard it a striking one may be set aside for the reason 

 it exists in a locality composed of rocks and almost denuded of ve- 

 getation, I shall supply the description of some others v/-hich are 

 less elevated than is Tota, and whose waters have remained sta- 

 tionary for ages, although they are placed in the centre of a rich 

 country, whilst at the same time its agricultural aspect has under- 

 gone no change. I have examined some such near the equator, in 

 the province of Quito. 



On leaving Ibarra to go to Quito, we traverse a delightful valley, 

 in which we meet with the lake San- Pablo, to which the Indians 

 continue its ancient name Chilcapan. I found it was elevated about 

 8,500 feet above the level of the ocean. The temperature corres- 

 ponding to this height no longer admits the cultivation of wheat or 

 of maize, but instead, we perceive numerous fields of barley, oats 

 and potatoes. The lower parts of the country consist of the richest 

 pasturage, and the hills are covered with sheep, which are reared 

 for the sake of their wool which supplies the extensive cloth manu- 

 factures of the district. The numerous villages which border on the 

 lake existed even previous to the conquest, the great mass of the po- 

 pulation is still piirely Indian, they still preserve their old customs 

 and their idioms, and in short matters appear in much the state 

 they were under the empire of the Incas. The only essential dif- 

 ference, perhaps, which it would be possible to point out is that the 

 rearing of sheep has been substituted for that of the lama, although 

 these latter animals are still by no means uncommon. On the 

 public roads we frequently encounter droves of these lamas, under 

 the directions of the Indians who attend them, and who by their 

 means transport their merchandise from place to place. It is 

 a fact admitted by every one that the steppe of San-Pablo from 

 time immemorial has never been wooded. Even under the Incas it 

 was pasture-land. Folds for sheep which were reared on the lake 

 more than a century ago, are witnesses that its waters have in no 

 degree receded. The route, too, which Huayna-capac followed 

 when he left Quito to undertake the conquest of Otavalu, marks to 

 the present day the limits of the water. 



The Cordillera which separates the valley of San-Pablo from the 

 coasts of the southern ocean is covered upon the eastern slope, with 



