5o8 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
of Viteri to the east, and several mines of copper 
and silver v^hich are not assigned to any particular 
owner. Not far to the east of the Destacamento is 
another tambo, with a cross, where I find written, 
" Discordia y Consonancia con Guzman," showing 
that at this place Guzman's fellow-miners quarrelled 
with him and were afterwards reconciled. East- 
north-east from this, and at the same distance from 
it as the Destacamento, is the last tambo on this 
route, called El Sumadal, on the banks of a lake, near 
the Rio de las Flechas. Beyond that river, and 
north of the Curaray, are the river and forests of 
Gancaya. 
Another track, running more to the north than 
any of the foregoing, sets out from the village of San 
Miguel, and passes between Cotopaxi and Los 
Mulatos. Several tambos or huts for resting in 
are marked on the route, which ends abruptly near 
the Minas de Pinel (north-east from Los Mulatos), 
with the following remark by the author — " Con- 
spiracion contra Conrado y su accelerado regreso," 
so that Conrado ran away to escape from a con- 
spiracy formed against him, but who he was, or who 
were his treacherous companions, it would now 
perhaps be impossible to ascertain. 
Along these tracks travelled those who searched 
for mines of silver and other metals, and also for the 
gold thrown away by the subjects of the Inca. That 
the last was their principal object is rendered obvious 
by the carefulness with which every lake has been 
sounded that was at all likely to contain the supposed 
deposit.-^ 
^ The soundings of the lakes are in Spanish varas, each near 33 English 
inches. 
