72 
BRIDGE OF ROPES 
NEAR 
PENIPE. 
PLATE XXXIII. 
The small river of Chambo, which flows from 
the lake of Coley, separates the pleasing village 
of Guanaiido from that of Penipe. It waters a 
ravine, the bottom of which is two thousand four 
hundred metres above the level of the ocean ; 
and which is celebrated for the cultivation of 
cochineal*, which the natives have followed from 
time immemorial. In crossing this country to 
reach Riobamba, on the western declivity of the 
volcano of Tunguragua, we stopped to examine 
the country disrupted by the mem6ra:ble earth- 
quake of the 7th of February, 1797 ; which, in 
the space of a few minutes, destroyed thirty or 
* See my Political Essay on New Spain, vol, ii, p. 465. 
