The Andes and the Amazon; or, Across the continent of South America.

BEAUTIFUL VIEW. 55
As soon as we began to descend, the glittering cone of
Cotopaxi, and the gloomy plain it has so often devastated,
passed out of view, and before us was a green valley exceedingly rich and well cultivated, girt by a wall of mountains, the towers of which were the peaks of Corazon and
Rumi-Ragui. Loathsome lepers by the wayside alone disturbed the pleasing impression. Three hours more of travel brought us to the straggling village of Machachi, standing in the centre of the beautiful plain, at an altitude of
nine thousand nine hundred feet. Nature designed this
spot for a home of plenty and comfort, but the habitations
of the wretched proprietors are windowless adobe hovels,
thatched with dried grass, and notorious for their filth.
We must needs make one more ascent, for the ridge of
Tambillo hides the goal of our journey. The moment we
reached the summit, views unparalleled in the Andes or
any where else met our astonished vision whithersoever we
looked. Far away to the south stretched the two Cordilleras, till they were lost in the mist which enshrouded Chimborazo and Tunguragua. Turning to the north, we beheld
the city of Quito at our feet, and Pichincha and Antisana
standing like gallant sentinels on either side of the proud
capital. Beautiful were the towering mountains, and almost as delightful now are the memories of that hour. A
broad, well-traveled road, gentlemen on horseback clad in
rich ponchos, droves of Indians bowed under their heavy
burdens, and long lines of laden donkeys hurrying to and
fro, indicate our approach to a great city. Winding with
the road through green pastures and fields of ripening
grain, and crossing the Mlachhngara by an elegant bridge,
we enter the city of the Incas.