The face of the country was entirely changed, so much so, that after the shock the surviving inhabitants, and those of the neighbouring provinces, could not tell where their houses formerly stood, or where their friends had formerly lived; mountains rose where cultivated valleys had existed; the rivers disappeared or changed their course, and plains usurped the situation of the mountains and ravines. The face of the country was so completely altered, that no one knows the site of the largest farm in the province, belonging to Zamora.
The new town is built on a sandy plain, much below the level of the surrounding elevated plains, which are called paramos; its climate is very agreeable, and calculated to produce all kinds of European fruits, but at present only a few trees are to be seen in the orchards or gardens. I spent the evening that we remained at Riobamba with an old Indian Cacique, the only person whom I ever saw who could knot and interpret the meaning of the knots of the quipus. He boasted of being a descendant of the huasta puncay, the ancient lord of the surrounding country. He had an account of the peopling of that part of the territory of Maynas, to the eastward of the Cordilleras; first by a colony of puncay indians, who had become too numerous for the country which they inhabited; and secondly by part of the tribe, after they had been routed by Benalcasar, on the plain of Trocajas, where they opposed the entrance of the Spaniards. He also had a tradition that, a short time before the arrival of the Spaniards, a colony of monkeys crossed the mountains from the westward, and infested the country, till they were all destroyed by the indians; and that on the arrival of the first Spaniards, the natives considered them as a migration of destructive animals, and determined to prevent their entrance; but on being defeated, many left the country and joined the colony in Maynas. My kind host assured me, that the province of Riobamba contained extremely rich mines of gold and silver, and that from undoubted tradition this province sent more silver and gold for the purpose of ransoming Atahualpa than any other in the kingdom.
The province produces annually about four thousand quintals of sheep's wool, which is manufactured into different kinds of cloth; its other productions are wheat, maize, barley, potatoes, arracachas, and European culinary vegetables. The capital is so situated, that it is not likely ever to become a place of commercial notoriety.
Our next stage brought us to the town of Ambato, the road we travelled being very irregular and disagreeable, owing as well to the coldness of the climate as to the difficult ascents and descents; but the view of our resting place cheered us. As soon as we descended into the valley of Ambato, we found a triumphal arch, covered with ripe strawberries; these had been plucked with their stalks, and then fastened to cords of maguey fibres; large bunches were hanging down from the top, and in different parts festoons and other ornaments were tastefully displayed, and the fragrance was peculiarly delightful. Here the Corregidor and other gentlemen received us, and accompanied us to the town; part of the road being confined with hedges of tunas, rosemary bushes, magueys, and rose trees, with other vegetables belonging to the old and the new world: the natives of such distant parts of the globe were here blended, and were thriving in the most luxuriant manner. Before we arrived at the town we passed under two other arches covered with strawberries, and for more than a league the indian boys and girls danced along with us; stopping till we had passed the arches, which they immediately pulled down and stripped of their fruit, and then followed us running and singing, with long wreaths of strawberries hanging about them.
The town of Ambato is very pleasantly situated on one side of a river; the churches and houses are generally neat and all new, for the old town was completely demolished by the earthquake in 1797. Ambato is the capital of the province of the same name, which for the greater part enjoys a very mild climate and a most fertile soil. The crops of wheat, maize, barley, quinua, and other pulse are extremely abundant, and of an excellent quality. Many exquisite fruits are grown here, such as apples, pears, peaches, apricots, and strawberries; these are produced in great abundance; indeed many of the plains are covered with the plants, and any person who wishes to purchase some, pays to the proprietor of the ground, medio real, one-sixteenth of a dollar, and either goes himself, or sends a person to gather them for him during a whole day. Sugar cane thrives extremely well here, although it is four years before it is ripe: remarkably fine sugar is made from it, superior to any other that can be procured in this neighbourhood; but the quantity is small.
Cochineal, called here pilcay, is found in abundance in the leaves of the cactus, and is collected by the natives for the purpose of dyeing. The name given by the Spaniards to this valuable insect is cochinilla, signifying a little pig; because it bears a resemblance to one, in the same manner as in some parts of England it is supposed that the woodlouse resembles a hog, and is hence called an "old sow." The cactus on which the cochinilla feeds is not so prickly as the tuna, which in the West Indies is called the prickly pear; the leaves are very green, as well as the rind of the fruit, but the inside is of a most beautiful red colour, similar to that of the cochinilla; it is very palatable, and when eaten communicates its own colour to the urine. Little attention is paid here to the cultivation of the cactus, or nopal, as it is called in Mexico, or to the insect itself, consequently the quality of the dye is not of the first rate; but were both properly attended to, there is no doubt but the pilcay of Ambato would equal the cochinilla of Oaxaca. Instead of killing the insect after taking it from the cactus, by placing it in an earthen jar, and exposing it to a heat sufficiently strong to destroy its vitality, and then preserving it in bags, as the Mexican indians do, it is ground or bruised to the consistency of paste, and often adulterated with a composition made of the juice of the fruit, and flour; indeed the Mexican indians do the same, and they can imitate the animal so perfectly, that it is difficult to discover the counterfeit. The best method to detect it is, as an extensive dealer informed me in Mexico, to put a quantity of cochinilla into warm water, and let it remain twenty-four hours, then to stir it about, and strain the liquor through a hair sieve sufficiently fine to prevent the passage of the insect; allow the liquid to repose, and if any sediment be deposited, the cochinilla contains a portion of counterfeit matter, the quantity of which may be discovered by drying the sediment, and comparing the weight to that of the cochinilla placed in infusion.
Among the delicacies found at Ambato is excellent bread, equal to any in the world, and several kinds of cakes, particularly one called allullas, of which many are made and sent to Quito, Guayaquil, and other places. All the necessary articles of food are reasonably cheap and very good, owing to which, and to its agreeable climate, many persons choose to make this their place of residence.
In the year 1698 the town was destroyed by an eruption of Cotopaxi, accompanied by one of Carguairaso, which ejected torrents of a hot muddy matter in such quantities as to inundate several of the neighbouring valleys. On the south side of the present town there still remains a monument of this dreadful visitation; a large chasm is seen in the rock five feet wide, and more than a league in length.
On leaving Ambato, a short stage of five leagues brought us to Llactacunga, or as it is commonly called Tacunga. On our entrance we were shocked at the sight of heaps of ruins, caused by the earthquake in 1797; the churches and convents were quite demolished, and their remains exist in the condition in which that frightful convulsion left them. Tacunga is the capital of the province of the same name, and the residence of the Corregidor; the plain on which it stands is evidently of volcanic origin, or has been covered with volcanic productions thrown from the neighbouring mountains. The town contains about three thousand inhabitants; it has a parish church, and the remains of the convents of San Francisco, Santo Domingo, San Augustin, and la Merced; of a college of Jesuits, and a nunnery of barefooted Carmelite nuns; these after the earthquake were removed to Quito. The churches and houses are built of pumice stone, so light that it will float in water; it may be procured in almost any part of the neighbourhood. Tacunga was completely ruined by earthquakes, probably by shocks caused by the subterraneous operations of the volcano of Cotopaxi, which is very near to the town; these happened in 1698, when only one church out of nine, and four houses out of seven hundred, were left standing; in the years 1743 and 1757 it was entirely demolished.
In the earthquake of 1743, a Jesuit, Father Vallejo, was in the church when the roof fell in; he remained under the ruins till the third day, when he was taken out unhurt; but his mental faculties were so completely deranged, that he had forgotten his own name, nor did he recollect any of his most particular friends, and although a priest, when his breviary was presented to him he could not read it, but appeared quite childish; he afterwards resided in the college of Quito, but his memory had so entirely abandoned him, that he never could recollect any thing that had occurred to him before the earthquake, not even his studies, and he was afterwards taught to read and to celebrate a votive mass. This extraordinary instance of the effects produced by fright is so well authenticated in Quito, that the fact appears to be indubitable.