VIEW OF COTOPAXI.
"To describe the dreary road from here to Quito would be tedious reading. It passes through a region of volcanic origin, where the rocks are piled everywhere in great confusion, vegetation is restricted, and the miserable villages of the natives are repulsive in every aspect. It winds over hills and ridges, or through valleys and along the banks of streams; it rises in some places ten or twelve thousand feet above the sea-level, and nowhere is it less than eight thousand feet in elevation. The latter part of the journey is over a wagon road, passing in full view of the volcano of Cotopaxi, and crossing a ridge that suddenly brings us in sight of the capital city, nestling at the foot of Pichincha, the volcano which more than once has threatened to ingulf it in total ruin.
VIEW OF QUITO AND THE VOLCANO OF PICHINCHA.
"The country improves as we approach Quito. There are farms in great number, and the fertile slopes of the hills appear to be well cultivated. Before we reach the ridge which reveals it, we traverse a valley that might be made far more productive than it is, and when we come to the banks of the Machangara, the river that flows past Quito, we can hardly realize that we are nearly two miles up in the air. But it is really so, as the elevation of the city is little less than ten thousand feet; and people afflicted with pulmonary complaints would do well to stay away from it."
