PALACIO DE GOBIERNO (GOVERNMENT HOUSE), QUITO.
"Quito was a more magnificent city under the Incas of Peru than it has ever been since the Spanish conquest. The extent of its population is not known, but it was certainly larger than to-day. The palace of Atahualpa was one of the finest in South America, and its roof is said to have been covered with gold. All the gold of the city was seized by the Spaniards, and the palace was destroyed. A convent now occupies its site, and we will look at its gloomy walls to-morrow. The magnificent Temple of the Sun is reduced to a few stones which mark the spot where it stood."
With a running conversation concerning the history of Ecuador the evening went on until it was time to go to bed. All retired early, and were up betimes to inspect the wonderful city they had toiled so hard to see.
"We are not in the highest city of the globe," said Fred in his note-book, "but we are two thousand feet farther above the sea than is the Hospice of St. Bernard, the most elevated spot in Europe which is inhabited all the year round. According to our barometers, and those of other travellers, we are 9520 feet above the beach of the Pacific Ocean at its nearest point, or only 1040 feet less than two miles.
"Cooking is performed under difficulties, as water boils at 194° Fahrenheit; potatoes, beans, and similar things require much longer time for cooking than in the lowlands, and somebody says it is an excellent provision of nature that the potatoes are small. Frank suggests that when a traveller among mountains has no thermometer or barometer he can ascertain his elevation by observing how long it takes to boil a potato of a given size.
WATER-CARRIERS.
"We started out of the hotel escorted by a guide who was to show us the sights of Quito. The streets are not crowded, and nobody seems to be in a hurry; there are many beggars, and some of them were very persistent, as is generally the case with beggars all over the world when strangers come within their reach. The water-carriers seem to form quite a class, and we were forcibly reminded of the same professionals of Cairo. There was this difference, however, that the latter transport their merchandise in skins, while those of Quito carry enormous jars on their shoulders or backs. They fill these jars at the public fountains, and then start off at a slow trot to supply the houses that employ them. We met a great many monks and priests, whose calling could be recognized at a considerable distance by their peculiar robes and the enormous hats which covered their heads. Quito is eminently a city of priests, and is liberally provided with churches and convents for its population of forty or fifty thousand.