t of inspiration, I described the Cordilleras to
her--that world-long, stupendous chain; its sea of Titicaca, and wintry,
desolate Paramo, where lie the ruins of Tiahuanaco, older than Thebes.
I mentioned its principal cities--those small inflamed or festering
pimples that attract much attention from appearing on such a body.
Quito, called--not in irony, but by its own people--the Splendid and
the Magnificent; so high above the earth as to appear but a little way
removed from heaven--"de Quito al cielo," as the saying is. But of its
sublime history, its kings and conquerors, Haymar Capac the Mighty,
and Huascar, and Atahualpa the Unhappy, not one word. Many words--how
inadequate!--of the summits, white with everlasting snows, above
it--above this navel of the world, above the earth, the ocean, the
darkening tempest, the condor's flight. Flame-breathing Cotopaxi,
whose wrathful mutterings are audible two hundred leagues away, and
Chimborazo, Antisana, Sarata, Illimani, Aconcagua--names of mountains
that affect us like the names of gods, implacable Pachacamac and
Viracocha, whose everlasting granite thrones they are. At the last I
showed her Cuzco, the city of the sun, and the highest dwelling-place of
men on earth.

I was carried away by so sublime a theme; and remembering that I had no
critical hearer, I gave free reins to fancy, forgetting for the moment
that some undiscovered thought or feeling had prompted her questions.
And while I spoke of the mountains, she hung on my words, following me
closely in my walk, her countenance brilliant, her frame quivering with
excitement.

There yet remained to be described all that unimaginable space east of
the Andes; the rivers--what rivers!--the green plains that are like
the sea--the illimitable waste of water where there is no land--and the
forest region. The very thought of the Amazonian forest made my spirit
droop. If I could have snatched her up and placed her on the dome of
Chimborazo she would have looked on an area of ten thousand square miles
of earth, so vast is the horizon at that elevation. And possibly her
imagination would have been able to clothe it all with an unbroken
forest. Yet how small a portion this would be of the stupendous
whole--of a forest region equal in extent to the whole of Europe! All
loveliness, all grace, all majesty are there; but we cannot see, cannot
conceive--come away! From this vast stage, to be occupied in the distant
future by millions