mountain range I have described, of which Chimborazo was long
considered the highest point, till Aconcagua in Chili was found to be
higher, rises from the ocean in the far-off southern end of America, and
runs up along its western shore, ever proud and grand, with snow-topped
heights rising tens of thousands of feet above the ocean, till it sinks
once more towards the northern extremity of the southern half of the
continent, running along the Isthmus of Panama, through Mexico at a less
elevation, again to rise in the almost unbroken range of the Rocky
Mountains, not to sink till it reaches the snow-covered plains of the
Arctic region.

But I am becoming too scientific and geographical; and I must confess
that it was not till many years after the time of which I am speaking
that I knew anything about the matter. My father, Don Martin Fiel, had
been for some years settled in Quito as a merchant. His mother was
Spanish, or partly so, born in Peru--I believe that she had some of the
blood of the Incas in her veins, a matter of which she was not a little
proud, I have been told--but his father was an Englishman, and our
proper family name was Faithful. My father, having lived for many years
in the Spanish South American provinces, had obtained the rights and
privileges of a Spaniard. He had, however, been sent over to England
for his education, and was a thorough Englishman at heart. He had made
during his younger days several visits to England for mercantile
purposes, and during one of them had married my mother. He was, though
really a Protestant--I am sorry to have to make the confession--
nominally a Roman Catholic; for he, being a Spanish subject, could not
otherwise at that time have resided in any part of the territories of
Spain and carried on his business with freedom: but I feel now that no
person has a right to conceal their true faith, and to pretend to
believe what is false, for the sake of any worldly advantage. My
mother, however, had stipulated that all her children should be brought
up as Protestants. To this he had agreed, though he found when he had
sons that he was in consequence subjected to considerable annoyance from
the priests, who threatened to denounce him as a heretic. To avoid
this, he had to send his children to England at an early age for their
education; indeed, had we remained at Quito we could only have obtained
a very poor one at any public school or college. It will be understood