one of the causes of the superior moral character of
European nations. Live and let live is certainly not the maxim taught in
these tropical forests, and it is equally clear that selfishness is not
wanting among the people. Here, in view of so much competition among
organized beings, is the spot to study Darwin's "Origin of Species." We
have thought that the vegetation under the equator was a fitter emblem
of the human world than the forests of our temperate zone. There is here
no set time for decay and death, but we stand amid the living and the
dead; flowers and leaves are falling, while fresh ones are budding into
life. Then, too, the numerous parasitic plants, making use of their
neighbors as instruments for their own advancement, not inaptly
represent a certain human class.

[Footnote 11: Ferns constitute one sixth of the flora of South America;
Spruce counted 140 species within the space of three square miles. Their
limits of growth are 500 and 7000 feet above the sea.]

CHAPTER II.

Our Tambo.--Ascending the Andes.--Camino Real.--Magnificent
Views.--Guaranda.--Cinchona.--The Summit.--Chimborazo.--Over the
Andes.--Chuquipoyo the Wretched.--Ambato.--A Stupid
City.--Cotopaxi.--The Vale of Machachi.--Arrival at Quito.

We reached Savaneta at 5 P.M. This little village of hardly twenty
houses becomes the Bodegas, or place of deposit for the mountains six
months in the year, for in the _invierno_ the roads are flooded, and
canoes take the place of mules from Savaneta to Babahoyo. Even in the
dry season the dampness of this wilderness is so great that the
traveler's sugar and chocolate are melted into one, and envelopes seal
themselves. We put up at a _tambo_, or wayside inn, a simple two-storied
bamboo hovel, thatched with plantain leaves without and plastered with
cobwebs within, yet a palace compared with what sheltered us afterward.
The only habitable part was the second story, which was reached by a
couple of notched bamboo sticks. A hammock, two earthen kettles, two
plates, and a few calabashes constituted the household furniture. The
dormitory was well ventilated, for two sides were open. Our lodging,
however, cost us nothing; travelers only pay for _yerba_ for their
beasts. Though this has been the royal road to Quito for three
centuries, there is but one _posada_ between Guayaquil and Ambato, a
distance of one hundred and fifty miles; travelers must carry their own
bedding and pr