-Capac, it
is evident that the Spanish founders were guided more by the spurs of
Pichincha than by astronomy. The streets make an angle of forty-five
degrees with the meridian, so that not a single public building faces
any one of the four cardinal points of the compass. Two deep ravines
come down the mountain, and traverse the city from west to east. They
are mostly covered by arches, on which the houses rest; but where they
are open, they disclose as fit representatives of the place of torment
as the Valley of Hinnom. The outline of the city is as irregular as its
surface. It incloses one square mile. Twenty streets, all of them
straiter than the apostolic one in Damascus, cross one another very
nearly at right angles. None of them are too wide, and the walks are
painfully narrow; but, thanks to Garcia Moreno, they are well paved. The
inequality of the site, and its elevation above the Machangara, render
the drainage perfect.[21] The streets are dimly lighted by tallow
candles, every householder being obliged to hang out a lantern at 7
P.M., unless there is moonshine. The candles, however, usually expire
about ten o'clock. There are three "squares"--Plaza Mayor, Plaza de San
Francisco, and Plaza de Santo Domingo. The first is three hundred feet
square, and adorned with trees and flowers; the others are dusty and
unpaved, being used as market-places, where Indians and donkeys most do
congregate. All the plazas have fountains fed with pure water from
Pichincha.

[Footnote 21: The following quotation, however, is true to the letter,
and will apply equally well to Guayaquil and to Madrid--the mother of
them both: "There is another want still more embarrassing in Quito than
the want of hotels--it is the want of water-closets and privies, which
are not considered as necessary fixtures of private residences. Men,
women, and children, of all ages and colors, may be seen in the middle
of the street, in broad daylight, making privies of the most public
thoroughfares; and while thus engaged, they will stare into the faces of
passers-by with a shamelessness that beggars description."--_Hassaurek_.]

Few buildings can boast of architectural beauty, yet Quito looks
palatial to the traveler who has just emerged from the dense forest on
the coast, "crossing bridgeless rivers, floundering over bottomless
roads, and ascending and descending immense mountains." He is astonished
to find such elegant edifices and such a proud aristocracy