they would of themselves, if heaped together, form an enormous mountain; and in a violent eruption in 1774, when it spouted out torrents of fire, its roarings were heard at a town 600 miles distant. In 1768, it sent forth such a discharge of ashes, that the light of the sun was obscured at a city some leagues distant, and the people were forced to use lanterns. In 1803, the cone was so heated with the internal fire, that one morning when the people of Quito looked towards the summit, they saw, to their great surprise, that the mass of snow which covered it had suddenly melted away; and at Guayaquil, 150 miles distant in a bird's eye direction, its eruptions were as audibly distinguished as if there had been repeated discharges of cannon close to the town.

It was during Philips' stay in this wonderful country, that he had an opportunity of seeing the Condor, the largest of the vulture species, which always builds its nest on the most inac. cessible heights, and seldom comes down except for the purpose of carrying off the smaller cattle. It is sometimes caught by traps laid down near some flesh; but such is the force of this bird, that with a single stroke of its wing, it some. times knocks down the man who approaches it.

An active and inquiring mind, like that of Philips, it may be supposed, would have left nothing unseen in this country of wonders. In Quito he saw a great many persons who had

come from Santa Fe through Popayan, and they described the journey as offering to the traveller, scenes far more extraordinary than any he had hitherto witnessed. Santa Fe is the capital of the kingdom of New Grenada, and lies 400 miles north-east of Quito, Popayan being about balf between them. But the fatigue which way Philips had undergone in his journey to Quito, deterred him from undertaking one which was described to him as so far surpassing it in every kind of risk and danger. The first part of the journey from Quito to Santa Fe leads through the province of Popayan, across the northern part of which runs one of the highest branches of the Andes, presenting to the traveller the almost insurmountable difficulties of climbing its lofty peaks and penetrating through its narrow passes. Many of the mules employed on this journey, perish from the fatigue and cold to which they are exposed, and the whole road for the space of two leagues, is so covered with the carcases and bones of these animals, that it is impossible to avoid treading upon them.

Between the towns of Ibague and Carthago, the road runs over that part of the Andes, called the Mountains of Quindin. Here it leads through a thick uninhabited forest, which even in the most favourable weather cannot be tra versed in less than ten or twelve days: and as no hut is to be seen, or any kind of subsistance

procured, the traveller must take with him at least a month's provisions, as the sudden thaws and swellings of the mountain rivers, frequently render it impracticable either to go forward or

return.

But the greatest difficulty to be encountered on this journey, remains yet to be mentioned :-In many parts of the mountain over which the road subsequently leads, the streams have hollowed out gullies from twenty to twenty-five feet in depth; the pathway which runs along most of those crevices is not above eighteen inches in breadth, and has the appearance of a gallery dug and left open to the sky. In some, also, the opening above is covered by plants which grow out from both sides of the crevice, so that, as the travellers described it to Philips, they were forced to grope their way in darkness, along this singular passage. In this part of the journey, they had to dismiss their mules, which were here quite useless to them, and to engage a set of stout young men to carry them on their backs. This no doubt, excites the read. er's astonishment, but in crossing the high moun. tains called the Andes, the carriers who exercise this mode of livelihood are a numerous body, and will carry a man in a chair tied on their backs, for fifteen or twenty days together.One of the party disliking the idea of using a fellow-creature as a beast of burden, was forced to walk barefooted, which rendered the journey excessively fatiguing, and it was frequently

necessary to tread in a thick muddy clay, and to ford deep torrents of water. In one of these galleries, which was a mile long, and so narrow, as has been mentioned, that two people could not walk abreast, they met a number of oxen which were conveying merchandize to the town they had left, and, as they first thought, had no way of avoiding them but by turning back. Their carriers, however, made them descend from their chairs, and climb up the earthen wall by laying hold of the branches which grew there, until the whole herd had passed by. What should a man do, thought Philips, who is not strong enough to go on foot through these difficult roads, and yet has an insuperable objection to this mode of conveyance, he must give up all thoughts of ever quitting the coun try. One of the cariiers was a powerfully strong young man, and he told them, there was only one other beside himself, able to carry a very large man who had once travelled through the country; had both of us died, added he, on the journey, it would have been impossible for him ever to return home.

This appears to us a wretched mode of life, and yet there is no employment the young men like so well, although after a long journey, their backs are often quite raw. The travellers said that on two or three occasions, they meet them in files of fifty; and that some years ago, when it was in contemplation to cut a regular road