Chimborazo

“ The reason that we are so noisy is that we are so full of wants; we are unfinished characters. Had we perfect fulness of all things, the beatitude of being without a want, we should lapse into the eternal silence of God.
Chimborazo is a leader of a long train of ambitious crags and peaks; but as he who comes after the king must not expect to be noticed, we will only take a glimpse of these lesser lights as we pass up the Western Cordillera, and then down the Eastern.
The first after leaving the monarch is Caraguairazo. The Indians call it “the wife of Chimborazo.” ”

“ His feet are as eternally green as his head is everlastingly white; but they are far away beneath the bananas and cocoa-palms of the Pacific coast.
Rousseau was disappointed when he first saw the sea; and the first glimpse of Niagara often fails to meet one's expectations. But Chimborazo is sure of a worshiper the moment its overwhelming grandeur breaks upon the traveler. You feel that you are in the presence-chamber of the monarch of the Andes. There is sublimity in his kingly look, of which the ocean might be proud. ”

“ If Chimborazo alone has been capable of measuring its strength with the whole earth, and of giving to the pendulum a divergence of seven seconds and a half from the line, where all the efficacy of the globe directs it to the centre, with how much greater reason ought an entire world of analogous mountains, united to Chimborazo, to equiliberate, not the absolute weight of the globe, nor the northern territories, but, respectively, the sum of the excess of the latter over the southern? ”

“ Three hundred miles and more from Chimborazo, one hundred from the snows of Cotopaxi, in the wildest wastes of Ecuador's Andes, there lies that mysterious mountain valley, cut off from all the world of men, the Country of the Blind. Long years ago that valley lay so far open to the world that men might come at last through frightful gorges and over an icy pass into its equable meadows, and thither indeed men came, a family or so of Peruvian half-breeds fleeing from the lust and tyranny of an evil Spanish ruler. ”

“ Toward the extremity of the part where the rush grows, and the cold begins to increase, is found a vegetable with a round bulbous head. Higher still, the earth is bare of vegetation, and seems covered with eternal snow. The most remarkable of the Andes are the mountains of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, and Pichincha.”
CHIMBORAZO. This is the most lofty and majestic peak of the Andes, and has a circular summit. It is twenty-two thousand feet, or more than four miles high. On the shores of the ocean, after the long rains of winter, Chimborazo appears like a cloud in the horizon. ”

“ Grand as the Andes are, how insignificant in a general view! How slightly they cause our globe to differ from a perfect sphere! Cotopaxi constitutes only 1/1100 of the earth's radius; and on a globe six feet in diameter, Chimborazo would be represented by a grain of sand less than 1/20 of an inch in thickness.
[69] But Chimborazo is steeper than the Alp-king; and steepness is a quality more quickly appreciated than mere massiveness. "Mont Blanc (says a writer in Frazer's Magazine) is scarcely admired, because he is built with a certain regard to stability ”

“ Equally debarred, by the unhappy dissensions between Chili, Peru, and Bolivia, from travel amongst the highest of the Andes, I turned to the Republic of Ecuador, the most lofty remaining country which was accessible.
As the main object of the journey was to observe the effects of low pressure, and to attain the greatest possible height in order to experience it, Chimborazo naturally claimed the first attention, on account of its absolute elevation above the sea; [11] and I proposed to encamp upon this mountain, at gradually increasing heights, with the ultimate aim of reaching the summit. ”

“ Several natives of the province of Quito have assured me that Chimborazo signifies merely “the snow of Chimbo.” We find the same termination in Carguai-razo. But razo appears to be a provincial word. The Jesuit Holguin, (whose excellent “Vocabulario de la Lengua general de todo el Peru llamada Lengua Qquichua ó del Inca,” printed at Lima in 1608, is in my possession,) knows nothing of the word “razo.” The genuine word [38] for snow is “ritti.” ”

“ At Guayaquil, the westernmost city of South America, it is even possible on occasions in clear weather to see Chimborazo, eighty miles from the sea. Nowhere in the world is there a greater assembly of lofty peaks than will be seen as the vessel proceeds along the coast. ”

“ The Andes of South America present the most striking and stupendous features; cataracts, volcanoes, and immense chasms of an almost perpendicular descent. Chimborazo, the highest point of the Andes, reaches twenty-one thousand four hundred and sixty-four feet; in many places the peaks rise to upwards of twenty thousand feet, though in others they sink to less than one thousand.
In general, all the chains of mountains in the same continent, seem to have a mutual connection more or less apparent ”

“ It is through this place that all the towns, as far as Quito, are supplied with European goods, and through this place also should these towns be supplied with the Holy Scriptures, and with other works which may contribute to enlighten and to benefit them with respect to time and to eternity. I have made arrangements there by which the Scriptures may be supplied to these quarters in future.
[232]
The town of Guaranda is high up on the Andes, and within a few miles of the great Chimborazo. It enjoys a temperate and healthy climate, notwithstanding its proximity to the Equator. ”

“ O most gracious of kings, Atlano, this I state to thy great self: I, captain of the trading vessel Mestor, came into Chimo thirty days since from our people of Chimu, [2] whither I sailed twelve moons ago, bearing a cargo of dried fruits, grains, and rare woods. There I found our people building a temple to the great Amen, that in shape is like unto a pyramid, and in size is half a mile around. Already are the temples, palaces, and tombs of Chimu looking as ours. And great is the decking in gold and silver, for the mines are not far. Of gold, silver, and gems I bring to Chimo large stores. ”

“ The Chimu people drove out the aborigines and occupied the valleys of the coast from Payta nearly to Lima, forming distinct communities, each under a chief more or less independent. The Chimu himself ruled over the five valleys of Parmunca, Hualli, Huanapu, Santa, and Chimu, where the city of Truxillo now stands. The total difference of their language from Quichua makes it clear that the Chimus did not come from the Andes or from the Quito country. ”

“ In order that the peculiar appropriateness of the name may appear to the reader, it may be as well to explain that Chimo (the i and o of which are sounded long) is an Esquimau word of salutation, and is used by the natives when they meet with strangers. It signifies, Are you friendly? by those who speak first, and seems to imply, We are friendly, when returned as an answer. So well known is the word to the fur-traders who traffic with the natives of Hudson’s Straits that they frequently apply it to them as a name, and speak of the Esquimaux as Chimos. ”

“ ALGONQUIAN FAMILY {84} AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Chibchas. The most northerly group of the tribes of the Andes "are the Cundinamarca of the table lands of Bogota. At the time of the conquest the watershed of the Magdalena was occupied by the Chibcha, or, as they were called by the Spaniards, Muyscas. At that time the Chibcha were the most powerful of all the autochthonous tribes, had a long history behind them, were well advanced toward civilization, to which numerous antiquities bear witness. ”

“ But for Chiabrera, the excellent gentleman, the patronized of princes, scrupulous upon the point of honor, pupil of Jesuits, pious, twisted back on humanism by his Roman tutors, what escape was left for him? Obey the genius of his times he must. Innovate he must. He chose the least indecorous sphere at hand for innovation ”

“ Chimboraso, even at its foot. Perhaps my ideas of grandeur are not correct, so that I must appeal to persons of more extensive conceptions, to know whether a mass rising twelve thousand one hundred and eighty feet above the head of an observer can be considered a "hill!" In the comprehensive mind of a philosopher, the base, not only of this mountain, but the whole range of the Andes, may be a matter not worthy of attention, and consequently detached parts of it must form minor objects. ”

“ Ay; but He must put the trusting, loving, childlike spirit in by his grace. O Lord, I am Thine, truly I am Thine--take me--do what seemeth good in Thy sight with me, and give me complete resignation to Thy will in all things." Two months later (May, 1859) , a second ascent of the Shiré was performed, and friendly relations were established with a clever chief named Chibisa, "a jolly person, who laughs easily--which is always a good sign." Chibisa believed firmly in two things--the divine right of kings, and the impossibility that Chibisa should ever be in the wrong. ”

“ Even the descendants of the Chibchas, that make up much of the population of the outskirts and the surrounding country, have a tinge of russet in their cheeks, and are by no means so dark as our copper-skinned aborigines. Daily they swarm into the city that was once theirs. Short, yet sturdy, muscular carriers and arrieros, as often 28female as male, pass noiselessly through the streets with the produce of their country patches. ”

“ From Chame to the province of Chiru is eight leagues of uninhabited country in the same direction; and this Chiru is inhabited by a well disposed people, with a language of their own. From this province to that of Nata there are four leagues of uninhabited country. All these districts are fertile and level,— a very fine land abounding in supplies of maize, aji, melons different from those here, grapes, and yucas; with excellent fishing in the rivers and in the sea, and deer fit for the chace. The districts of Coiba and Cueva are the same in these respects. ”

“ We emerged from the thirty-five or forty miles of Kebrabasa hills into the Chicova plains on the 7th of June, 1860, having made short marches all the way. The cold nights caused some of our men to cough badly, and colds in this country almost invariably become fever. The Zambesi suddenly expands at Chicova, and assumes the size and appearance it has at Tette. ”

“ Most of the writers on the Chibchas have spoken of them as a nation standing almost civilized in the midst of barbarous hordes, and without affinities to any other. Both of these statements are erroneous. The Chibchas proper, or Muyscas, are but one member of a numerous family of tribes which extended in both directions from the Isthmus of Panama, and thus had representatives in North as well as South America. The Chibcha language was much more widely disseminated throughout New Granada at the time of the discovery than later writers have appreciated. ”

“ The Manitous then united all their powers to recall Chibiabos to life, which they did without difficulty. He was, however, forbidden to enter the sacred lodge; but receiving a flaming brand, he was sent to preside over the empire of the dead. Manabozho, quite consoled, ate, drank, danced, and smoked the sacred pipe, went away to the Great Spirit, and returned to earth to instruct men in the useful arts, in the mysteries of dancing and medicine, and in the curative properties of plants. It is he [257] who causes the medicinal plants to grow which cure sickness and wounds ”

“ The people of Chimu, whose ruins we have been describing, belong to the coast division—differing in many respects from the Peruvian tribes in the interior. Our information in regard to the coast people is very limited. We have to judge them almost entirely from the ruins of their towns, and the remains of their handiwork. There is no reason to suppose they were the inferiors of the Peruvians in culture. It is quite the custom to speak of them as if they were low savages before the Incas conquered the country; and that they owe to the latter all their advance in culture. ”

“ Such a man may [259] even be a slave, as was said to have been the case with Chibisa, who, in the early sixties, had much more real power than his neighbour Mankokwe, the Rundo of the Shiré Highlands. This man began by representing himself as possessed by the spirit of Chibisa, a deceased prophetess of note among the Nyungwe tribe, near Tete, whose name he assumed. The Nyungwe believed him, and he gradually obtained a complete ascendency over their chief, Kapichi, finally inducing part of the latter’s people to secede with him and settle at the foot of the Murchison Cataracts. ”

“ Balboa, indeed, gives a detailed account of the statements made by the coast Indians of Lambayeque, at the time of the conquest. They declared that a great fleet arrived on the coast some generations earlier, commanded by a chief named Noymlap, who had with him a green-stone idol, and that he founded a dynasty of chiefs.
The Chimu and his subjects, let their origin be what it may, had certainly made considerable advances in civilization. The vast palaces of the Chimu near the seashore, with a surrounding city, and great mounds or artificial hills, are astonishing even in their decay. ”

“ On one side their villages are mixed up with the Luimbi, on the other with the Luena people and the Luvale, who are scattered over the great, wet flats between Mashiko and Nanakandundu. But they are a distinct people in themselves, and they appear to be increasing and slowly spreading south. If the King of Italy’s arbitration gives the Zambesi tributaries to England, the Chibokwe will form the chief part of our new fellow-subjects, and will share the legal advantages of Whitehall. ”