nd his beast to this chilly altitude. It is difficult to
get a quart of milk, and impossible to find a pound of butter at this
hacienda. The predominant colors of the cattle are red and black. They
feed on the wild paramo grass, and the beef is not only remarkably
cheap, but superior in quality. The lasso is used in catching the
animals, but not so skillfully as by the Gauchos of Rio Plata. It is a
singular fact that cattle have followed men over the whole earth, from
the coast of Africa to the highlands of Antisana. The same species is
attacked by crocodiles and condors.

[Footnote 79: M. d'Abbadie professes to have visited a village in
Abyssinia (Arquiage) which is 12,450 feet above the sea. Potosi stands
13,500 feet.]

[Footnote 80: This agrees with Humboldt's calculation that a difference
of elevation of 278 feet produces the same effect on the annual
temperature as a change of one degree of latitude. According to the
experiments of Captain Pullen, the minimum temperature of the great
depths of the ocean 35 deg., and it commences soon after passing 12,000
feet.]

[Footnote 81: The great depots of cattle in Ecuador are at the two
extremes of elevation, the lowlands of St. Elena and the highlands of
Antisana. On the slope of Cayambi is another extensive cattle estate.]

The atmospheric pressure is here so small that they frequently bleed at
the nose and mouth when hunted. We have already given our experience in
ascending high altitudes. We may add that while the pulse of
Boussingault beat 106 pulsations at the height of 18,600 feet on
Chimborazo, ours was 87 at 16,000 feet on Antisana. De Saussure says
that a draught of liquor which would inebriate in the lowlands no
longer has that effect on Mont Blanc. This appears to be true on the
Andes; indeed, there is very little drunkenness in Quito. So the higher
we perch our inebriate asylums, the better for the patients.

Near the hacienda is a little lake called Mica, on which we found a
species of grebe, with wings so short it could not fly. Its legs, also,
seem fitted only for paddling, and it goes ashore only to lay its eggs.
It peeps like a gosling. Associated with them were penguins (in
appearance); they were so shy we could not secure one. The query is, How
came they there? Was this a centre of creation, or were the fowls
upheaved with the Andes? They could not have flown or walked to this
lofty lake, and there are no water-courses leading to it; it is
surround