"'Certainly,' exclaimed Frank, 'I remember, now you mention it, that the potato was found at Quito by the Spaniards and taken by them to Europe early in the sixteenth century. From Spain it was carried to Germany, France, Belgium, and Italy, and last of all to Ireland, where it was introduced by Sir Walter Raleigh on his estate near Cork.' "'You are quite right,' said the Doctor. 'The so-called "Irish potato" is really a native of South America.' "'The descendant is worthier than the parent,' Frank remarked, as he pointed to the potato-field we were passing. 'The potato of Ireland and of the United States is much larger and finer than that of Ecuador. Cultivation in a foreign land has done a great deal for this vegetable.' "We both agreed with him, as we had already remarked the diminutive size of the potatoes of Quito. The same comment applies to the cherries, pears, peaches, strawberries, and tomatoes, which do not seem to enjoy the climate, but there are other fruits and vegetables that get along better. The finest fruit here is the _chirimoya_; its name comes from _chiri_ (cold), and _moya_ (seed). It grows in Peru and other parts of South America as well as in Ecuador; the fruit often reaches a weight of sixteen pounds, and has a thick green skin enclosing a snow-white pulp, in which about seventy black seeds are imbedded. Professor Orton says its taste is a happy admixture of sweetness and acidity; Hamke calls it 'a masterwork of nature;' and another traveller describes it as 'a spiritualized strawberry.' We have tried to find a description of it, but must fall back upon that of our predecessors. Dr. Holmes says all the pens in the world cannot tell how the birds sing and the lilacs swell; no more can we give in words a satisfactory account of this prince among fruits. [Illustration: BALCONY VIEW OF THE ANDES.] "But all the time, during our walk through and around Quito, we find ourselves every few minutes fixing our eyes on the great peaks of the Andes and Cordilleras that rise around us. We are in the centre of the most volcanic region of the globe; there are fifty-one volcanoes in the chain of the Andes, and out of this number no less than twenty surround the valley where Quito stands. Three of the twenty are active, five are dormant, and twelve are extinct; they are all in a space two hundred miles long and thirty wide, and in addition to these volcanoes there are many other peaks not strictly volcanic. There are twenty-two mountains whose tops are covered with perpetual snow, and fifty that are each more than ten thousand feet high. Do you wonder that while looking at the city our thoughts are drawn towards the mountains in whose midst it is built?"