After an hour had been passed in contemplation of the awful crater, and the grand view from the summit of the mountain, the Doctor suggested that it was time to descend. Finding a place where the cinders were unbroken from top to bottom of the cone the youths slid quickly downward, as they had done at Vesuvius, years before. They were followed by the Doctor, and then the trio sat down to a dinner, which had been left in care of the guide who remained with the mules. It was seasoned with the best of sauces, hunger, which had been developed by the exertions of the morning, and the pauses in the progress of the meal were brief indeed. Dinner over, they mounted, and returned by the road which they followed in the ascent. Evening found them again in Quito, and in the wretched _posada_ which is the only hotel of the capital of Ecuador. During the evening conversation naturally turned to volcanoes and earthquakes; one writer has said facetiously that earthquakes are the principal productions of Ecuador, and he certainly is not far out of the way. Most of the South American earthquakes appear to have their origin in Ecuador, as the shocks are generally felt there first, and with the greatest severity. The great disturbance of 1868 was an exceptional occurrence, as it had its commencement in Peru, on the 13th of August, causing great loss of life and destruction of property. The shock in Ecuador was three days later; it was more fatal to life than in Peru, but less destructive to property. The Peruvian earthquake occurred in the afternoon, and was preceded by premonitory shocks, while the Ecuadorian one was in the night, and gave no warning of its approach. "According to the accounts," said the Doctor, "the first shock of the earthquake in Quito was felt a little after midnight on the 16th of August, another at four in the morning, and two others in the course of the day. One, in the afternoon, was accompanied by a shower of rain and hail, which fell with great violence; there had been a similar shower on the afternoon of the 15th. It was noticeable that for two months before the earthquakes there were serious disturbances of the atmosphere, and a catarrhal fever had prevailed, which swept off thousands of people. The whole country was in mourning for those who had died of the pestilence, when the earthquake came, to cause additional sorrow.