RIOBAMBA or Royabamba, a town in the South-American republic of Ecuador, situated on the road from Guayaquil to Quito in “a sand valley or plain of the great central highland of the Andes—Chimborazo, Car-guairazo, Tunguragua, and Altar all being visible from its plaza.” The town has occupied its present site only since the close of the 18th century; in 1797 the old town, which lay about 12 miles to the west at Cajabamba, was completely destroyed by a vast landslip (still recognizable) from Mount Cicalfa in one of the most terrific convulsions recorded even in that region of volcanic activity. Ruins still remain to show that Riobamba was a much larger and finer place then than at the present day. Though said to have 16,000 inhabitants, and to manufacture woollen gloves, sacking, and coverlets, the town is poorly built and comparatively lifeless.