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328 COL. HALL’S EXCURSIONS, 
Andes, reckoning from Mount Cayambo under the equator 
to Chimborazo, in lat. 1° 27’ 18" S., is composed of two 
parallel ridges, connected hy an elevated plain, on which 
stands the city of Quito, with its dependent towns and 
villages. Two transverse ridges, one of which, not indicated 
in the map, runs between Cayambo and Mohanda, a little to 
the south of Otovalo, and the other, betwixt Cotopaxi and 
Elenisa, known by the name of Tiopullo, divide it hydro- 
graphically into two basins, of which the northern empties 
its waters into the Guaillapamba, by which they are conveyed 
to Esmereldas, while those of the Southern are collected by 
the rivers of Achambo, and pass through the yalley of Banos 
into the Pastaca and Maranon. The eastern of these two 
ridges is crowned by the lofty summits of Cayambo, Imbaburu, 
Antisana, Sinchulagua, Cotopaxi, Rumiiian, Tunguragua 
and Capac-Urcu, called by the Spaniards EZ Altar, while 
the western presents the no less aspiring masses of Pichincha, 
Atacazo, El Corazon, Elenisa, Carguirazo, and Chimborazo. 
Of these Antisana, Cotopaxi, Tunguragua, Capac-Urcu, 
Pichincha and Carguirazo present unequivocal traces of 
ancient or recent volcanic eruption. The effect of these 
gigantic pyramids, most of them covered with perpetual 
snow, on the general character of the scenery, is that of 
grandeur and sublimity, often approaching to gloominess. 
The diminutive vegetation of the cultivated plains offers no 
intermediate masses to break and soften the landscape: drear 
mountain-ridges meet the eye and bound the horizon in 
every direction. The clouds, almost constantly gather- 
ing round them, add to their sombre hue, though fre- 
quently they present pictures of striking interest. I have 
sometimes observed from Quito, four alternate strata of clouds 
and land on the face of Cayambo, its base shrouded by the 
mists rising from the intermediate valley of Guaillapamba; 
its centre lying clear above; a belt of clouds round the foot; 
its snow-clad crest, the summit of which towered over all, 
like a golden coronet reflecting the last rays of the setting 
sun. The mineralogy of this region is of the same uniform 
