SOME NEW BOOKS. 



219 



Chimborazo, witnessing on the way a violent explosive eruption of 

 Cotopaxi, which in less than a minute shot a cloud of ash to a height 

 of 20,000 ft. ; the column was then deiiected at right angles by a 

 strong upper current, and spreading out as a cloud made the summit 

 of Chimborazo dark at midday (Fig. 2). 



Those who turn to Mr. Whymper's book in the hope of finding 

 stirring stories of difficult climbing will be disappointed ; Mr. 

 Whymper's narrow escape by a fall through an iV^-covered crevasse 

 is almost the only thing worth calling an adventure. Bad weather 

 gave them serious trouble and at times rendered the camp "as 

 comfortable as a wet ditch on a winter's night," while an inn 

 was discovered at Ambato with more fleas per square yard than 

 Mr. Whymper had previously met with, so the record of the 

 Alpine hay chalets is broken at last. But the volumes make 

 up in careful observation and scientific results for any lack of 

 sensational incident. Mr. Whymper has shown that instead of the 

 orthodox two ranges of Cordilleras, the western one rising steadily 

 from the sea, the main chain of the Andes consists of a rather 

 irregularly scattered series of peaks and basins, while an important 



Fig. 2. — Commencement of the Eruption of Cotopaxi. 



series, named by Mr. Whymper the " Coast Range," occurs between 

 the Andes and the Pacific ; the mountains of the district are all of 

 volcanic origin, except Saraurcu, the easternmost peak reached, 

 which is composed of crystalline schists, referred by Professor Bonney 

 to the Upper Archaean ; the rest are of andesites. Only Cotopaxi 

 and Sangai are permanently in eruption, and in the others the craters 

 are probably buried in snow and ice. Mr. Whymper has also shown 

 that the higher mountains are glacier-covered, and found traces in 

 places of the former greater extension of the glaciers. Clear 

 evidences of a stone age have also been discovered. 



One of Mr. Whymper's main objects was, as we have said, to 

 determine the exact influence of the low pressures of high altitudes 

 upon men, and. whether it would be possible gradually to become 

 acclimatised to them sufficiently for it to be possible to scale the 

 highest of the Himalaya. Mr. Whymper shows fairly conclusively 



