424 A VOYAGE TO Book VI. 



mencement of this point to the summit of the moun- 

 tain, we found, from some geometrical ohscFvations 

 made for that purpose, to be about 880 toises. Thus 

 the summit of Cotopaxi is elevated 3126^ toises above 

 the surface of the sea, or something above three geo- 

 graphical miles ; and 639 toiseshigherthan the top of 

 Pichincha. These are mountains I intend to speak 

 of; and the height of them all, considering the great- 

 ness of it, may be said to be nearly equal. 



In these Cordilleras, the most southern mountain is 

 that of Mecas, more properly called Sanguay, though 

 in this country better known by the former, lying in 

 the jurisdiction of the same name. It is of a prodi- 

 gious height, and the far greatest part of the whole 

 surface covered with snow. From its summit issues 

 a continual fire, attended with explosions, which are 

 plainly heard at Pintac, a village belonging to the 

 jurisdiction of Quito, and near forty leagues distant 

 from the mountain ; and, when the wind is fair, the 

 noise is heard even at Quito itself. The country ad- 

 jacent to this volcano is totally barren, being covered 

 ■with cinders ejected by it. In this PaCamo, the river 

 Sangay has its source. This river cannot be said to be 

 small, but after its junction with another, called the 

 Upano, forms the Payra, a large river which dis- 

 charges itself into the Maranon. 



In the same eastern Cordillera, about six leagues 

 Avest of the town of Riobamba, is a very high moun- 

 tain, with two crests, and both of them covered with 

 snow ; that on the north is called Collanes, and that 

 on the south Altar ; but the space covered with snow 

 is much less than that of Sangay and others of this 

 class, its height being proportionally less. 



North of the same town, and about seven leagues 

 distant, is the mountain of Tunguragua, of a conical 

 figure, and equally steep on all sides. The ground, 

 at its basis, is something lower than that of the Cor- 

 dillera, especially on the north side, where it seems to 



rise 



