242 yiccouvt of'M. Hiiwloldt's Travels 



true that this mountain has become lower since the eartli- 

 quakc of 171)7. 



On the 9th of June 1S02 we left Quito to proceed to the 

 southern part of the province^ w here wc wished to examine 

 iuid mtuisurc Chiniboraipo and "I'unguragua ; and to take 

 a plan of the whole country convulsed hy tlic grand cata- 

 strophe of 1797. We succeeded in approaching to within 

 about 230 toises of the summit of the innnense cok^ssus of 

 • Chindjoraco. A ridge of volcanic rocks, destitute of snow, 

 facilitated our ascent. We ascended to the height of 3031 

 toises, and felt ourselves inconnnoded in the same manner 

 as wc had been on the sunnnit of Antisana. Two or three 

 days even after our return to the plain wc were still subject 

 to an indispositioji, which we could ascribe only to the effect 

 ot the air in these elevated regions, which by analysis gave 

 lis 20 hundreds of oxygen. 'Jlie Indians by whom we were 

 accompanied deserted us before we reached that hciglit, say- 

 ing that we intended to kill them. Bonpland," Cliarlc* 

 Montufar, and one of my domestics, who carried a part of 

 my instruments, were the only persons who remained with 

 me: nevertheless, we could have continued our journey to 

 the top had we not been prevented bv a fissure too deep to be 

 crossed. We therefore thought proper to descend. Being 

 ill secured from the cold of these elevated regions, we suf- 

 fered very much ; and T in particular had the misfortune ta 

 lacerate my foot by a fall a few days before, which subjected 

 me to great pain in a road w here we every moment struck our 

 toes against sharp stones, and were obliged to examine the 

 ground at every step. La Condamine found the height of 

 Chimboraco to be nearly 3217 toises. Trigonometrical mea- 

 surement, which I made at two different times, gave 3267 

 toises, and I have reason to place some confidence in my 

 operations. All this enormous colossus, as well as all the 

 high mountains of the Andes, consists not of granite, but of 

 porphyry, from the l)ase to the summit ; and the porphyry 

 is 1900 toises in thickness. The short stay which wc made 

 at that enormous height was dismal and melancholy : we 

 were enveloped by a thick fog, \\ hich only suffered us from 

 time to time to have a glimpse of the horrid abysses by which 

 we were surrounded. No living creature, not even the con- 

 dour, which on Antisana continually hovered over our 

 heads, was to be seen. Small kinds of moss were the only 

 organized beings which reminded us that we were still in the 

 neighbourhood of the earth. 



It is almost probable that Chimbora^Oj like Pinchincha 



and 



