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XXII. On the Volcanos of Guatemala. By M. deHumboldt.* 



nr'HE volcanos of Central America are ranged successively 

 -*- between the mountains of Veragua, and Oaxada, latitude 

 11° to 16°. The gneiss and mica slate of Veragua connect 

 them with the western chain of New Grenada; the granitic 

 gneiss of Oaxada unites them to the Mexican ridge: this con- 

 nection, however, is formed not by the volcanos themselves, 

 but by the mountainous land which surrounds them. During 

 my voyage from Lima to Acapulco, I collected from the S{)a- 

 nish manuscript charts of John Morabda and other navigators 

 various particulars, which throw light on the situation of the 

 burning mountains of Guatemala with respect to the sea. 

 Most of these volcanos are inserted by Bauza, with an accuracy 

 peculiar to himself, in the Carta esferica del Mar de las An- 

 tillas, 1805, and in the Carta esferica desde el Golfo Dulce 

 hasta San Bias, 1822 : yet Von Buch very properly remarks in 

 his classical work on the Canary Isles (1825, p. 406 — 409), 

 that William Furnel, Dampier's mate, discovered at the early 

 period of his voyage ahiiost all that we know of them at 

 present. 



I shall pursue the series from S.E. to N.W., as they are 

 placed by A.rago in the Anmiaire du Bureait des Longitudes 

 1824, according to the materials which have been imparted 

 to me. Wherever my information does not correspond 

 with the charts, or these do not correspond with one an- 

 other, I shall state their variations with exactness, that future 

 voyagers may determine the geographic results arising from 

 them. Many of the volcanos have several names, which vary 

 witli the variation of the Indian idioms, and ai'e boiTowed from 

 those of the neighbouring places. Thus in New Spain, Po- 

 pocatepetl and Iztacci hiintc, are called sometimes Volcanes 

 de Pucbla, sometimes Volcanes de Mexico ; and from not under- 

 standing this, two mountains may be turned into six. An- 

 other source of error is, that in America the name of Vol- 

 cano is not only applied to the mountains whose eruptions 

 extend beyond the age oi history, but also to masses of 

 trachyte, which it is certain have never burnt, and are not 

 connected with the interior of the earth by permanent aper- 



• The above article relating to the volcanos of Guatemala, or, as it is 

 now called, (.'entral Ainerica, is cxtractcil from a paper in a recent nuin- 

 hcr of the Ilcrtlta, by Alex, de Ihiniboldt. The entire paper relates to the 

 present condition of this free state; but the |)ortion we have selected alone 

 comes within the scope of our Journal, and is sufficiently distinct from the 

 rest for separate [)ublication. — Edit. 



lures, 



