TARAPOTO TO CANELOS 129 



streaks far down its sides. To the right of Tungu- 

 ragua, and over the summit of Mount Abitagua, 

 appeared lofty blue hills, here and there painted 

 with white ; till on the extreme right was dimly 

 visible a snowy cone of exactly the same form as 

 Sangahy but much more distant and loftier ; this 

 was Cotopaxi, perhaps the most formidable volcano 

 on the surface of our globe. Far behind Tungu- 

 ragua, and peeping over its left shoulder, was 

 distinctly visible, though in the far distance, a 

 paraboloidal mass of unbroken snow ; this was the 

 summit of Chimborazo, so long considered the 

 monarch of the Andes, and though latterly certain 

 peaks in Bolivia have dethroned it, for ever im- 

 mortalised by its connection in men's memory with 

 such names as Humboldt and La Condamine. 

 Thus to right and left of the view I had a volcano. 

 Cotopaxi I never saw clearly but once, but Sangahy 

 was often visible when the rest of the Cordillera 

 was veiled in clouds, and on clear nights we could 

 distinctly see it vomiting forth flame every few 

 minutes. The first night I passed at Puca-yacu I 

 was startled by an explosion like that of distant 

 cannon, and not to be mistaken for thunder. It 

 came from Sangahy, and scarcely a clay passed 

 afterwards without my hearing the same sound 

 once or oftener ; my ignorance of its origin at first 

 amused the people of Puca-yacu, to whom it was 

 a familiar sound. 



[During his twenty days' delay at I'uca-yacu, 

 besides making notes on the in-m-i-al botanical 

 features of the district and collecting all the nc 

 Mosses and Hepatics he could find, Spruce also 

 made, as he states in his /'/rV/\ d'nn Voyage, 



VOL. II K 



