VI MOUNTAINS 237 
some fissure, gradually builds itself up into 
a cone, often of the most beautiful regularity, 
such as the gigantic peaks of Chimporazo, 
Cotopaxi (Fig. 21), and Fusiyama, and hence 
it is that the crater is so often at, or very 
near, the summit. 
Perhaps no spectacle in Nature is more 
magnificent than a Volcano in activity. It_ 
has been my- good fortune to have stood 
Fig. 21.— Cotopaxi. 
more than once at the edge of the crater 
of Vesuvius durmg an eruption, to have 
watched the lava seething below, while enor- 
mous stones were shot up high into the air. 
Such a spectacle can never be forgotten. 
