CHIMBOEAZO. 241 



which push above the Hue of perpetual snow, but nine- 

 teen are properly volcanoes, and the grandeur, even of 

 the larger number of these, consists not in the play of vol- 

 canic forces, for sixteen of these have either become ex- 

 tinct or dormant. For ages these have stood inactive ; 

 some with broken walls, others with their sides scarred 

 by dark streams of lava.* Of all the peaks, volcanic and 

 otherwise, that stand about the valley of Quito, Chimbo- 

 razo is the grandest ; Cotopaxi (some, however, think Tun- 

 guragua) is the most nearly perfect type of a volcanic cone ; 

 Antisana is peerless in beauty ; Sangai is the most active ; 

 and Pichincha, from its association with science, possesses, 

 perhaps, a greater interest than any of the others. Let us 

 look at each of these. 



Chimborazo, the most southern of the peaks of the 

 Western Cordillera, first claims our attention. It rises 

 21,422 feet above the Pacific. "We have already spoken 

 of the impression produced upon the mind by this moun- 

 tain, when viewed from the western coast. Seen from that 

 stand-point, it appears like a truncated cone ; from the 

 table-lands it presents an irregular outline. The moun- 

 tain seems to have suffered terrible convulsions, and now 

 stands as a shattered dome, supported by gigantic but- 

 tresses of trachytic rock. Chimborazo has been classed 

 by some as a volcano. But there are no traditions of its 

 activity, and, as Humboldt has observed, it presents none 

 of the distinctive characteristics of a volcano, and is des- 

 titute of any crater-like opening. That careful observer 

 says : " I reckon as volcanoes, besides those which are 



* In the Eastern Cordillera, almost opposite Chimborazo, stands the 

 beautiful volcano called Altar, the walls of whose crater have fallen in, 

 leaving portions still standmg, so that the whole presents the appearance 

 of a ruined fortification. Although most of the volcanoes of the Andes 

 throw out during their eruptions only streams of water and mud, yet 

 we find four immense lava-streams upon the slopes of Antisana, and ono 

 marks the sides of Tunguragua, 



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