242 MOUNTAINS ABOUT THE VALLEY OF QUITO. 



Still burning and active, those volcanic formations whose 

 old eruptions belong to historic times, or of which the 

 structure and eruptive masses (ci'aters of elevation and 

 eruption, lavas, scorise, pumice-stone, and obsidians) char- 

 acterize them, without reference to any tradition, as volca- 

 noes whicli have long been extinct. Unopened trachytic 

 cones and domes, or unopened long trachytic ridges, such 

 as Chimborazo and Iztaccihuatl, are excluded." * No 

 " banner of smoke," or thunder of volcanic fires, inspires 

 our reverence for Chimborazo. Its massiveness, its dizzy 

 sweep of precipice, its heaven-piercing height, the storms 

 that break about its summit, do this. Words ai-e power- 

 less to convey any conception of the feelings of awe and 

 wonder inspired by the massive form and towering height 

 of that peerless mountain. Upon the top of our own 

 Mount "Washington place Etna, a mountain over ten 

 thousand feet in height, and upon that pile Vesuvius, and 

 you will still fall several hundred feet below the summit 

 of the giant of the Andes, Although standing beneath 

 the ardent sun of the equator, where tropical forests girdle 

 its base, over five thousand feet of its height are wrapped 

 in the snaws of an eternal winter. AVrote Colonel Staun- 

 ton, the lamented artist of our expedition, after watching, 

 with all the enthusiasm of his nature, the first unveiling 

 to ns of the Andes: "The clouds lifted just at sunset, 

 and permitted us one view of the hoary head of Chimbo- 



* Prof. Orton, we observe, in his enumevation of the principal peaks 

 of the Ecuadorian Andes, classifies Chimborazo as a volcano. This dif- 

 ference in classification may result from different views respecting the 

 distinctive characteristics of volcanic mountains. We cannot but regard, 

 however, as most nearly correct, that based upon the geologic structure 

 of the mountain, rather than that dependent upon accidental phenomena. 

 The rocks mentioned as found upon the flanks of Chimborazo are not ex- 

 clusively volcanic products ; also the hot springs upon its north side 

 afford no evidence in favor of its being a volcano, for these are often 

 found far removed from volcanic mountains. 



