MOUNTAINS AND VOLCANOES. 229 



his hair long, as was the fashion then, and in a Prussian 

 uniform. The pleasant look of the old face is there, and 

 the beautiful blue eyes ; but the look is more eager and 

 longing, and the eyes are brighter and keener. A copy 

 of the same picture hangs in the old castle at Tegel. 



The months of May and June were devoted to moun- 

 tains and volcanoes, which abounded in the regions about 

 Quito. Within the space of thirty -seven leagues to the 

 west, were Casitagua, Pichincha, Atacazo, Corazon, Illi- 

 niza, Carguairazo, Chimborazo, and Cumambag: to the 

 east, were Guamani, Antisana, Passuchoa, Rumminnavi, 

 Cotopaxi, Quelendanna, Tungurahua, and Capa-Urcu. 

 Humboldt visited several of these mountains, but two of 

 the grandest ones, Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, he was 

 unable to ascend. 



Cotopaxi was situated twelve leagues from the city, to 

 the south-east, between the mountain of Rumminnavi, the 

 summit of which, rugged with small separate rocks, ex- 

 tended like a wall of enormous height, and Quelendanna, 

 which entered the boundaries of eternal snow. Its 

 height was eighteen thousand seven hundred feet. The 

 masses of scoriae and huge pieces of rock, which it had 

 in former times vomited from its fiery depths, were 

 spread over the neighbouring valleys, covering a space 

 of several square leagues ; could they have been col- 

 lected and heaped together, they would have formed 

 a colossal mountain, as large perhaps as Cotopaxi itself. 

 Cotopaxi was the most dreadful mountain in the whole 

 kingdom of Quito. During one of its eruptions in 1739, 

 flames rose into the lurid air three thousand feet above 

 the brink of its crater. In 1744 its roaring was heard 

 as far as Honda, a distance of two hundred leagues. In 



