^26 ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 



CHAP. VII. — An hijiorical Account of the moji remarkable Mountains and Paramos y or 

 Deferts, in the Cordilleras of the Andes ; the Rivers which have their Sources in ihefe 

 Mountains, and the Methods of pqffing them, 



I NOW come to the moft remarkable paramos, or deferts, of the kingdom of 

 Quito, and the rivers flowing through that country, which, among many other natural 

 curiofities, is peculiarly remarkable for the difpofition of the ground, and its prodigious 

 mafles of fnow, that exceed all comparifon. 



It has been before obferved, that all the dependencies of the jurifdictions of this 

 province are fituated betwixt the two Cordilleras of the Andes ; and that the air is 

 more or lefs cold according to the height of the mountains, and the ground more or 

 lefs arid. Thefe arid trads are called Paramos, or deferts ; for though all the Cor- 

 dilleras are dry or arid^ fome of them are much more fo than others ; for the continual 

 fnows and frojfl: render them abfolutely uninhabitable, even by the beads j nor is there 

 a fmgle plant to be found upon them. 



Some of thefe mountains, feemingly as it were founded on others, rife to a mofl 

 aflonifhing height, and are covered with fnow even to their fummits. The latter we 

 ihall more particularly treat of, as they are the moft remarkable and curious objeds. 



The paramo of Afuay, formed by the jundion of the two Cordilleras, is not of this 

 clafs ; for, though remarkable for its exceflive coldnefs and aridity, its height does not 

 exceed that of the Cordilleras in general, and is much lower than that of Pichincha 

 and Corazon. Its height is the degree of the climate, where a continual congelation 

 or freezing commences ; and as the mountains exceed this height, fo are they perpe- 

 tually covered with ice and fnow ; that from a determined point above Carabucu for 

 inftance, or the furface of the fea, the congelation is found at the fame height in all 

 the mountains. From barometrical experiments made at Pucaguayco, on the mountain 

 Cotopaxi, the height of the mercury was 16 inches 54 lines ; whence we determined 

 the height of that place to be 102-? toifes above the plain of Carabucu, and that of the 

 latter above the fuperficies of the fea about 1 268. Thus the height of Pucaguayco, 

 above the furface of the fea, is 2291 toifes. The fignal which we placed on this 

 mountain was thirty or forty toifes above the ice, or point of continual congelation ; 

 and the perpendicular height from the commencement of this point to the fummit of 

 the mountain, we found, from fome geometrical obfervations made for that purpofe, 

 to be about 880 toifes. Thus the fummit of Cotopaxi is elevated 3126 toifes above 

 the furface of the fea, or fomething above three geographical miles ; and 639 toifes 

 higher than the top of Pichincha. Thefe are mountains I intend to fpeak of j and the 

 height of them all, confidering the greatnefs of it, may be faid to be nearly equal. 



In thefe Cordilleras, the moft fouthern mountain is that of Mecas, more properly 

 called Sanguay, though in this country better known by the former, lying in the jurif- 

 didion of the fame name. It is of a prodigious height, and the far greateft part of 

 the whole furface covered with fnow. From its fummit iffues a continual fire, attended 

 with explofions, which are plainly heard at Pintac, a village belonging to the jurifdiftion 

 of Quito, and near forty leagues diftant from the mountain; and, when. the wind is 

 fair, the noife is heard even at Quito itfelf. The country adjacent to this volcano is 

 totally barren, being covered with cinders ejefted by it. In this Pacamo, the river 

 Sangay has its fource. This river cannot be faid to be fmall, but after its junction 

 with another, called the Upano, forms the Payra, a large river which difcharges itfelf 

 into the Maranon. 



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