ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 527 



In the fame eaflern Cordillera, about fix leagues weft of the town of Riobamba, is 

 a very high mountain, with two crefts, and both of them covered with fnow ; that on 

 the north is called Collanes, and that on the fouth Altar ; but the fpace covered with 

 fnow is much lefs than that of Sangay and others of this clafs, its height being pro- 

 portionally lefs. 



North of the fame town, and about feven leagues diftant, is the mountain of Tun- 

 guragua, of a conical figure, and equally fteep on all fides. The ground, at its bafis, 

 is fomething lower than that of the Cordillera, efpecially on the north fide, where it 

 feems to rife from the plain on which the villages are fituated. On this fide, in a fmall 

 plain betwixt its fkirts and the Cordillera, has been built the village of Bannos, fo 

 called from its hot medicinal baths, to which there is a great refort from all parts of 

 this jurifdidion. South of Cuenca, and not far from another village, called Bannos 

 alfo, belonging to this jurifdidion, are other hot waters on the fummit of an eminence, 

 gufhing out through feveral apertures of four or five inches diameter, and of a heat 

 which hardens eggs fooner than water boiling over the fire. Thefe feveral ftreams 

 unite and form a rivulet, the ftones and banks of which are tinged with yellow, and 

 the water is of a brackifli tafte. The upper part of this fmall eminence is full of 1 

 crevices, through which iffues a continual fmoke : a fufficient indication of its contain- 

 ing great quantities of fulphurous and nitrous fubftances. 



North of Riobamba, inclining fome degrees to the weft, is the mountain of Chim- 

 borazo, by the fide of which lies the road from Quito to Guayaquil. At firft great 

 numbers of the Spaniards periflied in paffmg the vafl and dangerous deferts on its decli- 

 vity ; but being at prefent better acquainted with them, and inured to the climate, fuch 

 misfortunes are feldom heard of; efpecially as very few take this road, unlefs there is 

 the greateft appearance of two or three days of calm and ferene weather. 



North of this mountain ftands that of Carguayrafo, which has been already taken 

 notice of. 



North of Latacunga, and about five leagues diftant from it, is Cotopaxi, which, 

 towards the north-weft and fouth, extends itlelf beyond all the others ; and which, as 

 I have before obferved, became a volcano at the time of the Spaniards firft arrival in 

 this country. In 1743, anew eruption happened, having been fome days preceded 

 by a continual rumbling in its bowels. An aperture v/as made in its fummit, and 

 three about the fame height near the middle of its decHvity, at that time buried under 

 prodigious maffes of fnow. The ignited fubftances ejected on that occafion, mixed 

 with a prodigious quantity of ice and fnowj melting amidft the flames, were carried 

 down with fuch aftonifhing rapidity," that in an inftant the plain, from Callo to Lata- 

 cunga, was overflowed ; and, befides its ravages in bearing down houfes of the Indians 

 and other poor inhabitants, great numbers of people loft their lives. The river of 

 Latacunga was the channel of this terrible flood, till, being too fmall for receiving fuch 

 a prodigious current, it overflowed the adjacent country like a vaft lake near the town, 

 and carried away all the buildings within its reach. The inhabitants retired to a fpot 

 of higher ground behind their town, of which thofe parts which ftood within the limits 

 of the current were totally deftroyed. The dread of ftill greater devaftations did not 

 fubfide in three days, during which the volcano eje6ted cinders, while torrents of 

 melted ice and fnow poured down its fides. The fire lafted feveral days, and was 

 accompanied with terrible roarings of the wind rufhing through the volcano, and 

 greatly exceeded the great rumblings before heard in its bowels. At laft all was quiet, 

 neither fire nor fmoke were feen, nor was there any noife to be heard till the following 

 year, 17445 when, in the month of May, the flames increafed, and forced their 



pafTage 



