ON ITS EXTERIOK. VOLCANOES. 263 



change simultaneously. The line of volcanoes now runs 

 E.S.E. W.N.W. ; and farther on, where they are so 

 near to each other that five, still in a state of greater or 

 less activity, are found in the short course of 120 miles, the 

 direction even becomes almost E. W. This deflection 

 corresponds to a great widening of the continent towards 

 the east, in the peninsula of Honduras, where the coast- 

 line turns as suddenly, and runs from Cape Gracias a 

 Dios to the Grulf of Amatique for 300 miles due east 

 and west, its direction having been before, for a similar 

 distance, north and south. At the group of the high 

 volcanoes of Guatemala, 14 10' N., the line resumes its 

 earlier N. 45 W. bearing, and maintains the same to 

 the Mexican frontier towards Chiapa and the isthmus of 

 Huasacualco. North-west from the volcano of Soco- 

 nusco to that of Turtla, there has not been found even an 

 extinct cone of trachyte ; mica slate and granite rich in 

 quartz everywhere prevail. 



The volcanoes of Central America do not crown the 

 adjacent mountain-chains, but rise for the most part 

 singly, and entirely detached from each other, along the 

 foot of the chains. The greatest elevations are at the 

 two extremities. At the southern end, in Costa Eica, 

 from the summit Irasu (the volcano of Cartago) both 

 oceans are visible, to which indeed, besides the height 

 (11,079 feet), the more central position contributes. 

 South-east of Cartago there are mountains between 

 11,000 and 12,000 feet high, Chiriqui 11,262, and the 

 Pico Blanco 11,737 feet. Nothing is known of the 

 rocks of which they consist; probably they are un- 

 opened trachytic cones. Farther to the south-east, the 

 mountains in Veragua sink to little more than 5000 



