Chimbokazo. 12' 



CHAPTER YIII. 



The Volcanoes of Ecuador. — Western Cordillera. — Chimborazo. — Iliniza. — 

 Corazon. — Pichincha. — Descent into its Crater. 



Co]vnNG up from Peru through the cinchona forests of 

 Loja, and over the barren hills of Assuay, the traveler 

 reaches Riobamba, seated on the threshold of magnificence 

 — like Damascus, an oasis in a sandy plain, but, unlike the 

 Queen of the East, surrounded with a splendid retinue of 

 snowy peaks that look like icebergs floating in a sea of 

 clouds. 



On our left is the most sublime spectacle in the New 

 World. It is a majestic pile of snow, its clear outline on 

 the deep blue sky describing the profile of a lion in repose. 

 At noon the vertical sun, and the profusion of light reflect- 

 ed from the glittering surface, will not allow a shadow to 

 be cast on any part, so that you can easily fancy the figure 

 is cut out of a mountain of spotless marble. This is Chim- 

 borazo — yet not the whole of it — you see but a third of the 

 great giant. His feet are as eternally green as his head is 

 everlastingly white; but they are far away beneath the 

 bananas and cocoa-palms of the Pacific coast. 



Rousseau was disappointed when he first saw the sea ; 

 and the fii'st glimpse of Niagara often fails to meet one's 

 expectations. But Chimborazo is sure of a worshiper the 

 moment its overwhelming grandeur breaks upon the trav- 

 eler. You feel that you are in the presence-chamber of 

 the monarch, of the Andes. There is sublimity in his king- 

 ly look, of which the ocean might be proud. 



"All that expands the spirit, yet appals, 

 Gathers around this summit, as if to show 

 How earth may pierce to heaven, yet leave vain man below." 



