146 



SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES REGIONS. 



Degenhardt noticed columns of smoke rising above Ruiz, which seems to be not 

 yet quite extinct. Hot springs at a temperature of 148'^ Fahr. bubble up near 

 the summit on the west side, liberating 36 cubic feet of sulphuric and hydro- 

 chloric acid per hour. 



Tolima, giant of the Colombian Andes, raises its andésite cone to a height 

 of. 18,400 feet, some 4,000 feet above its slate and mica-schist pedestal. Nume- 

 rous parasitic volcanoes bristle on the slopes of the cone, which stands to the 

 east a little beyond the main axis of the system. Tolima is one of the volca- 

 noes lying farthest from the sea that are not yet quite extinct. In 1595 the 

 snow covering its crater and the neighbouring cones was melted so rapidly 

 that two torrents, suddenly transf(3rmed to rivers and charged with vast 

 quantities of debris, caused destructive inundations below Ibagué. The waters 

 were so impregnated with acids that all the fish perished. In 1826, and again 



Fig. 54. — QuiNDio Pass. 

 Scale 1 : 850,CH_iO. 





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18 Miles 



in 1829, Tolima ejected columns of vapour, while solfataras have sprung up on 

 the neighbouring paramos, and on the Quindio Pass south-west of the volcano. 

 This pass, the most frequented of all in the volcanic sierra, connects the Cauca 

 and Magdalena basins at an elevation of 11,440 feet. Till recently it was of 

 extremely diflScult ascent, but now the approaches on both slopes have been greatly 

 improved by a pathway developing regular meanderings at a uniform gradient. 



South of Tolima the cordillera falls considerably as far as the peak of Santa 

 Catalina, in which it again rises to 16,170 feet, that is, the lower limit of perennial 

 snows. Then follows the imposing mass of the three-crested Huila (18,000 feet), 

 which still shows some life in its sulphurous vapours escaping from a few fissures 

 and melting the surrounding snows. South of Huila, the Guanacas Pass, rather 

 more elevated than that of Quindio, connects the two upper Magdalena and Cauca 

 valleys. This broad gap was followed by Belalcazar on his first expedition of 

 conquest in New Grenada. 



