224 SOUTH AMEEICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS. 



Volcanoes : Cotocachi — Imbabura. 



In the extreme north the first basin is that of Ibarra, so named from the 

 town which occupies its centre at a height of 7,300 feet, and which stands on an 

 affluent of the Mira, the frontier river towards Colombia. "West of this basin a 

 distinct range is formed by Cotocachi ("Salt Mountain "), Yana-Urcu ("Black 

 Mountain"), and other volcanoes, while eastwards rises gloomy Imbabura, its 

 black sharp-pointed crater standing out in almost solitary grandeur against the 

 blue sky. 



Cotocachi, scaled by Whymper, shows no visible crater between its two 

 terminal peaks, though the intervening space, now filled by a glacier, may have 

 formed an old igneous vent. Lake Cui-cocha floods a depression at the south- 

 eastern base, which was formerly a crater with two cones still rising above the 

 surface. The slopes of Cotocachi up to a considerable height are furrowed in 

 all directions by deep fissures disposed at various angles to each other, and 

 forming a chaos of gorges very difficult to cross. Some of the cracks are as 

 much as 6 miles long, and so precipitous that they have to be turned like the 

 crevasses of a glacier. The inhabitants of the district are unanimous in attributing 

 them to earthquakes, and several are shown 60 or 70 feet wide which were 

 suddenly opened during the great convulsion of 1868. 



This tremendous disturbance appears to have been propagated from south to 

 north beneath the Ibarra basin, rebounding from the Colombian mountains upon 

 Ibarra, where 20,000 persons are stated to have perished. Towns and villages 

 were completely razed to the ground, with a total loss of some 50,000 lives. In 

 many places the houses were bodily swallowed up, and during the shock 

 Imbabura is said to have discharged a perfect deluge of mud and water, drowning 

 the flocks on the lower pastures. The deep lake of San Pablo, 5 miles round, 

 which lies near Imbabura, close to the north foot of Mojanda, may perhaps have 

 contributed to this local discharge. Mojanda, forming the transverse link 

 between the two cordilleras at this point, falls below the snowdine. 



Cayambe — Sara-TJrcu. 



Between the Ibarra and the Quito basins the divide is formed by Cayambe, 

 third or fourth highest peak of Ecuador. Lying just north of the equator, this 

 triple-crested mountain presents an aspect no less imposing than Chimborazo 

 itself, its glaciers and snowfields (explored to the highest summit by Whymper) 

 towering some 6,000 feet above the bare rocks of the range. By following the 

 course of the streamlets, which rise on the western slopes of the extinct volcano, 

 and which converge to form the Eio Guallabamba, the traveller enters that pro- 

 digious avenue of burning mountains which has no rival in the whole world. On 

 all sides are seen cones of igneous origin; even the long crests and the so-called 

 panecillos, or bladder-like knolls dotted like bosses over the surface of the inner 

 basin, consist of lavas, scoriae, ashes, and other erupted matter. 



