COTOPAXI. 147 



six thousand feet high. The east side is covered with 

 snow, but the west is nearly bare, owing to tlie trade winds, 

 which, sweeping across the continent, carry the ashes west- 

 ward. Cotopaxi is the loftiest of active volcanoes, though 

 its grand eruptions are a century apart, according to the 

 general rule that the higher a volcano the less frequent its 

 eniptions, but all the more terrible when they 'do occur. 

 Imagine Vesuvius on the summit of Mont Blanc, and you 

 have the altitude of Cotopaxi. 



The top just reaches the middle point of density in the 

 atmosphere, for at the height of three miles and a half the 

 air below will balance that above. The crater has nev- 

 er been seen by man ; the steepness of the sides and the 

 depth of the ashes covering them render it inaccessible. 

 The valiant Col. Hall tried it with scaling ladders, only to 

 fail. The telescope reveal-s a parapet of scoria on the brim, 

 as on Teneriffe. Humboldt's sketch of the volcano, so uni- 

 versally copied, is overdrawn. It makes the slope about 

 50°, while in truth it is nearer 30°. The apical angle is 

 122° 30'.-^- 



Cotopaxi is slumbering now; or, as Mr. Coan says of 

 Hilo, it is "in a state of solemn and thoughtful suspense." 

 The only signs of life are the deep rumbling thunders and 

 a cloud of smoke lazily issuing from the crater.f Some- 

 times at night the smoke looks like a pillar of fire, and fine 

 ashes and sand often fall around the base, to the great an- 

 noyance of the farmers. On the south side is a huge rock 

 of porphyry, called the Inca's Head. Tradition has it that 

 this was the original summit of the volcano, torn off and 



* MM. Zurcher and Margalli make the slope 55° ! and Guzman, 69° 30' ! ! 

 The slope of Mauna Loa is 6° 30'; of Etna, 9°; of Teneriffe, 12° 30'; of 

 Vesuvius, 35°. While cinder-cones may have an angle of 40°, lava-cones 

 seldom exceed 1 0°. 



t Even this has now (August, 1 869) ceased, save an occasional grumble, 

 and the Tacungans are trembling with fear of another eruption. 



