62 
structive as those of the ocean, but more 
dreadful, because more unnatural. Above 
twenty thousand individuals are reckoned 
to have perished in the districts of Lata- 
cunga and Riobamba. The focus of the 
earthquake seems to have been near this 
vicinity, the Paramos of Tiopulo and 
Apuay forming the northern and southern 
limits of its action. The connexion betwixt 
earthquakes and volcanos does not appear 
subject to any fixed rule. Earthquakes 
happen where there are no volcanos, and 
the volcanic eruptions are not always ac- 
companied by earthquakes; yet, it is said, 
that during that of 1827, the focus of which 
seems to have been near Popayan, the vol- 
canos of Pasto, Sotaro, Puraca and Toli- 
ma showed simultaneous signs of explosion, 
and that a column of fire rose from the 
latter at the moment of the shock, An 
exact narrative of all the circumstances 
attending on these throes of nature, in a 
country so frequently exposed to them, 
would be highly interesting, but moments 
of such alarm are not the most favourable 
for observation, and when the terror has 
subsided, there frequently enters so much 
exaggeration of facts, and such a variety 
in the mode of relating them, that it is not 
easy to combine the whole into an authen- 
tic history; besides, where the sphere of 
action is so extended, we must depend on 
a number of reporters, all of whom are not 
equally capable of faithful description: the 
personal inspection, bya scientific observer, 
of all the vestiges of the catastrophe, could 
alone ensure exactness as to its effects, 
while its attendant phenomena would be 
open to much doubt and discussion. Still 
less have we any means of calculating the 
probable periods of their repetition. There 
seems nothing periodical in their ravages, 
if we may judge from the following list of 
those of Lima, which have been either the 
most numerous, or at least the most care- 
fully recorded :— 
5. 
6. 
ys 
8 
EXCURSIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF QUITO. 
9. 1687. Oct. 15. 1725. Jan. 
10. 1688. Oct. :16. 1730. Dec. 
11. 1694. Nov. 17. 1734. May 
12. 1697. Sept. 18. 1746. Oct. 
13. 1699. July. 19. 1806. Dec. 
14 1716. Feb. 
Many shocks have been felt since. 1806 ; 
but I have not the dates, nor any statement | 
of the damage caused. In Quito there are - 
commonly two or three felt every year, but — 
with very trifling effect. 
We walked from the ruins to the lake of. 
Colta, distant about a mile and a half. It 
is a quiet sheet of water, about a league in 
circumference, surrounded by farms and 
pastures. The water-fowl on its sedgy 
islets—the cattle grazing on the short ver- : 
dant turf round its brink—and, a small | 
chapel rising, with its white belfry, on the 
road side—formed the pleasing fore-ground | 
of a picture, of which the magnificent out- 
line of Chimborazo, stretched on the hori- - 
zon, constituted the principal feature. We - 
now looked, towards. its glorious cupola, - 
much as an engineer surveys a fortress he $ 
is about to attack, for we were soon to 
attempt an escalade. 
On the 14th of December, we set out on. | 
our final expedition. The road from Rio- _ 
bamba to Chimborazo, and thence to 
Guayaquil, passes, with a gradual ascent, | 
through the villages of Lican and Calpi: 
it then enters a narrow valley, formed ki 
the ramifications of the mountains, in which | 
are situated several grazing farms, the last 
of which is called the farm of Chimborazo, — 
a miserable straw-built shed, consisting of 
a kind of dog-hole, in which the major- 
domo lives, and a hole of a still inferior - 
description for the Indian servants of the | 
household: here we passed the night. Its 
elevation is 12,540 feet. The next morn- : 
ing, we set off towards the mountain; the - 
distance is not less than twelve miles of 
gradual ascent over the Paramas; though | 
judging from the eye, it seems scarcely 
three—a general effect of the brilliancy of - 
the snow in approximating distances. At 
about half-past twelve, we miel. ata @ 
ravine called Chiliabulla, orte iit of 
