78 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. hi. 



vallon below^ and in the far distance a little peep of the Arena! 

 road, where by the aid of glasses the passing mule- trains bound 

 from the capital to the coast could be discerned, and condors 

 sailing to and fro watching unguarded flocks and herds. 



The inferior portion of the Glacier de Debris lies below the 

 line of perpetual snow, blackened and obscured with fragments of 

 lavas of every hue and shape, broken from places inaccessible to 

 the hammer ; but its upper half, sprinkled by the daily falls, grows 

 purer as it rises, and terminates in a steeply-sloping basin, closed 

 by the cirque of cliffs of the Southern AY alls, crowned by a vertical 

 section of ice (E) which shews the thickness of the glacier at the 

 summit of Chimborazo. 



Whilst waiting at the point marked A on the Plan, ready to 

 snatch a view of the opposite walls should an opening occur iii 

 the mists, a portion of the projecting ice-clifls near the summit 

 broke away, and some thousands of tons dropped hundreds of 

 feet without touching anything, falling into the amphitheatre 

 with a noise which fairly made us quiver ; and then, shattered 

 into millions of fragments, danced down the converging slopes 

 to the upper basin, and marched onwards, covering the entire 

 glacier ; continuing to roll, grind against, and even to clamber 

 over each other, until nearly opposite the second camp, — driving 

 a cloud of icy spray nearly a mile farther. In this way the 

 Glacier de Debris is fed and maintained. 



Shortly afterwards, following its usual custom, the weather 

 deteriorated. High wind and a severe thunderstorm made us 

 scamper to the tent for shelter, leaving the instruments, as 

 before, stowed away in fissures in the cliff's. Next morning, my 

 Chief of the Staff enquired what we were going to do, and 

 whether the instruments should be brought down. I said, " No, 

 we have not finished our work.^' He then attempted to dissuade 

 me from another ascent, arguing that the weather was bad, and 

 that it would be useless, and so forth. It came out gradually 

 that he himself positively refused to go up again, or even to 



