110 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES. chap. v. 



The upper part of Corazon is a great wall, roughly flat on 

 the top, which is, I believe, a dyke — a mass of lava that has 

 welled up through a fissure. At its highest, it is nearly level 

 over a length of 250 feet, and is only a few yards across from 

 east to west/ At 1.15 p.m., on the highest j)oint, the mercurial 

 barometer read 16-974 inches, at a temperature of 43° Faht. 

 The height deduced (15,871 feet) is slightly greater than that 

 assigned to the mountain by La Condamine (2470 toises), and 

 by Eeiss and Stiibel (4816 metres). The extreme difference 

 between the three measurements amounts to seventy-five feet. 



There was on the summit an 

 indication of a previous ascent 

 in two dressed fragments of 

 rock, about nine inches long, 

 which caught the eye directly 

 we arrived. They were a black, 

 scoriaceous lava^ similar to the 

 highest rock obtained on Chim- 

 borazo, and subsequently on 

 various parts of the cone of 

 Cotopaxi. I saw no natural 

 fragments of it on Corazon, and therefore conclude that these 

 dressed pieces must have been transported some distance by the 



1 Though the summit was free from snow, and there was none on the eastern 

 side, there was much in gullies on the western side, and we fancied there might 

 be considerable beds or even a glacier below. Viewed from the west this mountain 

 would be considered to be within the snow-line. 



The theodolite was brought up, in the hope that angles might be obtained. 

 We were surrounded by mists nearly the whole time — sometimes not being able 

 to see the length of the summit ridge. For a few seconds there was an opening 

 which gave a superb view of Cotopaxi, whitened by new snow, rising above the 

 dark cliffs of Rumiiiahui, and behind it the mountains that lie to the east of the 

 basin of Ambato. This was the only glimpse I had of the mountains of Llanganati, 

 and from this casual glance I think an explorer of that region will find plenty of 

 occupation, for the mountains are close and steep, and the region seems complicated. 

 There was much snow upon the highest points. 



DRESSED ROCKS FOUND ON CORAZON. 



