CHAP. VI. EFFECTS OF THE ERUPTIONS. 127 



to fill this vast arena, nineteen thousand feet above the level of 

 the sea, even for a moment/ The weight must be reckoned by 

 hundreds of millions of tons — its heat at thousands of degrees 

 Fahrenheit, and when it emerged through the depressions of the 

 rim, and fell in streams or cascades upon the surrounding slopes 

 of snow, ice, and glacier, much of it must instantly have been 

 blown into the air by sudden evolution of steam, and falling 

 again upon the cone bounded downwards in furious leaps, plough- 

 ing up the mountain like cannon-shot. Portions of the glaciers, 

 uncemented from their attachments by the enormous augmenta- 

 tion of heat, slipped away bodily, and, partly rolling, partly 

 borne by the growing floods, arrived at the bottom a mass of 

 shattered blocks.^ 



The flood which ultimately proceeded towards the south at 

 first rushed away from Cotopaxi across the bed of the River 

 Cutuchi up to the bend that the new road makes near Callo ; and 

 then, deflected by the rising ground, it turned towards Latacunga, 

 rooted up the road, and swept away arrieros with their teams 

 and everything upon it, erased houses, farms and factories, and 

 destroyed every bridge in its course. When I passed this way, 

 I found the country a wilderness.^ 



Many eruptions have occurred of this description, and upon 



1 The observation of the natives of Mulalo tliat it bubbled over suddenly in 

 a number of places at once, and the immediate irruption of the floods in all 

 directions are strong evidence. The opinion that the lava retreated as rapidly as 

 it rose is entertained because the flood ceased in an hour or less, and a large 

 quantity of ice near the summit remained unmelted. 



2 According to Dr. T. Wolf blocks of ice were carried eight to ten leagues from 

 the mountain, and some of them remained for months after the eruption upon the 

 plain of Latacunga, and left, as they melted, hillocks of rubbish three or four feet 

 high, and several yards in diameter. 



^ The flood which went north, though equally formidable, did less damage to 

 property. For a number of miles it traversed uninhabited country. The principal 

 loss on this side was caused by the obliteration of the cotton factories at Chillo 

 belonging to the Aguirre family. I was told by one of their workmen that some 

 of the machinery was transported thirty miles, down into the ravine of Guallabamba. 

 Messrs. Aguirre have now put up other mills on higher ground. 



