CHAP. VII. SECOND CAMP ON COTOPAXI. 147 



41°, but the face of the slope was not, I think, steeper than 

 37°/ We deposited our baggage at the foot of it until we had 

 completed the ascent, and found that occasional streaks of ice 

 gave some stability to the mass, which would otherwise have 

 slipped down in large quantities at every step. 



We hurried up this unstable slope as fast as we could go, 

 and reached the western edge of the summit rim exactly at 

 mid-day. The crater was nearly filled with smoke and steam, 

 which drifted about and obscured the view. The opposite side 

 could scarcely be perceived, and the bottom was quite concealed. 

 As the vapours were wafted hither and thither, we gained a 

 pretty good idea of the general shape of the crater, though as 

 a whole it was not seen until night-time. 



A few minutes after our arrival, a roar from the bottom 

 told us that the " animal " (Carrel^s term for the volcano) was 

 alive. It had been settled beforehand that every man was to 

 shift for himself if an eruption occurred, and that all our be- 

 longings were to be abandoned. When we heard the roar, there 

 was an '^'^ it is time to be off " expression clearly written on all 

 our faces ; but before a word could be uttered we found our- 

 selves enveloped only in a cloud of cool and quite unobjection- 

 able steam, and we concluded to stop. 



The establishment of the tent was the first consideration. 

 It was unanimously decided that it was not advisable to camp 

 at the top of the slope, close to the rim or lip of the crater, 

 on account of wind and the liability to harm from lightning, 

 and the more I examined the slope itself the less I liked it. 

 It was naked, exposed, and slipped upon the slightest provoca- 

 tion. Jean-Antoine and I therefore set out on a tour to look 

 for a better place, but after spending several hours in passing 

 round about a quarter of the crater, without result, we returned 

 to the others, and all hands set to work to endeavour to make 

 a platform upon the ash. This proved to be a long and trouble- 

 ' This is the angle represented in the section on p. 149. 



