316 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. xvii. 



distance down upon the north side, bearing some lichens {Lecidea 

 and Lecanora) and, for such a situation, a not inconsiderable 

 quantity of a Moss which has been dubiously identified as Grimmia 

 apocaiya, Hedw. This same species was found in the previous 

 January near the second camp on Chimborazo, at the rather 

 exceptional height (for a Moss) of 16,660 feet ; but it was more 

 remarkable to find it on the very apex of Carihuairazo (16,515 

 feet), completely surrounded as it was by permanent snow and ice 

 upon all sides, as truly insulated as if it had been upon an island 

 surrounded with water. 



Carihuairazo forms the northern end of the massif of Chim- 

 borazo, and is separated from the greater mountain by a depression 

 called Abraspungo.^ Its northern slopes extend almost to the 

 town of Ambato, and the Quito Eoad may be considered its 

 boundary on the east. Historians say that it was formerly loftier 

 than Chimborazo, and that a portion of its apex fell during a great 

 earthquake which occurred at the end of the 17th century.'^ I 

 cannot imagine that it was ever 4000 feet higher than it is at 

 present. The ruins of such a peak would make a prodigious heap, 

 yet we saw nothing indicating that a fall of great magnitude had 

 occurred. The present summit-ridge possiUy formed the southern 

 and western sides of a crater, of which the northern and eastern 

 sides may have fallen, and now lie buried under the glaciers at the 

 summit. This, however, is pure conjecture. 



not exceeding about 'OS inch in lengtli, and two or three which in structure, 

 ■dichroism, and parallel extinction agree with hypersthene. There are scattered 

 crystals of hematite and scales of iron-glance. . . The ground-mass appears to be a 

 clear glass thickly studded with dusty ferrite, and with minute crystallites in part, 

 at least, felspar. The rock is, therefore, an augite-andesite." — Prof. T. G. Bonney, 

 Proc. Royal Soc, June 19, 1884. 



' There is a rough track all the way up Yacu-larca to Abraspungo. As we did 

 not descend by this path on the western side, I am not aware what direction it 

 takes, after crossing the pass. 



2 It would be interesting if this tradition could be verified, as it might give 

 a clue to the age of the glaciers which now completely envelop the top of the 

 mountain. 



