CHAP. xrx. THE GLACIERS OF ECUADOR. 349 



Equator. They attain their greatest size upon Antisana, Cayambe, 

 and Chimborazo, and there are considerable ones upon Altar, 

 Carihuairazo, Cotocachi, Illiniza, Sara-urcu, and Sincholagua/ The 

 glaciers upon Antisana were thicker and the crevasses in them 

 were larger than any we saw elsewhere. Upon Cayambe I counted 

 twelve/ flowing from the central reservoir, all of which, according 

 to the prevailing custom, might have had names bestowed upon 

 them ; and when making the circuit of Chimborazo in June-July, 

 1880, I noted the bearings of and named eleven which were entitled 

 to be distinguished.^ The one marked A is called Abraspungo ; 

 the next is dedicated to Mr. R. Spruce, whose admirable work in 

 Ecuador (which, unfortunately, has permanently disabled him) has 

 been very inadequately recognized ; and the two following are 

 named after the Doctors Reiss and Stiibel. These are succeeded 

 by the Glacier de Thielmann and the Glacier de Debris. The next 

 one (G), named Tortorillas, is rather ill-defined; H and I are the 

 Glaciers of Humboldt and Boussingault, and the most eastern one 

 is consecrated to the assassinated President, Garcia Moreno. 



In essential features the Glaciers of Ecuador do not differ from 

 the Glaciers of the Alps, and in minor points they present little 

 novelty. One has been noticed upon p. 198. Another was seen 

 in the middle of the Glacier de Debris, namely, a moulin^ in which 

 the water flowed upwards instead of downwards ; and not far from 

 this I came upon a ' glacier-table,^ a slab of rock three or four feet 

 in diameter, which had attained an unusual height upon a slender 



1 There is also some very obscured glacier upon Cotopaxi. My glimpses of 

 Quilindana and Tunguragua were too slight to permit me to speak with certainty, 

 but I believe that there are also glaciers upon those mountains. 



2 There are no doubt others upon Cayambe. I did not see its north and north- 

 east sides. 



^ Of the northern side, through constant prevalence of bad weather, a clear view 

 was not obtained. 



* " Moulins are formed by deep cracks " (crevasses) " intersecting glacier rivulets. 

 The water in descending such cracks scoops out for itself a shaft, sometimes many 

 feet wide, and some hundreds of feet deep, into which the cataract plunges."— 

 Tyndall's Glaciers of the Alps, 8vo, London, 1860, p. 424. 



