AMERICAN VOLCANO-CHAINS. 95 



of which are among the most active, and of 

 winch Aconcagua, nearly in the latitude of Val- 

 paraiso, is twenty-four thousand feet in height. 

 These volcanoes stretch almost in a straight line, 

 running along the coast from 46° to 27° south 

 latitude. Farther north, in the Andes chain, lie 

 the lofty volcanoes of Bolivia and Upper Peru, 

 one of winch is Arequipa. The high land of 

 Quito, which Humboldt speaks of as being an 

 enormous volcanic vault, is bounded by two rows 

 of burning mountains, among which are the famous 

 Sangay, Tunguragua,*Cotopaxi (18,775 feet), 

 Antisana (19,000 feet), Pichincha, and Imba- 

 buru. The volcano of Tolima also belongs to 

 this row. The underground fire, says HuMBOLDT,t 

 breaks forth sometimes from one, sometimes from 

 another of these openings, which are usually sup- 

 posed to be separate volcanoes. 



The free state of Guatemala, in Central America, 

 lying between the northern and southern conti- 

 nents, is especially remarkable for the great num- 



* Opposite Tunguragua, on the eastern side of the 

 two volcanic chains, lies Chimborazo, which, however, has 

 no crater. 



f Humboldt remarks, as a proof of the nninterrnpted 

 continuance of the activity within, even when actual out- 

 bursts from the volcanoes are not going on, that, during 

 his long stay at Quito, not a month passed that awful 

 noises, with or without earthquakes, were not heard from 

 beneath their feet. 



