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roarings of the volcano were heard as far as 

 Honda, a town on the borders of the Magdalena, 

 and at the distance of two hundred common 

 leagues. On the 4th of April, 1768, the quantity 

 of ashes ejected by the mouth of Cotopaxi was 

 so great, that in the towns of Hambato and 

 Tacunga day broke only at three in the after- 

 noon, and the inhabitants were obliged to use 

 lanterns in walking the streets. The explosion 

 which took place in the month of January, 1803, 

 was preceded by a dreadful phenomenon, the 

 sudden melting of the snows that covered the 

 mountain. For twenty years before, no smoke 

 or vapour, that could be perceived, had issued 

 from the crater ; and in a single night the sub- 

 terraneous fire became so active, that at sun- 

 rise the external walls of the cone, heated, no 

 doubt, to a very considerable temperature, ap- 

 peared naked, and of the dark colour, which is 

 peculiar to vitrified scoriae. At the port of Guay- 

 aquil, fifty-two leagues distant in a straight line 

 from the crater, we heard, day and night, the 

 noises of the volcano, like continued discharges 

 of a battery ; we distinguished these tremendous 

 sounds even on the Pacific Ocean, to the south- 

 west of the island of Puna. 



Cotopaxi is situate to the south-east of the 

 city of Quito, at the distance of twelve leagues, 

 between the mountain of Ruminnavi ■ the sum- 

 mit of which, rugged with small separate rocks, 



