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position the more unfounded, as the walls of the 

 palace of the Inca at Callo, built by Huayna 

 Capac, contain stones of volcanic origin, thrown 

 out by the mouth of Cotopaxi. We shall dis- 

 cuss in another place the important question, 

 whether it be probable, that this volcano had 

 already attained its present height, when the 

 subterraneous fire issued from its summit ; or 

 whether a number of geological facts do not 

 rather concur to prove, that the cone, like the 

 Somma on Vesuvius, is composed of a great 

 number of strata of lava heaped upon each 

 other. 



I sketched Cotopaxi and the Head of the 

 Inca, to the west of the volcano, at the farm of 

 Sienega, on the terrace of a beautiful country 

 house belonging to our friend, the young Mar- 

 quis of Maenza, who has lately inherited the title 

 of Grandee, and that of Count of Punnelrostro. 

 In order to distinguish, in these views of the tops 

 of the Andes, the mountains that are volcanoes 

 still burning from those that have no erup- 

 tions, I have traced a slight smoke above the 

 crater of Cotopaxi, though I saw none at the 

 time I made the sketch. The house of Sienega, 

 built by a person who was intimately connected 

 with M. de la Condamine, is placed on the vast 

 plain, which extends between the two branches 

 of the Cordilleras, from the hills of Chisinche 

 and Tiopullo as far as Hambato. The colossal 



