11 



aspect of the Cordilleras, at the two epochas of 

 the maximum and minimum of the height of the 

 snows. 



Travellers who have approached the summits 

 of Mont Blanc and Mont Rose are alone 

 capable of feeling the character of this calm, 

 majestic, and solemn scenery. The bulk of 

 Chimborazo is so enormous, that the part which 

 the eye embraces at once near the limit of the 

 eternal snows is seventhonsand metres in breadth. 

 The extreme rarity of the strata of air, across 

 which we seethe tops of the Andes, contributes # 

 greatly to the splendour of the snow, and the 

 magical effect of its reflection. Under the 

 tropics, at a height of five thousand metres, the 

 azure vault of the sky appears of an indigo tint-j~. 

 The outlines of the mountain detach themselves 

 from the sky in this pure and transparent atmos- 

 phere, while the inferior strata of the air, re- 

 posing on a plain destitute of vegetation, which 

 reflects the radiant heat, are vaporous, and ap- 

 pear to veil the middle ground of the landscape. 

 The elevated plain of Tapia, which extends to 

 the East as far as the foot- of the Altar and of 

 Condorasto, is three thousand metres in height, 

 nearly equal to that of Canigou, one of the 

 highest summits of the Pyrenees. A few plants 



* Political Essay on New Spain, vol. 1, p. 77. 

 + See my Geography of Plants, p. 17. 



