100 



I have sketched Cayambe as it appears above 

 the Exido of Quito, which is at the distance of 

 thirty-four thousand toises. Its form is that of a 

 truncated cone ; and reminds us of the outline of 

 the Nevado de Tolima, represented in the fifth 

 plate. Among the mountains covered with eter- 

 nal snow, that surround the city of Quito, 

 Cayambe, which is the most beautiful as well as 

 the most majestic, never ceases to excite admira- 

 tion at sunset, when the volcano of Guagua- 

 Pichincha, situate to the west, or toward the 

 Pacific Ocean, throws its shadow over the vast 

 plain, which forms the foreground of the land- 

 scape. This plain, covered with grasses, is desti- 

 tute of trees. A few bushes of barnadesia, du- 

 ranta, and barberry alone are scattered around i 

 with those beautiful calceolarias, which belong 

 almost exclusively to the southern hemisphere, 

 and the western part of America. 



Some distinguished northern artists have lately 

 published a drawing of the cascade of the river 

 Kyro, near the village of Yervenkyle, in Lap- 

 land, through which, according to the observa- 

 tions of Maupertuis, and Mr. Swanberg, the 

 polar circle passes. The summit of Cayambe is 

 tra versed by the equator. We may consider this 

 colossal mountain as one of those eternal monu- 

 ments, by which nature has marked the great 

 divisions of the terrestrial Globe. 



