By Mr. Theodore Hartweg. 



155 



Pichincha attains a height of 15,979 feet, and although repeat- 

 edly covered with snow, the latter seldom remains long. The line of 

 perpetual congelation under the equator is fixed by Humboldt at 

 15,736 feet, but this limit admits of local variation, as for example 

 on Cayambe, where a broad sheet of snow extends over a gradual 

 descent, and is found as low as 14,200 feet; whilst on Chimborazo, 

 where the form of the mountain is more conical, it ascends to 

 16,000 feet. The crater of Pichincha, which looks like an im- 

 mense ravine, having an opening towards the west coast or in 

 the opposite direction of Quito, is inaccessible on all sides, and 

 is probably not less than a thousand feet in depth. Many centuries 

 have elapsed since it existed in full activity, when it must have 

 largely contributed to covering the country around with pumice- 

 stone and ashes ; now, though still smouldering, its present com- 

 motions are the enfeebled efforts of age. 



The western declivity of Pichincha, to which I made frequent 

 excursions, afforded me Andromachia solidaginea, Valeriana 

 microphylla, Viburnum pichinchense, Arracacha acuminata, Tac- 

 sonia quitensis with an oblong acidulous fruit, Rubus stipidaris, 

 Fuchsia sylvatica, sessiliflora, scabriuscula, and dependens, the 

 latter forming a large shrub, producing numerous scarlet flowers 

 at the points of the slender branches which give it a graceful 

 appearance, an Iochroma with large dark blue flowers two inches 

 in length, Mutisia Clematis, Mikania corymbulosa, Miconia 

 pichinchensis, Macleania cordifolia, having a large fleshy root, 

 Thibaudia pichinchensis, Palicourea lineata, and in the more tem- 

 perate parts towards the uninhabited woods of Esmeraldas, Cen- 

 tropogon calycinus, and prostratus, Begonia longirostris, Quercus 

 Benthamiana forming a middle sized tree with wide spreading 

 hranches and large leaves which are brown underneath, the rare 

 Fuchsia longiflora, several species of Orchidacece, among which 

 Epidendrum amethystinum, and porphijreum and Cypripedium ma- 

 cranthum, are the most remarkable, the latter preferring wet situa- 



