115 



VOLCANO OF COTOPAXI* 



PLATE X. 



In the description of the valley of Icononzo, 

 I observed^ that the enormous height of the 

 elevated plains, which surround the lofty sum- 

 mits of the Cordilleras, somewhat weakens the 

 impression, which these great masses leave on 

 the mind of a traveller accustomed to the ma- 

 jestic scenes of the Alps and the Pyrenees. It 

 is not so much the absolute height of mountains, 

 as their aspect, figure, and groupings, that give 

 a peculiar character to the landscape. 



I have endeavoured to represent what may be 

 called the physiognomy of mountains, in a series 

 of drawings, some of which have already ap- 

 peared in the geographical and physical Atlas 

 belonging to my Essay on the Kingdom of New 

 Spain. The comparison of the respective forms 

 of mountains in the most distant parts of the 

 Globe, like that of the forms of the vegetable 

 tribes under different climates, appeared to me 

 highly interesting to geology. Very few ma- 



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