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dazziing splendor at the setting of the sun, and 

 detaches itself in the most picturesque manner 

 from the azure vault of Heaven. This covering 

 of snow conceals from the eye of the observer 

 even the smallest inequalities of the soil ; no 

 point of rock, no stony mass, penetrates this 

 coating of ice, or breaks the regularity of the 

 figure of the cone. The summit of Cotopaxi 

 resembles the Sugar-loaf (Pan de azucar) which 

 terminates the Peak of Teyde ; but the height of 

 its cone is six times the height of that of the 

 great volcano of the Island of TenerifFe. 



It is only near the brink of the crater we see 

 ledges of rock, that are never covered with snow, 

 and that look at a distance like stripes of the 

 darkest hue ; the great steepness of this part of 

 the cone, and the crevices from which issue 

 currents of heated air, are probably the causes 

 of this phenomenon. The crater, like that 

 of the Peak of TenerifFe, is surrounded by a 

 small circular wall, which, examined with a 

 good telescope, looks like a parapet. This is 

 more distinctly seen on the southern declivity, 

 when the beholder is placed either on the Lion 

 mountain (Puma-Urcu) , or on the banks of the 

 small lake of Yuracoche. I have added beneath 

 t he plate, in order to show this peculiar structure 

 of the volcano, a view of the southern brink of 

 the crater, such as I have sketched it near the 

 limit of the perpetual snows (at the absolute 



