CHIMBORAZO. 



SEEN FROM THE 



PLAIN OF TAP1A. 



PLATE XXV. 



The mountain is here sketched as it dis- 

 plays itself from the arid plain of Tapia, near 

 the village of Lican, the ancient residence of 

 the sovereigns of Quito, before the conquest of 

 the Inca Tupac-Yupanqui. From Lican to the 

 summit of Chimborazo is nearly five leagues in a 

 straight line. The 16th plate represents this 

 ♦colossal mountain surrounded with a zone of per- 

 petual snow, which, near the equator, maintains 

 itself at four thousand eight hundred metres 

 above the level of the sea. The 25th plate re- 

 presents Chimborazo as we saw it after very 

 heavy falls of snow, on the 24th of June, 1802, 

 the day immediately following that of our excur- 

 sion toward the summit. It appeared to me in- 

 teresting, to give a precise idea of the stupendous 



