426 A VOYAGE TO Book VI. 



its declivity, at that time buried under prodigious 

 inades of fnow. The ignited- fubilances ejedled on 

 that occafion, mixed with a prodigious quantity 

 of ice and fnow, malting amidft the flames, were car- 

 ried down with fuch aftonifhing rapidity, that in 

 an inftant the plain, from Callo to Latacunga, was 

 overflowed ; and, befides its ravages in bearing down 

 houfes of the Indians and other poor inhabitants, 

 great numbers of people lofl: their lives. The river 

 of Latacunga was the channel of this terrible flood, 

 till, being too fmall for receiving fuch a prodigious 

 current, it overflowed the adjacent country like a vafl: 

 lake near the town, and carried away all the build- 

 ings within its reach. The inhabitants retired to a 

 fpot of higher ground behind their town, of which 

 thofe parts which fl:ood within the Ifmits of the cur- 

 rent were totally defl:royed. The dread of ftill greater 

 devaftations did not fubfide in three days, during 

 which the volcano ejeded cinders, while torrents of 

 melted ice and fnow poured down its fides. The fire 

 Iafl:ed feveral days, and was accompanied with terri- 

 ble roarings of the wind rufliing through the volcano, 

 and greatly exceeded the great rumblings before heard 

 in its bowels. At latt all was quiet, nfeither fire nor 

 fmoke were feen, nor was there any noife to be heard 

 till the following year, 1 744 ; when, in the month of 

 May, the flames increafed, and forced their pafl[age 

 through feveral other parts on the fides of the moun- 

 tain ; fo that in clear nights, the flames being refledl- 

 ed by the tranfparent ice, formed a very grand and 

 beautiful illumination. November the 30th, it ejed- 

 ed fuch prodigious quantities of fire and ignited fubf 

 llances, that an inundation equal to the former foon 

 enfued fo that the inhabitants of Latacunga gave 

 themfeives over for lofl:. And we ought to acknow- 

 ledge the divine protedion, that it did not rage- when 

 we vifited it, having occafion twice to continue fome 

 2 time 



