203 



In the New World, on the contrary, and this fact 

 deserves the greatest attention, the volcanoes the 

 most stupendous for their masses form a part of 

 the Cordilleras themselves. The mountains of 

 mica-slate and gneiss in Peru and New Grenada 

 immediately touch the volcanic porphyries of the 

 provinces of Quito and Pasto. To the south 

 and north of these countries, in Chili and in the 

 kingdom of Guatimala, the active volcanoes are 

 grouped in rows. They are the continuation, as 

 we may say, of the chains of primitive rocks ; 

 and if the volcanic fire has broken forth in some 

 plain far from the Cordilleras, as in mount San- 

 gay and Jorullo*, we must consider this pheno- 

 menon as an exception to the law, which nature 

 seems to have imposed on these regions. I here 

 ought to state again these geological facts, be- 

 cause this pretended isolated situation of every 

 volcano has been opposed to the idea, that the 

 Peak of TenerifFe, and the other volcanic sum- 

 mits of the Canary Islands, are the remains of a 

 submerged chain of mountains. The observa- 

 tions, which have been made on the grouping of 

 the volcanoes in America, prove, that the ancient 

 state of things represented in the conjectural map 

 of the Atlantic by Mr. Bory de St. Vincentf, is no 



* Two volcanoes of the provinces ofQuixosand Mechoacan, 

 one in the southern, and the other in the northern hemis- 

 phere. 



f The question, whether the traditions of the ancients re- 



