so 



Advancing toward the North, we find., be- 

 tween the volcano of Cotopaxi and the town of 

 Honda, two other systems of volcanic mountains, 

 those of Los Pastos and of Popayan. The con- 

 nection of these systems was manifested in the 

 Andes in an incontestible manner by a pheno- 

 menon, which I have already had occasion to 

 notice, in speaking of the last destruction of 

 Cumana. Since the month of November, 1796, 

 a thick column of smoke had issued from the 

 volcano of Pasto, West of the town of that name, 

 and near the valley of rio Guaytara. The 

 mouths of the volcano are lateral, and placed 

 on its western declivity, yet during three suc- 

 cessive months the column rose so much higher 

 than the ridge of the mountain, that it was con- 

 stantly visible to the inhabitants of the town of 

 Pasto. They related to us their astonishment, 

 when, on the 4th of February, 1797, they ob- 

 served the smoke disappear in an instant, with- 

 out feeling any shock whatever. At that very 

 moment, sixty-five leagues to the South, between 

 Chimborazo, Tunguragua, and the Altar (Capac- 

 Urcu), the town of Riobamba was overthrown 

 by the most dreadful earthquake, of which tra- 

 dition has transmitted the history. Is it possible 

 to doubt from this coincidence of phenomena, 

 that the vapours, issuing from the small aper- 

 tures or ventanillas of the volcano of Pasto, had 

 an influence on the pressure of those elastic 



