r *96 ) 
NATURAL BRIDGES, 
NATCUAL BRIDGES OF ICONONZ®' 
Amid the majestic and varied scenery of the 
South America, that of their valleys most fore' 
Their 
the imagination of European travellers. „ 
height is not discoverable but at a considerable . 
of those pl:'" . 
and while the spectator is on 
one 
enti' 
■^,7 
pxlcnd from the .sea-coasts to the foot of 'the 
lire flats, or table lands, which surround the 
r .1 _ kl for J 
f: 
summits of the mountains, are themselves, - (,i, . 
of an elevation of from seven to nine thm ‘ ol , 
part, 
nearly a mile and three quarters 
sea. This circumstance diminishes, to 
above the le'''*’'.!.-/' 
certa^” 1 >’ 
the impression of greatness produced by the y 
ot Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, and Antisana. wl't-’O 
the flats of Riobamba, or from those of QuitO; 
however, with the valleys as with the inounn“-^pfr'^ 
and narrower than those of the Alps and the 1 y -fC i 
11 i” <. L .S»*OP> fl HlO 1? StU ,)q1 V 
tain*’ 
valleys of the Cordilleras present situations stilt ^ 
nt‘T): 
than these, and more adapted to fill the soul ' ^ 
tion and with terror. Fissures and chasms P'j" 
selves, having tlieir bottoms and sides ornani^ ^ 
vigorous vegetation, and of such a 
edS t J o 
nacl* ,i' 
and tlie Puy^de-Dome might be placed ''’‘“"‘jgti. V; 
them, and not show their summits above the 
neighbouring mountains. In passing along '■*’ (-ei)d'. 
Andes, from Pasto to Villa d’lbarra, and in 
Loxa towards the banks of the river of the ^ ^ 
truvelier reaches the celebrated fissures or ii) 
Cutaco, the former of which is nearly a 
latter upwards of tliree-quarters of a mile, iij P |K 
depth. To give a more complete idea of . 
these geological phenomena, it should •■'i 
tire bottoms of tliese fissures are by one-iy;" 
foor^ I 
elevated above the level of the sea, than 1^'® 
St. Gotliard and Mount Cefiis. jejii*" 
The valley of Icononzo, or of Pandi, is 
