278 M. Humboldt’s account of the Earthquake 
The detonations heard during whole days together in the 
New World, 80, 100, or even 200 leagues distant from a 
crater, do not reach us by the propagation of sound through 
the air ; they are transmitted to us by the ground. The 
little town of Honda, on the banks of the Magdalena, is not 
less than 145 leagues from Cotopaxi; and yet in the great ex- 
plosions of this volcano, in 1744, a subterraneous noise was 
heard at Honda, and supposed to be discharges of heavy artil- 
lery. The monks of St Francis spread the news, that the town 
.of Carthagena was bombarded by the English ; and the intelli- 
gence was believed. Now the volcano of Cotopaxi is a cone, more 
than 1800 toises above the basin of Honda, and rises from a table- 
land, the elevation of which is more than 1500 toises above the 
valley of the Magdalena. In all the colossal mountains of 
Quito, of the provinces of Los Pastos, and of Popayan, crevices 
and valleys without number are interposed. It cannot be ad- 
mitted, under these circumstances, that the noise could be 
transmitted through the air, or by the superior surface of the 
globe, and that it came from that point, where the cone 
and crater of Cotopaxi are placed. It appears probable, that 
the higher part of the kingdom of Quito and the neigh- 
bouring Cordilleras, far from being a group of distinct vol- 
canoes, constitute a single swollen mass, an enormous volcanic 
wall, stretching from south to north, and the crest of which 
exhibits a surface of more than six hundred square leagues. 
Cotopaxi, Tunguragua, Antisana, and Pichincha, are placed on 
this same vault, on this raised ground. The hre issues some- 
times from one, sometimes from another of these summits. 
The obstructed craters appear to be extinguished volcanoes ; 
but we may presume, tliat, while Cotopaxi or Tunguragua have 
only one or two eruptions in the course of a century, the lire 
is not less continually active under the town of Quito, under 
Pichincha and Imbaburu. 
‘‘ Advancing toward the north, we hnd, between the volcano 
of Cotopaxi and the town of Flonda, two other systems of vol- 
canic mountains, those of Los Pastos and of Popayan. The 
connection of these systems was manifested in the Andes in an 
ihcontestible manner by a phenomenon, which I have already had 
