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extends itself like a wall of enormous height 
and Queiendanna^ which enters the boundary 
of the eternal snows. It is in this part of the 
Andes, that a longitudinal valley separates the 
Cordilleras into two parallel chains. The bot- 
tom of this valley is three thousand metres above 
the level of the ocean, so that Chimborazo and 
Cotopaxi, seen from the elevated plains of Licaii 
and Mulalo, appear no higher than the Col de 
Geant and du Cramont, measured by Saus- 
sure. As there is reason to suppose, that the 
proximity of the ocean contributes to feed the 
volcanic fire, the geologist is astonished to find, 
that the most active volcanoes in the kingdom of 
Quito, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, and Sangay, be- 
long to the eastern chain of the Andes, and con- 
sequently that which is farthest from the coasts. 
The whole of the peaks, except Rucu-Pichincha, 
which crown the Western Cordilleras, seem to 
be volcanoes extinguished for a long series of 
ages ; but the mountain of which we give a 
drawing, and which is 2° 2 ' distant from the 
nearest coasts, those of Esmeralda and the bay 
of San-Mateo, spouts out at different periods ca- 
taracts of fire, and spreads destruction over the 
surrounding plains. 
The form of Cotopaxi is the most beautiful 
and regular of tlie colossal summits of the high 
Andes. It is a perfect cone, which, covered 
with an enormous layer of snow, shines with 
