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height of four thousand four hundred and eleven 
metres), at Suniguaicu, on the ridge of porphy- 
ritic mountains, which joins Cotopaxi to the 
Nevado de Quelendanna. 
The conic point of the Peak of TenerilFe is of 
easy access, rising from the midst of a plain 
covered with pumice stones, and on which a 
few tufts of Spartium supranubium vegetate. 
In scaling the volcano of Cotopaxi, it is ex- 
tremely difficult to attain the inferior boundary 
of the perpetual snows, as we experienced in an 
excursion we made in the month of May, in the 
year 1802 . The cone is surrounded by deep 
crevices, which at the moment of the eruptions 
bear down scoriae, pumice stone, water, and 
blocks of ice, to Rio Napo, and Rio de los Ala- 
ques. After a near examination of the summit 
of Cotopaxi, we may venture to assert, that it 
would be impossible to reach the brink of the 
crater. 
The greater the regularity in the form of the 
cone of this volcano, the more we are struck in 
finding, on the side to the south-east, a small 
mass of rock, half concealed under the snow, 
studded with points, and which the natives call 
the head of the Inca. The origin of this singular 
denomination is very uncertain. A popular tra- 
dition prevails in the country, that this isolated 
rock was heretofore a part of the top of Coto- 
paxi. The Indians relate, that the volcano, at 
