124 
position the more unfounded, as the walls of the 
palace of the Inca at Callo, built by Huayna 
Capac, contain stones of volcanic origin, thrown 
out by the mouth of Cotopaxi. We shall dis- 
cuss in another place the important question, 
whether it be probable, that this volcano had 
already attained its present height, when the 
subterraneous fire issued from its summit ; or 
whether a number of geological facts do not 
rather concur to prove, that the cone, like the 
Somma on Vesuvius, is composed of a great 
number of strata of lava heaped upon each 
other. 
I sketched Cotopaxi and the Head of the 
Inca, to the west of the volcano, at the farm of 
Sienega, on the terrace of a beautiful country 
house belonging to our friend, the young Mar- 
quis of Maenza, who has lately inherited the title 
of Grandee, and that of Count of Punnelrostro. 
In order to distinguish, in these views of the tops 
of the Andes, the mountains that are volcanoes 
still burning from those that have no erup- 
tions, I have traced a slight smoke above the 
crater of Cotopaxi, though I saw none at the 
time I made the sketch. The house of Sienega, 
built by a person who was intimately connected 
with M. de la Condamine, is placed on the vast 
plain, which extends between the two branches 
of the Cordilleras, from the hills of Chisinche 
and Tiopiillo as far as Hambato. The colossal 
