I have sketched Cayambe as it appears above 
the Exido of Quito, which is at the distance of 
thirty-four thousand toises. Its form is that of a 
truncated cone ; and reminds us of the outline of 
the Nevada de Tolima, represented in the fifth 
plate. [Among the mountains covered with eter- 
nal snow, that surround the city of Quito, 
Cayambe, which is the most beautiful as well as 
the most majestic, never ceases to excite admira- 
tion at sunset, when the volcano of Guagua- 
Pichincha, situate to the west, or toward the 
Pacific Ocean, throws its shadow over the vast 
plain, which forms the foreground of the land- 
scape. This plain, covered with grasses, is desti- 
tute of trees. A few bushes of barnadesia, du- 
ranta, and barberry alone are scattered around ; 
with those beautiful calceolarise, which belong 
almost exclusively to the southern hemisphere, 
and the western part of America. 
Some distinguished northern artists have lately 
published a drawing of tlie cascade of the river 
Kyro, near the village of Yervenkyle, in Lap- 
land, through which, according to the observa- 
tions of Maupertuis, and Mr. Swanberg, the 
polar circle passes. The summit of Cayambe is 
traversed by the equator. We may consider this 
colossal mountain as one of those eternal monu- 
ments, by which nature has marked the great 
divisions of the terrestrial Globe. 
