CHIMBORAZO. 
SEEN FROM THE 
PLAIN OF TAPIA. 
PLATE XXV. 
The mountain is here sketched as it dis- 
plays itself from the arid plain of Tapia, near 
the village of Lican, the ancient residence of 
the sovereigns of Quito, before the conquest of 
the Inca Tupac-Yupanqui. From Lican to the 
summit of Chimborazo is nearly five leagues in a 
straight line. The 16th plate represents this 
colossal mountain surrounded with a zone of per- 
petual snow, which, near the equator, maintains 
itself at four thousand eight hundred metres 
above the level of the sea. The 25th plate re- 
presents Chimborazo as we saw it after very 
heavy falls of snow, on the 24th of June, 1802, 
the day immediately following that of our excur- 
sion toward the summit. It appeared to me in- 
teresting, to give a precise idea of the stupendous 
