ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
westward (May 18, minimum 57° Fahrenheit), whereas 
during the day the temperature was hot — maximum 97° 
Fahrenheit. As early as 9 a.m. the thermometer already 
registered 85° in the shade, and there was not a breath of 
wind. The elevation was 1,150 feet. The sky was in 
streaky, horizontal clouds to the east, and thin, misty 
clouds to the south — cirro-stratus. 
One of my horses having strayed away a long dis¬ 
tance, we did not leave that camp until the afternoon, 
after the animal had been recovered. We rose quickly 
over the usual red volcanic sand, held down in its place by 
the vegetation, rather anaemic at that particular spot. 
Higher up we again sank in the white and yellow ashes, 
with occasional zones covered by small, angular, black- 
baked debris. 
Ants seemed to flourish happily in that region, for 
the ant-heaps were innumerable and of great size, several 
with towers about six feet in height, resembling miniature 
mediaeval castles. 
Having risen — all the time over grey and white 
ashes— to 1,420 feet, we found ourselves again upon open 
campos, with a splendid view of the flat-topped range we 
had already seen to the north and of another to the south. 
At the angle where the northern range changed its di¬ 
rection slightly, there stood a high prominence of peculiar 
appearance. The range extended west, where it ended, 
into a broken cone, quite separated by erosion from the 
main range, as I have already stated. All along the range 
in the section between the prominence at the angle and 
the terminal cone could be noticed three distinct level 
terraces and several intermediate ones, not yet well defined 
nor continuous along the whole face of the range. About 
half way along its length, a semi-cylindrical vertical cut 
was a striking feature, and appeared from a distance to 
be the remains of an extinct crater. It may be noted 
that where that crater was, the range was higher than else- 
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