Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/667

E C U A D 11 645 cone of porphyritic undesite, called el Picacko, the beak, or Cubeza del Inca, the Inca s head, lifts its bare cliffs for above a thousand feet, and from its general appearance gives some show of reason to the tradition which regards it as the original summit of the moun tain blown off at the first eruption in 1532. The present summit is usually enveloped in clouds ; and even in the clearest month of the year it becomes visible only for eight or ten days. On the Tacunga plateau," says Wagner (N. Reisen im trop. Amerika, p. 514), "at a height of 8000 Paris feet the prevailing direction of the wind is meridional, usually from the south in the morning, and frequently from the north in the evening ; but over the summit of Cotopaxi, at a height of 18,000 feet, the north-west wind always prevails throughout the day. The gradually-widening volcanic cloud continually takes a south-eastern direction over the rim of the crater; at a height, however, of about 21,000 feet, it suddenly turns to the north-west, and maintains that direction till it reaches a height of at least 28,000 feet. There are thus from the foot of the volcano to the highest level attained by its smoke-cloud three quite distinct regular currents of wind." The principal product of the Cotopaxi eruptions is pumice stone ; and the flanks of the mountain are covered with deep beds of this material mingled with trachytic rocks. In the vicinity fragments of obsidian are found in great profusion. Llanganati or Cerro Hermoso has been little visited except by natives in search of the golden treasures of the Incas believed to be hid in one of its lakes ; and even their curiosity was quenched by the mysterious fate of Padre Longo. Its height is 17,843 feet, and it is said by Villavi- cencio to contain large quantities of pyrites. In regularity of structure the cone-shaped summit of Tunguragua is similar to Cotopaxi. It attains an altitude of 16,685 feet above the Pacific ; and, inasmuch as it rises directly from a plain only 5700 feet above the sea, and is connected with the Cordillera only by a cuchilla or "knife-edge" from its southern side, it has a much greater apparent elevation than many a mountain that really over tops it. Its slope is 38. A cataract fed by the snows on the summit descends 1500 feet in three leaps ; and an enormous basaltic lava-stream, bUck and smooth and barren as when first it cooled, may be traced in a north-east direction across the channel of many a chafing torrent. The most notable eruption was in 1777. Whether the mountain is now to be classed with the apagados appears doubtful. In 1832 Dr Terry reported that smoke was almost always ascending from the top ; Spruce saw smoke issuing from the western side in 1857 ; two years later Wagner could find no trace of activity though he ascended several times to the snow- line ; but since that date Prof. Orton, on the authority of Dr Taylor of Riobamba, reports a continual fuliginous discharge. El- Altar is of very irregular shape, consisting of eight snow- clad peaks, the highest of which is 17,735 feet in height. According to an account accepted by Humboldt, there existed at the time of his visit an ancient Quichua manuscript with a description of a terrific catastrophe by which Capac-urcu, the Chief Mountain " for so the natives call El-Altar was blown into its present picturesque con fusion, and lost the rank it had previously held of the loftiest summit in all the Andes ; but more modern inquiries throw the gravest doubt on the trustworthiness of Humboldt s informant, and the manuscript has never been seen by European eyes. The crater, surrounded by a steep and jagged wall of rocks, is remarkable as the bed of the only real glacier known to exist in the Ecuadorian Andes. Sangai, Avhich brings the list of the summits of the Eastern Cordillera to a close, is perhaps the most restless volcano in the world. Since the Spanish conquest three hundred years ago it has been in uninterrupted activity. Small outbursts of lava, accompanied by explosions of steam and reports as of platoon- firing, succeed each other at intervals usually of 10 or 15 minutes, the fiery discharge shooting about 700 or 800 feet above the rim of the crater. From time to time, especially during the rainy season, the symptoms become more violent, the gigantic jet of molten rock leaps up 2000 feet, the explosions are louder and more terrible than the cannonading of armies, and the noise of the thunders amidst the clouds is answered by still more awful bramidos from the inferno below. Though of exceptional interest to the physical investigator, not only on account of this perpetual activity, but also on account of its peculiar position in the Andean range, Sangai, by reason of the difficult and dangerous country by which it is surrounded, has been but rarely visited by European travellers. Wisse and Garcia Moreno, and afterwards Schmarda, attempted the ascent. Our knowledge of Chimborazo, the most southern of the predominant summits of the Western Cordillera, has on the other hand received continuous augmentation from explorer after explorer. The " Mountain of Snow" for such is the meaning of Chimpu-raza, the original form of the name attains, according to Humboldt, a height of 21,420 feet, 1 and was long regarded as the culminating point of the Andes. The fact that it only makes the plumb-line deviate 7" or 8" shows that it is probably hollow ; and there is no doubt the now silent peak was once eloquent with 1 Eeiss and Stiibel make it only 20,697 feet. volcanic thunders. The magnificence of its mass, imposing though it be from almost any point of view, can be fully appreciated only from the Pacific. The summit has never been reached ; Humboldt attained to a height of 19,381 in 1802 ; Bolivar afterwards exceeded this limit ; and Bossingault and Hall reached 19,682 in 1831. Access can be obtained either by Chillapullo or by the arenal a stretch of sand and gravel about three miles in length which crosses the N.W. side of the mountain at an elevation of more than 14,000 feet. In ascending by the arenal the traveller can reach about 16,219 feet above the sea on horseback, and pursue his difficult path on foot till about 19,693 ; taking the other route he sleeps at the hacienda about 12,664 feet, may proceed to a height of 15,770 by his mule, and attains his furthest limit at 16,777. To the north of Chimborazo, and separated from it only by a narrow valley, Carahuairazo, or, as the Indians call it, Chimborazo s Wife, rises to a height of 16,748 feet. It owes its present diminished stature and picturesque profusion of peak and crag to the sudden collapse of its hollow summit in 1699. Quirotoa, still further north, is supposed to have suffered a similar fate. It now contains in its hollow summit an extensive lake, which, according to Velasco and Villavicencio, has frequently, and most noticeably in 1740, been covered with flames. The height is calculated at about 13,510 feet, llinizais a magnificent mountain with two pyramidal peaks, of which the loftiest rises 17,395 feet above the sea. In the 18th century it was trigonometrically measured by the French Academician Bouguer ; and Wagner succeeded in reaching within 800 feet of the top, and was only prevented by a sudden storm from complet ing the ascent. Mules can only be used to a height of 13,200 feet. The geological phenomena furnish no evidence of any volcanic activity either from the summit or the sides. Corazon, so called from its heart-shaped appearance, is equally destitute of a crater. Its summit, 15,796 feet above the sea, has been reached by La Condamine and Bouger, Humboldt and Bonpland, and Jose Caldas. Atacazo, about 16,000 feet in height, has nothing very remarkable in its appearance or history. According to Wagner, it has no activity, and from its weather-worn aspect seems of older date than its mightier neighbour Pichincha. The summit of the latter, the "Boiling Mountain," presents three groups of rocky peaks, of which the most westerly, Kucu-Pichincha or Old Pi chincha, alone displays volcanic activity. The crater, believed to be the deepest on the face of the globe, consists of a funnel- shaped basin 2500 feet deep, 1500 feet wide at the bottom, and upwards of a mile wide at the mouth. The inner sides rise in some places vertically, in others with an angle of 20 ; the exterior of the cone has an angle of 30. Bouger and La Conda mine reached the brink in 1742 ; Wisse and Moreno entered the crater in 1844 ; and Farrand and Orton have descended to the bottom, the latter in 1867. Orton gives a thrilling description of his exploit. He found that the real cone of eruption was an irregular heap 250 feet in height and 800 feet in diameter, contain ing about seventy vents. The temperature of the vapour within the fumarole was 184, and water boiled at 189. There have been five eruptions of Pichincha since the Spanish conquest in 1539, 1566, 1577, 1587, and 1660. The second covered Quito three feet deep with ashes and stones. The last, happily, broke down the western side of the crater, so that in any future outburst Quito will probably be safe. Since the earthquake of August 1867, the mountain has sent forth dense masses of black smoke, and large quantities of fine sand. Of Cotocachi, a conical summit 16,288 feet high, and Chiles, a truncated cone about 16,200 feet high, compara tively little is known. The latter is situated on the frontiers of Ecuador, and its northern neighbour Cumbal lies in the territory of Columbia. Rivers. The surplus waters of the eastern versant in Ecuador all find their way to the great head-stream of the Amazon ; those of the western form a large numbet of independent rivers disemboguing in the Pacific. The Napo, which claims the first place, rises in the eastern defiles of Cotopaxi and Sincholagua the principal source being the Rio del Valle, which traverses the Valle Vicioso. The river is still 1450 feet above the sea-level at the village of Napo, 858 at the mouth of the Coca, 586 at the mouth of the Aguarico, 500 at the mouth of the Curaray, and 385 where it joins the Marafion. The current, as observed by Orton in the month of November, was six miles an hour at Napo ; in the course of the next eighty miles the river falls 350 feet, and produces a fine series of rapids ; and from Santa Rosa downwards the rate is not less than four miles an hour. The breadth of the stream, which is only 120 feet at Napo, has increased to 1500 feet by the time it reaches Coca, and near the end of its course is little

less than a full mile. The junction with the Marafion takefc