THE WORKS OF GOD DISPLAYED.

To the Editor of the Methodist Magazine.

Rev. Sir,

At a period when philosophical research is pressed into the service of scepticism and infidelity, it must be highly gratifying to real Christians of every creed, to peruse that valuable department of your excellent Magazine, where you have recorded so many important facts, in which the works of God are displayed.

The following description of the Volcano of Cotopaxi, is extracted from M. de Humboldt’s Researches in South America.

That majestic monument of Omnipotence, is on one of those huge mountains, of that extended chain called the Andes, or the Cordilleras, which stretches from the isthmus of Darien, to the straits of Magellan, a distance of near four thousand miles.

While the sceptical philosopher views the stupendous mountain, and is confounded in every attempt to account for its formation, the humble believer in God, in Christ, in the Bible, on the wings of devout contemplation, soars to its towering height; and on its lofty summit finds an altar, where he offers to the Maker of the universe the incense of his astonishment and praise.

Whether the scientific and indefatigable traveller will approve or blame my effort, to throw his sublime description of Cotopaxi into the treasury of the church of God, I cannot determine; but I sincerely hope, that its insertion in your useful Miscellany will contribute to the pleasure and profit of many of your pious readers.

I am, your’s, &c. G*****.

Margate, Feb. 10, 1819.

“Cotopaxi is the loftiest of those volcanos of the Andes, which at recent epochs have undergone eruptions.

Its absolute height is five thousand seven hundred and fifty-four metres; (about eighteen thousand seven hundred and thirty-six English feet.)

It is double that of Canigou; and consequently eight hundred metres higher than Vesuvius would be, were it placed on the top of the peak of Teneriffe.

Cotopaxi is also the most dreadful volcano of the kingdom of Quito, and its explosions the most frequent and disastrous.

The mass of scoria, and the huge pieces of rock thrown out of this volcano, which are spread over the neighbouring valleys, covering a surface of several square leagues, would form, were they heaped together a colossal mountain.

In 1738, the flames of Cotopaxi rose nine hundred metres above the brink of the crater.

In 1744, the roarings of the volcano were heard as far as Henda, a town on the borders of the Magdalena, and at a distance of two hundred common leagues.

On the 4th of April, 1768, the quantity of ashes ejected by the mouth of Cotopaxi was so great, that in the towns of Hambato and Tacunga day broke only at three in the afternoon, and the inhabitants were obliged to use lanterns in walking the streets.

The explosion which took place in the month of January, 1803, was preceded by a most dreadful phenomenon, the sudden melting of the snows that covered the mountain.

For twenty years before, no smoke or vapour, that could be perceived, had issued from the crater; and in a single night the subterraneous fire became so active, that at sun-rise the external walls of the cone, heated, no doubt, to a very considerable temperature, appeared naked, and of a dark colour, which is peculiar to vitrified scoræ.

At the port of Guayaquil, fifty-two leagues distant in a straight line from the crater, we heard, day and night, the constant noises of the volcano, like continual discharges of a battery; we distinguished these tremendous sounds even on the Pacific Ocean, to the south-west of the island of Puna.

The French metre is equal to 3,987100 English inches.

Vesuvius is 3900 feet above the level of the sea; the peak of Teneriffe 12,236 feet.

“Cotopaxi is situated to the south-east of the city of Quito, at the distance of twelve leagues, between the mountain of Ruminnavi, the summit of which, rugged with small separate rocks, extends itself like a wall of enormous height; and Quelendanna, which enters the boundary of the eternal snows.

It is in this part of the Andes, that a longitudinal valley separates the Cordilleras into two parallel chains.

The bottom of the valley is three thousand metres above the level of the ocean, so that Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, seen from the elevated plains of Lican and Mulalo, appear no higher than the Col de Geant and du Cramont, measured by Saussure.

As there is reason to suppose, that the proximity of the ocean contributes to feed the volcanic fire, the geologist is astonished to find, that the most active volcanoes in the kingdom of Quito, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, and Sangay, belong to the eastern chain of the Andes, and consequently that which is the farthest from the coasts.

The whole of the peaks, except Ruca-Pichincha, which crown the western Cordilleras, seem to be volcanos extinguished for a long series of ages; but this mountain, which is 2° 2′ distant from the nearest coasts, those of Esmeralda, and the bay of San-Mateo, spouts out at different periods cataracts of fire, and spreads destruction over the surrounding plains.

“The form of Cotopaxi is the most beautiful and regular of the colossal summits of the high Andes. It is a perfect cone, which, covered with an enormous layer of snow, shines with dazzling splendor at the setting of the sun, and detaches itself in the most picturesque manner from the azure vault of heaven.

This covering of snow conceals from the eye of the observer, even the smallest inequalities of the soil; no point of rock, no stony mass, penetrates the coating of ice, or breaks the regularity of the figure of the cone.

The summit of Cotopaxi resembles the sugar-loaf, (Pan de azucar) which terminates the peak of Teyde; but the height of the cone is six times the height of that great volcano in the island of Teneriffe.

“It is only at the brink of the crater we see ledges of rocks, that are never covered with snow, and that look at a distance like stripes of the darkest hue; the greatest steepness of this part of the cone, and the crevices from which issue currents of heated air, are probably the causes of this phenomenon.

The crater, like that of the peak of Teneriffe, is surrounded by a small circular wall, which, examined with a good telescope, looks like a parapet.

This is more distinctly seen on the southern declivity, when the beholder is placed either on the Lion mountain, (Puona Urcu) or on the banks of the small lake of Yuracoche.

“The conic point of the peak of Teneriffe is of easy access, rising from the midst of a plain, covered with pumice stones, and on which a few tufts of spartium supranubium vegetate.

In scaling the volcano of Cotopaxi, it is extremely difficult to attain the inferior boundary of the perpetual snows, as we experienced in an excursion we made in the month of May, in the year 1802.

The cone is surrounded by deep crevices, which at the moment of the eruptions bear down scoriæ, pumice stone, water, and blocks of ice, to Rio Napo, and Rio de les Alaques.

After a nearer examination of the summit of Cotopaxi, we may venture to assert, that it would be impossible to reach the brink of the crater. ************** I sketched Cotopaxi, and the head of the Inca, to the west of the volcano, at the farm Sienega, ************.

The colossal volcano, the pyramidal peaks of Ilinisa, and the Nevado de Quelendana, open here at once on the spectator, and in dreadful proximity.

This is one of the most majestic and awful views I ever beheld in either hemisphere.’”

Researches in South America by Alexander de Humboldt.