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Antiqua
Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung; Fußnoten mit Asterisken und Kreuzen; Schmuck: Trennzeichen.
“Cotopaxi is the loftiest of those volcanos of
the Andes, which at recent epochs have under-
gone eruptions. Its absolute height is five thou-
sand seven hundred and fifty four metres;
lish inches.
(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.
sea; the Peak of Teneriffe 12,236 feet.
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 collos-
sal mountain.
In 1738, the flames of Cotopaxi rose nine hun-
dred metres above the brink of the crater. In
1744, the roaring of the volcano were heard as
far as Henda, a town on the boarders of the Mag-
dalena, and at a distance of two hundred com-
mon leagues. On the 4th of April, 1768, the
quantity of ashes ejected by the mouth of Coto-
paxi was so great, that in the towns of Hambato
and Tacunga day broke only at three in the af-
ternoon, 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 subter-
raneous 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 vitri-
fied 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 batte-
ry: we distinguished these tremendous sounds
even on the Pacific ocean, to the south-west of
the island of Puna.
“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, ex-
tends 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 longitu-
dinal 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 contri-
butes to feed the volcanic fire, the geologist is as-
tonished to find that the most active volcanoes in
the kingdom of Quito, Cotopaxia, Tungurahua,
and Sangay, belong to the eastern chain of the
Andes, and consequently that which is the far-
thest from the coasts. The whole of the peaks,
except Ruca-Pichinca, which crown the western
Cordilleras, seem to be volcanoes extinguished
for a long series of ages; but this mountain,
which is 2 deg. 2 sec. 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 surround-
ing plains.
“The form of Cotopaxi is the most beautiful
and regular of the collossal 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 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 Ten-
eriffe.
“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 circu-
lar wall, which, examined with a good telescope,
looks like a parapet. This is more distinctly
seen on the southern declivity, when the behold-
er is placed either on the Lion mountain, (Puona
Urcu) or on the banks of the small lake of Yura-
coche.
“The conic point of the Peak of Teneriffe is of
easy access, rising from the midst of a plain, co-
vered with pumice stones, and on which a few
tufts of spartium supranubium vegetate.—In scal-
ing the volcano of Cotopaxi, it is extremely diffi-
cult to attain the inferior boundary of the per-
petual 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 scoræ,
pumice stone, water, and blocks of ice, to Rio
Napo, and Rio de les Alaques. After a near ex-
amination 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 Illinisa, and the Nevado de Quelendana,
open here at once on the spectator, and in dread-
ful proximity. This is one of the most majestic
and awful views I ever beheld in either hemis-
phere.”—Researches in South America, by Alex-ander de Humboldt.