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Antiqua
Antiqua; Spaltensatz.
This mountain is the loftiest of
those volcanoes of the Andes, which,
at epochs, have undergone eruptions.
Notwithstanding it lies near the
Equator, its summits are covered
with perpetual snows. The absolute
height of Cotopaxi is 18,876 feet, or
three miles and a half, consequently
it is
than Vesuvius would be, were that
mountain placed on the top of the
peak of Teneriffe!—Cotopaxi is the
most mischievous of the volcanos in
the kingdom of Quito; and its ex-
plosions are the most frequent and
disastrous. The masses of scoria,
and the pieces of rocks thrown out
of this volcano, cover a surface of
several square leagues, and would
form were they heaped together, a
prodigious mountain. In 1738, the
flames of Cotopaxi rose three thou-
sand feet, or upwards of half a mile
above the brink of the crater. In
1744, the roarings of this volcano
were heard at the distance of six
hundred miles. On the 4th of April,
at the mouth of Cotopaxi was so
great, that it was dark till three in the
afternoon.
The explosion which took place
in 1803, was preceded by the sudden
melting of the snows which covered
the mountain. For twenty years, no
smoke or vapor that could be percei-
ved, had issued from the crater, but,
in a single night, the subterraneous
fires became so active, that at sunrise
the external walls of the cone, heated
to a very considerable degree of tem-
perature, appeared naked, and of the
dark colour which is peculiar to vit-
rified scoriæ. At the port of Guay-
aquil, observes Humboldt, “fifty-two
leagues distant, in a straight line from
the crater, we heard day and night,
the noise of this volcano, like contin-
ual discharges of a battery; and
we distinguished these tremendous
sounds even on the Pacific Ocean.”
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 a
perpetual layer of snow, shines with
dazzling splendour at the setting of
the sun, and detaches itself in the
most picturesque manner from the
azure vault above. This covering
of the snow, conceals from the eyes
of the observer, even the smallest in-
equalities of the soil; no point of rock,
no stony mass, penetrating this coat
of ice, or breaking the regularity of
the figure of the cone.