smoke. The wretched inhabitants of these frightful deserts BOOK possess no other kind of food than potatoes. When, unhap- LXXXVII. pily, these fail them, they proceed to the mountains to eat the trunk of a small tree called the Achupalla. This same tree, however, being the food of the bear of the Andes, that animal frequently disputes with them the only nourishment which these elevated regions can afford.

The province of Choco would be richer in the fertility of Province of its bills, and the excellent quality of its cocoa, than in its Choco. mines, if, unfortunately, all human industry were not entirely interdicted by its cloudy and burning climate. M. Marmontel has painted this coast in colours that are as just as they are lively. "An atmosphere, loaded with thick clouds, from which the winds howl and the thunder roars, or tempestuous rains incessantly descend; mountains covered with dark forests, the wreck of which covers the ground, while their branches, thickly interwoven, become impenetrable to the light of day; marshy valleys, through which perpetual torrents incessantly roll between rugged banks bristling with rocks, against which the waves, elevated by the tempests, dash themselves with hollow groans; the noise of the winds in the forests resembling the howling of wolves, and the roaring of tigers; enormous snakes, that crawl under the humid grass of the marshes, and, with their vast coils, encircle the trunks of trees; a multitude of insects, engendered by the stagnant air, whose remorseless eagerness is bent but upon one object, their prey." But, the author of the Incas is wrong in applying the whole of this description of the coast of Choco to the island of Gorgona, where Pizarro came to seek refuge with Island of the twelve companions who had faithfully attached them- Gorgona. selves to his fortunes. Gorgona, in the bay of Choco, as well as the Archipelago of the Pearl Islands in the bay of Panama, are more inhabitable than the neighbouring continent. In the interior of the province of Choco, the ravine of Raspadura unites the neighbouring sources of the Rio Noanama, likewise called the Rio San Juan, with the little river Guito. This latter river joining the two others,

LXXXVII.

Canal of

dura.

BOOK forms the Rio Atrato, which empties itself into the sea of the Antilles, while the Rio San Juan falls into the great ocean. A very active monk curate, of the village of Novita, has la Kaspa- made his parishioners dig, in the ravine of la Raspadura, a little canal, which is navigable during the heavy rains, and by its means canoes, laden with cocoa, proceed from one sea to the other. This little canal, which has existed since the year 1778, unites together on the shores of the two oceans, two points that are seventy-five leagues distant from one another.

Towns of

dom of

Quito.

Let us again ascend the Andes, where we shall respire a the king milder and more salubrious air; here is situated the celebrated city of Quito, the ancient capital of the second Peruvian monarchy, whose inhabitants excel in almost all the arts and professions. They are especially famed for their manufacture of cloths and cottons, which they dye blue, and furnish to the whole of Peru. The commerce of this town is likewise very active; but the streets are too uneven to admit of the use of carriages. It is the seat of a Supreme Tribunal, and of a Bishop. Placed at an elevation of 1480 toises, or 3107 English yards, above the level of the ocean, this town no longer enjoys that perpetual spring which its local advantages appeared to insure. The atmosphere has become lowering and cloudy, and the cold rather severe, since the fourth day of February 1797, the epoch at which a horrible earthquake overwhelmed the entire province of Quito, and destroyed, in one single instant, 40,000 people. Such has been the change of temperature, that the thermometer is generally at 40° F. and seldom rises as high as 61° or 63° F.; while Bouguer, on the other hand, found it constantly at 59° or 61° F. Since that time, earthquakes are almost continual. Notwithstanding the horrors and the dangers with which nature has thus surrounded them, the population of Quito, amounting to 50,000 individuals, breathe nothing but gaiety and luxury; and nowhere, perhaps, does there reign a more decided, or a more general taste for pleasure. The inhabitants of this town are lively, and amiable.

Guayaquil, inhabited by 18,000 persons, is a sea port, and BOOK has a commodious dock yard, supplied with timber from LXXXVII. the forests in its immediate neighbourhood. It carries on a considerable trade of exchange between the ports of Mexico and those of Peru and Chili. The vegetation in the environs, says M. de Humboldt, is majestic beyond all description. The palms, the Scitamineæ, the Plumaria, and the Taberna montana, abound in every direction. Don Alcedo affirms, that in the province of Guayaquil, a strong and solid kind of wood is met with, which the inhabitants prefer for the construction of small vessels, especially for the keel and ribs, because it is incorruptible, and resists the attacks of worms better than any other kind. It is very easily worked, of a deep colour, and is called Guachapeli, and Guarrango.

rior.

The provinces of Quixos, and of Macas, owe to their po- Provinces sition on the eastern slope of the Andes, the peculiarities of of the intetheir temperature. Although they are only two degrees distant, to the south of the equator, winter commences there in April, and lasts till September, the period of spring on the plateau. The climate is hot and moist. Their principal production is tobacco.

The vast province of Maynas extends along the river Amazon. It contains but a very few Spanish establishments; the principal one is San Joaquin de Omaguas. The Maynas and the Omaguas are the principal indigenous nations; a small number of them have fixed themselves near the missions; but the greater part wander in their forests, living by the chace and by fishing. The country produces white and black wax, and cocoa.

We should not do justice to our description of the Volcanoes kingdom of Quito, if we were to pass over in silence of Quito.

the terrific volcanoes which have so often overwhelmed the country, and swallowed up whole cities at a time. The majestic Chimborazo is probably nothing but an extinguished volcano. The snow which for a hundred years has crowned its colossal peak, will be probably, one day or other, melted by the remorseless fires pent up with

BOOK in its vast and fathomless caverns, resuming their destrucLXXXVII. tive activity.

Pichincha.

Cotopaxi.

Pichincha is one of the greatest volcanoes on the surface of the globe. Its crater, hollowed out in basaltic porphyries, has been compared by M. la Condamine, to the chaos of the poets. This immense mouth was at that time filled with snow, but, afterwards, M. de Humboldt found it on fire. "From the midst of the crater rise, as if shooting up from the abyss below, three rocky peaks, which are not covered with snow, because it is constantly melted by the vapours that exhale from the volcano. In order the better to examine the bottom of the crater, we lay down flat on our breasts; and I do not believe that the imagination could figure to itself any thing more melancholy, gloomy, and terrific, than what we now beheld. The mouth of the volcano forms a circular hole of nearly a league in circumference, the sides of which, a perpendicular precipice, are covered above with snow to their very edge. The interior was of a deep black; but the gulf is so immense that we could distinguish the tops of several mountains that are situated within it. Their summits appeared to be two or three hundred fathoms below us— judge then where must be their base. I myself have no doubt that the bottom of the crater is on a level with the city of Quito."

The mountain Cotopaxi is the most elevated of those volcanoes of the Andes, from which, at recent periods, there have been eruptions. Its absolute height is 18,898 English feet: it would consequently exceed by more than 2,550 feet the height of mount Vesuvius, even supposing that it were piled on the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe. Cotopaxi is likewise the most formidable of all the volcanoes of the kingdom of Quito; and it is also from it that explosions have been the most frequent and the most destructive. The cinders and fragments of rocks that have been ejected by this volcano, cover the neighbouring valleys to an extent of several square leagues. In 1758, the flames of Cotopaxi shot up to a height of

2,700 feet above the edge of the crater. In 1744, the BOOK roaring of this volcano was heard as far as Honda, a town LXXXVII. situated on the banks of the river Magdalena, a distance of two hundred leagues. On the 4th April, 1768, the quantity of cinders vomited up from the mouth of Cotopaxi was so great that the sky continued as dark as night, until the third hour after mid-day. The explosion which took place in the month of January 1803, was preceded by a frightful phenomenon the sudden melting of the snows that covered the mountain. For more than twenty years neither smoke nor any distinguishable vapour had issued from the crater, and yet, in one single night, the subterranean fire had become so active that, at sun-rise, the external walls of the cone, strongly heated, had become naked, and had acquired the black colour which is peculiar to vitrified scoria. At the port of Guayaquil, fifty-two leagues in a straight line from the edge of the crater, M. de Humboldt heard, day and night, the roaring of this volcano, like repeated discharges of artillery.*

of these

Were it an established fact that the proximity of the Situation ocean contributes to feed volcanic fire, we should be as- Volcanoes. tonished to see that the most active volcanoes of the kingdom of Quito, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, and Sangay, appertain to the eastern chain of the Andes, and, consequently, to that which is farthest removed from the coast. Cotopaxi is more than fifty leagues from the nearest shore.

go of the

To our description of the kingdom of Quito, we ought Archipelato add that of the Gallapagos Islands. This archipelago, Gallapagos situated under the equator, at 220 leagues to the west of islands. the continent of America, contains volcanic peaks in the more eastern islands. The Cactus and the Aloe cover the sides of the rocks. In the western island a black and deep mould affords nourishment to large trees. Flamingos and turtle doves fill the air, and the beach is covered with enormous turtles. No trace whatever indicates the residence

A. de Humboldt, Views and Monuments, pl. X.