Mountains.— The great South American chain of the Andes traverses Ecuador from south to north, and forms the predominant factor in its physical constitution. Its two Cordilleras run parallel with each other, and inclose an elevated longitudinal valley about 40 miles wide and 300 miles long, which is divided by the transverse ridges, or nudos, of Tiupullo and Assuay into the three great basins of Quito, Ambato, and Cuenca, which are again subdivided by inferior ridges into irregular sections. The eastern Cordillera attains in several of its summits a height of more than 18,000 feet; the western has only one (Chimborazo) which exceeds 17,500. The Quito plain lies 9500 feet above the sea, Ambato 8500, and Cuenca 7800: the last two are comparatively barren and melancholy, while the first, though so much the loftiest of the three, is clothed with luxuriant vegetation. The altitude of the Tiupullo or Chisinche ridge, stretching across from Cotopaxi to Iliniza, is 11,500 feet, and that of the Assuay ridge about 13,500. Both the western and eastern slopes of the chain are marked by magnificent valleys of erosion; the former, which contains at least six successive terraces, has an average gradient of 275 feet per mile, while that of the latter is only 125. Granitic, gneissoid, and schistose rocks are the main materials of the gigantic pile; the summits are capped with trachyte and porphyry, and the sides are strewn with immense beds of gravel and volcanic debris. Nowhere in the whole Andean system do the individual mountains attain so magnificent a development as in the Ecuadorian section. Around the valley of Quito alone there are twenty noble volcanic summits, presenting a beautiful variety of form,—here a perfect and there a truncated cone, there a jagged and blasted crest, and there again a smooth and snow-covered dome.

In the Eastern Cordillera the following are capped with perpetual snow—Cayambi, Antisana, Cotopaxi, Llanganati, Sincholagua, Sangai, Sara-urcu, Tunguragua, Collanes, and Assuay; in the Western—Chimborazo, Iliniza, Casalagua, Cotacachi, Pichincha, Corazon, Atacazo, Chiles, Carahuirazo, Yana-urcu, and Quilindaba. Imbabura may either be assigned to the eastern range, or perhaps, more properly regarded as the common point of junction. It is situated at the northern end of the great central valley, attains a height of 15,029 feet, and is remarkable for its vast eruptions of mud and water, the most extensive of which took place in 1691. The name, equivalent to the “fish-producing,” from imbα, fish, and&woe, mother, is supposed to refer to the quantities of Pimelodus cyclopum said to have been contained in its discharges—a phenomenon, however, which has been called in question by Wagner, after a searching investigation into the origin of the report. Cayambi (or by mistake, Cayamburo) is situated exactly on the equator, and is thus distinguished, as Humboldt observes, from every other snow-capped mountain in the world. It is the loftiest summit in the eastern Cordillera, and spreads out at the base over a very extensive area. Antisana rises with a double dome to the height of 18,880 feet, and presents the proof of its former activity in its magnificent lava-streams, of which one, according to Orton, is ten miles long and five hundred feet deep. It may now be classed with the apagados, though Humboldt saw smoke issuing in 1802. On the side is the famous lam bo of Antisana at a height of 13,300 feet above the sea. To the next two peaks—Sincholagua and Ruminagui, respectively 16,360 and 15,603 feet in height—comparatively little attention has been paid, perhaps from tho rivalry of their southern neighbour Cotopaxi. This magnificent mountain lias already been briefly described (vol. vi. p. 480). It is the loftiest active volcano in the world. The slope, according to Orton, is 30°, according to Wagner 29°, the north-western side being very slightly steeper than the south-eastern. The apical angle is 122° 30'. On the east it is covered with snow, but on the west it is usually kept bare by the action of the trade winds. Its crater, estimated by Wagner as less than that of Mount Etna, is bordered by a band of trachytic rock, forming a black coronet above the white, On the southern slope, at a height of 15,059 feet, a small cone of porphyritic andesite, called el Picacho, the beak, or Cabcza 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 mountain 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 (V. Reisen im trop. Amerika, p. 514), “at a height of S000 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 Villavicencio 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 overtops 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, black 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 snowline; but since that date Prof. Orton, on the authority of Dr Taylor of Kiobamba, 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 confusion, 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, which 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 platoonfiring, 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, 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; aħd there is no doubt the now silent peak was once eloquent with 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, lliniza is 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 completing 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 José 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, Bucu-Pichincha or Old Pichincha, 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 Condamine 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, containing 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, comparatively 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 number 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 Maranon. 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 Maranon takes place by several distinct mouths. For some distance beyond the mouth of the Coca the channel is navigable for steam-boats, and the natives proceed in canoes as far as the Cataract del Cando, 3332 feet above the sea-level. The Curaray rises in the Llanganati Cordillera, and flows almost parallel with the Napo till their point of confluence, a distance of 490 miles. The waters are rendered unpalatable by a reddish slime in the lower part of its course, where the current is very gentle. The Aguarico, formed by the union of the Cofanes, San Miguel, and Azuela, which descend from the Pimampiro Cordillera in the northern limits of the country, has a course of about 420 miles. The Coca, rising in the neighbourhood of Cayambi and the Guamani Mountains, receives the Maspa and the Cosanga, flows eastward along the line of the equator as far as 76° 10' W. long, turns southward, takes a leap of 137 feet, and maintains the same direction till it reaches the Napo rather as a rival than a tributary. The Napo system thus drains a district extending from 1° N. to 3° S. 1at. and from 78° 10' to 73° 50'W. long. The only other Ecuadorian tributary of the Maranon that has any claim to special notice is the Pastassa. Instead of having its head-water3 in the eastern slopes of the Eastern Cordillera, as is the case with most if not all of the rivers already described, it rises in the central plateau, within the shadow of Cotopaxi, forces its way through the range to the north of Tunguragua, and flows south-eastwards past the roots of Sangai, augmented from stage to stage by the numerous torrents that are fed by the eternal snows. It bears the name of Patate till its junction with the Chambo in the neighbourhood of Banos, and is not recognized as the Pastassa above the Agoyan falls. As early as 1741 it was navigated without difficulty by Don Pedro Maldonado; and it is believed that it would afford a passage for steamboats for a distance of 314 miles. Mr Simson, one of the most recent explorers of eastern Ecuador, gives a graphic account of the terrific floods to which its mountain tributaries, and more especially the Topo, are subject. The rise of the waters is sometimes so sudden, and their fury so irresistible, that trading parties are imprisoned for weeks in the narrow strip of land between one torrent and the next; and the whole country is traversed in the line of the currents by long ridges, or cuchillas, produced by the disintegration and removal of all the intermediate tracts. The same, indeed, holds true more or less of the whole eastern slope of the mountains and of the upper sections of all the rivers. On the western versant of the Ecuadorian Andeβ there are three river systems of considerable size—the Mira, the Esmeraldas, and the Guayaquil. The first has its head-waters—the Rioblanco, the Pisco, and the Puntal—- in the vicinity of Imbabura, breaks through the Western Cordillera, receives from the left the San Pedro, Paramba, Cachiyacu, Chachavi, Canumbi, and from the right the San Juan, Gualpi, and Nulpe, and empties itself by several mouths into the Pacific near the island of Tumaco. The second, which is the largest of the three, collects its abundant waters from Cotopaxi and Sincholagua, the transverse ridge of Tiupullo or Chisinche, 1liniza, Pichincha, and Cayambi. The Cotopaxi tributary, known as the Rio Pedregal, forms three beautiful cascades, the highest of which is about 220 feet. To the Guayaquil system belong the Daule, the Babahoyo, and the Yaguachi, with their numerous tributaries,—the Daule rising in the Sandomo ridge, the Babahoyo in the slopes of the Western Cordillera, and the Yaguachi in the skirts of Chimborazo. They are all navigable for some distance inland by steamer, and are of great importance in connection with the transport of native produce to the port of Guayaquil. Floods are usual in the rainy season, and vast stretches of country are laid under water. In the Daule the tide is felt at Candelaria, 25 miles inland. Along the coast, between the mouth of the Esmeraldas and the Gulf of Guayaquil, a large number of streams find their way to the sea; but as they all have their sources in the comparatively insignificant line of hills that runs north and south about 25 or 30...