Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-08-05

ca put ever since the mornipe sta
ere e 'oether over mans creation Thiml
blo :. sat N sullen silence, satisfef to loo
,;fa 81; rom ns throne in the clogs DER ha
;nc snls woid." There is sometflng very SUE
ees'iVe IN this silence of Cnimborazo.
o. was one tull of noise ara fury it is no
-, completed mountain. and thunders n
~ more. How silent vas Jesus-a com
on Pieted character. The reason we are s
u hoisyl Is that We 4re so full of wants: W
are unfinished characters Had we per
fect tallness of all things, the beatitude o
Is being without want, we should lanse int,
the etern.l silence of God.
Chinporazo is leader of a lone train o
y AMBITIOUS crags and peaks but as he who
comesafter the king must not expect to
De noticed, we will only take glimpse of
these lesser lights as we pass up the west
ern Cordillera and then down the eastern
The first after leaving the monarch is
Caraguairazo. The Indians call it the
wife of ChimboraZo.' One hundred and
seventy years ago the top of this mountain
fell IN, and torrents Of mud flowed out con-
tanning multitudes of fishes. 1t is now
over sixteen thousand feet high. and is
one OF the most Alpine of the Quitonian
'ci.ahoes' having sharp pinnacles instead
u tne smooth trochytic domes-usually
uouple domed-so characteristic of the
Andean submits. And now we mass in
rapid succession numerous picturesoue
mountains, some of them extinct volcanoes
as lllnlza, presenting two pyramidal pe~As,
the highest seventeen thousand feet above
the sea. and Corazon, so named from its
heart-shaped summit. till we reael;; r.
ffsOHHFsaP %h2ss smoking Jl ST atS5 aao 0py s
know but one American besides the mem
oers OF or expedition who has succeeded
IN entering the crater of this interesting
volcano, wewill give brief sketch of our
visit. WI 0"'
Leaving Quito in the afternoon. and
crossing a spur o1the mountain, we stopped
Tor the night at tie Jesuit hacienda. sit
uated IN the beautiil valley of LIoa but
nearly ruined by the .arth9uake of 1850
Mounting our horses a.break of dav and J
taking an Indian guide, re ascended ran
idly by a narrow and diffic, v natb tbronab
the forest that belts the yolc,1o M 20 ~.
hight Of twelve thousand feU' apao.San m M !,
entered the dreary Paramo. i a y;A- IF .
the eastern Cordillera from thu AL .
point is too splendid for descript{ Y a..
least six dazzling white volcanoes kS5t
sight, ust across the valley H
among them table-topped Ca, Qllll q! "a .,A-
jestic Antisana, and prince p -1''
whose tapering summit is a m y 'JoVe the
clouds: Toiling upward, we reached the
base of the cone, where vegx 7'a'ion ceased
entirely; and tying our orses 70 some
feet re rocks, started off on handS and
,o,,,.oa The er.ltor The Pne Is deeply
oo'o,ou sand and cine ersv for about
two hundred ~ ano ING a;desss .ro IN
clined at an anglc g obo,'. ytb;-t,,lfroda
grees At ten oclocN eonnlo -
brim of the crater. Wee ~ sn -.
the impression made ul ~ 4.
We speak Of many txs'a-x 80. n - ,aiI - s'i'
~ W. pu. .ls' "0.p ~ hHaE itsfalf meaning
Tt M "a iou q =sonsuaT 81 .34ichincha
.l. ~. xfffnd epsaIng in the
- az ~ '''' - rwidSh and half
lI,: mn u0oP' anu IN = @ark,abyss comes
,oii"is " ,Hsulphurous vapors.
spectacle of more fearf "A a...ndo,r .sr6d - s,,cb
solemn ilaSninccilce' Humboldt, after
standing on TINS same brink, exclaimed
" have never beheld "a orandar nv mara
remarkable picture that, that presented by
this volcano = and Ia CondA Amine COM
pared it to {" the Gina of the poets" Be
/ low us are the snAousdering fires which
mi %ny 9ra+i5n any moms9s fRgg fs,th in into aeon con-
clltfs-tit bounaaFy hp tbs gateway to the
internal regions. 1sae Seems to have fled
in terror frome tb6s5eiaity even lichens,
the children ofotbq hsfei rocks, refuse to
clothe the scatheis handg bectling or"gs.
The panorama from this lofty summit Is
more pleasing, .rbut equally sublime.
Towards the rising sun is the long line of
the eastern Cordillera, hiding from our
view the great valley of the Amazon. To
the RIGHT and left are the peaks of another
procession of august mountains from Cot
ocachi to Chimborazo. We are surrounded
by the grea: patriarchs Of the Andes, and
their speaker, Cotopaxi, ever and anon
sends his muttering voice over the land.
The view westward is like looking down
from a balloon A white sea of clouds
covers the peaceful Pacific and the lower
parts of the coast But the vapory ocean,
curling into the ravines, beautifully repre-
sents little coves and bays, leaving islands
and promontories like true ocean on 4
broken shore
The crater of Pichincha has a sharp,
serrated edge, which, happily Tor Quit, is
} broken down on the west side, so that IN
the next eruption the volcano will doubt
loes pour its contents into the wilds OF
Esmeraldas. The highest pinnacle is 10
COO feet, or 100 feet below the limit OF
| perpetual snow. A vast body of snow,
however. is often seen on the summit ; II
is not compact or crystalline, but resembles
\ conqlomerate of little hailstones. Water
boils at the temperature of 1S5 degrees
, The first to reach the brink of the crater
, were the French Academicians in l142
Sixty years after Humboldt stood on the
1 summit. But it was not until lS44 thai
: anv one dared to enter the crater. This
7 was accomplished by Garcia Morena, on'
r of the Presidents of Ecuador, and Sebas
tian Visse, a French engineer Humbold
pronounced the bottom of the crater " IN
: accessible from its great depth and preclp
a itous descent" We found it accessible
but exceedingly perilous. The momen
/ we prepared to descend our guide raj
away. We went on without him, bu
y when half way down were stopped by
% precipice.
: Returning we took another guide AM
!. another route. We were not long in real
izing the danger of the undertaking. Her
i the snow concealed an ugly fssure or coy
- cred treacherous rock (for nearly all tn
,, rocks are crumbling y there We must eros
-, a mass of loose sand moving like glacie
:, down the almost vertical side of the era