Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1876-10-12

stantial and elegant banking house
in America.-NeU York Commercial
AdUertiser
On ChimbOrazO.
Prof. James Orton, OF Vassar Col
lege, has twice visited the equatorial
Andes and the Amazon River, and
written very readable book thereon,
from which the following graphic pas
sages are taken:
There must be something singular
ly sublime about Chimborazo, for the
spectator, at Riobamba, is already
5000 feet high, and the mountain is
not so elevated above him as Mount
Blanc above the vale of Chamouni,
when, in reality, that eliminating
point of Europe would not reach up
even to the snow limit OF Chimborazo
by 1000 feet. 1t is only while sailing
on the Pacific that one sees Chimbo-
razo in its complete proportions. Its
very magnitude diminishes the i'm
preston of awe and wonder, for the
Andes on which it rests are heaved
to such a vast altitude above the sea,
that the relative elevation OF its sum-
nit becomes reduced by comparison
with the surrounding mountains.
Its altitude is 81 ,420 feet, or forty
five times the heigth OF Strasburg
Cathedral; or, to state it otherwise,
the fall Of one pound from the top Of
Chimborazo would raise the Tempe
nature OF water thirty degrees. One
fourth OF this is perpetually covere d
with snow, so that its ancient name,
Chimpurazu-the mountain OF snow
is very appropriate tits stirring
thought that this mountain, now man.
tied with snow. once cleaned with
volcanic fires. There is a hot spring
on the north side, and an immense a.
mount of debris covers the slope be-
low the snow limit.
The valleys which furrow the flank
Of Chimborazo are in keeping with its
colossal size. Narrower, but deeper
than those OF the Alps, the mind
swoons and sinks in the effort to COM
prehend their majesty. The noun
tain appears to have been broken to
pieces like so much crust, and the
strata thrown on their vertical edges,
revealing deep, dark chasms that
seem to lead to the confines OF the
lower world. The deepest valley in
Europe, that of the OIdesa in the
Pyrenees, is 1920 feet deep, but there
are rents in the side of Chimborazo
in which vesuvius could be put away
out Of sight.
As you look down into the fathom-
less fissure, you see white fieck ris-
ing out Of the gulf, and expanding as
it mounts, till the wings OF the con-
dor, fifteen feet in spread, glitter in
the sun as the proud bird fearlessly
wheels over the dizzy chasm, and
then, ascending above your head,
sails over the dome OF Chimborazo.
Could the condor speak, what a glow
ing description could he give OF the
landscape beneath him when his hor-
izon is a thousand miles in diameter.
The silence is absolute and actual
ly oppressive. The road from Quay
aquail to Quito crosses Chimborazo
at the elevation OF 14,O00 feet. Save
the rush of the trade wind in the az
ternoon. as it sweeps over the Andes,
not sound is audible; not the hum
OF an insect, nor the chirp Of bird.
nor the roar Of the puma, nor the
music OF running waters. Mid-ocean
is never so silent You can almost
hear the globe turning on its axis.
There was time when the monarch
deigned to speak, and spoke with the
voice Of thunder, for the lava on its
sides is an evidence of volcanic ac-
tivity.
But ever since the morning stars
sang together over mans creation
Chimborazo has sat in sullen silence,
satisfied to look "from his throne Of
clouds DER half the world" There is
something very suggestive in this
silence of Chimborazo. 1t was once
full Of noise and fury, it is complet-
ed mountain, and thunders no more.
The reason we are so noisy Is that
we are full of wants, we are unfinish-
ed characters Had we perfect full
ness OF all things, the beatitude of
being without a want, we should lapse
into the eternal silence OF God.
Cotopaxi Qs.ssO feet is slumbering
now, but it Is "in a state of solemn and
and thoughtful suspense" 1t gives
out deep ruubling thunders, and a
cloud of smoke rises from the crater
at the top. Sometimes at night this
smoky column looks like pillar OF
fire. Imagine Vesuvius on the sum-
nit of Mount Blanc, and you have the
altitude of Cotopaxi-most beautiful
and most terrible of volcanoes.
From the summit of Antisania, an
other Of these lordly mountains, high
er than Cotooaxi, enormous streams
Of hardened lava descended-the tes-
timony of terrible convulsions and
eruptions in earlier ages. One of
these streams is ten miles long and
500 feet deep,-with an average slope
of fifteen degrees. 1T is a magnifi-
cent sight, as seen from the surround
ing Paramo-a stream of dark ragged
rocks coming down out of the clouds
and SHOWS which cover the summit"
Michael Winterode, hitherto con-
sidered one Of the steadiest farmers
in Howard township, Howard county.
recently deserted his family and