The Red Cloud chief., 1877-10-04
" so called. Since then COtOpaxi has

shapes it assumes, and a chameleon for
the diversity of cOlOrs in which it robes
itself. Nothing is more sublime at all
times, and on occasion more appalling,
than the truncated o n of this snow
capped mountain. 1t vas a view on
one of its TANKS that inspired your
great artist, Church, when he painted
Ills celebrated picture, The Heart OF
the Andes" The crater of COtopaxl Is
500 feet in depth. 1t is not rare to see d
pillar OF fire rise from this abyss II
ose itself in the blue vault of heaven,
as if the colossus would fain be a light
house t., the mariners of both oceans
but O " consented to illuminate their
path with the token of his ire.
THE LAST ERUPTION OF COTOPAX1,
which is the tenth according to my COM
putation, took place on the 26. OF June
last. The day before the city of QnIto
was placed under an Introduction IN
consequence Of a disagreement between
the civil and ecclesiastical authorities,
which it is not to the purpose to relate
here. 1t was the first time that tho
population iOf QuitO had been SUBJECT
ed to such a penalty, and n can I'M
agine the CONSERVATION that relgned
among them on seeing their churches
closed, all divine service suspended
even august ceremonies for the inter
ment of The dead. Shortly after g RAIN
of earth and other phenomena which
herald an eruption began to appear, as
DR.. Wolf says, these signs are always
more reliable than those that precede an
earthquake. In fact, the eruption look
place on the 26.h, with every circum-
stance that could Increase its horror
utter darkness in the broad day, thun-
der and lightning, fearful explosions,
that made the earth tremble, subter-
raneal noises and wild gusts of wind
accompanied by a rain of ashas. An
eyewitness told me that the volcano
poured out a
CATARACT TEN TIMES TIE BULK OF
NIAGARA,
which carried all before its header g
course, and submerged the whole sur
rounding country. The torrent divld-
ed itself in two opposite directions. as
if to give greater scope to its devasta-
ton and t. make the confusion more
dire. One branch took a sOutheriy
course towards the City of Latacunga,
situated twelve miles from CotOpaxi
(VillavicenciO makes the distance
double in his Geography of Ecuador,
but this is an error. On its way the tor
rent converted the plain of Gallo into
an immense lake, covering up the hill of
the same name, which is thought to tie
the work of man, although Reiss dis
cards this opinion and regards the EN-
inence merely as the result of some in
ternal CONFUSION of nature, such as
produced the 'PanecillO of Quito There
IS but faint no e that the ruins Of the
palace of the Incas, described by Hum
bbeehbattt dAn saa al PtJAYe9E ,pp 4Yyafl tsGS Through 9HGlat tbs
have escaped the r. Wages of the food.
In the vicinity of LatacuDga tie +; r.
Gus current tore up from its very fOun-
d atoms the cotton factO. y of Don Jose
VillagOmpz, whose value was estimated
AT $500 600; crops, cattle, and build ngs
were swept away; the massive bridges
IF Cutuche and PansalvO were de
>trOyed, as we'll as a part of the fine
carriage road Scarce equaled in EurOpp)
which connects Quito with the towns
IN the south OF the R-public. On hear
ing the report of the subterranean eX-
plosion and seeing the Infatuated
waters approach, the distracted and
appalled, inhabitants of Latacunga
bought themselves
DOOMED TO INVITABLE DESTRUCTION
But the catastrophe Was averted,-the
onward rolling torrent mt the beds of
three rivers, and, pouring itself into
these channels, rescued the city from a
situation of the most imminent peril.
The branch that headed towards the
south of CptOpaxi devastated the pros
porous and enchanting Valley of ChillO,
and in particular the estate of the Sem
ores Aguirre, noted for having been the
residence of humboldt. There, too, as
in Latacunga, arose the buildings of a
thriving factory which. only the year
before. had been destroyed by fire, and
had just been repaired at a great eX.
pense. The torrent rooted it from the
ground, and bore it away in a thousand
Observation-Disclosures and tokens of
voc to the Provinces of Imbabura and
Esmeraldas. which they passed in their
toward the Pacific Ocean. 1t is |
asserted that a mill of Don Manuel Pa
laciOs HOated on the water like a ship at
sea until shattered by the current. The
loss in the Valley Of Chlllo alone is esti-
mated at over & 100000, and the loss in
other sections is equally great. II is
likewise calculated that the number of
the dead
EXCEEDS 1000.
A third cataract took an easterly di.
~rection. destroying the bridge of Palate
and doing grievOus I'M Try to the estates
in that neighbOrhOod. of which the
most important is celebrated for its fine
wine. we'll known as "Vino de Patate,'
made by Don Vicente Alvarez. We
nave as vet no detailed accOunts Of tho