St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-10-14
RcuADoR.s VOLCANOES


Church, the famous artist, has assert
ed that the grandest mountain scenery
NAV be found in Ecuador. and that
there is nothing elsewhere SO imposing.
nothing SO sublime, rs the group OF vol
canic peaks that lie between Quito and
the sea, where he painted his wonderful
picture, s'The Heart of the Andes" No
where are wilder freaks in geographical
formations; nowhere more startling
contrasts. Within human vision are
% volcanoes covered with everlasting
snow and over so feet higher than Mont
Blanc. Three of the volcanoes are ac-
tive. five are slumbering and the re-
mainder are extinct. The mountains OF
Asia may surpass those OF the Andes IN
altitude, but there is no such group OF
monsters elsewhere in the world.
A xea of foothills with the vapor
lowering over them like sleep upon .
drowsy child stands in the foreground
beyond the jungles of the coast, and
growing bolder and bolder, more and
more rugged, rises in irregular terraces
which the Spaniards call 'sierras" be-
cause their uneven SUBMITS are like
the teeth OF q saw. Behind and over
them the volcanoes lift their untrodden
and unapproachable SUBMITS with
stately grandeur, with SHOWS that have
lain for ages and still defy the tropical
sun. Some Of the peaks are irregular.
some are grotesque in outline, and the
imaginative minds of the natives have
fanc;ed resemblances to various other
works of nature. Some are ciamly,
grandly regular, and the even snow
upon their crests seems edged with gold
when it catches the reflection Of the
sun, and is often q rainbow Of colors-
violet, crimson, purple and orange.
Cotopaxi is the loftiest of active VOL
canoes, but it has been slumbering for
nearly 40 years. The only evidence OF
interxal activity is the constant rum
bling, which can often be heard and felt
100 miles away, and frequently a thin
cloud of smoke is seen creeping from
the crater and dissolving into the thin
air. Edward Whymper, the English
scientist, climbed to the summit OF
Chimborazo ten or twelve years ago,
but no one has ever reached the top OF
Cotopaxi. Many have attempted 1t,
but the walls are so steep and the snow
is 50 deep that ascent il impossible.
On the breast Of Cotopaxi is great
rock, more than 1000 feet high, which
the natives have named ''rhe Inca's
Head" That unreliable old story-tellel
called tradition says that it was once
the summit OF the volcano, and fell or
the day when the Spaniards stranglet
Atahualpa, the last Of the Inca en-
perors. es
The last great eruption of Cotopax
was in 1859. 1t was followed by sever'
earthquake, which caused great de
struction and loss Of life in the sur
rounding towns and villages. In 1856
the volcano Tunguragua, one OF tn
largest OF the group, and over 17,00
feet high, became very much excited
and discharged immense masses of law
and ashes simultaneously with terres
trial convulsion which extended along
the entire South Pacific coast. 1t wa,
then that the tidal wave came int
Africa that lifted the United State.
man-of-war Wateree over the roofs o.
Il the houses and landed it with straigh
keel in, q sandy plateau about hnlf
Imile from the ocean, where It still re
mains. When last saw it, it was uses
as q boarding -house.-Chicago Record