Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-15
ECUADOR's VOLCANOES.
Within Human Vision Are Snow-Cap-
ped Cones.

Correspondence of the Chicago Record.
Church, the famous artist. has asserted
that the grandest mountain scenery may
be found in Ecuador, and that there is
nothing elsewhere so imposing. nothing so
sublime, as the group of volcanic peaks that
lie between Quito and the sea, where he
painted his wonderful picture THE Heart
Of the Andes" Nowhere are wilder freaks
in geographical formation; nowhere more
startling contrasts Within human vision
are twenty-five volcanoes covered with
everlasting snow and over fifty feet higher
than Mont Blanc. Three of the volcanoes
are active, five are slumbering and the re-
mainder extinct. The mountains of
Asia may surpass those of the Andes in al
titude, but there is no such group of mons
tiers elsewhere In the world.
A sea Of foothills with the vapor lowering
over them like sleep upon a droWsy child
stands in the foreground beyond the jungles
of the coast, and growing holder and bolder
more and more rugged, rises in irregular
terraces which the Spaniards call 'sierraS,
because their uneven submits are like the
teeth of saw. Behind and over them the
volcanoes lift their untrodden and unap-
proachable submits with stately grandeur,
with SHOWS that have lain for ages and stin
defy the tropical sun. Some of the peaks
are irregular, some are grotesque in outline
and the imaginative minds of the natives
nave Ianc1eu reSeinDldnceS TO various Otner
works of nature. Some are calmly, grandly
regular and the even snow upon their
crests seems edged with gold when it
catches the reflection of the sun, and Is of
ten rainbow of colors-vioet, crimson,
purple and orange.
Cotopaxi is the loftiest of active volcanoes
but it has been siumbering for nearly forty
years. The only evidence of internal ac-
tivity is the constant rumbling, 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
no one has ever reached the top of Coto-
paxi. Many have attempted it, but the
walls are so steep and the snow is so deep
that ascent is impossible.
On the breast of Cotopaxi is great rock.
more than 1000 feet high, which the natives
have named 1.-THE Inca's Head" That I'M
reliable old story-teller called tradition says
that it was once the summit of the volcano
and fell on the day when the Spaniards
strangled Atahualpa, the last of the Inca
enperors.
The last great eruption Of Cotopaxi was in
1859 1t was followed by severe earth
quake which caused great destruction aud
loss of life in the surrounding towns and
villages. In 1868 the volcano Tunguragua
one of the largest of the group, and over
11.0oo feet high became very much excited,
and discharged immense masses of lava and
ashes simultaneously with terrestrial con-
vulsion which extended along the entire
South Pacific coast 1t was then that the
tidal wave came into africa that lifted the
United States man-of-war Wateree over the
roofs of the houses and landed It with a
straight keel In a sandy plateau about half
mile from the ocean, where II still re-
mains. When last saw Il II was used as
boarding house.