er on the globe. That of
Kilauea is 600 feet; Orizaba, 500; Etna, 300; Hecla, 100. Vesuvius is a
portable furnace in comparison. The abyss is girt with a ragged wall of
dark trachyte, which rises on the inside at various angles between 45 deg.
and perpendicularity. As we know of but one American besides the members
of our expedition (Mr. Farrand, a photographer) who has succeeded in
entering the crater of this interesting volcano, we will give a brief
sketch of our visit.

[Footnote 74: Pichincha, in the Inca language, signifies "the boiling
mountain;" Rucu means old; Guagua, young; and Cundur-guachana, the
condor's nest.]

[Footnote 75: More accurately, 2527 feet; Wisse and Moreno made it
2460.]

[Illustration: Crater of Pichincha.]

Leaving Quito in the afternoon by the old arched gateway at the foot of
Panecillo, and crossing a spur of the mountain, we stopped for the night
at the Jesuit hacienda, situated in the beautiful valley of Lloa, but
nearly ruined by the earthquake of 1859. On the damp walls of this
monastery, perched 10,268 feet above the ocean, we found several old
paintings, among them a copy of the _Visitation_ by Rubens. The sunset
views in this heart of the Andes were surpassingly beautiful. Mounting
our horses at break of day, and taking an Indian guide, we ascended
rapidly, by a narrow and difficult path, through the forest that belts
the volcano, up to the height of 12,000 feet, emerging gradually into a
thicket of stunted bushes, and then entered the dreary paramo. Splendid
was the view of the Eastern Cordillera. At least six dazzling white
volcanoes were in sight just across the Valley of Quito, among them
table-topped Cayambi, majestic Antisana, and princely Cotopaxi, whose
tapering summit is a mile above the clouds. Toiling upward, we reached
the base of the cone, where vegetation ceased entirely; and, tying our
horses to some huge rocks that had fallen from the mural cliff above,
started off on hands and feet for the crater. The cone is deeply covered
with sand and cinders for about two hundred feet, and the sides are
inclined at an angle of about 35 deg.. At ten o'clock we reached the brim of
the crater, and the great gulf burst suddenly into view. We can never
forget the impression made upon us by the sight. We speak of many things
here below as awful, but that word has its full meaning when carried to
the top of Pichincha. There you see a frightful opening in the earth's
crust nearly a