CHAP. XXXIX.
CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS.—(Continued.)
The Andes—Pichinca—Monte Bolea—Pausilipo—Monte Nuovo—Spectre of the Broken—Gauts, or Indian Appenines—Pico—Written Mountains—Athos—Sulphur Mountains.
| ———His proud head the airy mountain hides, Among the clouds; his shoulders and his sides, A shady mantle clothes. Denham. |
The Andes.
The Andes is a great chain of mountains in South America, which, running from the most northern part of Peru, to the Straits of Magellan, between 3000 and 4000 miles, are the longest and most remarkable in the world. The Spaniards call them the Cordilleras de los Andes: they form two ridges; the lowermost of which is overspread with woods and groves, and the uppermost covered with everlasting snow. Those who have been at the top, affirm that the sky is always serene and bright, the air cold and piercing, and yet so thin that they were scarce able to breathe. When they looked downwards, the country was hid by the clouds that hovered on the mountain’s sides.
The mountains just mentioned, which have been frequently ascended, are much inferior in height to many others in this enormous chain.
The following is the account given of the mountain called Pichincha, by Don George Juan, and Don Antonio de Ulloa, two mathematicians, sent by the kings of France and Spain, to make observations in relation to the figure of the earth. These mathematicians suffered extremely, as well from the severity of the cold, as from the impetuosity of the winds, which on these heights blow with incessant violence; difficulties the more painful, as they had been little used to such sensations. Thus, in the torrid zone, nearly under the equinoctial line, where it is natural to suppose they had most to fear from the heat, their greatest pain was caused by the excessiveness of the cold. Their first scheme, for shelter and lodging in these uncomfortable regions, was to pitch a field-tent for each company: but on Pichinca, this could not be done, from the narrowness of the summit; they were therefore obliged to be contented with a hut so small, that the whole of the company could scarcely creep into it. Nor will this appear strange, if the reader considers the bad situation and smallness of the place, it being one of the loftiest crags of a rocky mountain, 100 fathoms above the highest desert of Pichinca. Such was the position of their mansion, when all the other adjacent parts soon became covered with ice and snow. The ascent up this stupendous rock, from the base, or the place where the mules could come to their habitation, was so craggy, as only to be climbed on foot; and to perform it, cost them four hours’ continual labour and pain, arising not only from the violent efforts of the body, but the subtilty of the air, which was so thin, and probably overcharged with the lighter respirable gases, as to render respiration difficult.
Our philosophers generally kept within their hut. Indeed, they were obliged to do this, on account of the intenseness of the cold, the violence of the wind, and their being continually involved in so thick a fog, that an object at six or eight paces was hardly discernible. When the mist cleared up, the clouds, by their gravity, moved nearer to the surface of the earth, and on all sides surrounded the mountains to a vast distance, forming no bad representation of the sea, with their rock, like an island, stationed in its centre. When this happened, they heard the horrid noises of the tempests, which then spent their fury on Quito and the neighbouring country. They saw the lightnings issue from the clouds, and heard the thunders roll far beneath them; and whilst the lower parts were involved in tempests of thunder and rain, they enjoyed a delightful serenity, the wind was hushed, the sky became clear, and the enlivening rays of the sun moderated the severity of the cold. But their circumstances were very different, when the clouds reascended: their thickness rendered respiration difficult; the snow and hail fell continually; and the wind returned with all its violence; so that it was impossible entirely to overcome the fears of being, together with their hut, blown down the precipice, on the edge of which it was built, or of being buried by the daily accumulations of ice and snow.