. It has frequently ejected water.]

Ten miles farther south is the bare-headed Guamani range, over which
passes the road to the wild Napo country.[78] The view from the crest is
magnificent; but, like every grand panorama, eludes description. As we
look eastward over the beginnings of the mighty forest which stretches
unbroken to the Atlantic, the vast ridges, trending north and south, and
decreasing in height as they increase in distance, seem like the waves
of a great ocean rolling toward the mountains.

[Footnote 78: The culminating point of Guamani is _Sara-urcu_, a volcano
which threw out a vast quantity of ashes in 1843 and 1856.]

Near by stands Antisana in his snowy robe. This volcano ranks next to
Chimborazo in dignity. It has a double dome, and an elevation of 19,000
feet. Snow of Dian purity covers it for over 3000 feet; but, judging
from the enormous streams of lava on its sides, it must have been a
fierce volcano in ages past. The lava streams are worthy of the great
mountain from which they flowed. One of them (called "Volcan d'Ansango")
is ten miles long and five hundred feet deep, with an average slope of
15 deg.. It is a magnificent sight, as seen from the surrounding paramo--a
stream of dark, ragged rocks coming down out of the clouds and snows
which cover the summit. The representative products of Antisana are a
black, cellular, vitreous trachyte, a fine-grained, tough porphyroid
trachyte, and a coarse reddish porphyroid trachyte. An eruption, as late
as 1590, is recorded in _Johnston's Phys. Atlas_. Humboldt saw smoke
issuing from several openings in March, 1802.

We ascended this volcano to the height of sixteen thousand feet. On its
side is the celebrated hacienda of Antisana, which, more than sixty
years ago, sheltered the great Humboldt from the sleet and rain and
blast of this lofty region. It was a welcome refuge to us, for we had
well nigh perished with cold on the dreary paramo. It is one of the
highest human habitations in the world, being thirteen thousand three
hundred feet above the sea, or a thousand feet higher than the Peak of
Teneriffe.[79] The mean temperature is the same as that of Quebec, so
that thirteen thousand feet in elevation at the equator is equal to 47 deg.
in latitude.[80] Here is an extensive corral, inclosing thousands of
cattle, owned by a rheumatic old gentleman, Senor Valdevieso, who
supplies the beef-market of Quito.[81] A desire for beef has alone
brought man a