I am indebted to Mr. Pentland, whose scientific labours have thrown so
much light on the geology and geography of Bolivia, for the following
determinations of position, which he communicated to me in a letter from
Paris (October 1848), subsequent to the publication of his great map.
Nevado of Sorata, South Latitude. Longitude. Height.
or Ancohuma.
South Peak 15° 51′ 33″ 68° 33′ 55″ 21,286
North Peak 15° 49′ 18″ 68° 33′ 52″ 21,043
Illimani.
South Peak 16° 38′ 52″ 67° 49′ 18″ 21,145
Middle Peak 16° 38′ 26″ 67° 49′ 17″ 21,094
North Peak 16° 37′ 50″ 67° 49′ 39″ 21,060
The numbers representing the heights are, with the exception of the
unimportant difference of a few feet in the South Peak of Illimani, the
same as those in the map of the Lake of Titicaca. A sketch of the
Illimani, as it appears in all its majesty from La Paz, was given at an
earlier date by Mr. Pentland in the Journal of the Royal Geographical
Society.[IO] But this was five years after the publication of the first
measurements in the _Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes_ for 1830, p.
323, which results I myself hastened to disseminate in Germany.[IP] The
Nevado de Sorata lies to the east of the village of Sorata or Esquibel,
and is called in the Ymarra language, according to Pentland, Ancomani,
Itampu, and Illhampu. In _Illimani_ we recognize the Ymarra word _illi_,
snow.
If, however, in the _eastern_ chain of Bolivia the Sorata was long
assumed to be 3962 feet, and the Illimani 2851 feet too high, there are
in the western chain of Bolivia, according to Pentland’s map of Titicaca
(1848), four peaks east of Arica between the latitudes 18° 7′ and 18°
25′, all of which exceed Chimborazo in height, which itself is 21,422
feet.