Peak of Teneriffe--Its Crater--Eruption of Chahorra--Palma--Great
Caldera--Lancerote--Great Eruption--Sudden Death--Fuego, Cape de
Verde Islands--Cotopaxi--Its Appearance--Great Eruptive
Force--Tunguragua--Great Eruption of Mud and Water--Fish thrown
out--Quito--Its Overthrow--Pichinca--Humboldt's Ascent--Narrow
Escape--Antisana--Sangay--Rancagua--Chillan--Masaya
The Island of Teneriffe is celebrated for its magnificent snow-clad
peak. On referring to the woodcut of this volcano at page 11, you
will observe in what a sharp point the cone terminates, and how
slender is the column of vapour at its summit. The crater at the
top is comparatively small--its greatest diameter being 300, and
its smallest 200 feet, while its depth is only about 100 feet. From
this crater there has been no eruption since 1706, when the finest
harbour in the island was destroyed. But from the side of the peak
there rises a supplementary mountain named Chahorra, on the top of
which there is also a crater, whence there was an eruption in 1798.
So great was its violence, that masses of rock were thrown to a
height of upwards of 3000 feet. In the neighbouring island of Palma
there is a volcanic crater named the Great Caldera, whose depth is
said to be upwards of 5000 feet.
Almost due east of Palma, and much nearer the African coast, lies
the Island of Lancerote, on which are a great many volcanic cones,
arranged nearly in a straight line. These were for the most part
formed by a long series of eruptions which took place during the
years from 1730 to 1736. Such immense quantities of lava were
poured forth in the course of those six years, that about a third
of the surface of the island was covered by them, and many towns
and villages were destroyed. St. Catalina, a populous and thriving
town, was first overflowed by a lava-stream, and then a new crater
burst forth on its very site, raising over it a hill 400 feet high.
All the cattle in the island fell down dead in one day, and nearly
about the same time--they were suffocated by deadly vapours that
rose from the ground. The volcanic activity of this island was
renewed in August 1824, when there was formed, near the port of
Rescif, a new crater, which vomited forth such quantities of
stones, ashes, and other volcanic matters, that in the short space
of twenty-four hours they formed a hill of considerable height.
The Cape de Verde Islands, lying to the south-westward of the
Canaries, are also volcanic. In 1847 a volcano named Fuego,
situated in one of them, after remaining at rest about fifty years,
burst into fresh activity. No less than seven new vents were
formed; and from these were poured forth great streams of lava,
which wrought immense damage in the cultivated parts of the island.
The inhabitants sustained great loss by the destruction of their
cattle and crops.
Passing over to the South American continent, we come to the range
of the Andes, which contains numerous volcanoes. Among these the
most conspicuous is Cotopaxi, the highest volcano in the world,
situated in the territory of Quito. So perfect is the form of the
cone, that it looks as if it had been turned in a lathe. Its
coating of snow gives it a dazzling appearance, and so sharply is
the snow-line defined that it seems almost as if the volcano-king
wore a white night-cap instead of a crown.
The eruptions of this mountain are rare. One of the greatest of
them lasted for three years, and desolated an immense extent of
country with floods of lava. On this occasion, it is said, columns
of fire rose to the height of nearly 5000 feet, so great was the
energy of the volcanic force.
A little to the southward of Cotopaxi, but concealed from it by the
intervening mass of Chimborazo, lies the volcano of Tunguragua,
from which there was an extraordinary eruption in the year 1797,
that proved very destructive to the cities in its neighbourhood.
Indeed, so terrible was the convulsion of the ground, which lasted
four minutes, that the cities of Riobamba and Quero were reduced to
heaps of ruins. Then the base of Tunguragua was rent, and from
numerous apertures there were poured out streams of water and mud,
the latter gathering in the valleys to the depth of 600 feet. This
mud spread itself far and wide, blocking up the channels of rivers,
and forming lakes, which remained upwards of two months. But,
strangest of all, quantities of dead fishes were found in the water
which burst from the volcano. These fishes are supposed to have
been bred in subterranean lakes contained in caverns in the
interior of the mountain, considerably removed from the volcanic
fires in the centre. It is probable that, when the rent was formed
near the base, one of those caverns was broken open, and that the
waters from it were discharged along with their finny inhabitants.
Here is a picture of one of those fishes, which was taken by Baron
Humboldt. When you see what a queer-looking fish it is, you will
wonder the less at its having chosen so strange an abode.
[Illustration: Pimelodus Cyclopum]
Quito, the capital of the province of that name, is the highest of
cities--being situated at an elevation of between nine and ten
thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is built on a plain,
lying on the flanks of the volcano Pichinca, of which a view is
given in the annexed woodcut. Poor Quito has suffered severely from
this dangerous neighbourhood; for, on the 22nd of March 1859, a
violent shaking of the mountain laid the whole city in ruins.
Pichinca, you will observe, has a most irregular outline, but very
graceful withal. Instead of a single cone like Cotopaxi, it has a
group of cones, some of which are very pointed. It has four
principal summits, of which the most southerly contains the active
crater. Here the celebrated traveller Baron Humboldt nearly lost
his life. Having ascended the cone and approached the edge of the
crater, he peered into the depths of the dark abyss, and there
beheld the glowing lava boiling as if in a huge caldron. A thick
mist coming on, he unwarily advanced to within a few feet of the
rapid slope descending into the crater, and was within an ace of
toppling over into the fiery gulf beneath. What a pity it would
have been had he fallen in! We should have had no "Personal
Narrative," no "Cosmos."
[Illustration: Pichinca]
There are in this region of South America other two great
volcanoes, named Antisana and Sangay. The former has not been in
action since 1718, but is remarkable for the immense beds of lava
which it has amassed around it during its former eruptions. Sangay,
again, has ever since 1728 been in a state of almost perpetual
activity--in this respect resembling Stromboli, which, however, it
far exceeds in height, its summit being nearly 18,000 feet above
the level of the sea. The eruptions of this mountain are
accompanied by loud explosions, which are heard at great distances,
and they succeed each other with immense rapidity. The fumes
emitted are sometimes gray, sometimes orange; and the matters
ejected are cinders, dross, and spherical masses of stone. These
last are often two feet in diameter, and in strong explosions as
many as sixty of them may be thrown out at a time. They are glowing
at a white heat, and for the most part they fall back into the vent
of the crater. Sometimes, however, they alight on the edge of the
cone--imparting to it a temporary brilliancy; but the mass of the
cone, being composed of loose black cinders, has a most dismal
aspect.
Another very active South American volcano is Rancagua in Chili. It
is, however, of moderate height, and thus in its general character
resembles Stromboli, which it rivals in restlessness. Another of
the volcanoes of Chili, named Chillan, which had long been in a
state of repose, renewed its activity in November 1864. Its usually
snow-clad summit became covered in a short time with a thick layer
of volcanic ashes, which greatly altered its appearance. Streams of
lava were also thrown out by the mountain on this occasion.
There are several volcanoes in Central America. One of them, named
Masaya, was very active during the sixteenth century. It is
situated near the lake of Nicaragua, in the territory of that name.
It was visited in 1529 by the Spanish historian Gonzales Fernando
de Oviedo, from whose description it seems to have presented
phenomena resembling those seen in the crater of Stromboli. "In its
ordinary state," he says, "the surface of the lava, in the midst of
which black scoriae are continually floating, remains several
hundred feet below the edges of the water. But sometimes there is
suddenly produced an ebullition so violent, that the lava rises
almost to the very brim."