Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Circular Summit Of
The Peak Of Teneriffe Is Only A Hundred Toises In Diameter.
According To The Measures I
Made at Riobamba, in 1803, the dome of
the Chimborazo, 153 toises below its summit, consequently in a
point which
Is 1300 toises higher than the peak, is still 673
toises (1312 metres) in breadth. The zone of perpetual snows also
forms a fourth of the height of the mountain; and the base of this
zone, seen on the coast of the Pacific, fills an extent of 3437
toises (6700 metres). But though Chimborazo is two-thirds higher
than the peak, we do not see it, on account of the curve of the
globe, at more than 38 miles and a third farther distant. The
radiant brilliancy of its snows, when, at the port of Guayaquil, at
the close of the rainy season, Chimborazo is discerned on the
horizon, may lead us to suppose, that it must be seen at a very
great distance in the South Sea. Pilots highly worthy of credit
have assured me, that they have seen it from the rock of Muerto, to
the south west of the isle of Puna, at a distance of 47 leagues.
Whenever it has been seen at a greater distance, the observers,
uncertain of their longitude, have not been in a situation to
furnish precise data.
Aerial light, projected on mountains, increases the visibility of
those which are seen positively; its power diminishes, on the
contrary, the visibility of objects which, like the peak of
Teneriffe and that of the Azores, detach themselves in a brown
tint.
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