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It is also worthy of remark that the central Cordillera of New Grenada displays the loftiest summit of the Andes in the northern hemisphere. It consequently surpasses Imbabura and Cotocache in the province of Quito, the Chiles of the table-lands of Los Pastos, the two volcanoes of Popayan and even the Nevados of Mexico and Mount Saint Elias of Russian America.

In this province, a little beyond the villa of Ibarra, between the snowy summits of Cotocache and Imbabura, the two Cordilleras of Quito unite, and form one mass, extending to Meneses and Voisaco, from 0 degrees 21 minutes north latitude to 1 degree 13 minutes.

The obstructed craters appear to be extinguished volcanoes; but we may presume, that, while Cotopaxi or Tunguragua have only one or two eruptions in the course of a century, the fire is not less continually active under the town of Quito, under Pichincha and Imbabura.

The bipartition of the Cordilleras re-commences and continues from 0 degrees 40 minutes latitude south to 0 degrees 20 minutes latitude north; that is, as far as the volcano of Imbabura near the villa of Ibarra.