Page:Appleton's Guide to Mexico.djvu/255

Rh accompanies him, and point out the way to the summit, which can readily be ascended alone. About two hours will be necessary to arrive at the crater from the Puerta de la Playa. The scientific tourist will want to spend as much time on the volcano. A thermometer should be taken along to measure the temperature of the hot gases escaping from the fumaroles.

The general direction of the mountain-mass of Jorullo is north and south. The volcano is pear-shaped, the outlet of the crater being on the north side. The cone is covered with loose black ashes in which a few bushes grow, and its slope on the north and west sides is about forty-five degrees.

The crater is about a mile in circumference, and the diameter from north to south is estimated at 500 yards, the distance from east to west being a little less. The highest point is on the east side. According to Baron von Humboldt's measurements, the summit of this volcano is 4,267 feet above the level of the sea, or 1,683 feet above the "Playas de Jorullo,” which is probably the same place that now bears the name of Puerta de la Playa, often called simply La Playa.

Many clefts and fumaroles are found in the edge of the crater. The writer took the temperatures of some of them as follows: aqueous vapor escaping from the west side was found to be 132° Fahr., and sulphurous-acid gas in a fumarole at the mouth of the crater had a mean temperature of 130° Fahr., the column of mercury rising and falling a few degrees while the thermometer was exposed to the hot vapor. The traveler can make the circuit of the crater without difficulty.

Grass about four feet high, a few ferns, and tepejuaje and changunyo (native trees), grow on the border. Deer are abundant on the mountain. There is an immense stream of lava on the north side, having a dark-red color, owing to the oxidation of the iron in the rock. It is