Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/269

212 gigantic shadows of the volcano lay over the western levels even to the distant horizon.

At half-past eight the party had attained the Pico—and in the shelter of the porphyrytic rock that shoots upward near two hundred feet, they made a slight and comfortable breakfast. But as no promises could induce the Indians to go farther, they were obliged to leave behind many of their most valuable instruments and among them, a theodolite, with which they had designed making some interesting observations and experiments on the summit. They took, however, a barometer and a Darnell's hygrometer, and set out, accompanied by Mr. Egerton's servant (a youth of eighteen) the only person who mustered courage to accompany them.

A spur of rocks which strikes upward from the Pico del Fraile impeded their progress in a direct line, and it became necessary to strike off eastwardly through a deep ravine formed by one side of this spur or crest and a similar spur that descends in that direction from the summit. This ravine faces the south, and through its comparatively warmer bed the melting snows discharge themselves into the vale of Amilpas. They continued ascending over the bottom of the barranca at an angle of thirty-five degrees, finding but little snow, although the eternal limit of it was two or three thousand feet below them. After three hours of difficult and dangerous labor, on the sharp and slippery surface of the rocks, they reached the upper end of the gorge where it terminates in the solid lava forming the dome of the volcano. Thenceforward their path was constantly over snow, and, although they frequently sank through it up to their waists, they describe the difficulties as less than while passing the slippery rocks and sands of the washed barranca. Over these snows they zig-zagged for a while longer—stopping at almost every step to gather strength and breath, until, at half-past two, they stood upon the lofty summit.

Until that moment they had observed no symptoms of a crater;—but the vast gulf now burst upon them at once, yawning at their feet, filled with curling vapors that rose to near the edge and mingled with the clouds.

The highest point of the crater is described by Mr. Von Gerolt as lying to the westward, and the lowest to the east. Its shape is that of an irregular ellipse, the greatest diameter of which is between the NE. and SE. This he estimates to be nearly five thousand feet, while the shorter is about a thousand less, making the whole circumference of the crater therefore, nearly a league. Its rough walls plunge to a depth of a thousand feet, and the bottom (although of the same shape) has not the same huge dimensions as the upper rim.

As the sun penetrated the lowest depths of the crater, our travellers distinctly saw its base, from which two fountains of sulphur constantly poured forth a whitish smoke that rested on the rocks of the steep walls and deposited its residuum among the cracks and crannies. The base and sides disappeared to be entirely crusted with sulphur, and they judged