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while returning. crosses, erected to commemorate the bloody exit Twice we passed wooden of wayfarers whose little treasure had brought them to their last grief. These mountain confines are still the resort of bands of ladrones, who, a few days before our arrival at Ameca, had attacked the hacienda of Retana, and carried off one Miguel Zavala into the wilds of Iztaccihuatl, whence he was made to write to his friends for a ransom of $2000, or be shot in default of the required money. exhibition of energy was made in this instance. But a rare A body of his friends at Ameca, headed by Francisco Noriega, followed and attacked the bandits, and rescued the grateful Zavala. Often the thieves tie the hands of their captives together, hang them by the wrists to a tree, believing that a knowledge of these rigorous

practices among their friends will hasten the
ransom.
of our well-armed escort, although we mus-
tures, we were not sorry to have the company
Hearing of this and other adven-
tered, in the shape of revolvers, no less than
thirty shots of our own.

da of Tlamacas, said hacienda consisting of
About seven o'clock we reached the hacien-
two deserted huts.
circle of stones in one of these abodes showed
A heap of ashes within a

that cooking had once been done there. The as yet was very gradual, and led along the brink valley is about four miles long, and in reality of a profound barranca or ravine cut by the toris a rounded gully lying between the bases of rents from the melting snows. Its bed, which Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl. Not only this looked like an enormous chemical laboratory, valley, but all the irregular ranges of hills was formed of what seemed to be ferruginous which, but for the vicinity of the monsters ris-rock, and the sides of closely-packed coarse ing on either hand, could be called mountains, dust of lava, with masses of vitreous feldspar are formed of porous lava, sand, and pumice-protruding. These sand-steeps indicate that stone, in which the shriveled pines eke out a the wastes of sand are of great depth; for the scanty existence. This starved and shrunken rocks at the bottom of the barranca were evifoliage, with its withered moss drooping from dently underlaid by the same volcanic material. the limbs, has a singularly weird aspect, as if At what seemed to be the best crossing-place each tree were the sprite of a crazy harridan we descended, and reached the opposite side with disheveled locks and arms wildly beating from among the yellow, red, and black fragthe air. It is quite in keeping with the dreary ments that lie heaped up in this wild gorge for look of the surroundings. The extreme pov-more than half a league. The officer stated erty of the soil, if such it can be called, would that the horses, in order to return to Ameca seem to offer them no nourishment; and the that night, must rest during the day; and prohopeless deserts extending up to the frozen posed to go back with his men and animals to belt can afford nothing like alluvial washings Tlamacas and await our descent. The horses from the mountain. But these trees, which were, indeed, exhausted with their efforts in are of the yellow and pitch pine species, not the deep sands, and one had entirely given out; only grow in the valley, but clothe all the less- so bidding adieu to our military friends, and er ranges crossing it to their very tops. Those preceded by our guides, we commenced a that have been blown down show a depth of measured, monotonous tramp along the north root penetrating not more than three feet into side of the inclined plane, and our faces turned the dry bed of ashes, but extending two or resolutely toward the lofty object of our ambithree yards laterally, with a flat surface of tion. What at a distance had appeared as a twisted fibres at the uptorn butts, as if ac-perfectly smooth surface now proved to be customed to receive moisture from the atmos- thrown up into sandy billows, wave after wave, phere. All of these hills or ridges were orig-like the ground-swell of the ocean after a gale. inally rifts of shifting substances, and in time have become forested. Masses of basaltic rock covered the surface of the plain, resembling the slag or vitrified refuse matter of an iron foundry. Gloomy silence and the wildest types of desolation held sway in this valley of death. Under the rocks were banks of snow begrimed with dust and ashes, which the guides explained by telling us that all the year around furious hail and snow storms whirl among these black-assuming a grayish hue, and others extending ened solitudes-ice-tempests that swoop down in belts of bronze or dark brown, but black without warning, and of such violence that this generally predominating. This trachyte sand, whole region is quickly blanched with hail and when closely examined, is found to contain fine snow-the scene illumined with vivid lightning-hornblende crystals with an endless variety of flashes and an orchestral accompaniment of rat-angular forms. In a handful would appear tling thunder among the crags. The rude de-minute fragments of porphyrytic rock and feldscriptions by our Indians were quite satisfactory, spar, ranging through all the shades of red. and made us thankful for our present fine weath-black, white, gray, blue, and green, but the After we had dismounted the leader of creamy yellow of the pumice and some other our little cavalcade told us that his Colonel had porous substances was the most common. The directed him to remain in the valley with the progress was necessarily slow, for half the dishorses until our return from the mountain, and tance gained in a step was lost in the yielding to present us, with his compliments, a diminu- sand, which, sliding like fine shot from under tive bottle of brandy each, with which to drink the feet, rendered our pointed staff's useless. the health of their Majesties at the crater. And now we began to realize the fatigue of Little dreaming of how distasteful the idea of volcano-climbing. One after another we sank food or drink would be to us, we pocketed the down to catch breath, and already began to esgifts with due acknowledgments, and did trav-timate how far we had come from the base. elers' justice to the excellent breakfast which In this way, in about an hour and a half after formed a part of our baggage.

er.

All being prepared the whole troop again mounted, and set out at half past seven o'clock, resolved to save our legs the uttermost step that the horses could carry us. In ten minutes we were fairly in the sand and ashes. The ascent

In the trough of the sea, to carry out the nautical simile, we were shut for the time being from any extensive view. This, however, did not continue after the ascent became steeper. Masses of pumice-stone were strewn about, which may have weighed tons, and coated with rough moss. The whole expanse scintillated strangely in the sunlight; and the effect was heightened by the varying shades-some places

our departure from Tlamacas, we reached "La Cruz"-the guides being a hundred yards in advance. This cross, which is of wood, stands on a pinnacled rock, forming a little island in this sea of sand and a sort of restingplace. Beyond a rapid pulse, the effect of

over-exertion, no one had thus far felt any great inconvenience. A residence of several months in the city of Mexico, which is 7548 feet above the ocean, had accustomed us to the rarefied atmosphere of that height; so that our present elevation had a less sensible effect than had we reached it directly from the coast. Still we found ourselves drawing long breaths, and making more than ordinary efforts to inflate the lungs. Far below us we could see the rancho, and with the glass observe the soldiers leading the horses across an open space in the valley.

Here were the last traces of vegetation. Lichens, tufts of dried grass, and shriveled ferns had long since been passed; and now, in the rough fissures of this rock, were patches of hard, brown moss, which we could only detach with the blades of our knives. The "Alpine flora," which by a universal law seem to belong to stated elevations or temperature the world over, are unknown here, owing to the lack of the slightest means to sustain life. Currents of cold air swept down the mountain steeps, reducing the temperature to 60°; yet the glare of the sun was such as to burn our wrists, faces, and necks nearly to blistering. While resting here for a few minutes we noticed particularly the muscular build of our two guides. Straight and well formed, lithe in their movements, lean as race-hounds, and with a pectoral development that swelled almost into a semicircle at the chest, these natural athletes were the superiors of any of us in endurance; but yet we observed that at every signal to stop they were quite as ready as we to throw themselves down for a breathing-spell. Off to the right of the direction we were following were bending lines of black rock-probably obsidian. In the indentations formed by their angular ridges were snow-drifts which the sun had not reached, showing that earlier in the winter the frozen region had extended much below its present line, or that snow had lately fallen.

we had stood and looked up at the bleak soli-
tudes we were now climbing. Baron Gros and
Von Gerolt, who made the ascent together in
the spring of 1833, seem to have taken a route
more to the southward, for they speak of reach-
ing the Pico del Fraile, which they were at
first unable to surmount, and were obliged to
return. They describe the toil of ascending
the sand-slopes as "the most agonizing they
ever underwent ;" and they "suffered the most
excruciating agony in their eyes and faces from
the reflection of the sun from the brilliant
snow." It was only after we reached a much
greater altitude that we experienced these in-
conveniences. Our ascent avoided the Pico
del Fraile, and formed a curving line to the
peak, giving us the advantage of a more direct
line up the snow, but lengthened the fatiguing
struggle through the steeps of ashes.
The
weariness consequent upon an increasing rare-
fication of air and the strain upon unaccus-
tomed muscles at length obliged us to adopt
a more systematic method. We advanced in
each other's tracks ten steps at a time, which
were counted by the leader. At the last step
all sank down to recover breath, and the next
effort commenced at the given word. Such
was the exhaustion that neither of us felt equal
to the last few steps, and dropped instantly at
the tenth.

For some time before gaining the snow line we had looked up at the impending ice-fields, whose apparent glassiness made us remember with satisfaction the spikes in the soles of our shoes; but upon reaching the lower rim of the belt, which was at a quarter past eleven, we found the surface deeply furrowed with gullies of hard, frozen snow, lying in windrows from two to three feet high, with here and there transverse ridges extending down several hundred feet to a point, as if sharpened by the attrition of incrusted masses sliding from above. These windrows crossing our course, we were obliged to pass over them step by step, which seemed at length worse than the sand-climbing. That line was weary hours of travel above It was now a continual striding across slippery us, and delay might lead to our passing the ice-troughs, which it required a cautious step night on the mountain. "Excelsior" was the to pass; while the muscular exertion of bendword, and again we started. Still the same ing forward to reach the next succeeding ridge unsightly desert, with colored pebbles rolling brought a constant strain on the spinal column, down the steeps, and the interminable sand and gave to the uninitiated some idea of the gliding treacherously from under our feet. beauties of lumbago. The expanded atmosNow the clouds came rolling in from the west-phere we were inhaling began to be painfully ward; and for the first time we witnessed the apparent. Each complained of a sensation like curious spectacle of a reversed rain or hail asphyxia, with aching eyes and smarting of the storm, with thunder and lightning below us, skin. while above the mountain's peak shone in the full blaze of the sun. To our right, but still considerably above us, stood the Pico del Fraile -a beetling porphyrytic rock shooting out of the mountain's side, and presenting from some points the appearance of a Gothic spire. Its pinnacle is dark red, as though containing iron. As the clouds opened we caught a glimpse of the Valley of Ameca, with the town and Sacra Monte faintly defined, where, the night before,

One of the party, as the pressure of the air diminished, was taken with nausea, and another with severe throbbing pains in the temples. Such symptoms, however, did not surprise us, although the reality was different from what we had expected. In ten minutes we had stopped to rest half a dozen times. Through the green goggles the snow assumed a ghastly hue, as if our aerial world were in an eclipse.

At eleven A.M. we were 16,000 feet above the sea, with a temperature of 46° Fahrenheit.

petulance and carelessness as to how any other but one's self might be faring. Each preserved a selfish, dogged silence, save the hoarse noise caused by labored efforts to inhale enough air to supply the lungs with oxygen. This rarefied atmosphere, however, has no visible effect upon the flight of the more powerful class of birds; for in the direction of Puebla, and ap

present level, we saw what seemed to be two vultures sailing majestically among the clouds; and our guides had sometimes observed from the crater birds soaring at such a height above them that their forms could scarcely be distinguished in the sky. These facts may serve as a contradiction of the statement that birds cast into the air at an altitude of four miles will fall, helplessly fluttering, until they reach an atmospheric consistency in which their wings meet with the required resistance.

Our adventure had reduced itself into a science of climbing-a heedful saving of each physical resource for breathing, seeing, and grasping-every movement being made deliberately, so that not a foot of distance might be lost or the least muscular power exerted in vain. The whole ascent from the lower line of the snow is a conflict between desperate resolution to continued effort and sinking despair at the increasing difficulties. Ears, hands; and feet tingled with the cold, and the skin of the face felt as though penetrated by infinitessimal needles. Pains in the head, lungs, and sides grew intense. Despite the goggles our sight got dim and confused. One of the party became terror-stricken, repented of his temerity, and hastily commenced descending.

We had yet to ascend a lofty expanse of snow. To accomplish that the work must be resolutely attacked and persistently followed. The guides pointed up to the location of the crater, which was indicated by a slight depression in the summit. Judging by our jaded condition, we had grave doubts of being able to achieve the ascent; but we resolved to persevere until warned by some alarming symp-parently some hundreds of yards above our toms to desist. At the outset one is buoyed up with a feeling of ambition, and that tonic of exhilaration always attending new and strange scenery combining the elements of sublimity and grandeur; but the affair at last sobers down into a pathless, monotonous journey onward and upward, into a realm seated in the burning zone, but glittering with Arctic frost. Upward, with slow and faltering steps, and, at intervals, with half-whispered words of encouragement; now falling in the icy furrows or sinking exhausted, and angrily protesting against our mutual folly. To the right was a chasm, apparently three hundred yards wide and of unknown depth. The opening was at a lower level than where we stood, admitting of a partial view of its shape and dimensions. This our guides called "La Barranca del Muerte," because some years ago one of their companions had been lost in the yawning gulf. All of us were too much fatigued, even had we dared, to approach it. The surface of the snow sloped rapidly toward the mouth, from which peaks of rocks and ice arose on the opposite side. The Indians believe that it sinks into the heart of the volcano, but no one has ventured near its slippery edge to ascertain. As our altitude increased all the symptoms appeared that a medical friend in Mexico had predicted-in-ers, however, prevailed on him to continue, cluding muscular trembling, bleeding at the nose and mouth, a dull aching in the region of the heart, and deathly nausea, like that of sea-sickness. Even the dusky faces of our guidos, long accustomed to mountain life, became emaciated and ashy. One of them found, crawling and fluttering on the snow, a pretty insect, which he called the "mosco de nieve," or snow-fly. It has short, slight antennæ and legs, and a scarcely perceptible head, wings of extreme delicacy, like those of small butterflies, with blue and green shades on a ground-creased space for breathing; at least so it was work of bronze, and six minute spots of white on each. The body, which is about as large as that of a honey-bee, radiates green and crim-it was "muy bueno," as, in fact, it proved. son tints when held to the light. So much of an unscientific description may enable some entomologist to recognize what must be a very rare, and is certainly a very beautiful insect. It is known in Mexico, and to produce it is considered satisfactory evidence of having been among the snows of Popocatepetl, where alone it is found. Whence it comes or how it sub-weak, trembling, and dizzy, sinks down upon sists in these inhospitable solitudes none can tell. The specimen before me was jammed to death and out of all shape on the way back to Mexico, but still preserves its glossy colors.

With utter fatigue came at last a morose

The oth

and the guides pointed up to a spot above us, where thin vapors were sweeping across the summit close down to the crater. The distance did not seem great, and again we crawled along, but stopping to catch breath every few steps. Another, who was taken with intolerable pain in the lungs, now peremptorily declared against further movement, but rallied when an Indian, pulling off his sash, drew it tightly twice around the chest of the sufferer, and thus, by distending the lungs, allowed in

afterward said in Mexico; but the Indian could offer no explanation of his treatment, save that

Those final fifty or eighty yards! The space seemed like that intervening between the shore and an exhausted swimmer, idly beating the waves in his last agony. At length-we scarcely know how-the topmost ridge is scaled, and the half-fainting climber, with bloodshotten eyes, palpitating heart, and gasping for breath,

the edge of the crater, and realizes that he has reached an elevation close upon three miles and a half above the sea. And there is also an irrepressible sense of sadness, born, perhaps, as much of physical prostration as of the