object of our attention. It appeared based upon a confused chaos of hills and mountains, composed in a great measure of volcanic substances, which had either been ejected from the principal crater, when in violent eruption, or which had found a vent on its flank, or at its feet.
On this side, the limit of the snow was considerably higher than on the other, as seen from Mexico. Heavy forests of pine clothed the lower division, and a straggling vegetation might be detected, perhaps to the height of thirteen thousand feet or upward. Above that, a zone of dark barrancas and rocks, intermixed with slopes of black volcanic sand, rises far towards the region of perpetual snow. A high and remarkable rock called the Pico del Frayle, or the Monk, breaks the general outline of the cone upon the southwestern slope. The great fatigue attendant upon the ascent of the superior part of the volcano, where the adventurer has not only to struggle with the faithless nature of the footing, but with the serious inconveniences attendant upon the extreme rarity of the atmosphere, may be conceived; and to these, the failure of many attempts made by Europeans of late years, to reach the crater, has to be ascribed. I have seen those who boast of their success, but unfortunately, have not met with one who was sufficiently alive on his gaining the summit to enable him to convey to others the slighest idea of what he had beheld.
Since the earlier years of this century, the signs of combustion in this volcano have been so slight, as to be scarcely noticed. It was, however, said at Zacualpam Amilpas, that smoke had been seen to rise from it occasionally during the past month.
In spite of the most careful observation bestowed upon every part of the snowy summit this evening, and during the morning of the 24th, when we continued to round the base, I could not with any certainty detect anything of the kind. The utmost that I could possibly assert, was, that I observed that the outline of certain rocks lining a deep crevice, a little below the summit, was uniformly extremely faint, indistinct, and vaporous,
