Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1848-08-04
VOLUME II--NUNBER a..

,.ouo bv three O'Clock. We had selected a
nlace called "vacaria." This is nothing more |
Than an open place in the woods, near the water, |
whore The Indians rendezvous with their cattle, /
which they drive up from the plains below to
Craze on the grass which grows very luxuriant-
Iy in the woods on the mountain sides. We
found the atmosphere quite cold here, but we
we're soon comfortable IN our tents. with large
pine fires in front of them. The view from our
camp was very extensive, and towards sunset II
was maguifcently beautiful. Far above US, on |
the mountain, il was showing quite hard; TO bur
right, and far below US, was a large dark cloud.
We could hear il thunder and see the lightning,
while the rain fell in torrents over nearly the
whole valley of Mexico. Where we were, aud
to our left, extending into the terra calienle, the
sun was shining brightly. Towards night the
clouds from above enveoped US, and we had
seei and snow, which continued all night
Our party numbered nearly one hundred
twenty-five officers of different corps, four or five
cilizens, thrly-fve Dragons, and some forty
| footmen. We left the camp early the next
morning. The ground was covered with snow,
and the weather quite unsettled. After dis
tance Of some three miles, we reached the lin.
! its Of vegetation; tall pine trees, some Of them
one hundred or one hundred and twenty feet
/ high, extended almost to this line. We were
now about five thousand feet below the summit.
and, as we advanced, the ascent grew more diff.
cult. The wind had been rising from the time
we left carp, and now blew quite fresh. ltwas
very cold, aud in half an hour we were in Sc.
we're snow storm. The further we advanced,
the more difficult was our respiration. 1t was
necessary 10 rest every four or five minutes
We continued climbing unlil about one o'clock,
when our party, which numbered, when we left
camp, about thirty, had become reduced To only
five. Theremainder had turned buck, Que by one,
as they had become exhausted with cold aud ia-
tigue. Oneof the officers became so chilled that
his mind wandered, and we could with difficulty
prevent him from lying down in the snowto sleep.
As we had succeeded thus far in ascending but
little more than one-third Of the way, and the
day being more than half gone, we concluded
to give up our attempt and make another trial
on fair day. We reached camp about four
o'clock, having been exposed for more than five
hours in most terrible snow storm. We soon
1 found that the latigues Of climbing were but a
small part Of our lroubles for we discovered,
as we stood around our fires, that one officer
had his nose frozen, and others their fingers
We were somewhat discouraged by this; still we
made arrangements TO try again on the following
day. Before sundown, one began to complain
of an inflammation of the eyes; and soon every
one Of the party, who had been exposed, was
suffering from very acute pain in the eyes,
Our camp presented a singular scene that night
and on the following morning, for there were
some twenty whose faces were very much swoI-
len, and the eyes so inflamed that we could not
: sleep. Some Of US thought that our eyesight
was totally gone. The morning found US no
better, and we broke up our camp to descend TO
the valley. 1t was aughabIe 10 see so many of
us gropingour way down some ten miles through
the defles Of the mountain.
There were two representations, | be.
leve-who had come out from the city with US,
1 for the purpose of ascending the mountain with
our party. They hadremained in camp, on ac.
=, count of the storm, during our trial. und instead
, of going down to the valley with US, they start.
ed upwards, thinking they would be able 10 sue.
cecd in reaching the summit. We encamped
that night at the bnse Of the mountain, and
= reached Amecameca the next day. There the
Italians Joined us. They had succeeded in
: reaching the "pecacho del Frayle," u peak
. some Two thousand feet from the summit, when
- one of them began spiung blood, aud they were
= compelled TO descend. After some discussion,
= the majority Of our parry decided that it was
impossible to reach the top, and that another at
g tempt was useless. Some half a dozen Of US
) thought we would make The trial, Our eyes
( were improving; we balhed them frequently
I with n solution Of sugar Of lead, and provided
1 ourselves with green speclaces, and gauze for
e oar faces. The next evening, at SIX o'clock
. found six of us. with some twenty-five infantry,
r cncamped two or three miles beyond the "vaCa-
: ra," near the limit Of vegetation; whilst the
remainder of our party had gone, Il portion c
F. Mexico. TO give an account Of our defeat, and
' The balance To Cuernavacu, TO visit celebrated
a cave, which would in some measure repay them
t Tor their disappointment here.
,, We left our camp on the morning of the lth
! before o'clock; our eyes were nearly WE'LL ant
. our faces not much swollen. The skin had EN-
iireIy peeled off. Still we had several advanta
i ges over our previous trial, for we had much
e further advanced; there was prospect Of u fail
) day, and we had our eyes and faces protected
t We rode our mules some two miles, until the
: ascent became too great for them, when we sent
K them back 10 camp. Our route now lay fol
some three or four miles over q surface of black
I. sand. This distance, on our previous trial, wa
/. covered with snow. 1t had melted, and tht
l. sand having absorbed the water, was frozen quite
e hard. We had little difficulty in getting along
y over this. By sunrise, we had reached an ele
l. vation of about two thousand feet above ou
n camp, and the scene below US was beautiful be
3 yond description. Themountain cast ashadow
, n Hich extended not only across the entire valley
~ q, horizon, but it eochedbeyond into thesky
wbere m ~ outline was so distinctly defined, tha
evnn the shadow cast by the smoke, as 1t ros'
f from the crotSr, was easily distinguished.
E As we advanced our progress began TO be i'm
peded by the snow and The atmosphere was u.s. $
saow satS wa, varied sd in depth from few inches to hre
or four feet; sometimes the surface was frozen
G and as smooth as glass. We had provided oGt l
e selves with long poles with iron pixies on Ia