Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1851-02-06
Ascent Of PoDOcateDctl.


pendous mountain known as the Popocat-
epetl is within full view from the city of
Mexico. The ascent of it was effected in
May last by Edward Thornton, Esq, at
tached to the British Legation in Mexico.
in company with some of his friends
The party passed their first night at the
Rancho Of HansdeGs" at the height of
1852 English feet above the level of
the ocean. On the following morning
they started at o'clock, and in five
hours and three~qualters, they reached
the lower lip of the crater. Here is
small Rancho for the convenience of those
collecting sulphur from the volcano.
"From our feet, (says Mr.. Tho, nton,)
straight down to the limits OF vegetation
was one sheet Of snow, without rock or
stone to b:eak its unity: then vast
woods, then towns and villages dotted
over the cultivated lands, but all seen ex-
ceedingly clear, even With the naked eye
"A popularity which I have never OBJ
served in any country so much as in the
high table land of Mexico; the ey 9 could
even distinguish the different green of
the sugar plantations in the 'Tierra CAL
iente, far away"
The height OF the mountain appears to
have been ascertainsd very satisfactorily
the barometrical measurements of Mr..
Thornton agreeing almost exactly with
those of Mr.. Glennie.
"Gy next care was to set up my ba>
rometer. One Of the thermometers l
found broken, how, / cannot imagine, for
l had packed them. very carefully, and
had never let them out of my own hands ;
however, I considered myself very fortu>
nate that I had brought up two of
them. The height Of the little house l
have mentioned above, and which the Dr.
rector entitled the " Rancho del Espeio,"
is, according to my barometer, 1915
English feet, or 5,2Sl.2 pae.res. In the
year 1926, the mountain was assembled
by Mr.. William Glennie and his brother,
ON the North West side, and baromet-
rical observation was taken by the former
on the highest peak, which was on the
west side OF the crater. The height cali
culated by him was 1888 English feet,
and we conjectured that the peak was
about 500 feet higher than the lower lip
of the crater, and the Rancho del Espejo
about one hundred feet below the latter !;
so that in fact my observation is con>
6rmation of that taken. by Mr.. VI. s1lsna
ME. We did not 60 to this poin. because,
on account of the broken nature of the
mountain, it would have cost about four
hours more hard labor to have got to it,
which we did not think worth while for
so small. an elevation"
The crater of this mountain must be
one of the most terrific objects when the
volcano is active. Imagine an oval pit
nearly two-thirds Of mile across, with
almost perpendicular walls, and an aver
age depth Of quarter of mile! tire.
sembles, more nearly probably than any
other cratar on the surface of the earth,
those tremendous cavities on the surface
of the moon as revealed by the telescope.
"Great as was the impression which
the first view of the crater made upon
me, it is impossible for me to give any
adequate description of it. The ascent
to it from Rancho del Espejo was so
rapid that we came upon it OF sudden,
the snow reaching to the very brink. II
required q tolerably good head not to be
little bewildered at so suddenly coming
upon the edge Of perpendicular depth
Of 1000 feet. which is certainly no exag
geration Of that of the crater, even from
the lower lip; from the highest peak it
must be 1900 feet. The form is rather
more oval than circular, and the distance
across. from east to west, about 5000
feet; the sides are nearly perpendicular
all round /; on the northeast side, how
ever, there is a steep descent to small
terrace, upon which Whitney has been
fixed, on the very edge of the crater, for
the purpose of letting down and drawing
up the men employed in getting sulphur
from below, and of raising the sulphur;
the rope of this Whitney is $50 measured
varas. perpendicular depth, or 6s7 feet.
The surface of the bottom of the crater
is sprinkled with from 40 to so Jets, from
which smoke is constantly issuing, some
more. some less, in some Of them large
stones are boiling one over another. ike
the bubbles Of boiling water, being some>
times Of bright yellow color, which re-
mains for moment and disappears; the
smoke emitted has most nauseous smell
of sulphur. AL this is accompanied with
a constant rumbling noise, like Q heavy
surf breaking over q rocky shore. The
director assured US there was a stream
in the bottom SO strong that it burnt holes
in the clothes of the workmen he said
it lost itself in the bosom of the mountain.
Large masses of stone are being constants
ly detached from the sides of the crater,
which 90 laundering down to the bottom,
to the great risk Of the workmen, one of
whom had been killed some days before BY
stone falling upon his head. This was
the danger which principally deferred us
from descending into the crater, which we
could see very well from above. From con.