Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1852-04-13
miscellaneous.
ASCENT OF THE MEXICAN VOLCANO,
UF 0RIZAVA.

was obhged TO aemaln at the fasco Ma
cional for some days, being unable to obtain
a guide and unwilling to attempt the ascent
alone. had set my mind upon a French
man, who within few days previous, had
assembled the Peak of Orizava twice, up to
its very summit,--an exploit which be is be-
lieved to have been the first ever to have
performed His name is Alexandra Dosnon,
and he indeed deserves to be mentioned for
having twice undertaken so perlous and diff
cult an expedition entirely by himself, and
over ground of which he was perfectly ignor-
ant. The first time, be was accompanied part
of the way by several others, but none of
them Succeeded in reaching the summit ex-
cept himself On his return to the plain, the
Mexicars in the neighboring villages laughed
so much at the idea of his having reached the
summit, which was supposed impsacticable,
that he offered, If they would make him a
flag, to carry it up and plant it on the top
They made him one, five yards long and two
wide. which, together with flag staff three
yards and half long made out Of tree,
still green and heavy, and crowbar, be car
ried up the mountain and VIGOROUSLY planted
on its highest point. When arrived ut the
Pasco, saw it still fl ing there. Omliis re
turn, he was received at the principal town of
the district by all the authorities headed by
band Of music, and was feted on all sides
A letter from me interrupted him in these
gaieties, and on the afternoon of the 14th of
April, he and | and young German belong.
ing to the smelling establishment, started to-
gether on horseback to the limits of vegeta-
tion The weather was far from promising,
for it was pouring rain; and not feeling quite
so strong as when | assembled Popocatepetl,
did not anticipate entire success. A ride
Of about three hours, through thick forests,
along the edge of a iright:uly precipitate ra-
vine, brought us to hut close to the limits
of vegetation, at place called "El Puerto"
well known to the contrabandists of the coun-
try being the path they make use Of for
their smuggling operations from the coast
The boiling water point at this place was
1909 Fahrenheit, indicating height of H.
395 feet. At 5 o'clock on the morning of
the 10Th we started again on horseback, be,
ing myself armed with long pointed stick,
barometer aud two thermometers, and a
pair of cricket shoes We were not able to
avail ourselves of our horses for more than
about two miles, which brought US to an ele-
walton of above II, 1000 feet. Here we dis
mounted and began the ascent in good earn
est at exactly six o'clock. The first part of
the path was very steep and over loose stone
and masses of rock which had tumbled from
above it was exceedingly fatiguing, especial
ly as the large stones occasionally slipped
from under our feet. We were further in
commoded by a furious wind, which came
driving down from the top of the mountain,
made our limbs ache, and impeded our res
piration so much, that every time we stop
ped to take breath, we were obliged to turn
our backs to the wind After about an hour
of this painful tumblng about, we got to the
permanent snow line, which is very consid-
erably lower on this mountain than at Popo.
catepetl Snow line it can hardly be called,
for the mountain is one mass Of ice, with a
covering of not more than two inches of snow
generally. The sides are so steep that the
snow very soon blows off and is melted; in
fact, it is a solid glacier, with frequent enor-
nous crevices, some as much as a hundred
feet wide, others not more than foot, but
all so deep that one cannot see the bottom Of
them. 1t is these that make the ascent more
particularly dangerous for they are fire.
quently covered with slight crust of ice,
which gives way as soon as you put your foot
upon it. When there is no snow the color
of the ice is different in these parts; but
when there is slight coat as was the case
when we were ascending, owing to the rain
on the previous night, the only chance of
safety is feeling ones way by striking the
ground with one S stick We were frequent
ly obliged to make long circuits to avoid the
assures; but occasionally they so completely
barred the path that we were forced to make
the most Fit; and 60 over the thin crust Of
ice as quickly aud lightly as we could; but
confess the feeling was one shall not easily
forget The wind continued to increase as
we got higher; the clouds and fog were very
thick, and view there was none, much to our
disappointment; for when the atmosphere is
clear, the Peak Of Orizava must command the
most extensive and magpiiccn. view in the
Republic Now and then we got glimpse
Of the summit, the object of our ambition
but after having clenbed till half past II.
the inclination having been christianity about
90 degrees, we found ourselves still about
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