The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-04-23
NUMBER ID.

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sign TO lower faster, and Grasty's a2par-
emily ifeless and mutiiated body soon
REACHED the spot where they stood His
face severely bruised aud his clothing
oady torn, while the blood was tricklins
from his nose and ears, but he still BREATH
ed. After an hours rubbing and throwing
of snow in his face he came to, and the
whole party, now augmented by the arrival
of number of pcoD miners from below,
descended the sloping side ef the crater
Corchado and his Indians led the way.
slowly followed by GYasty, who was sup-
ported by Stevens and peon. After they
had got about half way down the steep
they experienced from the ice and stones
great difficulty in travelling. The most an
noying thing, however, was the constant
danger they were in of being crushed by
the huge hunks of ice and lock that were
continually rolling down. This debris is
the matter that is loosened daily by the
sun, whose warmth strikes off its icy letters
and suffers gravity to have its way. After
two hours slippery descending they reached
the bottom of the pit about half after in
the afternoon of Thanksgiving day. 1t
was now mole than fourteen hours since
they had left the ranch or the timber line
During this time they had asceuded over
5000 fee. to The summit, and then descend
ed q, 800 feet INTO the bowels of the volcano.
That rs, they were about IL hours going
up 5000 feet, and hours going down, in
Guiding stoppages at the edge of the crater.
Here they found hut made of stones in
habited by ,he sulphur miners. Or arriv-
ing at the hut they Immediately threw
themselves upon pile OF mats and sought
slumber, but they lay all the long night
xearied and worn, rolling and tossing in
Intellectual attempts to gain a little sleep.
The next morning CorcLado prepared
breakfast, and summoned them to partake
of it. Aside from drinking a cup of coffee
they could eat nothing. Their stomachs
were not used To the treatment they had
been receiving the past thirty-six hours,
and SO refused to be comfortcd Their
Z lungs, too, were also in rebellion, and were
disguised with the vapiditv of the air and
the gaseous exhaiations IF the ''breathing
holes" These they now visited in COM
pany with their kind and generous host.
I They are the mighty fissures that appear
in every direction at the bottom of this
vast cavity. They are not very broad, but
are deep. From these fissures issued dense
masses of vapor and smoke, heavily laden
with sublimated sulphur. This condenses
as soon Is the steam strikes the cold air
/ above, and then falls in fine sprinkle on
the surrounding rocks. This process has
been going ON for ages, until the whole in
terror of this great orifice is thickly coated
with a remarkably fine quality of the -four
of sulphur. This is in quantities that are
a colossal fortune for its owner, Gen.
Ochoa- Forty miners are now engaged in
excavating and hoisting it 70 the toy of the
crater
To return to the chasms, however. The
party visited the largest and gazed down
into it. They could see no bottom, for it
ended In stygian darkness. They rolled a
huge stone into its ragged throat. A series
of reports, caused by the missile bounding
from side to side of the pit, came back,
loud at first but gradually diminishing until
they died away 10 the awful depths below
The other holes were vomiting steam and
making great noise, which at times
seemed like the slow and laboring throb of
Cyclopean enginery. At others it sounded
like the believing and shriekiRg of devils.
Having now seen everything that could be
seen. they bid their new-made but long to-
! aforementioned friend, Corchado, farewell,
! and set opt TO return, accompanied by four
! Indians.
The $500 feet climb to the end of the
rope was fearful JOB, but the ascent by
the rope was still worse. They were COM
PEELED to kick aud push against the cl fl az
cessantly toprevent being dragged TO pieces
on the sharp rocks. They got to The top
! in safety, however, and there found more
poems to take them to the climber line.y
[ They made the descent by sitting down on
piece of thick mating, with an Indian
seated behind each of them, to steer this
novel vehicle while sliding down the noun
tain oyer The snow and ice. They de-
scended six miles in less than 20 minutes.
One time, while buried in thick SNOW
/ laden cloud, they came near slipping into
! the Barrancd del Kuerte, a chasm of 3, 600
/ feet deep. On reaching the ends Of the
! snow feds they found .heir horses at La
Cruz, and then rode to Tlamacas. When
/ met them [ scarcely recognized them,
they were SO haggard, suiburnt, bruised
and dirty.
When CorteZ conquered Mexico, Po-
pocatapetl was in state of combustion,
and throwing out vast volumes of smoke
wiiick could he seen for a hundred miles
i'm every direction. Now the quantity Is
SO small that it can be seen only after
irving at its base. The first white man to
ascend it was Francisco Montana in 1919.
! He was sent to the crater for a supply of
! sulphur for CoiteZ, and to impress The
/ Aztecs with the courage of the Spaniaris.
/ Since then numerous asceusions have been
| made by eminent Savans, travellers and ad-
venturcrs from Europe and the United
/ States. Mrs. John w. Foster, the wife of
our minister, and Mrs. Arthur Terry, of
/ Connecticut, are the only women that ever
scaled Pcpocatapetl TO its top, and Col. ).
G: Grasty and Harry Stevens, of Cleveland,
are the only foreigners that ever descended
! to the bottcm of tho crater, and there
passed the night.
The last eruption Of Potocatapets occur
red according To an ancient Aztec Maguey
! Ms now in the possession of Senor Rame-
reg of Meec8mecca, about the middle of the
fourteenth century, nearly i7o years before
The Spaniasd irst trod the valley of Mexico.
While hunting in the tuies near the
sinl, of Cache Greek, on Monday last, says
the Tolo (Cal.) Mail, Mr.. Abe Green, an
old tule hunter, discovered a petriticd goose
standing upright, with its legs barsed about
one-lalf in the adobe soil. He thought at
first it was living, and creeping closely up
fired his gun at il, but the bird did not
bulge an inch. lie thought it very strange,
and walked up TO it. lie found it dead,
and in trying to pick it up was astonished
at its immense weight. 1t had turned to