The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1878-12-12
Mexico.-The Great POpOcatepctl.


grand old giant, one must take breath,
before starting -Popocatepetl, which,
in our simple English, means 'the
smoking, flaming mountain" [ have
stood on the loftiest peak of this noun
tain, and looked down upon the City of
Mexico, embedded amidst it's silvery
lakes, on one side, upon Puebla on
another, and upon the distant Orizaba
on third, through an atmosphere so
rare that the blood oozed from our
ears, our noses, and even from the
eyes of some of our party. At times,
the clouds are way below you, and at
others they envelop you as in an i'm
penetrable veil, and again not cloud
may be seen, only an immense dome
overhead most impressive idea of
boundless space L have ever seen. l
have been down the crater of this Won
derful volcano-a thousand feet deep,
and fifteen hundred feet wide; amidst
never-ceasing smoke, fire and sui phur
One goes springing down from rock to
rock, until the hot sandy sides are
reached. There you will find a wind
lass with long rope which lowers you
down to the bed of the crater where
the Indians are busy gathering the
sulphur. AS you bend to look at the
beautiful sample your guide shows you,
you suddenly hear the roar of 10000
batteries of artillery that makes you
as pale as death. Quick as thought the
Indian pulls you roughly by the arm
and crowds you behind boulder, while
the huge landslip rushes past you; and
the same may happen several times dur.
ing one visit. Again, with rafting of
loudest thunders down comes one of the
very same huge boulders, upon which
but half an hour ago you stood, and
as you jump to clear its track, your
foot cracks the thin surface that covers
the lake of turning sulphur beneath,
and your Indian shouts Justify as he
pulls you from perdition. One has to
be all the time lodging here, dodging
there, enveloped in smoke, now
choking with the fumes of sulphur, and
again scorched by the letting flames that
spring up here and spring up there, like
myriad of fiery demons reaching forth
to drag you to their hell-home. This
may possibly be the entrance to that
mysterious region, the existence of
which the eloquent Bob Ingersoll does
not believe in, and it is certainly worthy
of visit by him.
Once again safe on the peak
above, you may sit on the edge of the
crater, with one leg in the cold
region and the other in the perpetual
fires below. The ascent of this lofty
peak occupies, from the snow line, some
six OF seven hours-say about five
thousand feet up an angle of little less
than forty-tive degrees The Indian
guide ahead and you follow, alpenstock
in hand, carefully putting your feet in
the little steps he cuts in the snow.
Every ten minutes at most you have to
rest for breath.
Once on the summit, its view, its
grandeur, is simply impossible to be de-
scribed, and you can but stand in mute
wonder, gazing upon the wee world be-
low you, and the immensely of space
around, above you.
Then when you have looked and
wondered your fill, now for the descent.
Your Indian guide sits on little mat,
six feet long, two feet wide, with his
heels well in the snow, and stick be-
tween his knees. The stick and heel
pressed into the snow hold him firmly
in his position. You then sit down be-
hind him, throw your legs around his
body and over his outstretched thighs,
and clasp him tightly about the chest
with your arms Another places him
self in the same position behind you,
and more yet, until four or five are in
place. Slowly, cautiously, he starts
sliding downward for hundred yards,
gradually gaining velocity. Then, with
a suddenness that startles, he shouts
"cuidado vamonos y Qook; we are go
ing J and away you fly over the snow;
down, down, as if you would never
stop this side of the other world.
Within fifty yards of the snow-line, the
Indian dips poll and heels gradually into
the snow, and exactly where the snow
ends and the sands begins, there you
stop.
Those five thousand feet, you descend
in about five minutes. But the Indian
guides so thoroughly know their work
that there is not the remotest danger i'll