The Indianapolis journal., 1903-10-17

fields. We were almost Immediately en-
veloped in a dense fog. We were now fairly
ton only by the steepness of the incline be-
fore US. Up and on we climbed till we
suddenly came upon black and yawning
gulf. and the guide shouted. Here is the
crater, senior! Overcome by conflicting
emotions, L sank upon the craters brim
breathless and painting from excitement.
The lip of the crater is a narrow rim of
sand lying above the black abyss and at
the edge of the sea of snow The crater is
over one thousand feet deep.
When an opening in the clouds oc-
hundred feet clinging to the projections
of porphyrite rock, TO rocky platform
whence the laborers in the volcano were
lowered to the bottom of the crater. The
ma ajorty of them work in gangs alternate
weeks, camping in the crater beneath
rough sheds. Ascending to the brim, we
were compelled TO seek shelter under the
snow ledge. For an hour the storm ragged
with fury, and from the depths of the
ter doomed the noise of escaping steam and
detona tions that told of the activity of in
ternal forces. while the crashing of falling
stones awoke the echoes of this great
basin in deafening reverberations This
was the month OF May. My thermometer
for two months previous in Mexico had
hung against the wall of my room and
would slide UP from seventy degrees in the
morning to eighty degrees at noon and then
back again. 1t got down 10 forty degrees
at the ranch i hung it on stick at the
crater, and it went down to thirty-four
degrees. which represented the actual tenn
perature. When L piled the SNOW about the
bulb il was brought down to the freezing
point II the ascent of six hours slow
ad tedious. going down was exactly the
reverse. STOOD on my broad-soed hunting
shoes and. guiding my course with the
alpenstock. sped downward with the speed
of the wind. AT sunset old Popo seemed on
fire. his peak took on a rosy glow that soon
suffuSed the whole cone. But when day
light had puSt faded both mountains were
wrapped in the serene white and calm of
this upper atmosphere. That night it
showed at the ranch, and the next morn
ing the whole mountain was covered deep,
even down to the pines. All the sand field
that we plowed through the day before was
heaped high with snow drifts, making it
impossible to ascend.
1T is only within the last twenty years
that many persons have undertaken TO
be quite the fashion. and a number of
ladies have accomplished the feat also.
Mrs Julia A. Skilton, wife of the United
States consul general to Mexico in 1874, be-
ing the first lady to accomplish the ascent.
Light warm clothing should be worn;
a large -brimmed hat, goggles, a piece of
leather in form of sandal strapped under
are about all that is needed from the start
ing point of ascension. party of ladies
and gentlemen a few weeks ago made the
ascent i'm four hours from the ranch, ex-
cept two VINO completed ii in six. One of
the young ladies bad been advised TO wear
a cap" and on her return her face was
scorched By the as to be almost
unrecognizable. One lady tainted almost
at the start, but on recovering conscious
ness undertook TO continue the climbing.
| She tainted again, and so was compelled
| to return 10 the halfway house to await
| there the coming of the remainder of the
| party Some years ago a minister under
| took the ascent, but had hemorrhage of the
| nose ears and mouth. 1t Is almost i'm
possible to tell who can succeed in getting
| 10 the top. The process of returning is now
| easy and rapid. each person slides down,
| toboggan style, on straw mat called
''petate.
Bishop Warren, who had previously as
1 cended the Matterhorn. made SucceSSfu
trim 10 Popocatapetls s crater in 1886. and II
I / mistake not there appeared in one oil
| the home papers n most thrilling descrip-
| ton from his pen of the magnificent view
| ne had from that height. Bishop Fitz
! Gerald and daughter, Miss Cornelia, made
/ the ascent later, and l am the proud pos
| SCISSOR of some sulphur which the bishop
| obtained himself from the crater Professor
l.. T. Townsend OF Boston. was also one
! of a party In 1884,.
| II has been widely published Throughout
| the United States that an American com
| many had bought POpocatapetl for the sun
| of five million dollars. As General Sanche;
| Ochoa resides i'm the Iturbide Hotel. JUS
| across the way from our own mission
| house my husband interviewed the genia
| old general and obtained the following
| racts: The deal has not been consum
| mated. but il is probable that II will b'
| soon and the sum to be paid will not ex
ceed s5oo,0oo