GEOLOGY. 621 



The top of this volcano is covered with eternal snow, and 

 by a strange contrast its once blazing summit, now almost 

 extinct, has become an emblem of the alliance between the 

 rigors of winter and the empire of fire. The crater of Po- 

 pocatepetl is about 1000 feet deep. The descent, which is 

 effected by the assistance of a cord wound on a windlass, is 

 made for the purpose of seeking sulphur. Arrived at the 

 bottom, we find a mass of snow and long stalactites of ice, 

 which hang from its walls or occupy the soil in every place 

 where the sun does not reach, and which are not heated by 

 the jets of hot vapor seen springing up here and there. 

 Some writers think that Cortez obtained sulphur from this 

 mountain to make powder, when he ran short of it. What 

 is more certain is that some of his daring companions tried 

 to reach the crater, and that they failed the first time. 



The crater of Masaya, which struck the first conquerors 

 of the New World with terror, seems to be even larger. 

 Oviedo, who visited it, was appalled. He relates that in its 

 depths there is a space so vast that a hundred horsemen 

 could easily manoeuvre in the presence of a thousand per- 

 sons. Moreover, at that time there could be seen a furnace 

 where a burning wave rose and fell at intervals, which the 

 pious explorer of America estimated at about six times as 

 long as it would take to repeat the Credo. As he moved 

 away from the precipice, quite stupefied, he exclaimed, " I 

 cannot believe that a Christian could contemplate such a 

 spectacle without thinking about hell and repenting of his 

 sins." 



The fire-belching mouths have always alarmed the inhab- 

 itants of volcanic countries, and everywhere they have been 



