EXTINCT VOLCANO. Ill 



having been settled in 1533. Here activity and growth are 

 manifest on every side. It has two large theatres, a 

 spacious bull-ring, and a beautiful alameda, which is kept 

 in good condition. Here is situated the ''Yale College " of 

 Mexico, the Institute Literario, in which most of the lead- 

 ing men of Mexico were educated. The institution has a 

 large library and museum of natural history, together with 

 a well-appointed gymnasium. Here may be seen the best 

 and largest market in Mexico. It is all under cover, and 

 each article has its appropriate place of sale; vegetables, 

 fruits, meats, fish, flowers, pottery, baskets, shoes, and 

 sandals, form the chief articles of trade. On general 

 market day the spot is thronged with people from the sur- 

 rounding country, dressed in their picturesque native cos- 

 tumes. 



Near Toluca is the extinct volcano of the same name, 

 the crater of which forms a large lake, which is said to be 

 fathomless. On the second day after our arrival we essayed 

 its ascent. We left Toluca at 5:30 a. m., in a tram-car for 

 San Juan de las Hurtos. Here a guide and horses were 

 procured. The first stage of the ascent was very interest- 

 ing. The day was very hot, and as we passed through the 

 woods everything was motionless, excepting the butterflies 

 which lazily fluttered about. The scene when crossing the 

 hills, behind San Juan, was most beautiful; the colors were 

 intense, the prevailing tint a dark green, the sky of a 

 deep blue. After passing through some cultivated fields, 

 we entered a forest, which in the grandeur of its parts 

 could not be exceeded. Early in the afternoon we arrived 

 at the base of the cone. Here we left the horses and 

 cHmbed up the steep and rocky crater-walls to the summit, 

 which commanded a grand view of the surrounding country. 

 The height of this mountain is not over 15,000 feet. 



We spent the night at an Alpine-looking cottage sit- 



