60 Accojint of Truvels Ictween the Tropics. 



■ iiniqaic, — that of there being only one individual of it, 

 V-'hicb has existed since the remotest antiquilw 



On their return to the capital of Mexico they remained 

 there several months to arrange tlieir heihab, abundant in 

 gramineous plants, and their geological collections ; to cal- 

 culate their barometTic and trigonometrical measurements 

 performed in the course of that year; and in particular to 

 make fair drawings of the geological atlas, which M. Iliini- 

 fcoldt proposes to publish. 



Then- return furnished them also with an opportunity of 

 assisting at the erection of the colossal ccjuestrian statue of 

 tht king, which one artist, M. 'J'oisa, overcoming difii- 

 culties of which a proper idea cannot l)e formed in Europe, 

 modelled, cast, and erected on a very high pedestal : it is 

 wrought in the simplest style, and would be an ornau)ent to 

 the finest capitals in Europe. 



• In January 1S04 our travellers left Mexico to explore the 

 eastern declivity of the cordillera of New Spam : thev mea- 



■ iiured geometrically the two volcanoes of Puelila, Popoea- 



■ lepec and Il^accihuatl, According to a fabulous tradition, 

 D:ego Ordaz entered the inaccessible crater of the ffirmer 

 •suspended by ropes, in order to collect sulphur, which may 

 ■be lound every where in the plains. 



.M. flumboldt discovered that the volcano of Popocatepec, 

 on which M. Sonncnschmidt, a zealous mineralogist, had 

 the courage to ascend C557 toises, is higher than the peak 

 of Orizikba, which has hitherto been considered the highest 

 colossus of the country of Anahuac : he measured also the 

 great pyramid of Cholula, a mysterious work cons^tructed 

 of unbaked brick by the Tultcquas, and from the ^unnnit 

 of which there is a most beautiful view over the snowy 

 Mimjnitsand smilinc plains of Tlaxcala. 



• AftcT these researches they descended by Perote to Xa- 

 .lapa, a town situated at the height of 674 toises above the 

 level of the sea, at a mean height at which the inhabitants 

 tujoy the fruits of all climates, and a tempemture cquallv 

 mild and beneficial to the health of man. j^ It was here that, 

 by the kindness of Mr. Thomas Murphy, a respectable in- 



* tiividual, who to a large fortune adds a taste for the sciences, 

 our travellers found every facility imaginable for performing 

 their operations in the neiglibouring mountains. 



'Ilie level of the horrid road which leads from Xalapa to 

 Perote, through almost impenetrable forests of oaks and firs, 

 and which has begun to be converted into a maornilicent 

 -causeway, was three times taken with the barometer. 

 W. Huiuboldt, notwithstanding the quantity of snow which 

 4 " had 



