PARICUTIN—GONZALEZ AND FOSHAG 229 
In Parangaricutiro, Luis Oritz Solorio was standing near his house, 
talking to his neighbor, the shoemaker. It was a quarter past 5 in the 
afternoon. Looking toward Quitzocho, he saw a thin column of smoke 
arising. He went to the plaza, where many people had gathered in 
front of the church, for news had come that the earth had opened up 
and smoke was issuing from a crack in the ground. The Cura, Jose 
Caballero, with the consent of the Presidente, Felipe Cuara Amezcua, 
decided to send a group of men to the spot to see what had taken 
place. Solorio offered to go, also Jesus Anguiano, Jests Martinez, 
Antonio Escalera, and Miguel Campoverde. Since the Cura believed 
this mission would be a dangerous one in which they might lose their 
lives, and to give them spirit, as well as valor, he gave them his 
benediction. 
FIGURE 2.—Paricutin Volcano at 6 p. m., February 20, 1943. (From a model made 
in the soil by Anguiano. Scale in meters.) 
. Small mounds of gray ash. 
. The fissure that opened. 
. The pit from which vapors issued. 
. The fracture that opened while Anguiano and Martinez watched the vent. 
. Anguiano and Martinez. 
. Other members of the Parangaricutiro party. 
oS OR ON 
They went by horse, riding rapidly, and very soon came to the spot, 
the first two to arrive being Jess Anguiano and Jestis Martinez. They 
found that the earth had opened, forming a kind of fissure, at the 
extreme southern end of which was a hole about half a meter across, 
from which issued smoke, and red-hot stones were thrown into the 
air a short distance. Anguiano, desirous to see what was taking place 
in the hole, approached the spot, when Solorio cried out to come back, 
the side was about to collapse. Scarcely had he leapt back, when the 
