220 Ascent to the Summit of the Popocatepetl. 
course of ages, having become the depositories of knowledge, and 
having spread their ramifications into every class of society, naturally 
came to exercise a great political influence, and we find were often 
raised to have civil dominion in the state. When the hand writing 
was on the wall, on the night of the fall of Babylon, the soothsay- 
ers, enchanters, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans were assem- 
bled; and when Daniel read the mysterious words, the mistaken 
king commanded them to put a chain of gold around his neck, and 
they made proclamation concerning him, that he should be third ru- 
ler in the kingdom. e luxury and magnificence of the feast on 
that fatal night, gives us some idea of the civilization of the Babylo- 
nians. The vessels of gold and silver, the wines, and the Indian 
fruits, and the Assyrian concubines that danced before the king, 
while the praises of Melekta were sounded by flutes, and chanting 
men from beyond the Ganges, and the harp, and pipe, sackbut, 
psaltery, and dulcimer, completed the merriment and revelry of that 
pageant. 
To be continued. 
Art. II.— Ascent to the Summit of the Popocatepetl, the highest 
point of the Mexican Andes, 18,000 feet above the level of the 
Sea.* 
Remark by the Editor.—We gladly embrace an opportunity to 
insert a notice of a volcano of which so little is known. 
Mexico, May 15th, 1834. 
The valley of Mexico is one of the most picturesque in the world ; 
it is bounded on the §.S.E. by a range of mountains, from which 
two volcanos rise up, known by the lndion names of Iztaciuhatl and 
Popocatepetl. Their peaks, always covered with snow, are at six- 
teen and eighteen thousand English feet above the level of the sea- 
The crest af the former, the nearer to Mexico, runs from N.W. to 
S.E., and is irregularly rent. The latter is a perfect cone. It some- 
what resembles Mount etna, but does not, like that mountain, rise 
from a plain. The Popocatepetl is on the side of the platform of 
* London Atheneum, Noy. 15, 1834.—This interesting narrative is translated 
from a letter addressed by Baron Gros, Chief Secretary to the French Legation in 
Mexieo, to a friend at Paris 
