Ascent to the Summit of the Popocatepetl. 223 
mountain. At one o’clock we arrived at the Vaqueria, a veritable 
Swiss chalet, which is used as a shelter by the keepers of a numer- 
ous herd of cows, and is the last inhabited spot on the mountain. 
At three o’clock we arrived at the point where vegetation ceases : 
this we did by ways which might almost be said to be beaten, for 
we had occasion but once to make use of our hatchets. As you are 
acquainted with the Alps, I have nothing to say on those admirable 
forests of oak, of firs, and of larch, which we passed through. They 
resemble each other in both hemispheres except that at the foot of 
these there are large flocks of guacamaias, (a large green parrot 
with a red head,) which are not to be met with at Chamouny or at 
Sallenches. There are also in the forest, jaguars, wolves, deer, 
and a great number of wild cats, but we did not see a single one of 
these animals. 
As you get higher up in the wood, the fir trees become scarcer, 
and of less size. Near the sands they may be said to be dwarfs, 
and all the branches are bent downwards, as if seeking below a less 
rarefied air. After these firs, for the most part lying down and near- 
ly rotten, you meet but with some tufts of a sort of currant-tree, 
with black fruit: and then here and there clumps of a yellowish 
moss, which grows in a half circle in the midst of scattered pumice- 
stone, lava, and basalts—in short, there is no longer any vegetation, 
and I did not even see lichen on the rocks. One then begins to 
feel that he is in a sphere wherein it is not possible to live. Res- 
piration is difficult: a certain melancholy, which is not without its 
agreeableness, comes over you: but, in truth, I cannot exactly define 
the sensations I experienced when entering these deserts. 
The instant you have left the wood, about one-third the height of 
the volcanic cone, you see only an immense extent of purple sand, 
which is in some parts so extremely fine, that it is blown by the wind 
into the most perfect ridges. Blocks of porphyry, scattered here 
and there, break in upon the monotony of the scene. The top of 
the undulations in the sand is crowned with numerous little pumice- 
stones of a yellowish color, which seem to have been heaped up by 
the wind. In short, from the summit of some of the volcanic rocks, 
masses of porphyry and black lava descend, intersecting the ridges 
of sand, and lose themselves in the forest. The highest part of the 
volcano is completely covered with snow, and this snow has a so 
much more brilliant effect that the sky is of a blue almost black. 
A few footsteps of wolves and jaguars were visible on the sands near 
the wood. 
