334 ALEXANDEK VON HUMBOLDT. 



length, " Valgame Dios ! who is that young lady ? " From that 

 time forth he was always at her side, more captivated, it is 

 said, by the graces of her mind than by the beauty of her 

 person. She was regarded by him as an American Madame de 

 Stael. One is led to suspect from these little incidents that 

 the grave man of science was fascinated by a witchery, from 

 which all his mines and mountains, his geography and geology, 

 his fossil shells and Alpine limestone, were alike powerless to 

 protect him.' 



In concluding these reminiscences of the Mexican beauty, 

 Madame Calderon de la Barca adds, with evident satisfaction : 

 6 It is quite refreshing to see that even the great Humboldt was 

 not wholly removed from susceptibilities of this nature ! ' ] 



In January, 1804, our travellers left the capital to explore 

 the eastern slope of the Mexican Cordilleras. They measured, 

 by geometrical observations, the height of Popocatepetl, and 

 Iztaccihuatl, known as the volcanoes of Puebla : the crater of 

 the former is inaccessible, though a tradition exists that Diego 

 Ordaz was lowered down into it by means of ropes, for the 

 purpose of collecting sulphur, apparently an unnecessary 

 proceeding, since sulphur abounds on the plain. 



The summit of Popocatepetl, which has been ascended to a 

 height of 16,779 feet by the zealous mineralogist Herr Son- 

 nenschmidt, was discovered by Humboldt to be considerably 

 higher than the Peak of Orizaba, hitherto regarded as the 

 highest mountain of the plateau of Anahuac. He also took 

 measurements of the great Pyramid of Cholula, a mysterious 

 erection of unburnt bricks, the work of the Totteken, from the 

 summit of which there is a magnificent prospect of snowclad 

 peaks, and the fertile plains of Tlascala. 



Continuing their descent to the coast, the travellers passed 

 through Perote, on their way to Jalapa, which from its 

 position, 4,423 feet above the sea, enjoys a mild and genial 



1 As a matter of curiosity, it may be mentioned that during his sojourn 

 in Mexico Humboldt wrote in May, 1803, to assert his claim to the inven- 

 tion of an instrument for measuring carbonic acid, in the 'Allgerneine 

 Literaturzeitung,' 1800, No. 93, unjustly appropriated by Voigt, instrument 

 maker to the Duke of Saxony. (' Intelligenzblatt zur Allgeineinen Litera- 

 turzeitung,' 1803, p. 1487.) 



