296 OCCUPATIONS OF THE TRAVELLERS. 



nometrical measurements which they had made, and 

 sketching the plates of the Geological Atlas which 

 Humboldt proposed to publish. They also assisted in 

 placing a colossal equestrian statue of the king, which 

 had been cast by a native artist. In January, 1804, 

 they left Mexico with the intention of examining the 

 eastern declivity of the cordillera of New-Spain. 

 -They also measured the great pyramid of Cholula, an 

 extraordinary monument of the Toltecks, from the 

 summit of which there is a splendid view of the snowy 

 mountains and beautiful plains of Tlascala. It is 

 built of bricks, which seemed to have been dried in 

 the sun, alternating with layers of clay. They then 

 descended to Xalapa, a city placed at an elevation 

 of 4138 feet above the sea, in a delightful climate. 

 The dangerous road which leads from it to Perote, 

 through almost impenetrable forests, was thrice ba- 

 rometrically levelled by Humboldt. Near the latter 

 place is a mountain of basaltic porphyry, remark- 

 able for the singular form of a small rock placed on 

 its summit, and which is named the Coffer of Perote. 

 This elevation commands a very extensive prospect 

 over the plain of Puebla and the eastern slope of 

 the cordilleras of Mexico, which is covered with 

 dense forests. From it they also saw the harbour 

 of Vera Cruz, the castle of St. Juan of Ulloa, and 

 the seacoast. 



Before following our travellers across the Atlantic, 

 it may be useful to present a sketch of the valuable 

 observations recorded in Humboldt's Political Essay 

 on the Kingdom of New- Spain, and which are in 

 part the result of his researches in that interesting 

 country. 



