MEXICO AND ITS ANTIQUITIES. 623 



enters a magnificent forest, which is succeeded by a growth of thick 

 grass, after which the crest-line of the ridge is crossed, and the ranch 

 of Tlamacas, the starting-point for the summit, is reached. The lower 

 part of the peak of the volcano has a slope of about 20"^, and the angle 

 increases in ascending till it reaches about 45° just below the sum- 

 mit. The crater is not visible until the traveler arrives at the edge. 

 It is roughly estimated to be about five hundred yards in diameter and 

 one hundred and fifty yards deep, and contains several /wmaro/es, with 

 a small pond at its bottom. The temperature of the air on the summit 

 at about ten o'clock in the morning was 32°. The view from the peak 

 commands an area of about one hundred thousand square miles, and 

 reaches to the Gulf of Mexico, one hundred and fifty miles distant. 

 The descent may be made, if the snow is soft enough, by coasting on 

 a sled. The volcano of Jorullo, in Michoacan, is famous for having 

 been the result of a sudden eruption from a previously peaceful plain, 

 on the night of the 28th — 29th of September, 1759, the phenomena of 

 which are fully related in a graphic description in Humboldt's " Cos- 

 mos." It is reached by a fifty-five-mile horseback-ride from Patz- 

 cuaro-station on the railroad from Mexico to Manzanillo. Horses may 

 be ridden to within half a mile of the crater. The volcano is pear- 

 shaped, with the outlet of the crater on the north side. The cone is 

 covered with loose black ashes, in which a few bushes grow, and slopes 

 at about 45° on the north and west sides. The crater is about a mile 

 in circumference. The traveler may descend in it to the bottom, 

 about five hundred feet below the summit. The walls slant rapidly, 

 and are covered with an enormous mass of talus. Grass, a few ferns, 

 and some native trees grow on its borders, and deer are abundant on 

 the mountain. Shocks of earthquakes are often felt in the environs of 

 Jorullo, one of which, in March, 1883, left cracks in the ground at a 

 point ten miles off. Although no eruption has taken place for more 

 than a hundred years, the volcano is still in a semi-active state, as is 

 shown by the heat of the crater- walls, the emission of aqueous gas and 

 vapor, and the frequency of earthquakes. A very extensive view is 

 commanded from the summit. 



Great interest is given to Mexico by its ancient ruins, relies of un- 

 known people, whose character, origin, and history are destined long 

 to be fruitful themes of study. They consist of teocallis, or pyra- 

 mids, in different parts of the country, and the remains of elaborate 

 buildings and of cities, chiefly situated in the States of Yucatan, Chia- 

 pas, and Oaxaca. The most prominently known ruins of cities are those 

 of Uxmal, in Northern Yucatan, which are considered to be the oldest ; 

 those of Palenque, in Chiapas, next in age ; and those of Mitla, in 

 Oaxaca, third in age. The buildings were usually constructed of 

 hewed stone, and have excited general admiration on account of the 

 skill in architecture and the elaborate workmanship displayed in them. 

 Near some of them are the remains of finely constructed artificial 



