'308 COSMOS. 



clined to conclude, from the prolongation of the lava stream, 

 which is certainly very probable (it is so represented in my 

 Profiles, tab. 9 and 11, and in the Nivellement JSarometrique), 

 that it may have flowed from this mountain, the form of 

 which is so remarkable. The Cofre de Perote, which is 

 nearly 1400 feet higher than the Peak of Teneriffe, but in- 

 considerable in comparison with the giants Popocatepetl and 

 Orizaba, forms, like Pichincha, a long rocky ridge, upon the 

 southern extremity of which stands the small cubical rock 

 (La Pena), the form of which gave origin to the ancient Az- 

 tec name of Nauhcampatepetl. In ascending the mountain 

 I saw no trace of the falling in of a crater, or of eruptive or- 

 ifices on its declivities ; no masses of scoria?, and no obsidi- 

 ans, perlites, or pumice-stones belonging to it. The black- 

 ish-gray rock is very uniformly composed of much hornblende 

 and a species of feldspar, which is not glassy feldspar (sani- 

 dine) but oligoclase ; this would show the entire rock, which 

 is not porous, to be a dioritic trachyte. I describe the im- 

 pressions which I experienced. If the terrible, black lava- 

 field Malpais (upon which I have here purposely dwelt 

 in order to counteract the too one-sided consideration of ex- 

 ertions of volcanic force from the interior) did not flow from 

 the Cofre de Perote itself at a lateral opening, still the' up- 



pressus sabinoides and Arbutus Madrono. The oak, Quercus xalapensis, 

 had accompanied us only to an absolute elevation of 10,340 feet. 

 (Humboldt, Nivelkment barometr. des Cordilleres, Nos. 414-429.) The 

 name of Nauhcampatepetl, which the mountain bears in the Mexican 

 language, is derived from its peculiar form, which also induced the 

 Spaniards to give it the name of Cofre. It signifies " quadrangular 

 mountain" for nauhcampa, formed from nahui, the numeral four, signi- 

 fies as an adverb, from four sides, but as an adjective (although the Dic- 

 tionaries do not state this), undoubtedly, quadrangular or Jour-sided, as 

 this signification is attached to the compound nauhcampa ixquich. An 

 observer very well acquainted with the country, M. Pieschel, supposes 

 the existence of an old crater-opening on the eastern declivity of the 

 Cofre de Perote (Zeitschrift fur Allgem. Erdkunde, herausg. von Gurn- 

 precht, bd. v., s. 125). I drew the view of the Cofre, given in my Vues 

 des Cordilleres, pi. xxxiv., in the vicinity of the castle of San Carlos de 

 Perote, at a distance of about eight miles. The ancient Aztec name 

 of Perote was Pinahuizapan, and signifies (according to Buschmann) 

 the beetle pinahuiztli (regarded as an evil omen, and employed super- 

 stitiously in fortune-telling: see Sahagun, Historia Gen. de las Cosas 

 de Nueva Espana, t. ii., 1829, p. 10-11) on the water ; the name of this 

 beetle is derived from pindhua, to be ashamed. From the same verb 

 is derived the above-mentioned local name Pinahuast (pinahuaztli) of 

 this district, as well as the name of a shrub (Mimosaceae ?) pinahuihuiz- 

 tli, translated herba verecunda by Hernandez, the leaves of which fall 

 down when touched. 



