24 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES. 



chaos of crevasses and lava streams, a malpais, or " bad land," very difficult to 

 traverse. But all the underground furnaces have long been extinguished north 

 of the Lerraa valley. South of this parting -line begins the region of inland 

 lava seas, indicated by the chain of burning mountains which here runs obliquely 

 across Mexico from ocean to ocean. Some of the cones are quite isolated, or else 

 rise above detached groups, while others lie on the very axis of the main ranges. 



Near its Pacific extremity, the Ceboruco or Ahuacatlan peak (7,140 feet) is 

 the first eminence iti this igneous belt. It forms part of a chaotic group almost 

 entirely separated from the Sierra Madre by the valleys and passes commanded by 

 the city of Guadalajara. In 1870 it entered on a state of violent eruption, and 

 since then it has never ceased to emit gases and igneous vapours. Ceboruco is the 

 centre of numerous craters, of which the two largest, one extinct, the other still 

 smoking, are each 1,000 feet deep. They lie close together, being separated only 

 by a narrow ridge formed of cones in j uxtaposition. 



Farther south Coliraa, which also ejects vapours, presents in its collective 

 phenomena a general analogy to Ceboruco. Despite its great elevation (12,800 

 feet) this superb cone is merely the southern spur of a still more elevated 

 porphyry mass, which the natives call the Volcan de Niere {" Snowy Volcano "), 

 although its crest does not terminate in a crater. The depression seen on the 

 summit, usually supposed to be an extinct crater, appears to be nothing more than 

 an amphitheatre formed of two ravines whose torrents descend to the Pacific. 



On the slopes of the Volcan de Move the upper limit of the forest zone stands 

 no higher than 13,000 feet. Here begin the snows which are permanent through- 

 out the year on all the bare parts of the crest From the terminal point (14,300 

 feet), the mountain slopes southwards towards the Volcan del Fuego, which is 

 separated by a rocky rampart from the neighbouring colossus. 



At Colima eruptions, rare during the last century, have in recent years become 

 more frequent. In 1869, 1872, 1873, and 1885, masses of ashes have been 

 ejected, and borne by the atmospheric currents as far as San Luis-Potosi, 280 

 miles to the north-east. Lavas have also been discharged during these dis- 

 turbances, but nearly all have flowed from lateral cones, the " Sons of Colima," 

 and from eminences scattered over the surrounding valleys. 



The Calabozo lagoon, whose deep and still unfathomed chasm discharges its 

 waters through the Rio San Antonio at the northern foot of the mountain, appears 

 to be an old crater filled by sulphurous springs. Situated on the very edge of 

 the Mexican uplands and ravined at its base by enormous barrancas leading down 

 to the plain, Colima occupies the centre of a vast horizon embracing lofty summits, 

 plains, and the distant ocean. Eastwards the view reaches as far as the glittering 

 peak of snowy Popocatepetl, Under the same latitude as the twin crests of Colima 

 stands the wooded Tancitaro volcano (12,100 feet) ; but it lies much nearer to the 

 main range, of which it is merely a southern offshoot. Tancitaro, which commands 

 a distant view of the Pacific, is connected with the Cerro Patamban (12,400 feet) 

 by the long jagged ridge of the Cerro Periban. 



Farther east the almost isolated Jorullo (Joruyo) volcano rises to a height of 



