MOUNTAINS OF GUATEMALA. 



of three or four guns ; but I am quite sure the 

 object was effectually answered by this noisy 

 compliment, so dear to the whole race which in- 

 habit the coasts of the New World. 

 • The watering of the ship was completed in the 

 course of the day, after which we tripped our 

 anchor, and made all sail out of the bay, on our 

 course to Acapulco, which lies on the south-west 

 coast of Mexico, at the distance of fifteen hundred 

 miles from Panama. There are two ways of 

 making this passage, one by going out to sea far 

 from the land ; the other by creeping, as it is 

 called, along-shore. I preferred the latter method 

 as the most certain, and as one which gave an 

 opportunity of seeing the country, and of making 

 occasional observations on remarkable points of 

 the Andes, the great chain of which stretches 

 along the south-west coast of Mexico, precisely in 

 the manner it does along the west shore of South 

 America. 



On the 23d of February, eighteen days after 

 leaving Panama, when we had reached a point a 

 j little to the northward of Guatimala, we discovered 

 I two magnificent conical-shaped mountains towering 

 : above the clouds. So great was their altitude, 

 ', that we kept them in sight for several days, and 

 j by making observations upon them at different 

 stations, we were enabled to compute their dis- 

 tances, and, in a rough manner, their elevation 

 also. On the 23d, the western peak was distant 

 eighty-eight miles, and on the 24th, one hundred 

 and five. The height deduced from the first day's 

 observations was 14,196 feet ; and by the second 

 day's, 15,110 : the mean, being 14,653, is probably 

 within a thousand feet of the truth ; being some- 

 what more than two thousand feet higher than the 

 Peak of Teneriffe. The height of the eastern 

 mountain, by the first day's observations, was 

 14,409 feet, and, by the second, it was 15,382, the 

 mean being 14,895. How far they may have 

 preserved their peaked shape lower down, we do 

 not know, nor can we say anything of the lower 

 ranges from whence they took their rise, since our 

 distance was so great, that the curvature of the 

 earth hid from our view not only their bases, but 

 a considerable portion of their whole altitude. On 

 the first day, 5273 feet were concealed ; and on 

 the second day, no less than 7730 feet of these 

 mountains, together with the whole of the coast 

 ridge, were actually sunk below the horizon. 

 Owing to the great distance, it was only at a certain 

 hour of the day that these mountains could be seen 

 at all. They came first in sight about forty minutes 

 before the sun rose, and remained visible for about 

 thirty minutes after it was above the horizon. 

 On first coming in sight, their outline was sharp 

 and clear, but it became gradually less and less so 

 as the light increased. There was something very 

 striking in the majestic way in which they gradu- 

 ally made their appearance, as the night yielded 

 to the dawn, and in the mysterious manner in 

 which they slowly melted away, and at length 

 vanished totally from our view in the broad day- 

 light. 



As it is rather an interesting problem to deter- 

 mine the height of distant mountains observed 

 from sea, I give the necessary data for the com- 

 putation. 



Data for computing the distance and height of the 

 Peaks near Guatimala, in Mexico, 23d of February. 



[PART II.] 



Lat. by mer. alt. of Antares, after the day broke, 

 and the horizon consequently perfectly sharp and 

 distinct. 



23d, = 14° 23' N. long, by chron. 93° 7' W. 



24th, = 15 3 N. 93 38 W. 



Whence the base stretches N. 36° 52' W. 50 miles 

 long, or = 57,53 Eng. miles. 



23d, True bearing of W. peak, N. 52° 28' 58" E. 

 Angle subtended by the two peaks, 8 10 12 



23d, True bearing of E. peak, N. 60° 39' 0" E. 



23d, Alt. west peak observed, 

 23d, Alt. east do. 



1° 15' 55" 

 1 6 12 



Height of the observer's eye 16 feet. 

 Barom. 29,90. Therm. 81°. 

 24th, True bearing of western peak, N. 85° 40' E. 

 Angle subtended by the peaks, 3 44 



24th, True bearing of eastern peak, N. 89° 24' E. 



24th, Alt. west peak observed, 0° 59' 12" 



24th, Alt. east. do. 45 J 7 



Height of the observer's eye 16 feet. 

 Barom. 29,95. Therm. 80° 

 Lat. W. peak 15° 9' 54" N. long. W. peak, 92° 



3' 40" W. 

 Lat. E. peak, 15° 4' 50" N. long. E. peak, 91° 

 51' 24" W. 



The bearings were determined astronomically, 

 by measuring the angular distance between the 

 peaks and the sun's limb, at sunrise. The altitudes 

 were measured separately and repeatedly by four 

 sextants, and the mean taken. 



We had now, for a very long period, been 

 sailing about in the finest of all possible climates, 

 without meeting a gale of wind, or encountering 

 bad weather of any kind ; and as we had not been 

 able to obtain particular information respecting 

 the navigation of this coast, we sailed along it with 

 the same confidence of meeting everywhere the 

 delightful weather we had been accustomed to. 

 We had, as usual in such climates, all our thread- 

 bare sails bent, our worn-out ropes rove, and were 

 in no respect prepared to encounter storms. On 

 the evening of the 24th of February, the sun set 

 with astonishing splendour, but with a wild, lurid 

 appearance, which, in any other country, would 

 have put us more upon our guard. The sun itself, 

 when still considerably above the horizon, became 

 of a blood-red colour, and the surrounding clouds 

 assumed various bright tinges of a fiery character, 

 fading into purple at the zenith : the whole sky 

 looked more angry and threatening than anything 

 I ever saw before. The sea was quite smooth, but 

 dyed with a strange and unnatural kind of redness 

 by the reflection from the sky. In spite of the 

 notions we held of the fineness of the climate, I 

 was made a little uneasy by such threatening ap- 

 pearances, and upon consulting the barometer, 

 which, in these low latitudes, is seldom of much 

 use, was startled by finding it had fallen consider- 

 ably. This determined me immediately to shorten 

 sail, but before it could be fully accomplished, 

 there came on a furious gale, which split many of 

 our sails, broke our ropes like cobwebs, and had 

 it not been for great exertions, we might have 



