120 Ascent of the Volcano of Popocatepetl. [ February, 
role or respirador, a fissure from which issued clouds of sulphur 
fumes, At the bottom of the crater were plainly seen two large 
sulphur vents or solfataras, with smaller ones from which clouds 
of vapor rose perhaps to a height of over a hundred feet, but cer- 
tainly not half way up to the edge or top of the peak. -Whether 
these fumes can be seen from below, at the base of the mountain, 
is a question. Some still claim that the mountain smokes, and 
that the smoke can be seen from below, but this is doubted. The 
assertion was made in the time of Cortez. Humboldt says: “Ce 
volcan, que j'ai mesuré le premier, est constamment enflammé, 
mais depuis plusiers siécles ow ne voit sortir de son cratère que 
de la fumée et des cendres,”! It is not imposs ble that the slight 
amount of sulphurous vapor which is emitt 1 from the crater 
may at times increase and be visible at night by moonlight from 
the plains below, or even in the daytime during certain: states of 
the atmosphere. I well remember that in May, 1872,4 month 
after the great eruption of Vesuvius, no smoke was seen to rise 
from the crater by day, but by moonlight, at Naples, 1 could de- 
tect a slight column of vapor hanging over. the summit of the 
cone. 
The sulphur vents were surrounded with mes of bright yel- 
low sulphur.: Near where we stood were twe or three stumps of 
posts which had been driven, into the volcan: . sand and gravel to 
_ support a windlass or winch, by. which the volcaneros were let 
down into the bottom of.the crater to gath- © the sulphur there. 
It was borne in sacks on the backs of Indi. .. “down to the ranch 
or sheds where we spent the night, and there ublimed in earthen 
pots. The crater was not measured until -856, when General 
Ochoa estimated its depth and circumference We roughly guessed 
that its depth was about 500 feet, but d stances, looking down 
into a mountain, are very deceptive. i appears that in the time 
of Cortez a Spaniard ‘descended the crater, tied toa rope, to the 
depth of from seventy, to eighty fathoms or 420 | to 480 feet? g 
\ afsagt prae sur le Royaume: dela Nouvelle-Espaghe, Toni, IF; P. 338) 
E ae Ow voit, a la troisiénie | et Ja quatriéme lettres de Cortez à Pempereur, que ce 
général ‘apres la prise ide Mexic xico, fit. fairé d’autres te ative’ pour! ‘reconnoitre la 
cime du-volcan, qui;paroissoit fixer d'autant plus son’a .ention, me les-indigénes lui 
assuroient quit mw étoit permis aucune mortel de Sapprocher. de e site des mauvais 
esprits. “Aprés deux essais infructeux, les Espagnols Sas tas enfin; année 1522, 
à voir le cratère du Popocatepetl ; il leur parut avoir trois quarts de lieue de circon- 
— ét ils trouvérent Sur les bords du précipice un peu de soufre qui ‘avoit été 
