Four Mexican Volcanoes. 



same arrangements can be made for guides and horses. 

 Instead of staying at the Rancho Tlamacas, visitors to 

 Ixtaccihuatl remain over night in a cave at a height of 

 about 13,000 feet. Of the two trips, Popocatepetl is by 

 far the best if it be simply a matter of getting to the top. 

 Popocatepetl is higher, and the first day's ride from Ame- 

 cameca is more varied and beautiful, and the crater is 

 some thing worth seeing. But because Ixtaccihuatl rises 

 to a long ridge instead of a cone, and on account of the 

 large amount of snow and ice which it carries, it oifers 

 greater possibilities in the way of ice, snow, and rock 

 work, and there are a number of different ways by which 

 it can be climbed. That part which represents the 

 woman's head is especially difficult, being very steep on 

 all sides. But I know of at least one man, a Swiss named 

 Hiti, who has climbed it, and a friend of mine, a German, 

 intends to try it within a few days. Climbers try this 

 peak in genuine Swiss fashion, with ropes, ice-axes, and 

 Steigeisen. 



Amecameca is a town of 8,000 inhabitants, but covers 

 a greater area than most Mexican towns of that popula- 

 tion, because almost every house is surrounded by a gar- 

 den. On setting out for Ixtaccihuatl, which lies to the 

 east, one rides through the streets for at least a mile. Then 

 the road runs between level cornfields to the base of the 

 mountain, about three miles away. Here an old German 

 has a small brewery beside a waterfall, but he is so lazy 

 that he seldom brews enough beer even for his own con- 

 sumption. From this point up the mountain rises steeply, 

 and the road becomes a trail and winds on through forest. 

 Here and there, in the cleared spaces where the slope is 

 less steep, are found wheat and barley fields. There are 

 numbers of trails going up the mountain. Its sides are 

 smooth, being furrowed by only a few shallow canons. 

 There is one trail which passes through a beautiful little 

 valley surrounded by high, rocky cliffs and spreading 

 out into a wide, basin-like floor. 



There has been some discussion as to whether Ixtac- 



