144 



Notes of a Visit to Mexico, 



plain below, and soon obscured even the interior of the crater in 

 such a manner that I could not clearly distinguish its sides after- 

 wards, although I encamped in it for the night, and staid there part 

 of the next day. 



The crater is similar to an immense caldron, about 300 feet in 

 width at the top and 150 feet in depth. Its nearly perpendicular 

 sides admit of only one descent, at a place where they appear to have 

 fallen in, or to have been carried away by the eruption of the water. 

 The bottom is perfectly flat and consists of black volcanic ashes, 

 strewed with a few blocks of porphyry which had been detached from 

 the sides above. The present state of the crater is not easily recon- 

 ciled with the account of eruption of water that occurred about 

 three centuries ago ; for if we suppose the water to have sprung 

 from an internal opening of the crater, how can we account for its 

 present level state ? and if, as some have supposed, the water that 

 burst forth, had been collecting in the crater during the heavy 

 periodical rains with which that country is visited, how could the 

 volcanic ashes, of which the bottom is composed, have retained it ? 

 With regard to the ashes, found in the crater, we might ascribe the 

 circumstance to the Fire volcano close by, (which even now throws 

 out a column of smoke), if we had had any large eruptions on record 

 posterior to that of the water. That the so called water volcano 

 had at one time largely contributed in covering the country for 

 leagues around with beds of ashes and pumice stone, we cannot for a 

 moment doubt, considering its enormous crater. And with regard 

 to the eruption of water, we shall not be far from the truth in as- 

 cribing it to a waterspout alighting near the crater ; a circumstance 

 not at all improbable, for such occurrences are not rare. I have 

 observed the effects of three of very recent date, one in the moun- 

 tains of Oaxaca, and two in the Andes of Popayan, where the water 

 in its descent swept away the largest trees, and left furrows similar 

 to those on the Volcan de Agua. 

 The bottom of the crater, which is but scantily covered with vege- 



