120 



SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



small conical* volcano obtrudes itself on the 

 view, apparently "near the road, but this we 

 found to be an optical deception, as after 

 walking nearly two miles we appeared not to 

 have advanced any nearer to it ; but we ob- 

 served the scoria and lava that had issued 

 from it, and the road for some distance is 

 heavy and bad from the loose volcanic matter 

 with which it is covered. This somewhat 

 impeded our progress to the celebrated and 

 splendid capital of New Spain, which when 

 first seen is discovered to be situated in a 

 swamp of considerable extent. We proceeded 

 over what was formerly a causeway across 

 the lake, but still this ancient and imperial 

 city offers no ostentatious appearance — all is 



* Most volcanoes are conically shaped, a circumstance 

 evidently arising from the matter that has been thrown out, 

 and which gives them this regularity of form. When I 

 speak of the volcanic mountains of Mexico, the reader must 

 not imagine that any are still burning, for 1 could not find 

 that any one now living had ever seen a volcanic eruption* 



