1% INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



dies, and came out again in their Baskets sufficiently 

 frighted." 



Either the monk, disappointed in his search for gold, 

 had fibbed, or nature had made one of its most extra- 

 ordinary changes. The crater was about a mile and a 

 half in circumference, five or* six hundred feet deep, 

 with sides slightly sloping, and so regular in its propor- 

 tions that it seemed an artificial excavation. The bot- 

 tom was level, both sides and bottom covered with 

 grass, and it seemed an immense conical green basin. 

 There were none of the fearful marks of a volcanic 

 eruption ; nothing to terrify, or suggest an idea of el in- 

 fierno ; but, on the contrary, it was a scene of singular 

 and quiet beauty. I descended to the side of the cra- 

 ter, and walked along the edge, looking down into the 

 area. Toward the other end was a growth of arbolitos 

 or little trees, and in one place no grass grew, and the 

 ground was black and loamy, like mud drying up. 

 This was perhaps the mouth of the mysterious well 

 that sent up the flame, which gave its light a " consider- 

 able distance," into which the Indian maidens were 

 thrown, and which melted the monk's iron bucket. 

 Like him, I felt curious to "know what was below;" 

 but the sides of the crater were perpendicular. Entirely 

 alone, and with an hour's very hard work between me 

 and my guides, I hesitated about making any attempt to 

 descend, but I disliked to return without. In one place, 

 and near the black earth, the side was broken, and 

 there were some bushes and scrub trees. I planted my 

 gun against a stone, tied my handkerchief around it as 

 a signal of my whereabout, and very soon was below 

 the level of the ground. Letting myself down by the 

 aid of roots, bushes, and projecting stones, I descended 

 to a scrub tree which grew out of the side about half 



