1895 
Mount 
Orizaba 
Soon after noon the clouds that had hidden the sumit for some hours 
broke away and mainly dispersed leaving visible a vast array of gigantic 
cumuli riding on the airy sea above the plains* It was now th© heated 
part of the day on th© plains of Puebla at 7,000 to 9,000 feet as well 
as on the eastern, hot, coast lowlands. This was shown by the fact that 
the cumuli that all during the morning hours had formed and spread or* 
along the upper surface of the dust stratum at 18,000 feet and seemed 
limited by some mysterious ‘pomr to that altitude, now gained power 
from the uprising columns of air and, bursting upward, arose in gigantic 
cclumiaar masses of white rounded clouds rapidly growing until they far 
over-topped the summit of the peak itself* It was fascinating to watch 
the creation of these enormous aerial masses one after the other until, 
upon all sides, they towered up in an array of exquisitely and grandly 
beautiful forms. They did not form united masses but were so scattered 
that large interspaces of cloudless air from 16,000 feet up to their 
summits were left through which could be seen in beautiful contrast the 
clear brilliant color of the sky beyond. 
Then I descended once more into the atmosphere of the earth and the 
beauties of that upper world were again enwrapped and colored by the 
shroud of dust hanging over it all. 
Extending out to the south from the base of cone is a bed of lava 
with its border all around higher than its centre which is a basin-like 
depression as seen from the side of the peak. The border of this lava 
bed rises very abruptly, like a steep broken-dorm wall all around. 
Vvhere w© passed around its lower and at the foot of Black Mountain it 
is about 200 foot high. Its shape is about as follows s 
Took photograph of this from side of peak* 
The eastern side of this lava bed had evidently been worn down by 
a glacier that oocupiod a basin just along its eastern border. Another 
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