396 
GUATEMALA. 
the irregularity of their eruptions, Izalco is exceedingly 
regular, though sometimes acting with unusual violence 
(1798,1869,1870). The volcano of Tanna, in the western 
Pacific, exhibits this same pulsating character. 
San Miguel is the largest active volcano in San Salvador, 
rising from the plain to a height of perhaps sixty-five hun¬ 
dred feet. Like most of the Central American volcanoes, 
its mass is a very regular cone, and its form, size, and 
beautiful colors render it one of the grandest objects of its 
class. From the deep green of the forest which surrounds 
its base, the color fades to the light green of the upland 
grass, then to the deep red of the scoriae, and the top is 
grayish-white. Above all, the ever-changing cloud of 
smoke floats lazily away. Of all the accounts of ascents 
of Central American volcanoes, I have selected the account 
published many years ago by Don Carlos Gutierrez of his 
ascent of San Miguel, because it seems to convey a fair 
idea of the simplest form of mountain-climbing and of the 
appearance of an active cone. He says: — 
“We started from the city of San Miguel on the after¬ 
noon of the 7th of December, 1848, directing our course 
towards the western border of the plain where rises the 
dark bulk of the volcano. At eleven o’clock at night we 
reached the foot of the mountain, distant four leagues from 
the town. Although the moon shone with extraordinary 
brilliancy and the night was one of serenest beauty, yet 
we considered it safer to take shelter in an Indian hut for 
the remainder of the night than trust ourselves among the 
fissures of the mountain in the treacherous moonlight. 
At four in the morning, with the earliest dawn of day, we 
commenced our ascent on horseback. We however soon 
found our course so much impeded by masses of lava, over 
