LETTER XXIV. 
ACCOUNT OF AN ASCENT TO THE SUMMIT OF THE VOLCANO OF POPOCATEPETL. 
INTERIOR OF THE CRATER OF POPOCATEPETL. 
It is impossible to cast your eyes eastwardly over the plain, without 
having your view bounded by the lofty peaks of Popocatepetl — " the 
smoking mountain,'^ and its neighbor Iztaccihuatl — or '' the white woman" — 
lifting their snowy heads far above the level of the wall-like sierra that 
hems in the Valley of Mexico, I had ardently longed to climb one of 
these mountains to survey the adjacent plains from its craggy crater, 
but I was constantly doomed to disappointment. Several parties that 
were made up, failed at the fixed time, and the rainy season coming 
