oe" 
POPOCATEPETL AND IXTACCIHUATL— FARRINGTON. 95 
as has been said, only a stage of solfatara activity exists. The steam 
jets afford cold comfort, and nothing tempers the severity of the wind. 
A temperature of —11.8 C. (+11° F.) was observed here by Sonntag* 
at one time. 
We descended on the northeast side of the crater, nearly to the 
windlass which has been erected for the purpose of lowering the sul- 
phur miners. It wasonlythen that my guides told me that two more 
men would be necessary to work the windlass so as to permit my 
descent. I was much disappointed in this, for I had hoped to reach 
the floor of the crater and to explore it with some care. Under 
the circumstances, however, I was obliged to be content with study- 
ing it from above. 
The crater is situated eccentrically as regards the main axis of 
the mountain, the latter having a northwest-southeast direction, while 
the major axis of the crater is directed northeast-southwest, or nearly 
at right angles to this. This would indicate a shifting of the eruptive 
point. The rim of the crater is of variable height, the lowest point 
being. at the northeast, the highest at the northwest. The greater 
elevation of the western wall, as compared with the eastern, Sonntag 
calls attention tof as being a common feature of nearly all the recent 
* craters. He mentions Orizaba, Colima, Toluca and San Isidro as 
illustrating this. He suggests that the trade winds, which in this 
region blow from east-northeast, may perhaps furnish an explanation 
of this peculiar elevation of the western above the eastern rims. 
Various parts of the crater rim have received names by which 
they are usually designated. Thus, the peak at the northwest is called 
‘«« Pico Mayor” (the highest point); the depression at the south end 
‘¢K] Portezuelo” (the little door); the ridge at the east, ‘‘ E] Espinazo 
del Diablo” (the devil’s backbone); the lowest portion at the north 
and northeast, ‘‘E] Labio Inferior” (the lower lip), and the point at 
which the windlass is erected, ‘‘El Malacate” (the windlass), or 
Brecha Siliceo. The depth of the crater, from the irregular heaping 
of tumuli on its floor, naturally varies greatly. As noted in the table, 
Aguilera and Ordofiez determined the greatest depth from the surface 
of the little lake in the crater to the highest point of the Pico Mayor 
to be 1,657 feet, while from the Malacate it was only 673 feet. They 
thus found a difference of nearly 1,000 feet in the depth of the crater, 
as determined from the different points. Other determinations and 
dimensions are given in the following table: 

*O%. cit. p. 57. 
tOP. cit. p. 53. 
7 
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