ascent of popocatepetl.—"the white woman."—geographical position of the volcano.—first ascent by white men.—amecameca.—hiring horses and buying provisions.—equipment for the excursion.—danger of robbers.—peons and volcaneros.—fields of barley and forests of pine.—an indian tradition.—fate of the giant and giantess.—ice from popocatepetl for the city of mexico.—sulphur from the crater.—sleeping at tlamacas.—arrival at la cruz.—the ascent on foot.—difficulties of climbing in the rarefied air.—the pico del fraile.—caught in a cloud.
a residence in the foot-hills.
it was the most natural thing in the world that the daily view of the snow-covered mountains, popocatepetl and iztaccihuatl, roused in the youths a desire to ascend to the top of the former. doctor bronson was not ambitious to undertake the expedition, but he encouraged the youths in their desire, and arranged to accompany them as far as the foot of the cone, where the saddle-horses are left. frank was appointed the historian
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of the affair, and performed his work in a manner that secured the hearty commendation of the doctor. our readers may judge for themselves of the young man's literary abilities; we have not changed a line or a word of his account, which was as follows:
"popocatepetl means 'the mountain that smokes,' and iztaccihuatl is la mujer blanca, or 'the white woman.' the name of the great volcano
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is generally shortened to 'popo' or 'old popo,' and for the sake of saving time and space i shall follow the fashion occasionally, and not give the name in full.
the valley of amecameca.
"the name of 'the white woman' comes from the resemblance of the top of the ridge to the body of a woman lying upon a bier and covered with a shroud. the face is quite perfect, but the rest of the figure requires considerable aid from the imagination. old popo is not altogether a smoking mountain, as there are times when no smoke comes from it, though it constantly throws out fumes of sulphur; in one sense it may be called an active volcano, while in another it should not be so designated. according to the historians, it was quite lively during the first years of the conquest, but for a very long time it has been peaceful enough, and only at rare intervals shows any signs of a return to business activity.
iztaccihuatl, the white woman.
"geographically it is forty-five miles from the city of mexico in a south-southeasterly direction; it is in latitude 19° north and longitude 98° 30' west, and according to the measurements of humboldt and others, it is 17,540 feet high. the latest mexican atlas makes it 17,884 feet; general ochoa, the owner of the crater, says it is 19,673 feet, and still another measurement gives the height of the summit at 21,373 feet. you may take your choice of these figures.
"popocatepetl was first ascended in 1522 by francisco montano, who was lowered 450 feet into one of the craters by means of ropes. he did not succeed in reaching the summit, nor did several other explorers who made the attempt during the time of cortez.
"it used to be a much more tedious journey to the summit of popo, as it was necessary to go on horseback about sixty miles from the city of mexico, and the expedition required a large outlay for horses, guides, and escort, and consumed from ten to fifteen days. now the railway is a great help in the matter, and we utilized it to the utmost. before the railway was opened, the journey to amecameca was made by diligence.
"two american gentlemen, colonel watson and mr. arms, both of new york, were stopping at the hotel with us, and on learning that we wished to visit popocatepetl, they invited us to join them. of course we accepted at once, and colonel watson offered to make all the arrangements about horses and guides. his first step was to obtain a letter of introduction from general ochoa, who owns the crater of the volcano and carries on an extensive business of mining for sulphur; the letter was addressed to his agent and major-domo at amecameca, don domingo zela, and asked him to facilitate the movements of the party in any way in his power, and allow us to sleep in his rancho at tlamacas.
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"colonel watson went to amecameca one morning accompanied by fred, who was to act as interpreter, as the colonel was a little rusty in his spanish. doctor bronson, mr. arms, and i followed the next day, and the colonel had everything ready for us on our arrival. we went by the morelos railway, starting from the station of san lazero at
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7.30 in the morning, and reaching amecameca in about two hours. the distance is fifty-eight kilometres, or thirty-six miles.
"the town is of goodly size, and has a prosperous appearance. it was once the resort of robbers, who occasionally dashed out upon the roads in the direction of the city, and after plundering everybody who came in their way they retired as speedily as they came. the people of the town screened them whenever they were pursued by the military, and some very vigorous action was necessary before the business was broken up. most of the three thousand inhabitants are indians, and since the advent of the railway and the consequent increase in the number of visitors they show a laudable ambition to make the most that they can out of the strangers who come within their reach.
"through the aid of don domingo zela, colonel watson had secured a sufficient number of horses and mules to give everybody a good mount, and also for the transportation of the baggage. he had engaged some volcaneros, or mountaineers, men whose ordinary occupation is the transportation of sulphur from the mines in the crater; they know every inch of the way, and are accustomed to all the peculiarities of the mountain. nobody should attempt to ascend popocatepetl without a sufficient number of volcaneros; one to each traveller is none too many.
"then there were several peons, or general servants, and there were arrieros to look after the animals and see that none of them were lost. altogether we made quite a cavalcade, and must have presented an imposing appearance to the crowd that assembled to see us off.
"it did not take long to pack our baggage on the mules; we did not have a large quantity, and, moreover, it was in bags or bundles suitable for the pack-saddle. it included heavy blankets for keeping us warm at tlamacas—where we were to spend two nights close to the snow-line—heavy overcoats, canned meats and other provisions, and our travelling-bags containing the little odds and ends that one wishes for his own use. we were told that we could get most of the things we needed at amecameca, but it might happen that the usual supply-shop would be 'out' just then, and we had better make sure by procuring in the city the things that we wanted. then we had goggles to protect our eyes from the glare of the sun on the snow, thick mittens and mufflers to keep out the cold from hands and faces, and heavy woollen stockings to put over our boots to prevent slipping on the ice.
"the boots that we wore were not our ordinary ones, but heavy affairs specially made for the purpose, and having sharp nails in the soles to give us a good grip on the ice. we did not put them on until
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reaching the snow-line, and when we came back we gave them to the volcaneros as souvenirs of our visit. if the fellows were sharp they probably sold the boots at a good price to the first party of tourists who happened along without this sort of an equipment.
along the trail.
"there was some difficulty in getting away, as colonel watson's horse insisted upon having a private dance just to show off his ability, and as the dance took place in the midst of the other horses, it made a disturbance until we could get out of the way. the example became contagious, and very soon some of the other horses joined in the dance, but we managed to quiet them all down without accident.
"we had been warned in the city that robbers occasionally interfered with visitors between amecameca and tlamacas, and if we could procure an escort it would be a wise precaution, and possibly save us from plunder or a fight. colonel watson brought a letter to the commander of the rurales, or rural guards, at amecameca, and that gentleman kindly gave us an escort of four men to accompany us to tlamacas and back, waiting there while we were making the ascent of the mountain. quite possibly
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these fellows had been brigands, and may have carried on business in this very place, but this was no affair of ours. they served us faithfully, and we were not interfered with in any way.
dwarf pines at a high elevation.
"that robberies have been committed, and murder too, was evident from the great number of crosses along the road. there is said to have been a time when a man known to have five dollars, or even one dollar, in his pocket was not safe along this route. there were men who were ready to commit murder for a trifling amount; anybody who wanted to be rid of the presence of another had only to mention it to one of this gentry, and accompany the mention with a suggestion that it would be worth five or ten dollars to have the obnoxious individual disappear. in a day or two he would be found dead by the way-side; a slight stir would be made by the police, but if no reward was offered for the murderer the affair was soon forgotten.
"at any rate, that is what the chief volcanero, who acted as our guide, told us, when we asked him about the crosses. but before we go out of amecameca, or ameca, as it is often called, let me say that it is a very pretty place, and reminded us of interlachen or meiringen, in switzerland. it is 8000 feet above the level of the sea, lies in a sort of valley, and has
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an abundant supply of water, which rolls down from the mountain and sparkles in numerous rivulets that flow through every street. the water serves to keep the streets clean, and the clean streets seem to have impelled the inhabitants to keep their houses in presentable condition; the walls are white or in bright colors, and altogether amecameca is one of the most attractive little towns we have seen since we crossed the rio grande.
the dome of popocatepetl from tlamacas.
"there was a crowd of people in the plaza mayor, and in the market-place, and the people seemed to move around more actively than in the capital. perhaps it was the greater purity of the air, though one might
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think that its increased rarity would have an enervating effect. anyhow, it was cooler at ameca than in the city, and that may have been the cause of it. many persons predict that this little town at the foot of the great mountain will be a fashionable resort at no distant day, as it certainly has many attractive features.
"we had a ride of fifteen miles to the rancho of tlamacas, where we were to spend the night. the pack-mules went off in advance, while we sat down to a good breakfast which the colonel had ordered in the hotel ferrocarril. then we mounted our horses, and after the dance i have mentioned we got away.
"our road led among fields of barley, the lines between them being shown by hedges of maguey or other members of the cactus family, and now and then by rows of poplar and willow trees. the way ascended with more or less steadiness, and after a time we passed from the cultivated ground into forests of pine and other mountain trees. some parts of the lower hills were devoted to pastures, and the cattle in them were in good condition. they are nourished upon a rich bunch-grass that grows here; and scattered about here and there we saw a good many thistles, together with beds of mountain flowers. we passed a few haciendas, the last being that of tomacoco, where there is a church very much in ruins.
mexican saw-mill.
"the pine forest begins after we leave the plain, and as we go up among the hills the pines are reduced in size, as they always are on the sides of high mountains. our horses have hard work to
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scramble up the steep path, but they are evidently accustomed to it and toil on bravely. the guide warns us to be very careful in case we dismount, as the horses have a trick of snatching their bridles out of one's hands and starting down the mountain at the best speed they can make. fred's horse tried this and succeeded, but he didn't go far, as he was caught by one of the soldiers, who happened to be in the rear, where the path was narrow.
hacienda of tomacoco.
"do not suppose that the trees were small; some of them were two feet and more in diameter and seventy or eighty feet high, and the air was full of the sweet resinous odor for which a pine forest is famous and that is so welcome to most nostrils. for one, i do not know a more charming perfume than that of a forest of pines; and fred agrees with me in this. it was difficult to realize that we were in mexico. had i been brought here blindfolded, and then asked to guess where we were, i should have named new england, wisconsin, or california long before thinking of the land of the aztecs. we passed several saw-mills of the most primitive character. they were operated by two men, one standing above the log and the other below it, and alternately pushing and pulling the saw. the
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cutting was done by the downward stroke of the saw, as in the ordinary saw-mills of the eastern states.
volcaneros (miners).
"higher and higher seemed the great mountain as we slowly zigzagged in his direction. sometimes he was hidden from our view by the trees or the shape of the hills, and again he came suddenly before us and seemed to signal us to persevere. up and up we went; and when we reached tlamacas we were 13,000 feet above the sea, or more than 4000 feet above the town whence we set out in the forenoon.
"our guide told us that there is a tradition among the indians that old popo and the white woman were once living beings. they were a
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giant and giantess, and for some disobedience of the gods they were changed into mountains. the giantess was struck dead, and that is why she lies stretched out on her bier and covered with a white robe; old popo was the giant, and he was merely rooted to the spot where he stood. he shows his grief by occasionally shedding tears of lava, which rolls down in great floods, and in the sobbing and sighing that form a part of his weeping he breathes huge volumes of smoke. sometimes his grief is so great that he shakes in agony, and then the whole earth is moved. evidently he doesn't feel as badly now as he used to, as he has behaved very well for three centuries and more.
"it was lucky we brought a supply of bedding and provisions, for there was absolutely nothing at tlamacas except some huts of rough boards and stone. the rancho stands in a valley, and we descended quite a little distance before reaching it; this descent seemed to us a waste of labor, as we would be obliged to make up for it by another ascent.
"several times during the day we met donkeys and mules laden with ice and sulphur, the two commodities which are produced by the great mountain. ice is cut from the places where it accumulates. the city of mexico has long been supplied from here, just as the cities at the base of mount etna are supplied from that famous volcano. it is packed upon mules or donkeys and carried to the railway or to the canal at chalco, whence it is brought to its destination. the sulphur is taken from the crater, as we shall presently see, brought as far as the snow-line on the backs of men, or slid down the steep side of the mountain; and from there it goes to the railway on the backs of beasts of burden.
"ice-machines in the city have somewhat interfered with the business of the indians who bring ice from the mountain, and may possibly break it up altogether. the ice is like that from glaciers all the world over, and resembles snow more than it does the product of the new england lakes and rivers in the winter season. it is sold in the city as nieve (snow), and the boys who peddle ice-cream in the capital call out, 'nieve! tome nieve!' as they go about with their wares.
"we managed to sleep fairly well in the huts at tlamacas, and were tired enough to go to rest very early. from our supply of canned provisions we made up an excellent supper, and there was a material addition to it in the shape of some fresh chickens, which one of our muleteers had brought along just as a speculation. he argued to himself that we would be glad to buy chickens in addition to the stock of food we had on hand, and so we were. we gladly paid him double what the chickens would have cost at amecameca. mr. arms suggested that possibly the chickens
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had cost the man nothing, as they were probably taken from a chicken-house during the night while the legitimate owner was slumbering.
in the pine region.
"the thermometer went down to forty-two degrees during the night, and when we started in the morning it was forty-seven degrees. the volcanero was to call us at five o'clock; and for fear he would not be around
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at that hour, colonel watson set an alarm clock, which he had stowed away in his hand-bag. the clock fired itself off at five and waked everybody, the volcanero included.
el pico del fraile.
"we shivered in the sharp air of the morning while taking coffee and biscuits for an early breakfast, and were mounted and off before six o'clock. between us and the volcano there was a strip of pines and then a
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stretch of black volcanic sand up to the snow-line. it was a hard struggle for our poor horses, and fred and i wished to dismount and spare them the exertion; but the guide warned us to save all our strength for the climb that we would be compelled to make on foot, so we stuck to our saddles in spite of our sympathy for the suffering brutes.
"we had a magnificent view as we ascended, and doctor bronson, who went no farther than the snow-line, said he was amply paid for his fatigue, even though he was obliged to forego the view from the top. we looked down into the valley of puebla, we studied the landscape as though it were an out-spread map, and we watched the sunlight playing on the hills and on the great cone that dazzled before us. many times fred and i were reminded of our ascent of fusiyama, but we found the scene far more grand and extensive. the summit of fusiyama is nearly four thousand feet lower than that of old popo, and it can be readily understood that the monarch of mexico far surpasses that of japan in grandeur. fusiyama, too, does not exhibit any valleys like those of mexico and puebla, deep set in the encircling mountains, and gemmed with lakes that flash in the clear sunlight. and, furthermore, it has no towering peak like that of orizaba to pierce the horizon, and no masses of mountains at nearly all the points of compass to suggest that the earth was once a raging sea that had suddenly become petrified.
"we reached the side of a deep barranca, and descended to where a stream dashed along a rocky bed. then we slowly climbed the other side of the barranca, and a little way above it we came to the limit of the trees. they did not dwindle to tiny dwarfs a foot or so in height, as we often find them on mountains, but stopped all at once while yet of respectable size, though much smaller than when we first entered the pine forest. beyond the barranca we entered the worst of the volcanic sand, and our horses stopped repeatedly to take breath as they waded through it.
"in about two hours after leaving tlamacas we came to a rocky ridge on which was a cross.
"'this is la cruz,' said our guide, 'and here you must leave your horses. they can go no farther.'
"we dismounted. according to humboldt's figures, we were 15,000 feet above the level of the sea, and 2500 below the summit of the volcano. we were 1000 feet higher than the summit of fusiyama, nearly as high as that of mont blanc, and 9000 feet above that of mount washington, and yet we still had almost half a mile of perpendicular height to make before reaching our destination!
"there was a wide strip of sand between us and the snow-line, and
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through this we walked painfully, slipping and sliding backward almost as fast as we went on. our progress was very slow, and the effort required was great. fred and i were glad that doctor bronson did not try it, as he would have been sure to break down long before the snow-line was reached. mr. arms is spare and tall and a fine walker, and colonel watson is a small man, full of youthful vigor. it was fortunate that they were, and it was also fortunate that fred and i had had experience in hill climbing, and then, too, we were younger than either of the others.
not a good climber.
"when we reached the edge of the snow we sat down and rested. some of the peons had fallen behind, and we prided ourselves that we had shown the mexicans that americans know how to climb high mountains without turning back for want of breath.
"we ate some of the solid food and drank some of the cold tea we had bottled expressly for the occasion before leaving tlamacas. when we had thoroughly rested and refreshed ourselves we put on our spiked shoes, covered them with the woollen stockings, and, armed with alpenstocks and aided each by a volcanero, we attacked the great icy cone of the giant popocatepetl. the volcaneros carried our overcoats and had them ready to wrap around us whenever we stopped.
"fortunately for us, the snow was in the best condition for ascending; it was like a very hard drift, softened by the sun just enough to give a good foothold but not sufficiently to let our feet sink more than an inch or so below the surface. our principal guide went ahead and we followed in his tracks; every few minutes we paused to rest and breathe, and long before we reached the crater the lightness of the air was such that our halts were longer than our periods of ascent.
"the blood rose to our faces, our veins throbbed, and for a time our heads seemed on the verge of bursting. we appreciated the advice of a gentleman in the capital, that no one with the least tendency to heart trouble, or one with weak lungs or a tendency to corpulence, should undertake the ascent of the volcano; and if we were to add anything to the advice, it would be that everybody else should refrain from making the
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attempt; it is the hardest venture we ever made in mountain climbing, and we certainly would not again undertake it or urge a friend to do so.
"we left to one side the pico del fraile, a pinnacle of porphyry that shoots up into the air like the spire of a church. there was a deep chasm like an enormous moat at the side of the pico, and we asked our guide if anybody had ever passed the chasm and climbed to the dizzy top. his face wore a smile of incredulity as he pronounced the feat impossible, and furthermore said there was nothing there to pay for the effort. colonel watson asked him, in sheer bravado, if he would undertake to escort us there, but he shook his head without making any audible reply. it is quite possible that he suspected the colonel of 'chaffing.'
"suddenly we were enveloped in a cloud so dense that we could see only a few yards in any direction. the guide ordered us to keep close together; and if by any accident we should become separated, we were to call out immediately, and also keep our faces and feet directed to the ascent of the mountain. we obeyed his instructions, but it was our good-fortune that the cloud did not long remain to trouble us. it disappeared as suddenly as it had come, and we had a fine view of the valley of puebla and of the great mountain, the white woman. as we rose to and above its level it lost all resemblance to the recumbent figure that gives its name, and became nothing but a broken mass of rocks and snow-drifts."
