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Show 1 Popocatepetl GrumblinAirain Kills NativesWith Superstitious Dread I'mm 1 N OWN (n Hie valley o? Mexico 'be 1 I J Indians are watching old Popo- loSI catepetl and wondering what devil's brew Is mixing In the bowels of the volcano "Popo" had hem silent at Plke Peiw fur - ij over a hundred years No liMng Mexican had heard It rumble or seen It smoke until a few days ago. when unmistakable volcanic 'rjr disturbances were reported A tradition still exists amorc il-w Indians that if Popo- fl I catepetl breaks Into eruption there are cer- i tain to be disturbances equally volcanic among th people Five hundred vears ago. when Cortes planted an Iron heel on the Aztec nation they saw their superstition confirmed. As Cortes marched on the Cit of Mexico trhlle JM he was hulMIng a military road over the Hj rldge tnat connects Popocatepetl and jiH Iztacclhuall. "Popo' was -lolently active , In Hitory and Legend. fH Again 'n 1 SOL' a few years before Slexl- jM can independence was won. there was an vfl eruption of Popocatepetl While Miguel 1 fl Hidalgo y Costilla, the parish priest of Dolores, rang his famous liberty bell nnd dV shouted the call to arms known as the Grlto do Dolores, "long live our Holy Mother CW of Guadalupe, long live America, and death to bid goernmcnt." Popocatepetl smoked I and thundered and flamed. I Although Popocatepetl only one of sev eral peaks that shoulder up from the valley - of Mexico. It dominates the great plain Just, j as Fujiyama dominated Japan Rising from m a plateau Which Is Itself 7 000 feet above, sen j level 'Popo-' thrusts Its snowy head 10.000 feet higher than the plain About this mountain moun-tain and I'- neighbor. Iztacclhuall. ten miles Ijjb distant to the north, legend and history Mr both have gathered. f The 'wo peaks were named by the Indians j Popocatepetl In the Aztec tor.guo meant 4 "the mountain that smokes" and Izfacclh'jatl 1 meant "the wiite woman." From the city of Mexico the smaller peaX with Its long man tle of rerpetual anow. looks llko the Hk-ep-lng figure of a woman draped In white The Indiana told many stories about tho two mountains They were gods Or they jl were gianta transformed Into mountains be- cause they had Incurred the displeasure of the gods. Tho glante-s that was Iztaccl- ;, huatl died, but Popocatepetl lived on. doomed to ga;-.n forever upon the dead face, of the , womnn he loved. 8omctlmca. in his grief he moaned and trembled and tears of flro ran down his cheeke. It was believed that Iztacclhuat: was the abode of spirits of wicked rulers, whose agonies brought fearful bdlowlnga from their prison house and convulsions In time of ! eruption All these legends had invested the mountains with a mysterious horror and the natives shrank from attempting the When Cortes came within sight of Popo-I Popo-I catepetl he was told that no man had ev.-r climbed to th top That In Itself was enough to stir the Spanish adventureis to the attempt, and. moreover, there was one of his officers. Diego Ordaz. whose rival rj be feared Tortri knew that to scale tne mountain moun-tain would win the respect (r the InJlans and that Ordnz. who was eager to attempt it. might not come back. So Ordaz. with nine Spaniards and several Indians, s'.arted on the ascent The climb led them flrsl through dene forest growth, then up throjgh stunted straggling trees until they came out above trn timber line and saw streichln? above, them the great slopes of lava rock and above that the fields of Ice and snow. At the timber line tho Indians tunred back. Urddz and hla men went on until qlQUda of sulphurous fumes swept down upon them. Carrying cinders that nearly blinded item. Th' y were forced to turn back, and brought oown with them some ureat Icicles which Ihcy hud found on the slopes. These alone were enough to awe the Indians Charles V of Spain later made Ord.iz a knlgh. for this exploit and gave him parmiwlon to wear upon his coat of arms the picture 0 a burning burn-ing mountain as his device. Two years later Cortes sent up ano'her Party under Francisco Montano to obtain sulphur from the crater, for his supply of gunpowoer was running low This tlm Popocatepetl was quiet The Spaniards climbed to the edge of th; crater, which they tounu to be a mile in circumference A quarter of a mile below they could sec the bubbling fissures opening Into the great sulphur he-is at the heart of the VotcaDO hots were cast to decide who should go down Into the mouth of the crater to bring back the sulphur. Tho choice fell upon Montana himself, and he was lowered In a basket to a depth of 100 feet. He repeated the descent several limes, scraping the sulphur from the sides of the crater Popocatepetl Is now considered u very easy climb, as mountains of that height go. and before Mexico was such an unlikely place for tourists to be hundreJs of them climbed i 1 1 Jjiat' SNOW CAPPED PEAK OF POPOCATEPETL WHICH THREATENS AN ERUPTION. -X.' -iii - It every yeor. The ascent Is made up the northeast slope, over rough roads left by the sulphur carriers nnd timber cutters. The wslls of the crater to-duy sh W a great variety of colors. Huge patches of sulphur some of them still smouldering, are visible everywhere, Intermingled with the white steaks of snow and Ice that fill the crevices and cover the ledges of the black rocks. For n great rran- years the mountain has from time to time been systematically mined for the sulphur deposits. Since the conquest con-quest of the country by Cortes something like 100 000 000 tons of sulphur hav been taken from the crater. Tho defoslts are believed to be 1.000 feet deep, nnd the crater IllOr SMM an u l.nlf , n.M Pn.ir centuries of exploitation do not eeem to l-.nve diminished the supply. The Indian sulphur mlnero go dow-n by ladders or are lowered by ropes and windlass wind-lass Tho sulphur Is taken out by hand and loaded In bags containing about twenty-live twenty-live pounds of tho stuff. These are hauled up to the crater rim. where other workmen take two or three of tho bags sit down with ih''m nn n str.-nv mat and shoot down the snow slopes until thev reach the roads below be-low Naturally. thl6 sulphur mining Is one of the most nrduous of occupations, because of the strain placed upon the heart by working work-ing In such rarefied air and because of the severe exposure to which the workmen are subjected. Rivalry of the God. Sliding down tho sides of Popocatapetl Is all In the day's work now for these Indians, but there was a time when the would have thought such conduct highly sacrilegious, it w is all right for Quetzalcoatl to carry on that way. but Quetzalcoatl was a king god. In his reign there was peace and plenty for all men There was abundance of corn, and cotton grew In all colors, ready for weaving You didn't even have to dye It. Quetzalcoatl was - ,i .it the Toltecs and the arch enemy of Tezatllpooa, another god. Tezcatlipoca put the fear of himself In Quefzaleuatl's heart once, and tho Toltc-c god ran so fast that lit) went straight up Popocatapetl and slid clown the other side, on his way to the sea From the summit of Popocatepetl the eye takes in one nf the mo-t mignlflcent panoramas pano-ramas on the North American continent. The city of Mexico lies lo the northwest, ten miles 'o (he north Iztacclhuall rises 16,000 feet, and three other great peaks, Orizaba, Xianteeatl and Mjtlacueyatl, are clearly visible vis-ible T'n i- 'iii ..' Izlacvihuatl is much more, difficult than lhat of Popocatepetl, and It has not often been accomplished. it has no cinter and there is no trace of HnKrlng volcanic heat. This volcano s believed to be much older than its neighbor. It Is linked to Bflpocatepatl by -i long saddle over which Cort. a built a military load and along which he rode to the conquest of the Valley of Mexico. |
