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Show UP POPOCATAPETL. Tadioiit and Arduous .Journey to th Top of Mexico's Mouutaln. The train drops ono nt the station Of ropocatapetl," said a traveller to a Ft Worth Gazetto reporter, "wher you get a guide and burros, blankets and provisions. Then you trail to tht hase of the volcano and up its steep zigzags, where the timber and vegetation vegeta-tion are thick, and cool, bubbling springs numerous, until the timbei line is passed. You travel miles to advance one. When we reached that line tho snow camo down to meet the. stunted trees. Then we camped and the guide shot a mountain goat and w herd tho Mexican lions iu tho dark. Next morning the burros were left behind, and with blankets and provisions pro-visions wo packed on. A blinding snowstorm obliged another camp and the next morning wo pointed for tho groat crater. "At midday the yawning bowl was reached. It is probably -,."0 feet across and 500 feet deep, with a bottom pierced with tunnels like a gigantic sK)nge. Outside was all snow and ice. Ten steps inside and all frost vanishes; the thermometer leap 70 degrees. At the ragged lips of this 'chimney of hell' tho guide is on his knees Imploring Implor-ing the protection of Santa Maria. "Across tho crater and ,r00 feet aliove rises the long spur. It is covered cov-ered with snow and ice. It took us an hour and a half to make tho perilous ascent, but wo made the trip and stood on tho highest icy spur. "Then for the descent, which we found more hazardous than tho ascent. Darkness and a fearful snowstorm caught us 1 , .100 feet below. Wo had to camp in the snow, but the next morning' made a quick trip to tho timber tim-ber line, where wo found our burros, and soon reached the base, where we could look back and see that icy peak reaching into a naked sky." |
