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 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 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.