"We had no serious accidents, which is not always the case with parties making the ascent of Old Popo. Sometimes the snow slides down in the form of avalanches, and occasionally the sand does the same thing. To be caught by one of these avalanches is almost certain death, but happily the guides know the mountain and its peculiarities so well that such accidents are rare. Parties have been overwhelmed by storms of hail in the same way that a party on Mont Blanc lost their lives several years ago. Considerable areas of sand and snow are sometimes set in motion by the tread of one's feet upon them, and the unfortunate climber who has caused it is carried down and dashed to death on the rocks below.
"One story that we heard was of three Indians who were descending the volcano. One of them saw a depression in the snow like a furrow, and thought it offered an easy footing. He went to it, and suddenly disappeared from the sight of his companions. As they moved towards the place to ascertain what had happened, they felt the crust sinking beneath them, and had barely time to scramble back before a considerable area disappeared in a crevasse. No trace of the missing Indian was ever found.
"It seemed as though our toil would never end, when suddenly Fred, who was in advance, gave a shout and sat down. He swung his hat in the air, and I wondered what he meant by it.
"'Here we are!' shouted Fred; 'we're at the crater.'
THE CRATER OF POPOCATEPETL.
"I hurried up as fast as I could, and sure enough there it was, a great chasm a thousand or more feet deep, and fully half a mile across. The sides narrow somewhat, so that a little way down you can make out pretty nearly all of the outline. The bottom of the crater can be called flat in a general way, though it is the farthest possible from the ideal of a ball-room floor. Steam and the vapors of sulphur rise from solfataras scattered over the bottom, and from these solfataras the sulphur is constantly forming. The supply is inexhaustible, as the formation goes, on a great deal faster than the miners can remove the product.
"We scrambled down perhaps 200 feet, to where the edge of the crater hung over like a precipice. Here there is a malacate, or apparatus for hoisting out the sulphur. The men working in the sulphur-mines descend and ascend by this apparatus; in fact there is no other way of getting in or out of the crater.
"Our guide told us that the men run great risks, as stones are constantly falling from the sides of the crater, whence they are dislodged by the frost and by the action of the steam and sulphur jets. Rumblings like the premonitions of an earthquake are frequently heard, and sometimes the ground trembles so much as to make one's footing unsteady. In addition to this is the effect of the sulphur, which rots the clothes of the men, and causes their teeth to fall out. They sleep in caves in the sides of the crater, and on two or three occasions a caveful of men has been overwhelmed and killed by the stony avalanche. Altogether the place did not appear attractive as a residence, and I was not surprised to learn that the men receive high wages, and even at the rate of pay they are not easily obtained. They remain a month at a time in the crater without leaving it, and are then replaced by new men and allowed a vacation among their friends in the country at the base of the mountain.