"Still we kept on and on, tearing our hands and bruising our limbs in our eagerness to reach the summit before the setting of the sun. At three o'clock we were brought to a standstill by the sudden fainting of Señor Z, a young gentleman of Granada, who had volunteered to accompany us. Fortunately I saw him stagger, and was able to catch him in my arms before he had lost all consciousness. A moment later he would have fallen among the rocks, and inevitably have been killed. He soon recovered from the attack, and, after resting a while, attempted to proceed. But his efforts were feeble, and another recurrence of faintness, and indications of a suffusion of the brain, rendering it evident that he could neither go on nor return that afternoon, there was but one alternative left, and that was to encamp where we were for the night. But he would not listen to the proposition, and insisted on being left with the guide until our return. So we led him to a cleft in the rocks, where he was sheltered from the sun, and, supplying him with water and food, bade him farewell, and continued our ascent.

"The lead, now that we had lost our guide, devolved upon me. It was a position of some responsibility, for the mountain was here rent in numerous deep rifts or chasms, some of which were hundreds of feet deep, and it was difficult to select a course which should avoid them, and yet conduct us toward the top of the mountain. Besides, we had now reached the region of clouds, which often obscured the summit, and enveloped us in their dark and damp, but refreshing folds. While they were passing we could not move, for a single incautious step might now be fatal.

"I had directed my course toward a high angular peak, which to us seemed to be the highest part of the mountain. But when, after prodigious toil, we had attained it, I found that it was only one of the broken lips of the crater, and that the true bulk of the mountain lay far to the left, separated from the point on which we stood by a deep cleft, which could only be passed by descending the rocks again for the distance of nearly a thousand feet. This was a severe disappointment in some respects, yet we felt glad that we were not obliged to pass the night there. Before retracing our steps, I crawled cautiously

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to the very edge of the rock. It overhung the ancient crater, which yawned like a hell beneath. I recoiled with a shudder, but not until I had observed, at the very bottom of the rocky gulf, a little lake of water, which gleamed brightly in its rough setting.

"After regaining the body of the volcano, we came upon a comparatively smooth slope, supporting a few bushes and a little' hardy grove, and, just before sunset, after passing several small craters and ancient vents, succeeded in attaining the summit of the mountain.

"I had abstained from looking around me while ascending, anxious to witness the glorious prospect which I knew must open upon my vision there in all of its vastness and beauty. Worn, weary, bruised, and bleeding, yet that one sublime view compensated for all. Language can faintly picture it. The great Pacific, all golden under the setting sun, spread away boundlessly in the west; and Lake Nicaragua, its glowing waters studded with islands, lay motionless at our feet. Beyond it rose the umber-tinted hills of Chontales, and still beyond these, rank on rank, the high, blue ranges of the silver-veined Cordilleras of Honduras. I turned to the southward, and there, piercing the clear air with their lofty cones, towered the graceful peaks of Ometepec and Madeira. And yet beyond these rose the volcano of Orosi, with its dark banner of smoke trailing away, league on league, along the horizon, and tracing an ebon belt across the gigantic bulk of cloud-crowned Cartago, proudly dominating over both great oceans. To the northward the view was equally varied and extensive. There, cradled among hills of eternal green, spread out the large and beautiful Lake of Managua. At its further extremity loomed the high volcano of Momotombo, watching, like some gigantic warder, over the slumbering waters; and more distant still, terminating the dim perspective, were the receding peaks which bristle around the plain of Leon. And, apparently at our feet, although ten miles distant from the base of the mountain, stood the broad, low volcano of Masaya, in the midst of a wide expanse of lava-fields, which, rugged and black, strongly contrasted with the adjacent forests and cultivated grounds. The white church

es of Granada and of the surrounding villages appeared like points of silver in the slant rays of the sun. Rarely, indeed, has the eye of mortal looked upon a fairer scene.

"But as we gazed with unwearying delight, the sun declined, and broad purple shadows crept over lake and plain, while every peak and mountain shone with increased brightness, like fairy islands in some enchanted sea. Soon the shadows began to invade their slopes, mounting higher and higher, and wrapping them one by one in their cool embrace. At last only the topmost crest of Ometepec and Madeira were left, and around them the sun's rays dallied, as a lover dwells upon the lips of his mistress, in fond and lingering adieus.

"The glow and the glory passed, and the stately night descended in her glittering robe; and then, face to face with the stars, we wrapped our blankets around us, and lay down upon the bare earth. The silence was profound and almost painful, and deepened rather than disturbed by the subdued and distant, but distinct pulsations of the great Pacific. Suddenly we heard the bells of Granada chiming the passing hour. The sound was almost startling from its apparent nearness, yet softened and harmonized in the rarefied atmosphere so as to resemble the swelling notes of the Eolian harp when struck by a sudden breeze.

"The early part of the night was deliciously cool, but toward morning we were all awakened by a cold mist, which settled upon the top of the mountain, covering the rocks with big drops of moisture, and which was not dispelled until long after the sun had risen above the horizon. We thus lost the principal object of our visit, but consoled ourselves with the reflection that our imaginations could picture nothing more glorious than the sunset of the preceding evening. It was past ten o'clock before we were able to extend our vision beyond the little circle within which we stood, or advance toward the eastern declivity of the mountain, where an abrupt depression and the cries of birds seemed to indicate that we should find the lake of which we had heard so much. We were not disappointed, for we

At dawn the thermometer marked 65° Fahrenheit, while at Granada, at the same hour, it stood at 79°, a difference of 14°.