"Another argument adduced in the support of the theory of inflation from below, was, the hollow sound made by the steps of a horse upon the plain; which, however, proves nothing more than that the materials of which the convex mass is composed are light and porous. The sound called "rimbombo" by the Italians, is very commonly returned by made ground when sharply struck, and has been observed not only on the sides of Vesuvius and of other volcanic cones where a cavity is below, but also in plains, such as the Campagna di Roma, composed in a great measure of tuff and other porous and volcanic rocks. The reverberation, however, may be assisted by grottoes and caverns, for these may be as numerous in the lavas of Jorullo as in many of those of Etna; but their existence would lend no countenance to the hypothesis of a great arched cavity, four square miles in extent, and in the centre 550 feet high.1
"Mr. Burkhart, a German director of mines, who examined Jorullo in 1827, ascertained that there had been no eruption there since Humboldt's visit in 1803. He, went to the bottom of the crater, and observed a slight evolution of sulphurous acid vapors, but the "hornitos" had ceased entirely to give forth steam. During the twenty-four years intervening between his visit and that of Humboldt, vegetation had made great progress on the flanks of the new hills, and the rich soil of the surrounding country was once more covered with luxuriant crops of sugar cane and indigo, and there was an abundant growth of natural underwood on all the uncultivated tracts."2
The State of Mechoacan is extraordinarily rich in rivers and streams. The Lerma, Balsas, Zitacuaro, Huetamo, Cluranúeco, Marquéz, Aztala, Tlalpujahua, and some smaller streamlets and brooks are found in its vallies; while the lakes and ponds of Cuizco or Aaron, Patzcuaro, Huango, Tanguato, and Huaniqueo afford supplies to numerous neighborhoods. The climate of Mechoacan is regular, not liable to extraordinary or sudden changes, and remarkably genial. On the Pacific coast and in its vicinity, as in the other middle and southern States of the