lifornia makes
it impossible to say at what time, if ever, this smothered volcano may
have been more active, we have accounts of analogous phenomena in
Central America and San Salvador, in the Ausoles of Ahuachapan, near the
volcano of Izalco, which were described in 1576 by Licenciado Palacio,
and also in what was called the 'Infernillo,' on the side of the volcano
of San Vicente, which was mentioned by the Spanish _Conquistadores_. We
also know something of the subsequent history of these volcanoes; for M.
Arago has remarked that

'The volcano of Izalco is extremely active. Among its eruptions may
be cited those of 1798, 1805, 1807, and 1825. On the occasion of
the last eruption the course of the river Tequisquillo was altered
to the extent of several kilometres.'

Also:

'The volcano of San Vicente, called also Sacatecoluca, was
distinguished in 1643 by a very violent eruption which covered all
the surrounding country with ashes and sulphur. In January, 1835, a
new eruption of this volcano destroyed many towns and villages.'

Now let us see what old Palacio says of the springs on the side of this
fearful volcano of Izalco:

'The springs, which the Indians call 'Hell,' are all within the
space of a gunshot across, and each makes a different noise. One
imitates the sound of a fuller's mill; another that of a forge, and
a third a man snoring. The water in some is turbid; in some clear;
in others red, yellow, and various colors. They all leave deposits
of corresponding colors. Collectively the springs form the Rio
Caliente, running underground for a quarter of a league, and so hot
on reaching the surface as to take the skin off a man's feet.
Double the range of a musket shot from these springs are others,
which flow from a rock fifteen feet long by nine feet broad, split
in the centre, sending out with water columns of smoke and steam,
with a fearful sound, distinguishable for half a league.'

A later visitor has given an account of the same springs, which may be
thus condensed:

'Not far from Apaneca and in the vicinity of the town of
Ahuachapan, are some remarkable thermal springs, called _Ausoles_.
They emit a dense white steam from a semi-fluid mass of mud and
water in a state of ebullition, which continually throws off large
and heavy bubbles. [The mud bubbles of the Witches' Caldron a