“But to return to my journey; I was accompanied by a cazique whose baptismal name was Don Francisco; in the Chorotegan language he was called Natatime; also by a negro and two faithful Indians. Although the negro was a safe man, I acknowledge that I was wrong to put myself in such company; but I made up my mind to do so from the desire I had to succeed in this enterprise. I had found Machuca sick; those who were to accompany me had broken their word, and returned to Granada; yet I was not willing to suspend my journey, so great was my desire to learn what truth there might be in the relations of those who pretended to have been there. When it was no longer possible to go on horseback, I dismounted, and put sandals of wood on my feet, for shoes would not answer for such a road. I left one of the Indians to take charge of my horse, and went forward with the cazique, who served us for a guide, and who, with the negro and the other Indian, I made to go before me. When the cazique arrived near the crater, he sat down, fifteen or twenty paces off, and pointed out to me with his finger the frightful spectacle. The summit of the mountain forms a _plateau_, covered with red, yellow, and black rocks, spotted with divers colors. Except on the eastern side, where I stood, the whole plateau is occupied by a crater, whose orifice is so large, that in my opinion a musket ball could not traverse it. There proceeds from it a continual smoke, but not so thick as to prevent one from examining it both internally and externally; for, as the east wind blows continually here, it bears the smoke away to the opposite side from the spectator. This crater is, to the best of my judgment, and of those whom I have heard speak of it, about one hundred and thirty fathoms in depth; the width continually diminishing as it descends. This mountain is not as high on its southern and eastern sides as on the others, and looks like human workmanship, so regular are its outlines; excepting, however, the side where I was, which, as I have before mentioned, is covered with rocks. There were also some caverns, but one could see little or nothing but their entrances; and the sides of the crater could scarcely be seen; for no one durst advance sufficiently near.