midday
A day 's march through the mountains brought them into a lofty plateau , some seven thousand feet above the sea . Here were wide-spreading forests of trees , which Roger recognized as large oaks and cypress . Around the villages were clearings , and whereas in the plains below maize was chiefly cultivated , the largest proportion of the fields , here , were devoted to plantations of the aloe or maguey . Here , even at midday , the temperature was not too hot to be pleasant ; while at night the cold was great , and Roger was glad to pile the thick quilted rugs over him . After traversing this plateau for some distance , they came upon another range of hills , far loftier than those they had before crossed , and vastly higher than anything Roger had ever before beheld in his travels . These mountains were , the merchant told him , the Cordilleras ; they extended from unknown regions in the north through Anahuac to the south . The snow never melted upon the summits , and several of the highest of these were terrible volcanoes , whose eruptions were dreaded by the whole nation .