It is otherwise, when we actually arrive at the foot of the Peak, through the defiles of Portillo. Here we felt as if again placed amidst the sublime stillness and solitude of the glaciers of the Alps, and, as in the Alpine glaciers, the traveller, in wandering over the boundless and gently rising acclivities of pumice, becomes bewildered. What seemed mere blocks at a distance, became rocks when we approached them; and crater hills were transformed into imposing mountains. No scale of the plain could yet be applied. The mass of the peak stood still higher above this level than we had yet seen it; and black streams of glass descended from the summit like ribbands upon the declivity. Continually occupied with the vast spectacle, we were not sensible that we were obliged to travel three hours longer to reach the margin of the stream of lava. Some of the large blocks that compose this margin, are so thrown together as to form benches and apartments of a rude description, among which people commonly wait till the following morning, before they prosecute their journey farther. It is the lower Estancia de los Ingleses.

The ascent from this is difficult; and still more so, when, at an additional elevation of 2000 feet, we must actually cross a black sharp field of glass; although it is never to be compared to the labour of climbing to some of the summits of the Alps. Upwards, above Cueva del Hielo, about 10,300 feet above the sea, we observed the first flakes of snow upon the declivity. They were but small; and in our farther approach towards the summit, we saw no more of them. Bewildered in looking upon the boundless prospect, which astonishes, rather than delights or elevates, because the imagination, unsatisfied with the surrounding shapeless horizon, looks back on it with horror; we had been already some hours upon the margin, and in the interior of the crater, when Mrs Hammond, a Scotch lady, with her company, appeared above, the first female, who, in the memory of the inhabitants, ever ascended the peak. They went round the whole crater, and likewise round that side towards Chahorro, which is so seldom visited; and although the sharp obsidian cut their shoes and feet in a dreadful manner, they did not hesitate to visit along with us the natural ice-pits between the blocks of obsidian and the Cueva del Hielo, which, during the

whole summer, supplies the towns Sta Cruz, Orotava, and Laguna with ice, which to them is a necessary of life. In the afternoon, we hastened down the declivity, to reach Orotava before dark. The guides and mule-drivers sung strophes of alternate rhyme upon the adventures of the day, beat time with sticks upon a cane; and to mark the rhythm, kept a leaden bullet rolling in a wine-glass. At eight in the evening, we once more reached Orotava.

On the 27th May, we again began our ascent towards the peak; but missing the way, after arriving at the plain of the Retama, we went round the circuit of the peak, beneath the perpendicular rocks of which it is composed, spent a few hours more in a deep gulf in which these retama bushes (Spartium nubigenum) blossom magnificently in countless numbers, climbed the rocks at the Pass of Guaxara, and at dark arrived at the village of Chasna, which stands at the height of 4013 feet upon the southern declivity of the island. At this place, we, for the first time, passed through a wood of lofty Canary pines (Pinus canariensis). We also observed it to be more extensive than when we, on another morning, had ascended to an agreeable but weak acid mineral spring, which is the only one upon the island, and which issues forth from rocks of white tuffa. Chasna itself, by far the highest village on the island, was very pleasantly surrounded with a great abundance of pear and plum trees, and with almond-trees, growing on the neighbouring heights. Here we might almost have expected meadows and European plants. In the evening, we reached Chiuama, lying far below; and were there received with polite cordiality by Teniente Don Antonio Gonsalez. He conducted us in a westerly direction to a defile very steep on all sides, and at no great distance, in which were many Guanches caves among the high volcanic rocks, that were inaccessible without a ladder. Bones of mummies, thrown forth and destroyed, were lying like little hillocks upon the ground. We stopped in Rio; on the following day visited the Barancos of the neighbourhood, las Virgas and Granadilla, and returned in the evening to Chinama. Here Don Antonio first let us taste the honey which the bees upon the Peak prepare from the retama. Every village in the neighbourhood, Chasna, Chinama, Granadilla, and Rio, in

the month of May, carry their bee-hives, which are hollow stems of the dragon-tree, to the circus of the peak, and place them in the crevices of the rocks. Millions of bees then swarm around the large and fragrant white bushes of (Spartium nubigenum) the white retama, and very soon fill their hive. The honey is taken from them twice every summer, always in great abun dance, and neither Hymettus nor Chamouny have ever produced any thing equal to it :-it is so pure and transparent, and the taste so aromatic and delicious. Whoever, indeed, would import this bush to the bees of Europe, would deserve as well of his countrymen, as he who introduced the vine and fruittrees. And that would be by no means difficult, for spartium grows perfectly well here, where snow lies almost continually from December till the middle of April, and even where the lowness of the temperature checks the vegetation of every kind of tree. It might thrive extremely well in the interior of Norway, where the summer is warm and dry; and equally upon heaths in Austria and Poland. But no one has hitherto been successful in rearing it in Europe; and every thing that has been said of its flourishing in botanical gardens is erroneous.

On Wednesday 31st May, we descended to the sea-coast, to Puerto de los Christianos, one of the best harbours, and the southernmost part of the island. It was far from agreeable, how

ever.

The drought was dreadful. For miles round, not a single habitation was to be seen, only one house upon Puerto for ships, which, during summer, carry wheat from Santa Cruz for the villages upon the height. Upon the white far-shining surface of the layers of pumice, not a single particle of soil is to be found, and every bush that grows on it is small-leaved and grey, or entirely leafless, and covered with long prickles. The fantastic Euphorbia canariensis creeps along the surface, in the most whimsical forms, and Plocama pendula droops its thin branches, like the weeping willow. Not a drop of water is to be seen in the whole neighbourhood. In such a place, the soul is seized with an indescribable feeling of depression, and we gladly and hastily ascended from the desert to Adexe. A long vista of blooming agave, upon both sides of the road, led us to this friendly spot. We thence proceeded through a long

row of houses to the large castles of the Marquis de Adexe, Conde de Pomera, Don Antonio de Herrera, and then to the hospitable abode of the Governor Don Baltasar Bal Cazar.

The Baranco above Adexe was well deserving of our stay. The largest stream in the island runs in it, branches off in various directions through innumerable gardens and plantations, and carries along with it every thing that, in such a climate, has power to refresh and quicken vegetation. For we found among the ravines, where the rocks, approaching near to one another, hang over, and frequently appear to close, almost every plant that we had not before discovered, and also many withered and decayed, which might certainly at one time have been recognized as new species. This Baranco del Infierno is equally calculated to interest the botanist and the geologist, for, besides their splendid vegetable clothing, the rocks being rent asunder to a depth greater than in any other place, leave room for examining the interior of the Peak.

Adexe lies upon rocks 923 feet above the sea. We descended upon soft layers of tuffa, where small bushes of Justicia hyssopifolia, cistus, conyza, artimesia, thymus and lavender, afford rich and excellent pasture for the goats that feed there. At no great distance from one another stood little well built goat farms. The milk of these animals was as refreshing to us, as it was wholesome and agreeable. Each goat yields the astonishing quantity of one and a half quarts daily, and even more. It is as rich as the milk of the rein-deer, and entirely pure and free from flavour. Such delicious milk we could never discover to be the milk of the goat, which, among the mountains of the north, is held in so little estimation. There the goats do not feed on leaves of justicia, cistus, and lavender. Truly the goat of this island itself is a quite different animal. For agility and elegance, it may be compared with the gazelle. The short smooth horns fall back from the forehead, and the black hair is not wiry and rough, but smooth and fine, and glancing like ebony. It is certainly a different species. No other kind of milk is made use of in the whole of Teneriffe. It is also probably much superior to what cow's milk would be here; hence the reason why there is not perhaps a single cow to be found on the whole island. The

fresh cheese made from this goat's milk is equal in excellence to the serac of Switzerland.

We descended the declivity of Chahorra, over a wide and desolate field of lava, on which the poor villages Guia, Chio, and Arguaio, are but miserably supported, into the valley of St Jago, which joins the north and west sides of the island. Smith at length found the beautiful Euphorbia atro-purpurea, in tall beautiful bushes, a species which was first discovered and described by Broussonet. We would cheerfully have examined the numerous hills of volcanic ashes upon the height, from which so vast a mass of lava has flowed down through the valley to the sea; but a dense fog and rain prevented us. We took a full half hour in crossing the great stream of lava, which in 1705 destroyed Garachico. The road led us, with a rapid descent, to Icod los Vinos, a place surrounded with verdure, beautiful, extensive, and opulent. It is one of the most famous wine districts. The harbour of Garachico, before the lava destroyed it, was indebted for its principal trade to Icod, whose malmsey was celebrated and in demand a hundred years ago. It is still the same, and is shipped at Orotava for England.

A vast extent of obsidian, flowing from the Peak, and extending miles in breadth, has filled up the Barancos, and levelled the declivity. The pines of Pinar, from the pine-woods above, descend along with these streams; and some trees of that kind are found near the sea-coast. This is remarkable; for, in such an extension of zone of temperature, no other kind of pine resembles that beautiful tree. Far up on the Peak, it grows to perfection in a climate which can be compared only with that of Norway; while, on the sea-coast below, it thrives in the climate of Mogador and Morocco. Its form in the latter situation is somewhat different and singular. The Pino Santo, a single tree between Icod and Guanches, with a figure of the Virgin Mary, is, by reason of this figure, visible to a great distance. The branches do not rise high, but spread out to a great extent, and occupy a large space. Cones of one and a half and even of two feet long, are observed hanging from them, and in great abundance, drooping towards the ground like inclined heads, with long hair descending from the crown. Above, in