IN THE WESTERN AZORES. 405 
now gone, and we had ample proof of the inaccuracy of those 
geographical works, which describe the Peak of Pico to be 
covered with perpetual snow. Snow lies till the month of 
May under some of the steep rocks that form the large 
crater, but on this first day of July snow and snow-water 
were no longer to be seen. The summit of the Peak is 7616 
feet above the level of the sea, as afterwards calculated by 
Captain Vidal from the barometrical observations. The 
difference of temperature between the base and summit was 
about 22° of Fahrenheit. 
Thymus’ cespititius and the Agrostis before mentioned 
were the only phzenogamous plants seen on the little cone; 
and a very few mosses and lichens were associated with them. 
I should think the highest tufts of Calluna vulgaris were met 
with at an altitude of about 7000 feet.  Erica'scoparia was 
the second shrub observed in the descent, and might attain a 
height of 6000 feet. I should guess the spot at which we 
halted for the night to have been about 5000 or 5,500 feet in 
elevation. Here we were in the upper zone of shrubs, in- 
cluding Vaccinium Maderense, Myrsine retusa, Menziesia 
polifolia, and (if I remember rightly) also the Juniperus (com- 
munis?) and Daphne Laureola, along with Erica scoparia 
and Calluna vulgaris. Below this place, the Calluna was 
very sparing in quantity. We formed our beds with green- 
bundles of the Erica; and having made a good fire with the 
dead and dry branches of the shrubs, we passed the night 
more comfortably than the preceding night on the deal 
boards in Mr. Dabney's house. Pilot-coats and a good fire 
were by no means unnecessary while we slept under a clear 
sky after the day's labour. About sunrise we were scarcely 
two hundred feet above a dense mist, but during the whole 
night the heavy masses of mist or cloud, which enveloped 
the middle portion of the mountain, remained constantly 
below us. The sun rising on the contrary side of the Peak 
to that on which we had slept, threw the conical shadow of 
the hill, deep and distinet, over the volumes of white cloud 
beneath us, and thus told us that it had risen, long before 
