246 



Chapter XVII 



From the description I have given so far it might be supposed 

 that a sandy plain now stretched before our eyes, and that in the 

 distance six or seven miles away we saw the opposite lip of the old 

 crater before our eyes. But this is not so, for the new crater arose 

 out of this plateau ; this was in front of us ; it appeared as a majestic 

 peak, bursting suddenly upon us as we emerged from the Portillio, 

 and rising to a height of about 12,000 feet. All that is left of the 

 plateau is a ring of level sand, in close proximity to the almost vertical 

 lip of the old crater. On the outside of this ring rise the cliffs to 

 about 1000 feet in height, on the inside the gradual ascent of the 



FIG. 117. View from the Alta Vista hut, showing the Caiiadas and the Portillio. (Douglas.) 



peak. It was on this sand that our station was placed. No place at 

 this altitude could have been more sheltered by natural barriers. 



It was quite unlike any place to be seen in Europe. Compare it 

 with much higher altitudes in the Alps, and the comparison is a very 

 remarkable one. The complete dryness of the atmosphere at the 

 Canadas spells the lack of the beautiful vegetation which makes the 

 Alpine snow line so attractive. Go out of the laboratory at Col 

 d'Olen, everything is moist underneath your feet, the cracks in the 

 rock are filled with saxifrages and gentians. Not so at the Canadas 

 although the vegetation at lower altitudes in Teneriffe is no less 



