DESCRIPTION OF THE PEAK. 19 
vents, and handsome houses, rising in an am- 
phitheatre up the side of a mountain, would 
have offered a noble and pleasing prospect to 
eyes accustomed to the monotony of a sea view, 
but that the majestic Peak, that giant among 
mountains, rearing in the background its 
snow-crowned head 13,278 feet above the level 
of the sea, now stood clear and cloudless before 
us, enchaining all our faculties, the effect of its 
appearance rendered still more striking by the 
‘sudden parting of the clouds which had pre- 
viously concealed it from us. This prodigious 
conical volcano is from its steepness difficult of 
access, and the small crater on the summit is so 
closely surrounded by a wall of lava, that in 
some places there is scarcely room to stand. He 
who is bold enough to climb it, however, will 
find himself rewarded with one of the finest pro- 
spects in the world. Immediately beneath him, 
stretches the entire extent of the Teneriffe, with 
allits lovely scenery ; round it the other nineteen 
Canary Islands; the eye then glances over an im- 
mense expanse of waters, beyond which may 
be descried in the di stance the dark forests of 
the African coast, and even the yellow stripe 
