LETTER VIII. 



First Ascent of the Peak. 



After arranging the necessary preliminaries, I set off 

 for the Peak on the 29th instant, before the break of day, 

 accompanied by ten persons, principally professional and 

 mercantile men of this island, each of us attended by a 

 guide, or rather such as professed to be our guides. Al- 

 though born within two leagues of the mountain, most of 

 them had never been induced by the excitement of curi- 

 osity to ascend from their native valley to the "■ regions 

 of barren grandeur above them." 



We pursued our course along the sea-shore for a league 

 or more, till we reached Realejo de Abaxo, shortly after 

 w^hich, we commenced ascending the lofty mountain of 

 Tygayga passing by the straggling hamlet of Ycod del 

 Alto ; and after attaining the height of about 4000 feet, 

 we halted a few moments in order to view the surrounding 

 scenery. We were situated on the brink of a precipice 

 where we could look down more than 2000 feet nearly 

 perpendicularly, which, at first sight, would make a person 

 of ordinary nerves, shudder. The cold had sensibly 

 increased, the mercury having sunk to 57^, and the vegeta- 

 tion and general aspect of things had totallv changed, bear- 

 ing quite another character from those in the valley below. 

 We continued to ascend over regions distinguished by 

 their peculiar vegetation until eight o'clock, when we 

 reached Las Canadas, or Los Llanos de Retama, which 

 are remarkable for bearing a profusion of broom, (Spartium 

 nuhigEnwiu Lin.) called by the natives, la retama. It is 

 a woody shrub, ramifying close to the earth, and sends 

 forth numerous tufted branches to the height of nine or ten 

 feet. It is an ever-green, varying from light-blue to pale- 

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