10 Teneriffe. [Jan., 
to the top of the Peak, under an agreement that they were to 
receive no pay if they turned back against my orders. 
The usual plan of those who ascend the Peak, is to leave Port 
Orotava about one o’clock in the day, to enable them to reach the 
Estancia de los Ingleses, where they pass the night under the 
shelter of some rock, and then to resume the ascent sufficiently 
early to see the sun rise from the top of the Peak. As I wished 
to pass some time at the Estancia to examine the surrounding lavas, 
and to observe the decrement of temperature from the coast, the 
Villa de Orotava, and my point of observation, I left the Villa at 
4 a.m., at which hour the thermometer stood at 56°:5, the wet-bulb 
thermometer 53°, and the barometer 28°:78, equal to 30 inches 
reduced to the level of the sea. 
Soon after we left the upper part of the town, we entered the 
Camino de Chasna, which is dignified by the name of a road, 
although, like almost all the highways in the island, it is only a 
steep and rugged surface of lava. My muleteer, guide, and myself 
moved along in Indian file, and, as we proceeded upwards, the cold 
eradually increased, particularly after we passed over the crest of 
the first range of hills which bounds the valley of Orotava. The 
valleys, and high up some of the mountains where there was 
vegetation, were covered with dense vapour, but it did not at that 
hour extend to where we were ascending ; above was the intensely 
blue starry vault of heaven, and in front the clear outline of the 
Peak covered with snow, looking down upon us in majestic 
grandeur. ‘There was a peculiar wildness in the scene, which for a 
time was enlivened by the rather melodious chant of my two men, 
but towards break of day they appeared tired, and notwithstanding 
the cold, I found much difficulty in keeping my eyes open; indeed, 
my men said that I had been dozing, which was very probable, as I 
had not been to bed the previous night, that I might be ready to 
start in good time. 
About 7 A.m. we crossed the barranca, or ravine, of Pilloni, and 
that of Pino Dornajito, which is 3,410 feet above the level of the 
sea; it is so named from an enormous Canarian pine-tree that grew 
near the western side of the ravine. It is said that this tree was 
full-grown at the time of the conquest; after having stood the 
storms of so many ages, it was at last swept into the ravine by the 
dreadful waterspout that devastated the northern part of the island 
on the night of the 7th November, 1826; this tree, though partly 
destroyed, still measured when I saw it, 128 feet in length and 
30 feet in circumference. 
Under a precipice in the middle of the ravine, is a small spring 
of water, and a wooden cross at the side of it; the temperature of 
the spring was 56°, that of the air 40°, and the wet-bulb ther- 
mometer 39°°5. At the time of the waterspout a body of water, 
