1866. | Teneriffe. 19 
entrance was formed of rough blocks of lava; there were three 
branches or lanes, the principal one, which I more particularly 
observed, was 60 to 70 feet long. Round the walls was a band of 
ice about 7 feet wide and 3 feet high, completely surrounding 
a little pond of water which did not exceed 2 to 3 feet deep near 
the mouth, but at the farther extremity I could not reach the 
bottom with my mountain staff, 8 feet long. At the farther 
extremity was what the neveros (ice collectors) call El hombre de 
nieve, the man of snow; on close inspection it proved to be a 
honeycombed mass of lava, on which the water had dripped from 
the roof, and had frozen into what might, in the obscurity of the 
place, be thought to resemble a human figure. I think the sides 
of the cave show that it has been a crater of emission, for the 
surfaces are rounded, as if they had been acted on when in a 
plastic state. I was further confirmed in this opinion by observing 
a short distance below the cave a stream of lava, which had 
evidently not flowed from the Rembleta above. Some of the lava 
had a wrinkled or corrugated appearance, as if it had issued out 
in a half-fluid state, and had rapidly cooled as it trickled forwards 
by its own weight. It was extraordinary that the water could be 
retained in this basin of porous lava, but I think that the surface of 
the bottom had been glazed over in a similar manner as the sides, 
by the action of heat; besides, it was covered over with a bed of 
ice, on which the water rested; this was evident, as wherever I 
eee my pole, it struck on ice. The ice-collectors I employed 
uring my first attempt to ascend, assured me that they had often 
seen smoke or steam issue out of the cave, but I saw neither when 
I was there. 
In three quarters of an hour after leaving the cave we arrived 
at a small plain of pumice, called the Rembleta, situated 11,721 feet 
above the sea; this plain appeared to have been the ancient crater 
of the Peak, from which most of the currents of lava had proceeded 
previous to the formation of the present cone, or Pilon (sugar-loaf), 
which rises nearly in the centre of this plain to an elevation of 479 
feet. The foot of the cone was encircled by water entirely frozen 
over ; it was no doubt derived from the snow which fell on the sides 
of the cone melting, which thus formed the narrow belt of water 
around it. 
Although the actual elevation of the cone was small, yet I 
found the ascent the most difficult and fatiguing part of the 
journey. The surface is a light pumice and ash, with small pieces 
of porphyritic lava covered with an ochreous crust occasionally pro- 
truding through it. Some idea may be formed of the steepness of 
the cone when I mention that at the bottom the slope forms an 
angle of 35°, gradually increasing till, near the top, the angle is 
c2 
