^8 Account of a Journey to the 



of the sun's disk as seen from the summit of the peak, is 

 absolutely false. 



The enjoyment of three hours and a half soon elapsed. 

 This was little, no doubt, in comparison of the eight hun- 

 dred leagues which I had travelled to procure it : but these 

 hours, such as I spent them, were and always will be to 

 me of infinite value. I had scarcely time to arrive 9.t the 

 port of Orotava with day -light; and I had still to make spe- 

 cimens of all the different kinds of lava. I was obliged to 

 quit for ever one of the most beautiful scenes in nature j 

 and I quitted this famous summit, bidding it, with regret, 

 an eternal farewell. 



We descended very speedily : the lava, which had ren- 

 dered our efforts exceedingly laborious, crumbled to pieces 

 under our feet. We therefore soon passed las tiorices del 

 pico, two small spiracles at the bottom of the pap, which 

 continually throw up water and vapour. The snow soft- 

 ened by the sun was less dangerous, but I often sunk into 

 \\. up to the knees ; which was not very tempting to my 

 guide, who had not ventured to trust himself to it in as- 

 cending, and who was afraid of sinking into it altogether. 

 We stopped for a moment near la ciivea del gelo. This 

 is one of those wonders to the vulgar, respecting which sq 

 many fables are told by travellers. You will have an idea 

 of it, if you imagine one of those vaults which the liquid 

 lava forms above itself to have burst exactly over a large 

 cavity, the bottom of which is filled with snow abundantly 

 unpregnated with water : in summer it is sometimes dry. 

 At a quarter before one wc arrived at La Stauze, somewhat 

 fatigued with the carriage of my valuable and heavy collec- 

 tion. 



Our small caravan soon set out, but at a slower pace. Till 

 that moment, the rapidity of our march and the multitude 

 of observations had scarcely permitted me to breathe. In 

 descending I had time to reflect on every thing by which I 

 had been most interested, and it was then only that I began 

 to enjoy what I had seen. In this satisfactory account 

 which I gave to myself, I soon discovered an error, which 

 was, that I had not attempted to ascertain whether there 

 existed any thing remarkable at the bottom of the peak to- 

 wards the south-west. This fault could not be remedied. 

 You will soon see that it was a great one, and whether it 

 was properly repaired eight days after. 



The state of the atmosphere had changed since the morn- 

 ing. The clouds, now united, formed only a moveable stra- 

 tum on a level with the heights, and which the trade-wind 

 4 " carried 



