254 Some Accoimt of the Island of Teneriffe. 



are to be seen several declivities of lava and strata, broken in- 

 wards towards the plain, and evidently a continuation of the 

 above-mentioned line of wall and the remains of the original 

 crater. There is here no appearance of columnar formation, 

 the lava being earthy and porphyritic : this continuity of wall, 

 at prci^ent so easy to be traced, may be considered as forming 

 the sides of one inniiense crater, from which perhaps originally 

 the lavas of the island flowed, which might have thrown up the 

 cone of the peak, and covered these wide-spreading ])lains or 

 clamirui with the deep beds of ashes and pumice. On this plain 

 Or desert, for we had long left all show of vegetation, except a 

 few stunted plants of Spanish broom, a sensible change was felt 

 in the atmosphere ; the wind was keen and sharp, and the cli- 

 mate like that of England in the months of autumn. All here 

 was sad, silent, and solitary. We saw at a distance the fertile 

 plains on the coast, lying as it were under our feet, and affording 

 a cheerful contrast to the scenes of desolation with which we 

 were surrounded ; we were already 7 or 8000 feet above the level 

 of the sea, and had reached the bottom of the second region of 

 the peak. Immense masses of lava, some of them many hun- 

 dred tons in weight, lie scattered on these pumice plains. Some 

 are broken by their fall, and all wear the appearance of having 

 been projected by volcanic force. Their composition is uni- 

 formly porphyritic, with large masses of feldspar ; the whole 

 compact and heavy, and bearing no resemblance to the earthy 

 lava we had seen in such abundance prior to our entering these 

 pumice plains. Many of these masses are completely vitrified, 

 while others only show marks of incipient vitrification ; but from 

 their site and fracture, from the insulated state in which they 

 lie, from there being no appearance of lava in a stream, from the 

 pumice bed being very deep, (and in one place I saw it exposed 

 to a depth of between 20 and 30 feet) from all these facts taken 

 together, there can be little doubt that these masses were thrown 

 out of the mountain when that lava flowed, which is of similar 

 substance, and which is called by the Spaniards El Jllal Pais. 



Having reached the end of the j)lain we found ourselves at the 

 bottom of a steep hill, at the foot of which is a mass or current 

 of lava whicVi has flowed from the higher regions of the peak, 

 and which constitutes the eastern branch of the lava, of Mai Pais. 

 We began to ascend this steep and rapid part of the mountain, 

 which is composed of a small white or yellowish ash mixed vvith 

 masses of pumice and fragments of lava similar to that found in 

 the plains, of which several small pieces that I picked up were 

 in a state of vitriTication. After a laborious not to say hazardous 

 ascent of about an hour, the pumice and ash giving way and the 



mule 



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