258 Some Account of the Island of Teneriffe. 



searched in vain for any of the arseniats so common on Vesiivujs, 

 nor could I find those siliceous stalactites resembling strung pearls, 

 which are met with in the island of Isc/iia, in the crater of the 

 Solfhlerra, and in the Marenima of Tuscntri/. The sulphur is 

 pure and fine, and is sold for a considerable price at Orotava. We 

 were not able to go all round the walls or exterior summit of the 

 crater, and hence could not distinguish its southern or western 

 declivity; M. Escolar assured me they are similar to, though 

 more rapid than, the side by which we ascended : from this side 

 flowed the basaltic lavas of 1704, and of the last eruption in 

 1797: this latter stream of lava flowed in a remarkably slow 

 current ; for notwithstanding the sharp descent of the mountain, 

 and the length of the lava not exceeding three miles, several 

 days elapsed before it reached the spot where it stopped. How 

 little fluid this lava must have been is evident, when it is re- 

 membered that the lava of Vesuvius in 1794, which destroyed 

 Torre del Greco, reached the sea from the bottom of the cone, 

 a distance of eight miles, in little more than six hours. M. Es- 

 colar ftnther told me that there is on this south-western side of 

 the peak an ancient lava, at present not at all decomposed, of 

 several miles in length, and in a perfect state of vitrification ; the 

 whole of this stream has the appearance of obsidian. All these 

 lavas appear to have flowed fron: the bottom of the cone, and to 

 have run from its base in the same manner as that of Vesuvius 

 in 1794, the crater of which vomited out ash and pumice, and 

 large pieces of rock, while the current of lava issued from its 

 side. It is not however improbable that the cone itself is of 

 anterior formation to this vitrified lava, as the sxnnmit of the 

 Peak is similar to tbe lava of the Mai Pais, and that being por- 

 phyritic is considered as of more ancient date than the one above 

 mentioned, which is basaltic. 



If one might hazard a conjecture upon a subject where the 

 data are so i'cw, 1 should be inchned to suspect that the Peak it- 

 self, as well as the whole of the country around it which forms 

 its base, were produced by that immense crater called Las .Ca- 

 nales, the shape and magnitude of which I have before taken 

 notice of when traversing the pumice plains : it is also well 

 Avorthy of remark, that there is no volcano in action at all to be 

 compared in size of crater to those that are extinct. The an- 

 cient crater of Vesuvius is considerably larger than the present, 

 and tliose in the vicinity of Naples, the eruptions of which pro- 

 bably created that district of Italy, are of enormous extent. 

 The crater of the Camaldoli is somewhat more than two leagues 

 in circumferenc?, and the superficies of the Ca?iales is estimated 

 at twelve square leagues. These vast craters were probably ca- 

 pable of ejecting from their bosom those stupendous beds of 



lava. 



