r)0 MA.GXIFICENT PllOSrJiCn. 



tatioii, and the smiling aspect of the cultured country be- 

 neath. They beheld the plants divided by zones, as the 

 temperature of the atmosphere diminished with the eleva- 

 tion of the site. Below the Sugar-loaf, lichens began to 

 cover the scorious and lustrous lava : and violets rose on 

 the slope of the volcano at eight thousand five hundred 

 ff^et of height. Tufts of retama, loaded with flowers, 

 adorned the valleys hollowed out by the torrents, and en- 

 cumbered with the effects of the lateral eruptions. Below 

 the retama, lay the region of ferns, bordered by the tract 

 of the arborescent heaths. Forests of laurel, rhamnus, 

 and arbutus, divided the ericas from the rising grounds 

 planted with vines and fruit trees. A rich carpet of 

 verdure extended from the plain of spartium. and the 

 zone of the alpine plants even to the groups of the date 

 tree and the musa, at the feet of which the ocean ap- 

 peared to roll. The seeming proximity, in which, from 

 the summit of the peak, they beheld the hamlets, the 

 vineyards, and the gardens on the coast, was increased 

 by the prodigious transparency of the atmosphere. In 

 spite of the great distance, they could plainly distinguish 

 not only the houses, the sails of the vessels, and the 

 trunks of the trees, but they could discern the vivid 

 colouring of the vegetation of the plains. 



Notwithstanding the heat which they felt in their feet 

 on the edge of the crater, the cone of ashes remains 

 covered with snow durino; several months in winter. It 

 was probable that under the cap of snow considerable 

 hollows were found, like those existing under the gla- 

 ciers of Switzerland, the temperature of which was con- 

 stantly less elevated than that of the soil on which they 

 rc"00sed. The cold and violent wind, which blew from 



