262 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



upon which lie beds of porphyry and obsidian porphyry. Fire 

 and water rage below the surface ; I noticed steam escaping from 

 every point. Almost all the lava streams appeared to be melted 

 basalt. The pumice-stone is evidently produced from obsidian 

 porphyry ; I have specimens where the two conditions are united 

 in one piece. 



c At the foot of a lava stream in front of the crater we spent 

 the night in the open air, among the group of stones known by 

 the name of " La Estancia de los Ingleses," at a height of 7,875 

 feet above the sea. At two in the morning we were already on 

 our way towards the last cone. The heavens were bright with 

 stars, and the moon shone with a gentle radiance ; but this calm 

 was soon to be disturbed. The storm raged violently round 

 the summit, we were obliged to cling fast to the edge of the 

 crater. The wind rushed through the rifts with a noise like 

 thunder, while a veil of cloud separated us from the world 

 below. We climbed up the cone as it stood out above the 

 mist, isolated as a ship upon the sea. The sudden change 

 from the beauty of a bright moonlight night to the darkness 

 and desolation of the storm and cloud produced a very im- 

 pressive effect. 



'Postscript. In the district of Orotava there is a dragon 

 tree (Draccena draco) measuring forty-five feet in circumfe- 

 rence. Four centuries ago, in the days of the Gruanches, 1 the 

 girth was as great as it is now. 2 I could almost weep at the 

 prospect of leaving this place ; I should be quite happy to 

 settle here, and yet I am scarcely out of Europe. Could you 

 but see these luxuriant fields, these forests of laurel, the growth 

 of a thousand years, these vines and these roses ! They actually 

 fatten the pigs here upon apricots. The roads are lined with 

 camelias. 



c We are to sail on the 25th (June).' 



1 [The name of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Canary Islands.] 



2 This dragon-tree, which is fully described by Humboldt in the ' Aspects 

 of Nature,' lost half the crown during a hurricane in the year 1819. The 

 lower part of the hollow stem was then supported by masonry, over which 

 bignonias and other creeping plants were trained, but the upper portion 

 became by degrees so rotten that it was finally broken off in the storm of 

 January 2, 1868. 



