DANGEROUS CURRENTS. 39 



presented a more smiling aspect. In a narrow pass 

 between two hills, crowned with scattered tufts of trees, 

 marks of cultivation were visible. The last rays of the 

 sun gilded the corn ready for the sickle. 



The captain of the Pizarro endeavored to get out of 

 this bay by the pass which separated Alegranza from 

 Montana Clara, and through which he had easily entered 

 to land at the northern point of Graciosa. The wind 

 having fallen, the currents drove the vessel very near a 

 rock, on which the sea broke with violence, and which 

 was noted in the old charts under the name of Hell, or 

 Inflerno. Examined at the distance of two cables' length, 

 this rock was found to be a mass of lava, full of cavities, 

 and covered with scoriae resembling coke. 



As the vessel was prevented by the fall of the wind, 

 and by the currents, from repassing the channel of Ale- 

 granza, the captain resolved on tacking during the night 

 between the island of Clara and the West Rock. This 

 resolution had nearly proved fatal. A calm was very 

 dangerous near this rock, towards which the current 

 drove with considerable force. They began to feel the 

 effects of this current at midnight. The proximity of 

 the stony masses, which rose perpendicularly above the 

 water, deprived the vessel of the little wind which blew ; 

 she no longer obeyed the helm and they dreaded striking 

 every instant. 



The wind having freshened a little towards the morning 

 of the 18th, they succeeded in passing the channel. 



From the time of their departure from Graciosa the 

 horizon continued so hazy that they did not discover 

 the island of Canary, notwithstanding the height of its 

 mountains, till the evening of the 18th. On the morning 



