20 VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



the only flielter we had againft the eafterly wind 

 that was then blowing pretty ftrong. The cold 

 was very intenle at this height, where nature has 

 hot confulted the wants of travellers, for wood is 

 here very fcarce ; indeed, the little fire that it was 

 poffible for us to make, did not prevent us from 

 pafling a very bad night. 



At length the day began to appear. 



We then left fome of our guides with their 

 mules in the place where we had juft fpent the 

 night, and took the road to the Peak, the ium- 

 mit of which we were foon to reach. 



We continued walking for an hour over con- 

 siderable heaps of fragments of grayifh lava, 

 among which we faw fcattercd here and there, 

 blocks of pozzolatia, and large maffes of a very 

 compact blackifh glafs, which is extremely like 

 bottle-glafs. Although made in the immenfe 

 crucibles of thefe mountains, at the time of their 

 eombuftion, this glafs would not on that account 

 be the lefs fit to become ufeful in the arts, fince, 

 being completely formed by nature, it would re- 

 quire only the procefs of fire neceflary for melt- 

 ing it, in order to be qualified for receiving from 

 the hand of man every form of which it is fuf- 

 ceptiblc. 



The cavern, on the brinks of which we ar- 

 rived, is called La queve del ana. It is a full 

 meter and a half wide at its mouth ; as its depth 



18 



