14 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



slow and unwearied efforts, the empire of Flora extends 

 itself over places ravaged by volcanic fire. If, therefore, 

 the plants of Teneriffe do not reach the verge of the crater, 

 it is not because perpetual snows, and the cold of the sur- 

 rounding atmosphere, lay down limits which they cannot 

 pass : it is that the scorified lava of the Malpays, the pow- 

 dered and barren pumice-stone of the Piton, offer insur- 

 mountable obstacles to such plants as grow among them, 

 and imperiously prohibit any further advance towards the 

 brink of the crater. 



Hence it is, that on the summit of the Peak nought of 

 vegetation is discoverable ; no trace even of the humblest 

 lichen, no insects fluttering in the air. An awful scene of 

 desolation meets the view ; while the solemn stillness of the 

 place is broken only by the sound of winds, which, coming 

 in hollow gusts, resemble the roar of distant cannon. 



