Mr. Bennet on the Island of Tenerlffe . 287 



Peak sloping down on the eastern, western, and northern sides, to 

 the sea. Towards the south, or more properly the S.S.W. the 

 mountains are nearly perpendicular, and, though broken into ridges 

 and occasionally separated by deep ravines that are cut transversely 

 as well as longitudinally, there are none of those plains nor that 

 gradual declination of strata that the south-eastern and north-western 

 «ides of the island exhibit. 



From the Barranco Seco^ in the neighbourhood of Santa Cru%^ 

 to the northerly point called Pimta del Hidalgo^ a series of steep and 

 abrupt mountains form headlands to the sea, separated from the 

 central chain by the valley of Laguna ; these mountains are rugged 

 and peaked, drawn up, if the term may be used, in a column, and 

 are divided by deep ravines. The sides of these mountains are steep, 

 being in many places cut nearly perpendicular to the horizon, and 

 are all composed of lava generally of the basaltic formation, mixed 

 with beds of tufa and pumice. From Hidalgo point to that of 

 n'eno^ the most westerly point of the Island, the strata vary from 

 beds of pumice and decomposed lava and ash, which form the 

 plains of Laguna Ticaronte and Songal^ to streams and currents 

 and headlands of lava similar to those of the Barranco Hundo^ San 

 Ursula., Las Horcas^ and Las Guanchas. The slope from the central 

 chain is here gradual, intersected by ravines and streams of lava; 

 The soil famed for its fertility and which produces the TenerifFe wine, 

 Is composed of lava and ash in a state of decomposition. Head- 

 lands, some of them from two to three hundred feet in height, 

 project into the sea between San Ursula and O-rotava^ forming 

 perpendicular cliffs. At the western extremity of the Island 

 from Punta d'l Teno to Puerto de las Chrlstianos^ the strata 

 rise in a broken ridge to the Peak, the land ascending gra- 

 dually from Punta de Teno by a chain of small peaked hills ; tlie 



