Mr. Ben NET on the Island of Tenetiffe. 301 



larger than the present, and those In the vicinity of Naples, the erup- 

 tions of which probably created that district of Italy, are of enormous 

 extent. The crater of the Camaldoli is somewhat more than two 

 leagues in circumference, and the superficies of the Canales is esti- 

 mated at 12 square leagues. These vast craters were probably capable 

 of. ejecting from their bosom those stupendous beds of lava, 

 which being so much more extensive than any that have flowed 

 from more recent eruptions have led some persons to deny the 

 former to be the effects of a central fire. That all the Island 

 of Teneriffe was volcanically produced no man v^^ho examines 

 it can have any doubt, and though the smallness of the exist- 

 ing crater of the Peak may lead one to imagine that it alone could not 

 be the effective cause of all the phenomena, yet the innumerable 

 volcanoes on all sides of the island, the appearance of Las Canalesy 

 and its elevation, are able to account for the extent of the streams and 

 beds of lava and of the deposits of tufa and pumice, of which the island 

 is composed. Having no data to proceed upon but what is given by 

 the measurement of the eye, it is not easy to determine the magnitude 

 of the cone at its base ; one may say at a venture, it is about three miles 

 in circumference, though towards the S.S.W. the descent is much more 

 abrupt, and the plain from which the cone springs not perceptible. 

 The view^ from the summit is stupendous, we could plainly discover 

 the whole form of the island, and we made out distinctly three or four 

 of the islands, which together are called the Canaries ; we could not 

 however see Lancerottc or Fuerteventura^ though we were told that 

 other travellers had distinguished them all. 



From this spot the central chain of mountains that runs from south- 

 west to north-east is easily to be distinguished. These with the suc- 

 cession of fertile and woody vallies, commencing from San Ursula 

 and ending at Las Horcas, with the long line of precipitous lava rocks 



