Notice of Active and Extinct Volcanos. 283 



" Having passed the Pyrenees to go to Barcelona, he found in 

 the bed of the fluvia lavas and scoriae. He ascended towards the 

 source of the river, traversed four leagues of a volcanic country, 

 round Ollot, and observed there several streams of lava, volcanic 

 cinders or Puzzolana, and lastly craters not yet effaced. This 

 volcanic district extends from six to eight leagues to the south be- 

 yond Amera, where in 1428 there was an eruption which destroy- 

 ed Ollot, and left only one house standing. He found much lava 

 in the bed of the river Tor, and traversed near Massanite a cur- 

 rent of ancient lava, almost a league in breadth, in a state of de- 

 composition, and covered by an alluvial soil. From Massanite to 

 Ollot, is a distance of fifteen leagues, so that the theatre of vol- 

 canic action in these countries is much more extended than that 

 around Vesuvius." 



The beautiful specimens of phosphat of lime, (asparagus 

 stone,) found near Jumella,in Murcia, are deposited in ancient 

 lava, lying under an old secondary compact shell limestone ; 

 the volcano was probably submarine. 



Spain contains also other volcanic regions near Almeira, 

 and in the chain of mountains that separates it from Portugal, 

 near its southern extremity. 



Portugal is not without volcanic appearances ; in the vicin- 

 ity of Lisbon, and in the Siera de l'Estrella, the ancient Her- 

 minius, there is an appearance of an ancient crater, contain- 

 ing a lake through which air bubbles arise. 



Africa. 



The islands that are contiguous to the African coast, are 

 decidedly volcanic. 



The Canaries are among the most remarkable ; and of 

 these, the most striking feature is 



Teneriffe ; whose highest peak, that of Teyde, is twelve 

 thousand and ninety feet above the sea. The rocks compo- 

 sing this colossal structure are the productions of volcanic 

 fire ; but the basaltic rocks through which they have risen, 

 are scarcely one third of the elevation of the peak itself. 



" Hence we may characterize the two classes under the name 

 of ancient and modern lavas, just as has been done in the case of 

 those which are found at the foot, and which compose the mass 

 of Mount Etna. 



" The modern lavas however of the peak admit likewise of a 

 two-fold division, 1st, into those composing the nucleus of the 

 mountain, which are of a trachytic character, and appear to have 



