49 VILLA DE LA LAGUNA. ~ 
which derive their nourishment more from tie 60 
than from the soil, reminded them by their : spect 
that the Canaries belong to Africa, anc even ‘6 the 
most arid part of that continent. 
The captain of the Pizarro having a) 7.7ed them 
that, on account of the blockade by tie Emgish, 
they ought not to reckon upon a longer stay than 
four or five days, they hastened to set out for the 
port of Orotava, where they might find guides for 
the ascent of the Peak; and on the 20th, before 
sunrise, they were on the way to Villa dela Laguna, 
which is 2238 feet higher than the port of Santa 
Cruz. The road to this place is on the right of a 
torrent which, in the rainy season, forms beautiful 
falls. Near the town they met with some white 
camels, employed in transporting merchandise. 
These animals, as well as horses, were introduced 
into the Canary Islands in the fifteenth century 
by the Norman conquerors, and were unknown to 
the Guanches. Camels are more abundant in Lan- 
cerota and Forteventura, which are nearer the con- 
tinent, than at Teneriffe, where they very seldom 
propagate. 
The hill on which the Villa de la Laguna stands 
belongs to the series of basaltic mountains, which 
forms a girdle around the Peak, and is independent 
of the newer volcanic rocks. The basalt on which 
the travellers walked was blackish-brown, compact, 
and partially decomposed. ‘They found in it horn- 
blende, olivine, and transparent pyroxene, with 
lamellar fracture, of an olive-green tint, and often 
crystallized in six-sided prisms. The rock of Laguna 
is not columnar, but divided into thin beds, inclined 
at an angle of from 30° to 48°, and has no appear- 
