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when, on the coast of Caraccas,we descend from 

 the mountain of Avila to the port of La Guayra. 

 According to the law of the decrement of heat, 

 three hundred toises in height produce in this 

 latitude only three or four degrees difference in 

 temperature. The heat which overpowers the 

 traveller on his entrance into Santa Cruz, or La 

 Guayra, ought consequently to be attributed to 

 the reverberation from the rocks, against which 

 these towns are built. 



The perpetual coolness, which is found at La- 

 guna, is the reason why in the Canaries it is con- 

 sidered as a delightful abode. Situate in a small 

 plain, surrounded by gardens, protected by a hill 

 which is crowned by a wood of laurels, myrtle, 

 and arbutus, the capital of TenerifFe is very 

 beautifully placed. We should be mistaken, if, 

 according to the account of some travellers, we 

 believed it seated on the border of a lake. The 

 rain sometimes forms a sheet of water of some 

 extent ; and the geologist, who beholds in every 

 thing the past rather than the present state of na- 

 ture, can have no doubt, but that the whole plain 

 is a great basin dried up. Laguna, fallen from it's 

 opulence, since the lateral eruptions of the volca- 

 no have destroyed the port of Garachico,and San- 

 ta Cruz has become the centre of the commerce 

 of this island, contains only 9000 inhabitants, 

 of whom nearly 400 are monks, divided among 

 six convents. Some travellers have asserted, 



