151 



lie hills abutting on the peak, and marking it's 

 pyramidal form. The great volcano, the lateral 

 eruptions of which have given birth to vast pro- 

 montories, is not however precisely in the centre 

 0 f the island, and this peculiarity of structure 

 appears less surprising, if we recollect, as a learn- 

 ed mineralogist has observed*, that it is not 

 perhaps the small crater of the Piton, which has 

 acted the principal part in the revolutions under- 

 gone by the isle of TenerifFe. 



Above the region of arborescent heaths, called 

 Monte Verde, is the region of the ferns. No 

 where, under the temperate zone, have I seen 

 such an abundance of the pteris, blechnum, and 

 asplenium ; yet none of these plants have the 

 stateliness of the arborescent ferns, which at the 

 height of five or six hundred toises form the 

 principal ornament of equinoctial America. 

 The root of the pteris aquilina serves the in- 

 habitants of Palma and Gomera for food ; they 

 grind it to powder, and mix with it a small 

 quantity of barley-meal. This composition, 

 when boiled, is called gofio ; the use of so 

 homely an aliment is a proof of the extreme pe- 

 nury of the lower order of people in the Canary 

 islands. 



Monte Verde is intersected by several small 

 and very arid ravines (cannadas), and the region 

 of ferns is succeeded by a wood of juniper trees 



* Mr. Cordier. 



