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northerly wind chased the clouds ; the moon at 

 intervals, shooting across the vapors, exposed it's 

 disk on a firmament of the darkest blue ; and 

 the view of the volcano threw a majestic charac- 

 ter over the nocturnal scenery. Sometimes the 

 peak was entirely hidden from our eyes by the 

 fog, at others, it broke upon us in terrific near- 

 ness; and, like an enormous pyramid, threw 

 it's shadow over the clouds rolling beneath our 

 feet. 



Towards three in the morning, by the som- 

 brous light of a few fir torches, we began our 

 expedition for the summit of the Piton. We 

 scaled the summit on the north-east, where the 

 declivities are extremely steep ; and we came, 

 after two hours toil, to a small plain, which, on 

 account of its isolated situation, bears the name 

 of Alta Vista. It is the station also of the ne- 

 veros, those natives, whose occupation it is to 

 collect ice and snow, which they sell in the neigh- 

 bouring towns. Their mules, better practised 

 in climbing mountains than those hired by tra- 

 vellers, reach Alta Vista, and the never os are 

 obliged to transport the snow to this place on 

 their backs. Above this point the Malpays be- 

 gins, a term by which is designated here, as well 

 as in Mexico, Peru, and every other country sub- 

 ject to volcanoes, a ground destitute of vegeta- 

 ble mould, and covered with fragments of lavas. 



We turned towards the right to examine the 



