255 



a league from Icore. The lavas were so abun- 

 dant, that the whole valley of Fasnia, or Areza, 

 was filled up. This second mouth ceased it's 

 eruption on the 13th of January. A third was 

 formed the 2d of February, in the Canada de 

 Arafo. The lavas divided into three currents, 

 and threatened the village of Guimar ; but they 

 were stopped in the valley of Melosar by a chain 

 of rocks, which formed an insuperable obstacle 

 to their passage. During these eruptions, the 

 town of Orotava, separated from the new mouths 

 by a very narrow dyke, felt strong shocks. 



Year 1706. 



On the fifth of May another lateral eruption 

 of the Peak of Teneriffe took place. The mouth 

 opened on the south of the port of Garachico. 

 which was then the finest and most frequented 

 harbour in the island. This opulent and po- 

 pulous city was built on the edge of a forest of 

 laurels, in a very picturesque situation. Two 

 currents of lava destroyed it in a few hours, not 

 a single edifice being left standing. The port, 

 which had already suffered in 1645 by the ac- 

 cumulation of sand and mud caused by a great 

 inundation, was so filled up, that the lavas form- 

 ed a promontory in the midst of it* In the envi- 

 rons of Garachico, the surface of the ground 

 changed it's appearance. Hills arose in the 

 plain ; the springs became dry ; and the rocks, 



