25 



na. He neglected nothing to render our abode 

 at this port agreeable, and advised us to embark 

 on board the sloop Pizarro*, which was to sail 

 in company with the Alcudia, the packet-boat 

 of the month of May, which, on account of 

 the blockade, had been detained three weeks in 

 the port. The Pizarro was not esteemed a swift 

 sailer : but she had happily escaped the English 

 vessels in her long voyage from the river Plata 

 to Corunna. Mr. Clavijo ordered the necessary 

 arrangements to be made on board the sloop for 

 placing our instruments, and facilitating the 

 means of making chemical experiments on the 

 air, during our passage. The captain of the 

 Pizarro received orders to stop at TenerifF, as 

 long as we should judge necessary, to visit the 

 port of Orotava, and ascend the peak. 



We had yet ten days to wait before we em- 

 barked, which seemed to us a long delay. Dur- 

 ing this interval, we employed ourselves in pre- 

 paring the plants we had collected in the beau- 

 tiful vallies of Gallicia, which no naturalist had 

 yet visited : we examined the fuci and the mol- 

 luscse which the north west winds had cast with 

 great profusion at the foot of the steep rock, on 

 which the light-house of the Tower of Hercules 

 is built. This edifice, called also the Iron 



* According to the Spanish nomenclature, the Pizarro was 

 a light frigate ( fragata lijeraj. 



