82 



ill laid down in the chart of Mr. Fleurieu, though 

 it is otherwise very exact, and in that which ap- 

 peared in the voyage of the Flora frigate. The 

 chart of the Atlantic Ocean, published in 1786 

 by order of M. de Castries, is equally erroneous 

 in this point. The currents being extremely ra- 

 pid in these latitudes, it is important for the safe- 

 ty of navigators to observe here, that the position 

 of the five small islands, Alegranza, Clara, Gra- 

 ciosa, Roca del Este, and Infierno, are no where 

 laid down with exactness, but in the chart of 

 the Canaries by Mr. de Borda, and in the Atlas 

 of Tofino, founded for this part on the observa- 

 tions of Don Jose Varela, which are nearly con- 

 formable to those of the Boussole frigate. 



In the midst of this Archipelago, which is sel- 

 dom traversed by vessels bound for TenerifFe, we 

 were singularly struck with the configuration of 

 the coasts. We thought ourselves transported 

 to the Euganean mountains in the Vicentin, or 

 the banks of the Rhine near Bonn *; The form 

 of organized beings varies according to the cli- 

 mate, and it is that extreme variety, which ren- 

 ders the study of the geography of plants and 

 animals so attractive ; but the rocks, more an- 

 cient perhaps than the causes which have pro- 

 duced the difference of the climates on the globe, 

 are the same in both hemispheres ^. The por- 



* Siebengebirge, described by Mr. Nose, 

 t Monum Amer. p. 122. 



