168 



lower than the Peak of Teneriffe, is terminated 

 by a cone of ashes almost three times higher, but 

 with a more accessible and easy slope. Of all 

 the volcanoes which I have visited, that of Jo- 

 rullo, in Mexico, is the only one, that is more 

 difficult to climb than the Peak, because the 

 whole mountain is covered with loose ashes. 



When the Sugar loaf (el Piton) is covered 

 with snow, as it is in the beginning of winter, 

 the steepness of it's declivity may be very dan- 

 gerous to the traveller. Mr. Le Gros showed us 

 the place, where Captain Baudin had nearly 

 perished, at the time of his voyage to the Isle of 

 Trinidad. This officer had the courage to un- 

 dertake, in company with the naturalists Adve- 

 nier, Mauger, and Riedle, an excursion to the 

 top of the volcano toward the end of December, 



scarcely existed at the time of Saussure's journey, and disap- 

 peared in the eruption of 1779. It was the eruption of 1794, 

 which caused the great inequality of the two brinks of the 

 crater ; this'unevenness was 71 toises in 1805. Mr. Poli 

 found Vesuvius, a short time before, 606 toises in height. 

 Sir G. Shuckburgh reckoned the highest point of the Somma, 

 called del Vitello, 584 toises. This observation is not very 

 accordant with the height, which Mr. Gay-Lussac assigns to 

 the highest brink of the crater ; for, in 1805, this part of the 

 brink seemed to have the same elevation as the Punta del Vi- 

 tello. I know not where Shuckburgh placed his instrument 

 at the foot of the cone of ashes ; for he states this point at 

 only 316 toises of absolute height. The following is a table 

 of the measures made in very calm weather, with a portable 

 cistern barometer by Ramsden. 



