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way in contradiction to the acknowledged laws 

 of nature ; and that nothing opposes our admit- 

 ting, that the summits of Porto Santo, Madeira, 

 and the Fortunate, Islands, may heretofore have 

 formed, either a distinct range of primitive 

 mountains, or the western extremity of the chain 

 of Atlas. 



The Peak of Teyde forms a pyramidal mass 

 like Etna, Tungurahua, and Popocatepetl. This 

 physiognomic character is very far from being 

 common to all volcanoes. We have seen some 

 in the southern hemisphere, which, instead of 

 having the form of a cone or a bell, are length- 

 ened in one direction, having the ridge some- 

 times smooth, and at others rough with small 

 pointed rocks. This structure is peculiar to 

 Antisana and Pichincha, two burning mountains 

 of the province of Quito ; and the absence of the 

 conic form ought never to be considered as a 

 reason excluding a volcanic origin. I shall de- 

 velope in the progress of this work some of the 

 analogies, which I think I have perceived be- 



pecting tlie Atlantis are founded on historical facts, is en- 

 tirely different from this, whether the Archipelago of the Ca- 

 naries and the adjacent islands are the wrecks of a chain of 

 mountains, rent and sunk in the sea in one of the great con- 

 vulsions of our Globe. I do not pretend to form any opinion 

 in favour of the existence of the Atlantis; but I endeavour 

 to prove, that the Canaries have no more been created by vol- 

 canoes, than the whole body of the smaller Antilles has been 

 formed by madrepores. 



