42 MO0NTAIKJ. 
tlian seven thousand feet, neiu-ly a mile and a half, above 
tiie level of the sea ; and here the currents of lava, hitherto 
concealed by the vegetation, begin to appear in all tlieif 
aridity and confusion, a few lowly shrubs and creeiiing 
plants alone diversifying the surface of a desert, tlie nutijt 
arid and rugged that cau be imagined. 
A small sandy platform of pumice stones, bordered Ify 
two enormous cun'eiits of vitreous lava, and blocks of tlW 
same nature, ranged in a semicircle, forms what is calleJ 
the Station of the English, on 'account of tlie Peak having 
been so often visited by British travellers. This platform 
g / SO (bet, upwards of a mile and tliree quarters, above tl>v 
level of the sea ; and beyond it the acclivity is very steep> 
great masses of scoriae, extremely rough and sharp, cover' 
ing the currents of lava. Towards the summit, uothing 
Init pumice stone is to be seen. In fact, die Peak can onfy 
be ascended on die east and south-east sides. As it I’ 
impossible to get round die crater, die traveller's progress i» 
aiTcsted at dre spot at which he reaches it. Here the t«st 
orders of volcanic substances are to be seen, die modertt 
lavas being dirown up amid the ruins of ejecdoi* much 
more ancient, the immense masses of which constitute th® 
platform on which the Peak is placed. The shattered side* 
jiresent a series of thick beds, almost all plunging toward* 
die sea, composed alternately of ashes, volcanic sand> 
pumice stones, lavas, either compact or porous, and scorit®' 
An incalculable number of currents, comparatively rece«'> 
■which have descended from the Peak, oi' have issued front 
its flanks, form irregular forrows, which run along the inor® 
ancient masses, and lose diemselves in the sea to die 
and north. Among diese cuixents more than eighty ciatei* 
are scattered, and augment with their ruins die conti»it)P 
which prevails throughout. 
The crater can alone be reached by descending do"'*' 
tlnee chasms. Its sides are absolutely precipitous widiji't 
and are most elevated towards the north. Its form is ell'PJ 
deal ; its circumference about one thousand two hundre® 
feet ; and its depdi, according to Cordier, one hundred an® 
ten feet. Humboldt, however, estimates it at not nior® 
than fi-om forty to sixty feet The sides are, agreeably 
the former of these observers, formed of an earth of suo'^'f 
whiteness, resuldng from the decomposition of the black®** 
