4S Till! 1’F.AK OF TF.SERIFFE. 
such a height in the morning, and had cost us a day's ^ 
hour to climb, lay stretched tts plains at our feet ; from 
uncommon rarity ot the atmosphere, the vdiole sanity 
heaven appeared studded with Innumerable stars, while tP« 
valleys of 'Orotava were hidden from our view by a tb' 
veil of light fleecy clouds, that flo.vted far beneath t ^ 
elevated spot we had chosen for our resting-place ; 
solemn stillness of the night was only ' interrapted by 
crackilug of the fire round which we stood, and by_ 
w'lnstlingof the wind, which, cominginholW gusts froU* 
the mmuitain, resembled the roai- of distant cannon. 
Between two and three in the morning we resumed, 
foot, our ascent of the mountain, the lower part of wliiC" 
wc had climbed on horseliack tlie preceding evening ; t» 
ascent, however, became much more rapid and < 
our feet sinking deep in the ashes at every step. Fro^ 
the uncommon shavjincss of the acclivity, we were oblig^^ 
to stop often to take lircnth ; after several limits, tve at 
i-eached the head of the pumice hill. After resting sob^ 
short time here, we began to clmib the stream of by ' 
.slopping from mass to mass, dhe ascent is steep, 
ful, and hazardous ; in some places the stream of lav3 
heaped up in dykes or embankments ; and we were oft 
obliged to clamber over them as one ascends a steep 
NVe halted stweral times during the ascent, and at 1^ 
reached a spot called La Cueva, one of the numerous ca' 
chat are found on the sides of the mountain; this is t» 
lan--est of them, and is filled with snow and the 
delicious water, w'hich was just at the point of congelau^ 
The de.scent into it is diflicult, it being tliirty or forty 
deep. One of our party let himself down by a rope : ‘ 
could not see the c-vtent of the cave, but llie guides 
dared it to be three hundred feet in length, and to com^ 
thirty or forty feet of water in depth. The roof and si , 
are composed of a fine stal.actitic lava, similar to UL 
found on Vesuvius, and it is of the same nature as 
whicn flowed on tlie surface. Wo rested here about P , 
an hour, during which we had an opportunity of observ^ . 
the risiiw of the sun, and that singular and rapid chanty 
of niidn into day, the consequence of an almost en ^ 
absence of twilight. As we ascended tire norUi-e^t » 
»f a>e mouut.tin, this view was strikingly beautiful t 
