VOLCANO OE LANCKitOTA. 
30 
other summits, and which we thought was the great vol- 
cano which had occasioned such devastation on the night of 
the 1st of September, 1730. 
The current drew us toward the coast more rapidly than 
we wished. As we advauccd, we discovered at first the 
island of Forteventura, famous for its numerous camels;* 
and a short time after we saw the small island of Lobos iu 
the channel which separates Forteventura from Lancerota. 
We spent part of the night on deck. The moon illumined 
the volcanic summits of Lancerota, the flanks of which, 
covered with ashes, reflected a silver light. Antares threw 
out its resplendent rays near the lunar disk, which was but 
a few degrees above the horizon. The night was beautifully 
serene mid cool. Though we were hut a little distance 
from the African coast, and on the limit of the torrid zone, 
the centigrade thermometer rose no higher than 18°. The 
phosphorescence of the ocean seemed to augment the mass 
of light diffused through the air. After midnight, great 
black clouds rising behind the volcano shrouded at intervals 
the moon and the beautiful constellation of the Scorpion. 
We beheld lights carried to and fro on shore, which were 
probably those of fishermen preparing for their labours. 
We had been occasionally employed, during our passage, in 
reading the old voyages of the Spaniards, and these moving 
lights recalled to our fancy those which Pedro Gutierrez, 
page of Queen Isabella, saw in the isle of Guauahani, on the 
memorable night of the discovery of the Hew World. 
On the 17th, in the morning, the horizon was foggy, and 
the sky slightly covered with vapour. The outlines of the 
mountains of Lancerota appeared stronger: the humidity, 
increasing the transparency of the air, seemed at the same 
time to have brought the objects nearer our view. This 
phenomenon is well known to all who have made hygromc- 
* These camels, which serve for labour, and sometimes for food, 
did not exist till the Belhencourts made the conquest of the Cana- 
ries. In the sixteenth century, asses were so abundant in the island o; 
Forteventura, that they became wild and were hunted. Several thousands 
were killed to save the harvest. The horses of Forteventura are of singu. 
lar beauty, and of the Barbary race. — “ Noticias de la Historia General 
de las Islas Canaries,”- por Don Jose de Viera, tom. 2, p. -136. 
