VIEW OF THE PEAK. 
57 
The sea-coast is lined with date and cocoa trees. Groups of 
the musa, as the country rises, form a pleasing contrast with 
the dragon-tree, the trunks of which have been justly com- 
pared to the tortuous form of the serpent. The declivities 
are covered with vines, which throw their branches over 
towering poles. Orange trees loaded with flowers, myrtles, 
and cypress trees encircle the chapels reared to devotion on 
the isolated hills. The divisions of landed property arc 
marked by hedges formed of the agave and the cactus.” An 
innumerable quantity of crvpl.ogamous plants, among which 
ferns are the most predominant, cover the walls, and are moist- 
ened by small springs of limpid water. In winter, when 
the volcano is buried under ice and snow, this districi 
enjoys perpetual spring. Iti summer, ns the day declines, 
the breezes from the sea diffuse a delicious freshness. 
The population of this coast is very considerable ; and it 
appears to be still greater than it is, because the houses 
and gardens are distant from each other, which adds to tlie 
picturesque beauty of the scene. Unhappily the real wel- 
iarc of the inhabitants does not correspond with the exer- 
tions of their industry, or with the advantages which nature 
lias lavished on this spot. The farmers are not land -owners; 
the fruits of their labour belong to the nobles ; and those 
feudal institutions, which, for so long a time, spread misery 
throughout ivurope, still press heavily on the people of the 
Canary Islands. 
From Tegueste.and Taeoronte to the village of St. Juan 
do la l?aml)La (which is celebrated for its excellent malmsey 
wine), the rising hills are cultivated like a garden. I mmh't 
compare them to the environs of Capua and Valentin, if the 
western part of Tone rifle was not infinitely more beautiful on 
account ot the proximi ty of the peak, which presents on every 
side a new point ol view. The aspect of this mountain is 
interesting not merely from its gigantic mass; it excites the 
mind, by carrying it back to the mysterious source of its 
\ oicanic agency.. For thousands of years, no flames or light 
have been perceived on the summit of the I’iton, neverthe- 
less enormous lateral eruptions, the last of which took place 
yi.l / OS, are proofs of the activity of a fire still far from 
being extinguished. There is also something that leaves a 
melancholy impression on boholding a crater in the centre 
