TEKEBIFE 
31 
with lava streams; in 1706 it destroyed the flourishing town of Garachico, and 
tilled up its harbour; and in 1788 there was a lava flow on its S.W. spurs ; it has 
been emitting steam and sulphur continuously, at least since Humboldt climbed it 
in the last century, and is doing so now—some say more freely of late than formerly. 
Vesuvius was believed to be quite extinct until it burst forth and overwhelmed 
Pompeii. Who can say when El Pico will again resume active habits ? 1 Within 
the crater are some abandoned works of a company formed in defiance of prudence 
and common sense to extract the sulphur and turn it to commercial purposes. We 
at any rate were rejoiced to hear that the irreverent company had collapsed. In 
spite of its internal heat there was snow in the crater, or rather ice, having the 
texture of white porcelain. 
Of course, the view from the summit was very grand. The greater part of the 
island was visible, while over a sea of cloud we saw the sister islands of Palma and 
Grand Canary—Gomera, the nearest, was covered in a bank of cloud. To the west 
one looked right into the fine crater of Chajorra, 2,000 ft. below us, seemingly 
quite extinct, while in the cinder-covered plain beyond were scattered at least a 
score of small volcanic cones—one of them of a bright red colour. 
The downward journey presented no difficulty beyond the inevitable jarring, 
shaking, and jolting involved in a continuous descent for several hours. Miss Dixon 
was found behind her rock quite refreshed, while Mrs. Longstaff, after several hours’ 
sleep on her cinder bed, awoke to find the mountain sickness had left her. As in 
going up, the snow afforded the easiest path, but the guides, who in spite of our 
advice had no nails in their boots, were compelled to keep to the rocks. We 
found our camp, that had been so warm and comfortable at night, was not as well 
suited for a hot afternoon; the heat on the bare pumice was almost intolerable, 
while to make matters worse, the good-for-nothing muleteer had left all our food 
in the broiling sun, so that much of it was bad. He had melted no snow to renew 
our water supply, nor even made a fire against our return. The monotony of the 
long ride down the slopes of Mount Tigayga was relieved by a fine display of the 
phenomenon known as the “ Spectre of the Brocken.” Soon after dark the weary 
ride came to an end, and we got back to civilization and the comfortable fonda 
kept by the worthy Justo and Carolina, old servants of the Marquez de Candia. 
The next day, to our surprise, we woke to find ourselves heroes, and were 
congratulated on all hands. The truth is there is no difficulty whatever in 
ascending the Peak in winter, but it is better to go without guides. These men are 
excellent fellows under their own conditions, but they do not understand snow, 
and they bear cold badly. It is only necessary to exercise common sense; to 
sound the snow constantly with the Alpenstock so as to avoid the frozen places; 
and be on the look-out for the one real danger, namely, falling through the small 
snow caves between the blocks of lava—-these latter are very hard and sharp and 
easily injure knee and ankle—they almost destroyed our boots. It is therefore 
wise to keep as much as possible either on the open snowfields or on the lava 
ridges, and not to change from one to the other oftener than can be avoided. In 
summer it is possible to ride up to an elevation of 10,000 ft,, but in winter only to 
about 8,000 ft., although it is difficult to imagine that there could be any pleasure 
1 In 1896 a small lava stream issued from some part of the mountain. Again at 
the end of 1908 a more considerable outflow took place between Chajorra and the 
sea. It is stated that the last great eruption of the principal cone was witnessed 
by Columbus when waiting for promised financial support from Spain previous to 
starting on his great voyage. 
