,
lemon, fig, and peach trees; 2000 feet higher, pear trees alone were to
be seen; and 2000 feet more, the lovely wild plants of the hypericum in
full bloom, with their pink leaves and rich yellow flowers, covered the
ground, and then a few heaths appeared, followed by English grasses. We
were then high above the clouds, the whole country below our feet being
entirely shut out by them. The region of the retama was at last gained,
7000 feet above the sea. It is a peculiar broom found nowhere else but
in Teneriffe. We stopped before this in a shady spot, where, among
heaths and ferns, a few laurels waved around, imparting coolness to the
air. A flock of goats were driven past us, from which we abstracted an
ample supply of milk. The only milk to be obtained in the island is
from goats, as the inhabitants never milk their cows. Goats in great
numbers are kept, and are often eaten, while their skins supply their
owners with clothing or with roofs for their huts. The two gentlemen
who accompanied us had some astronomical instruments with them; and when
the simple-minded people saw them looking in the evening at the moon,
they could not believe but that they were trying to discover if there
were any goats there to make it a fit abode for man. Without goats they
could not conceive that any place could be habitable. At length we
reached a spot where even goats could find no pasture. Vegetation there
was none: the surface of the ground was composed of ashes of pumice,
with cascades of black stones, while far below us floated a vast level
plain of mist. The heat was much greater than I expected to have found
it in so elevated a region.

"We shall soon arrive at a spot where we may be cool enough," observed
Lumsden, pointing to a little cross, which rose out of the lava.

We scrambled towards it, and on getting to the spot, found a hole about
four feet square. A rope-ladder and ropes had been brought. By their
means we descended about twenty feet, when we found ourselves in a large
cavern, with a pool of pure water at the bottom, and surrounded by
masses of snow--a curious and unexpected scene in that arid region of
lava and pumice stone. Of course, the scientific gentlemen eagerly
discussed the reason why the water was there retained. All agreed that
the snow--of which great quantities fall on the peak in winter--beat
into it at that time, and was thus preserved from the effect of the
sun's rays. I think they co