noticeable. Farther on our march we found other
immense deposits of grey ashes and sand alternately--one great stretch
particularly, at an elevation of 1,600 ft. Water at that spot filtered
through from underneath and rendered the slope a grassy meadow of the
most refreshing green. We were rising all the time, first going
north-west, then due north. At noon we had reached the highest point.

From the high point on which we were (1,920 ft.) we obtained a strange
view to the west. Above the straight line of the plateau before us rose
in the distance a pyramidal, steep-sided, sharply-pointed peak, standing
in solitary grandeur upon that elevated plain. Why did it stand there
alone? was the question one asked oneself--a question one had to ask
oneself frequently as we proceeded farther and farther on our journey. We
often came upon mountains standing alone, either on the top of
table-lands or in the middle of extensive plains. Their presence seemed
at first unaccountable.

Again as we journeyed onward the mules' hoofs were injured by treading
over large expanses of lava pellets and sharp-edged, cutting, baked
fragments of black rock, myriads of which also lay embedded in reddish
half-formed rock or buried in layers of yellowish-red earth.

To the north was a majestic panorama of the most delicate tones of blue
and green, with almost over-powering sweeping lines hardly interrupted
by a slight indentation or a prominence rising above the sky-line. Only
to the north-west in the middle distance was there the gentle undulating
line of magnificent campos--most regular in its curves, which spread in a
crescent toward the west. The line was interrupted somewhat abruptly by a
higher and irregular three-terraced mass, but soon resumed its sweeping
and regularly curved undulations beyond. This great crescent almost
described a semicircle around the smaller undulations over which we were
travelling.

We descended to 1,750 ft. On facing west we had curious scenery on our
left (south). A huge basin had sunk in--evidently by a sudden subsidence
which had left on its northern side high vertical cliffs supporting the
hill-range that remained standing. The undulating centre and sides of the
immense depression formed beautiful campos with an occasional _bosquet_
of forest on the top of hills, and also on the lowest points of the
undulations. Those _bosquets_ were few and far apart, only to be found
where moisture was plentiful. The remain