Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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When We Were Seated On The External Edge Of The Crater, We Turned
Our Eyes Towards The North-West, Where The Coasts Are Studded With
Villages And Hamlets.
At our feet, masses of vapour, constantly
drifted by the winds, afforded us the most variable spectacle.
A
uniform stratum of clouds, similar to that already described, and
which separated us from the lower regions of the island, had been
pierced in several places by the effect of the small currents of
air, which the earth, heated by the sun, began to send towards us.
The port of Orotava, its vessels at anchor, the gardens and the
vineyards encircling the town, shewed themselves through an opening
which seemed to enlarge every instant. From the summit of these
solitary regions our eyes wandered over an inhabited world; we
enjoyed the striking contrast between the bare sides of the peak,
its steep declivities covered with scoriae, its elevated plains
destitute of vegetation, and the smiling aspect of the cultured
country beneath. We beheld the plants divided by zones, as the
temperature of the atmosphere diminished with the elevation of the
site. Below the Piton, lichens begin to cover the scorious and
lustrous lava: a violet,* (* Viola cheiranthifolia.) akin to the
Viola decumbens, rises on the slope of the volcano at 1740 toises
of height; it takes the lead not only of the other herbaceous
plants, but even of the gramina, which, in the Alps and on the
ridge of the Cordilleras, form close neighbourhood with the plants
of the family of the cryptogamia.
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