not twenty He added that usually when the Wind blew from those great Masses of congealed Water it brought along with it a foggy Air which he supposed to come as well as the Cold from the Ice The same Gentleman answer'd me that in that Part of Hudsons-Bay wherein he winter'd the Rivers began to freeze about the latter end of October or beginning of November and usually were not free from Ice till about the middle or latter end of May though he divers times took the Latitude of Charleton Island the Place most frequented by the English and seated at the bottom of the Bay and found it to be near the same with that of London and at most but about 52 Degrees When I inquired about the Depth of the Ice in the Rivers he answered that they had often occasion to observe it for in the Winter they made their Wells there not in the Ground and were obliged to dig about six Foot deep in the Ice before they could come at unfrozen Water He answered me that when they sent their Men up into the Country their Bottles of Brandy would oftentimes so freeze that about a fourth Part of it would be turned into Ice And when I asked whether the unfrozen Part of the Liquor was not exceeding strong he answered me that it was and sometimes so much so as to be too fiery and unpleasant to the Taste He answered me that he always found the Ice fresh that floated upon the Sea-Water and that when they wanted fresh Water or had a Mind to spare what they had aboard they often supplied themselves out of the Cavities of great floating Masses of Ice in which hollow Places the Sun-Beams thawing some Parts of the Ice they frequently found store of Liquor that was produced by the Action of the Sun-Beams upon the superior Parts of the Ice whence the Water ran into these Cavities He added that when the Seamen were in haste they used to relieve themselves by cutting or breaking off Pieces of the floating Ice and presently melting it in their Pots A learned Traveller that made some considerable stay among the high Pyrenean Mountains answer'd me amongst other notable things about which I made Inquiry that he had several times observed at the Top of one or other of those tall Hills that the Air would be very hot and that yet the same Day and perhaps within very few Hours the Place would be cover'd with Snow though it were then Summer-time Doctor N. answered me that the Winds he felt at Morocco were so very hot that they were ready to stifle him seeming to him like the Steams and Smoak coming out of the Mouth of an Oven The Russian Emperor's Physician confirmed to me that at Arch-angel where he was more than once they averr'd to him that in Winter-time a Northerly Wind which comes from the Sea produces a kind of Thaw so as to make the Eves drop though a North-East Wind rather confirms the Frost but on the contrary a Southerly Wind blows over a thousand or a hundred Mile of frozen Land does rather increase the Frost than bring the Thaw A very inquisitive Person that visited the lofty Pyrenean Mountains answered me that he and his Company had more than once observed from the Top or higher Part of one of those Hills that though it were fair Weather there yet a great way beneath them the Hill was surrounded with thick Clouds which produced Storms of Rain on the lower Grounds and that which was the chief Point I inquired after they could manifestly see that out of those Clouds when it thunder'd Lightnings flash'd upwards as well as they are generally observ'd to do it downward October 19. Doctor Stubbs assured me that having at Jamaica taken a Bolt-head about two Foot and a half in length he usually found that betwixt 7 and 8 in the Morning which they there call the faint time of the Day because for want of the daily Breezes the excessive Heat makes them to faint away the Water was wont to rise in the Neck but a quarter of an Inch and a half though at that time by reason of the Winds Men found the Heat very supportable and after Noon was past the Water would subside by Degrees till towards the above-mention'd time the next Morning This happened in a South Window where the fresh Winds come fully and freely in to beat upon the Bolt-head without any Glass to skreen the Vessel from the Wind. He added that though the Bolt-head were not stopped yet the Water did not even in that hot Country decrease sensibly in eight or ten Months A heedful Person that frequented the Coast of Sumatra in the south-South-Sea answered me that he never observed Ice or Frost or Snow in that great Island but that he had known Hail fall even in that torrid Climate Though the famous Island of Ceylon lies almost in the midst of the torrid Zone namely between the 6th and 10th Degrees of Northern Latitude yet an observing Man that lived many Years upon it told me that in Hills not so high but that we might easily ascend to the Top in half an Hour the Inequality of the Air 's Temperature as to Heat and Cold was very great for he had divers times observed in himself and others that though at the bottom of the Hill the Heat was so great as to oblige them to go almost stark naked yet when they ascended the Hill they found the Air quite alter'd and as they went up higher and higher the Cold increased upon them so that notwithstanding the Heat so uneasy a Motion as Climbing had given them the Coldness of the Air obliged them to put on unusually warm Clothes and at the Top of the Hill they would for all that be ready to quake for Cold. Captain Knox answered me that in 18 Years that he spent in the Inland of Ceylon he never observ'd any Ice or Snow nor any more than a little kind of Meteor that was between Dew and hoar Frost which sometimes in Winter-Mornings appeared very oddly but quickly vanished And when I asked if he had not seen Hail it self he answered that he never saw it but once but the Inhabitants look'd upon it as a wonderful thing unseen by them before that the Hail was as large as a black Cherry but not very round and seem'd to have the Corners melted which made him think it had been form'd high in the Air that for fear of mistaking he not only gather'd some of it but champ'd it between his Teeth and found it cold and hard like our European Hail and that he was fain to be nimble in making his Trials because when the Hail came to touch the Ground it would melt away much more suddenly than one would have expected Gregory being ask'd upon a very sultry Day whether it were not very hot in Germany made Answer To Day has been something hot Such is the Winter in Suaquena Ludolf Hist of Ethiop l. 1.
some of the Titles though I left the others to those that had made Experiments or Observations about them Next That having through the Fraud or Negligence of some Persons lost sundry loose Papers that I had provided for the History of the Air my Unwillingness that the rest should undergo the same Fate invited me to impart them to many as the best Expedient to secure them To which I Thirdly add an Inducement which though last named was the first in Efficacy as that which made the other two significant namely that I had more than once observed that when a Work of this Nature has been once begun and taken notice of in such an inquisitive and active Age as this of ours it seldom fails to excite the Curiosity and Industry of others whom if the Design be any thing well laid the Utility that it promises will invite to carry it on TITLE I. What we understand by the AIR BY the Air I commonly understand that thin fluid diaphanous compressible and dilatable Body in which we breath and wherein we move which envelops the Earth on all sides to a great height above the highest Mountains but yet is so different from the Aether or Vacuum in the intermundane or interplanetary Spaces that it refracts the Rays of the Moon and other remoter Luminaries TITLE II. Of the constant and permanent Ingredients of the Air. A short Answer to a Question about the Nature of the Air given by Mr. Boyle to Mr. H. Oldenburg AS to your Question What I think the Air to be I shall in the first place take it for granted that by the Air you mean not either the pure Element of Air which some nor that Etherial or Celestial Substance that others upon what Grounds I must not here examine assert but that which I am wont to call the Atmospherical Air which is that common Air we breath and move in But though I know you too well to suspect that you design any Ambiguity in your Question yet I shall not adventure to answer it till I have premised a Distinction that is not usual For according to my Thoughts the Air may be taken either for that which is Temporary if I may so call it or in a Transient State or that which is Lasting and in a Permanent State This Distinction which perhaps you look'd not for I shall illustrate by this Example That if you sufficiently heat an Eolipile furnished with Water and stay a pretty while to afford time for the expulsion of the Aerial Particles by the Aqueous Vapours you may afterwards observe that these last named will be driven out in multitudes and with a noise and will emulate a Wind or Stream of Air by blowing Coals held at a convenient distance like a pair of Bellows and by producing a sharp and whistling Sound against the edg of a Knife held in a convenient Posture almost upon the Orifice of the Pipe whence they issue out But this vapid Stream though in these and some other things it imitates true Air whilst the vehement Agitation lasts which the Vapours it consists of received from the Fire yet in a very short time especially if the Weather or the Vessels it enters into be cold loses the temporary Form it seemed to have of Air and returns to Water as it was at first This premised I come to speak directly but dare not do it confidently to your Question For though possibly I may have made as many Trials as another about the Nature of the Air yet I freely confess to you that I much suspect there lies yet something concealed in it that needs a further Discovery which may perhaps be made by further Trials But in the mean time not wholly to baffle your Curiosity since 't is so modest as to desire to know of me not what the true Nature of the Air is but what I guess concerning its chiefest Property or Attribute I will acquaint you with some of the Thoughts I long ago had and which I yet took upon my self and desire to have them look'd upon by you but as Conjectures entertain'd only till farther Discoveries confirm them or suggest better in their room It seems then not improbable to me that our Atmospherical Air may consist of three differing Kinds of Corpuscles The first is made of that numberless Multitude and great Variety of Particles which under the form of Vapours or dry Exhalations ascend from the Earth Water Minerals Vegetables and Animals c. and in a word of whatever Substances are elevated by the Celestial or Subterraneal Heats and made to diffuse themselves into the Atmosphere The second sort of Particles that make the Air may be yet more subtile than the former and consist of such exceeding minute Parts as make up the Magnetical Steams of our Terrestrial Globe and the innumerable Particles that the Sun and other Stars that seem to shine of themselves do either emit out of their own Bodies or by their Pressure thrust against our Eyes and thereby produce what we call Light which whether we explicate it by the Epicurean or Cartesian Hypothesis argues a great Plenty of a Celestial or some other very subtile Matter to be dispersed through or harboured in the Intervals of the stabler or grosser Corpuscles of the Atmosphere But because you expect from me a distinguishing and as it were Characteristick Quality which may put a difference between the Parts already named of the Atmosphere and those to which most of the Phenomena of our Engine and many other Pneumatical Experiments seem to be due I shall add a third sort of Atmospherical Particles compared with which I have not yet found any whereto the Name of Air does so deservedly belong And this sort of Particles are those which are not only for a while by manifest outward Agents made Elastical but are permanently so and on that account may be stil'd Perennial Air. Of the Structure of the Elastical Particles of the Air divers Conceptions may be framed according to the several Contrivances Men may devise to answer the Phenomena For one may think them to be like the Springs of Watches coil'd up and still endeavouring to fly abroad One may also fancy a Portion of Air to be like a Lock or Parcel of curled Hairs of Wooll which being compressed by an external Force or their own Weight may have a continual endeavour to stretch themselves out and thrust away the neighbouring Particles and whatever other Bodies would hinder them to recover their former State or attain their full Liberty One may also fancy them like extreamly slender Wires such as those of Gold and Silver that Tradesmen unwind from some Cylindrical Bodies of differing Sizes on which they were rolled which Pieces of Spiral or curled Wire may be as of differing Substances and Consistences so of very differing Lengths and Thicknesses and have their Curls greater or lesser nearer each other or more distant and be otherwise diversified and yet all have
Air. 4thly And whereas the Difficulty of removing the Mercurial Instrument has kept Men from so much as attempting to do it even to Neighbouring Places the essential Parts of the Scale Baroscope for the Frame is none of them may very easily in a little room be carried wheresoever one will without the Hazard of being spoil'd or injur'd 5thly There is not in Statical Baroscopes as in the other a Danger of Uncertainty as to the Goodness of the Instrument by reason that in the Mercurial the Air is in some more and in some less perfectly excluded whereas in these that Consideration has no Place 6thly It being as I formerly intimated very possible to discover Hydrostatically both the Bigness of the Bubble and the Contents of the Cavity and the Weight and Dimensions of the glassy Substance which together with the included Air make up the Bubble much may be discovered by this Instrument as to the Weight of the Air absolute or respective For when the Mercury in the Mercurial Baroscope is either very high or very low or at a middle Station between its greatest and least Height bringing the Scale-Baroscope to an exact Equilibrium with very minute Divisions of a Grain you may by watchfully observing when the Mercury is risen or fallen just an Inch or a 4th or ◠of an Inch. c. and putting in the like minute Divisions of a Grain to the lighter Scale till you have again brought the Ballance to an Equilibrium you may I say determine what known Weight in the Statical Baroscope answers such determinate Altitudes of the ascending and descending Mercury in the Mercurial And if your Ballance be accommodated with a divided Arch or a Whele and Index these Observations will assist you for the future to determine by seeing the Inclination of the Tongue or the Degree mark'd by the Index to conclude readily what Potency the Bubble has by the Change of the Atmosphere's Weight acquired or lost Some Observations of this Nature I watchfully made sometimes putting in a 64th sometimes a 32d sometimes a 16th and sometimes heavier parts of a Grain to the lighter Scale But one that knew not for what Uses these little Papers were coming to a Window where my Baroscope stood so unluckily shook them out of the Scales and confounded them that he robb'd me of the Opportunity of making the nice Observations I intended though I had the Satisfaction of seeing that they were to be made 7thly By this Statical Instrument we may be assisted to compare the Mercurial Baroscopes of several Places though never so distant and to make some Estimates of the Gravities of the Air therein As if for instance I have found by Observation that the Bubble I imploy and one may have made divers Bubbles of several Sizes that the one may repair any Mischance that may happen to another weighed just a Drachm when the Mercurial Cylinder was at the Height of 29½ Inches which in some Places I have found a moderate Altitude and that the Addition of the 16th part of a Grain is requisite to keep the Bubble in an Equilibrium when the Mercury is risen an 8th or any determinate part of an Inch above the former Station When I come to another Place where there is a Mercurial Barometer as well freed from Air as mine for that must be supposed if taking out my Scale-Instrument it appears to weigh precisely a Drachm and the Mercury in the Baroscope there stand at 29½ Inches we may conclude the Gravity of the Atmosphere not to be sensibly unequal in both those two Places though very distant And though there be no Baroscope there yet if there be an additional Weight as for instance the 16th part of a Grain requisite to be added to the Bubble to bring the Scales to an Equilibrium it will appear that the Air at this second Place is at that time so much heavier than the Air of the former Place was when the Mercury stood at 29½ Inches But in making such Comparisons we must not forget to consider the Situation of the several Places if we mean to make Estimates not only of the Weight of the Atmosphere but of the Weight and Density of the Air. For though the Scales will show as hath been said whether there be a Difference of Weight in the Atmosphere at the two Places yet if one of them be in a Vale or Bottom and the other on the Top or some elevated part of a Hill it is not to be expected that the Atmosphere in this latter Place should gravitate as much as the Atmosphere in the former on which a longer Pillar of Air does lean or weigh so that the Bubble in both these Places should be precisely of the same Weight And the mention I have made of the differing Situation of Places puts me in mind of something that may prove another Use of our Statical Baroscope and which I had Thoughts of making Trial of but was accidentally hindered from the Opportunity of doing it namely that by exactly poizing the Bubble at the Foot of a high Steeple or Hill and carrying it in its close Frame to the top one may by the Weight requisite to be added to the Counterpoize there to bring the Beam to its horizontal Position observe the Difference of the Weight of the Air at the bottom and at the top and in case the Hill be high enough at some intermediate Stations But how this may assist Men to estimate the absolute or comparative Height of Mountains and other elevated Places and what other Uses the Instrument may be put to when it is duly improved and the Cautions that may be requisite in the several Cases which shall be proposed I must leave to more leisure and further Consideration I caused to be made with great Care by a skilful Mathematical-Instrument-maker a hollow Cube of Brass whose every Side was as exactly as could be procured an English Inch. This we carefully counterpoised in a very good pair of Scales and found it to weigh 11 Drachms 1 Grain and ½ Troy-Weight Then placing it in one of the Scales as horizontally as we were able we warily fill'd it with clear common Water of the best sort of that called pump-Pump-water till the Surface of the Water seem'd to lie as level as we could make it to the Brims of the Vessel then weighing it carefully we found the Water alone for the Cube had been counterpoized before to weigh 254 9 16 Grains So that in regard 't is scarce possible to know that such a Vessel is so filled as to come nearer Exactness than within a Drop or two I presume we may without any sensible Error suppose an Inch of Water to weigh 256 Grains which latter Number I rather chufe because its aliquot Parts make it more convenient and it agrees well enough with some Trials that I made with solid Cubes to measure the true Weight of a Cubick Inch of Water This done the Vessel was
the North Side of the Mountain was even then cover'd with Snow and scarce at all passable An ingenious Physician Dr. B. that has been in divers of the Inland Parts of Africa among other Answers that he return'd to the Questions that I ask'd him about the Temperament of the Air in those Parts gave me this memorable one That having had occasion at Morocco to use some good dried fine Jalap that he had brought with him out of England he found it by the Heat of the Air to be melted and by Comsequence to be impulverable in which State it continued whilst he liv'd in that Country but when he was returned to Tangier he found it both there and in the neighbouring Parts pulverable again Nel capo di Comorino si termina cosi I' esta come I' inverno dalla parte di la dal capo verso Notte dal ' altra parte correspond ill tempo assai contrario è diverso di maniera che chi va navigando per quella costa nel mese di Ottobre sino ad Aprile naviga nel esta è non puo in tutto questo tempo passare il capo per Esser iui la stagione dell inverno et ill Padre che resiede nelle Chies ch' appartengono al Capo di Comorinone Alcune la state il che e cosa di gran Meraviglia essendo cio nel medessimo tempo nella distanza sola mente di due otre miglia An eminent Virtuoso answer'd me that in Tirol he had visited a very deep Mine into which he descended three hundred Klasters which by his Computation makes about eighteen hundred of our Feet That he pass'd not through that he took notice of one hot Region by the way That at the Bottom of the Mine he breath'd very freely because of the Air-Shafts by which Access was given laterally to the superiour Air and that being thinly clothed with one of the Digger's Habits he found at the Bottom the Air temperate as to Heat and Cold though it were then Summer-season of the Year so that notwithstanding what is said of Antiperistasis no intense Cold was retreated thither to shun the Heat of the superiour Air. An ingenious Gentleman very conversant in our English Mines of one of which he is Owner answer'd me that the deepest Mine he had particularly visited was a Tin Mine whose Depth was sixty six Fathoms that is almost four hundred Foot That descending into this Mine in Summer he found it very cold at the Bottom and the greatest part of the way going down without perceiving any hot Region And when I ask'd him how soon he begun to find a sensible Cold in descending he told me that he found it within two Fathom or less of the Orifice of the Pit and that in this and divers other Mines he perceived a sensible Cold to begin before he got down a Yard or perhaps half a Yard beneath the upper Part of the Fast as the Mine-men call the solid Earth in which they distinguish from the loose Earth that lies above it and is if I may so call it the Scurf of the Earth that is far more light and porous than the other though it be upon this loose Earth that Plants grow and into which even great Timber-trees themselves shoot and spread their Roots seldom or never reaching to or penetrating into the Fast though this lie sometimes near enough to the external Surface of the crusty Earth An exact Relation of the Pico Teneriff taken from Mr. Clappham ABout the 20th of August 1646 Mr. Clappham together with Mr. Philip Ward John Webber John Cowling Thomas Bridge and George Cove all of them very considerable Merchants and worthy of Credit with one Guide Servants and Horses to carry their Wine and Provisions did set out from Oratava a Port-Town in the Island of Teneriff situated on the North at two Miles Distance from the main Sea They travelled from twelve at Night till eight in the Morning by which time they got to the Top of the first Mountains towards the Pico de Teraira here under a very great and conspicuous Pine-tree they brake their Fast dined and refreshed themselves till two in the Afternoon and then proceeded through much sandy way over many lofty Mountains but naked and bare and not covered with Pine-Trees as their first Night's Passage were which exposed them to excessive Heat till they arrived to the Foot of the Pico where they found many huge Stones which seemed to have been fallen down from some superiour Part. But before we proceed further to give any Account of this Journey give me leave here to intersert the Opinion of Dr. Pugh a Person of very great Reputation at this time in the City who lived twenty Years himself on the Place both in the Quality of a Physician and a Merchant and was very curious and inquisitive into all that was in the Island His Opinion is that the whole Island of Teneriff being a Ground mightily impregnated with Brimstone did in former times take Fire and blow up all or near upon all at the same-time and the many Mountains of huge Stones calcined and burnt which appear every where about the Island especially in the South-West Parts of it were raised and heaved up out of the Bowels of the Earth at the time of the general Conflagration and the greatest Quantity of this Sulphur lying about the Center of the Island raised up the Pico to that Height at which it is now seen And he says that any one upon the Place that shall carefully note the Situation and Manner of these calcined Rocks how they lie for three or four Miles almost round the bottom of the Pico and in such Order one above another almost to the very Sugar-Loaf as 't is called as if the whole Ground and rising up together with the Accension of the Brimstone the Torrents and Rivers of it did with a suddain Eruption roul and tumble them down from the rest of the Rocks especially as was said before to the South-West for on that side from the very Top of the Pico almost to the Sea-shore lie huge Heaps of these burnt Rocks one under another and there remain to this time the very Tracts of the Rivers of Brimstone as they ran over all this Quarter of the Island which has so wasted the Ground beyond recovering that nothing can be made to grow there but Broom But on the North Side of the Pico few or none of these Stones appear and he concluded hence that the Vulcano discharged it self chiefly to South-West He adds further that Mines of several Metals were broken and blown up at the same time These calcined Rocks resembling some of them Iron Oar some Silver and others like Copper particularly at a certain Place in these South-West Parts called the Azuleios being very high Mountains where never any English but himself that he ever heard of was There are vast Quantities of a loose blewish Earth
intermix'd with blew Stones which have on them a yellow Rust as that of Copper and Vitriol and likewise many little Springs of vitriolate Waters here he supposes was a Copper-Mine And he was told by a Bell-founder of Oratava that out of two Horse-Loads of Earth he got as much Gold as made two large Rings And a Portuguese told him who had been in the West-Indies that his Opinion was there were as good Mines of Gold and Silver there as the best in the Indies There are likewise hereabouts nitrous Waters and Stones cover'd with a deep Saffron colour'd Rust and tasting of Iron And further he mentions one Mr. Gilbert Lambell a Friend of his who of two Lumps of Earth or Oar brought from the Top of this Side the Mountain made two Silver Spoons All this he confirms from the late Instance of the Palm-Island eighteen Leagues from Teneriff where a Vulcano was fired about twelve Years since the Violence whereof made an Earthquake in this Island so great that he and others ran out of their Houses fearing they would have fallen upon their Heads They heard the Noise of the Torrents of flaming Brimstone like Thunder and saw the Fire as plain by Night for about six Weeks together as a Candle in the Room and so much of the Sand and Ashes brought from thence by the Wind by Clouds fell on his Hat as filled a Sand-box for his Ink-horn Thus far he To resume therefore the Narrative of their Journey about six a Clock this Evening they began to ascend up the Pico but being now a Mile advanced and the way no more passable for their Horses they quitted and left them with their Servants In this Mile's Ascent some of their Company grew very faint and sick and from Dr. Pugh's Report of eighteen in his Company that went up about the middle of August long after this but ten got up and these had all drank very plentifully below the rest so disorder'd by Fluxes Vomitings and aguish Distempers they could go no farther Their Horses Hair stood upright like Bristles with the vehement Cold who stood shaking and refused to eat any thing till they came down But calling for some of their Wine which was carried in small Barrels-on a Horse they found it so wonderfully cold that they could not drink it till they had kindled a Fire to warm it although yet the Temper of the Air was very calm and moderate but when the Sun was set it began to blow with Violence and grew so cold that taking up their Lodging under certain great Stones in the Rocks they were constrained to keep great Fires before the Mouth of them all Night About four in the Morning they began to mount again and being come about a Mile up Mr. Cowling one of the Company failed and was able to proceed no further Here begin the black Rocks The rest pursued their Journey till they arrived to Sugar-Loaf where they begin to travel again in a white Sand being fore-shod with Shoes whose single Soles are made a Finger broader than the upper Leather to incounter this difficult and unstable Passage till they are half way up and a Spaniel that went up afterwards with Dr. Pugh as he relates went crying all the way having his Skin burnt off his Feet and then being ascended as far as the black Rocks which are all flat and lie like a Pavement they climbed within a Mile of the very Top of the Pico but Mr. Clappham who was the formost would have perswaded Mr. Cove to descend again as imagining the Top of all on Fire but at last overcoming that Apprehension and persisting they gained the Summite where they found no such Smoak as appeared a little below but a continual Breathing of a hot and sulphurous Vapour which made their Faces extreamly sore In this Passage they found no considerable Alteration of Air and very little Wind but being at the Top it was so impetuous that they had much ado to stand against it whilst they drank the King's Health and fired each of them a Piece Here they also brake-fast but found their Strong-Waters had quite lost its Force and was become almost insipid whilst their Wine was rather more spirituous and brisk than it was before The Top on which they stood being not above a Yard broad is the Brink of a Pit called the Caldera which they judged to be about a Musket-shot over and near fourscore Yards deep in shape like a Cone within hollow like a Caldron and all over cover'd with small loose Stones mixed with Sulphur and Sand from Heat and stirr'd up with any thing puffs and makes a Noise and so offensive that Dr. Pugh was almost stifled with the sudden Emanation of Vapours upon the removing of one Stone of these these Stones are so hot as they are not to be easily handled They descended not above four or five Yards into the Caldera in regard of its sliding from their Feet and the Difficulty but some have adventured to the Bottom Other observable Materials they discovered none besides a clearer sort of Sulphur which looks like Salt upon the Stones From this famous Pico they could ken the Grand Canaries fourteen Leagues distant Palma 18 and Gomera 7 Leagues which Interval of Sea seemed to them no larger than the River of Thames about London they discerned also the Hierro being distant above twenty Leagues and so to the utmost Limits of the Sea much farther So soon as the Sun appeared the Shadow of the Pico seemed to cover not only the whole Island and the Grand Canaries but the Sea to the very Horizon where the Top of the Sugar-Loaf or Pico visibly appeared to turn up and cast its Shadow into the Air it self at which they were much suprized But the Sun was not far ascended when the Clouds began to rise so fast as intercepted their Prospect both of the Sea and the whole Island excepting only the Tops of the subjacent Mountains which seemed to pierce them through Whether these Clouds do ever surmount the Pico they could not say but to such as are far beneath they sometimes seem to hang above it or rather wrap themselves about it as constantly when the North-West Winds blow This they call the Capp and is a certain Prognostick of ensuing Storms Mr. John Webber one of this Company who had made a Journey two Years after arriving at the Top of the Pico before Day and creeping under a great Stone to shroud himself from the cold Air after a little space found himself all wet and admiring whence it should proceed perceived it at last to come from a perpetual Trickling of the Water from the imminent Rocks above him Many excellent and very exuberant Springs they found issuing from the Tops of most of the other Mountains gushing out in great Spouts almost as far as the huge Pine-tree which was mentioned Having stayed some time upon this Top they all descended by the sandy way till they
came to the Foot of the Sugar-Loaf which being steep even to almost a Perpendicular they soon passed and here they meet a Cave of about ten Yards deep and fifteen broad being in Shape like an Oven or Cupola having a Hole at the Top which is near eight Yards over by this they descended an active Spaniard shewing them the way by a Rope which their Servants held at the Top whilst the other End being fastened about his middle he swings himself till being over a Bank of Snow he slides down and lights upon it They are forced to swing thus in the Descent because in the middle of the bottom of this Cave opposite to the Overture at the Top is a round Pit of Water resembling a Well the Surface whereof is about a Yard lower than the Snow but as wide as the Mouth at the Top and is about six Fathom deep as Mr. Lambell reports who plumbed it They suppos this Water not a Spring but dissolved Snow or Water blown in for some Years it lies so full one cannot get into the Cave for Water trickling through the Rocks About the Sides of the Grotte for some Height is Ice and Icecles hanging down to the Snow but being quickly weary of this excessive cold Place and drawn up again they continued their Descent from the Mountains by the same Passages they went up the Day before and so about five in the Evening arrived to Oratava from whence they set forth their Faces so red and sore that to reduce them and cool them they were forced to wash and bathe them in Whites of Eggs c. The whole Altitude of the Pico in Perpendicular is vulgarly esteemed to be two Miles and a half No Trees Herbs or Shrubs in all the Passage but Pines and amongst the white Sands a kind of Broom being a bushy Plant and at the Side where they lay all Night a kind of Cardon which has Stems of eight Foot high the Trunk near half a Foot thick every Stem growing in four squares and emerging from the Ground like Tuffets of Rushes upon the Edges of these Stems grow very small red Buttons or Berries which being squeezed produce a poisonous Milk which lighting upon any part of a Horse or other Beast fetches off the Hair from the Skin immediately Of the dead Part of this they made their Fires all Night This Plant is also universal over the Island and is happly and as I conjecture a kind of Euphorbium In some part of this Island also there grows a crooked Shrub which they call Legnan-vell which they bring for England as a sweet Wood. There are likewise Apricoks Peaches and in Standards which bear twice a Year Pear Trees also which are as pregnant Almonds of a tender Shell Palms Plantanes Oranges and Lemons especially the Pregnadas which have small ones in their Bellies from whence they are so denominated Also they have Sugar-Canes and a little Cotton and Colloquintida the Roses blow at Christmas there are good Carnations and very large but Tulips will not grow or thrive there Sampier clothes the Rock in abundance and a kind of Clover the Ground Another Grass growing near the Sea which is of a broader Leaf so luscious as it will kill a Horse that eats of it but no other Cattel There is also an Herb which they make Thread of Eighty Ears of Wheat have been found to spring from one Root but it grows not very high the Corn of this is transparent and bright like unto the purest yellow Amber and one Bushel has produced 130 in a seasonable Year The Canary-Birds which they bring to us in England breed in the Barrancos of Gills which the Water has fretted away in the Mountains being Places very cold There are also Quails Partridges larger than ours and exceeding beautiful great Wood-Pigeons Turtles at Spring Crows and sometimes from the Coasts of Barbary appears the Faulcon Bees are carried into the Mountains where they prosper wonderfully They have wild Goats on the Mountains which climb to the very Top of the Pico sometimes Also Hogs and Multitudes of Conies Camels are brought from Lancerote besides other Cattel Fish The Cherna a very large and excellent Fish better tasted than any we have in England The Mero Dolphin Shark Lobsters without the great Claws Mussels Periwinkles and the Clacas which is absolutely the very best Shell-fish in the World they grow on the Rocks five or six under one great Shell through the Top whereof they peep with their Nebbs from whence the Shells being broken a little more open with a Stone they draw them forth There is likewise another Fish like an Eel which has six or seven Tails of a Span in length united to one Head and Body which is also as short Besides these they have Turtles and Cabridos which are preferable before our Trouts The Island is full of Springs of pure Water tasting like Milk and in La Laguna where the Water is not altogether so limpid and olear they percolate it through a kind of spungy Stone cut in form of a Bason The Vines which afford those excellent Wines grow all about the Island within a Mile of the Sea such as are planted farther up are nothing esteemed neither will they thrive in any other Islands For the Guanchios or the ancient Inhabitants Dr. Pugh gives this full Account September the 3d. about twelve Years since he took his Journey from Guimar a Town inhabited for the most part by such as derive themselves from the old Guanchios in the Company of some of them to view their Caves and the Bodies buried in them This was a Favour they seldom permit to any having in great Veneration the Bodies of their Ancestors and likewise being most extreamly against any Molestation of the Dead but he had done many several Eleemosinary Cures amongst them for they are generally very poor yet the poorest thinks himself too good to marry with the best Spaniard which endeared him to them exceedingly otherwise it is Death for any Stranger to visit those Caves or Bodies These Bodies are sewed up in Goat-skins with Thongs of the same with very great Curiosity particularly in the incomparable Exactness and Evenness of the Seams and the Skins are made very close and fit to the Bodies most of these Bodies are entire the Eyes closed Hair on the Head Ears Nose Teeth Lips Beard all perfect only discoloured and a little shrivled likewise the Pudenda of both Sexes He saw about three or four hundred in several Caves some of them are standing others lie on Beds of Wood so hardned by an Art they had which the Spaniards call Curar to cure a Piece of Wood which no Iron can pierce or hurt He said that one Day being a Hunting a Ferret which is in use there having a Bell about his Neck ran after a Coney into a Hole where they lost the Sound of the Bell the Owner being afraid he should lose his Ferret seeking about the Rock