made no ſcruple of letting us wait till they choſe to make their appearance. When they had arrived we thought we ſhould be able immediately to proceed, but we were obliged to expoſtulate with them a long time, before they could be induced to carry the ſmall ſtock of neceſſaries that we took with us upon our expedition.
The reader will recollect that our ſhips were ſo plentifully ſtored with proviſions, that one might have thought we were going to ſail to ſome deſert country. Roſſel, who had the charge of the officers' table, had given orders to the cook to ſend us an excellent ſalmon-pie for our journey. I ſhould not have mentioned ſo trivial a circumſtance, had it not been for the ſake of the contraſt which it affords with the worm-eaten biſcuits and cheeſe, that were our uſual regale whilſt we remained on ſhore, in the ſubſequent part of our expedition.
Monſ. de Cologant having been informed by the French Conſul of our intended journey, invited us to come to his houſe at the harbour of Orotava. This port, which is not more than about 15,390 toiſes diſtant from St. Croix, is a very convenient baiting-place for thoſe who viſit the peak; it being ſituated at the foot of the neareſt mountains of the chain to which it belongs.
We
