Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/103

 a strait 17 miles wide. Like Gran Canaria, which it resembles in miniature, it consists of a single volcanic cone, with a central peak and a nearly regular circular periphery indented by cirques. It is composed mostly of old lavas, whose eraters have generally been obliterated, and in which the running waters have excavated deep barrancas and cirques, whence the streams escape through narrow precipitous gorges. The island has been eroded, especially on the west side; and while the cliffs facing Teneriffe have an average height of from 300 to 400 feet, those over against Hierro rise to 2,000. Its forests are comparatively more extensive,

and it is also better watered than Canaria. But although it might thus support a relatively larger population, it is less densely peopled, owing to the feudal system of tenure, which has been here maintained more oppressively than elsewhere in the archipelago.

The Alto de Garajonaï, culminating point of Gomera, stands on the southern edge of the central plateau, falling rapidly southwards to the coast, but on the other sides everywhere presenting gently inclined wooded slopes. Towards the west it terminates in a huge block, which seems shaped by the hand of man; hence is called by the natives the Fortaleza, or "Fortalice." North of the