Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/106



Hierro.

Hierro (Ferro, or "Iron"), smallest and least peopled, is also the most oceanic land of the archipelago. To the natives it was known by the name of Esero, which has been variously interpreted, but which had not prebably the same meaning as its Spanish substitute. Hierro is rarely visited, and has little to offer strangers. But notwithstanding their great poverty, the natives are said to be the most hospitable and kindly of all the Canary islanders. The land is here more subdivided than elsewhere, although a single feudal lord is the nominal owner of the whole island.

Hierro is of triangular shape, with its apex turned towards Teneriffe, and its

base facing the Atlantic. But the elevated part of the island presents a somewhat fantastic appearance. In the north-west it is disposed in semicircular form by a steep cliff, the section of a perfectly regular crater. On one side this basaltic cliff terminates in a sharp point prolonged seawards by the Salmore reefs, on the other by the rounded headland of Dehesa, where spars, fruits, and other flotsam from America are often washed up by the western currents. Towards the centre the cliff rises to a height of 4,680 feet above the sea.