CHAPTER III - ISLAND OF TENERIFFE

Summary

Santa Cruz, the Anaja of the Guanches, which is a neat town with a population of 8000 persons, may be considered as a great caravansera situated on the road to America and India, and has consequently been often described. The recommendations of the court of Madrid procured for our travellers the most satisfactory reception in the Canaries. The captain-general gave permission to examine the island, and Colonel Armiaga, who commanded a regiment of infantry, extended his hospitality to them, and showed the most polite attention. In his garden they admired the banana, the papaw, and other plants cultivated in the open air, which they had before seen only in hothouses.

In the evening they made a botanical excursion towards the fort of Passo Alto, along the basaltic rocks which close the promontory of Naga, but had little success, as the drought and dust had in a manner destroyed the vegetation. The Cacalia kleinia, Euphorbia canariensis, and other succulent plants, which derive their nourishment more from the air than from the soil, reminded them by their aspect that the Canaries belong to Africa, and even to the most arid part of that continent.

The captain of the Pizarro having apprized them that, on account of the blockade by the English, they ought not to reckon upon a longer stay than four or five days, they hastened to set out for the port of Orotava, where they might find guides for the ascent of the Peak; and on the 20th, before sunrise, they were on the way to Villa de la Laguna, which is 2238 feet higher than the port of Santa Cruz.