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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 February 2010
page 42 note a “The bishoprick of Canaria was worth in estate 12,000 ducats a-year.” Wadswortb's Present State of Spain, p. 34.
“The Bishop of the Canary Islands is a suffragan to the Archbishop of Seville, and has a revenue of 6,000l. sterling per annum. He resides in the city of Palmas in Canaria, where he is treated with all the respect and homage due to a prince.” Glas, p. 353.
page 45 note a Dr. James Usher, the celebrated divine and historian, was at that time Archbishop of Armagh.
page 46 note a The city of La Laguna contained two parish churches, three convents of friars, two of nuns, and three hospitals. The convents of friars were of three different orders, viz.: the Augustine, the Dominican, and the Franciscan; and those of the nuns, Dominicans of St. Catharine and Franciscans of St. Clara. Glas, p. 248.
page 48 note a This was a hazardous adventure of the inquisitive little Englishman. It is a proof of the respect in which he was held by the people of Teneriffe that he was not punished for his curiosity by being lodged in the dungeons of the Inquisition. “In each of the islands there is a house belonging to the holy office.” Glas.
page 48 note b Probably the “other learned men,” referred to in the text, included Sir Thomas Herbert, who has been previously named as one of Mr. Rawdon's schoolfellows at York (ante p. 4). In 1634, Sir Thomas published “A Relation of some yeares' Travaile, begunne Anno 1626, into Afrique and the greater Asia,” in which he thus speaks of the Canaries: “The sixt of April we discried the Canary Islands, in former years called Fortunate. Grand Canarie at this day precedes the rest in greatnesse and excellencie, for thither all the other iles repaire for trial and justice. Howbeit, Teneriffe is thought to equal it in wealth and circuit; in height I am sure it doth, and not it only, but any other land in the world, allowing its immediate ascent from the ocean. The high peak is by most geographers reputed the highest in the world; by some said to be fifteene miles high, though a third part may well suffice to beget credulity and wonder. It is seen by seamen, in a serene sky, a hundred and twentie miles, and serves as an apt sea-mark unto passengers.” In the latest edition of his travels, Sir Thomas thus amplifies his former decription of the Peak of Teneritfe: “Her high peak, touring so loftily into the air, as seems not only to penetrate the middle region, but to peep into heaven, for ’tis by most accounted 15 miles in height; 60 says Scaliger, 70 Patricius, yea, one Nichols our countryman, who lived here some time, affirms that it is 47.”—Ed. 1677, p. 3.
page 49 note a The ascent of the Peak of Teneriffe was performed by Glas in September 1761, and by Humboldt in June 1799. The most recent, as well as the most complete and scientific exploration of the whole volcanic range, was made in the summer of 1856 by Mr. Piazzi Smith, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, whose excellent description of the results is contained in his work entitled “Teneriffe: an Astronomer's Experiment, or Specialities of a Residence above the Clouds. London, 1858.”
page 49 note b Port Orotava is a place of considerable trade, lying close in to the sea-shore on the western side of the island of Teneriffe. Above it, about a league inland, is another town somewhat larger called Villa de Orotava. It appears that Mr. Rawdon went from his residence at La Laguna to the town of Orotava that he might from thence commence his ascent of the Peak. Humboldt travelled from Santa Cruz to Laguna, and from thence to Orotava. “For the ascent of the Peak,” Mr. Piazzi Smith tells us, “they could give no better advice than that we should betake ourselves to the town of Orotava, close under the highest part of the volcano, and from thence arrange our mountain operations.”
page 49 note c That which is here spoken of as the bottom of the mountain was doubtless the place described by Glas and Humboldt as “Estancia de los Ingleses,” which Mr. Piazzi Smith states to be at an altitude of 9,700 feet. Glas and his party started from Orotava at four o'clock P.M. and, not having the day before them, were climbing the mountain during the greater part of the night. Mr. Rawdon more judiciously left Orotava early in the day, and chose for his resting-place at night the “Estancia de los Ingleses,” where Humboldt and his party also passed the night. “This station,” Humboldt says,“can be reached on the backs of mules, and here has ended the expedition of numbers of travellers who, on leaving Orotava, had hoped to have ascended to the brink of the crater.”
page 50 note a The Retama (Cytisus Nubigenus), “A charming shrub which grows to the height of nine feet, and is loaded with odoriferous flowers.”—Humboldt. “That unique mountain broom, the like of which none of the other Canary Islands nor any of the African isles, and in fact not another spot in the world, can show.”—Smith. Near the place where Glas and his party slept they found some dry withered Retamas, which was the only shrub or vegetable they saw thereabout; and with them they made a great fire to warm themselves.“We suffered from the cold during the night,” says Humboldt, “and our guides made a large fire with the dried branches of the Retama.”
page 50 note b Glas describes the ascent of the cone from the Estancia as extremely fatiguing. When they got to the top they were quite spent with fatigue. Humboldt says, “Of all the volcanoes which I have visited, that of Jorullo in Mexico is the only one that is more difficult to climb than the Peak, because the whole mountain is covered with loose ashes.”
page 50 note c Mr. Rawdon's estimate of the dimensions of the crater is a close approximation to the truth. According to Humboldt and other modern travellers the figure of the crater is elliptical, the greatest breadth being about 300 feet, the smallest 200 feet. The diameter of a circular area of three acres is about 360 feet.
page 51 note a Glas says, “In many parts of the hollow we observed smoke and steams of sulphur issuing forth in puffs.'” “Vapours of sulphuric acid gas rise in abundance through crevices. Fine crystals of sulphur are everywhere found in the crevices of the lava.”—Humboldt.
page 51 note b “The ground in the interior of the crater was hot, moist, dissolving into white clay, and full of apparent rat-holes. Out of these holes acidulated vapours were every moment breaking forth, and on the stones where they struck were producing a beautiful growth of needle-shaped crystals of sulphur, crossing and tangling with each other in the most brilliant confusion.”—Smith, p. 305.
page 51 note c Humboldt was not so highly favoured. “We prolonged in vain,” he says, “our stay on the summit of the Peak to wait the moment when we might enjoy the view of the whole of the archipelago of the Fortunate Islands. One of the small islands, called the Rock of the East, cannot be seen even in fine weather from the top of the Peak.”
page 52 note a “Here (Gomera) is plenty of deer, which were originally brought hither from Barbary.”— Glas.
page 52 note b “A great quantity of sugar is made in Palma. The east side produces good wines, of a different taste and flavour from those of Teneriffe. The Malvasia is not so luscious or strong.”—Ibid.
page 52 note c Among the birds of Canada Mr. Rawdon does not notice the pretty little warbler so much cherished in this country, to which the island gives its name. “The mountain of Dorada, about two leagues from the city of Palmas, is shaded by groves of different kinds of fragrant trees, whose lofty boughs are so thickly interwoven as to exclude the rays of the sun. The rills that water these shady groves, the whispering of the breeze among the trees, and the melody of the canary-birds, form a most delightful concert. When a person is in one of these enchanting solitudes he cannot fail of calling to remembrance the fine things the ancients have written of the Fortunate Islands.”—Glas, p. 231.
page 53 note a Doctor George Coke, brother of Sir John Coke, Secretary of State, succeeded Doctor Theophilus Field in the see of Hereford, and was consecrated 2nd July, 1636. He died 10th Dec. 1646.