and the Caiiary Islands. 79 



row of houses to the large castles of the Marquis de Adexe, Conde 

 de Pomera, Don Antonio de Herrera, and then to the hospitable 

 abode of the Governor Don Baltasar Bal Cazar. 



The Baranco above Adexe was well deserving of our stay. 

 The largest stream in the island runs in it, branches off in va- 

 rious directions through innumerable gardens and plantations, 

 and carries along with it every thing that, in such a climate, has 

 power to refresh and quicken vegetation. For we found among 

 the ravines, where the rocks, approaching near to one ano- 

 ther, hang over, and frequently appear to close, almost every 

 plant that we had not before discovered, and also many withered 

 and decayed, which might certainly at one time have been re- 

 cognized as new species. This Baranco del Infierno is equally 

 calculated to interest the botanist and the geologist, for, besides 

 their splendid vegetable clothing, the rocks being rent asunder 

 to a depth greater than in any other place, leave room for exa- 

 mining the interior of the Peak. 



Adexe lies upon rocks 9^3 feet above the sea. We descended 

 upon soft layers of tuffa, where small bushes of Justicia hyssopU 

 folia, cistus, conyza, artimesia, thymus and lavender, afford 

 rich and excellent pasture for the goats that feed there. At no 

 great distance from one another stood little well built goat farms. 

 The milk of these animals was as refreshing to us, as it was 

 wholesome and agreeable. Each goat yields the astonishing 

 quantity of one and a half quarts daily, and even more. It is as 

 rich as the milk of the rein-deer, and entirely pure and free from 

 flavour. Such delicious milk we could never discover to be the 

 milk of the goat, which, among the mountains of the north, is held 

 in so little estimation. There the goats do not feed on leaves of 

 justicia, cistus, and lavender. Truly the goat of this island itself 

 is a quite different animal. For agility and elegance, it may be 

 compared with the gazelle. The short smooth horns fall back 

 from the forehead, and the black hair is not wiry and rough, 

 but smooth and fine, and glancing like ebony. It is certainly a 

 different species. No other kind of milk is made use of in the 

 whole of Teneriffe. It is also probably much superior to what 

 cow''s milk would be here ; hence the reason why there is not 

 perhaps a single cow to be found on the whole island. The 



