and the Canary Islands. 81 



Pinas, the cones are shorter ; and farther up on the Peak, they 

 are scarcely equal in length to the pines of Germany. In that 

 situation, they also lose their singular appearance. 



On the 4th June, we were in Puerto Orotava again. 



On Monday, the 12th June, we repaired to Laguna. We 

 came here into an entirely new world. The rich cultivated de- 

 clivity on which the streets are built, every where recalled to our 

 recollection the southern situation. St Ursula is entirely sur- 

 rounded with palms, and Tacaronte is concealed among vine- 

 yards. Upon the high lying plains of Laguna, we enter into 

 fog and clouds, that ascend daily from the sea. Corn-fields 

 stretch along the flat hills, as in Thuringia ; but neither orchards 

 nor vineyards, and but few palms, are to be seen. Laguna is 

 the principal place of the country. It is extensive and beauti- 

 ful ; and the residence of most of the landed proprietors, of 

 Marquises and Counts, who are chiefly descended from the an- 

 cient conquistadores. We took possession of a large unoccu- 

 pied house, with numerous balconies and windows, like an old 

 castle. At the windows, Smith made a discovery that he did 

 not anticipate, from so many travelling botanists having be- 

 fore climbed from Sta Cruz to Laguna. Every botanist, and 

 every traveller, visiting Laguna for the first time, has been 

 struck with the singular appearance of the town ; for, all the 

 roofs being closely covered with bushes of Sempervivum, have 

 the appearance of hanging woods. Who would think that this 

 plant, which has so much and so frequently excited attention, 

 has never been examined, far less described. Very different 

 from the Sempervivum canariense, for which it has been com- 

 monly taken. Smith thought himself fully entitled to consider it 

 a new species, and to call it Sempervivum urbicum, after the 

 singular place where it chiefly abounds. The heated air on the 

 sea-coast rises, towards mid-day, on both sides, diffuses itself 

 over the plains of Laguna, and cools there to the point of con- 

 densation of the vapour that rises with it from the sea, and thus 

 thick fog is formed. Moisture, heat, and shelter from the too 

 powerful rays of the sun, the chief promoters of the growth of 

 Sempervivum, act with combined influence on the roofs of 

 Laguna ; and to these causes does the town owe the peculiarity 

 which it shares with no other place in the Canary Islands, of 



OCTOBER — DECEMBER 1826. F 



