RECOLLECTIONS OF TENERIFFE. 437 



was much more foreign than that of either Funchal or Santa 

 Cruz. The large sombre old houses, with their latticed bal- 

 conies and carved doors and window-shutters, give the streets 

 a singular aspect. Our numerous cavalcade seemed to excite 

 a good deal of attention in the streets through which we passed, 

 and the windows and lattices were crowded with the fair 

 inhabitants. 



If our own sensations had not reminded us that we had left 

 the dry torrid climate of Santa Cruz, we had ample proof of 

 our having entered a cooler and moister atmosphere, by the 

 abundant and luxuriant vegetation which everywhere covered 

 the walls and roofs of the old buildings. It was composed of 

 ferns, (chiefly Davallia Canmiensis,) and different species of 

 Sempervivum,'^ whose fine-spreading green rosettes and showy 

 spikes of golden-yellow flowers, threw a pleasing air of fresh- 

 ness over the mouldering relies of former magnificence. 

 Another sign, too, of the greater coolness of the climate was 

 the way in which the inhabitants, at least the male portion of 

 them, were clothed. The gentlemen all wore the usual large 

 Spanish blue cloak, while the lower orders mostly appeared in 

 a most unpicturesque upper dress, consisting of a common 

 English blanket thrown over the shoulders, with a string run 

 through the upper edge, by which it was drawn round the 

 neck, forming altogether a very singular and ugly costume. 

 The women mostly wore the white mantilla, but too generally 

 disfigured by the straw hat before mentioned. The men wear 

 English coarse wool hats. 



Laguna was founded in 1497, by Alonzo Fernandez de 

 Lugo, and in 1531 was raised to the rank of a city, and had 

 various valuable privileges bestowed upon it.'' The present 

 population is estimated at about 10,000, and is said to be 

 increasing. Leaving Laguna we entered on the extensive 

 plain of Rodeos, which gradually slopes towards the sea, some 

 miles distant on the right, while on the left it runs up to the 

 base of the mountains of Canadas, a range which forms one of 

 the outer buttresses of the Peak. The country is richly culti- 

 vated, and undivided by walls or hedges. It reminded us of 

 some of the open parts of Cambridgeshire, and the farming 

 would not have disgraced many parts of England. The soil is 



'' Sempcrvlvum urbicum, S. Canariensc, S. dkhotomim, Sonclms congeslus, S(c. i^c. 

 ■^ Vicra, Noticias, vol. ii. pp. 307, 308, 



