RECOLLECTIONS OF TENERIFFE. 451 



the glory of tlie forest, next to its noble laurels, consisted in 

 the hollies, {Ilex Perado,) which I think were the most perfectly 

 beautiful trees I ever saw. They are of great height, with 

 clear, perfectly straight green stems, regularly branched and 

 clothed with fine large spiny green leaves and clusters of the 

 most vivid scarlet berries. Some of these I gathered, but I 

 fear the species will prove rather too tender for the open air 

 in our climate. Should it be acclimatised, it would prove a 

 most invaluable addition to our hardy evergreens. The short- 

 ness of our stay prevented our farther exploring this interesting 

 spot, which certainly surpasses anything I ever saw of forest 

 scenery. In some of the more thinly-wooded parts, the trunks 

 of the trees were clothed with the ivy known in England as 

 " L'ish " {Hedera Canariensis) ; and we observed at a distance 

 a tree completely covered to the top with a climber, which we 

 supposed to be a Convolvulus. I took a single specimen of a 

 Chrysomela^ somewhat like our C. folita, but saw no other 

 insects. On emerging from the forest we fell in with the 

 individuals of our party who had originally remained in Santa 

 Cruz, and who had ridden out to meet us. They gave us a 

 very brilliant account of masquerades and other festivities in 

 which they had been engaged during our absence ; but we 

 thought our time had been equally agreeably employed. We 

 had a very cold ride across the plain of Rodeos, notwithstand- 

 ing the fineness of the day ; but after passing Laguna it became 

 warmer, and by the time we reached Santa Cruz we were glad 

 to refresh ourselves with ices, and to drink iced water with our 

 dinner. 



^th. — Immediately after breakfast three of us started to have 

 a morning's botanizing in the ravine which supplies the city 

 with water. The Levada is very diflferent to those in Madeira, 

 being not only much wider, but also covered with flag-stones, 

 so as to form a very good pathway. The rocks below us were 

 covered with gigantic bushes oV Euphorbia Canariensis and 

 Kleinia neriifoUa, entwined with Ruhia fruticosa and Periploca 

 laevigata ; and the more earthy spots abounded with two species 

 of Scllla — one a small one, with pretty little blue flowers ; the 

 other with very large bulbs, like *S'. maritima ; and the remains 

 of flower stalks, in some cases two feet high. Another bulbous 

 plant, out of flower, we supposed to be Pancratium Canariense. 

 Among other plants we gathered Orchis tridactylis, Pohjcarpcea 



