161 



d'eaux aux habitans d'une Isle." The substance of the story 

 is as follows: — When the Spanish conquerors appeared in 

 Hierro the natives covered their sacred rain-tree with branches, 

 reeds, and other things, hoping by this ruse that the invaders 

 would not see their water supply and would leave the island on 

 account of its scarcity. The secret was, however, divulged by 

 one of the Bimbache maidens, wlio fell in love with a cabal lero, 

 and showed him the tree and its tanks of water. This led to 

 a quarrel with the Spaniards, who carried olf a number of tire 

 islanders as slaves, and on the departure of lier lover the young 

 woman was condemned to death. 



It is interesting to note that with all its faults the picture 

 given by Duret shows he had -a good idea of the shape of the 

 leaves, and also some hazy conception of the relationship of 



.. 



drip-tips" to condensed moisture. That the Canary Rain- 

 tree was well known and an object of considerable interest to 

 botanists of the early 17th century is clear from the fact that 

 a picture of the plant formed the frontispiece of Bauhin & 

 Cherlcr's Historia Plantarum Generalis (1619), a copy dI 

 which we reproduce at Fig. B. The same drawing is repro- 

 duced by Parkinson (Theatrum Botanicum, 1640), who refers 

 to Jackson's account mentioned above. 



According to Dr. Perez, quoting Bartolome Garcia del Cas- 

 tillo's book " Xoticias del Hierro/' this wonderful tree was 

 blown down in a storm on the 12th June, 1612. He adds that 



Hierro, and 



ma 



in 1753 an enquiry about the tree was 



testimony was received from witnesses 80 to 95 years 



existed and 



of 



who 



were 



all 



agreed 



about the 



tree having 



age 



they 



pointed out without hesitation where it grew, showing the 

 Tenia ins of the tanks at its foot. 



C- 'K&7P]\ & 



f> 



B 



9 



i 9 







- 



"7*^3 



•N 



/ 



cv?b 





_ ■ 'T I . 



til: 



Fig. B. — Frontispiece oi Bauhin & Cherler, Historia Plantarum Generalis 



(1619). 



The serious effect on the climate following the destruction 

 of mountain forests on the islands of St. Helena and Jamaica 



