CHAP. II.] FROM PORTSMOUTH TO TENERIFFE. 129 
grounds at some distance. Near the town it crosses a valley, 
raised high on a long line of quaint narrow arches. We wan- 
dered up this valley for several miles to a pretty water-fall 
called “ La Chorrea,” where we stopped and had a delicious 
luncheon, the chief element in it the supply of luscious ripe or- 
anges which we had got fresh from the trees on our way; and, 
after sitting sketching and chatting during the heat of the day, 
we quietly retraced our steps to the town, where we found the 
Pigeon awaiting our return. 
The valley is well wooded, and, from the peculiar character of 
the vegetation, in the middle of the region of evergreen shrubs 
and trees, there was little to remind us of winter. The greater 
part of our route lay through an old cork-forest, the gnarled, 
rugged trees a considerable distance apart, with greensward be- 
neath, like the trees in an English park. The foliage of an old 
cork-tree is dark and gray, and somewhat scanty; but along our 
path the rough boles and branches were everywhere beautiful- 
ly relieved by great patches of the furry, tawny rhizomes and 
light-green feathery fronds of one of the hare’s-foot ferns (Da- 
vallia), perched in the clefts of the branches, or clinging in the 
deep grooves formed by the splitting of the outer layers of the 
cork. 
We passed several fruit farms, most of them evidently of old 
standing, with orange and lemon trees thirty and forty feet 
high, now bending and breaking under their load of golden 
fruit—eight or ten ripe oranges at the end of every branch, 
thrown out in splendid contrast against the dark-green leaves. 
The spring flowers were beginning to bloom, and great spikes 
of Narcissus polyanthus sent out a delightful fragrance from 
the hedge-rows. The whole scene was very beautiful; but the 
small amount of cultivation, and the evident carelessness and 
bad management, produced the feeling of regret which seems in- 
separable from every thing concerning the Spain of the present — 
that a country naturally capable of so much should do so little. 
