88 Proceedinrfs. 



Miss Martin read a paper entitled ' A Month in the 

 Canaries ' : — 



I fear I am hardly scientific enough to be worthy of the 

 privilege now accorded me ; I can only plead an exceeding 

 love of Nature, and an observation from my earliest years of 

 several branches of Natural History. Accompanied by one 

 of my nieces, I spent a month in the Islands of Tenerifife and 

 Palma, from the end of April to the end of May, in the 

 present year ; and having met with much that was new and 

 interesting to myself, I am not without hope that an account 

 of what I saw may prove of interest to other members of our 

 Club. You would all know that the Canary Islands, or the 

 Fortunate Isles, — partially discovered and dreamed of in 

 ancient times, — so-called, are seven in number, lying in about 

 the 28th degree of latitude, and as the desire of my whole 

 life had been to see tropical scenery, I toolc flight to these 

 islands as the nearest approach to it which came within my 

 reach. Tenerifife, the largest of the group, has one grand 

 and noble feature which distinguishes it from all the rest, 

 namely, a solemn snow-crowned peak rising to the height of 

 12,000 feet. This mighty peak has been a volcano, and from 

 time to time smoke and flames have issued from its crater, 

 and streams of burning lava have flowed down its sides. But 

 it is more than one hundred years since the last eruption, and 

 whatever may be the inward fires, outwardly all is peace. 

 The slumbering giant looks down placidly on a valley so rich 

 and fertile (called by Humboldt one of the most beautiful in 

 the world), and a climate so soft and balmy, that invalids 

 from northern lands are glad to come and dwell there. 



For Tenerifife knows not our English fogs and frosts, 

 nobody shivers over the fire at night, or finds ice in her bed- 

 room in the morning, and as you look over the flat roofs of 

 the houses no such things as chimneys are to be seen. It is 

 a land of perpetual summer : during the month we were 

 there the thermometer, indoors and outdoors, night and day, 

 never varied more than from 68° to 72°, and the whole 

 of the difference between winter and summer is but ten 

 degrees. Ladies can wear thin dresses all the year, and 



