Proceedings. 91 



it seem to go down so suddenly into tlie sea, and the very 

 instant it is gone darkness begins to fall, one is conscious at 

 once of gathering gloom. After a little while comes a 

 beautiful afterglow, and the chorus of the Frogs from every 

 tank and water- course begins too. 



Returning to the Flora of the Canaries, I was surprised to 

 see so many of our English wild flowers growing under the 

 shadow of the Palms, or on the borders of the Sugar-cane or 

 Banana plantations. It is true I never met with either 

 Daisy or Buttercup, for there are no meadows like ours, and 

 though there may be grass on the mountains it is dry and 

 stunted, and utterly unlike the vivid and rich growth of our 

 pastures. There is very little rain or moisture, and the 

 fertility of the country is only kept up by constant irrigation. 

 For this purpose the water that is abundant in the cloudy 

 upper regions is brought down in small channels and stored 

 in tanks below. 



Amongst our British species are the small Mallow, common 

 Fumitory, wall Pellitory, hedge Parsley, scarlet Poppy, blue 

 Pimpernel, Agrimony, wild Mignonette, and, most notice- 

 able of all, abundance of Bracken and Bramble bushes. The 

 wild flowers unknown to us are interesting, but nearly all 

 allied to our own species. A pretty mauve Convolvulus is 

 universal, also a handsome crimson Pea ; then there are 

 Irises, blue and white, different coloured Mesembryanthemums, 

 Datura, and Tomato. The Opuntia, or Prickly Pear, which 

 covers all the waste ground, was originally introduced for the 

 sake of the cochineal insect, of which it is the food ; that 

 industry has now been abandoned, but the Prickly Pear 

 remains with its red or orange blossoms standing quaintly out 

 of the leaves. Other strange Cactus forms there are, 

 especially one with tall straight stems growing together 

 candelabra fashion. The American Aloe often serves as a 

 fence, and the Canary Spurge, an ungainly plant, occupies, 

 like the Opuntia, the uncultivated places. 



Two trees peculiar to the islands are found, the Canary 

 Laurel and the Canary Pine, both of them large and hand- 

 some, but growing more luxuriantly in the island of Palma, 



