CANARY ISLANDS 



fanning the earth with refreshing breezes, and by setting 

 apart an appropriate season for rain. Then, amid the roar 

 of winds, the glare of lightnings, and the crash of thunders 

 that seem to rend the skies, heaven opens all her windows 

 and pours down an unbroken flood, and deluges the earth. 

 The dry beds of the ravines and of the rivulets are now 

 converted into torrents which tumultuously rush down the 

 stupendous precipices, and lay the lower regions in com- 

 plete inundation. To this cause may be imputed, in a 

 measure, the amazing fertility which so particularly char- 

 acterizes these regions. Another fruitful source of irriga- 

 tion, or at least, of affording artificial inundation, are the 

 lofty mountains, which give bnth to numerous springs. 

 Their Alpine pinnacles are perforated by deep fissures, 

 constantly filled with perennial snows, which, on melting, 

 gush forth and run down their declivities, producing the 

 most luxuriant fertility. Their porous sides, too, are often 

 dashed with vapors, and imbibe large quantities of moisture, 

 which, flowing together, issues in the form of springs, and 

 has the same fertilizing influence. Hence it is, that vege- 

 tation attains that luxuriant growth which so remarkably 

 distinguishes these regions. 



From the variety of soil and climate with which these 

 islands are favored, they produce, or rather are susceptible 

 of producing, almost every species of vegetable that ever 

 has been useful to man. In truth, the cultivated regions 

 may be compared to an earthly paradise. They have 

 often been painted in colors that pertain not to the imper- 

 fect abodes of the earth ; as the " Elysian Fields," or as 

 " islands destined to be the future mansions of the blessed." 

 It is here that we have an agreeable mixture of the olive 

 and the vine, the fig and the banana, the cocoa and the 

 orange, the apple and the pear, the peach and the almond, 

 the coffee-tree and the sugar-cane, the strawberry and the 

 bread-fruit, and a variety of other fruits, rising up promis- 

 cuously amidst countless herbs and flowers, tinted with 

 the most brilliant and delicate hues. It is here, too, that 

 the great dragon-tree displays its gigantic forms, and the 

 majestic date sends its summit into the sky. As we con- 

 tinue to ascend, we behold the stately chesnut and the 

 lofty pine, surrounded by small elegant trees and flowering 

 *1 



