CANARY ISLANDS. 77 



those of Santa Cruz and Port Orotava in Teneriffe, the 

 others. All other ports of these islands may export in 

 foreign bottoms without difficulty ; but to import, the vessel 

 must first come to one of these three ports. Population of 

 Las Pahiias, 11,363. 



Palma is almost as varied in its soil and its surface, as 

 Teneriffe, and still more precipitous on all but its western 

 side, where there is an extensive district of llanos in a high 

 state of cultivation. The centre of the island is thickly 

 wooded, and numerous rills of water descend from the 

 high lands, affording constant nourishment to vegetation. 

 The chesnut-tree attains an enormous size, there being 

 one, the trunk of which is partially hollow by decay, that 

 served as a stall for a pair of oxen for several nights in 

 succession. The staple products of this island, are the 

 same as those of Teneriffe, except barilla. Besides a 

 variety of fruit-trees indigenous to these islands, Palma 

 contains an abundance of tamarind-trees, though they 

 rarely give fruit. The sugar-cane flourishes w^ell here, 

 and the sugar produced from it, possesses a certain aro- 

 matic flavor, that is nowhere perceived in any other. 

 There are also considerable quantities of silk reared on 

 this island, and manufactured into garters and coarse 

 ribbons. Many of the cocoons are transported to Tene- 

 riffe, where they are reeled, and in the raw state, exported 

 to Spain for manufacture. Its chief towns are Santa Cruz, 

 which contains 4,733 inhabitants, and Mazo, which has a 

 population of 4,509. 



Laxzarote and Fuerteventura, the two most eastern 

 inhabited islands of this archipelago, though mountainous, 

 are not W'Orthy of being called high land, w^hen compared 

 with any of the others. They are mentioned together, as 

 they are very similar in the sandy, arid nature of their soil, 

 and in their produce, which is principally wheat, barley, 

 and barilla. These two islands are entirely destitute of 

 forests, or indeed, of any tree of size, except the date- 

 palm, (PJtcenix dadylifera. Lin.) It is generally believed, 

 that the soil is too loose and shallow to allow trees to take 

 sufficient root to withstand the violent winds that sweep 



