Chap. i.J TENERIFE. 3 



Santa Cruz, itself. On the way, droves of mules, ponies, and 

 donkeys were passed, laden with country produce. The 

 countrymen wear a peculiar dress, black trousers reaching only 

 to the knee, and an ordinary blanket of the natural colour of 

 the wool, drawn into pleats at one end to go round the neck, and 

 worn over the shoulders as a cloak. If the blanket were dyed 

 of some dark or bright tint the dress would not look very 

 remarkable ; but its dirty-white colour has a strange appearance. 

 The countrywomen have very fine figures, and are most of them 

 very handsome. We passed through another town where a 

 private collector has a museum containing a number of 

 mummies, skulls and relics of the (ruanches, the ancient 

 inhabitants of the Canaries. The "gabinete," the owner of 

 which was absent, was in a somewhat decayed condition, and 

 was a sort of general collection of curiosities, a survival of the 

 old Raritatenkammer, which is the parent of modern more 

 select collections, just as the West African fetisch house may 

 be regarded as the primitive and savage representative of the 

 Raritatenkammer. Man seems to be almost the only mammal 

 that collects and stores uneatable objects. Amongst birds, on 

 the other hand, the collecting instinct is widely spread, as 

 witness magpies and Bower-birds,''' and even Penguins, one of 

 which collects variously-coloured pebbles. It will be a great 

 pity if the Guanche remains, contained in the Tenerife gabinete, 

 do not reach some good European museum. 



From the neighbourhood of this second town was obtained 

 the first view of the far-famed Peak, " Pico de Teyde." The 

 middle part of the mountain was concealed by a dense bank of 

 white clouds, the condensed vapour of the trade wind. Be- 

 neath, a broad valley stretching down to the bright blue sea, 

 with its snow-white edging of surf, was thrown partly into deep 

 shadow by the cloud-bank, partly lit up by the bright hot sun. 

 The sun shone brilliantly upon the snowy peak of the mountain, 

 high up in the sky above the clouds. On the shore lay the 

 town of Orotava, from which the ascent was to be made. The 

 English vice-consul at Orotava, who kindly made arrangements 

 for the trip, told me that the growth of the vine in Tenerife 

 was fast being supplanted by the cultivation of Cochineal ; 

 2,000 pipes only were being produced around Orotava, whereas 

 200,000 were formerly made. He expected, however, that 

 since Cochineal was falling in price, the wine trade would 

 revive. The Canary wine is certainly of most excellent 

 flavour. 



The route up the mountain lay up a long sloping ridge, 



* O. Beccari, " Le Capanne ed i Giardini del Ainhlyornis iiioniata.'" 

 Ann. del Mas. Civ. di St. Nat. di Genova, Vol. IX., 1876-7. 



