1866. | Teneriffe. 5 
It will be seen from the preceding table, that the summer warmth 
is prolonged to the month of November, which month is 3°°15 
warmer at Santa Cruz than April. Penzance is the mildest part of 
England, there the mean temperature of November is only 45° or 
25°°40 below that of Santa Cruz. 
The houses of the nobility and gentry are built after the Moorish 
style, which is pre-eminently suitable to warm climates; they form a 
hollow square which is frequently filled with orange trees, oleanders 
with their rose-pink flowers, or bananas whose delicately green leaves 
throw around a delicious shade. The lower part of the houses 
contains stores for wine, &., or offices; above is an open balcony 
leading to the reception rooms and bed chambers ; the whole crowned 
by a high square tower (“mirador”) with a flat roof: those of the 
Villa de Orotava overlook two extinct volcanoes, an enchanting 
valley under a high state of cultivation, bearing the vine, oranges, 
lemons, and various tropical fruits, with the sea in front, bounded 
on the west by an‘almost vertical cliff, or crater flank, called Tigayga, 
above which are various mountains, from 9,000 to 10,000 feet high, 
crowned over all by the white cone of the majestic Peak, towermg 
to the elevation of 12,200 feet. These flat-roofed towers are a 
great source of enjoyment to the gentlemen of the island, who 
assemble on them in the cool of the evening, to chat, smoke their 
cigars, and sometimes to have rival games of flying kites, of which 
they are extremely fond. 
Vegetation assumes here her fairest forms; the south side of 
the island is in most parts arid and burnt up, but on the north 
side it is adorned with many of the vegetable forms which add so 
much beauty to the tropical regions. From the elevated plains of 
pumice, called the “cumbre,” which crown the top of the entire 
island at an elevation of about 6,000 feet above the sea, one may 
plainly distinguish five distinct zones of vegetation, which are as 
marked as if they had been planted by the hand of man. 
The first region, which may be termed that of the vines, extends 
nearly 1,500 feet above the sea, and although you occasionally find 
vines 500 or 600 feet higher, yet the grapes are not considered fit for 
making wine. In this region are found all the fruits of Southern 
Europe: date-palm, Papaya, Banana, sugar-cane, the various 
tribes of Cucwrbitz ; in the botanical garden near Orotava there is 
the coffee-tree, cinnamon-tree (Lawrus cinnamomumy), and the bread- 
fruit tree (Artocarpus incisa): the Arwm Colocasia is very common, 
it produces a species of arrowroot; the Palma Christi, or castor-oil 
plant, and the Spanish carnation (Poinciana pulcherrima) are hedge- 
weeds. Some of the arborescent Euphorbie are peculiar: the 
Euphorbia Canariensis is in bushes ten to twelve feet high and 
twenty in diameter ; it is found at various elevations, but it thrives 
best below 2,000 feet; when this plant is wounded, it exudes a 
