248 Some Account of the Island of Tenerijfc. 



Turkej', are of a similar composition. It is therefore to be pre- 

 sumed, that those who brought them into use had something 

 more in view than to supply an ornament in the case of the 

 former, and in that of the latter, an object of pastime, in which 

 light the generality of the Turks, who are in the constant habit 

 of twirling them about with the fingers, regard beads. 



Common tar, a bituminous substance which may be c.'.nsidered 

 as in some degree analogous to storax, although it does not 

 possess its peculiar fragrance, was employed by a Greek whose 

 very hazardous task it was to bury the dead. With this sub- 

 .stance he kept his hands and arms anointed. He was pointed 

 out to the writer by Mr. Thomas, garrison surgeon, and acting 

 superintendant of health, as having officiated with impunity in 

 this way during the whole of the time that the plague raged ; 

 while the greater part of those who were similarly employed had 

 been swept off by the contagion. In this instance it would ap- 

 pear, that the pores of the parts ex]Josed to contact with the dead 

 bodies were sheathed by the tar, so as to prevent the absorption 

 of the plague matter; but in an old work entitled "'• Tiie Eng- 

 lish Housewife,'' described by Beloe in his Anecdotes of literature 

 and scarce books, another application is made of that substance 

 as a preservative against plague. It is recommended " to smell 

 to a nosegay made of the tasselled end of a ship-rope," that is, 

 of a tarred rope. Here something is implied of a specific quality 

 of the tar, as a plague preventative ; and this application of 

 it agrees with that of the storax as employed by the Turks. 



Joseph Skinner, 



Late Surgeon to frisuueis of War at Malta. 

 London, March SO, 1815. 



XLIV. Soma Account of the Island ofTeneriffe. Bi/ the Hon. 

 Henry Gruy Bennet, M.P. F.R.S. Pres. Geol. Society*. 



JL HE island of Teneriffe is the principal island of the seven in 

 the Western ocean, that are called generally by the name of the 

 Canaries. It lies north-east by south-west, and is in length from 

 the PuiUa del Hidalgo to the Montujia Roxa, its northern and 

 southern extremities, about 70 English miles ; its greatest breadth 

 not exceeding 30. The superficies may be considered as con- 

 taining 80 square leagues. 



The island narrows at its north-eastern and widens consider- 

 ably at its south-western extremity. Aljout the centre of the 

 latter, or, perhaps, to describe more accurately, to the westward of 

 the central point, is the mountain called by the Spaniards El Pico 



* From the Geological Tratisactions, vol. ii. 



di 



