THE NORTH COAST OF TENERIFE 87 



tinkle of the cone-shaped covering which encloses the 

 petals of the eucalyptus marginata, as it falls to the 

 ground, knocked off by the Blackcap or the Chiffchaff 

 in its search among the petals thus liberated for insect 

 food. Another sound that is always there is the rustle 

 of the dried leaves as the lizard scuttles away to its 

 hole beneath the lava rocks. 



Passing over Icod, of which some mention has been 

 made, the carriage road leads as far as Garachico, one 

 of the most picturesque little ports in Tenerife, and 

 noted for being the victim of the last eruption of the 

 Peak, in 1706. Here the presence of a high project- 

 ing cliff of rock which runs a little way out to sea has 

 been taken advantage of to form, in connexion with 

 a short breakwater, a miniature harbour, its shore 

 broadly margined with black sand. A harbour is of 

 little use, though, unless its presence be recognised 

 in some way by incoming boats, and the small fruit 

 steamer from Santa Cruz, which creeps slowly round 

 the coast, anchors disdainfully outside Garachico and 

 waits for its cargo of bananas to be rowed out in small 

 boats. The slight offered to their harbour passes un- 

 noticed by the inhabitants of Garachico, who must sell 

 their bananas if they are to make any sort of a 

 living. 



The carriage road ends its duties at Garachico, and 

 will doubtless pause there for some time, as it has 

 done at so many other towns in Tenerife, before going 

 a stage further. The road from Icod to Garachico was 

 only just completed when we were at the latter place, 

 at which time a quarrel between the engineer who had 

 planned the road and the authorities of the district 



