LA CUEVA DE LOS GUANCHES. 33 



In approaching the anchorage of Santa Cruz, 

 vessels should close with the shore, and get into 

 soundings before — as is the general custom — ar- 

 riving abreast of the town, where from the steepness 

 of the bank, and its proximity to the shore, they are 

 obliged to anchor suddenly, a practice never desir- 

 able, and to vessels short handed, always inconve- 

 nient: besides calms sometimes prevail in the ofRng, 

 which would prevent a vessel reaching the anchorage 

 at all. 



Lieut. Grey was most indefatigable in collecting 

 information during the short period of our stay at 

 the island, as an examination of his interesting work 

 will at once satisfy the reader : he explored a cave 

 three miles to the north-east of Santa Cruz, known 

 by tradition as "La Cueva de los Guanches," and 

 reputed to be a burying place of the aboriginal inha- 

 bitants of the island : it was full of bones, and from 

 the specimens he brought away, and also from his 

 description of all that he examined, they appear to 

 have belonged to a small-limbed race of men. 



Besides the wine trade, a considerable traffic is 

 carried on with the Moors upon the opposite coast, 

 who exchange gums and sometimes ivory for cotton 

 and calico prints, and occasionally tobacco. The 

 chief port for this trade is Mogadore, from whence 

 ships not unfrequently sail direct to Liverpool. 



A singular circumstance was mentioned to me by 

 our first Lieutenant Mr. Emery, as tending to prove 



VOL. I. D 



