OP LA PEROUSE. }J 



A pipe of the bcft wine then coll a hundred 

 and twenty piaftres; that of the moit inferior 

 quality colt fixty. It is proper to obferve, that 

 I am not fpeaking of the price at which it is fold 

 to foreigners ; for the fame wine of fixty piaftres 

 is had for fix and thirty by the inhabitants of the 

 iiland. 



. When the fermentation of thefc wines is well 

 advanced, it is cuflomary to mix with them a 

 great deal of brandy, in order to make them keep. 

 Indeed they are very heady ; many pcrlbns cannot 

 drink them, even in a fmall quantity, without 

 feeling their nerves affected by the difagreeablc 

 fenfation which this mixture occafions. 



We were allured that the ifland commonly fur- 

 nishes thirty thoufand pipes of wine a year. 



As it does not grow corn fufficient for the 

 confumption of the inhabitants, part of the pro- 

 duce of the wines, which are fold in foreign 

 countries for Madeira, from which they in other 

 refpe&s differ very little, is employed in the pur- 

 chafe of that article of the firft neceffity. 



The olive-tree, which thrives very well in this 

 ifland, is however little propagated. The papaw- 

 tree, and the date- tree, which are cultivated ia 

 fome of the gardens, are confidered only as ob- 

 jects of curiofity. 



Before we left Santa Cruz, we had been told 



that the top of the Peak was covered with ihow. 



a I would 



