48 ZERO FOR LONGITUDE — SANTA CRUZ. Jan. 



island, or on board a ship in the ofRng, except by a trigono- 

 metrical process, always open to errors. Indeed the summit of 

 the peak is not visible from the east, on account of intervening 

 land, until the observer is at some distance from the shore. 

 Hence all meridian distances measured from Teneriffe must 

 depend upon the degree of accuracy with which the position of 

 the actual starting-point, with respect to the Peak, was deter- 

 mined. 



How many errors have been caused in ascertaining the lon- 

 gitudes of distant places, by a mistake in the longitude of the 

 position from which a ship, or an observer, actually departed ! 

 How many discrepancies between the measurements of different 

 nations would vanish, if the precise points from which each 

 observer set out were known; and if the positions of those 

 points, with respect to one another, were accurately verified ! 



About noon we approached the sun-burned, uninviting town 

 of Santa Cruz. Lying upon a level, arid space, at the foot of 

 hills, that rise slowly to a considerable height, so as to shut 

 out the more elevated part of the island ; hardly a tree to be 

 seen, and no appearance of cultivation ; guarded by a rocky 

 shore, on which there is always a disagreeable — often a danger- 

 ous surf; it offers indeed little to tempt delay. But notwith- 

 standing this unpromising exterior, and a port so exposed that 

 Spanish ships of war were ordered by their Government to 

 moor there with four anchors, there is much to be found in 

 the higher and interior parts of Teneriffe which amply repays 

 the labour of ascending to and exploring those regions. In one 

 of the churches in Santa Cruz is still hanging the remains of a 

 flag, taken from the English, or left behind, when Nelson lost 

 his arm. 



Our anchor had just touched the ground, when a boat from 

 the Health Office approached nearly along-side, conveying the 

 British vice-consul and some quarantine officers, who told us, 

 after hearing whence we came, that it would be impossible to 

 grant permission for any person to land ; and that until we 

 should have performed a strict quarantine of twelve days' dura- 

 tion, no personal communication could be expected. This 



