and Ascent of the Peak of Teyde. 3443 



the way-side plants, and the ferns on the walls and rocky banks, 

 and the butterfly-collector might have found ample employment here 

 among species of Colias, Lycaena, Polyommatus, Vanessa, &c, not 

 forgetting my old Anglo- Australian friend, Cynthia Cardui. 



Upon reaching an elevated ridge we came in sight of the sea and 

 the northern coast of the island, while almost at the same moment the 

 cloud-capped Peak of Teyde threw off his snow-white mantle for a 

 time, and stood proudly revealed in all his colossal grandeur. When 

 the plain of Laguna was passed, we commenced our descent by a nar- 

 row winding path along the side of the mountain ridge of the island. 

 At one time we rode through lanes fringed with brambles, at another 

 along a narrow path worn out of the bare rock — crossing occasional 

 ravines the banks of which were hidden by the luxuriant vegetation — 

 large Cactuses and Euphorbias, tufts of a splendid purple Aster, St. 

 John's wort with bunches of large yellow blossoms, tall Arums, clumps 

 of arborescent heaths, and shrubby evergreens. In some of these 

 sheltered dells numerous butterflies (especially a Mancipium like 

 Daplidice) were flitting about among the flowers — large dragon-flies 

 [JEshna) hawked about all glittering in the sunshine— and, deeply hid 

 amongst the thick foliage, many a tiny warbler poured forth his joyous 

 song : among the last I thought I recognized Melizophila provincia- 

 lis, our well-known Dart ford warbler. From its steepness, the road 

 in places seemed impassable for horses, yet they seldom stumbled, if 

 allowed their own way. We passed the little village of Matanza — a 

 name commemorative of a great slaughter of the Spanish invaders by 

 the Guanches, the Aborigines of the island, the last remnants of whom, 

 not removed into slavery, gradually became assimilated with the con- 

 quering race. 



As we descended, the valley of Orotava seemed to increase in beauty 

 as each successive feature of the landscape became more distinct : — 

 the whole appeared in a state of high cultivation ; vineyards, gardens 

 and fields occurred in rotation, ornamented too by the sprinkling of 

 wood and the occasional date and other palm trees. Some of our 

 party having accidentally found their way to the Villa (city) of Oro- 

 tava instead of the Puerta (port), or the upper instead of the lower 

 town, were gratified with a view of the famous Dragon-tree, supposed 

 to be one of the oldest vegetable inhabitants of our globe. At length, 

 however, we all found our way to the Port of Orotava, and met at the 

 only hotel in the place, where our endeavours to make ourselves un- 

 derstood in a mixture of English, Italian, and French, with the slight- 

 est possible sprinkling of Spanish — certainly not the purest Castilian 



