3444 Visit to Teneriffe, 



— were ludicrously amusing. At length, however, everything was put 

 to rights by the interpreting of an English gentleman who came to our 

 aid, and an Irish priest who dropped in upon us towards evening. The 

 necessary arrangements for the ascent of the Peak were made, the 

 guide who is usually employed having undertaken for a moderate 

 charge to furnish horses and attendants, assuring us that although no 

 successful attempt had been made so early in the season, yet the ap- 

 parent absence of snow upon the Peak and the state of the weather 

 were favourable for our purpose. 



The Port, or lower town of Orotava, said to contain a population of 

 about 4,500, presents a neat and clean appearance. In the houses 

 the lower half of the windows is occupied by a pair of wooden shut- 

 ters, in the centre of each of which a smaller one, opening from within, 

 serves the inmates as a peep-hole, and the owner of many a pair of 

 bright eyes spends hours together at this post. Of two large squares, 

 one, the Alameda, with seats and rows of trees, is the principal resort 

 of the inhabitants of an evening ; the other, used as a market-place, 

 has a fountain in the centre, the principal church on one side, and a 

 large convent on the opposite. There is no harbour here ; vessels 

 anchor in very deep water, and an opening in a long range of break- 

 ers upon some sunken rocks forms the only communication with the 

 shore. Wine is the principal article of export from this side of the 

 island. 



The beach to the eastward of the town was strewed with broken 

 Spirulae and Janthinee, and almost every stone and clod of earth in 

 the adjacent fields harboured a large and a small beetle of the family 

 Blapsidse. After dusk, the loud clear chirping of numerous crickets 

 perched upon the house-tops, was continued all night long; and to 

 complete my entomological reminiscences of the day, the first mos- 

 quito I had heard paid me a visit, and became an uninvited and un- 

 welcome guest. 



Next morning at 9 o'clock our cavalcade assembled, and in its pro- 

 gress through the streets was a source of great attraction to the good 

 people of Orotava. There were eight of us on horse-back, and an 

 attendant on foot accompanied each cavalier. The commissariat de- 

 partment brought up the rear ; five pack-horses carried our blaukets 

 and great coats, besides provisions, six small casks of water, and a 

 large jar labelled "Teneriffe." Passing through a succession of vine- 

 yards, gardens, and orchards, we left the cultivated grounds, and en- 

 tered upon a wild and rugged ascent overgrown with a tall heath, fern, 

 and laurel-like evergreens. We crossed several ravines devoid of 



