274 



cleared, and which contains in it's centre a naked 

 and rocky soil, unfit either for pasturage or cul- 

 tivation. Mr. Broussonet observes, that the ar- 

 chipelago of the Canaries may be divided into 

 two groups of islands. The first contains Lan- 

 zerota and Fortaventura, the second TenerifFe, 

 Canary, Gomera, Ferro, and Palma, The ap- 

 pearance of the vegetation essentially differs in 

 these two groups. The eastern islands, Lanze- 

 rota and Fortaventura, consist of extensive 

 plains and mountains of little elevation ; they 

 have very few springs, and bear the appearance, 

 still more than the other islands, of having been 

 separated from the continent. The winds blow 

 in the same direction, and at the same periods : 

 the euphorbia mauritanica,the atropa frutescens, 

 and the arborescent sonchus, vegetate there in 

 the loose sands, and serve, as in Africa, for food 

 to camels. The western group of the Canaries 

 presents a more elevate^ soil, more woody, and 

 watered by a greater number of springs. 



Though the whole archipelago contains seve- 

 ral plants found in Portugal # , in Spain, at the 



* Mr, Willdenow and myself found, among the plants of 

 tbe Peak of Teneriffe, the beautiful satyrium dipbyllum, (or- 

 chis cordata, Willd.), which Mr. Link discovered in Portu- 

 gal. The Canaries have, in common with the Flora of the 

 Azores, not the dicksonia culcita, the only arborescent heath 

 found at the thirty-ninth degree of latitude, but the asplenium 

 palmatum, and the myrica faya. This tree is met with in 

 Portugal, in a wild state. Count Hoffmannsegg has seen 



