I 



135 



more distant from each other, which adds to the 

 picturesque beauty of the situation. Unhappily 

 the real welfare of the inhabitants does not cor- 

 respond with the exertions of their industry^ or 

 with the advantages which nature has lavished 

 on this spot. The farmers are not proprietors ; 

 the fruits of their labour belong to the nobles, 

 and those feudal institutions, which, for so long 

 a time, spread misery throughout Europe, still 

 weigh heavily on the happiness of the people of 

 the Canary islands. 



From Tegueste and Tacoronte to the village of 

 St. Juan de la Rambla, which is celebrated for 

 it's excellent malmsey, the rising hills are culti- 

 vated like a garden. I might compare them to 

 the environs of Capua and Valeotia, if the west- 

 ern part of Teneriffe was not infinitely more 

 beautiful on account of the proximity of the 

 peak, which presents on every side a varied land- 

 scape. The view of this mountain is interesting 

 not merely from it's gigantic mass : it fills the 

 mind, by carrying it back to the mysterious 

 source of it's volcanic agency. For thousands 

 of years, no flames or light have been perceived 

 on the summit of the Piton, nevertheless enor- 

 mous lateral eruptions, the last of which took 

 j^lace in 1798, are proofs of the activity of a fire 

 still far from being extinguished. There is also 

 something, that leaves a melancholy impression 

 on the mind on seeing a crater in the centre of 



