t8g 4 .] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



235 



road, and which died on the homeward voyage. It was very ungrate- 

 ful of it to do so, as I had taken the trouble of bringing away with me 

 a lot of groundsel to feed it on, but the motion of the ship evidently 

 affected its digestive organs. 



The grasshopper tribe was extraordinarily numerous. They 

 perfectly swarmed in places, and the higher one got up the mountains 

 the more there seemed to be of them. They took flight from under 

 our feet in perfect clouds in certain places, and the flight of the larger 

 specimens is extremely rapid though not long sustained. Of the 

 neuroptera we took several fine varieties, but their colours are very 

 evanescent. Regarding the coleoptera, I collected a bottle full for a 

 friend ; they were chiefly remarkable for being of a universal black 

 colour. I took about 15 different kinds. 



Grand Canary is the largest of a group of seven islands belonging to 

 Spain. Its capital, Las Palmas, is not a paradise, being ill paved and 

 worse drained. There are, however, some very good hotels about a mile 

 from the capital, the best of which is the Hotel Metropole. The 

 houses in Canary are mostly flat-roofed — as in the East. In the centre 

 of the building there is generally a " patio," or square courtyard, 

 surrounded with foliage, flowers, and comfortable cane chairs. Fountains 

 sometimes play among the foliage. A house, dingy and dirty in out- 

 ward appearance, is thus often transformed into a miniature Eden when 

 once you have passed the threshold. 



The dress of the people, especially that of the women, is very picturesque, 

 and a group of Canary women and girls round one of their primitive 

 wells, with earthenware pitchers on their heads, is a very interesting 

 sight. The picturesque features of the men lie in a somewhat blood- 

 thirsty apppearance, which the black cloak and black sombrero 

 tend to accentuate. The scenery is in many places very grand. The 

 mountain slopes are mostly barren and uncultivated, almost the only 

 plants found on them are the cactus and various species of 

 " euphorbise." In the " barrancos," or valleys, however, charming 

 villages nestle in a bed of verdure. Palms, yams, tomatoes, bananas, 

 sweet potatoes, Indian corn, etc., etc., flourish and make the sight a very 

 attractive one, while the contrast to the black heights above them is 

 startling. The cochineal industry is, of course, most interesting, 

 but as it has been fully treated by several writers, it is useless 

 for me to say anything about it. In a valley at a place 

 called San Mateo we found arum lilies growing wild. The maiden- 

 hair is extremely common in the most humid, as in the most barren 

 spots. Many other ferns flourish in the valleys, such as the woodseers, 

 adiantum nigrum, etc. The red geranium is also very abundant, and 

 is made to grow in hedges, as blackthorn in England. Timber is, com- 

 paratively speaking, rare. Fig trees are, I think, the commonest trees 



