32 TENERIFFE. 
Should it be considered expedient, on some future occa- 
sion, to get possession of TenerifFe, though I confess its utihty 
does not appear to me to be very important to this country, 
a more ehgible plan would seem to be the landing of a body 
of men at Oratava, the port at which the greater part of the 
wines are shipped, and where the works of defence are so 
trifling as to afford little if any resistance, which indeed is 
the case along the whole western shore between the point 
de Nago on the north and Garricheca on the south, w^here, 
in any of the small bays or inlets, an easy landing might be 
effected in the summer months. From any part of this coast, 
a single day's march, over an open and plentiful country, 
completely in the possession of the invading party when once 
landed, would bring them to the city of Laguna, the capital 
of the island, which is entirely without defence It is scarcely 
probable they would meet with any opposition in the field, 
especially if a division of the ships employed in the attack 
should make its appearance at tiie entrance of the bay. This 
force would confine the feeble garrison to their forts ; and, as 
the distance from Laguna to Santa Cruz is only about five 
miles, down a considerable descent, every point of which 
commands the town and the bay, the fate of the place must 
instantly be decided. At all events, the extreme difficulty of 
landing in the bay of Santa Cruz seems to require both day- 
light and fine weather, in order to insure a successful issue. 
The prospect, on entering the bay, is by no means so in- 
viting as that of Madeira, as will readily be perceived by the 
annexed view. The town of Santa Cruz has pretty much the 
