54 TENERIFFE. 
were told that on the hottest days it seldom exceeds 80°, and 
as seldom on the coldest falls below 66°, making thus the 
extremes of heat and cold to differ only 14 degrees in twelve 
months ; whereas on our island we have sometimes near twice 
the variation in the course of tweh e hours. The temperature, 
it is true, in the town of Santa Cruz, which is surrounded by 
bare volcanic rocks, is sometimes as high as 88°, owing en- 
tirely to its confined situation and the reflected rays of the 
sun. The moderate and steady temperature of the island in 
general, added to a dry and elastic atmosphere, might be 
expected to produce the most happy effects on the constitu- 
tion, which no doubt would be the case were they not coun- 
teracted by the peculiar habits of the people. W e observed, 
indeed, among the peasantry, several persons of an advanced 
age. The mortality was stated to be something less than 
three in the hundred ; and as infectious diseases attended 
with great mortality are scarcely known on the Canary 
Islands, the population of course would rapidly increase, were 
it not kept down by a regular drain to the Spanish colonies in 
South America. The number of inhabitants on Teneriffe was 
considered to be about one hundred thousand. An instance of 
longevity ^ras mentioned to us, which appeared to be the 
more astonishing on account of the intemperate life which the 
individual was accustomed to lead. James Meny, a native 
of Ireland, and British Consul for many years on Teneriffe, 
was stated to have lately left the island, in his 112th year, 
in a kind of pet, because he could no longer get a little good 
brandy fur his own use. Like Falstaff complaining that they 
put lime into his sack, he swore " there was nothing but roguery 
to be found in villainous man." This veteran son of Bacchus 
