PO!lT OF OltOiAVA. 
39 
it we are indebted to tbe Marquis do Nava. He under- 
took, at an enormous expense, to level the hill of Durasno, 
which rises as an amphitheatre, and which was begun to be 
])lauted in 1795. The marquis thought that the Canary 
Islands, from the mildness of their climate and geographi- 
cal position, were the most suitable place for naturalising 
the productions of tho East and West Indies, and for 
inuring the plants gradually to the colder temperature 
ol the south of Europe. The plants of Asia, Africa, and 
South America, may easily be brought to Orotava; and 
in order to introduce tho bark-tree* into Sicily, Portugal, 
or Grenada, it should be first planted at Durasno, or at 
Laguna, and the shoots of this tree may afterwards be 
transported into Europe from the Canaries. In happier 
times, when maritime wars shall no longer interrupt com- 
munication, the garden of Teneriffe may become extremely 
ttselul with respect to the great number of plants which are 
sent from the Indies to Europe; for ere they reach our 
coasts, they olten perish, owing to the length of the passage, 
during which they inhale an air impregnated with saltwater. 
These plants would meet at Orotava with the care and 
climate necessary for their preservation. At Durasno, the 
pro ten, the psidium, the jumbos, the chirimoya of Peru.f 
the sensitive plant, and tho heliconia, grow in the open air. 
AVe gathered the ripened seeds of several beautiful species 
of glycine from New Holland, which the governor of Hu- 
mana, .Mr. Emparan, had successfully cultivated, and which 
grow wild cm the coasts of South America. 
We arrived very late at tho port of Orotava, t if we may 
give the name ol port to a road in which vessels are 
obliged to put to sea whenever the winds blow violently 
from the north-west. It is impossible to speak of Orotava 
* 1 speak of the species of bark-tree (cinchona), which at Peru, and 
m the kingdom of New Granada, flourish on the back of the Cordilleras, 
at the height of between 1,000 and 1,500 toises, in places where the 
thermometer is between nine and ten degrees during the day, and from 
three to tour during the night. The orange bark-tree (Cinchona land- 
folia) is much less delicate than the red bark-tree (C. oblongifolia). 
1 Antiona cherimolia. Lamarck. 
I Puerto de la Cruz. The only line port of the Canary Islands is that 
of St. Sebastian, in the isle of Gomara. 
