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Updated: May 23, 2025
The morning of the 17th we had sight of the island of Madeira, which to those who approach from N.N.E. seems to rise very high, and almost perpendicular in the west. Also in this part is a rock at a small distance from the shore, over which a great gap or opening is seen in the mountain. The 19th at noon we had sight of the isles of Palma, Teneriffe, and Grand Canarea.
From thence we coasted by the Grand Canaria, and so to Teneriffe, and stayed there for the Lion's Whelp, your Lordship's ship, and for Captain Amyas Preston and the rest.
This the gentleman before mentioned endeavoured to account for, from its being always in a person's power to procure a different temperature of the air, by residing at different heights in the island. He expressed, therefore, his surprise that the physicians of England should never have thought of sending their consumptive patients to Teneriffe, instead of Nice or Lisbon.
And there is one dot in those Canaries which we must not overlook, for it is no other than the famous Peak of Teneriffe, a volcano which is hardly burnt out yet, and may burn up again any day, standing up out of the sea more than 12,000 feet high still, and once it must have been double that height.
Camels are not numerous at Teneriffe, whilst they exist by thousands in the two islands of Lancerota and Forteventura; the climate and vegetation of these islands, which are situated nearer Africa, are more analogous to those of that continent. It is very extraordinary, that this useful animal, which breeds in South America, should be seldom propagated at Teneriffe.
There is an extensive plain of table land and corn country round Laguna, which is a bishop's see, with an income of 30,000 dollars per annum. The governor of the province resides at Santa Cruz. Teneriffe, from its great elevation, and gradual slope to the sea, possesses every variety of vegetation from the tropic to the frozen regions.
We perceived that Teneriffe had attractions not only to those who devote themselves to the study of nature: we found at Orotava several persons possessing a taste for literature and music, and who have transplanted into these distant climes the amenity of European society. In these respects the Canary Islands have no great resemblance to the other Spanish colonies, excepting the Havannah.
After we had made all Snug, we stood to the Westward with our Prize to Teneriffe, to have her ransomed, that is to say, her Hull; for her Cargo was not worth redeeming, being extremely shabby, one or two Butts of Wine, a Hogshead of Brandy, and other small matters, which we determined to keep for our own use.
Still, people talk of the Island of Teneriffe as something very different now from what it was twenty-five or thirty years ago, both as regards the number of its inhabitants and the activity of its commerce, and mourn over 'the good old times; a custom I have remarked in many other places! The Marquis de la Candia and Don Hermann Wildgaret returned on board with us to breakfast.
If we then take a rock of intermediate composition, such as that prevailing in the Peak of Teneriffe, which Abich calls Trachyte-dolerite, its proportion of silica being intermediate, or 58 per cent, it weighs 2.78, or more than trachyte, and less than basalt.
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