CH.AP. set that usually attends the passage of ships from Cape Finisterre
June,
1825.
southward. From this cape to Point Naga, our error in tliat direction,
or more correctly S. 33° W., was not less than ninety miles. I do not
stop to inquire into the cause of this great tendency of the water to
the equator, which might probably be traced to tlie remote effect of
the trade-wind, but merely mention the fact as a guide to persons who
may pursue the same route.
We approached the island on a fine sunny day, but from a quarter
that was highly unfavourable for a view of the lofty Peak, which was
almost hid from us by intervening mountains. At four o’clock we
came to an anchor in the roads of Santa Cruz, and there found His
Majesty’s ship Wellesley, Captain, now Admiral Sir G. E. Plamond,
Part., on her way to Eio Janeiro, with His Excellency Sir Cliarles
Stuart, the British Ambassador to the court of Brazil. As soon as we
had exchanged salutes with the fort, we landed to procure the supplies
the ship required, with all despatch; and met with much assistance
and civility from Mr. Hupland, who was acting in the absence of
the Consul.
Santa Cruz, at the time of our arrival, was under the government
of Don Ysidore Uriarti, who very obligingly allowed me to pitch a tent
in one of the forts for the purpose of making observations, and placed
a guard of soldiers to keep watch over the instruments. In Santa
Cruz there is very little to interest a stranger; when he has paraded
some inferior gardens which perpetuate the memory of the Marquis de
Braucifort, cast his eye round the interior of the great church of San
Francisco, where a flag that once belonged to Lord Nelson will not
be allowed to escape his attention, and scanned a monument erected
to the Virgin Mary de la Candelaria, the patroness-saint of the island,
he has seen all that can offer an inducement to expose himself to a
dusty walk on a hot day, which he will be sure to find in the month
of June in this scattered town. The Plaza Beale will amuse those
persons who wish to indulge their criticism on the manner and costume
of the inhabitants, who assemble there in the evening to smoke their
cigars, and enjoy the luxurious freshness of the air.
At Laguna, the capital, visiters will find a better town, a more
fertile country, a climate several degrees cooler than that of Santa c h a p
Cruz, and every species of produce more abundant and forward than
at the port; and though the road is bad, few will regret having encountered
June,
!82.5.
its difficulties. The celebrated Peak of Teyde is the great
object of curiosity which engages the attention of travellers to the
Canary gronpe, and we experienced much mortification at not having
it in our power to ascend it. To have added our mite toward the
determination of its altitude by barometrical measurement, was a consideration
not overlooked ; but, circumstanced as we were, it was not
of sufficient importance to justify the detention of the ship ; and we
were obliged to console ourselves with the hope that we should shortly
visit places less known, and where our time, consequently, would be
more usefully employed.
Teneriffe is an island which lies in the track of all outward-bound
ships from Europe, and most voyagers have touched at i t ; being the
first object of interest they meet, their zeal is naturally more excited
there, than at any subsequent period of their voyage: it is consequently
better described than almost any other island in the Atlantic,
and nothing is now left for a casual visiter, but to go over their ground
for his own gratification or improvement. My observations for the
determination of the latitude and longitude of the place, &c. were made
in the Saluting Battery, but they are omitted here, as I purpose,
throughout this volume, to avoid, as far as possible, the insertion of
figures and ciilculations, which, by the majority of readers, are considered
interruptions to the narrative, and are interesting only to a
few, and they will therefore be inserted in the Appendix. On the
3rd, His Majesty’s ship Wellesley sailed for Eio .Janeiro with His Excellency
Sir Charles Stuart; and on the Sth, having procured what supplies
we required, we weighed, and shaped a course for the same place.
From our anchorage w'e had been daily tantalized with a glimpse
only of the very summit of the Peak, peeping over a nearer range of
mountains, and the hazy state of the weather on the day of our
departure made us fearful we should pass on without beholding any
more of i t ; but towards sunset, when we had reached some miles
from the coast, we were most agreeably disappointed by a fair view
B 2