Here we procured, with some difficulty, a pair of fresh
mules for two of our servants, who had proceeded thus far on
foot; and whilst the others were refreshing we looked into one
of the - churches, where we observed a few tolerably good
paintings, and a piece of sculpture in marble that had lately
been sent over from Spain. All the ornaments and decorations
of the church were splendid and costly, and were so
well designed and arranged as to produce a grand and solemn
effect. Our time was too pressing, and our curiosity not sufficiently
strong, to look over, as we might have done, their
collection of relics. The coagulated blood of St. Januarius,
the milk of the Virgin, the vermin of St. Anthony, and the
parings of St. Peter’s toe nails, might be just as genuine in the
Canary Islands as on the continent of Europe, and just as well
worth seeing; but the wonders of nature were more the objects
of our journey than the miraculous remains of the
saints.
Having finished our visit to the church and eaten a hearty
breakfast of grapes and brown bread, we were just about to
remount, when a strange cavalcade made its appearance in
the great street. I t proved to be a party of our fellow
voyagers from the Hindostán, respectably mounted on asses
and driving before them a large, raw-boned, while horse,
laden with'provisions. Our increased cavalcade now began to
attract some notice ; and as we continued - our route thro' ugCTh
the streets of Laguna, the curiosity of the inhabitants, was in
some degree awakened, and the young women in particular
smiled on us most graciously through the lattices as we
passed along.
Leaving the city behind us, we entered upon an extensive
and fertile plain, whose surface was intersected by several rills
of limpid water which, being collected in wooden troughs,
was conveyed to the town and discharged in jets from obelisks
of stone placed in all the principal streets. The harvest was
already gathered in, but we could plainly perceive that a
considerable portion of the land had been under tillage, of >
which, as we understood from the peasantry, the chief produce
was wheat, holcus, maize or Indian corn, sweet potatoes,
and calavances. On our right, towards the sea-coast,
appeared a succession of pleasant villas and considerable
hamlets, situated in the midst of orchards and vineyards;
and on our left were ridges of hills well covered with coppice
wood, and their summits crowned with pines. The. middle
part, over which we had to travel, was an open tract of
arable land, without any kind of fences or other apparent
divisions to mark the boundaries of property ; but the great
Agave Americana was plentifully planted by the sides of the
road for several miles. Our botanists collected, on the brow
of the hills, specimens of a great number of plants, among
which were a species of Sempervivum, a quadrangular leaved
Euphorbia, the Rhamnus crenulatus, Cacalia clinea, Cactus
opuntia, Datura, Convolvulus, Brionea, Hypericum, fox
gloves, trefoil, grasses of different kinds and various other
plants, few, however, of which were considered as rare or
curious; and these are here mentioned with the view only to
mark some of the general productions of the country.
We had descended nearly to the skirts of the fertile and
extensive vale on which are situated the city and the sea-port