35.6 feet at 6 feet above the ground, and 28.8 feet
at 14.5 feet, where branches spring from the rapidly
narrowing conical trunk. The same are said to
have been its proportions in the days of the conquest.
In 1866 Mr. Addison made it 60 feet tall, 35.5 feet
at 6 feet from the ground, and 49.5 in circumference
at the base which he cleared. Mr. Barker Webb’s
sketch in 1830 was the best; but the tree afterwards
greatly changed. Mr. J. J. Williams made a neat
drawing in boarding-school style, with a background
apparently borrowed from Richmond Hill.]
The Jardin de Aclimatacion, or Botanical Garden, mentioned
by Humboldt
[Footnote: Page 59. It is regretable that
his forecasts have failed. Neither of the ohinohonas
(C. tanoifolia and C. oblongifolia)
has been naturalised in Southern Europe. Nor has
the Hill of Duragno yet sent us the ’protea,
the psidium, the jambos, the chirimoya of Peru, the
sensitive plant, the heliconia, and several beautiful
species of glyoine from New Holland.’]
as far back as 1799, still flourishes. It was
founded in 1788-95 by an able savan, the Marquis
de Villanueva del Pardo (D. Alonso de Nava y
Grimon), who to a Government grant of 1,000_l_. added
4,000_l_. of his own, besides 400_l_. a year for an
average generation. The place is well chosen,
for the Happy Valley combines the flora of the north
and the south, with a Nivaria of snow-land above it
and a semi-tropical temperature on the shores of the
‘Chronian Sea.’
THE ROUTINE ASCENT OF MOUNT ATLAS, THE ‘PIKE’
OF TENERIFE.
The trip was so far routine that we followed in the
steps of all previous travellers, and so far not routine
that we made it in March, when, according to all,
the Mal Pais is impassable, and when furious winds
threaten to sweep away intruders like dry leaves.
[Footnote: The usual months are July and August.
Captain Baudin, not favourably mentioned by Humboldt,
ascended in December 1797 with M. Le Gros and the
naturalists Advenier, Mauger, and Riedle. He rolled
down from half-way on the cone to the bottom of La
Rambleta, and was stopped only by a snow-covered lava-heap.
Mr. Addison chose February, when he ‘suffered
more from enormous radiation than from cold.’
He justifies his choice (p. 22) by observing that
’the seasons above are much earlier than they
are below, consequently the latter part of the spring
is the best season to visit the Peak.’
In October, at an elevation of 10,700 feet, he found
the cold greater than it was in February. In July
1863 I rode round the island, to the Cumbre pumice-plains,
and by no means enjoyed the southern ride. A
place near Guimar showed me thirty-six barrancos
(deep ravines) to be crossed within three leagues.]
The good folk of the Villa, indeed, declared that
the Ingleza could never reach even the Estancia de
los Inglezes.
