we
could not do it ourselves.

The road of Santa Cruz is situated before the town of the same name, on
the S.E. side of the island. It is, as I am told, the principal road of
Teneriffe, for shelter, capacity, and the goodness of its bottom. It
lies entirely open to the S.E. and S. winds. But these winds are never
of long continuance; and, they say, there is not an instance of a ship
driving from her anchors on shore.[69] This may, in part, be owing to
the great care they take in mooring them; for I observed, that all the
ships we met with, there, had four anchors out; two to the N.E., and two
to the S.W.; and their cables buoyed up with casks. Ours suffered a
little by not observing this last precaution.

[Footnote 69: Though no such instance was known to those from whom
Captain Cook had this information, we learn from Glas, that some years
before he was at Teneriffe, almost all the shipping in the road were
driven on shore. See Glas's History of the Canary Islands, p. 235. We
may well suppose the precautions now used, have prevented any more such
accidents happening. This will sufficiently justify Captain Cook's
account.--- D.]

At the S.W. part of the road, a stone pier runs out into the sea from
the town, for the convenience of loading and landing of goods. To this
pier, the water that supplies the shipping is conveyed. This, as also
what the inhabitants of Santa Cruz use, is derived from a rivulet that
runs from the hills, the greatest part of which comes into the town in
wooden spouts or troughs, that are supported by slender posts, and the
remainder doth not reach the sea; though it is evident, from the size of
the channel, that sometimes large torrents rush down. At this time these
troughs were repairing, so that fresh water, which is very good here,
was scarce.

Were we to judge from the appearance of the country in the neighbourhood
of Santa Cruz, it might be concluded that Teneriffe is a barren spot,
insufficient to maintain even its own inhabitants. The ample supplies,
however, which we received, convinced as that they had enough to spare
for visitors. Besides wine, which is the chief produce of the island,
beef may be had at a moderate price. The oxen are small and bony, and
weigh about ninety pounds a quarter. The meat is but lean, and was, at
present, sold for half a bit (three-pence sterling) a pound. I,
unadvisedly, bought the bullocks alive, and paid considerably more.
Hogs, sheep, goats, and poul