island or the Peak, and to continue our voyage to
Brazil, where we might reckon upon a kinder welcome.

Here, then, was an end to all our promised pleasures. The enrichment of
our museum, the merry parties and the choice wine all forfeited to a
simple misunderstanding! Whatever might be their motive, it was an
inconsiderate action in the Spaniards wantonly to insult the Russian
flag; and even if they mistook us for enemies, it was silly to be afraid
of a single ship, considering that the renowned Nelson, with an English
fleet, had found the fortifications impregnable.

After a few miles' sail we perceived a large three-masted ship
endeavouring, with the wind against her, to reach the roads of Santa
Cruz. We steered towards her, in hopes that we might obtain some
information that should explain the riddle of the treatment we had
received. But the ship seemed as much afraid of us as the fortress;
and, as soon as she perceived our intention, made all possible haste to
avoid us.

It was really laughable enough, but it was also vexatious, that such
peaceful people as we were should be considered so terrible. I sent a
bullet after the ship, to induce her to stop; she then hoisted the
English flag, but never slackened her speed; so that finding we could
get no satisfaction, we thought it advisable to take advantage of the
fresh trade-wind, to bear away from Teneriffe as quickly as possible. On
the following morning we could still see the Peak, a hundred miles off,
among the clouds; and we called to mind, as we gazed upon it, the
mysterious accounts of its aborigines, of whom it was said, from the
resemblance of their teeth to those of grazing animals, that they could
only live on vegetables. They embalmed corpses in the manner of the
ancient Egyptians, and preserved them in grottoes in the rocks, where
they are still to be found. The Spaniards, the first discoverers and
appropriators of the island, have described in high terms the state of
civilization, methods of agriculture, and remarkably pure morality of
these ancient inhabitants, who nevertheless were entirely exterminated
by the tyranny and cruelty of their conquerors.

The trade-wind and continued fine weather brought us rapidly on our way
towards Brazil. Dolphins, flying-fish, and the large and beautiful
gold-fish, called by the Spaniards _bonito_, constantly surrounded the
ship, and formed by day a relief from the tedium of gazing on the
unvarying billows, as did