entered a ravine, the dry bed of a winter
torrent, where there were rue, lavender, prickly pear, hypericum, and
spurge; but not a blade of grass had survived the summer's drought. We
passed a heap of black ashes, which anywhere but at the base of the peak
would be called a respectable mountain. It has not been cold long enough
to be disguised by vegetation; and though on one side the vine is
beginning to clothe its rugged surface, yet the greater part is
frightfully barren. Shortly after we passed it, we arrived at Mr.
Galway's garden-house, and found his lady, a Spaniard of Irish
extraction, ready to receive us. As I had seen in some old Scotch
houses, the best bed-chamber served as drawing-room; but the
dressing-room is apart, and from the front there is an opening to a
pleasant terrace, commanding a charming view. Our dinner was a mixture
of English and Spanish cookery and customs: the Spanish part consisted
of part of a Darter, a very fine fish, white, but resembling a salmon
in taste, with sauce made of small lobsters, oil, vinegar, garlic, and
pimento; some excellent stews, and mixtures of vegetables and quails
roasted in vine leaves; the rest were all English; and the wines, the
growth of the island, and ices[40] were delicious. Neither the
pine-apple nor water-melon grow in Teneriffe, but abundance of the
latter are brought from Grand Canary. All the common garden fruits of
Europe flourish here; but too little attention is paid to horticulture.
This island, or at least the part I have seen, evidently belongs to a
state that has once been great; but is now too poor or too weak to
foster its foreign possessions. Some fine houses begun are in an
unfinished state, and appear to have been so for years; others, though
falling, are neither rebuilt nor repaired; and the only things like
present prosperity, are the neat English country-houses.

[Note 40: The ice is procured from a large cavern near the cone of
the peak; it is almost full of the finest ice all the year round.]

It was sunset before we reached the boats that were to convey us to the
ship; and we had some difficulty both in getting off and in going
alongside of the frigate, owing to the great swell. The night, however,
was fine, and the scene enlivened by the lights in the fishing boats,
which, like those in the Mediterranean, are used to attract the fish. On
shore, the lights of the ports and villa, and the fires of the charcoal
burners shining from amid