[82]. See an account of a journey to the top of the Pic of Teneriffe, in Sprat’s History of the Royal Society, p. 200, &c. Glas also went to the top of it. History of the Canary Islands, p. 252 to 259. In the Philosophical Transactions, vol. xlvii. p. 353-356, we have Observations made, in going up the Pic of Teneriffe, by Dr. T. Heberden. The Doctor makes its height, about the level of the sea, to be 2566 fathoms, or 15,396 English feet; and says, that this was confirmed by two subsequent observations by himself, and another made by Mr. Crosse, the consul. And yet, I find, that the Chevalier de Borda, who measured the height of this mountain in August 1776, makes it to be only 1931 French toises, or 12,340 English feet. See Dr. Forster’s Observations during a Voyage round the World, p. 32.
[83]. Glas, p. 231., speaking of this plant, says, that he cannot imagine why the natives of the Canaries do not extract the juice, and use it instead of pitch, for the bottoms of their boats. We now learn from Mr. Anderson their reason for not using it.
[84]. Its extended name is St. Christobal de la Laguna; and it used to be reckoned the capital of the island, the gentry and lawyers living there; though the Governor-General of the Canary Islands resides at Santa Cruz, as being the centre of their trade, both with Europe and America. See Glas’s Hist. p. 248.
[85]. The writer of the Relation of Teneriffe, in Sprat’s History, p. 207, takes notice of this lemon as produced here, and calls it Pregnada. Probably, emprennada, the Spanish word for impregnated, is the name it goes by.
[86]. This agrees with Dr. T. Heberden’s account, who says that the sugar-loaf part of the mountain, or la pericosa (as it is called), which is an eighth part of a league (or 1980 feet) to the top, is covered with snow the greatest part of the year. See Philosophical Transactions, as quoted above.
[87]. This port was then filled up by the rivers of burning lava that flowed into it from a volcano; insomuch that houses are now built where ships formerly lay at anchor. See Glas’s Hist. p. 244.
[88]. Glas, p. 342., says, that they annually export no less than fifteen thousand pipes of wine and brandy. In another place, p. 252, he tells us, that the number of the inhabitants of Teneriffe, when the last account was taken, was no less than 96,000. We may reasonably suppose that there has been a considerable increase of population since Glas visited the island, which is above thirty years ago. The quantity of wine annually consumed, as the common beverage of at least one hundred thousand persons, must amount to several thousand pipes. There must be a vast expenditure of it, by conversion into brandy; to produce one pipe of which, five or six pipes of wine must be distilled. An attention to these particulars will enable every one to judge, that the account given to Mr. Anderson, of an annual produce of 40,000 pipes of wine, has a foundation in truth.
[89]. It was otherwise in Glas’s time, when a few families of the Guanches (as they are called) remained still in Teneriffe, not blended with the Spaniards. Glas, p. 240.
[90]. As a proof of Captain Cook’s attention, both to the discipline and to the health of his ship’s company, it may be worth while to observe here, that it appears from his log-book, he exercised them at great guns and small arms, and cleared and smoked the ship below decks, twice in the interval between the 4th and the 10th of August.
[91]. On board his Majesty’s ship Elizabeth, from 1758 to 1764; by William Nichelson, master of the said ship. London, 1773.