Steamboat Lines. 1. Union Castle Line, fortnightly from London and Southampton, touching alternately at Las Palmas and Teneriffe; fares to either, 1st cl. 14–16, 2nd 9–11 gs. (return about ⅔ more). For summer tours, comp. p. [17].—2. Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., see p. [17].—3. Peninsular & Oriental Branch Service, from London monthly for Australia, calling at Las Palmas; 12l., return (tickets interchangeable with No. 5 from Teneriffe) 20l.—4. Bucknall Line, monthly from London to Teneriffe; 10l., return 18l.—5. Aberdeen (Thompson’s) Line, from London and Plymouth monthly for Australia, calling at Teneriffe; 13l., return (also valid for No. 3) 22l.—6. Aberdeen (Rennie’s) Line, from London, about once every 10 days, for S. and E. Africa, calling alternately at Las Palmas and Teneriffe; 10 or 8l., return 18 or 14l.—7. German East African Line, once every 3 weeks from Southampton for S. Africa, calling at Las Palmas and Teneriffe, 12l. 10s. or 7l. 10s.; no return-fares, but an abatement of 20 per cent is allowed on the fare back to Southampton, either by this line, by the Woermann, or by the Hamburg-American Line.—8. Woermann Line, monthly from Dover to Las Palmas, and monthly to Teneriffe; fares and abatement for return, same as No. 7.—9, 10. New Zealand Line and Shaw, Savill, & Albion, each monthly from London and Plymouth for Teneriffe, 14l. or 11l. 10s.; interchangeable return-ticket 22 or 17l.—11. Yeoward Bros. Line, from Liverpool, weekly pleasure cruises to Teneriffe, Grand Canary, and back (10–12 gs.), also single tickets (6–8 gs.).—12. Natal Line, from London fortnightly for S. Africa calling at Las Palmas, fare 8 gs., return 15l. 2s. 6d.—13. Federal, Houlder, & Shire Lines, see p. [17].—There are also steamers to the Canary Islands from Cadiz (see p. [58]), Genoa (see p. [114]), Naples, and Trieste (see p. [425]).—It should be noted that almost all the British lines have recently raised their fares by ten per cent in consequence, it is said, of a rise in the price of coal. Inquiry as to this ‘surtax’ should therefore be made in every case.—The direct steamers perform the voyage (1707 M. from Southampton to Teneriffe) in 5–6 days; the coasting steamers (viâ Oporto, Lisbon, etc.; about 2250 M.) take much longer.
In addition to the above-mentioned steamers communication among the islands themselves is effected by the small cargo-boats of the Compañía de Vapores Correos Interinsulares Canarios which ply 9 times monthly between Teneriffe and Las Palmas in 6 hrs. (fare 20 or 15 pesetas); and by those of the Servicio de Pailebotes which ply weekly from Teneriffe to Las Palmas, and weekly to Santa Cruz de la Palma. Inquiry as to the sailings, which often vary, should be made on the spot. The Spanish cuisine on board these local boats is not very inviting.
The Canary Islands (Islas Canarias or Afortunadas, i.e. ‘fortunate islands’), the Makáron Nésoi or Insulae Fortunatae of antiquity, in 27° 30′ to 29° 26′ N. lat., and 13° 15′ to 18° 2′ W. long., lie off the coast of Mauretania, the nearest point being Cape Juby (p. [104]). There are in all thirteen islands, forming a Spanish province of a total area of 3305 sq. M., with a population of 364,000. They consist of two groups. The E. group is composed of Lanzarote (rising to 2231 ft. above the sea), Fuerteventura (2789 ft.), and five smaller islands (Alegranza, Graciosa, etc.); to the W. group belong Gran Canaria (6400 ft.), Teneriffe (12,175 ft.; once the meridian used by the Spaniards and the Dutch), Gomera (4366 ft.), Palma (7737 ft.), and Hierro or Ferro (4643 ft.), the meridian used by France since the time of Louis XIII. (1634). Teneriffe, Gran Canaria, and sometimes Palma are the islands usually visited by tourists; the others chiefly attract botanists and geologists.
The Canaries, supposed by some geographers to form part of the submerged continent of Atlantis, and by others to have been outlying spurs of the Atlas of Morocco (p. [93]), have the same geological formation as Madeira (see pp. [17], 18, 19). ‘In Fuerteventura especially there occur masses of slag and lava, thrown up by countless eruptions, superimposed on the diabase formation, which is still visible in many places; and in Teneriffe we find phonolithic and trachytic rocks as well as the basaltic. Grand old craters (calderas) exist in Ferro, Gran Canaria, and most of all in Palma and Teneriffe. The enormous basin of the Cañadas in Teneriffe has been almost entirely filled up with later streams of lava and scoriæ, which have formed a distinct volcanic cone, the great Pico de Teide, 12,175 ft. in height.’ The last considerable eruptions were those of 1677 in Palma, of 1730–36 and 1824 in Lanzarote, and of 1705, 1706, 1796, and 1798 on the N.W. coast of Teneriffe, all of which caused great havoc. On the occasion of the eruption of 1909 in Teneriffe a large lava-stream, accompanied by the emission of vapour and stones from the central crater (see p. [41]), burst forth near the foot of the Chahorra (p. [42]) and advanced in a N.W. direction towards Santiago and El Tanque but came to rest before reaching these villages. There was little damage and no loss of human life. In the W. islands, which like Madeira rise very abruptly from the sea, the effects of erosion in the broad valleys, with their rich soil, as well as in the deep ravines (barrancos) of more recent origin, are specially noticeable.
The climate of the Canaries is remarkable for the striking contrasts prevailing between the E. and the W. groups on the one hand, and between the lower and the higher levels on the other. In the almost treeless islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura (62 M. to the N.W. of Cape Juby) years sometimes elapse without rainfall, while the dreaded tiempo del sur, the hot and extremely dry wind from the Sahara, covers them with dust and sand and often brings swarms of locusts. Even more disastrous for agriculture are the sandy dunes or coast-hills, thrown up by the currents off the African shores, the sand of which is driven inland by violent N. winds. The Gran Canaria, on the other hand, though by no means free from the locust pest, holds an intermediate position in point of climate and scenery between the more continental E. group of islands and the almost wholly oceanic W. group. Owing to the influence of the gulf-stream (p. [18]) and the zone of high air-pressure prevalent in the W. Canaries in winter, the N. coast of Teneriffe and the islands of Gomera and Palma enjoy a remarkably mild and equable winter climate (the mean temperature of winter at Puerto Orotava being 60° Fahr. and the minimum 51°). In the region tempered by the trade-wind clouds, which gather at a height varying from 2300 to 5000 ft. above the sea, even the summer temperature is quite bearable; but on the high mountains, above the cloud-zone, the air is extremely dry, and the burning heat of the day is suddenly followed, as in the tropics, by a severe chill. The rainfall at Santa Cruz de Tenerife averages 12 inches, at Santa Cruz de la Palma 14 in., at Puerto Orotava 17 in., at Laguna 22 inches. The lowest snow-line is about 3300 ft.
The vegetation of the W. islands, the Eldorado of botanists, surpasses that of Madeira in variety, though not in luxuriance; but it is confined to the forest-zone in the region of the trade-wind clouds, and to the low ground irrigated with the aid of these clouds, where the soil consists of disintegrated diabase, tufa, and lava. On the other hand large tracts of land, especially in the Gran Canaria and on the S. and E. coasts of Teneriffe, are entirely destitute of vegetation, even in winter, while in summer the verdure of the cultivated land is often covered with a mantle of grey dust.
The Canary Islands, together with Madeira and the Azores, have been described as a region ‘where the tertiary flora, destroyed in Europe during the glacier epoch, has survived and developed, at least since the pliocene age, in insular solitude’. To the primæval African flora, the same as that of the original ‘diabasic Canaries’, belong in particular the stately Canary pine (Pinus canariensis), several species of laurel, such as the Laurus canariensis, the viñatigo (Persea indica), the aloe, the oleander-leaved Kleinia neriifolia, the cactus-like euphorbias, the balo (Plocama pendula), and the famous dragon-tree (Dracæna Draco). Besides the endemic trees and plants are others of very early origin, the seeds of which were originally brought over from India or America by the gulf-stream. During the Spanish period countless other plants, now cosmopolitan, were imported from America, fruit-trees from Europe, and shrubs from the Mediterranean, which last, favoured by the climate, develop into bushy trees. In the gardens, which are mostly enclosed by high walls, we are struck with the gorgeous wealth of bougainvilleas, gloxinias, poinsettias, bignonias, daturas, walbergias, passifloras, and many other flowers. In the lower and more tropical districts grow, side by side, bananas (plátanos), tomatoes, sugar-cane (caña de azúcar), yams (Span. ñame), tobacco, oranges and lemons, prickly-pear (Opuntia Tuna), coffee-plants, Peruvian pepper-trees (pimenteros), E. Indian bread-fruit, mango and camphor trees, eucalypti, cork-trees, tamarisks (tarajales), araucarias, magnolias, fig-trees, Japanese medlars, palms (about 25 varieties), notably the superb Canary palm (Phœnix canariensis or Jubæ Webb), the date-palm (p. [171]), the royal palm (Oreodoxa regia), and, in Palma, the cocoa-nut palm. The vineyards, yielding the famous Malmsey (p. [19]) and Vidueño wines, rise on the S. side of Teneriffe from the lower land to a height of 4070 ft. above the sea-level. In the upper cultivated regions the chief crops and fruits are wheat, potatoes, lupins, maize, chestnuts, walnuts, and, among other European fruits, peaches. On the rocky sides of the barrancos occur everywhere the aloe, the cactus-like Euphorbia canariensis (Span. cardón), the tabayba (Euphorbia Regis Jubæ), the orchilla lichen (Roccella tinctoria; woad), and Sempervivum (house-leek; some 60 varieties). At the bottom of the barrancos and in the cloud-region we encounter beautiful underwood, composed of evergreen myrtles and laurels, the strawberry-tree (Arbutus canariensis), ericas, stemless ferns, and a few climbing plants. Above the level of the trade-wind clouds we may still meet with the cistus, the Canary pine (up to 7050 ft. above the sea), the white Cytisus proliferus (Span. escobón), and the Adenocarpus frankenoides (Span. codeso), a kind of gorse. The Alpine retama (Spartocytisus supranubius; Span. retama blanca), a kind of broom, the commonest plant in the Cañadas, grows on the Peak up to a height of 10,300 ft.; but a few mosses and lichens alone reach the summit.
The fauna of the Canaries is remarkably poor. The characteristic bird is the canary (Serinus canariensis), which, as in Madeira, is of a greenish-grey colour, while the yellow canaries are imported. Mosquitoes, especially on the E. and S. coasts of the islands, fleas, and flies, including some whose bite is very unpleasant, abound in summer. The more important fish are cod, tunny, and sardines. Chief among domestic animals is the goat. Camels were introduced from the continent in 1405.