Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/86

 CO WEST AFEICA. the forests, partly by tillage and the introduction of new forms directly from Europe. In all the arable tracts the land has felt the influence of the plough to an altitude of 3,250 feet. There can be no doubt that several local species have thus disappeared, while, on the other hand, thousands of exotics have found their way into the archipelago. The two most characteristic and graceful local forms are the orange-blossomed campanula and the gold-tinted Ceterach aureum, and to the Canaries Europe is also indebted for the lovely cineraceae and one of the finest varieties of the chrysanthemum. Notwithstanding their vicinity to Africa, these islands, like Madeira and the Azores, belong to the European vegetable domain. Two-thirds of their plants are European species, and most of the native forms so closely resemble European types that they may have formed part of the continental flora at some previous geological epoch. But in the eastern group, and in the low-lying districts of the other islands up to altitudes of from 1,300 to 2,600 feet, a flora of Libyan aspect cor- responds to an African temperature. Here flourish the fleshy plants, euphorbias of cactus form, and such exotics as palms, nopals, and bananas. In the Yeneguera Yalley, Gran Canaria, taba'ihas or euphorbias, large as fig-trees, form extensive forests. Lower down prevails the thorny and poisonous Euphorbia canariensis ; higher up the Euphorbia balsamifera, with a harmless milky sap. The Draccenus draco, so named from its curious form and blood-red sap, is also characteristic of the African zone. The gigantic specimen of this plant which formerly flourished at Orotava, in Teneriffe, and which, after serving as a temple for the pagan Guanches, was dedicated as a chapel by the Spaniards, no longer exists, having been blown down in a gale. The European zone, characterised chiefly by laurels and by acclimatised trees, such as the oak and chestnut, occupies the middle slopes of the western islands. Above the laurels, which flourish especially in Gomera, follow the zones of the cistus and pine, the latter represented chiefly in Palma, where is also found the Canarian cedar {Juiiiperiis cedrits). The na;tive pine is one of the most remarkable of conifers, presenting characteristics intermediate between those of Europe and the New "World. Elsewhere it occurs only in the fossil state, in the Upper Miocene formations of the Spanish province of Murcia. At an altitude of 6,600 feet on the Peak of Teyde occur several peculiar plants, amongst which dominates the Sparto- qjiisKS nnbi(/enus, which has preserved its Arabic name of rfrm under the Spanish form of retama, and which occurs in no other country. With it are intimately associated at least four animal species also found nowhere else — a snail, a butterfly, a bird {Frinfjilla Teydeana), and a phalene. Fauna. Thanks to the introduction of domestic species and parasites, the Canarian fauna has acquired a European aspect, while in its lower organisms still presenting an original character. Bourguignat has shown that its molluscs constitute a distinct famUy, remotely allied to that of Mauritania, although far more Mediterranean