Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/881

Rh can be obtained from the same piece of ground in a twelve month. Except at Fuerteventura, the vine is much culti vated, but chiefly at Tenerift e, the best wines being produced on the north-west coast. None, however, is considered so good as the wine of Madeira. The most esteemed kind s sent to England under the name of Vidonia. The grape disease made its appearance at the Canaries in 1853, and destroyed nearly the whole crop. Previously the total annual produce was estimated at about 40,000 pipes, of which 25,000 pipes were produced in Teneriffe. Between 8000 and 9000 pipes were exported. The price per pipe on board ranged from 8 to 20. Some of the wine is distilled into good brandy. Sumach, canary-seed, and a little flax are grown. Sweet potatoes, maize, gourds, pump kins, tara (Colocasia antiquorum), lentils, C icer arietinum, beans, kidney beans, and lupines are extensively cultivated for food. From bad management the fruits are generally inferior. They include oranges, figs, bananas, dates, pine apples, pomegranates, papaws, guavas, custard apples, and prickly pears. There are no cocoa-nut trees or bread-fruit trees. A little oil is obtained from the olive in Grand Canary, The agave is abundant, and supplies a material for ropes, girths, &c. The leaves of the date palm are made into hats and baskets. A good deal of orchil-lichen is gathered for exportation ; and the ice-plant is grown in smafl quantity for barilla. The sugar manufacture, once largely carried on, has fallen before the American and West Indian trade ; the only two existing mills are on Pal ma. Wine having been for some time so little remunera tive, other products have received attention, the chief being cochineal. This insect, which feeds on a species of cactus, was introduced in 1825, and is now largely produced on all the islands, land formerly occupied by grain and vines being devoted to its cultivation. In 1873 upwards of 5,728,000 lb, of the total value of 13,894,225 pesetas, or about 555,849, were exported, principally to France and England. The silkworm is reared to a small ex tent, chiefly on Palma. Raw silk is exported, and some is manufactured on the spot into stockings, ribands, (fee. Some linen and woollen stuffs of a coarse kind are made for home consumption, but the great bulk of the clothing in use is of British manufacture. The island goats (a peculiar and esteemed breed) furnish milk, from which butter and cheese are made. Pigs and sheep of a small coarse-woolled breed are numerous. Horses and cattle are scarce ; domestic fowls and rabbits are plentiful. Asses and mules are much used. A fishery on the African coast, which gives employment to many persons, has existed from an early period. The fish, principally bream, is salted and largely consumed at the Canaries. There is a good deal of intercourse by means of boats and small sailing vessels amongst the different islands. In this way wine, raw silk, cochineal, barilla, and dried fruits are taken to the places of export ; and grain is conveyed from those islands where it is abundant to those where the .supply is deficient. The principal foreign trade is with England, the chief articles of export being wine, cochineal, barilla, and orchil. The imports consist of iron, metal goods, glass, crockery, leather, and silk, cotton, and woollen manufactures. There is also a considerable trade with the United States and the countries bordering the Mediter ranean. With Hamburg and France an exchange of commodities takes place. The ships employed in this commerce are foreign, chiefly British ; but the islanders send a few vessels of their own with brandy, coarse earthen ware, and silk goods to the Spanish West Indies, bringing back cigars, sugar, coffee, rum, cocoa (the material of chocolate), and a few other articles. Santa Cruz, Orotava, and Las Palmas are the only ports engaged in foreign trade ; nearly 300 vessels enter these ports in the course of a year. In 1852 the ports were practically made free the small duty of 2s. per cent, only being now levied upon imported goods, with the exception of tobacco, which pays 5d. per lb., and cigara which pay lOd. per lb. Spanish steamers ply between Cadiz and Santa Cruz. The Spanish Government packet on its outward voyage to Havana touches at Santa Cruz once a month ; and the same port is visited by the English mail steamers in their voyages to and from the African coast.

Zoology.—The indigenous mammals and reptiles of the Canary Islands are very few in number. Of the former, only species of dog, of swine, of goat, and of sheep were found upon the island by the Spanish conquerors. The race of large dogs which is supposed to have given a name to Canary has been long extinct. A single skeleton has been found, which is deposited in one of the museums at Paris. The ferret, rabbit, cat, rat, mouse, and two kinds of bat have become naturalized. The ornithology is more inter esting, on account at once of the birds native to the islands and the stragglers from the African coast. The latter are chiefly brought over in winter when the wind has blown for some time from the east. Among the former are some birds of prey, as the African vulture, the falcon, the buzzard, the sparrow-hawk, and the kite. There are also two species of owl, three species of sea-mew, the stockdove, quail, raven, magpie, chaffinch, goldfinch, blackcap, canary bird, titmouse, blackbird, house-swallow, &amp;lt;fec. The bird with the sweetest song is a variety of the blackcap or Sylvia atricapilla. As to the insects, mention may be made of a species of gnat or mosquito which is sometimes trouble some, especially to strangers, and the cockroach. The list of reptiles is limited to three lizards and a frog. The only fresh-water fish is the eel. The marine fishes are not numerous, the reason perhaps being that the steepness of the coast does not allow seaweed to grow in sufficient quantity to support the lower forms of marine animal life. Whales and seals are occasionally seen. The cuttle-fish is abundant, and is sought for as an article of food.

Botany.—The position of mountainous islands like the Canaries, in the sub-tropical division of the temperate zone, is highly favourable to the development, within a small space, of plants characteristic of both warm and cold climates. Von Buch refers to five regions of vegetation in Teneriffe : 1. From the sea to the height of 1300 feet. This he styles the African region. The climate in the hottest parts is similar to that of Egypt and southern Barbary. Here grow, among the introduced plants, the coffee-tree, the date-palm, the sugar-cane, the banana, the orange tree, the American agave, and two species of cactus ; and among indigenous plants, the dragon tree on the north-west of Teneriffe. A leafless and fantastic euphorbia, E. canariensis, and a shrubby composite plant, C acalia Kleinia, give a character to the landscape about Santa Cruz. 2. Between 1300 feet and 2800 feet. This is the region of South European vegetation, the climate answering to that of southern France and central Italy. Here flourish the vine and the cereals. 3. The region of indigenous trees, including various species of laurel, an Ardisia, Ilex, lihamnus, Olea, Myrica, and other trees found wild also at Madeira. The clouds rest on this region during the day, and by their humidity support a vegetation amongst the trees, partly of shrubs, and partly of ferns. It extends to the height of 4000 feet. 4. The region of the beautiful Pinus canariensis, extending to the height of G400 feet ; here the broad-leaved trees have ceased to grow, but arborescent heaths are found throughout its whole extent, and specimens of Junipenis oxyccdrus may be met with. 5. The region of lletama (Cytisus nubigemis),& species of white-flowering and sweet-scented broom, which is found as high as 11,000 feet. At *he upper edge of this region a lilac-coloured 