The book of Tenerife : guide

              T£ N£ ÑiF&
LUIS DIEGO CUSCOY
PEDER C. LARSEN
LAND AND MATERNITY
A FRAGMENT OF THE MURALS
OF JOSÉ AOUIAR, FOR THE
DECORATION OF THE CHAMBER
OF THE ISLAND COUNCIL
( ExcMO. CABILDO) OF TENERIFE.
PHOTOCOLOUR A. ROMERO
THE BOOK OF TENERIFE
CAN BE OBTAINED IN
ALL THE BOOKSHOPS,
AND IN THE PRINCIPAL
TRAVEL AGENCIES AND
HOTELS IN THE CANARY
ISLANDS
ORDERS RECEIVED IN
EDICIONES IZAÑA
APARTADO, 3 66
SANTA CRUZ, TENERIFE
LITHO. A. HOMERO S". A. TFE.
THE BOOK OF
TENERIFE
MICHAEL ARCHANGELE
lUIS DIEGO CUSCOy ani PEDIR C. URSEN
THE BOOK OF TENERIFE
( GUIDE)
BY
LUIS DIEGO CUSCOY
WITH THE COLUBORATION OF
PEDER C. LARSEN
IRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY
ERIC L. FOX
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE
1966
THIRD EDITION
Copyright.
Deposif < Jufy made j
required by Law.
PUBUSHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OFTHE
INSTITUTO DE ESTUDIOS CANARIOS
DEPOSITO LEGAL T F. 124- 1062
Total or partial reprodaction oí the text, plans, maps or ilustrations oí this
work is pfohibited, unless previously authorised by EDICIONES ÍZñÑR.
PRINTED IN SPAIN
Litografía ñ. Romero, S. R., Sania Cruz de Teneri/ e ( Canary Islands).
THE ARMORIAL ENSIONS OF THE MOST NOBLE
LOYAL AND INVINCIBLE CITY OF SANTA CRUZ
DE SANTIAGO ORANTED BV CARLOS IV IN 1803
An oval escutcheon Or in front of a Sword of the
Order of Santiago Gules a Passion Cross Vert in base
there Lions Heads couped Sable two and one that in base
impaled on the point of the sword on a Bordure af Waves
of the Sea proper in the Chief Point a pyramidal shaped
Island also proper in the Base Point a Castle of two
towers also Or and on either side two Towers also Or
between two fouled Anchors Argent.
The escutcheon is ensigned with a Royal Spanish
Crown, and dependant below the base of the escutcheon
is the Grand Cross of Beneficence ( Administrative).
Sketches and viánetfes by Juan Davó.
PREFACE TO THE SPANISH EDITION
' í'^ f^ SiQ ^^ Srówiná ¡ nterest shov/ n by íravelíers, students and tourísts in the
^ island oí Tenerife, has prompted us fo publish this book. Our intention
y^ is to inform readers ahout the natural conditions and the human and
if\ Í other aspects oí this reíatively smaíí ñtíantic island, in a simple and
^• i ¿ direct manner. It is not always easy for the general reader ío acqíiíre
\ i a comprehensive knowled ¿ B oí Tenerife, since much of fhis fnformafión
% is only to be íound in publications díííicult oí access.
Tiiis book aspires to be biit a simple introduction to the varíed ffiemes on
Tenerife, rather than a proíound expositíon, and it is intended primariíy ío draw aften-fion
fo fíie naíura/ fceauffes and varied fandscapes of ffie island, to its history and to
the extraordinary human eííorts and achíevements throughout a long struggle with
harsh natural elements.
it is wriffen more especially íor seríous readers with a view to stímulating the
interest of visitors and to enable them more easily to appreciate on fíie spot, fhe nafu-ral,
historical and cultural characteristics oí the island. The simple descriptjons can
Become ííving reaíiíies for ínferested visitors to Tenerife.
Ñn attempt has been made to present to the reader a new and accessíble expo-sition
oí the island, although we admit that this has not been an easy fasíí. For fhe
fffst fime, the aesfhefic nature of fhe ferrain has been described, as wetl as the
problems oí its human géography, by an investigation oí the reasons íor human
groupings in town and village communities.
The mosf reíiable sources of informafion have been nofed and a relevanf bibiio-graphy
is included, by reíerence to which a íuller knpwledge oí the subjects dealt with
in this book can be ohtained.
IVe ackxiowledge to have receíved vaíuabíe assistance and advice in fhe prepara-fion
of this book. IVe express our gratitude to Doctor Elias Serra Ráíols and to
Doctor Leopoldo de la Rosa Olivera, íor their revisión oí the text, and to the Labora­torio
de Ñrte oí the University oí La Laguna, for placing their archives at our
disposal, in the reíerence to which we veré given very valuable assistance by don
Miguel Tarquis. lUe express our gratitude also to the Museum and Library oí Santa
Cruz de Tenerife, for faciÜfafing useíul informafion. flfso ío those entifies — Instituto
de Estudios Canarios and instituto de Estudios Hispánicos— and Ayuntamientos
( Municipal Councils), for so generously and spontaneously íurnishing us with data oí
great vafue in the preparation oí this work.
fínd lastly, we express our grafifude fo the Excmo. Cabildo insular de Tenerife
and the Provincial and Insular Tourist authorities, íor the íacilities tbeyhave provided
for the better completion oí this book,
Simultaneou^ ly with the edition in Spanisíi, editions iñ Engüsh, Danish and
Finnish are being published, iñ the preparation oí which we have received valuable
belp from notable Hispanófilos oí those countries. IVe regard fhe publication oí these
latter editions as a duty rather than as a courtesy, in our desire to bring the contents
oí this book to the notice oí the ever- growing numbers oí visitors from countries in
Northern Europe, who show such an interest in this island.
Luis DiEoo CuscoY PEDER C. LAESEN
PREFACE TO THE EDITION IN ENGLISH
There is nothing we would wish to add to whatis
said in the preíace to the Edition in Spanish, about the
motives which fiave prompfed us ío write fhis book-
Our desire is to make THE BOOK OF TENERIFE
available to English speaking readers and particularly
to those who have long shown a great appreciation of
the scenery and climate oí the island. The transíation
into English has been made by Mr. Eric Lionel Fox,
whose recognised competency and long association
with the island have been vevy íavourable factors in
the preparation of this EngUsh edition.
¡ Ue express our gratitude fot his cooperation,
and we can say that he has not oníy made a good
transíation of the text, but, what is more important,
he has also captured thespirit of our book.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 3rd. October, 1957.
LUIS DIEGO CUSCOY PEDER C. LARSEN
Nivaria se llamaba por la nieve
que suele platear la cumbre altísima
del sacro monte Teide, excelso Atlante;
y por la misma causa el nombre digno
de Tenerife entonces le pusieron,
que Tener, en su lengua significa
blanca nieve, y quiere decir He
monte alto, y así por el gran Teide
se llama Tenerife la Nivaria,
que es lo mismo que el moníe de Ja nieve.
( ANTONIO DE VIANA, flníiáüedades délas
Islas ñiorlünadas, Poema, Canto I)
Nivaria, so named because of the snow that often sitvers
the lofty summit of the sacred Mount Teide, sublime Atlante,
and, for the same reason also called Tenerife, as Tener in
theirtongue means white snow, and / fe, high mountains; and
so, named after the great Teide, it is called Tenerife la Nivaria,
which signifies the snow- clad mountain.
I. «
ISLAND
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1— Myths
Mystery appears to have surrounded
the latitudes of the Canary Islands since the
most remote tinaes. The prelude to their
history was sung in mythological orchestra-tion.
Júpiter sent Menelaus to the Elysían
Fields, where the air was always puré and
refreshed by ocean breezes. That land, says
Homer, existed on the edge of the world,
where winters never carne.
According to Herodotus, the world en-ded
in the Garden of Hesperides, where the
cone shaped mountain of Ñtlas supported
the sky. There the sea was not navigable, and
the daughters of Atlas and Véspero guarded
the golden apples. Hercules fought with the
dragón Ladon, took possession of the apples
and offered them to Minerva.
Plato, in the « Timaeus » and, « Critias » ,
speaks of the Atlantis, submerged « in a single
day and on or. e fatal night » . On sinking, all
life on that continent disappeared, leaving
only a sea of mire in which shoals emerged,
presenting grave dangers to seafarers.
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Mythological breezes fíll the sails of the
first ships to cross beyond the Pillars of Her­cules.
References to the Fortúnate Isles were
heard from the lips of daring sailors. When
Plutarch relates the life of Sertorius, he men-tions
the discovery, told by an Andalusian
navigator, of far away lands; Islands off the
African coast, caressed by soft winds, gentle
rains and fresh dews. The land is fertile. The
seasons, so equable that they appear to be
justone. Rainscomingin from thesea, provide
the humidity that maintains a fresh and exu-berant
vegetation. To the seafarer, speaking
to Sertorius, those islands were veritably the
Elysian Fields described by Homer.
In this dramatic way the Canary Islands
carne to be known by the Oíd World. They
are the Islands of myths, situated at the end
of the world, caressed by fresh winds, mois-tened
by light rains and dew, and when
Ñtlantis sank ínto the ocean, they remained
as a testimony to its existence, presenting
dangerous reefs believed to make the passing
of ships impossible. An ancient poet speaks
of damsels guarding golden apples, and of
early mariners relating wonders about those
favoured lands.
And thus the Islands history begins.
2.— Volcanism and Geology
Then the Islands take shape.
The history of these lands is embedded
in beautiful myths and legends, Their life
sprang from a happy but mysterious past,
like all births in nature. Another mystery is
their origin as islands. It might be said that
they were the daughters of a love- match
between the Sea and Fire. The Canary Islands
Archipelago may have been formed by sub-marine
craters, successively rising through
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the ages in new eruptions. It is known that
the Islands are not ancient and that their
geological history begins in relatively recent
times, perhaps in the Tertiary Period. This
Period is considered the most probable for
the emergence of the Canaries, as a conse-quence
of the decompression and crumbling
down of the western boundaries of the
Atlantis mountain range. Since then, the
islands have been shaped by constant volca-nic
action.
In spite of their proximity to África,
they do not belong geologically to that con-tinent.
There is no identification between
these two regíons, but the fossil remains of
land turtles, lizards and giant rats found in
the islands, point to the unity of the Canary
Islands with other lands. Later theories sug-gest
that the Canaries rest on a continental
plañe.
It has still to be discovered whether the
Archipelago formed part of the legendary
Tertiary Continent. Scientists are not yet
agreed on this question, and, to explain
satistactorily the origin of the Islands, several
theories have been advanced, from the
remote tradition of the Lost fltlantis, down
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to drifting continental blocks; submerged
intercontinental bridges, and eruptingcraters.
But, in fact, the nnystery remains.
Tenerife, being an island in the Canary
Archipelago, shares the same geological
history, and it is marked by innumerable
evidences of volcanism. The trails of volca-noes
have been particularly profound in
Tenerife, even up to recent times.
Although no data is available about its
earlier history, something is known of vol-canic
eruptions seen by ancient mariners,
to which can be added the following historie
testimonies:
1,393 references made by Basque and An-dalusian
sailors during the reign of
Henry III.
1,430 eruptions in the Valley of La Orotava,
referred to by Ca da Mosto.
references in the Log book of Colum-bus.
Volcano of « Siete Fuentes » .
Volcano of Fasnia.
Llano de los Infantes.
Eruption of « Dos Roques » ( Güímar).
Volcano of Garachico.
1,798 Eruption of Chaborra ( Pico Viejo).
1,909 Chinyero ( in the South of the island).
The Northeast and Northwest vértices
of the triangle that forms Tenerife, that is to
say, Punta de Anaga and Punta de Teño,
respectively, are considered to be the origi­nal
nuclei of the island, or rather of two
islands, whose intervening space was since
filled up by successive eruptions. In this
way the geological fornaation of the islands
has been sustained and renewed by their
own volcanic activity, since, in their forma-tion,
the lava flows have enlarged the islands,
and are still enlarging and renewing their
soil.
This powerful constructivo energy more
than outweighs the destructive forces of
natura to which the islands are subjected.
The action of vvinds and waves, erosión caú-sed
by torrential rains, — very destructive
because of the steep gradients in theisland—,
fissures, coastal movements and natural
chemical decomposition, cause losses which
the volcanoes generously replace. So, in
Tenerife, every type of lava is represented;
puzzolana, basalt, phonolite, obsidían..., and
the landscape, described lateron, is simply
a revelation ot the work of the modelating
agents referred to, and, in many cases, the
colour of the soil is a testimony of the dif-ferent
eruptions; blue, red, white, black,
yellow...
Tenerife has an age- old experience of
volcanoes. Its intimacy with fire has conti-nued
as long as its dialogue with the sea.
Its growth is to be found in sunken cupolas,
in fractured mountains and new elevations,
in black rocks carried by lava streams rea-ching
the sea and changing the coastal con-
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figuration, in promontories, and mounds
piled stratum upon stratum over the lava
beds, red and black; in the crevices of obsi-dian
rock, in the layers of tufa and in basal-tic
dikes. And if all this were not enough,
the presence of the Peak of Teide is a cons-tant
reminder that the island of Tenerife
was built up as a foundation and base for
the emergence of the volcano.
The Peak of Teide rises approximately
in the centre of an oíd gigantic cráter, 12
kilometres in diameter and 75 kilometres in
circunnference. This cráter is called Las Ca­ñadas.
« The Atlante — wrote Herodotus— is
lofty and cone shaped. It is said to be so
high that it is impossible to see its summit,
which is always covered in cloud. It is called
the column of the sky » . From olden times,
the fame of the Teide, so like the fítlante,
has existed, like that of the Canary Archipe-lago,
through many mysterious legendary
allusions.
But although geologists have endea-voured
to find the truth, their opinions are
divided. Some believe that the cráter from
which the Teide rises was caused by a great
explosión; others believe that it was caused
by a depression of gigantic proportions.
Those who support the latter theory, base
their beliefs on the structure of the high cliffs
enclosing the cráter and on the materials
heaped about its borders. According to this
theory, the terrain now occupied by Las
Cañadas was once a huge solid mountain,
perhaps higher síill than the present Peak,
which due to some cataclysm was split in
halves and then submerged, first on its eas-tern
side and then the western. Thesé two
deprtessions are visible in the part called
Roques de los Azulejos, which, being on óné
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of the tourist routes throuáh Las Cañadas,
provides an opportunity for the visitor to
contémplate this awe- inspiring scene and to
draw his own conclusions. ( See Chapter IV-Routes,
III, a) b).
The Peak of Teide is ene of the nnost
beautiful naountains existing. It is surrounded
by mountains of pumice- stone and massive
cleft rocks. Its history is a small cosmogony,
related silently by itself, and by the high
sunnmits on its flanks. Whilst Las Cañadas
sank, the Peak of Teide rose. It emerged,
like the rest of the Island of which it is the
pinnacle and culmination, through the action
of earthquakes, fire, smoke and cíouds of
sand. High winds about its summit must have
smoothed its formation into its present shape
of á solitary breast Like a soldier, on its
south eastern flank, stands the volcano of
Pico Viejo or Chaborra ( 3,105 m.), rising
from masses of phonolite lava. The Peak of
Teide, reaching a height of 3,718 m. above
sea level, is the highest summit in Spanish
territory. Around it are summits grahd in
their soHtude, and of impressive beauty,
forming an upright border to Las Cañadas:
El Cabezón ( 2,165 m.), La Fortaleza ( 2,139m.),
El Sombrero de Chasna ( 2,400 m.), El Topo
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de la Grieta ( 2,582), Guajara ( 2,796), etc. The
last named is the third highest point on the
Island, surpassed only by the Peak of Teide
and Chahorra.
The beautiiul contour of the Teide
amazed the seafarers of Antiquity: « In the
ocean there is a mountain called Atlante,
cone- shaped , and of such a height that its
surnmit cannot be clearly seen » . It is the
same that Pomponio Mela placed in the
Islands of the Hesperides, and which later,
seafarers in the Middle Ages envisagedi
rising from the Mar Tenebroso. j
The Peak of Teide, besides being al
powerful volcanic synthesis, is a perfecta
formation crowning and completing the^
Island's contour. But it is also a silhouette|
visible from a distante of many miles. Enve- a
loped always in reverberating vapours, from |
the sea it simulates a delicate illusion, a|
smooth water colour painted on the sky, and |
for travellers the sight of it announces the |
proximity of hospitable land. |
Few people know that this majestic |
mountain is frequented in its heights only |
by pne species of bird, accompanied by only í
one kind of flower. The bird is called « Bird e
of the Teide » ( Fringilla Tedea); the flower is
known as the « Violet of the Teide » ( Viola
cheiranthifolia). The violet is coioured a light
blue, which is the colour of the Teide in the
evenings. The bird is grey, in earthy tones,
as if made of stone. No other bird, except
this one, feels attracted to those heights
where the fumaroles smoulder and the wind
beats violently. No other flora reaches the
heights of the Teide, but this solitary violet.
A single bird sings and a single flower
clings to the eruptions
Teide's breast.
The Island is born.
mouldering on the
3.— Flora and vegetation. Fauna
If Tenerife serves as an exainple to
¡ Ilústrate the geológica! history of the other
Islands in the Archipelago, it also serves
similarly to ¡ Ilústrate theír flora and vegeta­tion.
Because. of its altitudes, ene finds in
Tenerife all the types of vegetation of the
Islands, from the characteristic and dominant
types found in the low lying Islands, like
Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, through those
existing in the Islands of médium altitudes,
like La Gomera and El Hierro, and those
characteristic of the high crests of Gran Ca­naria
and La Palma. However, in the last
two Islands named, those species proper to
the surroundings of the Peak of Teide are
not to be found.
If one contemplates a map of Tenerife
and draws a line from the North to the
South, from San Juan de la Rambla to Vila-flor
and from there prolongs it to the south-ern
coast, one observes that ascending
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from the North from sea level, one reaches
the máximum altitude of the Island, since
the line drawn passes over the cráter of the
Teide, from which point one descends
towards the southern coast. Following the
Hne described, one crosses through all the
vegetation covering the slopes and mountains
of Tenerife. ( L. Ceballos y F. Ortuño). We
find, from the North to the South, two zones
of xerophilous vegetation, dominated by
tabaibas ( Euqhorbia balsamifera), cardones,
( Euphorbia canarieusis), matorral leñoso de
aulagas ( Launaea spinosa), balo ( Plocama
péndula), verodes ( Kleinia neriifolia) and a
región of purpúranos, cosco and barrilla
( Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum and M.
cristallimum). On the North, the región of
vegetation scarcely reaches an altitude of
500 m., whilst on the South of the island, ve­getation
reaches, and in some places even
exceeds an altitude of 900 m. Ascending the
Northern slope we find, above the región of
xerophilous vegetation, another región of
trees and bushes, calied Laurisilva, amongst
which is seen the fayal- brezal. At first the
laurel ( Laurus canariensis) dominates, toge-ther
with the viñatigo ( Persea indica), the
mocan ( Visnea mocanera), the til ( Ocotea
foetens), the barbusano ( Apolonia canarien­sis),
the acebiño ( Ilex canariensis) and other
species. The región of the fayal- brezal is
dominated by the faya ( Miryca faya) and the
brezo ( Erica arbórea). On the southern
slopes the last two regions of vegetation do
not appear since they are not reached by
the moist winds or cloud formations which
foster this vegetation, known locally as
monteverde ( Evergreen Hills).
' Pine forests begín, on the southern
slopes, above the zone of xerophilous vege-
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tation, that is to say, above the 900 m. level,
whilst on the North, pine forests begin at
1,000 m. Pine trees grow up to an altitude of
2,000 m. in the South, and up to higher than
2,200 m. on the nortihern slopes.
Cultivated zones do not reach higher
than the fayal- brezal región, on the North,
whilst on the South they reach between the
pine trees, where some land is cultivated as
high up as 1,500 m. The cultivated regions
are very important and, owing to the different
altitudesand climatic characteristics existing,
cultivation is diveísified. The different regions
under cultivation rise from those dedicated
to tropical crops to those characteristic of
the higher zones: bananas, tomatoes, maize,
grape- vines, cereals, potatoes. Palm trees
grow near the coast Fruit trees and chestnut
trees reach the higher zones of cultivation,
up to the limits of the forest regions.
The Canary Pine tree ( Pinus canarien-sis),
ís a robust and beautiful specimen.
Work on reafforestation is intense on the
high nríountain slopes, forming a beH of
forest some 500 m. in depth, between the
altitudes of 1,330 and 1,850 m. of typical
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Pinus canariensis, as well as of imported
Pines ( P. insignis and P. pinaster).
Near the pines, and sometimesamongst
them, one finds the escobón ( Cytisus proli-ferus),
a luxuriant shrub covered in Spring-time
with white flowers, which liven the
austerity of the mountainsides precisely
below the spaces where the pine forests
thin out.
Above, one finds the vegetation of
leguminous plants proper to higher mountain
altitudes, prominent amongst which are the
retama ( Spartocytisus - nubigenus) and the
codeso ( Adenocarpus viscosus). Thanks to
these plants, the desolation oMava streams,
the rugged crests and glens around the Peak
of Teide become more amiable and the
whiteness and fragrance of the retamas in
flower sweeten the air in the high Spring.
Finally, wild alheli and marguerites offer a
deiicate note of colour amongst the riot of
black stones and yellow sands.
Retamas and codesos scale laboriously
the high slopes of the Teide, but do not pass
an altitude of 2,800 m. At that height, the
single flower, « violet of the Teide » , begins
to appear amongst the white pumice stone
mountains and up to the very mouths of the
fumaroles. With this small plant, the complex
distribution of vegetation in the Island ends.
If the variety, in which are representad both
tropical species and flora proper to high
altitudes, is in itself attractive, it is not less
so by its regional distribution. And in this
respect few places in the world offer such a
diversity of plant life, in such a limited space,
than dees the Island of Tenerife.
. A tree which has always aroused the
greatest interest, is the Dragón Tree ( Dra-caena
draco), a survivor of the Tertiary flora.
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Its sap which when dry is red, like coagula-ted
blood, — « dragón blood » , it is called—
has been exploited comercially from ancient
times, even bein ¿ used by Román damas as
a beauty product. Dante spoke of a tree
which dripped blood. In the early Middle
Ages it was considered to be efficacious as
a cure for leprosy. It has been used in the
composition of many medicinal formulae.
The tree is robust, with a plump fleshy ap-pearance.
Its trunk and branches are some-what
like muscular limbs. Its leaves are long,
and pointed like swords. Its foliage is rounded
and symmetrically perfect, and the tree
decorates the landscape strangely. In reality
it is a tree which suggests thé vegetation of
landscapes of remote periods, long disap-peared.
These trees live in coastal regions, at
times in inaccesible spots, clinging heroica-
Ily to rocks. There are groups of dragón trees
in the Northeast of the Island, — Anaga
point— and isolated trees in places not far
from the coast at El Sauzal, La Matanza, La
Victoria and other low points on the North
of the Island, and on the West, like the Valley
of Masca.
A famous specimen, no longer existing, j
grew in the Valley of Orotava, but two other |
magnificent trees remain, one in Icod de los I
Vinos, { milenario, it is called), and another |
in the Gardens of the Seminary in La Laguna. ^
It is not possible to deal in further detall §
with the indigenous flora, but it may be of |
interestto pointoutsomeintriguingproblems |
which its existence has created. |
It has already been said that mystery |
enshrouded the early life of the Archipelago. f
Its origin, and that of the vegetation that |
covers and decorates the landscapes of the i
Islands, are mysterious. Pitard and Praust, f
students of Canary Islands' flora, wrote « This |
very curious vegetation, surprisingly found i
on the flanks of Canary rocks, represents ®
the last vestiges of a colossal flora once
extended over an immense área which has
been gradually reduced to the small exam-ples
on these basaltic cliffs. They are not
recent arrivals but are definitely archaic
types which proclaim their. antiquity of
origin by their size, their unusual inflores-cences
and their corollas cut from ancient
patterns, with sweet or acid perfumes. This
vegetation is the same as that which extended
in Pliocene times over the French hills of
laurels and laurestine, and now only exists
in the Canaries » .
L
The flora of the Islands is, as is seen,
a valuable relie of a flora which has disap-peared
entirely in other latitudes, but which
has been sustained in the Islands because
of the climatic characteristics and the per-manence
of conditions, also extinct in the
regions where such flora grew in remote
epochs. This being so, an earlier contact
with zones of the Mediterranean must be
assumed, where the greater part of the Ca-nary
Islands flora originated: that contact
« must have existed at least up to the end of
the Tertiary Period, because many of the
species regarded as indigenous of the Caña­rles
have been found fossilized on Medite­rranean
shores in earth stratas of the Miocene
and Pliocene períods » .
Once more it can be said, and not in
vain, that the Canaries are « Islands of Mys-tery
» . Their vegetation and flora which define
botanically the Islands, guard the secret,
perhaps never to be revealed, of their origin.
In wonder one asks: How did this flora come
to the Islands? What paths and what agents
made their coming possible?
It is presumed that in the Miocene a
unión must have existed between the
present Archipelago and other continental
lands. This theory presupposes tfie existence
of intercontinental planes, because it is very
unlikely that the vegetation could have been
propagated by such natural agents as birds,
ocean currents, winds, etc. Against this
argument, advanced only in order to solve
this inexplicable problem, is the fact, ap-parently
proved geologically, that such in­tercontinental
planes do not exist. That
means that the biologists try to justify their
hypothesis on a thesis not accepted by geo-logists.
« The geologists leave us with an
Archipelago of recent formation but without
vegetation. All remains a mystery » .
And a visitor passing through the
strange vegetation of the Island of Tenerife,
discovers on the far horizon the surprising
silhouette of a dragón tree, like an apparition
from other epochs, looking something like a
powerful animal with many limbs. And on
the coasts, where the sun beats strongly, in
gentle air and dry earth, he finds the tabaiba,
a plant of grey foliag'e and red lustrous stalks.
And on the rugged cliffs falling vertically to
the sea, facing the salt sea breeze, the « ever-lasting
» plant ( Statice spectabilis) flourishes,
with its leaves fíat against the rock and with
a delicately violet coloured flower. And
amongst the rocky crests around the volcano,
the Serrátula canariensis grows, a species
of which few plants remain. These and other
plants belong to the Tertiary Period, which
by a new mystery of climate and soil have
survived over the ages, far away from the
glacial upheavals.
For this reason, great care must be had
in the Islands not to modify the soil where
29
0
these plants grow, because only such modi-fications
of soil and of climate, that is to say,
changes in the propitious médium in which
that vegetation flourishes, can cause its total
extinction. And this care must be taken,
above all, in the forests, where the most
beautiful association in vegetation exists,
which, according to botanists. represents a
unique class. Both from the point of view of
systemization and ecologically, these forests
are very true reproductions of the flora which
existed over the South of France, in the
Miocene and Pliocene periods.
A miraculous vegetation that we can
see growing, fresh and in full foliage, of which
only vestiges and fossils remain in other
parts.
In the fauna also, strange survivals are
apparent, as in the case of the giant lizard
which lives in the Roque de Anaga and also
• n the Roques de Salmor, in the Island of
Hierro. But amongst the animal fossils, are
found the remains of land tortoises and rats,
also of large size; which lived in the Island
before man appeared there.
For the rest, the fauna of the Canary
Islands is not numerous, although interesting.
No wild nor harmful animáis exist. Apart
from domestic animáis, in thecountrysides
one finds only amall rodents and reptiles,
like the lizard, bul there are río snakes. The
air is enlivened by the song of wild canary
birds, of the capirote ( Silvia atricapilla), the
lark of the Island. The shrill notes of the
owl are heard in the forests, and there are
abundant ring- doves in the médium zones;
in the ravines and crevices the falcon and
sparrow- hawk abound and . in the rugged
crests the small Canary eagle, the shearwater ,
and the seagull congrégate. On the sea '
shores there arethethick- kneeandnumerous
passing birds like the bee- eater. There are
widgeons, quails and partridges, linnets,
wagtails, swallows, swifts, hoopoes, with
beautiful plumage. An inccessant revelry of
birds, between the land and sky.
From the point of view of the entomo-logist,
Tenerife offers a vast scope to inves-tigators.
And to cióse this chapter on the flora
and fauna, and not to forget the geological
history of the Island, let us cast back a
thought to the bird and the flower living near
the volcano, and as everything presents itself
as a wonder in the midst of so much mystery,
let US wonder why that delicate flower and
that fragile bird sought their homes in such
an altitude.
4.— Climate
The Canary Islands have been described
as the land of eternal springtime. This
assertion, which has become a useful slogan
when referring to the Islands, is in fact true.
But it is not so usual to hear the explanations
of thfe natural causes of such benign climatic
conditions. This springtime is sensed in the
classic references to fertile and crass lands,
humid winds from the ocean, beneficial rains
and refreshing dews. This is so, in fact, and
it is the more remarkable because the Ca-nary
Islands are situated in the latitudes of
the great deserts and very cióse to the Sahara
desert ( 115 kms. from Fuerteventura to Cabo
Juby).
Only by the association of a series of
favourable factors is it possible that islands
which should be desert lands, display, as
has been seen in references already made
to Tenerife, such a diverse vegetation. It will
be seen later that this vegetation includes
some special and very delicate crops.
Once more the Island of Tenerife serves
as an example to explain the determining
factors of the climate of the Canaries: it is
not only the largest island in the Archipelago,
but it is the highest and possesses a very
complex topography.
Following Ceballos and Ortuño, Bravo
and others, who have made natural studies
of Tenerife, the general factors of latitude
and situation have determined its climate;
the local factors being altitude and exposition.
31
^^-
The Cañarles are set in the zone of the
trade winds, sea winds of great regularity
comíng from the Northeast. The elevation
of islands Hke Tenerife serves as a separation
between the mountainsides open to those
winds and the sides sheltered from them.
The sheltered sides looking towards the
Áfrican continent are open to hotter winds
whilst at the same time they are deprived
of humidity.
The central mountain range in Teneri­fe,
from the directfon NE- SE separates the^
two slopes on the Island, for which reason|
the vegetation, landscape, economy and|
way of life are affected by the presence orí
the absence of those ^ beneficial winds. Thej
whole coastal región on the North of Tene-¡
rife, open to the trade winds, enjoys a veryg
stable and benign climate, whilst the other=
side of the Island is hot and dry. |
However, it must not be thought thatf
Tenerife has only one climate; the generall
factors of latitude and situation are frequent |
ly modified by the local factors of altitudef
and position. The relief of the Island occa-|
sions different types of climate, and the samef
relief, because of the local factors, determines |
the different levéis of vegetation which we|
have seen to cover both sides of the Island. s
For this reason it is more appropriate to
speak of microclimates than of a uniform
climate covering the whole Island área.
Three types of climate can be consider­ad:
the lower zone, hot and dry, which on
the North side stretches from the coast up
to an altitude of 500- 600 m., and on the South
reaches up to 1,000 m. The average annual
temperature of this zone is about 20.° C.
with- an oscillation of 8.°. The intermediary
zone, or the zone of clouds, exists only on
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the Northern slopes, and in some parís of
the East and Southeast of the Island. This
is a consequence of the action of the trade
winds, and is situated in a belt running from
600 to 1,500 m. Sunshine is attenuated in
this zona, the atmosphere is fresh and moist
and the landscape is intensely green. The
average temperature is about 16.° C. The
third climatic zone corresponds to the high
lands, from 1,500 m. to 3,716, that is to say,
up to the summit of the Teide. Its ctimate is
continental and dry, with temperatures in
winter lower than 0.° C. whilst the average
annual temperature is about 9.° C. Snow
falls every year, and it is possible to practise
winter sports there. This is the explanation
why, at the same time, one can enjoy life
on the sea beaches or winter sports on the
heights.
On the Peak of Teide the counter trade
winds dominate, separated from the trade
winds at an altitude of approximately 1,500
ni. These winds blow, as their ñame implies,
from the opposite direction from those
which originate them. The mediu- m zones
9re affected by fresh and humid winds whilst
\
33
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S
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m
34
in the lower zones the winds are hotter and
drier.
On some days in the year there are
winds from the South or Levant, reaching
the islands from África: those are called the
Sahara harmatán, which whilst scorching
vegetation and drying up the soil, fill the
atmosphere with an impalpable dust, brought
with it. The great sand storms of the desert
sometimes reach the Islands and occasional-ly
cause also the arrival of dangerous and
devastating plagues of locusts. However, the
consequences of these visitations are of
short duration since the insect does not
breed in the islands.
Another factor which softens the climate
of the islands is the sea current of the Ca-naries.
« To the North and to the South of
the hydrological thresholds of the Equator,
there are two sea currents styled Equatorial
currents, which run from East to V/ est and
appear to obey the forcé of the rotation of
the Earth. The current from the North is
known as the Canaries current; both currents
transport water of great salinity from the
coast of África towards the American coast.
The source of the current of the Canaries is
near Mogador, where the waters of the
35
Moroccan continental plañe, expelled by the
waters proceeding from the high seas, drift
towards the South in the direction of the
Canary Archipelago. These waters are endo­sad,
to the North and to the South, within
two transgressive axies. This double move-ment
torces the current towards the open
sea in the direction Southeast, producing the
cold current of the Canaries » ( E. Le Danois).
At the same time this current produces a
barrier of cold air between the Canary Is-lands
and the African continent. On its flow
to the North, the Gulf Stream becomes gra-dually
colder, and for that reason, aiso, these
fresher waters descending on the Canaries
give the Islands a benign Springtime atmos-phere
of their own, which they would not
possess without the influence of that current.
The temperature of these waters is
some 18.° to 20.° C. in summer and some
15.° to 17.° C. in winter. In this way the influx
of the Ocean modifies not only the tempe­rature
proper to the latitude, but if it were
not for the trade winds and the current of
the Canaries, the Islands, so cióse to the
African desert, would particípate in the
extreme climate of Sahara.
36
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JS
J2
LE
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5
US
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é
On establishing a relation between the
dominant climates in Tenerife and the dif:
ferent levéis of vegetation — the same will
be remarked upon later from the point of
view of human life— we see that the xero-phites
( plants which need little water) co-rrespond
to the lower zones, dominating
the coastal belt of Tenerife and to other
coasts on the North and South of the Island.
The médium zone or that of clouds,
which receives the influx of the trade winds
H! has a humid and fresh climate, and there- g
fore little sunshine, and provides the condi-|
tions for the monteverde ( evergreen hills),|
the typical forest zones of Tenerife, and ofi
the other islands of médium heights. For|
this reason, the South zone, which does notl
receive the benefits of the fresh winds|
— intercepted by the high intervening moun-|
tains— has no such forests of laurisilva and|
fayal- brezal. 1
Approximately in the path of the trade|
winds the forests of Canary pines reach|
their greatest maturity, both on the North^
and South slopes. The highest zone, conti- i
nental and dry, shelters that interesting!
association of leguminous vegetation of the|
high mountains, amongst which retama of|
the Teide stands out, a plant with grey bran- §
ches which relieves the lifeless appearance
of those lunar landscapes, and makes the
lava streams more pleasant and the yellow
volcanic sands look less desoíate.
The intention in this shart analysis of
the dominant climates in Tenerife and the
factors which produce them, is to draw the
attention of visitors to this Island to pheno-mena
which necessarily must surprise them.
These are the influx of unfailing and benefi-cial
winds, the presence of a vegetation and
37
flora which speak a different language to
that of other latitudes, rocks of form and
colour which seem to have appeared for
the first tirne; breezes w hich seem to pass
with a murmur also different, the sea with
its message of far off horizons, mixed with
its message of températe breezes. Eternal
Springtime, it is seen, holds its justification
in this series of natural phenomena which
unite to give charm to this group of seven
Islands. The topic of the Islands of Eternal
Springtime is herein partly explained, al-though
the mysteries enveloping them remain
with no satisfactory explanation.
As regards the morphology and the
soil of the island, the volcanoes add to the
labour of Springtime renovation. They do
not allow the soil to age: with their contribu-tions
of lava, sand banks and extensions of
dross, they carry out through the ages their
regenerating mission. The islands have been
called youthful, not only because of their
relatively recent geological formation, but
because they cannot become oíd.
In their vegetation, it has already been
seen that the islands are a refuge for a flora
no longer existing elsewhere; and in this
( • ;
OV:
surprising fact is a sign of their fresh and
jovial youth. It is a curious fact that this type
of vegetation conserves its foliage peren-nially.
And in respect of the climate, the per­petual
and life- giving breezes of the trade
winds fill the air with mellowness. And if
this were not enough, the sea round the
Archipelago forms oceanic currents like two
cool enveloping arms. Youthfulness, Spring-time...
Tenerife, the island that exemplifies
the whole Archipelago in morphology, eleva-tion,
geology, climates, vegetation, land-scapes
and colour, can fix at anypointon its
map this notice in all truth: Island of eterna!
Springtime.
5.— Natura and landscapes
Tenerife, since remote times, is a dif-fused
mass of clouds, above which protrudes,
like a blue phantasm, the Peak of Teide.
The island is discovered only when one
arrives by sea or flies above it. And the first
impression produced is that of a high mas-sive
mountain, very complex, rugged and
fractured. Bold, steep mountains await the
traveller who arrives from the North, and
summits, crests and crags to those arriving
by air. At first sight, it appears to be an
inhospitable island, causing apprehension,
the more so when it is seen that these pro-montories
and mountain slopes are treeless
and that the distant contours appear of a
burnt out, ashen colour. In Tenerife, the first
appearances are of rock and one feeis that
stonecomesbefore life: dark green- red stone,
with grey effects and occasional white veins,
here and there a yellow touch, as well as
red stains.
39
After this first aggressive presentation,
one notes the variety of colour. But the
beauty of the Island, which is another mys-tery,
must be discovered slowly. An incursión
into the Island in search of the hidden beauty,
is an adventure full of surprises.
We have spoken of its birth, its geology
and the indefatigable action of the volcanoes.
We have made contact with an Island raised
from the sea by fire. It is true that the sea
confines it, and softens its climate whilst it
infuses those special characteristics pos-sessed
by lands accompanied by oceans.
Nevertheless, it is not simply an Atlantic
landscape: it is a vigorous scenography in
which the sea is only one of its elements.
These are volcanic and not marine landsca-pes.
So abruptly does the island emerge from
the sea that it appears more like a gigantic
rock fallen into the sea, around which the
waves appear to be agitated.
Because of its volcanic nature, its lands-capes
are a true reflection of that nature.
The low zones of the Island are frequently
composed of lava beds rejuvenated, allu-vions,
and flows of volcanic rubble, angles
in and out of a coast lina drawn by volcanoes,
steep heights that guard in their strata the
dumb history of the formation of the Island.
In some parts near to the coast one discovers
veritable nurseries for craters, which are
nothing more than plástic manifestations of
great eruptive activities.
In the médium zones, under vegetation
and in their eroded contours, a long chain
of cones stand guard before the ridge of
mountains forming the dorsal of the Island.
In the high zones many eruptive pro-cesses
are visible, from the mouths of craters
down to the flows of lava to points where
these were detained and have cooled off,
from the flanks of former great volcanoes
to the bases of high mountains more recent-ly
formed. In these high regions, the rava
beds are scorched and reverberate under
the summer sun, or are hidden under the
winter snows. The obsidian ghtters like me­tal.
The pumice stone shows up whiter
amongst the labyrinths of black stones. The
cinders and the ¡ áppilli crunch beneath our
feet. The summits depict a feverish and pri-mitive
tumult as of the first ages of the world.
The mountains are broken, the cones torn,
the slopes streamed with lava flows. In many
cases, the appearances - of these volcanic
materials are so relatively recent, that com­plete
sterility and silence reigns over them.
The rocks have not yet learned to convert
themselves into soil and do not yet know of
the existence of roots or of the joy of a flo-wer
or the warm tenderness of a nest.
With frequency basaltic dikes emerge
from the landscape like ruins of oíd fortres-ses,
rocks of phonolite simulating gothic
architécture or solitary structures with sil-houettes
bf petrified trees or of monsters.
The large valleys are, geologically,
simply sunken beds, but they add plurality
to the insular landscape with their serene
and agreeable appearance. The ravines are
the deep wounds inflicted by waterfalls
rushing down to the sea. And the Island
appears to be enveloped in a hard and harsh
terminology: rock, basalt, lava, phonolite,
obsidian, pumice stone...
The beaches on the North are black
because their sands ground by the sea, come
from lavas which are also black. Sonne of
the beaches in the South have brown sand
originating from calcareous- tufa and volca-nic
ash carried towards those parts by the
wind during periods of eruptions.
The Island, in one word, is a cráter
— Las Cañadas— and one volcano — the
Peak of Teide— and the mountains; the
lateral slopes and valleys are only accom-paniments,
the secondary figures in this great
apotheosis of fire.
Consequently, the landscapes are faith-ful
echoes of this grandiose and tormented
scene. And what there is of intimacy and
sweetness, of charm and delight, is a con-sequence
of the climate. For that reason it
42
is well worth making an incursión over the
island and to see where the iandscape is
beautiful, sweet, rough or wild.
The vértex of Tenerife, formed by the
península of Anaga, is a región characterized
by a topography both complex and rough.
Mountains of sharp outline domínate the
ravines and narrow valleys stifled by crests
and lateral crags. There are summits, like
the Cruz de Taborno, which reach a height
of more than 1,000 m. By the southern slope
of this massive group of mountains, is Santa
Cruz de Tenerife, sheltered from the domi-nant
winds. San Andrés and Igueste de San
Andrésocupy the wide mouths of the ravines.
Taganana, on the northern slope of these
mountains is one of the most hidden villages
of the island, compressed between the inac­cesible
mountains and the sea. ( See Chap.
IV Routes to the North, 1. d.). The mountains
in this group are covered with luxuriant
forests, the slopes of which display a vigorous
vegetation, refreshed and moistened by the
trade winds. Towards the West of the moun-tainous
península of Anaga, extends the
forest of Las Mercedes, one of the most
beautiful examples of typically Canary Is-lands
forests. The mountainous mass breaks
its formation around the plateau of La Lagu­na
and is dispersed in hílls that open in a
wide aró around the Meseta de Los Rodeos,
situated at an altitude of about 600 m.; a
green countryside, of wheatfíelds and pasture
land. Fiat land between the dynamic horizon^
of mountains. A horizontal domaín between
the broken contours surrounding it. Towards
the North, over the hills, there is a more
subdued coastline beginning from the Punta
del Hfdalgo which runs on to Valle de Gue­rra.
( See Routes to the North, I, a) and c).
To the West of La Laguna, through
La Esperanza, the mountainous formation
reunites, rfsing as it stretches from the
Northeast to the Southeast, to build up the
great circus of Las Cañadas. This range
rises to form the great mountaín barrier that
separates the North from the South of the
Island, a barrier which gives Tenerife the
appearance of an island with two fronts.
( See « Routes to the North, I, b).
The openland of La Laguna and its
prolongation to Los Rodeos, is flanked by
the mountains of Las Mercedes and La Es­peranza,
the latter sustaining forests of Ca-nary
Islands pines.
Crossing the fíat land of Los Rodeos
one reaches Tacoronte. A landscape of green
hills. Here the grape fields begin, covering
the slopes and reaching up to the crests. In
this beit is also El Sauzal, La Matanza, La
Victoria and Santa Úrsula. The mountain
range now begins to rise. On the South
slopes the earth is drier and the mountain
range lowers: El Rosario is to the South of
La Esperanza, and Taco, El Tablero and Ba­rranco
Hondo are dispersed over a vast
slope with verdure on the heights and dry
copses on the lowef parts.
On the other side, past the landscape
of palms and vineyards of La Victoria and
Santa Úrsula, and the last buttresses of the
mountains, one penetrates into the Valley
of La Orotava. The coast is very broken and
is only tractable where it opens onto pictu-resque
beaches. On this slope — that is to
say towards the North, is the Valley of La
Orotava, and towards the South is the Valley
of Gijímar, two extensive sunken beds, as
has been remarked. The heights of the
dividing mountain range reach their highest
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poinls over these two valleys. The Northern
slope, in its lowest zone, has a stable and
warm clinnate. The Valley of La Orotava has
an extensive verdure oí banana plantations
and a varied flora colouring, and picturesque
spots, like Puerto de la Cruz, which appear
to be snatched from the Tropics. In this
valley there is the Villa de la Orotava, com-posed
of many houses stepped up the moun-tain
side above the banana plantations, and
Los Realejos, situated at the foot of the
mountainous Western edge of the Valley.
Vertical planes domínate in the heights and
in the rugged shores and sloping planes
extending downwards on which appear the
most suggestive variety of greens that it is
possible to imagine. ( See Routes to the
North, II, a).
In contrast, the slopes on the South,
in the Valley of Güímar, the tones of colour
are more effaced. This valley is confined
between the high mountainsides that endose
it laterally and the mountains behind it. The
lateral slopes fall abruptly and within the
are formed by the mountains at the rear, the
black curves of oíd volcanic cones are visi­ble.
The coastal plañe is for the most part
low. The heights are black and down the
slopes to the sea the colours change to
many varieties of grey, ending finally in a
cold brown. Patches of verdure from irriga-ted
land and crops, with an occasional
banana plantation, are scattered ovar the
Valley ot Güímar, whilst che Villa of the
same ñame, and the small towns of Cande­laria
and Arafo, adorn with their whiteness
this silent, austere but beautiful expanse.
( See Routes to the South, I, a).
The Island widens as one advances
westwardly, and the dorsal mountain range
initiates its great are around the Teide. Inside
this are are Las Cañadas and the Peak.
( See Routes to the Teide, III, a) b) and c).
Returning to the northern slope, past
the hillside of Tigaiga, on the west of the
Valley of La Orotava, one penetrates into a
región — as related by writers of the XVIII
century— characterised by the sheer drop
of the mountainside to the sea. The paths
and roads are eut out of the rock and are
like Jookouts over the sea. Deep ravines
break up the topography. An exuberant
vegetation eovers the margins of the ravines
and the borders of the erags. Water rushes
boisterously between the rocks. Cultivation
is terrae'ed, taking advantage of the smallest
beds of soil. The climate is warm. The town
of San Juan de la Rambla is compressed
between basaltie roeks and the sea. From
here the coast continúes low, dry, with oíd
lava streams which give it a grey tone, be-tweenwhich
the red and white of cistus, or
the rock rose, appear. The mountain is
covered with pines and near the limits of
the forests is the little town of La Guancha,
with typical peasant homesteads.
^ I
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^ , ; \ ' '
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Further to the West the extensive dis-trict
of Icod spreads out, with a varied lands-cape
crowned with a pine, advancing up the
very counterfort of the Teide. The coast,
hov/ ever, has wide banana plantations and
at médium heights there are expanses of
vineyards, the cultivation of which, from
early times, gave the township its ñame of
Icod of the Vines. Clear distances, mountains
subdued on the horizon, forests on the
heights, ploughed fields and vineyards, rug-ged
crags over the black beaches, palms
and lava streams, and over all, the most
beautiful view of the Teide, whenever the
clouds, always jealous, allow it to be seen.
Onwards from Icod, the coastline be-comes
lower, the counterforts of the moun­tains
give way at times to openings of fíat
land, and between the verdure of vegetation
and the black mantle of the ma\ pa\ ses ( desert
terrain) one passes by Garachico and Los
Silos until one reaches Buenavista. This is
veryproperlycalled the/ sía Ba/ a ( Lowisland).
The coastal región is extensive, white, very
silent, and the coastal plain penetrates into
the sea at Punta de Buenavista, a sharp poin-ted
ridge at which the indented coast of the
North of Tenerife ends, in the shadow of the
powerful counterfort of Teño ( See Routes to
the North, IV, a) and b).
This massive rock of Teño is the replica
which the Northeast end of the Island offers
to the massive mountains of fína^ a. At Teño,
the summits of Cumbre de Bolicos and Cum­bre
de Baranán, stand out, surrounded by
winds and solitude. This rugged mass is
broken by deep ravines and is one of the
most wild landscapes of the island, in its
impressive desolation.
On the Southern slope of the mountains
that curve around the Teide, past the Valley
of Güímar, there is a long expanse of white
countryside, dry and arid. The mountains
are in the distance, and the land descends
towards the sea more gently than on the
opposite slopes on the Northern side. The
small towns of Fasnia, Arico, Granadilla and
San Miguel, as well as Vilaflor high up on
the mountain, provide a human element
that counteracts the desolation of these parts.
Here, the South of the island is sean in its
puré aspect, a land deprived of moisture,
dried up by the sun, with scarcely any
rainfall, and without the typical island forests
which contribute so much to gladden the
landscapes of the North. Nevertheless, in
the mountains there are some groups of
pines, today lacking in their exuberance of
earlier times.
The best beaches on the island are
found on these Southern coasts, of which
El Médano and Los Cristianos are worthy
of special mention. Their sands are brown
and the sea is tranquil and clear. On the
coastal plañe of Arona, bordering on the
mm.
ít m
Valley of San Lorenzo, a group of volcanic
cones exist, which give that part an impres-sive
appearance. The Punta de la Rasca
boldly proclaims the southern vértex of Te­nerife.
The landscape here ¡ s waste and
desoíate, with only desert vegetation, the
sky clear, silent expanses, tabaibas and car­dones,
and solitary rocks. And amongst all
this, green patches of special cultivation
which is extending over those lands as a
result of irrigation systems fed by water
found on the North of the island. ( See Rou-tes
to the South, I, b y II).
The Southeast of Tenerife, which com-prises
the smallest side of the triangle
extends to Punta de Teño and Punta de la
Rasca. Arena, Adeje, Guía de Isora and San­tiago
del Teide, with many more dispersed
homesteads, speak of the obstinacy of man,
in his efforts to bring life to thesesullen con­fines.
The massive Roque del Conde breaks
the relief of this part of the Island and its
dark and upright bulk contrasts with the
coastal plañe, low lying and palé coloured,
which slopes gently to the sea. Arid expan­ses
in which the wild teasel has taken
possession as the only rightful occupant,
sun heated coves and creeks in the coasts,
small fishing bays, black rocky ledges, and
the long and deep ravines stretching down
from the heights. Over the zone of Guía de
Isora, centuries oíd lava streams still give
the landscape a dark and desoíate look, like
scorched earth. And up above always the
black cones. The ashen mountains proclaim
their volcanic origin, and it was in these
mountains that the last volcano erupted in
Tenerife, the Chinyero, which caused terror
in that district in the year 1909. ( See Routes
to the West, I, a).
49
The districts in the South present a
faded colouring, the calcareus tufa is of a
soiled white, the earth is grey or yellowish,
the mountains are ashen or grey. The planes
are not so violent as those on the opposite
slope, the coastal regions are wider in extent,
alluvion, and low lying.
The geography of Tenerife has an
alluring diversity because its contrasts are
so beautiful. The successive landscapes
acquire a vertiginous rhythm and over the
wild nature of the Island, a varied film of
colours and forms develops with opulent
tropical valleys, dark and fresh forests, land
scorched by volcanoes, naked mountains,
slopes without vegetation, desert planes,
and coasts with banana plantations and
other vegetation.
But from the sea comes a fresh air and
the trade winds caress the Island kindly.
6.— The island with two fronts
The rapid incursión we have just made
has given us an image of the two fronts of
the Island. Tenerife, which contains all the
variety of climates existing in the Archipela-
^ o, as well as all the different types of ve-getatíon,
is also a synthesis of all the
landscapes. But as these are so many we
them to two; the landscapes of
and Northeast— and those of
will reduce
the North -
the South - and Southeast And the same
applies if we refer to the climate and to the
vegetation, as we have already seen.
On speaking of the trade winds, we
have pointed out how these emanate from
the Northeast and that their penetration
produces a beneficial influence only on one
part of the Island. The mountain range for-ming
the backbone of the Island, constitutes
an unsurmountable barrier to this beneficial
current. Between 900 and 1,500 m., banks of
clouds collect, compact and woolly, through
jíJ^ d
51
which, when the sea is out of sight, the
Island appears to be floating in space. As
the whole of the Northern slopes are open
to breezes and clouds, the monteverde ( ever-green
hills) flourish luxuriously under their
influence, as we have already descríbed.
Extremely abundant vegetation filis the
valleys down to the sea, the borders of the
ravines are covered with foliage and on the
Coastal planes all kinds of agricultural pro­duce
is grown, but particularly tropical va-rieties.
Water is abundant, flowing from na­tural
springs and from water galleries bored
into the mountainsides.
The altitude begins to modify the cli-mate.
Palms are to be seen in the zone of
sunshine, the fabulous dragón tree on the
rugged landscapes, and passing up through
the different regions of vegetation we reach
the refama of the Teide. In the midst of this
broken topography with bougainvilleas and
geraniums, on the coastal planes between
the banana plantatíons, corn fields and pas-tureland,
are the villages. There are many
small villages, cióse to each other, scattered
over the slopes, struqg along the borders of
the high roads and paths, brightening the
coasts or perched on the slopes and up in
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52
^ 4 ^{¡ 1"
the higher regions. These are happy and
colourful communities, to which the fertilíty
and exuberance of the soil contribute a
sober exhilaration.
But, when we pass to the other side of
the mountain range, we are confronted with
an abrupt and violent change of scene. It
seems as though, suddenly, the Island has
been robbed of its happiness, beauty and
benevolence. Instead of green, the landsca-pe
ís grey, and hot brown and dirty white
tones replace the succulent hues we have
left behind. The forests covering the hills
and dales, are changed to patches of poor,
dríed- up copses, and plants which shrive on
barren soils. The sun burns harshly. Desert
plants ascend laboriously the mountainside
from the sea up to the very limits of the
pine zone. Water here is scarce, although
the tenacity of man has succeeded in conve-ying
it by almost unbelievable waterways,
from the opposite side of the mountain to
these waterless regions.
53
In the South, the stones are naked, too
naked, and the expanses are forsaken but
it is a landscape which charms by its suf-fering
sweetness and its silent desolation.
Probably there is nothing more solemn thnn
an expanse of broken land on which only
cardenchas grow, because there is nothing
more severe and solemn than the cardencha,
with its arms raised to the sky in the midst
of lands forsaken by green vegetation. The
mountain looks over these landscapes in all
its oppressive nakedness and the distant
craters add their dramatic note to the broken
horizon presenting their still open mouths
from which one imagines to hear their last
volcanic shrieks.
The villages are white, perhaps too
white in the scorching sunshine. But the
inhabitants of these parts love the homes-teads
in which they were born, and they
bestow affectionate care on their cultivated
patches which appear to give fruit only in
return for this devotion.
The North is a zone of agriculturalists
and labourers — it is necessary to draw this
distinction— and although these are also
found in the South, here the land appears
to have been made for agriculture. The North
is a vast testimony to the exuberance and
fertility of the soil. The South is an evidence
of the faithfulness of man to the land, which
he loves, although he knows it to be less
bountiful. The North is an indefatigable and
generous land, incessantly producing, and
work is always going on. The South is virgin
land, which would give forth in abundance
if fertilised, but is sad while it waits. The
North is cloud and rain. The South, a high
clear sky. The North is the fountain with
thin watertalls flowing amongst the rushes
^ C 4 ¡ ' í ^
and the yams. The South is dry stone, and
hidden water dikes not yet tapped. In the
North there are many singing birds and in
the South many cormorants in the air. In
the North there are always pleasant sounds
of plantations and cultivated lands. Over the
expanses of the South, silence descends.
The North has a basaltic solidity, a powerful
architectural foundation and rounded planes.
The South is the calcareous tufa castigated
by the wind and sand which whirls around
the roots of the shrubs, ash which is slowly
becoming earth. In the North, flowers bloom
in multicolour, In the South a vegetation of
yellow inflorescence dominates the scene.
Every visitor to Tenerife should learn
this lesson in variety which the island offers.
It is an experience worthy to be lived. To go
from one landscape to another, to receive a
surprise round every curve in the roads, to
become submerged in a sweet verdure and
then suddenly to meet a yellow desoíate
waste. To discover that the island has a
55
mountain backbone and that on each side
of this, two different worlds exist.
One of these worlds the Northern will
display before the traveller a v^ rigated
mass of gay colours. The Southern, on
the contrary, will show him gray and
lustreless lands. The traveller,
must, according to his taste de­cide
in favour of one or tha
otherland. Onlytheheights
belong to the whole ís-land,
above which
there ís nothing but
the sky.
O
O
( N
fí
B
>
' c
s
o
Wilh the crags, their promontories white wilh
foam, and with their ^ entle and green slopes'
the raised sílhouetfe of the Teíde enters into play,
impressive and captivating at the same time.
HISTORY
ISLA
59
, • ' v5:
1.— Prehistory
Another mystery envelops man on the
island in prehistoric times. He must have
arrived over the sea, but it is not known
how. If he once knew the arts of navigation,
he forgot them completely, because nothing
has been found in Tenerife — ñor in any part
of the Archipelago— which points to reia-tions
between the inhabitants and the sea.
It is more probable that he was not a navi-gator,
but reached the islands with a people
familiar with the sea. In fact, the Guanche
culture, as far as is known by its archeology,
points to the very opposite to any maritime
traditions.
(*.
The problem of the immigration of the
Canary Islands aborigines cannot be solved,
for the present, with any absolute certainty.
European races like the Cro- Magnon, are
found deeply set all over White África. The
Canaries, and consequently Tenerife, are
60
type or
within that anthropologicai ambit. Early
writers pointed to what is now called White
África, as the place of origin of these people,
because of many similarities of customs and
tongue with other peoples moving within that
same geographical área.
The first anthropologists to study the
islands, found four racial types. The picture
presented by Verneau is as foUows: 1.°
Guanche, with Cro- Magnon characteristics;
2° semite, supposediy mixed with arab
blood; 3." a brachycephalic element of un-known
origin; and 4.° a very rare type of
berber.
Later, Faikenburger, who had studied
collections of crania in París museums,
distributes them in the foilowing types:
A) ( 35 per 100). Guanche
Cro- Magnon; low or médium face, low orbits,
nose fine or médium.
B) ( 11 per 100). Negroid type, mixed
with A) and a prebosquimano element, low
or médium face, low or médium orbits,
nose wide.
C) ( 30 per 100). Mediterranean type,
face high or médium, orbits high or médium,
nose fine or médium.
D) Mixed type, showing all possible
variations of facial Índices. ( These groups
are mesolithic or dolichocephahc).
E) ( 11 per 100). Brachycephalic type;
varied cephalic Índices. According to Faiken­burger,
the foilowing distribution corres-ponds
to Tenerife: guanches 34 per 100;
negroíds 9 per 100; mediterranean 35 per 100;
mixed 10 per 100; brachycephalic 12 per 100.
Th? Guanche type appears to be defi-ned
as robust, high stature not so gigantic
as is usually believed — a large head, dolí-
61
chocephalic, wide face, low orbits and nose
fine or médium.
From recent studies made of Guanche
crania of Tenerife, Use Schwidetzkyconsiders
that the islands were a refuge for ancient
European elements of white African roots.
This type survives still amongst the present
inhabitants of the Island, allhough, according
to the anthropologist referred to, existing
preferably in the mountain retreats, on the
South coasts rather than on the North,
amongst the lowest classes, and on the
outskirts of the towns.
As regards the culture of the Guanches,
— as the inhabitants of Tenerife were called,
before the ñame was apphed to the other
Islands - Httie is known beyond what archa-eology
has revealed, as refererices made by
early travellersand writers are very confused.
It appears that the narhe of Tenerife is
the invention of early inhabitants of the
Island of La Palma. It was composed of
- Tener ( snow) and - ife ( mountain); that is,
snow- clad mountain, or white mountain,
which is how Tener- ife looks from that Island,
crowned for the greater part of the year by
the whiteness of the Teide.
^
62
The ñame, in Tenerife, is explained in
the followíng manner: the inhabitants callad
their Island fichinech: ¿ uan, probably nneant
man oí.,., inhabitant of...: guan and flchinech
would give the ñame guan- chin- ech, that is
the inhabitant or íhe man oí ñchinech ( J. Al-varez
Delgado).
The Guanches hved ín a culture purely
neolithic. They Hved in natural caves in the
sides of ravines or in the rugged coastal
lands. They occupied the región correspon-ding
to the warm and stable climafe of the
Island, between the coast and the first stra-tum
of wooded vegetation. They were igno-rant
of metáis or of urban Ufe, although they
had a sense of human groupings and congre-gations.
They did not build cabins, but
because of the pastoral customs, they adop-ted
natural refuges and shelters in the
mountains, to which they ascended to be
near fresh pastures between the Spring and
Autumn. Their economy was fundamentally
pastoral. They had goats, sheep and pigs.
They practised an extensive rudimentary
I
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• 5
§
63
agriculture, principally of wheat and barley.
With these cereals lightly toasted, they pre­parad
a flour meal called gofio, a foodstuff
which still subsists, as a basic nourishment
in the Canaries. They ate meal lightly roast-ed.
Shell fish fornhed an important part of
their food. They gathered seeds and wild
fruits.
Even to the present day, ón excavating
caverns which served as living quarters for
the oíd inhabitants of Tenerife, remains of
food are found, consisling principally of
bones of animáis — goats, sheep and pigs—,
and also shells of molluscs. In certain places
on the coast, near the richest banks of shell-fish,
large mounds of shells, called conche-ros,
are found. indicating the spots where
the Guanches met lo eat shell- fish. On the
fíat parts of Punta de Teño, there are nume-rous
concharos.
The most common utensils were made
of stone sharpened on basalt, chipped obsi-dian
for cutting Instruments, called tahonas;
polished balls, also of basalt, used as pro-jectiles
thrown by hand, and scrapers and
polishers of the porous lava.
They made hand milis, circular, of two
stones, with which they ground the toasted
cereals. For ornamentation, they used per-forated
shells as beads and pendants and
snail shells as necklaces, although their most
usual ornaments were beads made of baked
clay.
Amongst their utensils of bone were
awls made of the long bones of goats' feet,
rough fishhooks and pieces of doubtful use
in the form of spatulas with a hole in the
upper part.
wa
They made javelins, lances and sticks, |
of wood. These they used principally as §
offensive weapons, but also as pastoral staffs j
and symbols of authority, as in the case of g
the añepa, carried only by their chiefs. §
They knew nothing of the potter's wheel, |
but they made a variety of ceramics, with |
rounded bases as well as conical shapes, I
sometimes decorated with incisions. |
Of the language of the Guanches very f
few words are conserved in the toponomy |
and in the writings of some chroniclers. A =
mixture of linguistic remains belonging lo I
White África seem to appear — as with the |
race and their culture— and also vestiges a
belonging to more remote linguistic áreas.
« Together with an initial community perhaps
very primitive, a difference of language, ap-parent
in its phonetics and lexigraphy, must
be very ancient. Together with a modernity
of certain elements, a great antiquity of
others; and together with a linguistic and
cultural mixture from recent continental
África, some cultural and linguistic echoes
of far distant centres of life. It is possible
that in some of the islands the more primi­tive
state of the language is conserved more
65
than in others, and it is certain that the mix­ture
of tongues is not the result of the mixture
of races » ( J. Aivarez Delgado).
Corpses were not buried, but were
deposited in caves. The bodies were subjec-ted
to a process of incomplete mummifica-tion,
by external washings, followed by
exposure to the air and the sun. A corpse
was called xaxo. The funeral offerings con-sisted
of objects of personal use — awls,
stone utensils, clay beads, sea- shells, sticks,
etc.— and vessels containing milk, butter,
gofio and other foodstuffs. Sometimes, beside
the corpse, the body of a dog was found,
which shows that in Tenerife, as in other
communities, the role of this animal may
have been that of guide on the journey
beyond the grave. All this is revealing of a
cult to the dead and a belief in an after life.
Recent excavations have brought to
light many aspects, little known, of the fune­ral
rites of the Guanches. It is known that
the bases of the caves were levelled with
fíat stones, and often, over those stones,
thick planks of teak were placed, on which
the corpses were laid to rest.
They believed in sexless divinities and
they adored the Sun and the Moon. They
66
also believed in Spirits and were fearful of
a demon called Guayóla, that lived in the
bowels of the Echeyde ( Teide), which perhaps
constituted the beginnings of a mythology
of fire, lost before it could reach us. They
had no temples ñor sacerdotal castes, but
they practised pastoral rites, especially to
ask for rain, fíbora is the ñame they gave to
the supreme divinity and their ñame for the
Sun was Magec. Contrasts between good
and evil, sun and moon, « a fundamental
category of human thought » , were concep-tions
held by the Guanches.
Their society was organised hierarchi-cally.
The chieftain of a clan or tribe, consti­tuted
by more or less numerous groups in
different regions of varying extent, was
called Mencey. Under the Mencey, there
were three social groups: fíchimencey, no­bles;
flchicaxna, villains; Cbiciquitzo or
Cichiciquitzan, serfs, labotirers or probably
common fighting men.
In Tenerife the family group revolved
around a respected eider, as in a patriarchal
society, although in the aboriginal ethnology,
vague indications of a matriarchal system
exist. A man could repudíate his wife; the
children of spouses who had separated,
were regarded differently from those of a
united family; they were considered to be in
a certain manner illegitimate. Women were
respected and it was taboo to speak or to
approach near them when they were alone
or passing over open country. To break this
rule was a crime punishable sometimes by
death, which was also the penalty for the
crimes of homicide, robbery and adultery.
The culprit was stoned to death or thrown
over a high cliff.
67
The Mencey sat in counsel with his
nobles and elders, in en assembly called
tagóror. There they discussed questions of
justice, order and administration, internal
strife and the dangers of war and invasión.
They were a rough and rude community
and were regarded as barbarians by the
first explorers to know them. Neoclassic
historians made an Arcadia of Tenerife,
adorning its inhabitants with all kinds of
virtues and perfections. The truth is that the
Guanches were'noble in war and protecting
and hospitable when they were sure of the
goodwill of strangers, and that their women
were of a rare beauty, as was witnessed by
Spaniards, many of whom married them.
By what is known of Ihis people, and
from records left by early chroniclers, as
well as from the more recent archaeological
excavations, it can be said that a communi­ty
whose culture is within the puré Neoli-thic,
had persisted up to the Middle Ages.
For this reason, Tenerife became an extra-ordinary
terrain for the study of that type
of culture, so distant in time in other coun-tries
and latitudes.
2.— The meeting of two worlds
What knowledge of the Canary Islands
possessed by the classic worid, was lost
after the fall of the Román Empire. The
Fortúnate Islands, and the land of the apples
of gold, became a lost legend. The Canary
Islands, as a geographical unit, were forgot-ten,
as well as the tales told by Andalusian
mariners to Sertorius, of mysterious iands,
and the reports of navigators made to Juba,
King of Mauretania. Only vague remem-brances
remained of the islands where
molluscs were collected for the making of
magnificent purpura. A great silence had
descended over the Archipelago.
The islands were re- discovered in the
early Middie Ages. In the first years of the
XIV century, voyages of discovery were
made by mariners from Seville, Vizcaya and
Majorca. Genoese and Portuguese sailors
also participated. Lancellotto Malocello ma­de
an expedition to the Canaries in 1312.
Several expeditions from Majorca took place
in 1342, and a year before, there had been
a Portuguese expedition under the command
of a Genoese captain. Navigating charts at
this time, include the Canaries, between
roses in the wind and decorative dolphins.
These charts were divulged all around the
Mediterranean, and in one of them, dated
1339, designed by Angelino Dulcert of Ma­jorca,
the Eastern Islands appear. More vo­yages
followed in the last third of the XIV
century and during the whole of the XV. It
was in this century that the King and Queen
of Spain — Ferdinand and Isabella —, under
took the enterprise of the conquest of Grand
Canary, La Palma and Tenerife.
The right of conquest of Tenerife was
obtained by the cession to the King and
69
Queen of Spain, oí the territorial titles lo
the Cañarles, held by Don Diego de Herrera
and Doña Inés Peraza. The islands ceded to
the Crown, also included Grand Canary and
La Palma, which at that time, ( 1477), had
not yet been conquered. The conquest of
La Palma and Tenerife was made by Alonso
Fernández de Lugo, and the capitulation to
the Crown was concerted in 1491.
When Columbus, who had alrea'dy na-vigated
between the Spanish Península and
the Islands, set out on his voyage of disco-very,
the Canary Islands played a very im-portant
part in his plans. On the 3rd August,
1492, Columbus sailed from Puerto de Palos.
At dawn on the 9th August, his three caravels
anchored in the port of Las Isletas in Grand
Canary. There the Pinta had to stay for re-pairs
because it was damaged, and Colum­bus
left with his remaining two caravels for
La Gomera. On the 25th, seeing that his
pilot Martín Alonso Pinzón had not yetjoin-ed
him, he returned to Grand Canary. The
three caravels then returned together to La
Gomera at the end of August where they
arrived on the 2nd of September. On the
6th of September they set out for the
- "' í ^•'.' « '•• w- tr'ií) * . - lo
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70
unknown. From the Tower of the Condes, a
mediaeval fort built on the sea shore,
doña Beatriz de Bobadilla, Lady of the island,
said goodbye to the Admira], who, attracted
by her charms, had visitad that rugged and
rocky island. The passing of Columbus
through the Canary Islands was itself a
symbol: from that moment it was known that
it was necessary to count on the islands for
further ocean navigation, and above al], to
consolidate the American route.
The Middle Ages found the Archipelago
enveloped in the mysteries of the Mar Te­nebroso.
The Renaissance carne to share
the exhilaration when the dark mists were
lifted from that dreadful sea. The trade winds,
the sea currents and tides, helped the ancient
mariners to reach the islands: but the trade
winds, the currents and the tides made their
return almost impossible. The arrival was
made easy but the return was difficult. A-perpetua]
mystery, now more intense be-cause
those who do not return never speak
again. The culture in the Archipelago was
necessarily geographical: for geographical
reasonsthe classical myths vibrated va^ uely
around the islands. Islands of Happiness,
from which it is best not to return. Perhaps
for that reason the legend of the Mar Tene­broso,
was invented with its heavy waters,
and empty horizons, from which no- one re-turned.
The mariner in those days who was
lucky enough to return, told how his ship
became uncontrollable on the homeward
tracks, whilst he remembered so well the
pleasant ease of navigating towards the
islands, which spread themselves out before
him in the mellow light of the sunset.
The Renaissance approaches the Gaña­nes
with the compass, the sextant, navigating
71
pl^
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charts, humanities and gunpowder. A neoli-thic
cotnmunity is found. The islands, a
refuge for a flora which had disappeared,
guarded also a culture which had vanished
from the western world thousands of years
before. Towards the East, where one must
look for the origin of this community, all is
silent: the natives conserve no trace of their
past, neither in myths, legends, nortraditions.
Towards the West, the unknown ocean.
Between neglect on one side, and silence
and mystery on the other, are the islands.
That was Tenerife when Columbus saw its
fíame from the sea, precisely at the moment
when the secret of the Mar Tenebroso was
to be broken. And so it was also on that first
day of May in 1494 when fifteen brigantinas
anchored in the shelter of the cliffs of fínaga.
The commander of the flotilla was the
Andalusian of Galician origin, Alonso Fer­nández
de Lugo, the same officer who had
to his credit the conquest of the island of
La Palma. He brought with him one thousand
men, 120 horses and a large supply of
72
firearms. The party disembarked on the
beach of Ññaza, a stretch of desoíate and
deserted coast where today rises the lumi-nous
city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. From
the mountains, the aborigines saw with
wonder the arrival of the ships, the move-ments
of launches and the first wave of
conquerors to step onto. the shore. Swift
messengers took the news and gave the
alarnn even to the remotest parts of the
island. The arrival of those « white houses » ,
as they called the ships, startied the peace
of that primitíve people.
The Renaissance, the Europe of the
XV century, had arrived with Alonso Fer­nández
de Lugo. And thus was produced
the meeting of two worlds. The quaternary
race of Cro- Magnon, from • whose roots the
Guanche sprang, found itself face to face
with the cultured and refined European. The
rude native culture fell back in front of the
brilliant manifestation of power and know-ledge
that came'with the conquerors. Stones
and javelins hurled from above, clashed
with iron weapons; the natives fled from the
bullets and ended vanquished by them.
With their bodies almost naked, with no
other protection than rough skins, they faced
men splendidly clothed and protected with
armour. A barbarous tongue, also myste-rious,
contrasted with the clarity and smooth-ness
of the Castilign langua^ e, in which
were mixed Hturgic latín and benevolent
humanism. And over that virjin country,
accustomed only to the passing of shepherds
and flocks, horses went galloping.
pe
When Alonso Fernández de Lugo
netrated into Tenerife it is recorded that
the island was divided into clans or bands,
at the head of each was a chief or mencey,
a ñame which the Spaniards took to mean
Mng. Between truth and legend, appear
ñames of those kings, and the bands into
which the island was divided. Without cros-sing
swords with historical critics, the follow-ing
ñames are repeated: the mencey Ben­como
governed an extensive región in which
the Valley of La Orotava is situated: Bene-haro
was the mencey of flnaga, the moun-tainous
vértex of the island in which domain
was the plain now occupied by Santa Gruz:
Ñdjoña, mencey of fíbona. in the South:
fldeje, mencey of the district now bearing
that ríame: Romen, who governed in the
lowland called the Daute district; Pelicar,
chief of the cantón of Icod; flcaymo, mencey
oí the green countryside of Tacoronte; flña-terve,
who dominated the extensive district
of Güímar.
The meeting of these two vcorlds was
angry and violent. Fortune was unequal
both for the Guanches and for the Spaniards.
Two happenings make this clear. Fernández
de Lugo, on disembarking, advanced with
his forces, in that Spring of 1494, into the
interior of the island. He crossed the open
plain of La Laguna ( fíguere), the flatlands
of Los Rodeos and the green countryside of
Tacoronte. Bencomo, kept infornned by his
spies, followed the movements of the con-queror.
The Guanche mencey ordered his
brother, Tinguaro, to march over the moun-tains
with a group of fighting men and set
an ambush for the Spanish Captain in the
ravine, Barranco de flcentejo. Bencomo was
to wait at fíraotava ( Valley of Orotava). Many
of Lugo's soldiers pushed on to the Valley,
whÜst others captured cattle. The country­side
was silent and deserted, and Lugo sus-pected
an ambush. As a precaution he order­ed
a retreat to the camp at La Laguna, but
Tinguaro intercepted his passage in the
Barranco de Acentejo. When the struggle
was at its height, Bencomo arrived with his
forces. There was great carnage, more
amongst the Spaniards than amongst the
Guanches. It is said, perhaps in exaggeration,
that the Spaniards lost between 800 and 900
men. And so ended one of the most bloody
chapters of the conquest of Tenerife. The
ñame of one of its villages proclaims this
- O
75
disaster: La Matanza de ñcentejo ( The mas-sacre
of Acentejo).
The other happening took place in the
following manner: After the first disaster,
Alonso Fernández de Lugo returned with
his forces to the Island of Grand Canary
with the object of re- forming his forces and
preparing for the second invasión of Teneri­fe,
which he began on the 2nd of November,
1494. Fernández de Lugo knew that the bulk
of the Guanche forcé was at Agüere and he
ordered an advance. At dawn on the 14th
of November, he reached the part which is
now the entrance to La Laguna coming
from Santa Cruz. The Guanche and Spanish
forces combatted with great ardour but the
conquerors caused havoc amongst the nati-ves.
With the arrival of provisions for the
invading forcé, a new advance was ordered.
On the 24th of December the march began;
Tacoronte and the Barranco de Acentejo,
of sorrowful memory, were passed, and the
soldiers entrenched themselves in open
country. Christmas Eve was passed in care-ful
vigilance. On the morning of the 25th of
December the Guanches appeared facing
the Spanish forcé. The fighting was long and
bloody and the Guanches were defeated
and retreated to Araotava. This feat assured
the position of Lugo in Tenerife. The ñame
of this other viUage proclaims his victory:
La Victoria de fícentejo.
And this was the end: the menceyes,
convinced that all further resistance was
useless, submitted to the Spanish Captain.
The Island was incorporated into the Crown
of Castille in the year 1496.
The relating of alI these episodes is not
without interest, because, ín view of the
small extent of the island, and the short
76
time that has elapsed — which makes the
history of the ísland relatively very recent—,
one can almost live again the passage of
the conquerors, and of the retreating abori-gines,
over the bróken landscapes.
Of that primitive world, but also satu-rated
with human grandeur, some events
and personages have been related in a
mixture of truth and deÜcate legend. It is
interesting to bring them to life in their isIand
scene, and so revive the enchantment of that
past world. A Tenerife legend of the time of
the conquest, with human beings that live
and love and die, will cióse this brief evoca-tion
of the meeting of Guanches and Span-iards
on the quak'inggeography of Tenerife;
DEATH OF TINGUARO
At that time, La Laguna was called
ñguere and was no more than that, a clear
blue lagoon, and Santa Cruz, a sea- shore,
but like all sea- shores, tremulous and cove-ted.
The rest of the island was peace and
tumult at the same time, geology and flora, a
race without history passing through phases
of birth and death with the same simplicity
as a leaf passes from Spring to Autumn. It
is possible that some had dreams at times,
and saw damsels or felt themselves to be
chieftains, sometimes in sweet pastoral set-tings
and sometimes in belíicose raptures.
And if a woman, to repose on the sea- shore
or to rest on a mountain slope. The island
knows of the wild flower and of warm blood
in its veins and of the kiss of rocks.
There is a personage whose life and
death depicts and seáis all these things. And
all because he wanted the sea- shore to re-main
a sea- shore, that the lagoon should
not lose its clear blue light, that the stones
should continué to protect the flower and
77
that the bleat of ^ oats should still echo in
the fine breezes.
He was called Tinguaro. The first time
his ñame is heard ís when Bencomo wished
to kill a soothsayer called Guañameñe. The
Island is still virgin; the sea- shore, later to
be called Santa Cruz, is untouched. But
Guañameñe is a diviner and has just predic-ted
that strange people will soon come to
the Island. The mencey does not want to
believe in auguries and wishes the wizard
to be killed. Then Tínguaro intervenes, having
been present at the scene with other natives,
and afíer many entreaties, he succeeds in
persuading Bencomo to desist from his in-tention.
Tinguaro is in love with a beautiful
native gifl called Guajara. She corresponds
to his love. His life is led between the pre-paration
of his fighting men and his love.
He lives happily until Beneharo, the mencey
of uncouth Anaga, makes a proposal to him.
Beneharo has a daughter called Guacimara.
He has no sons. At his death, his kingdom
will be withouta successor. Since the Span-iards
are menacing the independence of
the island and Tinguaro is the best of its
chiefs, Beneharo offers him, as a prize for
the victory which he hopes Tinguaro will
gain over the invaders, the hand of his
daughter, Guacimara, and with her, the
kingdom of Anaga.
Guacimara was in love with Ruyman,
a prince of Taoro, but their amorous rela-tions
were unknown to Beneharo. Had he
known, he would not have given his word
to Tinguaro, who, before such a briUiant
future, begins to forget his love for Guajara.
That is the situation when the Spaniards
suffer their disaster at Acentejo. In the
78
meantime Guacimara sigbs more and more
for Ruyman. Guajara, who has become
aware of the offer made by Beneharo to
Tinguaro, becomes desperate with jealousy.
Then Ruyman, fearing to lose Guacimara,
prepares vengeance on Tinguaro. Tinguaro,
is wounded at Acentejo, but he gíves no
importance to the wound because his
thoughts are now all of victory over the
Spaniards and his good fortune in Anaga: g
kingdom and a beautíful wífe. And so he
hastens to tell Beneharo of the result of the
fighting wilh the Spaniards, but the mencey
is now aware that Guacimara ioves Ruyman
and will not consent to marry Tinguaro. As
if advised by angeis, Ruyman has leftTaoro
to go to Guacimara at Anaga. But Guacima­ra
had the same intention, to fly from Ana­ga
to Taoro, dísguised as a shepherd. When
both are returning to their own abodes,
disappointed at not finding each other, they
meet on the way but do not recognise one
another. And forlorn/ Guacimara and Ruy­man,
rather than return home, each decides
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79
to reinain on the hills of Agüere serving as
shepherds.
Bencomo then enters the scene. Soften-ed
by the tears and entreaties of Guajara,
he persuades Tinguaro to honour his word,
and whilst the other two are wandering
sadly over the flowering hills of Agüere,
Tinguaro marries Cuajara.
But the Spaniards have returned and
Tinguaro has to lead his men again into the
struggle. The battle takes place on the open-land
of La Laguna. In the first moments,
Tinguaro falls badly wounded. The hiil of
San Roque looking on the scene, sees how
the most valiant leader of the Guanches
fell like a young tree mowed down. The
horses of the invaders with their'casques of
armour, cause that virgin land to tremble,
as - they trample the untouched, verdure. A
Spaniard, on horseback, seeing mow Tingua­ro
has fallen, dashes upon him. Tinguaro
tells him that he is the brother of the men-cey
Bencomo — as in fact he is— and that
he gives himself up as a prisoner. The Span­iard
was called Martín Buendía and had
no mind to try to understand the strange
tongue of the Guanches. He kills him out-right
on the spot, believing him to be the
chief. Bencomo, with whom he had a great
likeness. And, as a sign, it is decided to cut
off his head and bear it to the Guanches,
high on a lance.
Bencomo is in Tacoronte when he re-ceives
the sad trophy. The Guanche war-riors
shed tears for their leader. After
which, the head of Tinguaro was carried in
an impressive procession to Taoro, where
the inhabitants received it with great mourn-ing.
Guajara is there, overeóme with grief.
tearful, whilst Bencomo sings the praises of
80
the fallen: « The valiant father of our country
is dead and he leaves our people orphans » .
Tinguaro is carried away in the midst
of the battle, smelling of thyme and earth,
while the valley trembles under the galloping
horses. Cuajara cries for the death of her
husbund. Her ñame remains high upon the
mountain opposite the- Teide, which is gilded
in the evenings by the setting sun. Tinguaro
died for wishing that the clear blue of the
Laguna meadows should not be disturbed
and that the sea- shore should remain a sea-shore,
and that chieftains should wish to de-fend
such simple and beautiful scenes. Little
more is known of him. One dares to beHeve
that his shadow continúes to command sha-dows.
In the meadow of Agüere, the sinister
gallop of Martín Buendía's horse should still
be audible. In the lañes of La Laguna, lined
with brambles and wild oats, the trail of that
affiicted group that carried the head of the
Guanche ' warrior to the valley of Taoro,
should be preservad.
81
Perhaps in the night, the echo oí the
weeping of Guajara might reach our ears.
More than once we have tried to see the
silhouette of the sorrowful widow on the
heights of the mountain which bears her
ñame, beaten by the winds on the mountain
crests, white, transparent, Hke a flake of
mist fretted by the sharp rocks.
But La Laguna lost itsclarity of a blue
unspoilt meadow and the sea- shore trembled
before a new life, full of surprises.
3.— History pEoceeds
It must not be forgotten that the Canary
Islands were the first overseas territories
held by Spain. This fact, significant in itself,
created a series of questions for Spain, of
an urgent nature. Questions which, on being
resolved, constituted a lesson which later
became very necessary to have been learn-ed.
The Canaries, in many ways, served as
an experience for the great enterprise of
conquest and colonization in America.
The Island had its colonizing phase, in
which, very often, the excesses of the con-querors
justly incited the natives. Fortunate-ly,
the natives always found understanding
and good dispositions in the Kings of Spain.
Without the farsightedness and sense of
• justice of the Catholic Sovereigns, the colo­nization
of Teneriffe might have presented
a different character. Soon after the conquest,
complaints reach the Court against Fernán­dez
de Lugo, for his conduct in regard to
• natives « improperly kept as prisoners » . In
1506 and 1508, the King of Spain ordered an
investigation into the conduct of the Gover-nor.
Serious charges were made against
him, not only because of his nepotism, but
also because of his arbitrary distributions
82
of lands and water, and his cruel treatment
and enslaving of the vanquished natives.
Nevertheless, after the conquest and
the assimilation of the primitive society by
the conquerors, the standard of living of the
people improved more rapidly than could
have been expected. In spite of everything,
the Cañarles is one of the few territories
where it is not possible to find a separating
barrier between the natives and the con-querors.
The immediate preocupation of thei
Governor was to créate wealth by fosteringí
an economy which did not exist, since the|
lands were virgin and only produced spon-|
taneously, He gave preference to increasingj
the supplies of water and to the making of^
roads. It is known that the first roads opened|
were those of Icod and Daute, Orotava anda
Santa Cruz. It was necessary also to give|
special attention to matters of interna! orderj
and administration. The people, were grad-|
ually brought to conform to traditional ins-|
titutions, adapted, of course, to the special|
circumstances of the islands. |
It is curious to note that Fernandez de¡
Lugo was granted special powers and privi-|
leges, typically mediaeval, with the titles of;
Forerunner, Goverhor and Chief Justice of ®
the Islands, with the right to make distribu-tion
of lands, appoint funtionaries and to
select the persons who might remain per-manently
in the territory conquered by him.
« But the Municipalities were established
with autonomy and on a liberal basis, in
imitation of the mediaeval Councils of Cas-tille
» . ( J. Peraza de Ayala).
The Governor divided the island into
three zohes or districts. La Laguna, Taoro
and Daute, and appointed to each an eccle-
83
siastical vicar, a military commander, a
commissary of the Holy Office, and a judge.
At first, few colonists came to the island,
although Lugo did everything possible to
attract them. When they began to come, the
Governor obhged them to fix their resi-dence
in lands assigned to them, which they
were prohibited from selHng within a period
of five years and he obhged them to bring
their wives. Later, ships of many nationali-ties
began to cali at Santa Cruz, initiating a
maritime traffic which considerably increas-ed
in volume as time went on. Genoese,
Flemish, EngHsh and Portuguese sailors,
besides many Spanish, animated this traffic.
The first port of the island was Santa Cruz
de Tenerife, in effect founded by the Gover­nor
on disembarking at Añaza in May 1494.
It was first a simple construction of three
steps for barges. In the last third of the XVI
century, Santa Cruz already possessed a
short quay, and although it is true that its
supremacy as a port was snatched away by
the ports of Garachico and La Orotava
— now Puerto de la Cruz— because of the
export trade in Tenerife wines from that
región, the port of Santa Cruz maintained
its traffic with the Península, Madeira, Lisbon
84
and the New World. The other two ports
were visitad by ships trading with England,
Franca and with westarn Europe generally.
For the insular traffic, ships of/ aifferent
sorts were built in the Island in the XVI cen-tury,
although some Spanish and Portuguese
ships were bought. And when the danger of
privateers created a constant alarm in the
Islands, armed ships were kept at the port
of Santa Cruz, for the purpose of resisting
the menace of pirates. Santa Cruz was the
only port in the Archipelago privileged to
trade with America. But its greatest develop-ment
carne when the port of Garachico was
destroyed in a volcanic catastrophe in the
XVIII century. In the last third of this centu-ry
— 1763— the first mail service was estab-lished
between Santa Cruz and Cádiz. In
the XIX century the port receiyed a great
Ímpetus, and towards the middle of that
century the first artificial prisms were used
in its further construction.
But Santa Cruz dé Tenerife progréssed
slower than such a port merited. For- politi-cal
rather than natural reasons, and perhaps
because the Governor, himself accustomed
to wide landscapes, preferred the fíat mea-dcws.
of La Laguna, ha chose that spot to
build the first city of the Island, as soon as
the initial consolidation of theconquastallow-ed
him. La Laguna became in time the
capital and seat of government of the island,
which was in the hands of a Cabildo, or
Council. For this reason, La Laguna grouped
around the Governor, all the men of quality:
aristocrats, captains of the conquering torces,
men of letters, high functionaries, etc. And
whilst this, city developed a stamp of distinc-tion,
Santa Cruz, inhabited by Guanches,
fishermen and stranger's, of low social con-
85
dition, lived as a dependency of La Laguna,
although acquiring a marked personality of
its own, as is today clearly revealed.
Today they are two citíes, in both of
which it is possible to discover their sepár­ate
development La Laguna, slow moving,
tnanorial, replete with traditions, with oíd
buildings that relate the history of the city.
Santa Cruz, dynamic, vivacious, formad by
contacts with the outside world which ap-proached
its door. La Laguna was the first
City built in the island as a quadrilateral, and
it can be said that the cities of America took
the city of La Laguna as a precedent. Santa
Cruz grew according to its commercial needs
and its economic development. For that very
reason, its urbanization was capricious,
creatina natural difficulties for later town
planners, like other cities which have grown
under jostling pressures and without any
preconceived plans. These are, therefore,
two cities that serve to illustrate the evolu-tion
of the island through time. What each
one was in the last third of the XVI century,
can be deduced trom the numbers of its
inhabitants: Of the 17,641 persons living in
the island in 1561, 7,200 resided in La Laguna,
and only 770 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The island soon grew sufficient agricul-tural
produce to export; new villages were
born over its diverse geography; churches
and convents were built, from the very
beginning, as well as parochial schools: Later
carne professorates of Latinity, the Arts,
Philosophy and Theology, in which subjects
the convents of La Laguna and La Orotava
gained fame. As time went on, a University
was created at La Lagung. Fortifications
were constructed at those points on the
coast most threatened by pirates, above all
86
in the coastal are of Santa Cruz, where a
number of castles, towers, batteries and
redoubts were built. As will be seen, its sit-uation
proclaimed already the part that it
would have to take as a vital spot in the
maritime routes that Europearv nations were
beginning to dispute.
Attracted by the growing importance
of the territory, nnany foreign traders settied
in Tenerife, and among them were an appre-ciable
contingent of Irish nationals. In 1509
the principal wealth of the island was sugar.
Towards the end of the XVII century, a regu­lar
and valuable trade in wines existed. Since-the
middle of the XVI century, cultivation
of the vine had become general, but it was
in the follow ing century that this cultivation
reached its greatest importance, directed by
an Englsh company trading in Canary Islands
wines, which was practically a monopoly,
but also assured the distribution of that
product to. European nnarkets. When that
company ceased to exist, for different rea-sons,
the export trade in wine dropped,
87
causing a general decline in external trade,
as a consequence of which the islands suf-fered
an economic collapse of extreme
gravity.
Whilst the island continued to increase
its agricultural production by amplifying its
áreas of cultivation and testing new crops,
it had to face dangers which, due to its island
situation, carne to it from outside. The black
death, pest, yellow fever and cholera, preyed
upon the unsuspecting inhabitants, century
after century. Filibusters and pirates made
easy the entry of outside penetrations, at-tracted
by covetousness of its privileged
position as an indispensable port of cali on
many maritime routes, and especially on
those directed to America.
These mortal epidemias came nearly
always from the West Indies, and the black
death, which was brought from Cuba in the
year 1.701, and which devastated the island,
is still remembered. The presence of corsairs
and pirates around the coast was almost
always due to the calling at Santa Cruz of
galleons and other vessels from America,
with valúa ble cargoes. Covetous winds filled
the sails of the pirates and an air of fear en-veloped
the inhabitants of the island. Attacks
became very dangerous from the second
half of the XVII century, although the two
strongest attacks took place in the XVIII
century. By the way these attacks were re-pulsed,
an historian has called this century
« the century of the Canary Islands'heroism » ,
because it was not only Tenerife, but the
whole Archipelago, that suffered the repeat-ed
visits of corsairs from the North.
At the end of April, 1657, the English
admiral, Blake, appeared before Santa Cruz
de Tenerife, with a fleet of 36 ships. A Span-
88
ish flotilla was anchored in the harbour,
composed of eleven ships, under the com-mand
of Diego de Eguez. On being attacked,
and fearing that his ships would fall into the
hands of the English, he set them on fire.
Blake, denied the prizes he had hoped to
take, and harassed by the fire from the
Coastal batteries, retired, after losing more
than 500 men, in his frustrated action.
In 1706, another attack, this time by
Gennings, proved the valour of the defenders.
And Gennings was oblíged to retire.
In 1797, Admiral Nelson presented
himself before Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He
lost his arm in the attack on the city, suf-fered
considerable material and human
losses, and abandoned the port without
gainíng his purpose. This one exploit is
enough to illustrate the hístory of a people,
and it meant for Tenerife the enriching of its
coat of arms with a new blazón.
But the XVIII century was for Tenerife
the century of its cultural enlightenment. In
that century, many of the fruits matured
which were brought from Spain with the
conquest, or with the colonization and the
island's subsequent intense immigration. Its
cióse contact with Europe brought to the
island all kinds of novelties, very soon after
they appeared; scientific and literary novel­ties,
novelties in fashions and in the salons.
The libraries on the island were being en-riched
with the most successfui and famous
works. In La Laguna there were debating
clubs, like that of the Marques de Villanueva
de! Prado, where the most varied topical
themes were discussed, as well as proposals
for the material and spiritual improvement
of Tenerife. Out of that club carne forth the
most important historiography produced in
the Archipelago, the « Historia General de
las Islas Canarias » , by J o s é de Viera y Cla-vijo,
which is still valued as a standard work.
To the isiands, gothic influences had
arrived, in images, both as ornaments and
as architectural details. Also an appreciable
plateresque message, which brought beauty
to the stones of the isiands. The pompous
baroque style appeared, influencing facades
and the carvings of images and altar pieces.
The breath of rococó was perceptible, and
90
one can follow the progress of neoclassicism,
which left so many notable marks on the art
of the islands. The XVIII century brottght to
the íslands- the distant air of Versailles, of
powdered wi ¿ s and dames of opulent beauty.
After which, romanticísm remaíned long in
the Islands, as had occurred with the baro-ques,
both of which styles appeared to find
in thís communíty a propíHous ground in
which to flourish. Architecture, painting,
sculpture, and poetry are a good proof of a
great capacity for assimilation in the islands,
and of creative powers- An architecture of
Spanish origin, but with a. Canary Islands
accent was created. And the same occurs
in the manifestations of their art in general
and in a special degree in their typical music,
and popular industries. What was called
colonial architecture in America had pre-viously
been practised in the Islands, and
spots in the oíd city of La Laguna, in La
Orotava, Puerto de la Cru2, Icod, and also
in the oíd port districts of Santa Cruz de
Tenerife — as well as in towns and villages
in the other islands— have the greatest
likeness to other spots which can be found
in colonial America.
If it is surprising to contémplate all that
has been done to the external aspect of the
islands in less than five centuries of their
history, more surprising still is all that has
been achíeved in the order of spíritual
progress. From the earliest times, the histofy
of Tenerife has received its impulse from its
conquerors, in which the Guanches collabo-rated
as they could. Islanders have shown
brilliance in the fields of science, of art, of
soldiery and of the Church. Those men des­cended
from' the stock of the conquerors,
but also from their unión with the natives.
91
And to lead forward a people from neolithic
darkness into the highest intellectual and
spiritual spheres, is an enterprise which suf-fices
in itself to iUuminate with the máximum
spiendour, the whole historical evolution of
Tenerife and of the Canary Islands in general.
And to pause to consider this fact is much
more important thandescending to conside-rations
of a different order, which because
of their excessively loca! character, do not
give such a wide and generous view as that
we have weakly portrayed.
Spain made the test in the Canaries,
on a small scale, of what later was to be
realised in America. For that reason, the
historical development of the Islands — Tene­rife
is only an example of what occurred in
the whole Archipelago should move us to
deep thoughts. Not always have the colon-izing
nations achieved such a success in
such a brief time. Here the neolithic man
has progressed, more through conviction
than by forcé. And what in other latitudes
might have signified a work of centuries and
the necessity of separating boundaries be-
92
tween the native population and the conque-rors,
in the island was achieved in a smooth
and tranquil manner.
4.— Man and terrain
Tenerife, an island of stone. Sloping
planes everywhere. The stone is in the soil.
The lava emerges over the landscapes. Man,
in order to dominate that ruggedness has
had to struggle and make violent efforts
unceasingly, to make the earth productive.
We have already seen the w'ild nature, al-most
intractable, of its broken topography
and diverse and changing terrain. To this is
added the intertropical situation of the island
that has given prevalence to legends of a
land of mysterious fertility. Man has had to
contend with rock, with lava and with sand.
He has turned up the beds of ravines, has
ploughed the slopes and built up terraces.
And on turning over the lava he has discov-ered,
with joy, the subjacent hurnus, soil
which in other parts received the light of
the sun. In the beds of the ravines he has
searched for stratas of alluvium and the
timid trickles of water which he has directed
carefully to his crops. In the wide valleys
that extend from the sea to the mountain
93
crests, he tested a whole series of different
crops, from those which give a tropical pulp
to those traditional agricultural products
proper to températe zones.
The rocks have given flowers and fruit.
The hard basalt has opened to offer the
bounty of cool and transparent founts of
water. The mountains have been perforated.
Let no- one deceive himself, on contemplating
the landscapes of Tenerife, that all this has
been given freely by the soil and the clima-te.
If these elements have done miradas,
the greatest miracie has been performed by
man. The sky is not prodigious in rains, and
where water is most needed, is where the
islanders have persisted in growing the most
exacting crops. Water, which has always
been a chief factor in the groupin^ of human
beings, was very scarce in the island. The
smali springs, the thin waterfalls down the
cliffs and slopes, served to congrégate pri-mitive
communities, but were not sufficient
to sustain a large population, and much less
to serve large plantations. Opening galleries
that penétrate for miles inte the mountain-sides,
in search of large subterranean de-posits
which collect rain water, the islanders
have, when accompanied by good fortune,
gene on creating wealth. This titanio effort
is not always crowned with success and fre-quently
such enterprises have to be aban-doned
after boring for thousands of metres,
and the search for water, so jealously hidden,
has to be renewed in other places. In Tener­ife
alone, more than 550 kilometres of water
galleries haven been perforated.
The search for subterranean water
supplies has brought with it a modification
of the landscape, because it has made pos-sible
a special cultivation, which is now the
94
basis of the islands" economy. Ordinary
crops are still grown, for the most part in
dry lands, watered by occasional rainfalls,
because small growers cannot afford the
expense of buying water.
In this sense, Tenerife offers two defi-nitely
dífferent beíts of cultivation: special
crops, that occupy the belt running from the
sea- shore up to 300 metres, and ordinary
crops sown on the médium heíght zones
and even at slightly higher altitudes.
When we spoke of Tenerife as an island
of two fronts, on drawing attention to the
differences of chmate, landscape and vege-tation
between the North and the South,
we alluded to a difference in agriculture.
The agriculture and therefore the economy
of eactj of these zones, are different. So
they were in primitive times. In the North,
the natives, maintained a pastoral existence,
but also occupied themselves with agricul­ture,
whilst in the South the primitive popu-lation
was extremely dispersed and led a
nomadic fife.
From all this, one deduces that nature
had to be conquered and that the earth,
instead of being a mother, might perhaps
be regarded more as a hard step- mother to
the islanders. « For these reasons, when
trying to establish the essential economic
conditions of the Canary Islands, one should
commence by stating that, contrary to what
might otherwise be believed, the islanders
have had to work very hard and very well
before their anxieties were rewarded with
the prosperous economy which they have
today achieved » .
But ' this^ has meant as many centuries
of effort as tKere are in the. Islands' history.
The inhabitants could not subsist by relying
only on traditional crops. It is true that there
is a type of farmer who limits his crops to
cereals or vines etc., as in other agricultural
cotnmunities. But the land in the islands did
not produce a sufficiency for an easy Ufe,
and as from the first moments of coloniza-tion,
new and even unknown crops were
tried out — the first being the sugar cañe—
the selection of suitable lands became a
necessity, as well as a división of labour in
agricultura. The agricíultural tiller, puré and
simple, continuad faithful to his fertile farm-iand,
but of necessity, the agricultural planter
was born, experimenting with virgin lands
and new plantations. And each of these
groups, over the years, humanised the lands-capes,
up the to point that great extensions
of the island — The Valley of La Orotava
serves as an example— only preserve their
topographical pattern whilst all the rest,
except the forests, is the work of man.'
The meteoric regions dilate around the
Teide, and except for the shrinkage suffered
in typical vegetation and the beginnings of
reafforestation with importad species, il can
be said that here tha natural landscape pre­servas
its original linas and its primitiva
96
chromatoáraphy. This also occurs in Las
Cañadas del Teide.
The meteorísed semi- arid lands have
been brought into use by man. These rest
upon layers pf lava or calcareous tufa. To
preserve the little humidíty they hold, íhey
are covered with layers of ¿ round pumice-stone
and, in the terraces treated in this
way, vines are grown. This type of cultivation
is known in many parts of the South.
In the semi- arid regions, above all in
the South- East and the South, tophus, or
calcareous tufa is found, whích man has not
yet exploited, because the breaking up of
this white sterile crust to convert into crop
producing land, is an altogether too costly
enterprise. White patches sterihse some
landscapes in the Valley of Güímar, as well
as in extensive zones of Adeje, Arona, Arico
and the coast of Granadilla.
In these same districís one finds wide
expanses of whitish landscapes composed
of pumice stone, ( lapilli), in which vines are
cultivated.
In thé zones watered by winter rains
which have a mediterranean climate, deep
formations of térra rossa can be found also
entotinbed beneath wide currents of lava.
Brown lanjds, containing vegetable mo-uld,
are found in the North of the island and
in part of the península of Anaga, but these
nearly always rest on oíd layers of calcare­ous
tufa.
This classification of the regions of
Tenerife, made by Hans Hausen, enables
US to see with greater clarity the work of
man in the different districts. Only the lands
of térra rossa and brown earth, attracted the
traditional agriculturalists, that is to say
those amongst the early colonists who only
knew how to grow vegetables, ceréals and
vines. The potato carne later. The remaining
lands, not so attractive, were worked by the
same class of agriculturalists, but although
they found them difficult, and churlish, they
set themselves to dominate them. That is
how the semi- desert lands strewn with cal-careous
tufa and pumice stone on the edges
of lava streams, were converted into small
patches and sloping terraces, which consti-tute
the heroic efforts of nrian in the South
of the island, compared ro his easier task
with the generous fertility of the North.
And it was in zones disdained at firsf
by the classical agriculturalists, where special
cultivation was tested. The usual farming
implements, of Román origin, went on sow-ing,
harvesting, thrashing and winnowing
as of oíd. And the peasants celebrated their
feasts and sang their folk songs as they had
done in remote times. The new cultivations
changed the landscapes, and, there, new
styles of working the land were adopted,
whilst , the noble implements of the past
were forgotten.
In this way Tenerife has been able to
show through the centuries of its history,
the conquest of its diverse lands, ¡ n an effort
that could not often be repeated. And it is
this effort which has brought to the island a
flourishing economy and its independence
in the world.
5.— Towns and víHages.
Rural communities came to life. Their
appearance had already been justified in
primitiva native communities. It can be af-firmed
almost as a certainty, that where villa-ges
appear today, a native community exist-ed
before. For that reason the villages are
on the margins or at the mouths of ravines,
on high hills, on raised ground near the
97
98
coast or, occasionally in the vicinity of what
was a pasture district. The only city establi-shed
artificially, without contact with a native
past, is La Laguna. The oíd capital was form­ad
at the mouth of the ravine, Barranco
de Santos, although the ravine itself was
populated by the Guanches of the región of
Anaga.
The greatest density and concentration
of people is found in the North and North­east,
and the greatest dispersión in the South
and Southeast. Men gathered in those parts
that had the colour and smell of earth, mois-tened
by winter rains and which could there-fore
sustain crops and cattle. La Laguna,
which was created by the personal decisión
of the first Governor, enjoyed, besides its
strategic position, the advantages of an open
countryside, an agricultural prelude of green
plains which anticipated the soft undulations
of growing wheat.
But in order to understand up to what
point men searched out the belt of land
typically agricultural and moist, it is sufficient
to know that of the 31 villages in the island,
19 are in that belt and only 12 are in the
South; that more than 20 are at levéis be-tween
300 and 700 metres, except one that
reaches almost up to 1,000 metres — Santia­go
del Teide, between the North and the
South—, and another as high as 1,500 me­tres
— Vilaflor, in the South—; two are be­tween
altitudes of 100 and 250 melres
— Buenavista and Icod de los Vinos— and
only four are on the sea- coast, Santa Cruz
de Tenerife, Puerto de la Cruz, Garachico
and San Juan de la Rambla, on the North,
and one other, Candelaria, on the South.
The majority of the villages in that
agricultural belt consist of from 2,000 to 7,000
inhabitants, both in the North and the South,
which indicates a secure and stable rhythm
of livelihood, almost without fluctuations.
The growth of some towns has been due
either to the existence of special crops, or
to their commercial activities.
Güímar, in the South, in a semi- arid
zone, has more than 10,000 inhabitants, but
this is because it has united the ordinary
farm workers with the planters. Icod de los
Vinos, with more than 17,000 inhabitants,
proclaims by its ñame the reason for its
flourishing life, besides being set in the best
banana growing zone. La Orotava, wifh
more than 20,000 inhabitants is the most
important centre of banana production in
the whole Archipelago. Puerto de la Cruz,
with more than 12,000 inhabitants, is situated
on the coast of the Vailey of La Orotava,
and although its growth began with the ex-port
of wines in the XVIII century, today it
is within the área of banana pjantations. In
the Vailey are also Los Realejos, Alto and
Bajo, which together have more than 15,000
inhabitants: these towns possess water, and
thrive on ordinary farm produce, and banana
plantations. Tacoronte, including El Sauzal,
100
( a cióse neighbouring village), which has
almost 10,000 inhabitants, depends principal-ly
on wine, possessing the best vine- fields
in the island. And finally, Santa Cruz, with
its port, through which pours all the com-merce
of imports and exports of the island,
making possible the vertiginous growth of
the City. It should be observed that not one
village in the South has a population of more
than 7,000.
The rural population greatly exceeds
that of the towns. And it is that population
which gives human character to the lands-capes.
In fact, one should not be too dazzled
by the large and splendid plantations of ba­nanas,
or even the temporary and extensive
plantations of tomatoes in the Southern
zones, where the virgin land is very generous
when it is watered; one should not become
too enchanted with the patches of colour
of the bougainvilleas, with the draping of
greenish yeilow of the sugar cañe - which is
still cultivated in the island —, or with the
exotic sihouette of the papaw- tree; all this
.. jiB, is not the island, although it helps to present
an appearance of mellowness and charm.
The real island is in that belt where the
farming communities continué to sing and
to produce as in the oíd days, with their
wheat fields and vines; the eternal bread
and wine. The island is the farmer's cottage,
with his farm implements resting in the
shade inside a shed; it is the thatched cot­tage;
the barn for stowing grain and the
small gardens of carefully kept plants, some
wild, around the homesteads. It is the quiet
peasant, who speaks slowly in a sweet
Castillian, as if suspended in time. It is the
humble hermitage that keeps oíd devotions
alive. It is the'little village in which everyone
is engaged in the same kind of work from
101
morning till night, from one year to another.
It is the smell of earth, and the smoke of
fragrant logs burning in the homes. It is the
rain in winter, and the sun that dries the
corn in summer.
And thus the towns and villages of
Tenerife were born and have evolved; first
by primitiva natives and then by the attract-ion
of the soil and its colours. It is the
passionate story of man groping for land,
grasping it in his hands, breathing its smell,
separating stones, and learning the hidden
virtues of its colours. Crossing the island
one ends by not knowing which is the most
extraordinary, whether the rapid progress
towards mature manners of living, or this
passionate possession of the soil. It must
have been the latter, because without that
possession, communities cannot thrive as
they do today, scattered throughout the
médium heights, from which they look out
with secular serenity over the vivacious map
of the island.
The Peacefulness of the villages is signatized by
the tall spires and belfríes of their churches
under the eaves of which swailows nest.
p
IRROODDUUCC E OF THE LAND
AND
HISÍORY OF lis AGRICULTURE
105
i.— In the beginning
From the first moments of the colonization, it
became necessary to find' in the land and in the
animal Hfe on it, the indispensable elements for
ensuring the sustenance of the newly formad popu-lation,
which, for natural reasons, tended to increase
rapidly. In view of the natura of the island and íts
charactaristic vegetation, it was the rocks, the forests
and certain agricultural products, which formed the
basis of the early export trade. Lichen off the rocks,
rasin from the pines, and timbar from tha forests.
Hides were also an important Ítem in the aarly ex­port
trada. There are official dispositions referring
to these exports as early as 1497.
Dragón blood preserved its prestige between
legend and mirada. It was regarded almost as a
magic drug in the Middle Ages, and the attention
of the early navigators was drawn to the existence
of this covatad product in tha hands of the nativas:
« Thay brought larga quantitias of figs and dragón
blood, to exchange for fishhooks, oíd places of iron
and sawing needles. The dragón blood thay brought
was worth two hundred gold doblas, and what they
raceived for it was hardly worth two francs » .
106
But perhaps the first producís of an intensive
exportation were pitch obtained from resin from
the pines, and lichen. Alread