The Republican journal., 1902-01-09

Climate in the World and OF the
Most Beautiful scenery.
Special Correspondence of The Journal.l
SANTA CRUZ, ISLAND OF TENE-
RIFE. Canary archipelago, Dec. 1st,
1901 Were old Plutarch telling of
these islands to-day, he would give
them any other cognomen than that by
which they were known to the ancients
Isles of the Curst would be more APP
propriate, after more than five hundred
years of Spanish misrule and system
OF taxation which has made pauperS of
its people. Especially in recent years,
the unnatural mother-country grinds
closer and closer what little grist re-
mains, in order to pay War-debts and
make up for her lost sources of revenue
4. cuba, Porto Rico and the Philip
pines. But there is no denying that
igGt is climate and scenery quite beau
.tul enough to Justify Homers tale of
thr Elysian Fields. The over-shadow-
ul peak of Teneriffe, for example,
which towers close behind this port of
tlc Holy Cross, is one of the most i'm
posing landmarks on the globe. Its
..-It above the sea is only about l2,-
teet, but remembering that the
J Itself is a mountain, springing
almost perpendicularly from the bot
t.a The ocean, six miles below, one
~ateiy dott ones hat to Teneritfe
fh lottiest peak in the world. Com
l to it Mount Blanc is pigmy,
... totopaXi, Chimborazo, kinchin-
d and other banner mountains
udIe 10 the commonplace. The
of Teneriffe form as regular a
.-a1-loat as if cut by hand OF rather,
9achinery; the side of the cone is in
. proportion to its height, and its
I is a circular wall of rock. enclosing
..- ~ the largest craters known to
-.a1 While all the Canary Islands are
mic and show traces of compari-
.H.- recent volcanic action, Tene-
.i.= IS the only one which still con-
ruues in eruption. The great crater
mare than a hundred feet deep and
5.- across, has been quiescent ever
-l.,t he island was rediscovered by
Eopeans. early in the fourteenth
.-tJary: but i'll scores of places on the
-uutain sides are small craters which
u4rlnually emit sulphurous steam and
.lsss and occasionally throw out small
uutities of lava. In the course of CEN
tUrns people have become accustomed
t.,fuese threatenings and give them lit
O. heed. hut it is not impossible that
villages at the base of Teneritfe
mavoue day share the fate of those
..-- grew careless Of Y esuviuS warn
ftu sail into the bay of Santa Cruz
WH. expectation on tiptoe, remember
H that Baron Humboldt, the greatest
s1veEeIS. declared that there is the
..4t mountain scenery in the world.
iu- except on very rare days, you are
to be disappointed III the first
...V # Tenerfte. Instead Of the
eidme cone which Imagination has
.- rttd looming white and spire-lke
a-a nsl the azure Sky, you get only fit
Iu rlnupSes between riffs i'll the clouds
of what looks like a square block of
mountain. duli-gray and unattractive.
lAe northeast trade-Winds, which pre-
s4 here most OF the year, produce a
dense stratum of sea-cloud, a thousand
.--J tAick. whose lower surface is two
three hundred feet above the water
around Santa Cruz bay. This impene-
}aule veil does not reach up to the
fountains, however, which have
W5ther cloud-stratum of their own
u--uning about three hundred feet
@a0Te sea level.
Between these two distinct strata Of
cloud there is a gap, constantly open
Ing ard closing. through which, from
-te deck Of an approaching steamer,
gJ. obtain only tieeting views of the
middle mountains, but not the slightest
Int Of the upper heights.
ON our first visit to Teneriffe, made
-Yeral years ago, we were exception
Iy fortunate in being treated to a
'ief but glorious spectacle such as
mariners seldom see, though they fire.
lDent these waters half their lives 1t
Vas late in the afternoon when we
'scontentedly dropped anchor in the
harbor of Santa Cruz, having been
getused permission to land until the
GLOWING day. Just as the sun sank
ne!ow the western horizon into a
bed of crimson and gold, with fan
shaped decorations in greenish- blue
primrose and amethyst. the cloud
curtains opposite were suddenly swept
aside, as by invisible hands, disclosing
mountains rising above mountains il
ever ascending scale, to the extreme
summit of the great white-cone, clea,
out against the sky. The snow-whitt
opire flushed rosy red for moment
rejecting the blaze of glory in the west
and then the cloud-curtains came to