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Name: Class: Date:

Chapter 11: Shareholders’ equity

1. Which of the following statements is not correct?
a. Capital has a specified reimbursement date.
b. Generally no return is guaranteed for capital providers.
c. Capital is an investment at risk that implies the investor’s participation (even nominal or virtual) in managerial
decision making.
d. Capital is provided by investors in exchange for a claim of the future returns of the business venture.
ANSWER: a

2. What are investors in a corporation called?

a. Partners b. Shareholders
c. Associates d. Proprietors
ANSWER: b

3. Whatever the legal organizational format, it is essential to separate private and business rights and responsibilities.
a. True b. False
ANSWER: a

4. In an uncorporated sole entrepreneurship, the liability of the entrepreneur is:

a. Limited to his contribution to the capital of the entity.
b. Unlimited.
c. Limited to the capital of the entity.
d. None of these
ANSWER: b

5. What action is necessary when capital is modified?

a. Public notice of modification
b. To conform to the rules defined in the business’s by-laws or their equivalent
c. Both a. and b.
d. Neither a. nor b.
ANSWER: c

6. Which of the following statements is false?

a. There is no need for the accounting and the reporting systems to separate economic transactions that concern
the business exclusively, from those that concern its individual or corporate capital providers.
b. A business represents a legal or economic entity that is separate from the individual or corporate capital
providers.
c. Any business must report on its economic activity by issuing periodic financial statements, even if only for tax
purposes.
d. If incorporated as a legal entity, a business can go to court, or be taken to court.
ANSWER: a

7. In a sole proprietorship, the single capital provider bears all the risks of the venture and holds claim to a percentage of
the future wealth creation of the business. What is this percentage?
a. 10% b. 25%
c. 50% d. 100%
Copyright Cengage Learning. Powered by Cognero. Page 1
Name: Class: Date:

Chapter 11: Shareholders’ equity

ANSWER: d

8. Which of the following statements about partnerships is not correct?

a. In many countries, a partnership is not incorporated.
b. Each of the partners is fully responsible for all the consequences of the actions of the business.
c. A partnership is a business with one or more owners
d. Partnership is best suited for a limited number of partners.
ANSWER: c

9. Limited liability companies have an obligation to report to their shareholders. An auditor is generally required to certify
that:
a. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the rules and requirements of the country.
b. The financial statements represent fairly the financial situation of the business.
c. Both a. and b.
d. Neither a. nor b.
ANSWER: c

10. What are the two types of limited liability companies distinguished by many countries?
a. Small and large limited companies
b. Private and public limited companies
c. National and international limited companies
d. Closed and open limited companies
ANSWER: b

11. Which of the following statements is not correct?

a. In public limited companies, a minimum number of capital providers is required, but no maximum is ever
specified.
b. When shares of public limited companies can be traded freely on open financial markets, these shares are
liquid and offer a preferred medium of investment for capital providers.
c. Most of the time, shares of public limited companies can be traded freely on open financial markets.
d. Each country’s legislation specifies a minimum amount of capital and this minimum is generally lower for
public limited companies than it is for the private limited companies.
ANSWER: d

12. Which right(s) is (are) held by each shareholder?

a. Influence management decision making by participating in and voting in general assembly meetings
b. Receive dividends and a proportionate share of any eventual liquidation surplus
c. First pass at acquiring additional shares (proportionately to the current holding) in the case of a new issue of
shares
d. All of these
ANSWER: d

13. What is the face value of a share known as?

a. Nominal value b. Par value
c. Either a. or b. d. Neither a. nor b.
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Name: Class: Date:

Chapter 11: Shareholders’ equity

ANSWER: c

14. Which of the following equations is correct?

a. Capital = Par value/Number of shares b. Capital = Number of shares/Par value
c. Capital = Number of shares × Par value d. Capital = Number of shares – Par value
ANSWER: c

15. The 2nd European Directive states that at least ____ of the capital needs to be handed over to the corporation upon
incorporation and initial issuance of shares.
a. 10% b. 25%
c. 50% d. 100%
ANSWER: b

16. Which of the following types of capital is defined as: ‘The fraction of the subscribed capital that the corporation’s
board decided to collect from the investors’?
a. Authorized capital b. Issued capital
c. Outstanding capital d. Called-up capital
ANSWER: d

17. Which of the following equations is correct?

a. Outstanding shares ≤ Authorized shares ≤ Issued shares
b. Outstanding shares ≤ Issued shares ≤ Authorized shares
c. Authorized shares ≤ Issued shares ≤ Outstanding shares
d. Issued shares ≤ Outstanding shares ≤ Authorized shares
ANSWER: b

18. Which of the following equations is correct?

a. Subscribed capital = Paid-in capital – Capital receivable – Uncalled capital
b. Subscribed capital = Paid-in capital + Capital receivable + Uncalled capital
c. Subscribed capital/Paid-in capital = Uncalled capital
d. Subscribed capital × Uncalled capital = Paid-in capital
ANSWER: b

19. Which of the following statements is not correct?

a. The special rights of preferred shares make them less attractive to purchase than ordinary shares.
b. The special rights of preferred shares can take many forms, which may combine pecuniary advantage and
different voting rights.
c. The basic idea behind preferred shares is that they allow capital to be raised without necessarily creating a
proportional dilution, or without creating a shift in stewardship away from the original shareholders.
d. Preferred shares generally represent a trade-off between return and control: either higher dividends but
reduced voting rights, or higher voting rights but lower returns.
ANSWER: a

20. When the special rights attached to preferred shares are only temporary, these shares may be:
a. Redeemable. b. Convertible.
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Name: Class: Date:

Chapter 11: Shareholders’ equity

c. Either a. or b. d. Neither a. nor b.
ANSWER: c

21. The voting power of a common shareholder is strictly proportional to the number of common shares she or he holds.
a. True b. False
ANSWER: a

22. According to IAS 1, which of the following items should be disclosed either on the balance sheet or in notes?
a. The number of shares authorized
b. The number of shares issued and fully paid, and issued but not fully paid
c. Par value per share, or that the shares have no par value
d. All of these
ANSWER: d

23. What happens to yearly earnings?

a. They are always retained in the business as retained earnings.
b. They are always distributed as dividends.
c. Some are retained in the business as retained earnings, and some are distributed as dividends.
d. None of these
ANSWER: c

24. In which of the following ways are dividends allocated?

a. Proportionately to the rights attached to the shares.
b. Discretionally by the board of directors.
c. Uppermost to the most important shareholders.
d. None of these
ANSWER: a

25. How often are dividends generally paid in most European countries?
a. Monthly b. Quarterly
c. Half-yearly d. Annually
ANSWER: d

26. In the United States, dividends are mostly paid to the shareholders by anticipation.
a. True b. False
ANSWER: a

27. Which of the following items is not a category of reserves?

a. Legal reserve b. Share reserve
c. Statutory reserve d. Revaluation reserve
ANSWER: b

28. How is a balance sheet presented?

a. Before profit appropriation b. After profit appropriation

Copyright Cengage Learning. Powered by Cognero. Page 4

Name: Class: Date:

Chapter 11: Shareholders’ equity

c. Either a. or b. d. Neither a. nor b.
ANSWER: c

29. Which of the following equations is correct?

a. Retained earnings (up to the end of previous period) – Net income (after tax) of the year – Dividends declared
– Transfers to reserves = Retained earnings (at year-end)
b. Retained earnings (up to the end of previous period) – Net income (after tax) of the year + Dividends declared
+ Transfers to reserves = Retained earnings (at year-end)
c. Retained earnings (up to the end of previous period) + Net income (after tax) of the year + Dividends declared
+ Transfers to reserves = Retained earnings (at year-end)
d. Retained earnings (up to the end of previous period) + Net income (after tax) of the year – Dividends declared
– Transfers to reserves = Retained earnings (at year-end)
ANSWER: d

30. In which situation(s) may shares be issued in return for something other than cash?
a. Shares can be issued in return for a capital contribution in kind.
b. New shares may be issued as the result of a capitalization of reserves.
c. New shares may be the result of the conversion by a creditor of their claim into shares.
d. All of these
ANSWER: d

31. What is it called when reserves are incorporated into the share capital?
a. Cancellation b. Incorporation
c. Capitalization d. Reservation
ANSWER: c

32. When the balance of the accumulated undistributed earnings becomes very large in proportion to the share capital, it
may be a good idea to incorporate all or part of the reserves into the capital. Why?
a. Because it may improve the liquidity of the shares if new shares are issued.
b. Because it increases the protection of creditors to a higher level of responsibility assumed by the shareholders.
c. Both a. and b.
d. Neither a. nor b.
ANSWER: c

33. After the incorporation of reserves in the share capital, the total book value of the shareholders’ equity is unchanged
but the number of shares or par value of shares has been modified.
a. True b. False
ANSWER: a

34. Incorporating a corporation or increasing its capital are operations that incur significant costs. These costs include
legal costs, auditors’ fees, bankers’ commissions, etc. How are the costs handled?
a. They are considered to be a period cost and recognized in the corresponding income statement
b. They are capitalized as an intangible asset and amortized.
c. They are written off against the total accumulated share premium.
d. All of these.
Copyright Cengage Learning. Powered by Cognero. Page 5
Name: Class: Date:

Chapter 11: Shareholders’ equity

ANSWER: d

35. For which of the following reason(s) might a corporation to reduce its capital?
a. To take into account the reality created by accumulated losses.
b. For cancellation of shares to acknowledge the reduction in the total liability assumed by the population of
shareholders because, for example, the business has repurchased its own shares.
c. Either a. or b.
d. Neither a. nor b.
ANSWER: c

36. A stock option plan is a motivational device in which the corporation grants employees the right to acquire a specified
personalized number of shares of the corporation at a predetermined invariant price and for a specified time window.
a. True b. False
ANSWER: a

37. When it distributes its dividends in the form of shares, the corporation has to record:
a. A capital increase b. A share premium
c. Both a. and b. d. Neither a. nor b.
ANSWER: c

38. IAS 1 states that an entity shall present a statement of changes in equity showing on the face of the statement:
a. Total comprehensive income for the period, showing separately the total amounts attributable to owners of the
parent and to non-controlling interests;.
b. For each component of equity, the effects of retrospective application or retrospective restatement recognized
in accordance with IAS 8.
c. For each component of equity, a reconciliation between the carrying amount at the beginning and the end of
the period, separately disclosing changes resulting from:
(i) profit or loss; (ii) each item of other comprehensive income; and (iii) transactions with owners in their
capacity as owners, showing separately contributions by and distributions to owners and changes in ownership
interests in subsidiaries that do not result in a loss of control.
d. All of these
ANSWER: d

39. How is the ratio return on equity calculated?

a. Net sales/Average equity b. Net income/Average equity
c. Taxable income/Average equity d. Financial income/Average equity
ANSWER: b

40. How is the equity ratio calculated?

a. Shareholders’ equity/Total assets b. Net income/Average equity
c. Total assets/Shareholders’ equity d. Average equity/Net income
ANSWER: a

41. How is the debt/equity ratio calculated?

a. Shareholders’ equity/Total assets b. Shareholders’ equity/Long-term debts
c. Total assets/Shareholders’ equity d. Long-term debts/Shareholders’ equity
Copyright Cengage Learning. Powered by Cognero. Page 6
Name: Class: Date:

Chapter 11: Shareholders’ equity

ANSWER: d

Copyright Cengage Learning. Powered by Cognero. Page 7

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Canary
Islands
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: The Canary Islands

Author: Florence Du Cane

Illustrator: Ella Du Cane

Release date: September 21, 2021 [eBook #66355]

Language: English

Original publication: GB: A. and C. Black Ltd

Credits: Fay Dunn, Fiona Holmes and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file
was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CANARY

ISLANDS ***
 Transcriber’s Notes.
In the Contents List, a V has been added to show VI.
Page 35 — swalwart changed to stalwart (two stalwart girls).
Page 41 — form changed to from (entirely hidden from our eyes).
Page 165 — iberty changed to liberty (“fly-flappers” were set at liberty).
Hyphenation has been standardised.
A PATIO
 THE
CANARY ISLANDS

BY FLORENCE DU CANE

WITH 16 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

IN COLOUR BY ELLA DU CANE

A. & C. BLACK LTD.

4, 5 & 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.1.

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

First published in 1911
 CONTENTS
PAGE

I
TENERIFFE 1

II
TENERIFFE (continued) 21

III
TENERIFFE (continued) 32

IV
TENERIFFE (continued) 50

V
TENERIFFE (continued) 68

VI
TENERIFFE (continued) 84

VII
TENERIFFE (continued) 93

VIII
GRAND CANARY 105

IX
GRAND CANARY (continued) 115

X
GRAND CANARY (continued) 127

XI
LA PALMA 136

XII
GOMERA 146

XIII
FUERTEVENTURA, LANZAROTE AND HIERRO 151

XIV
HISTORICAL SKETCH 160
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. A Patio Frontispiece
FACING PAGE

2. A Street in Puerto Orotava 16

3. The Peak, from Villa Orotava 21
4. Realejo Alto 28
5. Entrance to a Spanish Villa 49
6. Statices and Pride of Teneriffe 64
7. La Paz 69
8. Botanical Gardens, Orotava 76
9. El Sitio del Gardo 81
10. Convent of Sant Augustin, Icod de Los Vinos 96
11. An Old Balcony 113
12. A Banana Cart 117
13. An Old Gateway 124
14. The Canary Pine 128
15. San Sebastian 149
16. A Spanish Garden 156
Sketch Map at end of volume
 CANARY ISLANDS
I
TENERIFFE
Probably many people have shared my feeling of disappointment on
landing at Santa Cruz. I had long ago realised that few places come
up to the standard of one’s preconceived ideas, so my mental picture
was not in this case a very beautiful one; but even so, the utter
hideousness of the capital of Teneriffe was a shock to me.
Unusually clear weather at sea had shown us our first glimpse of the
Peak, rising like a phantom mountain out of the clouds when 100
miles distant, but as we drew nearer to land the clouds had
gathered, and the cone was wrapped in a mantle of mist. There is
no disappointment attached to one’s first impression of the Island as
seen from the sea. The jagged range of hills seemed to come sheer
down to the coast, and appeared to have been torn and rent by
some extraordinary upheaval of Nature; the deep ravines (or
barrancos as I afterwards learnt to call them) were full of dark blue
mysterious shadows, a deeply indented coast-line stretched far away
in the distance, and I thought the land well deserved to be called
one of the Fortunate Islands.
Santa Cruz, or to give it its full title, Santa Cruz de Santiago, though
one of the oldest towns in the Canaries, looked, as our ship glided
into the harbour, as though it had been built yesterday, or might
even be still in course of construction. Lying low on the shore the flat
yellow-washed houses, with their red roofs, are thickly massed
together, the sheer ugliness of the town being redeemed by the
spires of a couple of old churches, which look down reprovingly on
the modern houses below. Arid slopes rise gradually behind the
town, and appear to be utterly devoid of vegetation. Perched on a
steep ridge is the Hotel Quisisana, which cannot be said to add to
the beauty of the scene, and all my sympathy went out to those who
were condemned to spend a winter in such desolate surroundings in
search of health.
Probably no foreign town is entirely devoid of interest to the
traveller. On landing, the picturesque objects which meet the eye
make one realise that once one’s foot has left the last step of the
gangway of the ship, England and everything English has been left
behind. The crowd of swarthy loafers who lounge about the quay in
tight yellow or white garments, are true sons of a southern race, and
laugh and chatter gaily with handsome black-eyed girls. Sturdy
country women are settling heavy loads on their donkeys,
preparatory to taking their seat on the top of the pack for their
journey over the hills. Their peculiar head-dress consists of a tiny
straw hat, no larger than a saucer, which acts as a pad for the loads
they carry on their heads, from which hangs a large black
handkerchief either fluttering in the wind, or drawn closely round the
shoulders like a shawl.
Here and there old houses remain, dating from the days when the
wine trade was at its zenith, and though many have now been
turned into consulates and shipping offices, they stand in reproachful
contrast to the buildings run up cheaply at a later date. Through
many an open doorway one gets a glimpse of these cool spacious
old houses, whose broad staircases and deep balconies surround a
shady patio or court-yard. On the ground floor the wine was stored
and the living rooms opened into the roomy balconies on the first
floor. Here and there a small open Plaza, where drooping pepper
trees shade stone seats, affords breathing-space, but over all and
everything was a thick coating of grey dust, which gave a squalid
appearance to the town. Narrow ill-paved streets, up which struggle
lean, over-worked mules, dragging heavy rumbling carts, lead out of
the town, and I was thankful to shake the dust of Santa Cruz off my
feet; not that one does, as unless there has been very recent rain
the dust follows everywhere. An electric tramway winds its way up
the slopes behind the town at a very leisurely pace, giving one
ample time to survey the scene.
The only vegetation which looks at home in the dry dusty soil is
prickly pear, a legacy of the cochineal culture. In those halcyon days
arid spots were brought into cultivation and the cactus planted
everywhere. In the eighteenth century the islanders had merely
regarded cochineal as a loathsome form of blight, and it was
forbidden to be landed for fear it should spoil their prickly pears, but
prejudice was overcome, and when it was realised that a possible
source of wealth was to be found in the cultivation of the cactus,
Opuntia coccinellifera, which is the most suited to the insect, the
craze began. Land was almost unobtainable; the amount of labour
was enormous which was expended in breaking up the lava to reach
the soil below, in terracing hills wherever it was possible to terrace;
property was mortgaged to buy new fields; in fact, the islanders
thought their land was as good as a gold-mine. The following figures
are given by Mr. Samler Brown to show the extraordinary rapidity
with which the trade developed. “In 1831 the first shipment was 8
lb., the price at first being about ten pesetas a lb.; in ten years it had
increased to 100,566 lb., and in 1869 the highest total, 6,076,869
lb., with a value of £789,993.” The rumour of the discovery of aniline
dyes alarmed the islanders, but for a time they were not sufficiently
manufactured seriously to affect the cochineal trade, though the fall
in prices began to make merchants talk of over-production. The
crisis came in 1874, when the price in London fell to 1s. 6d. or 2s.,
and the ruin to the cochineal industry was a foregone conclusion.
Aniline dyes had taken the public taste, and though cochineal has
been proved to be the only red dye to resist rain and hard wear, the
demand is now small, and merchants who had bought up and stored
the dried insect were left with unsaleable stock on their hands.
Retribution, we are told, was swift, sudden, and universal, and the
farmer who had spent so much on bringing land into cultivation foot
by foot, realised that the cactus must be rooted up or he must face
starvation.
Possibly there are many other people as ignorant as I was myself on
my first visit to the Canaries on the subject of cochineal. Beyond the
fact that cochineal was a red dye and used occasionally as a
colouring-matter in cooking, I could not safely have answered any
question concerning it. I was much disgusted at finding that it is
really the blood of an insect which looks like a cross between a
“wood-louse” and a “mealy-bug,” with a fat body rather like a
currant. The most common method of cultivation, I believe, was to
allow the insect to attach itself to a piece of muslin in the spring,
which was then laid on to a box full of “mothers” in a room at a very
high temperature.
The muslin was then fastened on to the leaf of the cactus by means
of the thorns of the wild prickly pear. When once attached to the leaf
the madre cannot move again. There were two different methods of
killing the insect to send it to market, one by smoking it with sulphur
and the other by shaking it in sacks. A colony of the insects on a
prickly pear leaf looks like a large patch of lumpy blight, most
unpleasant, and enough to make any one say they would never
again eat anything coloured with cochineal.
This terraced land is now cultivated with potatoes and tomatoes for
the English market, but the shower of gold in which every one
shared in the days of the cochineal boom is no more, though the
banana trade in other parts of the island seems likely to revive those
good old days.
La Laguna, about five miles above Santa Cruz, is one of the oldest
towns in Teneriffe; it was the stronghold of the Guanches and the
scene of the most desperate fighting with the Spanish invaders. To-
day it looks merely a sleepy little town, but can boast of several fine
old churches, besides the old Convente de San Augustin which has
been turned into the official seat of learning, containing a very large
public library, and the Bishop’s Palace which has a fine old stone
façade. The cathedral appears to be in a perpetual state of repairing
or rebuilding, and though begun in 1513 is not yet completed. One
of the principal sights of La Laguna is the wonderful old Dragon tree
in the garden of the Seminary attached to the Church of Santo
Domingo, of which the age is unknown. The girth of its trunk speaks
for itself of its immense age, and I was not surprised to hear that
even in the fifteenth century it was a sufficiently fine specimen to
cause the land on which it stood to be known as “the farm of the
Dragon tree.”
Foreigners regard the town chiefly as being a good centre for
expeditions, which, judging by the list in our guide-book, are almost
innumerable. One ride into the beautiful pine forest of La Mina
should certainly be undertaken, and unless the smooth clay paths
are slippery after rain the walking is easy. After a long stay in either
Santa Cruz or even Orotava, where large trees are rare, there is a
great enchantment in finding oneself once more among forest trees,
and what splendid trees are these native pines, Pinus canariensis,
and in damp spots one revels in the ferns and mosses, which form
such a contrast to the vegetation one has grown accustomed to.
Alexander von Humboldt who spent a few days in Teneriffe, on his
way to South America, landing in Santa Cruz on June 19, 1799, was
much struck by the contrast of the climate of La Laguna to that of
Santa Cruz. The following is an extract from his account of the
journey he made across the island in order to ascend the Peak: “As
we approached La Laguna, we felt the temperature of the
atmosphere gradually become lower. This sensation was so much
the more agreeable, as we found the air of Santa Cruz very
oppressive. As our organs are more affected by disagreeable
impressions, the change of temperature becomes still more sensible
when we return from Laguna to the port, we seem then to be
drawing near the mouth of a furnace. The same impression is felt
when, on the coast of Caracas, we descend from the mountain of
Avila to the port of La Guayra.... The perpetual coolness which
prevails at La Laguna causes it to be regarded in the Canaries as a
delightful abode.
“Situated in a small plain, surrounded by gardens, protected by a hill
which is crowned by a wood of laurels, myrtles and arbutus, the
capital of Teneriffe is very beautifully placed. We should be mistaken
if, relying on the account of some travellers, we believed it rested on
the border of a lake. The rain sometimes forms a sheet of water of
considerable extent, and the geologist, who beholds in everything
the past rather than the present state of nature, can have no doubt
but that the whole plain is a great basin dried up.”
“Laguna has fallen from its opulence, since the lateral eruptions of
the volcano have destroyed the port of Garachico, and since Santa
Cruz has become the central point of the commerce of the island. It
contains only 9000 inhabitants, of whom nearly 400 are monks,
distributed in six convents. The town is surrounded with a great
number of windmills, which indicate the cultivation of wheat in these
higher countries....”
“A great number of chapels, which the Spaniards call ermitas,
encircle the town of Laguna. Shaded by trees of perpetual verdure,
and erected on small eminences, these chapels add to the
picturesque effect of the landscape. The interior of the town is not
equal to the external appearance. The houses are solidly built but
very antique, and the streets seem deserted. A botanist should not
complain of the antiquity of the edifices, as the roofs and walls are
covered with Canary house leek and those elegant trichomanes
mentioned by every traveller. These plants are nourished by the
abundant mists....”
“In winter the climate of Laguna is extremely foggy, and the
inhabitants complain often of the cold. A fall of snow, however, has
never been seen, a fact which may seem to indicate that the mean
temperature of this town must be above 15° R., that is to say higher
than that of Naples....”
“I was astonished to find that M. Broussonet had planted in the
midst of this town in the garden of the Marquis de Nava, the bread-
fruit tree (Artocarpus incise) and cinnamon trees (Laurus
cinnamonum). These valuable productions of the South Sea and the
East Indies are naturalised there as well as at Orotava.”
The most usual route to Tacoronte en route to Orotava, the ultimate
destination of most travellers, is by the main road or carretera,
which reaches the summit of the pass shortly after leaving La
Laguna, at a height of 2066 feet. The redeeming feature of the
otherwise uninteresting road is the long avenue of eucalyptus trees,
which gives welcome shade in summer. If time and distance are of
no account, and the journey is being made by motor, the lower road
by Tejina is far preferable. The high banks of the lanes are crowned
with feathery old junipers, in spring the grassy slopes are gay with
wild flowers, and here and there stretches of yellow broom
(spartium junceum) fill the air with its delicious scent. Turns in the
road reveal unexpected glimpses of the Peak on the long descent to
the little village of Tegueste, and below lies the church of Tejina,
only a few hundred feet above the sea. Here the road turns and
ascends again to Tacoronte, and the Peak now faces one, the cone
often rising clear above a bank of clouds which covers the base.
At Tacoronte the tram-line ends and either a carriage or motor takes
the traveller over the remaining fifteen miles down through the
fertile valley to Puerto Orotava. The valley is justly famous for its
beauty, and in clear winter weather, when the Peak has a complete
mantle of snow, no one can refrain from exclaiming at the beauty of
the scene, when at one bend of the road the whole valley lies
stretched at one’s feet, bathed in sunshine and enclosed in a semi-
circle of snow-capped mountains. The clouds cast blue shadows on
the mountain sides, and here and there patches of white mist sweep
across the valley; the dark pine woods lie in sharp contrast to the
brilliant colouring of the chestnut woods whose leaves have been
suddenly turned to red gold by frost in the higher land. In the lower
land broad stretches of banana fields are interspersed with ridges of
uncultivated ground, where almond, fig trees and prickly pears still
find a home, and clumps of the native Canary palm trees wave their
feathery heads in the wind. Small wonder that even as great a
traveller as Humboldt was so struck with the beauty of the scene
that he is said to have thrown himself on his knees in order to salute
the sight as the finest in the world. Without any such extravagant
demonstration as that of the great traveller, it is worth while to stop
and enjoy the view; though, to be sure, carriages travel at such a
leisurely rate in Teneriffe, one has ample time to survey the scene.
The guardian-angel of the valley—the Peak—dominates the broad
expanse of land and sea, in times of peace, a placid broad white
pyramid. But at times the mountain has become angry and waved a
flaming sword over the land, and for this reason the Guanches
christened it the Pico de Teide or Hell, though they appear to have
also regarded it as the Seat of the Deity.
Humboldt himself describes the scene in the following words: “The
valley of Tacoronte is the entrance into that charming country, of
which travellers of every nation have spoken with rapturous
enthusiasm. Under the torrid zone I found sites where Nature is
more majestic and richer in the display of organic forms; but after
having traversed the banks of the Orinoco, the Cordilleras of Peru,
and the most beautiful valleys of Mexico, I own that I have never
beheld a prospect more varied, more attractive, more harmonious in
the distribution of the masses of verdure and rocks, than the
western coast of Teneriffe.
“The sea-coast is lined with date and cocoa trees; groups of the
musa, as the country rises, form a pleasing contrast with the dragon
tree, the trunks of which have been justly compared to the tortuous
form of the serpent. The declivities are covered with vines, which
throw their branches over towering poles. Orange trees loaded with
flowers, myrtles and cypress trees encircle the chapels reared to
devotion on the isolated hills. The divisions of landed property are
marked by hedges formed of the agave and the cactus. An
innumerable number of cryptogamous plants, among which ferns
most predominate, cover the walls, and are moistened by small
springs of limpid water.
“In winter, when the volcano is buried under ice and snow, this
district enjoys perpetual spring. In summer as the day declines, the
breezes from the sea diffuse a delicious freshness....
“From Tegueste and Tacoronte to the village of San Juan de la
Rambla (which is celebrated for its excellent Malmsey wine) the
rising hills are cultivated like a garden. I might compare them to the
environs of Capua and Valentia, if the western part of Teneriffe were
not infinitely more beautiful on account of the proximity of the Peak,
which presents on every side a new point of view.
“The aspect of this mountain is interesting, not merely from its
gigantic mass; it excites the mind, by carrying it back to the
mysterious source of its volcanic agency. For thousands of years no
flames or light have been perceived on the summit of the Piton,
nevertheless enormous lateral eruptions, the last of which took place
in 1798, are proofs of the activity of a fire still far from being
extinguished. There is also something that leaves a melancholy
impression on beholding a crater in the centre of a fertile and well-
cultivated country. The history of the globe tells us that volcanoes
destroy what they have been a long series of ages in creating.
Islands which the action of submarine fires has raised above the
water, are by degrees clothed in rich and smiling verdure; but these
new lands are often laid waste by the renewed action of the same
power which caused them to emerge from the bottom of the ocean.
Islets, which are now but heaps of scoriæ and volcanic ashes, were
once perhaps as fertile as the hills of Tacoronte and Sauzal. Happy
the country where man has no distrust of the soil on which he lives.”
 A STREET IN PUERTO OROTAVA

Low on the shore lies the little sea-port town of Orotava, known as
the Puerto to distinguish it from the older and more important Villa
Orotava lying some three miles away inland, at a higher altitude.
Further along the coast is San Juan de la Rambla, and on the lower
slopes of the opposite wall of the valley are the picturesque villages
of Realejo Alto and Bajo, while Icod el Alto is perched at the very
edge of the dark cliffs of the Tigaia at a height of about 1700 ft. A
gap in the further mountain range is known as the Portillo, the
Fortaleza rises above this “gateway,” and from this point begins the
long gradual sweep of the Tigaia, which, from the valley, hides all
but the very cone of the Peak. Above Villa Orotava towers Pedro Gil
and the Montaña Blanca, with the sun glittering on its freshly fallen
snow, and near at hand are the villages of Sauzal, Santa Ursula,
Matanza and La Victoria.
Though Humboldt describes them as “smiling hamlets,” he
comments on their names which he says are “mingled together in all
the Spanish colonies, and they form an unpleasing contract with the
peaceful and tranquil feelings which these countries inspire.
“Matanza signifies slaughter, or carnage, and the word alone recalls
the price at which victory has been purchased. In the New World it
generally indicates the defeat of the natives; at Teneriffe the village
Matanza was built in a place where the Spaniards were conquered
by those same Guanches who soon after were sold as slaves in the
markets of Europe.”
In early winter the terraced ridges, which are cultivated with wheat
and potatoes, are a blot in the landscape, brown and bare, but in
spring, after the winter rains, these slopes will be transformed into
sheets of emerald green, and it is then that the valley looks its best.
For a few days, all too few, the almond trees are smothered with
their delicate pale pink blooms, but one night’s rain or a few hours’
rough wind will scatter all their blossoms, and nothing will remain of
their rosy loveliness but a carpet of bruised and fallen petals.
The valley soon reveals traces of the upheavals of Nature in a
bygone age; broad streams of lava, which at some time poured
down the valley, remain grey and desolate-looking, almost devoid of
vegetation, and the two cinder heaps or fumaroles resembling huge
blackened mole-hills, though not entirely bare, cannot be admired.
No one seems to know their exact history or age, but it appears
pretty certain that they developed perfectly independently of any
eruption of the Peak itself, though perhaps not “growing in a single
night,” as I was once solemnly assured they had done. One theory,
which sounded not improbable, was that the bed of lava on which
several English villas, the church and the Grand Hotel have been
built, was originally spouted out of one of these cinder heaps, and
the hill on which the hotel stands was in former days the edge of the
cliff. The lava is supposed to have flowed over the edge and
accumulated to such a depth in the sea below that it formed the
plateau of low-lying ground on which the Puerto now stands.
The little town is not without attraction, though its streets are dusty
and unswept, being only cleaned once a year, in honour of the Feast
of Corpus Christi, on which day at the Villa carpets of elaborate
design, arranged out of the petals of flowers, run down the centre of
the streets where the processions are to pass. My first impression of
the town was that it appeared to be a deserted city, hardly a foot
passenger was to be seen, and my own donkey was the only beast
of burden in the main street of the town. Gorgeous masses of
bougainvillea tumbled over garden walls, and glimpses were to be
seen through open doorways of creeper-clad patios. The carved
balconies with their little tiled roofs are inseparable from all the old
houses, more or less decorated according to the importance of the
house. The soft green of the woodwork of the houses, and more
especially of the solid green shutters or postijos, behind which the
inhabitants seem to spend many hours gazing into the streets, was
always a source of admiration to me. The main street ends with the
mole, and looking seawards the surf appears to dash up into the
street itself. The town wakes to life when a cargo steamer comes
into the port, and then one long stream of carts, drawn by the finest
oxen I have ever seen, finds its way to the mole, to unload the
crates of bananas which are frequently sold on the quay itself to the
contractors.
THE PEAK, FROM VILLA OROTAVA
 II
TENERIFFE (continued)
About a thousand feet above the Puerto de Orotava, on the long
gradual slope which sweeps down from Pedro Gil forming the valley
of Orotava, lies the villa or town of Orotava. This most picturesque
old town is of far more interest than the somewhat squalid port,
being the home of many old Spanish families, whose beautiful
houses are the best examples of Spanish architecture in the
Canaries. Besides their quiet patios, which are shady and cool even
on the hottest summer days, the exterior of many of the houses is
most beautiful. The admirable work of the carved balconies and
shutters, the iron-work and carved stone-work cannot fail to make
every one admire houses which are rapidly becoming unique. The
Spaniards have, alas! like many other nations, lost their taste in
architecture, and the modern houses which are springing up all too
quickly make one shudder to contemplate. Some had been built to
replace those which had been burnt, others were merely being built
by men who had made a fortune in the banana trade. Not satisfied
with their old solid houses, with their fine old stone doorways and
overhanging wooden balconies, they are ruthlessly destroying them
to build a fearsome modern monstrosity, possibly more comfortable
to live in, but most offending to the eye. The love of their gardens
seems also to be dying out, and as I once heard some one
impatiently exclaim, “They have no soul above bananas,” and it is
true that the culture of bananas is at the moment of all-absorbing
interest.
Though the patios of the houses may be decked with plants, the air
being kept cool and moist by the spray of a tinkling fountain, many
of the little gardens at the back of these old family mansions have
fallen into a sad state of disorder and decay. The myrtle and box
hedges, formerly the pride of their owners, are no longer kept trim
and shorn, and the little beds are no longer full of flowers. One
garden remains to show how, when even slightly tended, flowers
grow and flourish in the cooler air of the Villa. In former days a giant
chestnut tree was the pride of this garden, only its venerable trunk
now remains to tell of its departed glories; but the poyos (double
walls) are full of flowers all the year, and the native Pico de paloma
(Lotus Berthelotii) flourishes better here than in any other garden; it
drapes the walls and half smothers the steps and stone seats with its
garlands of soft grey-green, and in spring is covered with its deep
red “pigeons’ beaks.” The walls are gay with stocks, carnations,
verbenas, lilies, geraniums, and hosts of plants. Long hedges of
Libonia floribunda, the bandera d’España of the natives, as its red
and yellow blossoms represent the national colours of Spain, line the
entrance, and in unconsidered damp corners white arum lilies grow,
the rather despised orejas de burros, or donkeys’ ears, of the
country people, who give rather apt nick-names to not only flowers,
but people.
Though the higher-class Spaniards are a most exclusive race, I met
with nothing but civility from their hands when asking permission to
see their patio or gardens; as much cannot be said for the middle
and lower classes of to-day, who are distinctly anti-foreign. The
lower classes appear to regard an incessant stream of pennies as
their right, and hurl abuse or stones at your head when their
persistent begging is ignored, and even tradesmen are often insolent
to foreigners. A spirit of independence and republicanism is very
apparent. An employer of labour can obviously keep no control over
his men, who work when they choose, or more often don’t work
when they don’t choose, and the mother or father of a family keeps
no control over the children. One day I asked our gardener why he
did not send his children to school to learn to read and write, as he
was deploring that he could not read the names of the seeds he was
sowing. I thought it was a good moment to point a moral, but he
shrugged his shoulders, and said they did not care to go, and also
they had no shoes and could not go to school barefoot. The man
was living rent free, earning the same wages as an average English
labourer, and two sons in work contributed to the expenses of the
house, besides the money he got for the crop on a small piece of
land which the whole family cultivated on Sundays, and still he could
not afford to provide shoes in order that his children should learn to
read and write. Another man announced with pride that one of his
children attended school. Knowing he had two, I inquired, “Why only
one?” On which he owned that the other one used to go, but now
she refused to do so, and neither he nor his wife could make her go.
This independent person was aged nine!
One of the great curiosities of the Villa was the great Dragon Tree,
and though it stands no more, visitors are still shown the site where
it once stood and are told of its immense age. Humboldt gave the
age of the tree at the time of his visit as being at least 6000 years,
and though this may have been excessive, there is no doubt that it
was of extreme age. It was blown down and the remains
accidentally destroyed by fire in 1867, and only old engravings
remain to tell of its wondrous size. The hollow trunk was large
enough for a good-sized room or cave, and in the days of the
Guanches, when a national assembly was summoned to create a
new chief or lord, the meeting place was at the great Dragon Tree.
The land on which it stood was afterwards enclosed and became the
garden of the Marques de Sauzal.
The ceremony of initiating a lord was a curious one, and the
Overlord of Taoro (the old name of Orotava), was the greatest of
these lords, having 6000 warriors at his command. Though the
dignity was inherited, it was not necessary that it should pass from
father to son, and more frequently passed from brother to brother.
“When they raised one to be lord they had this custom. Each
lordship had a bone of the most ancient lord in their lineage
wrapped in skins and guarded. The most ancient councillors were
convoked to the ‘Tagoror,’ or place of assembly. After his election the
king was given this bone to kiss. After having kissed it he put it over
his head. Then the rest of the principal people put it over his
shoulder, and he said, ‘Agoñe yacoron yñatzahaña Chacoñamet’ (I