thirty thouſand pipes of wine in a year. As it does not produce a ſufficient quantity of corn for the conſumption of the inhabitants, a part of the produce of the wines, which are ſold to ſtrangers as Madeira wine (and indeed they differ very little from it in quality), is expended in the purchaſe of this indiſpenſably neceſſary article of ſuſtenance.
Although the olive thrives very well in this iſland, it is very little cultivated. The different ſpecies of the palm-tree that are to be met with in ſome of the gardens, are cultivated only for curioſity.
We had been aſſured, before our departure from St. Croix, that we ſhould find the ſummit of the peak already covered with ſnow. I had not thought it neceſſary to take a barometer with me at ſetting out; but I found at Orotava that I had been led into a miſtake; and there I was unable to procure this inſtrument of obſervation.[1]
We purpoſed to proceed very early the next morning on our journey. But that happened to
- ↑ We read, in the account of the Voyage of La Pérouſe, that when the ſhip lay at anchor in the road of St. Croix, the mercury, in the barometer that Lamanon had taken with him, fell at the peak of Teneriffe to 18 inches 4 lines, whilſt the thermometer indicated 9⅔° above 0, though, at the ſame moment of time, the barometer ſtood, at St. Croix, at 28 inches 3 lines, and the thermometer at 24½°.
be
