Austria-Hungary, including Dalmatia, Bosnia, Bucharest, Belgrade, and Montenegro. With 71 Maps, 77 Plans, and 2 Panoramas. Eleventh edition. 1911

The Eastern Alps, including the Bavarian Highlands, Tyrol, Salzburg, Upper and Lower Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. With 73 Maps, 16 Plans, and 11 Panoramas. Twelfth edition. 1911

Belgium and Holland, including the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. With 19 Maps and 45 Plans. Fifteenth edition. 1910

The Dominion of Canada, with Newfoundland and an Excursion to Alaska. With 14 Maps and 12 Plans. Fourth edition. 1922

Constantinople and Asia Minor, in German only:

Konstantinopel und Kleinasien, Balkanstaaten, Archipel, Cypern. Mit 18 Karten und 65 Plänen. 2. Aufl. 1914

Czechoslovakia, see Austria-Hungary.

Denmark, see Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Egypt and the Sûdân. With 22 Maps, 85 Plans, and 55 Vignettes. Seventh edition. 1914

England, see Great Britain.

France:

Paris and its Environs, with Routes from London to Paris. With 66 Maps and Plans. Nineteenth edition. 1924

Northern France from Belgium and the English Channel to the Loire excluding Paris and its Environs. With 16 Maps and 55 Plans. Fifth edition. 1909

Southern France from the Loire to the Pyrenees, Auvergne, the Cévennes, the French Alps, the Rhone Valley, Provence, the French Riviera, and Corsica. With 42 Maps, 63 Plans, and 1 Panorama. Sixth edition. 1914

Algeria and Tunisia, see The Mediterranean.

Germany:

Berlin and its Environs. With 30 Maps and Plans. Sixth edition. 1923

Northern Germany, excluding the Rhineland. With 165 Maps and Plans. Seventeenth edition. 1925

Southern Germany (Wurtemberg and Bavaria). With 37 Maps and 50 Plans. Twelfth edition. 1914

The Rhine including the Moselle, the Volcanic Eifel, the Taunus, the Odenwald, the Vosges Mountains, the Black Forest, etc. With 128 Maps and Plans. Seventeenth edition. 1911

Great Britain. England, Wales, and Scotland. With 28 Maps, 65 Plans, and a Panorama. Seventh edition. 1910

London and its Environs. With 45 Maps and Plans. Eighteenth edition. 1923

Greece, the Greek Islands, and an Excursion to Crete. With 16 Maps, 30 Plans, and a Panorama of Athens. Fourth edition. 1909

Holland, see Belgium and Holland.

India, in German only:

Indien, Ceylon, Vorderindien, Birma, die malayische Halbinsel, Siam, Java. Mit 22 Karten, 33 Plänen und 8 Grundrissen. 1914

Italy: I. Northern Italy, including Leghorn, Florence, Ravenna, and Routes through France, Switzerland, and Austria. With 36 Maps, 45 Plans, and a Panorama. Fourteenth edition. 1913

II. Central Italy and Rome. With 19 Maps, 55 Plans and Views, and the Arms of the Popes since 1417. Fifteenth edition. 1909

III. Southern Italy and Sicily, including Malta, Sardinia, Tunis, and Corfu. With 64 Maps and Plans. Sixteenth edition. 1912

Italy from the Alps to Naples. With 25 Maps and 52 Plans and Sketches. Second edition. 1909

The Mediterranean. Seaports and Sea Routes, including Madeira, the Canary Islands, the Coast of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. With 38 Maps and 49 Plans. 1911

Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, with Excursions to Iceland and Spitzbergen. With 104 Maps and Plans. Tenth edition. 1912

Palestine and Syria, including the principal routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia. With 21 Maps, 56 Plans, and a Panorama of Jerusalem. Fifth edition. 1912

Portugal, see Spain and Portugal.

Riviera, see Southern France.

Russia, with Teheran, Port Arthur, and Peking. With 40 Maps and 78 Plans. 1914

Manual of the Russian Language, with Vocabulary and List of Phrases. 1914

Scotland, see Great Britain.

Spain and Portugal, with Excursions to Tangier and the Balearic Islands. With 20 Maps and 59 Plans. Fourth edition. 1913

Sweden, see Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

Switzerland, together with Chamonix and the Italian Lakes. With 80 Maps, 21 Plans, and 14 Panoramas. Twenty-sixth edition. 1922

Tyrol, see The Eastern Alps.

The United States, with Excursions to Mexico, Cuba, Porto Rico and Alaska. With 33 Maps and 48 Plans. Fourth edition. 1909

Wales, see Great Britain.

The present Handbook to the Mediterranean describes the chief routes along the Mediterranean coasts. In his endeavour to unite within a single volume the chief points of interest in so vast a region the Editor has naturally been confronted by peculiar difficulties. These points are so numerous that little space could be afforded for more subordinate matters, so that many details have necessarily been omitted. Again as regards the selection of routes, and of places to be described, opinions frequently differ. The Editor ventures, however, to hope that on the whole he has satisfied the requirements of most of his readers. As many of the regions which are here grouped historically and geographically^[1] have already been treated of in several of his other Handbooks, the Editor would respectfully refer the traveller to these for fuller details^[2]. The new subjects comprise Madeira and the Canary Islands, the coast of Morocco, and Algeria and Tunisia, the materials for describing which have been collected, in the course of much travel, by several of the Editor’s friends and fellow-workers. The chief Author of the German edition, which appeared in 1909, was Dr. F. Propping, of Godesberg on the Rhine, who personally visited most of the places described. The present English edition has been prepared by the Editor’s old friend, emeritus Professor John Kirkpatrick, formerly of Edinburgh University, who fifty years viago (1861) translated the Handbook for the Rhine, and thus introduced ‘Baedeker’s guidebooks’ to the English public. In bringing the information contained in the new Mediterranean volume up to date the Editor has received valuable aid from British and United States consuls and ministers, and from other authorities, who have shown the utmost courtesy and willingness to assist. To all of these the Editor expresses his grateful acknowledgments. Many readers will be interested also in the geographical sketch by the late Professor Theobald Fischer (d. 1910), one of the great authorities on the Mediterranean coast-lands.

Special care has been bestowed on the Maps and Plans with which the Handbook is furnished. Several of these are based on materials hitherto unpublished, and others have been locally revised and improved for the special benefit of the Handbook. In the case of Algeria and Tunisia the French spelling has been adopted in the letter-press as well as in the maps^[3].

Hotels. As in all his Handbooks the Editor has taken the utmost care to recommend none but comfortable and respectable hotels. From this, as from all his other Handbooks, advertisements, direct and indirect, are absolutely excluded. Persons calling themselves agents for Baedeker’s Handbooks are impostors and should be handed over to the police.

As many matters treated of in the Handbook are liable to frequent change and as, in the Orient particularly, trustworthy sources of information are too often lacking, the Editor will warmly appreciate any communications with which travellers may kindly favour him.

(The Maps and Plans are oriented in the usual way, with the North at the top, unless otherwise indicated.)

Hôt., Hot. = hotel.

Alb. = albergo (hotel).

Restaur. = restaurant.

R. = room with one bed, usually incl. light and attendance.

B. = breakfast (coffee, etc.).

déj. = déjeuner, hot lunch.

D. = dinner.

pens. = pension, board incl. R. unless contrary stated.

rfmts. = refreshments.

omn. = omnibus.

N., S., E., W. = north, northern, south, southern, etc.

r. = right, l. = left.

M. = mile; sq. M. = square mile; ft. = foot, feet; yd. = yard, etc.

min. = minute; hr. = hour.

R. = route. Pl. = plan.

dr., l. = drachme, lepta.

fr., c. = franc, centime; Ital. lira, centesimo.

K, h = krone, heller (Austrian currency).

xiil., s., d. = pound sterling, shilling, pence, g. = guinea.

mej. = mejidieh.

p., c. = peseta, centimo.

pias., mill. = piastre, millième.

s. pias. = silver piastre.

rs. = reis (plur. of real; comp. p. 6)

roub., cop. = rouble, copeck.

comp. = compare.

adm. = admission, admittance.

Asterisks (*) denote objects of special interest and hotels that are believed to be worthy of special commendation.

The number of ft. (1 Engl. ft. = 0.3048 mètre; 1 mètre = 3.281 Engl. ft. or about 3 ft. 3⅓ in.) given after the name of a place shows its height above the sea-level.

The number of M. (1 Engl. mile = 1.6093 kilomètres; 1 kilomètre = 0.6214 M.) placed before the principal places of a route indicates their distance from the starting-point of the route.

The international association of hotel-keepers has agreed on the following code: Alba, room with single bed; albaduo, room with double bed; arab, room with two beds; abec, room with three beds; belab, two rooms and two beds; birac, two rooms and three beds; bonad, two rooms and four beds; ciroc, three rooms and three beds; carid, three rooms and four beds; calde, three rooms and five beds; caduf, three rooms and six beds; casag, three rooms and seven beds; danid, four rooms and four beds; dalme, four rooms and five beds; danof, four rooms and six beds; dalag, four rooms and seven beds; dirich, four rooms and eight beds; durbi, four rooms and nine beds; kind, child’s bed; sal, saloon, private sitting-room; bat, private bathroom; serv, servant’s room. The class of room may be indicated by best, bon, or plain. Day and hour of arrival must be notified (granmatin is midnight to 7 a.m., matin is 7–12, sera 12–7, and gransera 7 to midnight), and also duration of stay (pass means one night, stop means several days, but is not binding). Name and address of applicant must be given; if prevented from coming, ‘cancel‘, with his signature, suffices.

‘Mediterranean Winter Resorts’ by E. Reynolds-Ball (6th ed., London, 1908; price 6s.) although far from exhaustive, contains much useful and practical information. The art of the Orient is admirably treated of in the ‘Manuel d’Art Musulman’ by H. Saladin and G. Migeon (Paris, 1907; 30 fr.). Among excellent German books are Theob. Fischer’s ‘Mittelmeerbilder’ (2 vols., Leipzig, 1906, 1908; each 6 marks), and A. Philippson’s ‘Mittelmeergebiet’ (Leipzig, 1907; 7 marks).

Books on Algeria, see p. 175; on Athens, see p. 508; on Cairo, see p. 444; on the Canary Islands, see p. 32; on Carthage, see p. 343; on Constantinople, see p. 542; on Cordova, see p. 69; on Granada and the Alhambra, see pp. 65, 80; on Jerusalem, see p. 473; on Madeira, see p. 20; on Morocco, see pp. 97, 98; on Seville, see p. 61; on Tebessa, see p. 315; on Timgad, see p. 289; on Tunisia, see p. 325.

Season of Tour. The mildness of the climate (p. xxxv) makes travelling pleasant in the Mediterranean lands at almost any season. Even in the height of summer travellers who can stand a little heat will find residence in many of the islands and seaside resorts quite agreeable. Winter begins here much later and ends much earlier than in Northern or Central Europe, but until the end of March few regions are quite exempt from wintry days and falls of snow. March is considered also the windiest month in the year on the Mediterranean.

For the Portuguese coast, Andalusia, and Northern Morocco (Tangier) the best seasons are from the middle of March to the middle of May and the months of October and November. Granada, which lies high, is suitable for a prolonged stay from April till the middle of June. Seville and Cordova are often uncomfortably cold in December and January owing to lack of heating appliances. At Lisbon and Tangier winter is the season of the fertilizing rains, which often last till the middle of March. With regard to the best season for Madeira and the Canary Islands, see pp. 19, 32.

The weather is generally bright and genial in Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripolitania in late autumn, till the end of November, and also in March and April, though less settled. Winter is a dry season only on the E. coast of Tunisia and in the Sahara, but is sometimes cool and windy (see also pp. 170, 172, 321). It is still hot in October in Sicily, in Barbary, and in Egypt, where the sirocco (p. 321) is specially disagreeable in the early autumn, while health is endangered by malaria (p. xvi).

xivOf all the Mediterranean regions Egypt alone offers a dry, settled, and genial climate in winter. The traveller on the Eastern Mediterranean who wishes to avoid extremes of cold and heat should make his first stay at Cairo in January or February, start for the Syrian coast at the end of February or early in March, proceed to Palestine and Damascus after March has commenced, and visit Asia Minor and Greece in April, and Constantinople and the Black Sea in May. In autumn, from the end of September onwards, the above order should be reversed.

Plan of Tour. The traveller is advised to draw up a careful programme of his tour before starting. All the places described in the Handbook may be reached by steamer, or partly overland, at any time of the year, but during the winter season (from about the end of October to the middle of May) much greater facilities are offered by excursion-steamers (see pp. xviii, 1, 2), circular tickets, and combined tickets. American travellers may sail direct from New York or Boston to some of the Mediterranean ports (see p. xviii). Travellers from Great Britain may start from London, Liverpool, Southampton, or Dover, or if they dread a long sea-voyage may proceed overland to Marseilles, to Genoa, to Naples, to Brindisi, to Venice, or to Trieste (comp. p. xxiv), and begin their Mediterranean tour from one of these points. Some may prefer the overland route to Spain and Gibraltar, while others again may find it more convenient to travel all the way to Constantinople (Orient Express), to Constantza (Ostend-Vienna Express), or to Odessa (viâ Vienna and Cracow) by railway, and thence explore the Mediterranean from east to west. The railway routes will be found in ‘Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide’ or in the German ‘Reichskursbuch’. For the ‘trains de luxe’ services tickets must be obtained from the International Sleeping Car Co. (London, 20 Cockspur St., S.W.; Paris, 3 Place de l’Opéra; New York, 281 Fifth Ave.; Berlin, 69 Unter den Linden). For the sea-routes, see p. xvii; for particulars application should be made to the various companies or their handbooks consulted. Excursion, circular, and combined tickets are issued by Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son, Ludgate Circus, and by other tourist-agents. It may be noted here that the ‘pleasure-cruises’ organized by many of the companies offer great attractions at moderate cost, but at the almost entire sacrifice of personal independence, while the fellow-passengers with whom one is associated for weeks may not always be congenial.

As a general rule it is pleasanter and less expensive to travel with one or more companions than alone. Apart from hotel charges and railway and steamboat fares, the cost for two or three persons is often no greater than for one. Moreover, when off the beaten track the traveller thus escapes from monotonous and monosyllabic conversation with native guides or drivers (comp. pp. xxv, xxvi), xvand in case of illness or accident he is far more certain of obtaining assistance and relief.

The most useful language in most parts of the Mediterranean is French. In Portugal, Madeira, and the Canary Islands English is much spoken, in Egypt it is the leading language. Italian is very useful in Tunisia, on the coast of Tripolitania and Barca, in Malta, throughout the Levant, in Greece, and at Constantinople. On the other hand a slight knowledge of Arabic will be found most useful throughout the whole of N. Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, and in Palestine and Syria.

Some Hints on Health may be of advantage to the inexperienced traveller from the north. As a rule an overcoat or extra wraps should be put on at sundown, though they may often be dispensed with an hour or two later. When heated with walking the traveller should not rest in the shade. In hot climates like those of Egypt and the Sahara he should never remove his pith-helmet or other headgear in the sun. Grey spectacles or grey veils shield the eyes alike from the glare of the sun and from dust. Sunshades also are very desirable in hot weather. As a rule it is advisable to stay within doors during the heat of the day. On the other hand many places on the Mediterranean are cold in winter, Lower Egypt and Cairo being no exceptions. Steamboat passengers, too, will generally find warm clothing very desirable between October and the middle of May. An extra coat or shawl should be donned in museums, churches, mosques, and other buildings with stone pavement, as the air is often very chilly.

When engaging rooms visitors should insist on a southern aspect, which is almost essential for the delicate and highly desirable for the robust. In every case, especially if the rooms do not face due south, they should have a fireplace or else central heating. In the Mediterranean regions, where many of the plainer hotels have stone or brick floors, carpets are essential to comfort.

With regard to diet also a few general hints may be serviceable. Oysters, fish, salads, and tinned meats should be absolutely avoided. Raw fruit, except perhaps oranges and grapes, should be partaken of very sparingly. Ices and iced drinks also are apt to be upsetting. The contents of siphons, lemonade, and other ‘refreshing beverages’ are not unfrequently composed of polluted water. The safest liquids are boiled water, natural mineral waters, tea, coffee, good red wine, and, in moderation, sound English or German beer. Fairly good cognac or even whiskey may be obtained almost everywhere, but for the time-honoured ‘soda’ or ‘potash’ it is safer to substitute boiled or mineral water.

Colds, errors in diet, malaria, and over-exertion are the chief sources of the sharp attacks of illness to which even the hardiest travellers from the north are liable in the ‘sunny south’. Sunstroke xviis another danger. Against all these the traveller requires to be more on his guard than at home, where his nerves and his digestion are much less liable to be overtaxed. Care and moderation in sight-seeing and touring are therefore hardly less important than attention to diet.

Before the journey is begun a supply of a few simple remedies (see below) may be prepared with the advice of the traveller’s physician. In cases of serious illness one of the properly qualified doctors mentioned in the text should be consulted.

Diarrhoea, which may develop into dysentery, one of the commonest complaints, generally results from catching cold or from eating unwholesome food. The patient should first take a slight aperient and afterwards several doses of bismuth. The diet should be arrowroot (which should always accompany the traveller), rice or some other farinaceous food, and milk; fruit, meat, fatty substances, and alcohol should be avoided. In obstinate cases a change of climate is sometimes the only remedy.

Sprains are best treated with cold compresses; the injured part should be tightly bandaged and given perfect rest. In the case of a snake bite or scorpion sting the wound should be immediately treated with ammonia, or better still, cauterized. Sunstroke is not common in winter, but may easily occur as late as November or as early as April. The usual remedies are rest and shade; cold appliances are used for the head and neck; in case of high temperature these should be iced. The best protection for the head is either a pith-helmet, or a tall perforated straw-hat, with several folds of gauze round it and hanging down over the back of the neck. When the eyes are irritated with glare or dust frequent washing with a weak boracic or zinc lotion affords relief (comp. also p. xv).

Lastly a few simple and well-known remedies, most of which may be obtained in a tabloid form, may be mentioned for other common ailments: cascara sagrada, castor-oil, ‘Tamar Indien’, or Epsom salts for constipation; a zinc or starch dusting-powder for chafed sores due to riding; tincture of arnica, or Elliman’s embrocation, antiseptic wool, collodion, and sticking-plaster, for bruises and wounds; ammonia (sal-ammoniac) or other antidote (muscatol) to stings or bites; disinfectants, carbolic acid, insect-powder; chlorodyne for neuralgia; quinine for cases of fever. Fever, be it noted, especially in malarious regions (Sardinia, Sicily, Algeria, Tunisia, Greece) is propagated by mosquitoes, especially by the female of the Anopheles Claviger. Light curtains round the beds should therefore be used to ward off the attacks of these troublesome insects. At dusk, and at night when the room is lighted, the windows should always be carefully closed. When a bite has been received the inflamed part should be at once rubbed with ammonia.

It should, however, be added, in order to reassure the timid or nervous traveller, that few of these elaborate precautions are necessary except for enterprising explorers who often leave the beaten track or whose tour extends beyond the usual winter season.

Money. A small sum of money to start with should be taken in English or French gold, but large sums should always be carried in the form of circular notes, care being observed to keep the notes and the ‘letter of indication’ quite separate. These notes are issued by the London and the Scottish banks and by Messrs. Thos. Cook xvii& Son (Ludgate Circus). The cheques issued by the American Express Companies, by the American Bankers Association, and by the International Mercantile Marine Co. are also convenient. Wherever the traveller lands he will find an ample supply of the small change of the country very needful.

Passports are not absolutely necessary, except in Turkey and in Russia; but consuls, and sometimes bankers, require more convincing proof of identity than a visiting-card. Passports must be shown at the post-offices also in order to obtain delivery of registered letters.

Passports may be procured in England direct from the Passport Department of the Foreign Office, Whitehall (fee 2 s.), or through any tourist-agent.—In the United States they are obtained from the Bureau of Citizenship, State Department, Washington, D.C.—Travellers may generally get their passports visés for Turkey or Russia through one of the steamboat-companies or by applying to their consulate at one of the chief seaports, if they have omitted to take this step before leaving home.

The Custom House Examination at the various seaports and frontiers is seldom very rigorous; but the traveller should be careful to declare every new article not intended for personal use; and he should note particularly that cigars, tobacco, and cigarettes, weapons and ammunition (the import of the last four articles being entirely prohibited in Turkey), playing-cards, matches, etc. are liable to a heavy duty almost everywhere. These should therefore be carried in very small quantities or dispensed with altogether. It is rarely worth while carrying large supplies of any dutiable article, as the formalities are tedious and the expenses heavy.

In Turkey a second custom-house examination of luggage takes place when the traveller leaves the country, a small duty being levied on exports, while the export of antiques without the authority of government is forbidden. In Spain, Italy, and Greece also permission must be obtained to carry away works of art. Persons who have made large purchases, or have a superfluity of baggage to send home, had better employ a goods-agent.

All the leading steamboat-companies are mentioned in the Handbook in connection with the different routes. The great Oriental, Australian, and other liners, of 5–12,000 tons’ burden and upwards, touch at very few Mediterranean ports (Gibraltar, Marseilles, Genoa, Naples, Port Said). Travellers desirous of visiting the Portuguese coast, Madeira and the Canary Islands, Algiers, Sardinia, Sicily, Tunisia, Athens, Constantinople, and many other places of interest must generally be content with smaller and often very inferior vessels. The sections of the following brief summary of the chief lines correspond with those into which the Handbook is divided.

xviiiFrom the United States to the Mediterranean.—White Star Line. From Boston about every three weeks to Gibraltar, Algiers, Naples, and Genoa, in 14–15 days. From New York at irregular intervals to Gibraltar, Naples, and Genoa, in 15–16 days. From Genoa viâ Naples to New York or Boston at irregular intervals. Fares: 1st cl. from New York to Gibraltar, Genoa, or Naples, from 16l., according to steamer; from Boston to Gibraltar, Algiers, Genoa, or Naples, from 16l. 10s.; from New York to Villefranche, from 19l. 10s.; 2nd cl. 13l.

Hamburg-American Line. From New York at irregular intervals to Gibraltar, Algiers, Naples (or Palermo), and Genoa, in 13 days, and vice versâ. Fares: 1st cl. from 17l. 10s., 2nd cl. 13l.

North German Lloyd Line. From New York on most Sat. to Gibraltar, Algiers (not in summer), Naples, and Genoa, in 13 days, returning on most Thursdays. Fares: 1st cl. from $87½, 2nd cl. from $65.

Cunard Line. From New York at irregular intervals to Gibraltar, Genoa, Naples, Trieste, and Fiume, in about 20 days, returning viâ Palermo, Naples, and Gibraltar. Fares to Trieste or Fiume, 1st cl. from 16l. 10s.; to Gibraltar, Genoa, or Naples from 14l. 10s.; 2nd cl. fares from 12l.

Among the regular pleasure-cruises from the United States to the Mediterranean may be mentioned those from Boston organized by the Bureau of University Travel; for excursion-steamers from England to the Mediterranean, see pp. 1, 2.

Pacific Line from Liverpool (31 James St.) fortnightly, for La Rochelle-Pallice (for Bordeaux), Corunna, Vigo, Leixões (for Oporto), Lisbon, and St. Vincent (Cape Verde), and thence to S. America. Passengers for Madeira, the Canary Islands, and the Mediterranean must of course tranship at Lisbon or St. Vincent.

Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., see p. xix.

Nederland Royal Mail Steamers (London office, 2 King William St., E.C.) and Rotterdam Lloyd, both fortnightly from Southampton to Lisbon, Tangier, etc.

Yeoward Bros. Line, see p. xix.

Hall Line, see p. xx.

Booth Line thrice monthly from Liverpool (office in the Tower Building) to Havre, Vigo, Leixões (for Oporto), Lisbon, and Madeira.

Ellerman Line weekly from Liverpool to Lisbon and Oporto.

Peninsular & Oriental Co., see p. xx.

German East African Line (London office, 14 St. Mary Axe, E.C.) once every three weeks from Southampton to Lisbon, Tangier, Marseilles, Naples, etc.

Hamburg-American Line (London office, 22 Cockspur St., S.W.) and Hamburg & South American Co. several times monthly from Southampton, calling occasionally at Lisbon.

Royal Holland Lloyd monthly from Dover to Boulogne, Corunna, Vigo, Lisbon, etc.

Compañía Trasatlántica (Philippines Line) monthly from Liverpool to Corunna, Vigo, Lisbon, Cadiz, etc.

Union Castle Line (London office, 3 Fenchurch St., E.C.) weekly from Southampton to Madeira; also fortnightly from London and Southampton touching alternately at Las Palmas and Teneriffe; also summer tours to Madeira, Las Palmas, and Teneriffe.

Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. (London office, 18 Moorgate St., E.C.) fortnightly from Southampton to Vigo, Lisbon, and Madeira; also round voyages from London, see p. xx.

Peninsular & Oriental Branch Service monthly from London (office, 3 East India Ave., E.C.) to Las Palmas.

Booth Line, see p. xviii.

Bucknall Line monthly from London (office, 23 Leadenhall St., E.C.) to Teneriffe.

Aberdeen (Thompson’s) Line monthly from London (office, 7 Billiter Square, E.C.) and Plymouth to Teneriffe.

Aberdeen (Rennie’s) Line about once every ten days from London (office, 4 East India Ave., E.C.) to Las Palmas and Teneriffe alternately.

German East African Line (London office, see p. xviii) once every three weeks from Southampton for Las Palmas and Teneriffe.

Woermann Line monthly from Dover to Las Palmas and Teneriffe.

New Zealand Line (London office, 138 Leadenhall St., E.C.) and Shaw, Savill, & Albion Line (London office, 34 Leadenhall St., E.C.), each monthly from London and Plymouth to Teneriffe.

Yeoward Bros. Line weekly from Liverpool (office, 27 Stanley St.) to Lisbon, Teneriffe, and Grand Canary, calling on alternate voyages at Madeira.

Federal, Houlder, & Shire Lines fortnightly from Liverpool, calling at Madeira, Las Palmas, or Teneriffe.

Natal Line fortnightly from London (office, 14 St. Mary Axe, E.C.) to Las Palmas.

Empreza Nacional de Navegação twice monthly, and Empreza Insulana once monthly from Lisbon to Madeira.

Peninsular & Oriental Co. once weekly from London (office, 122 Leadenhall St., E.C.) to Gibraltar, etc. Comp. also p. xx.

Orient Royal Line fortnightly from London (office, 5 Fenchurch St., E.C.) to Gibraltar, etc.

North German Lloyd fortnightly from Southampton (London office, 26 Cockspur St., S.W.).

Anchor Line almost weekly from Liverpool (office, 17 Water St.) or Glasgow (Anchor Line Buildings) to Gibraltar.

xxHall Line weekly from London (office, 31 Crutched Friars, E.C.) to Lisbon, Gibraltar, Málaga, and Cadiz.

Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., see below.

Moss Line fortnightly (office, 31 James St.) and Papayanni Line (office, 22 Water St.) occasionally from Liverpool to Gibraltar.

Vapores Correos de Africa from Algeciras to Tangier, Cadiz, and Ceuta.

Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. fortnightly from London (office, see p. xix) to Gibraltar, Tangier, etc., returning viâ Las Palmas, Teneriffe, and Madeira.

Nederland Royal Mail and Rotterdam Lloyd, see p. xviii.

German East African Line, see p. xviii.

Peninsular & Oriental Co. sends ‘Vectis’ or other excursion steamer from London (office, see p. xix) several times in spring and summer to Lisbon, Gibraltar, and Tangier.

Compañía Trasatlántica (Canary Line) calls at Tangier (if required also at Casablanca and Mazagan) once a month on the voyage to and from Barcelona.

Bland Line, small cargo-boats thrice weekly from Gibraltar to Tangier; also steamers from Tangier to Tetuán and Larash.

Oldenburg Portuguese Line fortnightly from Tangier to Rabât, Mogador, etc.

Vapores Correos de Africa twice monthly from Tangier to Larash, Rabât, Casablanca, Mazagan, Saffi, and Mogador.

N. Paquet & Co. weekly from Tangier to Rabât and Mogador.

Navigation Mixte weekly from Tangier for Melilla, Málaga, and Oran.

Hungarian Adria monthly from Gibraltar to Tangier and Oran.

From Gibraltar to Genoa (R. 15a):—White Star Line (from New York or Boston) 2–3 times monthly; North German Lloyd (from Southampton) monthly; Cunard Line (from New York) occasionally; Lloyd Sabaudo (from S. America) once monthly.

From Gibraltar to Algiers (R. 15b):—North German Lloyd fortnightly; the Hamburg-American, the Austrian Lloyd, and the German Levant, all less regularly; Navigation Mixte (Touache Co.) to Oran (thence to Algiers by rail).

From Gibraltar to Marseilles (R. 17):—Peninsular & Oriental (from London) weekly; Orient Royal (from London) fortnightly.

From Gibraltar to Naples (R. 16):—Orient Royal (from London) fortnightly; North German Lloyd (from Southampton) twice, also (from New York) once or twice monthly; Cunard and White xxiStar (from New York or Boston), each two or three times a month; Hamburg-American (from New York) once or twice a month.

From Marseilles to Naples (R. 23):—Orient Royal (from London) fortnightly; North German Lloyd (from Southampton) fortnightly; German East African Line once in three weeks; Messageries Maritimes fortnightly; Hungarian Adria (cargo-boats) twice weekly.

From Marseilles to Algiers (R. 20):—Générale Transatlantique four times weekly; Transports Maritimes, twice weekly; Navigation Mixte (Touache Co.) weekly, also cargo-boat weekly.

From Marseilles to Tunis (R. 21):—North German Lloyd fortnightly (to Goletta only); Générale Transatlantique once weekly (and thence on to Malta), and viâ Bizerta once weekly; Navigation Mixte (Touache Co.) once weekly, and cargo-boats viâ Bizerta once weekly.

From Genoa to Naples (R. 24):—North German Lloyd (from Southampton) two or three times a month; Hamburg-American once or twice monthly; Cunard and White Star, each once monthly; Società Nazionale three or four times weekly; Italian Lloyd once, twice, or thrice monthly; La Veloce and Lloyd Sabaudo, each once monthly; Hungarian Adria twice weekly.

From Genoa to Tunis (R. 25):—Società Nazionale weekly; North German Lloyd fortnightly to Bizerta.

From Naples to Palermo (R. 26):—Steamers of the Ferrovie dello Stato daily; Società Nazionale weekly; Hungarian Adria twice weekly; Lloyd Sabaudo monthly.

From Palermo to Tunis (R. 26):—Società Nazionale weekly, also small cargo-boats weekly; Navigation Mixte (Touache Co.), cargo-boats weekly.

From Naples to Messina and Syracuse (R. 27):—Società Nazionale thrice weekly to Messina, and once weekly thence to Syracuse; also steamers of the Ferrovie dello Stato weekly from Naples to Messina, and of the North German Lloyd fortnightly from Naples to Catania.

From Tunis or Syracuse to Malta (R. 64):—Società Nazionale six times monthly; Hungarian Adria six times weekly. From London to Malta: Peninsular & Oriental usually weekly. From Liverpool to Naples and Malta: City Line about once monthly.

From Southampton to Algiers:—North German Lloyd once or twice monthly direct; Nederland Royal Mail fortnightly viâ Lisbon and Tangier.

From Marseilles to Oran (R. 19):—Générale Transatlantique twice weekly; Transports Maritimes once, and cargo-boat once xxiiweekly; Navigation Mixte (Touache Co.) once weekly (also weekly steamers from Cette to Oran).

From Marseilles to Algiers, see p. xxi.

From Gibraltar to Algiers, see p. xx.

From Cartagena to Oran (R. 18):—Générale Transatlantique once weekly.

From Tangier to Oran (R. 18):—Navigation Mixte (Touache Co.) weekly, also cargo-boats fortnightly; Hungarian Adria once monthly.

From Algiers to Tunis (R. 22):—Générale Transatlantique, coasting cargo-boats, once weekly; German Levant Line two or three times a month; Hungarian Adria once monthly to Tunis direct. Several other lines are available for sections of the route.

From Marseilles to Tunis, see p. xxi; from Naples to Palermo, and from Palermo to Tunis, see p. xxi; from Naples to Syracuse, and from Syracuse to Malta and Tunis, see p. xxi.

From Tunis to Malta, see p. xxi.

From Tunis to Tripoli (R. 64):—Società Nazionale weekly, and Navigation Mixte (Touache Co.) weekly, both coasting. (From Algiers to Tripoli direct or viâ Malta, cargo-steamers of the German Levant Line.)

From Tripoli to Malta and Syracuse (R. 64):—Società Nazionale weekly, other boats fortnightly.

From Tripoli to Alexandria (R. 65):—German Levant Line, cargo-boats, thrice monthly; Banco di Roma fortnightly.

From Tripoli to Constantinople (R. 66):—Società Nazionale fortnightly.

From Marseilles, Genoa, and Naples to Alexandria (R. 67):—North German Lloyd weekly from Marseilles to Naples and Alexandria; Messageries Maritimes from Marseilles weekly to Alexandria direct; Società Nazionale weekly from Genoa to Leghorn, Naples, and Alexandria.

From Venice to Alexandria (R. 68):—Società Nazionale fortnightly, viâ Ancona, Bari, and Brindisi.

From Trieste to Alexandria (R. 68):—Austrian Lloyd weekly viâ Brindisi, and weekly viâ Gravosa and Brindisi.

Steamers to Port Said (RR. 67, 68):—All the great liners already mentioned and others besides converge at Port Said. Of the companies despatching vessels almost daily from British ports the following are the chief: Peninsular & Oriental (calling at Gibraltar, Marseilles, and Brindisi); Orient Royal and North German Lloyd xxiii(calling at Gibraltar, Marseilles, and Naples); Bibby (calling at Marseilles); City Line (calling at Naples and Malta); British India Line (calling occasionally at Marseilles, Genoa, or Naples); Nederland Royal Mail (viâ Genoa); Rotterdam Lloyd (viâ Marseilles); Queensland Line; Japan Mail (viâ Marseilles); and Compañía Trasatlántica (viâ Genoa).

Steamers to Palestine and Syria (R. 72):—Khedivial Mail, Austrian Lloyd, Russian Steam Navigation & Trading Co., Società Nazionale, all weekly from Alexandria to Port Said, Jaffa, Haifa, and Beirut; Messageries Maritimes fortnightly from Alexandria and Port Said to Beirut direct, and fortnightly calling at Jaffa; German Levant, cargo-boats, twice monthly from Alexandria to Jaffa, Haifa, and Beirut.

From Alexandria and Beirut to Smyrna and Constantinople (RR. 72, 75, 76):—Khedivial Mail fortnightly from Alexandria to Port Said, Beirut, Smyrna, and Constantinople; Russian Steam Navigation & Trading Co., similar route, weekly; Messageries Maritimes fortnightly from Beirut; La Phocéenne weekly from Alexandria to Smyrna (Constantinople).

Steamers to the Piræus (Athens; RR. 76, 77, 78):—Khedivial Mail, Rumanian Mail, Russian Steam Navigation & Trading Co., all weekly from Alexandria to the Piræus; North German Lloyd fortnightly from Marseilles to Genoa, Naples, Catania, and the Piræus; Messageries Maritimes fortnightly from Marseilles to the Piræus; Società Nazionale weekly from Genoa to Leghorn, Naples, Palermo, Messina, and the Piræus; Società Nazionale also weekly from Venice to Brindisi, Patras, and the Piræus; Austrian Lloyd weekly from Trieste to Patras and the Piræus; also Greek-Oriental and Thessalian lines of the same company, each weekly from Trieste to the Piræus; Greek Panhellenios Co. weekly from Trieste to Patras and the Piræus; Austro-Americana, New York line (quickest), weekly from Trieste to Patras (for Athens).

From the Piræus (Athens) viâ Smyrna to Constantinople (R. 80):—Khedivial Mail weekly; North German Lloyd, Messageries Maritimes, both fortnightly; Austrian Lloyd weekly; also Rumanian Mail, Società Nazionale, and Austrian Lloyd (the three quickest routes), each weekly to Constantinople direct.

From Constantinople to Constantza (R. 82):—Rumanian Mail (quickest) twice weekly; Austrian Lloyd alternate Fridays and alternate Saturdays; Società Nazionale weekly.

From Constantinople to Odessa (R. 83):—North German Lloyd fortnightly; Russian Steam Navigation & Trading Co., direct line, weekly; Syria and Egypt lines fortnightly; Anatolian line fortnightly; xxivAustrian Lloyd fortnightly; Società Nazionale weekly; Messageries Maritimes weekly.

From Odessa to Batum (R. 84):—Russian Steam Navigation & Trading Co. weekly; North German Lloyd monthly.

From Batum to Constantinople (R. 85):—North German Lloyd alternate Saturdays; Russian Steam Navigation & Trading Co. alternate Thursdays; Austrian Lloyd weekly; Messageries Maritimes, N. Paquet & Co., and Società Nazionale all fortnightly.

Overland Routes. Travellers bound for the Central or Eastern Mediterranean, and in particular those who wish to avoid the long voyage to Gibraltar and thus to save five, six, or more days, will choose an overland route to one or other of the Mediterranean ports. Marseilles is reached from London by the ‘P. & O. Express’, starting on Thursdays, or by the ‘Calais-Mediterranean Express’, daily in winter, in 20–20¼ hrs., or by ordinary express in 22½ hrs.—Genoa is 27 hrs. from London, viâ Paris and Mont Cenis.—Venice is 32¼ hrs. from London viâ Bâle and the St. Gotthard.—Trieste is reached in 43½ hrs. from London viâ Milan.—Naples is 46 hrs. from London viâ Paris and Rome.—Brindisi is reached in 45¼ hrs. by the ‘P. & O. Brindisi Express’, starting on Friday mornings, or by ordinary express, viâ Boulogne and Paris, in 54½ hrs.

Lastly, the traveller who proposes to explore the Mediterranean from east to west, and who desires to economize time, should consult Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Time Tables, or the German Reichskursbuch, or Hendschel’s Telegraph, as to the great Oriental expresses to Constantinople and the Black Sea.

Hints to Steamboat Passengers. During the height of the season (in Egypt Jan. and Feb., in other parts of the Mediterranean March, April and even May) passages often have to be booked a month or six weeks in advance. Holders of return-tickets or combined tickets must secure berths for the return-voyage also long beforehand.

Heavy Baggage, to be stowed away in the hold, should be sent on board at least one or two days beforehand. Each passenger should endeavour, for his own sake and that of others, to limit his requirements for the voyage to one or two cabin-trunks of moderate size. Private cabins should, as a rule, be kept locked, and small articles should not be left lying about on deck unwatched.

Landing or Embarkation by small boat is often an unpleasant proceeding, as the boatmen are apt to be extortionate in their demands, especially when the sea is rough. The charge for each passenger with his baggage should be ascertained beforehand and only paid at the end of the trip, or the whole transaction may be entrusted to one of the hotel-agents. Small articles carried in the hand should not be allowed out of sight.

The Food is generally good. Coffee is served between 8 and 10, lunch at 1 or earlier, dinner at 6 or 7. First-class passengers in the British and German steamers dress for dinner.

The Fees vary according to circumstances. They are of course higher if the passenger has been ill and has required much attention. The chief xxvsteward or stewardess usually expects at least 1 fr. per day, and the other attendants receive fees proportioned to the services rendered.

Medical Attendance and medicines, in case of illness, are nominally free, but a reasonable fee is usually paid. Baths in the larger steamboats are free, fixed hours being allotted to passengers on application. Passengers may bring their own Deck Chairs or hire them from the chief steward.

The objects and pleasures of travel are so unintelligible to most Orientals that they are apt to regard the European traveller as a lunatic, or at all events as a Crœsus, and therefore to be exploited on every possible occasion. Hence their constant demands for ‘bakshîsh’ (‘a gift’). To check this demoralizing cupidity the traveller should never give bakshish except for services rendered, unless occasionally to aged or crippled beggars.

Small fees are, however, not unreasonably expected by drivers, guides, donkey-boys, and others, over and above their stipulated hire. Excursionists should therefore always be well provided with small change. If no previous bargain has been made the charges and fees stated in the Handbook are usually ample.

While the traveller should be both cautious and firm in his dealings with the natives, he should avoid being too exacting or suspicious. Many of those he meets with are like mere children and often show much kindliness of disposition. In most cases their attempts at extortion are comparatively trifling; but if serious, the matter may be referred to the police or to the traveller’s consul.

On the other hand exaggerated professions of friendship should be distrusted, loyalty towards strangers being still rarer in the East than elsewhere. The natives are apt to make common cause against European visitors. While their religion usually requires them to address each other as ‘yâ akhûya’ (my brother), their brotherhood does not extend to outsiders.

As the Orientals are often remarkably dignified and punctilious in their bearing, the traveller should show corresponding respect and consideration for their customs and prejudices. He should never, for example, photograph a Mohammedan without his leave, nor look too curiously at the veiled women, nor don Oriental costume. Sacred places, such as mosques, chapels, and religious houses and their schools, must not be entered without removing one’s shoes or putting on slippers, lest the carpets and mats on which prayer is offered be polluted. Korans must never be touched; and when prayers are being recited, strangers must keep carefully aloof. In every part of the Orient the traveller meets with ‘saints’ (often imbecile or insane), who go about in fantastic rags and sometimes stark naked. Needless to say he will give them a wide berth.

xxviThe traveller may least obtrusively observe the various phases of Oriental life by visiting the native quarters of the towns, the bazaars and markets, and the popular festivals and recreations of the Moslems. Story-tellers at the native cafés (reminiscent of the Arabian Nights), jugglers, wrestlers, snake-charmers, barbers’ shops, and native schools are all objects of interest. In Turkey and in Egypt the popular theatres with their shadow-scenes (kara göz) are curious. Ladies may sometimes, by special introduction, obtain admission to a private dwelling-house and get a glimpse of the manners and customs of Oriental women. On Fridays they may see the Moslem women raising their veils in the cemeteries (comp. p. 220).

Gentlemen, when visiting an Oriental, knock at the door with an iron ring. From within is asked the question ‘mîn’ (who is there)? On being admitted, after the ladies who happen to be in the court have retired, he removes his shoes lest the costly carpets be sullied, and uncovers his head. The host approaches to meet him, one step or more according to the honour he desires to do his visitor. The latter salutes him in Oriental fashion by placing his right hand on his heart and then moving it up to his forehead. Questions as to health are first asked, but no allusion must be made to the ladies of the family, who are regarded as under a veil (sitr). Coffee is always offered. The servant with his left hand on his heart, hands round the little cups to the guests in order of their rank. The guest holds the cup in his hand till it is taken back by the servant. If the host wishes his guest to pay a long visit he delays his order for coffee, and the guest must not leave before then.

It is considered highly impolite to decline a visit, and each visit must of course be returned.

The Guides who proffer their services everywhere may generally be dispensed with, except by novices or by travellers pressed for time. Most of those at Constantinople and in Asia Minor are native Jews, who speak a little English, Italian, French, or German. All, as a rule, are ignorant and uneducated, and their ‘explanations’ of antiquities or works of art are worthless. When, as sometimes happens, they assume a patronizing or a familiar manner, they should be promptly checked and kept in their proper place. If a purchase has to be made, or a carriage or horse to be hired, the aid of a guide should be declined, as the sum demanded is then considerably raised, and part of it given to the guide as commission. On short excursions the guide usually walks, and it is quite unnecessary to provide him with a mount.

In the large towns the guides and commissionaires are sometimes in the pay of gambling-rooms or low places of entertainment. Against such, especially at night, the traveller should be on his guard.

Geographical Sketch by the late Prof. Theobald Fischer.

The shores of the Mediterranean, formerly visited in part only and imperfectly known, now most deservedly attract, throughout their whole extent, an ever increasing number of travellers and explorers. No part of the earth’s surface can offer so marvellous an intellectual feast. Land where he may, the traveller is almost invariably struck with the beauty of the scenery, the richness of the vegetation, and the wealth of historical memories. For three thousand years the Mediterranean was the theatre of all history, the cradle of all culture, to which the whole of humanity more or less directly owes its modern civilization. It was here for the first time that the nearness of the opposite coasts and the numerous island stepping-stones, coupled with winds blowing gently for months at a time, deprived the sea of its terrors and gave birth to a hardy race of mariners. The stagnation of the continental peoples was thus powerfully stirred and their ignorance gradually dispelled. It was first in Egypt, and then above all in Greece and in Italy, that those mighty intellectual weapons were forged which were to conquer the whole earth, while from Palestine came the mightiest of all religious and moral influences. The Mediterranean was the school of almost all the mediæval geographers and navigators, such as Toscanelli, Columbus, Vespucci, the Gabotti (the ‘Cabots’ employed by Henry VII.), and others, who added a New World to the old, and who brought Europe into touch with the great Asiatic cradles of culture. The Italians were the first to educate the Spanish, Portuguese, French, and even English mariners, and to introduce them to that Ocean which was to become the world’s commercial and intellectual highway.

The ancient Romans were fully aware, from a very early period, that they could maintain their empire on land only by securing their supremacy at sea also. Favoured by the central situation of Italy, they gradually subjected the whole of the Mediterranean lands to their sway, thus imparting to them a certain social and political unity. The name of ‘sea in the middle of the land’, though of late-Roman origin, still suggests the idea that both sea and land belonged to Rome. But this unity was afterwards destroyed by the repeated incursions of Germanic tribes from the north, followed by Arabs and Turks from the south and east. Owing to the discovery of the great ocean highways the Mediterranean was almost entirely neglected in the 16–19th centuries, but since the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 it has become one of the world’s most important xxviiiarteries of traffic. The establishment of the French in Algeria (1830) and Tunisia (1881) and that of the British in Egypt (1884) have still more effectually reunited Europe and Africa and promoted the progress of civilization and commerce. With Asia also Europe has been brought into closer touch since the Crimean war of 1854–6, when the Black Sea was opened up, and new avenues to the Orient were thus rendered available. While nominally belonging to three different quarters of the globe, the Mediterranean with its shores, being bounded on the north by a long wall of high mountains and on the south by a vast and even more impenetrable expanse of desert, possesses quite a unique individuality of its own.

Geologically considered the Mediterranean forms part of an immense depression girdling the whole of the earth’s crust and separating the northern from the southern parts. This depression probably existed during the earlier geological periods, but in its depths has not yet assumed a settled character, as is evidenced by frequent earthquakes, mostly tectonic, and by continuous volcanic activity. This great depression is believed by geologists to have extended in the mesozoic period into Central Asia, far beyond the limits of the present Mediterranean, forming an immense sea to which the name of Tethys has been given. In its depths were deposited those strata, chiefly calcareous and argillaceous, which were afterwards raised and converted into dry land by means of the centripetal motion of the earlier masses of rock and by lateral pressure. In proof of this it may be noted that some two-thirds of Italy and four-fifths of Sicily consist of subaqueous formations of the tertiary or even a later period.

In the midst of this vast ‘Eurasian’ (European-Asiatic) region of folded rock formation, some 930 miles in length, bounded on the north by the solid primæval rocks of the continent of Europe, and on the south by the great plateau of the desert, lies the Chief Basin of the Mediterranean, embracing the Adriatic and the Greek Archipelago, where the highly indented coast and the numerous islands and peninsulas display a most striking variety of picturesque scenery. On the other hand the smaller part of the sea, lying to the south of a line drawn from the Lesser Syrtis, past the south coasts of Crete and Cyprus, to North Syria, has been formed by encroachment on the plateau of the desert (p. xxxiii), and is almost entirely destitute of attraction. In the geological history of the Mediterranean it is important to note also that three great rock-masses of the earliest periods still survive. These are the Iberian mass to the west, once probably connected with the kindred rocks of the Atlas in Morocco; then the Tyrrhenian mass, in the centre, and the Rumelian to the east. These three belong to the archæan and palæozoic periods. Once towering to Alpine peaks, they were gradually undermined by the action of the waves and by the subsidence xxixof the land. Their bases were thus partly covered with their débris, built up in new formations. By later movements of the earth’s crust, however, these shapeless primæval masses were again broken up, and by the pressure and counter-pressure of the fragments were piled up anew into smaller mountain-ranges of considerable height. Thus from the Iberian primæval rock sprang up, in the Castilian range (Sierra de Gredos), peaks to a height of nearly 9000 feet; in the Rhodope of Rumelia rise similar peaks to nearly 10,000 feet high; and even amid the ruins of the Tyrrhenis (p. xxxi) still towers the granitic Monte Cinto in Corsica to a height of 8900 feet.

Around these great primæval masses, deeply rooted in the earth’s crust, were gradually built up the recent folded mountains, out of materials forced aside and upwards by the débris of earlier rock as it sank into the sea. Thus on the Iberian Pedestal, from the north side, out of the depths of the great Biscay abyss, arose the Pyrenaean-Cantabrian Folded Chain (culminating in the Aneto or Maladetta, 11,168 ft.), the fan-like structure of which has been due to lateral pressure coming from the Ebro depression also. By similar pressure from the south side the Andalusian Folded Mountains were piled up against the Iberian nucleus (Meseta Mts.), and, though only 23 miles distant from the Mediterranean, they tower in the Mulhacén of the Sierra Nevada to a height of 11,424 feet, the greatest altitude in Europe apart from the Alps. As the Pyrenees are fringed on the east, on the frontier of Spain and France (near Port Vendres), with a deeply indented coast, so too the Andalusian range is strongly marked by transverse fissures, the eastmost of which have severed the Balearic Islands from the mainland. Still more striking is the great westmost fissure or cleavage, where the girdle of mountains takes a sharp turn from west to east, where the action of tides and waves has hollowed out the Straits of Gibraltar, and has further widened them within the historic period. The Mediterranean is here separated from the Atlantic by a submarine bar or threshold, at a depth averaging only 650 feet, extending from Cape Trafalgar to Cape Spartel, a distance of 27½ miles, and forming the boundary between the inner Alboran basin or depression and the outer or Andalusian. Thus, on north and south alike the Iberian central bed-rock is bordered with lofty mountains, whose seaboard almost everywhere repels human traffic, and seems barred against Europe by the Pyrenees and against Africa by the mountains of Andalusia. On the east side, however, between the Pyrenees and Cabo de la Nao (p. 112), the original rock-nucleus slopes gradually down to the Mediterranean. Still more important is the western slope down to the Atlantic, whose waves have penetrated into the lower estuaries of primæval rock on the coast, thus forming a number of excellent harbours, such as in particular that of Lisbon at the mouth of the xxxTagus. Towards the Atlantic descend also the plains of Lower Andalusia, the so-called Guadalquivir Basin, which lies between the Iberian central pedestal and the Andalusian sedimentary and contorted formations. In this basin lie Spain’s chief seaports for traffic with Africa and America, the island-harbour of Cadiz, the estuary-harbour of Huelva, the starting-point of Columbus, and the river-harbour of Seville, accessible to large vessels at high-tide.

In North-Western Africa the Andalusian contorted formation is continued by the Rîf Mts. of Morocco (p. 93) and by the Tell Atlas (p. 169), extending to the south and then turning eastwards. These ranges are characterized by deep fissures, formed by prehistoric volcanic action and descending abruptly to the Mediterranean. The whole northern coast of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, apart from numerous wave-worn beaches, is completely rock-bound, forbidding all approach. Even the artificial harbours like that of Algiers are maintained with difficulty. At the east end of this long stretch of coast comes at last the welcome haven offered by the Gulf of Tunis which runs inland at the mouth of the depression between the Tell Atlas and the Sahara Atlas (p. 320), and on which the Medjerda and other streams and several important roads converge. Here, as in Lower Andalusia, a great avenue to the interior was thus opened up. This favoured spot therefore became a great focus of traffic, and as it lay on the Straits of Pantelleria (p. 396) it was also of great political importance. The ancient Utica (p. 353) was succeeded by the ‘new city’ of Carthage (p. 344), the predecessors of the modern Tunis. From this base the Carthaginians, the Vandals, and the Moors ruled Sicily and Sardinia. With such a base as the admirable naval harbour of Bizerta, lately constructed by the French, they in turn may perhaps some day become masters of the Mediterranean.

The Straits of Pantellería, leading from the western to the eastern basin of the Mediterranean and separating the Atlas from the Apennines, have been formed, like those of Gibraltar and the narrow side-portal of Messina, by transverse cleavage. Owing to the subsidence of the flat offshoots of the Apennines and to the erosive action of the waves the straits have been gradually widened to about 90 miles. The Maltese Islands are fragments, now broken up by fissures, of what was once a tableland, but they too are being rapidly washed away by the action of the surf. On the other hand the island of Pantellería, which has given its name to the straits, rising to a height of 2743 ft. from the verge of the central abyss and 3900 ft. in depth, is of volcanic origin. These transverse fissures are indeed generally the scenes of volcanic action, and they are usually situated at points where the mountains of recent contorted formation take a sudden bend (as is notably the case in the lower valley of the Danube).

xxxiItaly forms an immense bridge across the trough of the Mediterranean, extending to Cape Bon in Tunisia. Like a lofty embankment, rising over 18,000 ft. from the bottom of the sea, Calabria, culminating in the Aspromonte (6424 ft. above sea-level), separates the Tyrrhenian Sea (12,000 ft. deep, though of recent formation) from the Ionian Sea. The latter is the deepest basin in the Mediterranean, attaining a depth of 14,500 feet. The Apennines, deviating in their southern course from the usual ‘Eurasian’ direction, were probably influenced by the primæval Tyrrhenis. This ancient nucleus of the Italian continent has been broken up by movements of the earth’s crust which began in the mesozoic period, were still more marked in the later tertiary period, and continue to this day. Some of the solid blocks, as in Tuscany, Calabria, and Sicily (the Monti Peloritani near Messina), have been incorporated in the later rock structure of the Apennines; others again rise as isolated masses from the abysses of the Tyrrhenian Sea, such as Corsica, Sardinia, and Elba. The lines of cleavage, especially between Cosenza and Palermo, were marked by great volcanic activity. In a curve, parallel with the abrupt ramparts of Calabria and Sicily, rise the volcanoes of the Lipari Islands (Stromboli) and Ustica in succession. To the north the series is continued by Vesuvius, the Epomeo, and the Ponza Islands near Naples, and by the Alban Mts. near Rome. All these lie on the inner declivity of the Apennines. To the south the series is continued by Mt. Ætna in Sicily, lying outside of the Apennines. In the quaternary period the new Apennine formations underwent an upheaval which imparted to the range its present orographical unity. The result was that the straits which once intersected Southern Italy, connecting the Tyrrhenian with the Ionian basin, were filled up, with the exception of those of Messina, while these last were narrowed to 2 miles and shoaled at the north end, where they are only 335 ft. deep. The intensity of the upheaval is evidenced by the fact that quaternary deposits cover the terraces of the Aspromonte in Calabria to a height of 3900 feet above the sea-level. That these movements of the earth’s crust still continue is proved by the variations of level in the Bay of Naples observed within historic times. The most striking instance of this is the great subsidence in the island of Capri which has taken place within the Christian era. In the Blue Grotto there we find remains of a flight of steps of the time of Tiberius, descending to the water, but the lowest step is now 19 feet below the surface.

Italy opens towards the west. On the west side lie its picturesque bays and islands, as well as most of its great centres of culture, Rome and Florence, Genoa and Naples, besides many others. But the east side also is important owing to its close connection with the south-eastern basin of the Mediterranean. The chief outlets xxxiiin this direction are the lagoon-harbour of Venice, as great a portal of continental commerce in the middle ages as Genoa is at the present day, and the excellent harbours of Brindisi, Taranto, Messina, and Syracuse. Were geographical advantages alone decisive, Italy might again become mistress of the Mediterranean. Ethnographically also she is highly favoured. Her population, densest on the coasts, is about one-third of the scattered and heterogeneous hundred million inhabitants of the whole of the Mediterranean lands.

Almost all along the coast of the north-western basin of the Mediterranean the recent stratified and contorted headlands abut most picturesquely on the sea. On the north-west only, on each side of the Pyrenees, the basin is bounded by a coast of the primæval bed-rock formation, and is easily accessible from the Iberian mountains by the valleys of the Ebro, Jucar, and other rivers. Still more important are the avenues afforded by the Aquitanian Plains and the Rhone Valley. Hence it was that from a very early period the streams of Roman culture flowed through Marseilles and Narbonne to western and central Europe. But these, like the Straits of Gibraltar on the west, the Carso or Karst near Trieste on the north, and the Bosporus on the east, afford inlets also for the cold winds which sometimes pour into the warm mountain-girdled basin of the Mediterranean and force back the zone of southern vegetation (p. xxxv).

The southern margin of the north-western basin of the Mediterranean lies in the same latitude (36°) as the northern margin of the south-eastern basin (Cape Tænaron, on the south coast of Asia Minor). This less favoured south-eastern basin sends two great branches towards central Europe, the Adriatic and the Greek Archipelago, both of which open out in the direction of the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. From these branches run important roads leading to the heart of Europe, in particular those from Venice and Trieste into Austria, and that from Saloniki to Belgrade and up the Danube. This last, as also the road from Belgrade to Sofia, Adrianople, and Constantinople, traverses the Rumelian Primary Formation, to which the greater part of the south-eastern European peninsula belongs (Thrace and Macedonia, extending into Servia). To the same period probably once belonged also the north-western part of Asia Minor and Ægaeis, of which last the only surviving relics are the islands of the Cyclades. Here, too, over the primæval bed-rock, recent folded mountains have been gradually built up. The Balkan is one of these ranges. Another is the Illyrian-Greek Range, running in a different direction, which with its broad girdle gives the peninsula its southern trend, while shutting it off from the Adriatic and barring direct access to the north-west. As the Balearic Islands belong to the Andalusian stratified formation, and as Sicily and its adjoining islands form part of the Apennines, so the western stratified girdle of the south-eastern European peninsula xxxiiicrumbled, even within the historic period, into peninsulas and islands, formed chiefly by very recent subsidence. Thus arose Greece, a hill-country with an extensive seaboard, a new and unique region which was one day to reign supreme in the intellectual world. It is probable that the Greek range of hills was once prolonged eastwards, as appears to be indicated by the lie of the Cretan mountains, and that these in their turn were connected with the similarly stratified Taurus Mountains in Asia Minor. Just as the south-eastern peninsula of Europe, with Asia Minor, thus formed the great stepping-stones of traffic which brought the ancient culture of Europe into contact with that of Mesopotamia and Syria, so when the railway from Constantinople to Bagdad is completed a great future may yet be in store for the Orient.

The Eastern Mediterranean, the smaller south-eastern basin to the south of Malta, Crete, and Cyprus (p. xxviii), lies within the region of the great primæval desert-plateau of northern Africa (apart from the Atlas regions), of Arabia, and Syria, and has been formed by the subsidence of part of that plateau. In contrast to the richly varied shores of the western and central basins its coasts, as may even be seen from a glance at the map, are monotonous. Their formation, whether perpendicular or horizontal, is featureless, and there is an almost entire lack of islands, harbours, and rivers. The Nile greatly relieves this monotony, but its sources lie within tropical regions far beyond the limits of the desert. Alexandria possesses almost the only natural harbour on this flat coast of early formation. The old-world characteristics of the land, its inhabitants, and their language at once strike the traveller on landing at Tripoli. Yet even this part of the Mediterranean, especially the Levant Basin, beyond the passage between Crete and Barca, contains recent formations. The hill-region of Barca, the ancient Cyrenaica (p. 413), averaging 1600 feet in height, is composed of miocene marine strata. The bay now filled up by the Nile delta, and at one time connected with the Red Sea, is of even later origin, dating perhaps from the pluvial or glacial era. That the mouth of the Nile once lay much farther to the north and watered Palestine is evidenced by the identity of its fauna with that of the Jordan and the Lake of Tiberias (crocodiles, for instance, occurring in the Nahr ez-Zerkâ, to the south of Mt. Carmel; p. 468). Movements of the earth’s crust also account for the peculiar conformation of that part of the great desert-plateau which we call Syria. It is only differentiated from the monotonous North Arabian desert by the great Syrian Valley or trough, running from north to south, and ending at the Gulf of Akaba in the Erythræan depression (the Red Sea), which dates from about the same epoch. On each side of this long narrow furrow, descending to a depth of some 2500 feet below the sea-level, strips of land have been forced upwards so as to form lofty xxxivmountains. These, in spite of subsidences and erosion, still attain a height of about 10,000 feet in the twin-giants of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon in Central Syria. It is to this highly picturesque mountain-wall, which condenses the vapours from the sea and remains snow-clad till late in summer, that the Syrian seaboard, 10–16 miles in breadth, owes its luxuriant subtropical vegetation, and Palestine its cultivability as far as its southern borders. Syria, which may be regarded geographically and anthropologically as a kind of peninsula of the Mediterranean, thus forms a bridge between north and south, connecting Asia Minor and Mesopotamia with Arabia and Egypt, and bounded by the sea on the west and by the desert, only some 60 miles distant, on the east.

The Black Sea, which from the north-eastern angle of the Archipelago runs far into the interior of the Old World, lies outside of the Mediterranean regions. Like the inland Caspian Sea it is a relic of the tertiary Sarmatic Sea, which was afterwards broken up into lakes of brackish water. It was not till the diluvial epoch that those subsidences which created the Sea of Marmora brought the Black Sea also into connection with the Mediterranean. Through the Sea of Marmora there must once have flowed a great river, into whose valley the sea afterwards penetrated from the south, forming the Dardanelles and the Bosporus of the present day. Travellers on the Rhine will observe an interesting resemblance between these straits and the Rhine Valley between Bingen and Coblenz. Like these straits the Black Sea also is a great trough hollowed out between lofty stratified mountains. On three sides its bold rocky coasts are inhospitable and forbidding. On the north it is bounded by the ‘steppe’, a plateau of primitive formation, no less monotonous than the desert-plateau on the south side of the Mediterranean, yet cultivable owing to its more northern situation. At two places on this side, through gaps in the mountain rampart, the sea has overflowed the plateau, forming the shallow Gulf of Odessa and Sea of Azov. Two great routes of traffic were thus opened up from the Black Sea into the heart of Eastern Europe and even of Central Asia, enriching the world’s commerce with the products of these regions, and at the same time forming the portal through which Byzantine culture and Greek Christianity found their way into Russia. Through these passages great masses of cold northern air are poured into the Black Sea; but between them the Peninsula of the Crimea, a relic of the broken-down mountain-girdle, still stands boldly forth, giving shelter to an almost Mediterranean vegetation on its southern coast. On that coast lies the admirable harbour of Sebastopol. Nearer the Sea of Azov once lay the flourishing Greek colonies of Pantikapaeon and Phanagoria, and in the middle ages the Genoese settlements of Sudak (Kertch) and Kaffa (Theodosia or Feodossiya). As the corn of Southern xxxvRussia is now the chief export from Odessa to London and Antwerp, so, from the 14th century onwards, quantities of Russian caviare were brought by Italian merchants from Kaffa to Bruges, which was then one of the world’s greatest markets.

The Climate of the Mediterranean is very equable. In every age northerners have been attracted by the mildness of the winters, when the occasional storms and heavy rains are of short duration and are soon succeeded by bright sunshine. The heat of summer is tempered everywhere, especially on the more southern coasts, by refreshing sea-breezes. The farther south one goes, the longer the dry season lasts. At Tripoli, for example, it lasts for seven months and at Alexandria for ten. The subtropical maximum air-pressure over the eastern Atlantic, by which rainfall and wind-movements are determined, is usually continued in winter past the southern limit of the Mediterranean (comp. p. 29), thus bringing the whole of that sea within the zone of the changeable and rainy winds of Central Europe. In summer the pressure lies farther to the north, producing in most parts of the Mediterranean steady northerly currents of air. The climate is tempered also by the warmth of the sea itself. The bar at the west entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar (p. xxix) keeps out the cold water of the deep Atlantic, but allows the influx of the warmer surface-water to compensate for what the Mediterranean loses by evaporation. This loss would otherwise amount to a depth of 10–15 ft. per annum. The influx of water from the Atlantic causes a current to flow along the North African coast from west to east, but its thermal effects are soon lost. In summer the surface of the Mediterranean is heated by the sun up to 75–82° Fahr.; but the temperature diminishes rapidly down to a depth of about 1000 feet, where it reaches a uniform minimum corresponding with the surface temperature of February, the coolest month in the year. This in the north-western basin is 55° Fahr. only, and in the south-eastern 56¼°, but it suffices to temper the cold winds of winter, while additional warmth is brought from time to time by the hot sirocco from the interior of Africa (comp. p. 321). It may be stated generally that the winter temperature on the Mediterranean averages 14° Fahr. above that of almost all other regions in the same latitude. The warmest places are of course those on the coasts facing the south and sheltered from the north, while the average temperature rises gradually from south-east to north-west.

The Vegetation is rich and varied. Evergreens abound, being better able to stand the long droughts than deciduous trees and shrubs. Among the forest-trees in the warmer regions the commonest are pines, including stone-pines, and oaks of the evergreen and other varieties. The underwood (macchia, maquis, or garrigue, Grk. phrýgana) is composed of mastic-bushes (Pistacia xxxvilentiscus), myrtles, arbutus-trees (Arbutus unĕdo), broom, tree-like heaths (Erica arborea and scoparia), resinous and aromatic cistus-shrubs with large blossoms resembling wild roses, and climbing-plants of many varieties. Most prominent among trees in the cultivated lands is the silver-grey olive, which, as well as the vine and the fig-tree, has thriven here from the earliest times and is the most characteristic feature in every Mediterranean landscape. Most of the other fruit-trees also have been known here since remote antiquity. The fruit of the date-palm attains perfection in the oases of North Africa only (comp. p. 171), but the tree bears fruit on the Spanish coast, and is very popular as an ornamental tree on the French and Italian Riviera and in other sheltered situations. Lemons were introduced by the Arabs, and oranges were brought from southern China by the Portuguese about the middle of the 16th century. Many other foreign trees and plants have been introduced since then. Aloes and opuntias, which now grow wild and are often regarded as characteristic of the Mediterranean, were introduced from America. In the beautiful and luxuriant gardens, especially in Italy, on the French Riviera, and in Algeria, the flora of almost every quarter of the globe is represented.

No less varied and interesting are the Inhabitants of the Mediterranean lands, who belong to three distinct continents, and who differ widely in race and language, in religion and culture. In remote mountain-regions there still exist peoples, like the Basques and the Albanians, who belong to the oldest races in Europe. In the south and the east dwell Arabs and Turks, comparatively recent immigrants from the steppes of Asia. On one side, as in Southern France, is witnessed the height of civilization; on the other, as in Albania and many parts of Northern Africa, the population is sunk in the depths of ignorance. The dwellers in the west profess the Roman Catholic faith, those in the east belong to the Greek Catholic church, while they differ materially in culture also. Christianity again is antagonistic to Islam, which prevails in Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria, and North Africa. The inhabitants of the Atlas regions, of Tripolitania, and of Barca are Berbers (p. 94), who are neither Arabs nor Turks, but are more akin to the Europeans. The Osman Turks of the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor have been so blended with Mediterranean races that they now retain little of their original Mongolian character. Entirely distinct again from the Arabs are the Aramaic Syrians, although they speak Arabic, and so too are the Fellahin of Egypt. Most mixed perhaps of all is the blood of the Modern Greeks.

1. To Gibraltar Direct. The chief Steamboat Lines (offices, comp. pp. xviii-xx) are the Peninsular & Oriental Co., once weekly from London to Gibraltar, Marseilles, Port Said, etc.; the Orient Royal Line, fortnightly from London to Gibraltar, Marseilles, Naples, Port Said, etc.; the North German Lloyd, fortnightly from Southampton to Gibraltar, Algiers, Genoa, Naples, Port Said, etc.; the Anchor Line almost weekly from Liverpool or Glasgow for Gibraltar, Marseilles, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Palermo, Port Said, etc.; fares to Gibraltar in all these from 12l. 2s. downwards. Less expensive are the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.’s steamers, fortnightly from London; and from Liverpool, the Moss Line fortnightly and the Papayanni Line occasionally; fares in all these range from 6l. to 8l.

2. Coasting Steamers. Hall Line, weekly from London to Lisbon, Gibraltar, Málaga, and Cadiz; the Pacific Line, fortnightly from Liverpool to La Rochelle-Pallice (for Bordeaux), Corunna, Vigo, Leixões (for Oporto), Lisbon, and St. Vincent (Cape Verde), and thence to S. America (passengers for the Mediterranean requiring of course to tranship at Lisbon or St. Vincent); the Nederland Royal Mail Steamers, fortnightly from Southampton for the Mediterranean and Batavia, touch at Lisbon, and so also those of the Rotterdam Lloyd, fortnightly from Southampton, for Tangier, the Mediterranean, and Batavia; Yeoward Bros. Line, weekly from Liverpool to Lisbon; Booth Line, thrice monthly from Liverpool to Havre, Vigo, Leixões (for Oporto), etc.; Ellerman Line, weekly from Liverpool to Lisbon and Oporto; the steamers of the German East African Line, once every three weeks from Southampton, call at Lisbon, Tangier, Marseilles, and Naples, on their way to Port Said; the Atlantic liners of the Hamburg-American and Hamburg & South American Cos., calling several times monthly at Southampton, also touch occasionally at Lisbon; Royal Holland Lloyd, monthly from Dover to Boulogne, Corunna, Vigo, Lisbon, etc.; the vessels of the Compañía Trasatlántica, monthly from Liverpool, call at Corunna, Vigo, Lisbon, Cadiz, Cartagena, Valencia, Barcelona, and Genoa, on their voyages to Colombo and Manila.

3. Excursion Steamers. Many of the above companies and others besides organize Mediterranean cruises and circular tours at very reasonable fares, whereby everything is made easy and comfortable; but the 2more enterprising and independent traveller will greatly prefer to piece his tour together for himself, combining the various routes to suit his own convenience, and often lingering for days in profoundly impressive historic places or amid glorious scenery, where the hurriedly conducted tourist can spend a few hours only. Among the excursion steamers may be mentioned the ‘Vectis’ of the Peninsular & Oriental Co., which offers a trip of 10 days from London to Lisbon, Gibraltar, Tangier, Málaga, and Marseilles for 10–15 guineas, and another, of 21 days, from Marseilles to Palermo, Constantinople, the Piræus, Naples, and Marseilles, for 21–40 gs. Similar cruises are offered by the Cunard Line, starting from Liverpool for the Mediterranean and Adriatic, the Orient Royal Line from London (20 days; fares from 18 gs.), and by ‘Continental Travel’ (5 Endsleigh Gardens, London), some of the last-named (either from Southampton or from Marseilles) extending to Egypt and the Holy Land, and lasting from 13 to 34 days (fares 10–26 gs.).—The voyage from London to Lisbon (about 1170 M.) usually takes 3½ days, and thence to Gibraltar (about 350 M.) one day more; but some of the steamers take longer, while much of course depends on the number of ports called at and on the length of stay made at each. For details as to the sailings, which, as well as fares, are liable to frequent alteration, application should be made to the various companies, or to Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son (Ludgate Circus, London, E.C.) or other tourist-agencies.

To Gibraltar Direct. As indicated at p. 1, most of the great steamers bound for Port Said, India, Australia, and other distant parts steer for Gibraltar direct.

Of the Coasting Steamers to Gibraltar some touch at Lisbon only, others at Leixões (or Oporto) and Lisbon, and others again at various additional stations. All the important stations are here mentioned in their order.

The Hamburg-American steamers call at Boulogne (see Baedeker’s N. France) to take up passengers for Lisbon and America. Most of the vessels pass the Cap de la Hague, a little to the N.W. of Cherbourg, and the Channel Islands, which belong to Great Britain. The first of these is Alderney (Fr. Aurigny); next comes the islet of Burhou; beyond it, behind the dangerous rocks called the Casquets, marked by a triple flashing light, lies Guernsey (‘green island’), and farther away, to the left, is Jersey. The coast of Brittany or Bretagne is visible in clear weather only.

All the steamers leave the English Channel near Ushant (Ouessant; lighthouse), an island near the coast of Brittany, and steer to the S.S.W. across the Bay of Biscay (Viscaya), where, even in fine weather, the heavy swell of the open Atlantic is distinctly felt. The steamers of the Pacific Line and of the Rotterdam Lloyd touch at La Pallice, 3 M. from La Rochelle. From La Rochelle, an interesting historic town, by railway to (145 M.) Bordeaux, see Baedeker’s Southern France. The Bay of Biscay is bounded on the S. by the N. coast of Spain, with which the W. coast of France forms a right angle. In this angle, far to the E. of the steamer’s course, lie Bayonne and the famous health resort of Biarritz. To the S.W. of the latter is (8 M.) St. Jean de Luz, and 8 M. farther is Hendaye, on the Spanish frontier (see Baedeker’s S. France).

3In Spain, 12 M. to the W. of the frontier, is situated San Sebastián, a strikingly picturesque town and fashionable seaside resort; 71½ M. farther to the W. lies Bilbao, famed for its iron and steel, 74 M. beyond which is Santandér, with its important harbour. About 280 M. farther to the W. are the N.W. headlands of Spain which mark the S.W. end of the Bay of Biscay.

The steamers of the Pacific Line, the Compañía Trasatlántica, and some others next call at Corunna, Span. La Coruña, a picturesque and important seaport famed in history, and the chief arsenal of N. Spain (see Baedeker’s Spain and Portugal; debarkation or embarkation 1 peseta). Time permitting, passengers may spend an hour or two on shore in walking through the new town (Pescadería) and the loftily situated old town (Ciudad Vieja), and in ascending to the Torre de Hércules (185 ft.; lighthouse), about 1 M. to the N. of the town, for the sake of the splendid view it affords. Some 35 M. to the W. of Corunna lie the small Sisargas Islands, beyond which all the vessels steer to the S., past Cabo Villano (lighthouse), Cabo Toriñana (lighthouse), and Cape Finisterre. To the E., in clear weather, we may descry the long outlines of the Galician mountain-range (‘sierra’). Beyond Cape Finisterre we pass a number of far-penetrating inlets (rias) which abound on the W. coast of Galicia. Many steamers touch also at Vigo, a seaport and sea-bathing place most picturesquely situated on the Ria de Vigo, the southmost inlet of Galicia, which runs 19 M. inland (debarkation or embarkation 1 peseta). Fine view near the lofty Castillo del Castro, to the S. of the town. Some eight or nine hours’ steaming carries us from Vigo, past the mouth of the Minho, the boundary between Spain and Portugal, to—

Leixões (pron. layshŏengsh; Brit. vice-consul, T. Coverley), the first Portuguese port, lying at the mouth of the little river Leça and forming the outer harbour of Oporto. About 2½ M. farther to the S. is the mouth of the Douro, usually entered by the smaller steamers bound for (3½ M.) Oporto itself.

Passengers who wish to go ashore at Leixões are conveyed by motor-boat or rowing-boat (about 225 reis or 1s., and half as much more for luggage) to the custom-house. Visitors with heavy luggage require to take the train (Leça station, near the Alfándega or custom-house) to Oporto (Estacão da Boa Vista, in the N. of the town); others may take the electric tramway (120 rs.), running from Leixões through the villa-suburb of Leça da Palmeira and the watering-places of Mattosinhos and São João da Foz, and up the right bank of the Douro, to Oporto (about 5 M., in 1 hr.). It goes as far as the Praça de Dom Pedro; but those in haste will alight in the Rua do Infante Dom Henrique (comp. p. 4).

Oporto.—Hotels. *Hot. do Porto, Hôt. de Paris, Hôt. de Francfort, etc.—Café-Restaurant International, Praça de Dom Pedro 14; Café Suisse, same square, No. 122; Café Marques, in the Crystal Palace.

Cab 500 rs., or about 2s. 3d., per hour.

Consuls. British, H. Grant.—United States Consular Agent, W. Stüve.—English Church (St. James’s), in the Campo Pequeno, to the N. of the Crystal Palace.

4Oporto, or briefly Porto (‘harbour’) in Portuguese, is a busy commercial town of 172,400 inhab., the industrial capital of N. Portugal, and the place from which the famous wines of the upper valley of the Douro are chiefly exported. It lies 3½ M. from the sea, on the lofty right bank of the Douro, which has forced its passage here through the granite rock. The old town, with its quaint balconied houses, whose walls are often faced with coloured tiles, rises in terraces on the rocky slopes. The new town lies on a lofty plateau to the N., E., and W. of the old.

To the N. of the Rua do Infante Dom Henrique is the Exchange (Bolsa), with its showy hall in the Moorish style. To the E. of it stands the Monument of Prince Henry the Navigator (p. 5). Adjoining the exchange is the Gothic church of São Francisco (entrance on the W. side), containing elaborate gilt wood-carving of the 17–18th centuries. Near the E. end of the Rua do Infante Dom Henrique is the so-called English Factory House (Associação Britannica), an imposing building erected by an Englishman in 1785 and now used as a kind of club. The nearest tramway-car conveys us to the Praça de Dom Pedro, the business centre of the city, with an Equestrian Statue of Pedro IV. (p. 11) commemorating the granting of the constitution (1826). We ascend to the W. by the steep Calçada dos Clérigos to the church of Igreja dos Clérigos (427 ft.), the tower of which (246 ft.; ticket of admission 100 rs.) commands a panoramic view of the city, the river, and the coast. Adjoining the church on the W. is the Campo dos Martyres da Patria, with the beautiful grounds of the Jardim da Cordoaria. We next proceed by the electric tramway ‘Palacio’ to the Crystal Palace (adm. 20, 50 or 100 rs.) with its beautiful pleasure-grounds and superb view of the city, the river, and the sea. The same electric tramway, now entitled the ‘Praça de Dom Pedro’, returns viâ the Rua da Cedofeita to the Praça de Dom Pedro; we, however, change tramway-cars in the former and proceed by the tramway ‘Campanha’ viâ the Praça de Dom Pedro to the pretty Jardim de São Lázaro. From the S.W. angle of the garden the Rua das Fontainhas descends to the Passeio das Fontainhas with a view of the river, its S. bank, and both bridges. Following this promenade to the W. we reach the Largo da Policia with a fountain, where remains of the City Walls are to be seen. Hence the Rua de Saraiva de Carvalho leads us, before it descends in an abrupt curve to the left, into the vicinity of the Sé, or Cathedral, now almost entirely modernized. We may now traverse the upper roadway (toll 5 rs.; tramway-car if desired) of the magnificent Ponte de Dom Luiz Primeiro, spanning the Douro with a single iron arch of 564 ft. On the S. bank, on an eminence immediately to the left, lies the ruinous Augustine convent of Nossa Senhora da Serra do Pilar where Wellington effected his celebrated passage of the Douro against the French (1809). The view, especially from the dome of the church, is very fine. We make our way, at first by steps, then by a steep descent, to the lower roadway of the bridge. Returning to the N. bank of the Douro we follow the Rua Cima do Muro to the Praça da Ribeira which affords an insight into popular life and commands a striking retrospect of the Ponte de Dom Luiz. In the neighbourhood we may take the electric tramway ‘Leça’ which conveys us back to Leixões. In the reverse direction we regain the Praça de Dom Pedro.—Comp. Baedeker’s Spain and Portugal.

While the greater Ocean Steamers rarely sight the land, those bound for Lisbon skirt the flat Portuguese coast for some 150 M., from Oporto to Cabo Carvoeiro, steering past the Berlengas Islands (lighthouse), and then rounding the Serra de Cintra (p. 15), which ends in the Cabo da Roca (472 ft.), the westmost point of Europe, with its great lighthouse. Passing the Cabo Raso, we now steer due E. into the Bay of Cascaes, the ‘Riviera’ of Portugal, 5and enter the month of the Tagus (Tejo), where the lighthouses of Torre de São Julião and Torre de Bugio rise conspicuously. On the left we next observe the Torre de Belem and the extensive streets of Lisbon (see R. 2).

Leaving Lisbon, several of the great liners steer due W. across the Atlantic to America. Other vessels head to the S.W. for Madeira (p. 17), and others again due S., past the Cabo de Espichel, on their way to Gibraltar or Tangier. About 120 M. to the S. of Lisbon we are off *Cape St. Vincent (Cabo de São Vicente), the ancient Promontorium Sacrum. This huge rocky plateau, with its reddish-brown precipices rising sheer above the sea, presents an imposing appearance. Just beyond it are an old monastery and a lighthouse and then the Cabo Sagres. Between these capes we obtain a glimpse of the dreary and sunburnt interior of the country, with its few poor villages. Beyond the Cabo Sagres lies the little town of Sagres, founded by Henry the Navigator (1421) as headquarters for his voyages of exploration. Both before and after rounding these two capes we sometimes obtain a pleasant view of the Serra de Monchique (2963 ft.), and before leaving the coast of Algarve we may distinguish the little towns of Lagos and Albufeira and the Cabo de Santa Maria. Steering now due E., the smaller trading-vessels call at Huelva, a little beyond the Spanish frontier, noted as the shipping-port for the great Tharsis and Rio Tinto mines, and as the starting-point of Columbus (pp. 115, 64) for his voyage to America in 1492, while other vessels call at Cadiz (p. 58); all the larger steamers however proceed direct across the Bay of Cadiz to the S.E. to the Straits of Gibraltar, and either call at Gibraltar itself, or pass it on their eastward voyage without stopping; a certain number touch at Tangier (p. 98).

The *Straits of Gibraltar, anciently called Fretum Gaditanum or Herculeum (comp. Map, p. 49), from Gades (p. 58) or from the Pillars of Hercules (p. 54), date from the pliocene age, when the action of tides and waves forced a passage from the Atlantic into the great inland cavity of the Mediterranean. The straits are widest at the W. entrance, between Cape Trafalgar (p. 58) on the left, and Cape Spartel (p. 102) on the right. The narrowest part (8 M.) is between the Punta Canales (p. 6) and Cape Ciris (p. 123). The E. entrance, between Europa Point (p. 55) and the Punta Santa Catalina (p. 123), is 12½ M. in breadth. Between the ocean and the inland sea run strong currents, the upper and lighter, from W. to E., sometimes setting at the rate of 5 M. an hour, while the lower, being more strongly impregnated with salt and therefore heavier, flows in the opposite direction. These currents, coupled with the conflict of winds at the meeting of the waters, often cause serious trouble to sailing-vessels.

To the right, far to the S.E. as we steer into the straits, appears 6the lighthouse on Cape Spartel, to the E. of which opens the bay of Tangier (p. 98), bounded on the E. by Cape Malabata. To the left, on the treeless coast of Andalusia enlivened only by the numerous ancient watch-towers, lies the town of Tarifa, preceded by an isthmus ending in the Punta Marroquí, the southmost point of the mainland of Europe (36° N. lat.).

The steamers then pass the Punta Canales and Punta del Fraile, round the Punta Carnero, the southmost spur of the Sierra de los Gazules, and enter the broad Bay of Algeciras or Gibraltar, where they usually anchor in the open roads of Gibraltar (p. 52), to the N.W. of the government harbour.

From Gibraltar to Tangier and Mogador, see RR. 6 b and 14; to Genoa, see R. 15; to Naples, see R. 16; to Marseilles, see R. 17.

Arrival by Sea. Steamers arriving from Europe (comp. R. 1) usually anchor in the Tagus (Tejo) near the custom-house (Alfándega; Pl. F, G, 5). Landing or embarking by boat (bote) ca. 500 rs., and 100–200 rs. for each trunk or package, including transport to the custom-house (bargaining necessary). Steamers from the South (Madeira and Brazil), cast anchor opposite the quarantine station (Posto Maritimo de Desinfecção; Pl. B, 5); passengers are landed in tenders (1600 rs.); for conveyance of luggage to the custom-house each piece 200 rs. As soiled linen is sometimes asked for, it should be packed in a separate bundle and given up in exchange for a metal token. A declaration has to be filled up at the custom-house (100 rs.); tobacco and unused articles only are dutiable. In the case of the larger liners the through-passengers (passageiros em transito) are conveyed without luggage to land, and thence back, by tender; the place and time of return should be ascertained. Special tenders are provided for the landing of travellers going no farther, and for their luggage. As a rule, fully half a day is spent in landing and other formalities prior to settling down in a hotel. Hotel-employés are not permitted to convey passengers from the steamers. As the custom-house is closed at sunset, passengers arriving by steamer in the evening must stay on board till next morning.

The Central Railway Station (Estação Central or Lisboa Rocio, Pl. F, 3; no restaurant), in the Rua Magalhães Lima, a little to the N.W. of the Rocio (p. 11), is the station for all the through-trains and expresses to Paris, Madrid, etc. Lisbon time is 37 min. behind Greenwich time, and 1 hr. 36 min. slower than mid-European.—Office of the International Sleeping Carriage Co. (Companhia Internacional dos Wagons-Lits dos Grandes Expressos Europeus) in the Avenida Palace Hotel (see below).

7Hotels (advisable to engage rooms beforehand). *Avenida Palace Hotel (Pl. a; F, 3), adjoining the Central Station, pens. from 3000 rs. upwards; *Hot. Bragança (Pl b; E, 5), Rua Victor Cordon, in a high site, R. from 1200 rs., B. 350, déj. 800, D. 1100 rs.—Hot. de Inglaterra (Pl. i; F, 3), Praça dos Restauradores 45, well spoken of; Hot. Central (Pl. c; E, 5), in the lower town, commercial, déj. 800, D. 1000, pens. from 2600 rs.; Hôt. de l’Europe, Rua do Carmo 16 (Pl. F, 4), pens. from 2000 rs.—Hôt. Durand (Pl. k; E, 4), Rua das Flores 71, an English family hotel in a quiet situation, pens. 2400–3000 rs.—Avenida Hotel (Pl. h; F, 2), Avenida da Liberdade 67, good second-class house.

Cafés-Restaurants. *Tavares, Rua do Mundo 37 (Pl. E, F, 3), D. 800 and 1000 rs.; Impérial, Rua Magalhães Lima 124, opposite the Avenida Palace Hotel, also superior, D. 700 rs.; Suisso, Largo de Camões 8, opposite the E. side of the Central Station.—Beer. Cervejaria Jansen, entr. near the Hot. Bragança (see above; side-entrance Rua do Alecrim 30); Cervejaria Trindade, Rua da Trindade 110.

Post and Telegraph Office (Correio e Telegrapho; Pl. F, 5) in the Praça do Commercio, corner of Rua do Arsenal, in which last is the entrance to the poste-restante office. Also numerous branch-offices (estações auxiliares). Postage of letters (cartas) for Portugal and Spain 20 rs.; post-cards (bilhete postal) 10 rs.; for abroad (para o estrangeiro) 50 and 20 rs. respectively; registration-fee (registado) 50 rs.

Cabs (Trens de Praça) in the principal squares, elegant vehicles with two horses for 2 or 4 pers., but the tariff is high. The hirer should ask the driver (cocheiro) for a ticket or token (senha). The tariff is called tabella. ‘Impedido’ means engaged.

The city boundary is the Estrada da Circumvallação (p. 9), and for the W. suburbs Algés (beyond Belem). After the first hour the time is reckoned by ¼ hours. If the cab is dismissed outside the town the driver is entitled to a return-fare. At night (1 a.m. till sunrise) the fares are doubled. Luggage up to 30 kilos (66 lbs.) free, up to 50 kilos (110 lbs.) 200 rs., over 50 kilos 400 rs.

Taximeter Cabs (Trens com Taximeter) are rather cheaper.—Motor Taximeters (Automovies da Praça), stand in the Rocio (Pl. F, 3, 4), comp. the tariff written in French.

Lifts and Cable Tramways (Ascensores or Elevadores), mostly every 3 min., from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. The fare up is called subida, down descida, return ida e volta.

1. From the Rua da Santa Justa (Pl. F, 4; near the Rua Aurea) to the Largo do Carmo (Pl. F, 4). Fare up 20, down 10, return 20 rs.

2. From the Calçada da Gloria (Pl. F, 3; W. side of the Avenida da Liberdade) to the Alameda de São Pedro de Alcántara (Pl. E, F, 3), 20 rs.

3. From the Praça de Camões (Pl. E, 4) to São Bento (Pl. D, 3) and the Largo da Estrella (Pl. C, 2, 3), 50 rs.

4. From the Rua da Palma (near the Theatro Apollo; Pl. G, 3) to the Largo da Graça (Pl. H, 3, 4); up 10, down 20 rs.

5. From the Calçada da Lavra (Pl. F, 3) to the Travessa do Thorel (Pl. F, 2, 3), near the S. end of the Campo dos Martyres da Patria, 20 rs.

Tramways (Carris de Ferro) are to be preferred to cabs owing to the hilly nature of the town and the badly paved streets. The starting point of the tramway-lines important to the traveller is the Rocio (Pl. F, 3, 4); cars proceeding hence to the S. viâ the Rua Augusta return viâ the Rua Aurea. To the W. cars follow the narrow Rua do Arsenal to the Largo 8do Corpo Santo (Pl. E, 5), where the line forks into an outer line skirting the quay, and an inner line (comp. the Plan); on the latter the ‘Santo Amaro Pampueha’ car alone passes the museum (p. 14). On both lines the ‘Belem’, ‘Algés’, or ‘Dafundo’ cars proceed to Belem (p. 14).—The terminus of the route is indicated on the boards at either end of the cars. On the return-journey, or, in the case of circular tramways, in the reverse direction, cars have different name-boards (given below in brackets). Boards in the streets bearing the word ‘paragem’ indicate stopping-places (beckoning necessary).—Fare, within the first zone, 30 rs.; for every addit. zone 10 rs. extra.—The three following circular lines are of special importance.

1. ‘Rio de Janeiro’ Car [‘Rocio’]: Rocio-Avenida da Liberdade (Pl. F, E, 3–1; p. 11) - Rua Alexandre Herculano (Pl. E, 1) - Travessa São Mamede (Pl. E, 2) - Rua da Escola Polytechnica (Pl. E, 2) - Jardim Botanico (p. 11) - Praça do Rio de Janeiro (Pl. E, 2, 3) - Alameda de São Pedro de Alcántara (Pl. E, F, 3; p. 11) - Rua do Mundo (Pl. E, F, 3, 4) - Rua do Alecrim (Pl. E, 4, 5) - Rua do Arsenal (Pl. E, F, 5) - Rua Aurea (Pl. F, 5, 4) - Rocio. Fare all the way (Circulação completa) 50 rs.

2. ‘Rua Gomes Freire’ Car [‘Graça’]: Rocio - Rua Augusta (Pl. F, 4) - Rua da Conceição (Pl. F, 5) - Sé (Pl. G, 5; p. 13) - Largo do Contador Mór (Pl. G, 4; comp. p. 13) - São Vicente de Fora (Pl. H, 4; p. 13) - Rua da Graça (Pl. H, 3) - Largo dos Quatro Caminhos (Pl. H, 3), returning by the same route as far as the Rua da Conceição (see above), thence viâ Rua Aurea, Rocio, Rua da Palma, Rua de São Lazaro (Pl. G, 3, 2), Rua Gomes Freire (Pl. G, 2, 1), Rua Conde de Redondo (Pl. F, 1), and the Avenida (p. 11) to the Rocio. Fare 80 rs.

3. ‘Largo das Duas Egrejas’ Car [‘Estrella’]: Upper end of Rua Garrett (Pl. E, F, 4) - Rua do Alecrim (Pl. E, 4, 5) - Rua Vinte e Quatro de Julho (Pl. E, D, 5, 4) - Largo de Santos (Pl. C, 4) - Rua de São Domingos (Pl. C, 4, 3) - Rua de Buenos Ayres (Pl C, 3) - Largo da Estrella (Pl. C, 3, 2) - Rua Domingos Sequeira (Pl. C, 2) - Rua Ferreira Borges (Pl. C, 2, 1) - Rua do Campo de Ourique (Pl. C, 1) - Rua São João dos Bem Casados (Pl. C, D, 1) - Rua das Amoreiras (Pl. D, 1) - Largo do Rato (Pl. D, 1) - Rua da Escola Polytechnica (Pl. D, E, 2, 3) - Jardim Botanico (p. 11) - Alameda de São Pedro de Alcántara (p. 11) - Rua do Mundo (Pl. E, F, 3, 4) - Rua Garrett.

Steamers to and from London, Liverpool, Southampton, S. America, etc. (comp. pp. xviii-xx and R. 1). Also the Messageries Maritimes from Bordeaux to Lisbon; the Empreza Nacional de Navegação for Madeira, and the Empreza Insulana de Navegação for the Azores (comp. also R. 3). Agent for the Rotterdam Lloyd, German East African, Hamburg-American, and Hamburg & S. American Lines, E. George (p. 9); for the Compañía Trasatlántica, H. Burnay & Co.

Banks. London & Brazilian, Rua do Commercio 96; Crédit Franco-Portugais, Rua Augusta 61; Banco de Portugal, Rua Aurea (entr. Rua do Commercio 148); Weinstein & Co., Rua do Commercio 49 (1st floor).

Theatres (from end of Oct. to March; boxes are called camarotes, stalls cadeiras, the pit platéa géral). Theatro de São Carlos (Pl. F, 4), Largo de São Carlos, for Italian operas and ballet; Theatro da Republica (Pl. E, F, 4, 5), Rua Antonio Maria Cardoso, for Spanish, Italian, or French plays and operettas; Nacional (Pl. F, 3), Praça de Dom Pedro, for Portuguese plays; also several places for variety entertainments.

Bull Ring (Praça de Touros; Pl. G, 1), reached from the Rocio by the ‘Campo Pequeno’ or ‘Lumiar’ tramway-cars; parties should charter cabs in good time (return-fare ca. 3000 rs.). Bull-fights, less cruel than in Spain, Sun. and holidays (Easter to the end of June); tickets at Praça dos Restauradores 18.

British Minister, Hon. Sir Francis H. Villiers, Rua São Francisco de Borja 63 (Pl. B, 4).—U. S. Minister, Henry T. Gage, Largo do Carino 18 (Pl. P, 4).

Consuls. British, P. A. Somers Cocks, Travessa da Ribeira Nova 26; vice-consul, H. E. Jones.—U. S. Consul-General, Louis H. Aymé, Avenida 9da Liberdade 196 (Pl. F, 1); vice-consul, H. E. Bradford.—Lloyd’s Agents, Rawes & Co., Rua do Commercio 31 (Pl. F, 5).

Goods Agent. E. George, Rua da Prata 8 (Pl. F, 5).—Tourist Agents, Thos. Cook & Son, Rua Aurea 52 (Pl. F, 5).

Churches. English (St. George’s), with cemetery (Pl. C, 2), Rua da Estrella; services at 11 & 7; chaplain, Rev. E. P. Lewis, D. D.—Presbyterian (Pl. B, 4), Rua da Arriaga 13; services at 11 & 7.30; minister, Rev. R. M. Lithgow.

Club. Royal British Club, Rua de São Francisco de Paula 1 (Pl. B, 4), also for temporary members.

Sights. The Churches, few of which are interesting, are open from 7 to 10 a.m., the Cathedral till 1 p.m.

Museu d’Artilheria (p. 14), on week-days 10–3, free.

Museu Nacional das Bellas Artes (p. 14), Sun., Thurs., and holidays, 11–4, free; on other days 12–2, by leave of the director obtained through the attendant. When the main door is closed the entrance is to the left, through the gateway of the barracks and the garden.

Museu Nacional dos Coches (p. 14), daily, exc. Frid., 12–5, free.

Visitors having only a few hours at their disposal on land should avail themselves of one of the circular tramway-lines (p. 7) to obtain a general survey of the town. The Graça Church (p. 13; *View) should be visited in the morning (‘Graça’ tramway); in the afternoon, Alameda de São Pedro de Alcántara (p. 11) or Estrella Church (p. 12). The trip to Belem (p. 14) should on no account be omitted.

Two Days. 1st. Forenoon: Praça do Commercio and Rocio (pp. 10, 11); Avenida da Liberdade (p. 11); *Alameda de São Pedro de Alcántara (p. 11); *Botanic Garden (p. 11); Estrella Church (p. 12; *View). Afternoon: Belem (p. 14).—2nd. Excursion to *Cintra (p. 15), requiring at least half a day.—Bull-fights, see p. 8.

Lisbon, Portuguese Lisbóa, the capital of the new republic of Portugal (comp. p. 10), the see of an archbishop, a fortress, and also an important commercial city, with 357,700 inhab., lies in 38° 42′ N. lat. and 9° 11′ W. long., on the broad Bay of the Tagus, which forms an excellent harbour just above the comparatively narrow (1–2 M.) mouth of the river (see p. xxix). The town rises in picturesque terraces, affording many charming views, while the luxuriance of its public gardens is almost unrivalled in Europe. Lisbon is certainly a very beautiful city, and its ardent admirers have compared it even with Naples and Constantinople.

The town, which is girdled by the Estrada da Circumvallação, a road 5 M. long, consists of several quarters. On the E. lies the old town, or Lisboa Oriental, on the slope of the Collina do Castello. On the low ground between the old town and the new is the Cidade Baixa, which has sprung up since the earthquake of 1755. To the W. is Lisboa Occidental, the modern quarter. Along the Tagus extend quays and docks, constructed in 1887, and, after a serious collapse, restored in 1894–1905. The harbour is entered by 5000 vessels annually, one-third of them being under the British flag, one-tenth under the French, and one tenth under the German. The Portuguese vessels are chiefly engaged in trading with the country’s African colonies and with S. America.

The ancient name of Lisbon was Ulisipo or Olisipo, which led early Greek travellers and scholars to connect the place, but erroneously, with 10the legends of Ulysses. Under the Romans, thanks to its splendid harbour, it ranked as the second city in Lusitania, and alternately with Mérida, the capital, was frequently the residence of the Roman governors. From 407 to 585 it was occupied by the Alans, and from 585 to 715 by the Visigoths, and after the battle of Veger de la Frontera (711) it fell into the hands of the Moors, who called it Aloshbuna or Lishbuna. In 1147 it was retaken by king Affonso Henriques, aided by an army of Crusaders. The bulk of these were Englishmen; and thus the siege of Lisbon is doubly interesting as it was ‘the first instance of the close connection between the two nations (England and Portugal) which has lasted down to the present century’ (H. M. Stephens).

The importance of Lisbon began under Affonso III. (1248–79), who transferred the royal residence hither from Coimbra (1260). The great discoveries made by the Portuguese at the end of the 15th cent., and the conquest of India by Francisco d’Almeida (d. 1510) and Affonso de Albuquerque (d. 1515), greatly benefited the capital, which soon became the richest town in Europe, and recovered rapidly even from the effects of the earthquakes of 1531 and 1575. But the sixty years of Spanish dominion (1580–1640), the defeats of the Spanish and Portuguese fleets in the war with Holland, and the loss of India were severe trials. The earthquake of 1755 laid half the city in ruins. The beginning of the 19th cent. brought the French invasion, the removal of the royal residence to Rio de Janeiro, the Peninsular War, the loss of Brazil, and the utter decadence of Lisbon. Since the period of revolutions, and since the partial bankruptcy of the country in 1892, Lisbon has again risen from a state of decay to be a great and handsome city, thanks largely to the initiative of the German Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary, consort of Queen Maria II., and to his sons, Pedro V. (1853–61) and Luis I. (1861–89). Party strife in the next reign led to the dictatorship of the minister João Franco, and on 1st Feb. 1908 Lisbon witnessed the assassination of Carlos I. and the crown-prince Luis Philippe (comp. p. 14). Carlos’s second son then ascended the throne as Manuel II. He had, however, only reigned two years when the establishment of the Republic forced him to go into exile (5th Oct., 1910). President of the provisional government Theophilo Braga. The republican colours are green and red.

Most of the public buildings in Lisbon, erected almost exclusively after the earthquake of 1755, are situated in the Praça do Commercio (Pl. F, 5). In the centre of the square rises an Equestrian Statue of Joseph I. (1750–77); on the S. side is the Caes das Columnas, a quay affording a superb view of the bay of the Tagus, with its busy shipping, and of the S. bank (Outra Banda), with the castle-hill of Palmella in the distance.

To the N. of this square begins the rectangularly planned Cidade Baixa (‘lower city’), once a bay of the Tagus, the three chief streets of which, running to the N., are the Rua Augusta, spanned by a triumphal arch, the Rua d’Ouro or Aurea (to the left), and the Rua da Prata (to the right). These streets afford interesting glimpses of the towering masses of the houses of Lisboa Occidental (to the left), with the Carmo church, and of Lisboa Oriental (to the right), with the cathedral and the castle of St. George. At the N. end of the Rua Augusta and the Rua Aurea lies the—

Praça de Dom Pedro Quarto (Pl. F, 3, 4), commonly called 11O Rocío, one of the chief tramway stations (p. 7). Owing to the peculiar wavy pattern of its mosaic pavement the Rocio has received from the British sailors the nickname ‘Roly-poly Square’. The square is adorned with two bronze fountains and a marble column bearing a bronze Statue of Pedro IV. (d. 1834; emperor of Brazil, 1826–31). Above the S.W. corner of the square rises on massive substructures the picturesque ruined church of Igreja do Carmo, destroyed by the earthquake of 1755. We may reach it by the ‘ascensor’ No. 1 (p. 7). On the N. side rises the Theatro Nacional (p. 8). The Market in the adjacent Praça da Figueira (Pl. F, 4), to the E., deserves a visit in the early morning.

From the W. side of the theatre we proceed past the Central Station (p. 6) to the *Avenida da Liberdade (Pl. F, E, 3–1), a magnificent promenade, 100 yds. wide and more than ½ M. long, with luxuriant vegetation, especially palms, and affording charming views. It is most frequented on Sundays and holidays towards evening, when the fashionable world may be seen driving and riding. At the beginning of the Avenida is the Praça dos Restauradores, with the Monumento dos Restauradores de Portugal, recalling the revolt of 1640, when the yoke of the Spanish ‘Intrusos’ was shaken off.

To the left, at the beginning of the Avenida Promenade, is the steep Calçada da Gloria, through which a funicular tramway (No. 2; p. 7) ascends to the *Alameda de São Pedro de Alcántara (Pl. E, F, 3), where we enjoy a magnificent view of the bay, to the S., and of Lisboa Oriental, with St. George’s Castle and the churches of Graça and do Monte (p. 13), to the E. Far below lie the Avenida da Liberdade, the Central Station, the Rocio, and the Baixa.

From the S. angle of the gardens the Rua do Mundo (Pl. E, F, 3, 4) descends to the Largo da Misericordia, and past the Jesuit church of São Roque, a sumptuous late-Renaissance edifice by Fil. Terzi, an Italian architect (1566), to the Praça de Luis de Camões (p. 12). We proceed, however, to the N.W. of the Alameda and follow the Rua de Dom Pedro Quinto to the—

Praça do Rio de Janeiro (Pl. E, 2, 3), with a fountain and attractive pleasure-grounds, occupying the highest site in Lisboa Occidental. From the W. angle of the grounds we obtain a fine view of the Estrella church (p. 12) and the Tagus.

Proceeding in the same direction we next follow the Rua da Escola Polytechnica to the Polytechnic School (Pl. E, 2), which comprises an interesting Natural History Museum (entrance on the N.W. side), an Observatory, and a Meteorological Station. To the Polytechnic belongs also the—

*Botanic Garden (Pl. E, 2; open to the public), founded in 1875, and for luxuriance of vegetation the finest in Europe. The lower part of the garden contains a magnificent avenue of palms and numerous southern plants. It is reached by a road from the S.E. 12angle of the Polytechnic, and there is a side-entrance in the Rua Nova da Alegria. In the upper part are the Estufas or greenhouses.

We descend to a lower exit of the garden opening into the Avenida, cross the latter and ascend by the Ascensor da Lavra (p. 7) to the E. town. From the Campo dos Martyres da Patria (Pl. F, G, 2), the terminus of the funicular, the tramway ‘Santo André’ (infrequent service), or the circular line ‘Graça’ below its E. side, lead to the Rua da Palma (funicular No. 4, p. 7). Thereafter through Lisboa Oriental, see below.

We may travel also by the ‘Graça’ tramway (in returning called ‘Rua Gomes Freire’) in the reverse direction, starting from the Sé Patriarchal and proceeding to the Nossa Senhora da Graça church on the way out, and descend by the funicular.

From the Botanic Garden the ‘Estrella’ tramway brings us viâ the Largo do Rato (Pl. D, 1) to the Aqueducto das Aguas Livres, constructed in 1729–49. It leads us farther to Buenos Ayres, the high-lying W. quarter of the city, to the vicinity of the cemeteries, and to the Jardim da Estrella (Pl. C, 2).

The Estrella Church (Pl. C, 3), officially known as the Basilica do Santissimo Coração de Jesús, was built in 1779–96. It is crowned with a lofty dome over the crossing, and its interior is sumptuously fitted up.

The *Ascent of the Dome (entrance by 5th door on the right; fee 100 rs.) amply repays the fatigue. The stairs in the N.W. tower ascend first to the flat roof of the church, where we already have a fine view. We then pass through the double lining of the dome into a gallery surrounding its interior. A ladder finally leads to the Lantern, the view from which (best in the afternoon) is the most extensive in Lisbon and includes the whole of the city, the S. bank of the estuary, and the ocean.

The Jardim da Estrella is flanked on the W. by the Rua da Estrella which ascends to the English Cemetery (Cemiterio dos Inglezes; Pl. C, 2; visitors ring; fee 50–100 rs.), laid out in 1717, the oldest Protestant burial-ground in Portugal. It contains the grave of Henry Fielding (1707–54), author of the immortal ‘Tom Jones’. Here too is the English Church (p. 9).

To return from this point we take the funicular No. 3 (p. 7), past the Palacio das Côrtes (Pl. D, 3; Chamber of Deputies), to the Praça de Luis de Camões (Pl. E, 4; pron. Kamŏengsh), which is embellished with a monument of the famous poet Camões (1524–80), the author of the Lusiads, a great national epic celebrating the noble deeds of his countrymen.

From the Praça de Camões we return through the Rua Garrett and the Rua do Carmo (Pl. F, 4), the busiest streets in the town, with the best shops, to the Rocio (p. 11).

Time permitting, we may now pay a short visit to Lisboa Oriental, which is best reached by the funicular line No. 4 (p. 7). 13From the terminus in the Largo da Graça (Pl. H, 3, 4) we pass round the old Graça monastery (now barracks) to the church of—

Nossa Senhora da Graça (Pl. G, H, 3, 4; 262 ft.), situated on a hill which affords a fine view of Lisboa Occidental and the lower town, while the harbour is concealed by St. George’s Castle (see below).

We now return to the barracks just mentioned and enter the Rua da Graça to the N., whence the Travessa do Monte leads immediately to the left to the (5 min.) chapel of Nossa Senhora do Monte (Pl. G, H, 3; 328 ft.). The extensive *View from this point embraces the greater part of Lisbon, the harbour, the S. bank, and the region to the N.E. as far as Santarém.

From the Rua da Graça the circular tramway ‘Rua Gomes Freire’ descends to the old Augustinian monastery of São Vicente de Fóra (Pl. H, 4), now the seat of the Patriarch of Lisbon. The church, a late-Renaissance building of 1582, lost its dome in the earthquake of 1755. The cloisters contain the Pantheon Real, the burial-place of the Portuguese monarchs of the House of Braganza from the time of John IV. (d. 1656) onwards.

We take the same circular tramway-line as far as the Largo do Contador Mór (Pl. G, 4). Thence we walk through the Travessa do Funil to the Rua do Chão de Feira, and through the St. George’s Gateway to the Castello de São Jorge (Pl. G, 4), an ancient Moorish stronghold and once a royal residence, but now used as barracks and a military prison, where we apply at the guard-house for leave to see the fine view from the S. Terrace. If so disposed we may descend to the cathedral, which stands about halfway up the castle-hill and is known as the—

Sé Patriarchal (Pl. G, 5), the oldest church in Lisbon, founded in 1150, but rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 14th cent., and almost entirely modernized after the earthquake of 1755. From the cathedral the Rua da Conceição brings us back to the lower town.

In the Rua da Alfándega, a few paces to the E. of the Praça do Commercio (p. 10), rises the church of—

Nossa Senhora da Conceição Velha (Pl. ‘C.V.’; G, 5). The *Façade, in the richest ‘Emmanuel style’ (see p. 14), is a relic of the church of Nossa Senhora da Misericordia, which was destroyed by the earthquake of 1755. A little farther on, between Nos. 42 and 44 we get a glimpse of the Casa dos Bicos, built in the 16th cent. by Braz, a son of Affonso de Albuquerque (p. 10). It derives its name from the facetted stones of the façade (‘bico’ meaning beak or point). All the electric tramways proceed farther 14to the Arsenal do Exército (Pl. H, 4, 5), containing the Artillery Museum on the first floor (adm., see p. 9).

From the N.W. corner of the Praça do Commercio, where king Carlos and the crown-prince were brutally assassinated in 1908, the Rua do Arsenal leads to the Largo do Municipio (Pl. F, 5), in the centre of which stands a so-called Pelourinho, or pillory, as a symbol of the civic jurisdiction.

The tramway ‘Santo Amaro Pampueha’ passes the Museu Nacional das Bellas Artes (Pl. B, C, 4; adm., see p. 9), Rua das Janellas Verdes 57, which contains art-industrial collections and a picture-gallery. (Note in Room G, on the N. wall, No. 282, St. Jerome, by Alb. Dürer.)

The outer line, skirting the Tagus and affording fine views, passes the Mercado, or fish-market (Pl. E, 5), which is worth seeing in the early morning.

The two ‘Belem’ tramway-lines (Algés and Dafundo) lead through the suburb of Junqueira to that of Belem (Brit. vice-consul, C. J. F. Duff). The Praça de Dom Fernando with a bronze statue, 13 ft. in height, of Affonso de Albuquerque (p. 10) is adjoined on the N. by the Paço de Belem. In the S.E. corner of the building is the Museu Nacional dos Coches (adm., see p. 9), with about thirty historical state-carriages.

Farther to the W. we reach in 5 min. the Praça de Vasco da Gama, with the famous—

**Convento dos Jeronymos de Belem (Bethlehem; tramway from the Praça do Commercio, Pl. F5, in ca. ½ hr.). This Hieronymite monastery, founded in 1499 in memory of Vasco da Gama’s voyage of discovery, but used as an orphanage (Casa Pia) since 1834, is still, in spite of infelicitous alterations, the most brilliant example of the fantastic ‘Emmanuel style’ (Arte Manuelina), of the time of Emmanuel I. the Great, a picturesque blend of late-Gothic, Moorish, and Renaissance features with motifs from the gorgeous edifices of the East Indies.

The church of Santa Maria, at the S.E. angle of the monastery, the burial-place of king Emmanuel and his successors, has a superb portal by João de Castilho (sculptured by Nicholas ‘the Frenchman’), which, according to Mr. Fergusson, resembles in design and detail the chapel at Roslin (see Baedeker’s Great Britain). The church is open from early morning till 9, and also after 2.30 p.m.—Adjoining the W. portal of the church is the entrance (where we ring; fee 100–150 rs.) to the orphanage and to the grand *Cloisters, the master-work of João de Castilho.

On the Tagus, about ½ M. to the S.W. of the monastery, rises the *Tower of Belem (Torre de Belem), erected in 1520 to guard the mouth of the river (best viewed at a distance).

17½ M. Railway (in ¾–1 hr.). Nine expresses in summer, besides several slow trains (tranvias), but fewer in winter (fares 530, 360, 230 rs.), starting from the Central Station (p. 6).

The train passes through a tunnel 1½ M. long to (3¾ M.) Campolide in the valley of the Alcántara. To the left are the arches of the aqueduct (p. 12). At (13 M.) Cacem our line diverges to the left from the railway to Alfarellos (Coimbra and Oporto).

The country becomes more hilly; eucalypti, pines, and olives abound. To the left rise the hills of Cintra.

17½ M. Cintra.—Hotels. *Gr.-Hôt. Costa, Netto, Lawrence, Nunes, Central, déj. or D. 800 rs., some closed in winter.

Tramway from the station (to the left of the exit) to the Praça da Republica (20 rs.).—Cabs (good; with two horses) to the Castello da Pena 2500 rs.; to the Quinta do Monserrate and back, 2000 rs.; but lower fares are often accepted on application to the cab-owner himself.

If time presses, we may visit both the Castello da Pena and the Quinta de Monserrate in 4–5 hrs. (cab 4500 rs., bargaining advisable). Energetic pedestrians require scarcely more time. Donkeys, only to be recommended to gentlemen travelling alone, are a doubtful advantage, nor will those in haste find the services of drivers or guides of much avail; the usual price, after bargaining, is 400–500 rs. But it is more enjoyable to devote a forenoon to the Castello da Pena, and the afternoon to the Paço de Cintra and the Quinta.

Cintra (680 ft.; pop. 5000), a favourite summer resort, lies at the N. base of the granitic Serra de Cintra, on a spur between two ravines, amidst groves of evergreen oaks and pines, and surrounded by charming country-houses. Immediately above the little town rises a steep rock, crowned by the Moorish castle. Beyond this rises the Pena with the palace.

The centre of traffic is the Praça da Republica, with its late-Gothic Pelourinho (p. 14) and the main entrance to the palace.

The *Paço de Cintra, formerly the Royal Palace, was begun by John I. (1383–1433) on the foundations of a Moorish palace and completed early in the 16th cent. by Emmanuel the Great. The older parts, built by Moorish hands, show a mingling of Moorish and late-Gothic elements, while the newer parts, particularly the E. wing, are in the ‘Emmanuel style’ (p. 14). The most characteristic features of the exterior are two conspicuous conical kitchen-chimneys, the horseshoe and toothed arches of the Moorish windows, and the Moorish battlemented parapet. The mural tiles and the honeycombed wooden ceilings in the interior are other survivals of the Moorish period. Visitors are shown round by the castellan.

The Avenida Candido dos Reis, the road leading to the S. from the Largo of that name, brings us in ¾ hr. to the Castello dos Mouros (1408 ft.). The castle consists of two parts, to which a 16double wall, much modernized, ascends. A visit to it takes more time than travellers in a hurry can afford.

About ¼ hr. farther on we reach the Porta Principal of the Park of Pena, where we alight (cameras must be given up). The officials are not allowed to act as guides; the services of others should be declined. The park contains over 400 species of trees and shrubs.

The *Castello da Pena (1732 ft.), perched on a steep rocky hill, was built in 1840–50 in the style of a mediæval castle, partly within an old monastery, by the Prince-Consort Ferd. of Coburg. The main tower is a copy of the tower of Belem (p. 14). The castle is approached by two gates and a cutting in the rock (‘corredor’). The ‘galeria’ of the castle affords delightful views.

In the Interior (adm. free) we pass through the Vestibule, with a pyramidal tower, into the old Convent Church, with its superb Renaissance altar brought from Belem, and into the two-storied cloisters. The apartments contain many pictures (including an example of Adr. Brouwer) and costly Hispano-Moorish majolicas. The ‘Sala de Veados’ is embellished with stags’ antlers. The *Dome above it is perhaps the finest point of view in the Serra de Cintra, but its ascent requires a steady head. The eye ranges over Estremadura, from Cape Espichel on the S.E. to the Berlengas Islands (p. 4) on the N. To the N.E. rises the huge façade of the palace of Mafra. To the E. we obtain glimpses of Lisbon and the plain to the S. of the Tagus. To the S. rises the summit of the Cruz Alta, and to the W. lies the boundless Atlantic.

We now enter the Jardim das Camelias or castle-garden, where the camellias, rhododendrons, and azaleas present a marvellous wealth of blossom in spring; then, passing a well and several fish-ponds, we soon reach a side-exit from the grounds, where the carriage should be ordered to meet us.

The *Cruz Alta (1736 ft.), the highest of the Cintra hills, which affords a view similar to that from the dome of the castle, may be ascended in 20 min. by a path diverging in the park to the S., near the Porta Principal, and passing the Statue of Vasco da Gama.

A favourite walk near Cintra is the *Caminho de Collares skirting the hills. This road, bordered with beautiful evergreens, leads past charming country-houses (the Penha Verde and others). On the right, about 2 M. from Cintra, is the famous—

**Quinta de Monserrate (adm. 200, on Sun. and holidays 300 rs.), the property of Sir Fred. Cook, Visconde de Monserrate. The grounds, a visit to which takes 1–2 hrs., extend far over hill and dale, and are unique in Europe in magnificence of vegetation. From the entrance we turn to the left, cross a brook, and follow its left bank, where we enjoy a delightful view of the palace beyond the lofty tree-ferns. We then pass an artificial ruin, walk round the palace (no adm.), and re-ascend to the entrance.

See also Baedeker’s Spain and Portugal.

Steamboat Lines. 1. Union Castle Line, steamers weekly from Southampton to Madeira in 3½ days (on their way to S. and E. Africa); fares, 1st cl. 15–17 guineas, 2nd 10–12 gs. (return in each case about ⅔ more); also summer tours to Madeira, Las Palmas, or Teneriffe and back, 18 or 12 gs., or, with a week’s board in one of the islands, 20 or 14 gs.—2. Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., fortnightly from Southampton (for Brazil) viâ Vigo and Lisbon to Madeira (fares 11l. 10s. or 8l.); also fortnightly from London round voyage to Gibraltar, Tangier, Casablanca, Mazagan, Saffi, and Mogador, returning viâ Las Palmas, Teneriffe, and Madeira (fare from 22 gs.; single to Madeira or Canary Islands from 15 gs.).—3. Booth Line (for Brazil), thrice monthly from Liverpool to Madeira; 10l., return 16l. 10s.—4. Yeoward Bros. Line, weekly from Liverpool to the Canaries calling on alternate voyages at Madeira; comp. p. 28.—5. Federal, Houlder, & Shire Lines, from Liverpool fortnightly, for Australia or New Zealand, calling at Madeira, Las Palmas, or Teneriffe, 10 gs.—6. Empreza Nacional de Navegação, from Lisbon to Madeira, 1st and 7th of each month; 5l. 6s. 3d. or 3l. 12s. 3d., return 9l. 0s. 8d. or 6l. 3s.—7. Empreza Insulana, from Lisbon to Madeira, 20th of each month; 4l. 5s. or 3l. 3s. 9d., return 7l. 13s. or 5l. 14s. 9d.—During the winter season the Mediterranean steamers of the White Star and Cunard Lines (p. 118) call once monthly at Madeira, and the Transports Maritimes (p. 120) occasionally touch at Madeira.

The communication between Madeira and the Canary Islands (R. 4) is very defective.

The Archipelago da Madeira, or Madeira group of islands, consists of Madeira itself, the largest of the group, 37 by 14 M., Porto Santo (rising 1663 ft. above the sea), 6½ by 3 M., which lies 26½ M. to the N.E. of Madeira, and the three uninhabited Desertas. These are the islets of Chão (341 ft.), 12½ M. to the S.E. of Madeira, Deserta Grande (1611 ft.), and Bugio (1349 ft.). Madeira lies in 33° N. lat., between the Azores and the Canary Islands (R. 4), 620 M. to the S.W. of Lisbon, 370 M. to the N.W. of Cape Juby (p. 104), and 275 M. to the N. of Teneriffe (p. 32). The population of the islands, which are said to have been uninhabited when discovered by the Portuguese in 1419, is now, in an area of 314 sq. M., about 150,000. All the islands are of volcanic origin. In Madeira, above the primæval diabase rock (p. 29), numerous 18eruptions since the miocene epoch have formed a number of extinct craters (lagoas), and as in the Canaries have raised the soil 1150 ft. above its original level. The main ridge of the island, running from W. to E., and culminating in the Pico Ruivo (‘red peak’; 6060 ft.), frequently rises in rocky pinnacles. In examining the geological structure of the island one is struck with ‘the constant mingling of solid masses of basalt and lava with strata of loose tufa and ashes, the whole being interspersed with upright dykes of lava’. The only tablelands are the Paul da Serra, on the W., and the smaller Santo Antonio da Serra, on the E. On the S. and N. slopes of the central range we observe a series of very curious and grand basins (curraes, sing. curral), which are enclosed by high rocks, and are connected with the sea by deep ravines, testifying to the enormous erosion caused by water and wind. Narrow strips of coast, strewn with rounded fragments of basalt, occur only at the mouths of the few streams, and on the largest of these lies Funchal, the capital of the island, on its S.W. margin.

The mild and wonderfully equable climate of Madeira which since 1850 has attracted numberless invalids, chiefly English, to its shores, is due partly to its southern position, tempered by the surrounding ocean, but mainly to the influence of the Gulf Stream, which sends from the Azores an offshoot, known as the Canary branch, towards the African coast. On the sunny S. coast in particular, which is free from fog and is sheltered from the prevailing N.W. wind by the above-mentioned main ridge, the mean and almost unvarying temperature of the three winter months (at Funchal 61° Fahr.; minimum 50°) is considerably higher than that of the favourite Mediterranean resorts (Nice 48° Fahr., Ajaccio 52°, Algiers 54½°, Málaga 55°), while the summer temperature is lower (at Funchal in Aug. 70½°, maximum 92°). Dust is almost unknown. The rainfall (at Funchal 27½ inches; but more in the mountains and on the N. coast), chiefly in sudden and heavy showers, occurs mostly between October and February or March. The lowest snow-line is 1970 ft. above the sea. The relative moisture of the air (67 per cent) at Funchal is moderate, notwithstanding the proximity of the sea. As in the Canaries, the mountains are generally cloud-capped about midday, except during the prevalence of the Leste, the wind blowing from the African desert (p. 29), which in Madeira is not specially unpleasant.

Thanks to the genial climate, the abundant winter rains, and the system of irrigation by means of open channels (levadas), whereby water is brought down, partly through tunnels (furos), from its mountain sources, the fields and gardens of Madeira, ‘Flor do Océano’, show an almost tropical luxuriance of vegetation. Side by side with pines, junipers, and deciduous European trees, such as the plane, the chestnut, the maple, the oak, and the walnut, of 19which there are many splendid specimens, are seen countless evergreen trees and shrubs of tropical and subtropical origin. Among these are palms, araucarias, hickory-trees, cork-trees, camphor-trees, figs, palm-lilies (yuccas; p. 233), magnolias, eucalypti, bamboos, papyrus-bushes, tree-ferns, and aloes. A few isolated dragon-trees (p. 30), the laurel (vinhatico), and the tilwood tree (Oreodaphne fœtens), a kind of bay-tree scarcely occurring elsewhere, are survivals of the primæval forest destroyed by the Portuguese discoverers, and now lingering only in the remote ravines and on the slopes of the N. coast. To that forest the island owes its name (madeira, ‘wood’; Isŏla di Legname on old Italian charts). The hill-sides are now largely clothed with tree-like erica and broom (Genista madeirense, G. virgata, furze, etc.), large bilberry-bushes (Vaccinium madeirense), stemless ferns, and box, forming a kind of evergreen underwood. In the gardens of Funchal, enclosed by high walls, the traveller feasts his eyes, especially in May, on a most exuberant flora, comprising roses, rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, callas, bignonias, daturas, fuchsias, hydrangeas, honeysuckle, and a superb red and purple bougainvillea. The garden-walls, field-roads, and hill-terraces are everywhere overgrown with vines, but, as in the Canary Islands, the wine-culture has suffered since 1852 from the grape-disease (Oïdium Tuckeri) and from the competition of port-wine (p. 4). Among favourite brands are Malvasia or Malmsey, a sweet dessert-wine, Boal, and the astringent Sercial. Like the Vega of Málaga (p. 89), the S. coast of Madeira yields the sugar-cane, which forms the chief crop of the island, bananas, sweet potatoes (p. 89; Portug. batata doce), cherimolias, coffee-plants, yams (Dioscorea batatas; Portug. inhame), and early vegetables, which last are exported chiefly to England. Pine-apples thrive in hot-houses only. The natives live mostly on maize and the fruit of a kind of cactus (Opuntia Tuna) which grows abundantly on all the rocks.

Madeira also possesses several charming home-industries, producing embroidery, lace, silk shawls, basket-work, inlaid laurel-wood, and feather-flowers. Funchal, the only considerable harbour in the island, is an important coaling and provisioning station for steamers bound for S. Africa and for America. The heavy customs-dues, which render living dear, the over-population of the island, and the poverty of the peasantry cause a considerable emigration, chiefly to S. America.

Season and Mode of Travel. Madeira is an admirable health and rest resort at all seasons, except perhaps for sufferers from neurasthenia or gastric disorders; but in summer the Monte (p. 24) and Camacha are preferable to the lower sites. Tourists, on the other hand, will find July, Aug., and Sept, the best months for their purpose, as the hotels are cheaper and less crowded, the days are long, and the dry weather favours excursions into the interior. At Funchal English, French, and in the larger hotels German are much spoken, but in the interior 20Portuguese only. Those unacquainted with the language of the natives are then dependent on the help of their horse-attendants (arrieiros) or guides (guias or chapas), many of whom speak a little English. At the principal hotels and shops English money is readily received, but small Portuguese change is required for fees and other minor outlays. Beggars abound, but their importunities should invariably be disregarded (comp. also p. xxv).

The streets of Funchal and the hill-roads are paved with round and slippery cobbles of basalt, against which india-rubber heels afford protection. The most popular vehicles are the bullock-cars (carros de bois; seated for 4 persons; 400–1000 rs. per hour). For steep descents the carro do monte or carrinho, a kind of running sledge, is employed (400–1200 rs. per drive). The longer excursions on the extremely hilly routes so characteristic of Madeira are best taken on horseback. The horses of Andalusian race are wonderfully wiry and sure-footed (per hour 500 rs.; arrieiro, or attendant, 800–1000 rs. per day). Ladies and invalids use the hammock or litter (rede), a costly conveyance (2–4 bearers, at 500–600 rs. each per hour). Finger-posts are entirely lacking.

The few Vendas, or country-inns, and the houses of the mountain engineers (to which travellers are admitted by leave from the office of the Obras Publicas at Funchal, Rua do Conselheiro Vieira 80) afford very primitive quarters. Travellers should therefore be provided with rugs, preserved meats, candles, insect-powder, and good drinking-water. As in the Alps, strong boots with nails and a hasta or bordão, a long stick with an iron spike, are desirable for mountaineering.

Among Books on Madeira may be mentioned A. Samler Brown’s Guide to Madeira, the Canary Islands, and the Azores (10th ed., London, 1910; 2s. 6d.); Leaves from a Madeira Garden, by Chas. Thomas-Stanford (London, 1910; 5s.); Yate Johnson’s Handbook of Madeira (London, 1885); Madeira, by Ellen M. Taylor (2nd ed., London, 1889); Madeira Islands, by A. J. D. Biddle (2nd ed., London, 1900; 2 vols.); Madeira, Old and New, by W. H. Koebel (London, 1909; 10s. 6d.); The Flowers and Gardens of Madeira, by the Misses Du Cane (London, 1909; 7s. 6d.).

The Steamers arriving from the N. skirt the W. coast of Porto Santo (p. 17), an island in the form of a tableland, surrounded by five reef-islets; its inhabitants (about 2300) live mostly in the little town of Villa Baleira. Beyond Porto Santo we obtain a superb view of the abrupt and furrowed N. coast of Madeira, with the curiously shaped Penha d’Aguia (p. 27).

Farther on appears the long E. promontory of Madeira, a rocky peninsula worn by the surf, and connected with the islet of Ponta de São Lourenço by a grand rocky gateway called the Ponta do Furado. We steer round the Ilheo de Fora, an outlying islet with a lighthouse (Farol; 348 ft.), visible from a distance of 28 M., towards which the steamers from Lisbon, Gibraltar, and Morocco direct their course, passing to the S. of Porto Santo.

To the S., beyond the low island of Chão, rise the Deserta Grande and Bugio, the largest of the Desertas (p. 17), a group of islands deserted for lack of water, and now owned by Mr. C. J. Cossart, of Madeira. British sportsmen desiring to shoot wild goats there or hunt seals (Monachus albiventer) in the ocean-caves of the Deserta Grande must obtain permission from the owner.

21The thinly peopled and somewhat bare S.E. coast of Madeira, with the three little harbours of Caniçal, Machico, and Santa Cruz, shows clearly the geological formation of the island (comp. pp. 17, 18). Off Porto Novo, in particular, we are struck with the rich colouring of the Pico dos Iroses, where the sombre basaltic and lava rock contrasts with brick-red strata of ashes and blood-red masses of slag.

Very beautiful is the approach to the *Bay of Funchal, which is bounded on the E. by the bold Cabo do Garajão, and on the W. by the Ponta da Cruz, a spur of the Pico da Ponta da Cruz (p. 25). From the narrow strip of coast the lanes of the old town mount the steep hill-side between the three river-beds (which are generally dry), while several groups of houses extend up to the Pico Fort (p. 23) and the Levada de Santa Luzia (p. 24). Farther up, stretching to the terrace of the Monte (p. 24), are gardens and vineyards, from which peep many white quintas or country-houses. On the plateau behind Forte Ilheo (p. 24) are seen the charming gardens, with their tall araucarias, belonging to the W. suburb of Funchal, the finest residential quarter. Of the barren mountains in the background the highest peak visible from the sea is the Pico de Santo Antonio (p. 25), to the N.W. of the town.

Funchál.—Arrival. The steamers cast anchor in the open roads, which are much exposed to the surf when the wind is from the S. or S.W. The passenger’s luggage, including hand-bags and small packages, is conveyed from the steamer, in charge of a guarda fiscal, direct to the Alfándega, or custom-house (Pl. 1; C, D, 2). Tobacco, spirits, and unused articles are specially dutiable. The charge for landing is about 500 rs. for each person, but should be ascertained beforehand, with the aid of the hotel-porter if necessary. In stormy weather passengers are landed at the Pontinha (Pl. B, 3), a small pier beyond the Forte Ilheo. At the custom-house a declaration has to be filled up, for which the fee is 50 rs.; the luggage is then usually retained till midday, and when it is finally cleared the passenger gives a receipt for it (250–300 rs. more). For the transport of luggage to the hotel by bullock-car not more than 1000 rs. should be paid (an agreement should be made beforehand). The Madeira clock is 59 min. behind Greenwich time.

Hotels (mostly in the English style; almost all with beautiful gardens; crowded from Dec. to April). In the W. suburb *Reid’s Palace Hotel (Pl. a; A, 3), situated on a basalt rock and commanding fine views, with sea-baths, etc., pens. 10–25s. (or in the dépendance, Villa Victoria, 8s. 6d.–18s.); Hot. Bella Vista (Pl. b, B 2; Jones’s), above the Rua da Imperatriz Dona Maria, pens. from 8s.; Hot. Royal (Pl. c, A 3; Adams’s), Rua da Imperatriz Dona Amelia, pens. from 8s.; Pension Quisisana (Reuter’s), Estrada Monumental (Pl. A, 3), 8–12s.; Pension Almeida (Pl. f; A, 3), by the Redondo.—In the old town, Reid’s Carmo Hotel (Pl. d; D, 1), Rua do Carmo, 8s. 6d.–18s.; Gr.-Hôt. Central (Swiss landlady), near the pier (Caes; Pl. C, 2); Hot. Universal (Pl. e; C, 2), Largo da Sé, pens. 1200 rs., a Portug. house.—On the Monte (p. 24; comp. inset plan), with splendid views, Monte Palace Hotel (Pl. g); Hot. Belmonte (Pl. h); Reid’s Mount Park Hotel (Pl. i), pens. 7s. 6d.–10s.; all three near the terminus. Wine, always an extra, is dear. The Agua Minero-Natural of Porto Santo is a good table-water (60 rs. per small bottle).

Apartments for the winter in numerous quintas or villas, furnished, but without bed or table linen; from Oct. to June 40l. and upwards.

22Restaurants. Phenix, Praça da Rainha (Pl. C, 2); Golden Gate, Entrada da Cidade 7 (Pl. C, 2; with American bar).—English Tea Rooms, Café Monaco.—Wine. Vaccaria do Souza, Rua de João Tavira.

Post & Telegraph Office (Estação Telegrapho-Postal; Pl. 5, C, 2), Entrada da Cidade.

Theatre. Theatro de Dona Maria Pia (Pl. 16; C, 2), opposite the Jardim Municipal.—Evening Concerts twice a week in the Jardim Municipal, etc.

Shops in the Praça da Constituição, Rua do Aljube, Rua do Conselheiro Vieira, etc.; bargaining necessary; the prices are higher when the purchaser is attended by a guide. Pedlars often charge more than the shops.—Embroidery, etc., at Ad. v. Breymann’s, Rua do Conselheiro Vieira 77.—Wines, etc., sold at Breymann’s; also by Blandy Bros. & Co. (see below); Cossart, Gordon, & Co., Rua do Principe 78; Krohn Bros. & Co. (see below).—Photographic Materials, Bazar do Povo, Largo de São Sebastião.

Banks. Blandy Bros. & Co., Rua da Alfándega 26; Reid, Castro, & Co., Largo de São Sebastião 5; Banco de Portugal, Largo da Sé; Krohn Bros. & Co., Rua do Carmo 2; L. da Rocha Machado, Rua da Alfándega 27.

Physicians. Dr. Grabham, Valle Formoso; Dr. Scott, Quinta Perestrello; Dr. Machado, Rua das Mercês 1 (Pl. C, 1); Dr. Stevens, Villa Ramose.—Chemists. Pharmacia Central, Rua Bettencourt 2; Botica dos Dois Amigos, Largo do Collegio.

Carriages and Horses (p. 20) at De Souza’s, Rua do Bispo. Bullock-cars (p. 20) in the Entrada da Cidade; saddle-horses (poor) in the Largo de São Pedro and the Rua de João Tavira.—Litters (p. 20) in the Largo de São Sebastião.

Motor Cabs in the Entrada da Cidade (tariff by zones; per drive 90–500 rs.; to Camara de Lobos and back 800 rs.).

Horse Tramway (electric line projected) from the Praça da Constituição to the railway-station of Pombal (starting ¼ hr. before each train; 50 rs.).—Rack & Pinion Railway (Caminho de Ferro do Monte) from the Estação do Pombal (Pl. C, 1) viâ Levada, Livramento, Sant’ Anna, and Flamengo, to the Monte (p. 24); 7 trains daily in 20 min.; fare 300, return 400 rs.

British Consul, Capt. J. Boyle, Reid’s Palace Hotel (p. 21); vice-consul, E. Sarsfield.—Lloyd’s Agents, Blandy Bros. & Co. (see above).

Steamboat Agents. Blandy Bros. & Co. (see above) for the Union Castle, Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., Booth, Hamburg-American, and Woermann Lines, the Empreza Nacional de Navegação and the Empreza Insulana de Navegação; Leça, Gomes, & Co. for Yeowards Bros. Line; Gonçalves & Co., Rua do Conselheiro Silvestre Ribeira 2, for the Hamburg & South American Line; J. de Freitas Martins, Rua da Alfándega 52, for the North German Lloyd.—For the coasting service (Serviço costeiro) and pleasure-trips (Viagens de Recreio), see newspapers.

Churches. English (Pl. 4; B, 1), Rua da Bella Vista (Rev. C. Jones Bateman, M. A.), services on Sun. at 8 and 11 a.m., and 5.30 p.m.; Presbyterian (Pl. 15; C, 2), Rua do Conselheiro; American (Pl. 8; C, 2), same street, lower down.

Club. English Rooms, in the Rua da Praia, overlooking the sea, with library and billiard-rooms. Adm. on introduction.

One Day. Visit to the Monte (p. 24) in the forenoon; drive to Camara de Lobos (p. 25) in the afternoon.

Funchal (‘place of fennel’; pop. 25,800), situated in 32° 38′ N. lat. and 16° 55′ W. long., the capital of Madeira and the seat of the Portuguese governor and a bishop, is remarkable for the luxuriant subtropical verdure of its public grounds and private gardens.

23On the Praça da Rainha (Pl. C, 2), the sea-promenade, where we have a view of the Desertas (p. 20), rise the Palacio de São Lourenço (Pl. 10; the governor’s residence), several Club Houses, and a signalling tower called the Pilar de Benger (Pl. 11; ‘Benger’s Folly’). The Varadoures Gate (Pl. 12; D, 2), to the E. of the custom-house, is the sole survival of a town-wall built by the Spaniards early in the 17th cent.; adjacent is the Fruit and Fish Market (Mercado; Pl. D, 2).

Opposite the pier (Caes; Pl. C, 2) the Entrada da Cidade, an avenue of planes, leads to the Praça da Constituição (Pl. 13; C, 2), adorned with pleasure-grounds, in the centre of the town.

Adjacent on the W. is the *Jardim Municipal (public park; Pl. C, 2; evening concerts twice weekly, otherwise closed in the evening), with its exuberant wealth of vegetation and flowers. On the S. side is the Theatre (p. 22).—To the E., in the Largo da Sé, rises the insignificant Cathedral (Sé; Pl. C, 2), with a fine ceiling of Spanish juniper (Portuguese cedro).

On the E. side of the park runs the Rua de São Francisco, leading to the long Rua do Conselheiro Vieira (Pl. B, C, 1, 2), or Rua da Carreira the busiest street, at the N.W. end of which (on the left) is the entrance to the Protestant Cemetery (Cemiterio Britanico; Pl. 3, B 2).

From the N. side of the Rua do Conselheiro Vieira we ascend past the church of São Pedro (Pl. C, 1) and through the steep Calçada de Santa Clara to the convent-church of Santa Clara (Pl. B, C, 1), where Zarco, the discoverer of Madeira, is buried.—Farther to the N. is the Calçada do Pico, whence the Rua do Castello to the left leads to the old Spanish Pico Fort (Forte de São João do Pico; Pl. B, 1), dating from 1632, famed for its *View.

From the E. end of the Rua do Conselheiro Vieira we may now cross the Largo do Collegio, with the Jesuit Church of that name (Pl. C, 1), to the Camara Municipal, or town-hall (Pl. 2; C, 1), in the Rua dos Ferreiros. At the lower end of the same street, not far from the Cathedral, is the Largo de São Sebastião (Pl. 7; C, 2), where the Saturday market is held.

Crossing the neighbouring Ribeira de Santa Luzia we soon reach the Carmo Church (Pl. 6; D, 1).—Along the Ribeira de Santa Luzia ascends the horse-tramway (p. 22) to the station of the Monte railway, near which, to the E. (reached by the Rua do Pombal, Pl. C 1), is the Museum, containing valuable natural history collections and a large relief-map of the island. (Adm. on application; donation to poor-box.)

In the E. suburb of Santa Maria Maior, beyond the Ribeira de Santa Luzia and the Ribeira de João Gomes, is the Campo de Dom Carlos Primeiro (Pl. D, E, 2; drilling-ground), skirting the sea, and partly planted with trees. The Spanish Forte de São Thiago 24(Pl. E, 2; now barracks), built in 1614, was dedicated to St. James the Less (São Thiago Menor), the patron saint of Funchal. Near it is the church of Nossa Senhora do Soccorro (Pl. E, 2), the scene of a great procession on 1st May.

The chief streets of the W. Suburb, beyond the Ribeira de São João, flanked with pretty villas, are the Rua da Imperatriz Dona Maria (Pl. B, 2) and the Rua da Imperatriz Dona Amelia (Pl. A, B, 3), which last ends at the Redondo (‘round space’) near the Ribeiro Secco. On the S. side of the road are the Cemetery (Cemiterio das Angustias; Pl. B, 2) and the Casino Pavão (Pl. B, 3), with a beautiful garden extending to the abrupt coast, frequented by English and American visitors. By the sea runs the Caminho da Pontinha, leading to the Pontinha (p. 21) and the harbour-battery of Forte Ilheo (Pl. B, 3; ‘island fort’, Engl. Loo Rock).

Excursions. The Rack & Pinion Railway (p. 22), which at Levada station crosses the Levada de Santa Luzia and the beautiful hill-promenade of that name, connects Funchal with the *Monte (hotels, see p. 21), a village on the hill at the back of the town, with numerous villas nestling amidst beautiful groves of planes and oaks. On a spur of the hill, close to the terminus of the railway (extension projected), rises the pilgrimage-church of Nossa Senhora do Monte, known by English visitors as the ‘Mount Church’ (1962 ft.). It is the scene of the Novena, a great nine-days’ church-festival held in summer. The terrace of the church (68 steps) commands a glorious *View of Funchal, the coast as far as the Cabo Girão (p. 25), and the blue ocean enlivened by its passing ships. A little below the church is a sacred well.

A little to the E. of the Monte is the Curralinho (‘little curral’), or Curral dos Romeiros (‘pilgrims’ ravine’), overgrown with erica and vaccinium (p. 19). This miniature curral, a gorge of the Ribeira de João Gomes (p. 23), gives a very imperfect idea of the grandeur of the rocky ravines (p. 18) of Madeira.

Those who are pressed for time may descend to the town in 10–12 min. in a running sledge (p. 20), by the Caminho do Monte; but it is preferable to walk back (in 1½ hr.) by the level *Caminho das Tilias which we reach by turning to the left above the church. After about ¼ M., at the beautiful Quinta Machado (with a view-tower), we descend to the left by the steep Caminho dos Saltos (if desired, by running sledge ordered beforehand; 600 rs.). The route leads to the S.W., past the Quinta Olavo, the Levada de Santa Luzia (see above), and the Quinta do Deão, and then descends to the S.E. through the plane-avenue on the Ribeira de Santa Luzia (p. 23).

A *Side-path leads, above the Quinta Olavo, to the right, across the river-bed, to the church of São Roque (1139 ft.; view; bullock-car from Funchal 800 rs.), whence we may descend by the steep Caminho de São Roque to the Pico Fort and the Clara Nunnery (p. 23).

25The Rua da Imperatriz Dona Amelia (p. 24) is continued by the *Estrada Monumental, a road which affords delightful views. It leads from the Ponte Monumental (Pl. A, 3), a bridge across the Ribeiro Secco, past a number of sugar-cane plantations and vineyards, and, leaving the shore, proceeds to the S.W. above the ocean-cave of Forja and the rocky islets of Forja and Gorgolho. It then crosses the S. slope of the Pico da Ponta da Cruz (863 ft.; *View), an old crater, near the promontory of that name (p. 21), and skirts the beautiful, but not very safe bathing-beach of Praia Formosa. Farther to the W., in full view of the bold central range backing the Gran Curral (see below), we cross the lower bridge of the Ribeira dos Soccorridos and an old lava-stream to (5½ M.) Camara de Lobos (which may be reached by motor-cab, p. 22), a strikingly picturesque fishing-village (pop. 6200) at the E. base of the almost perpendicular *Cabo Girão, with a small natural harbour (Bahia). The best wine in the island is yielded by the slopes in the vicinity. Route to the Gran Curral by Jardim da Serra, see p. 26.

The Excursion to the Gran Curral, on horseback or by litter (p. 20), takes nearly a whole day. We start early and take provisions with us. From the W. suburb (p. 24) we follow the Rua das Maravilhas and the Caminho de Santo Antonio (Pl. A, 1, 2), between garden-walls and vineyards, to the N.W. to the finely situated village of (2 M.) Santo Antonio (985 ft.; bullock-car from Funchal 800 rs.). We descend thence to the N.W. into the side-valley of the Ribeira do Vasco Gil, with its pine-woods and rich pastures, and soon obtain a view towards the W., extending to the Cabo Girão (see above) and the Pico da Cruz (p. 26). We next ascend the steep side-valley of the Ribeira da Lapa to the (11 M.) Serrado Saddle (Eira do Serrado; about 2900 ft.), on the N.E. margin of the Pico Serrado (see below). From the top of the pass we have a grand view into the great and well-watered basin of the *Gran Curral, or Curral das Freiras (‘nuns’ valley’; once a pasture belonging to the convent of Santa Clara), enclosed by the lofty rocks of the central mountains. Far below us, above the rock-strewn bed of the Ribeira dos Soccorridos, we descry the village of Livramento (2018 ft.), with its little church and cypress-shaded churchyard.

Those who do not care to face the rugged descent to Livramento, and the steep clamber thence to the Bocca dos Namorados (p. 26), should now ascend the *Pico Serrado (3347 ft.; ‘sawn-off peak’), whence we survey the mountain-range from the Pico de Santo Antonio (5725 ft.) and Pico Cidrão (5551 ft.) to the Pico Ruivo (p. 27), the Pico Canario (5500 ft.), and the Pico Grande (p. 26).

Longer, but still grander, is the excursion to the W. margin of the Gran Curral. From the Estrada Monumental (see above) we turn 26to the N.W. past the Quinta Nazareh, nestling amidst araucarias, to the (2 M.) village of São Martinho (765 ft.; bullock-car from Funchal 800 rs.), situated among several old craters; we then cross, to the W., the ravine of the Ribeira dos Soccorridos by the upper bridge and mount in zigzags to the (7 M.) village of Estreito (1510 ft.). Our route now ascends to the N. to the (8½ M.) *Bocca dos Namorados (3445 ft.), with its beautiful chestnut-wood, where we enjoy a superb view of the Gran Curral, and skirts the W. margin of the Pico dos Bodes (3718 ft.) to the (10 M.) Cova da Cevada, a basin affording a similar view. We next follow the top of the hill to the N.W., between the Gran Curral and the E. side-valleys of the Ribeira Brava (see below), to (13 M.) the *Bocca dos Corregos (4466 ft.), a narrow ridge at the foot of the perpendicular rocks of the Pico Grande or Rocha Alta (5420 ft.). An interesting return-route is afforded by descending from the Cova da Cevada across Jardim da Serra (2523 ft.) and past the Pico da Cruz (3288 ft.) to Camara de Lobos (p. 25).

The Excursion to Rabaçal can, if time presses, be accomplished in one day. It is best to go by steamboat to Calheta (3 times weekly, in 1½–2 hrs.; or a small private steamer may be hired of Messrs. Blandy Bros., p. 22). The steamer calls first at Camara de Lobos (p. 25), then skirts the sombre rocky slopes of Cabo Girão and steers past Fajãa dos Padres, a village famed for its wine, to the village of Ribeira Brava (inn), where we obtain, through the curral of that name, a very striking glimpse of the Serra d’Agua (4610 ft.) and the Pico Grande (see above). We next pass the beach of Lugar de Baixo, formed by a landslip in 1803, the beautiful cape, Ponta do Sol, and the village of Magdalena, peeping out of vines and bananas amidst the grandest scenery of the S. coast.

At the village of Calheta (bad landing-place; no inn) we may find litters if desired (each man 800–1000 rs. per day), and we obtain provisions and torches (fachos, at 50 rs.). We now walk chiefly through pine-wood viâ Salão to the (1½ hr.) narrow and wet tunnel (about 650 yds. in length) of the lower Levada Nova do Rabaçal. At the N. end of it we obtain a very striking view of the highest part of the valley of the Ribeira da Janella, richly wooded with evergreen, oaks and laurels. A path over the rocks (which needs a steady head) connects this levada (or conduit) with the upper Levada Velha, constructed in 1836–60, and with (9½ M.) the engineers’ houses of Rabaçal (3750 ft.; adm., see p. 20; fee). A little to the N.E., on the so-called Balcão, we enjoy an excellent survey of the *Waterfall of the Risco, which plunges from a rock, 330 ft. high, into a ravine overgrown with climbing plants and ferns, and a little lower down provides the water for the old conduit. Crossing the viaduct of the latter, we skirt the new conduit, and in a few minutes reach another luxuriantly overgrown ravine, that of the *Vinte e Cinco Fontes, where no fewer than twenty-five waterfalls issue from a narrow basin.

From Rabaçal we may ascend towards the E. (with a guide) to the (2 hrs.) plateau of Paul da Serra (4656 ft.; ‘mountain swamp’), where fogs often prevail, and the two Tanquinhos Houses (about 4900 ft.; used by the engineers; poor quarters). Near them rise the Pico dos Tanquinhos (5260 ft.) and the *Pico Ruivo do Paul (5388 ft.), both of which afford grand views of the mountains.

Scarcely less repaying is the two days’ Excursion to Santa Anna on the N. coast, to which a third day may be added for the ascent of the Pico Ruivo or the Pico Areeiro. We start from the Campo da Barca at Funchal (Pl. D, 1) and follow the Estrada do Conde Carvalhal (Pl. E, 1), 27which ascends to the N.E. in windings to (3¾ M.) Palheiro do Ferreiro (1857 ft.; bullock-car from Funchal 1200 rs.), the finest quinta in the island, the property of Mr. John Blandy of Funchal (adm. on application). Farther on we follow the road, uphill and downhill, to (6 M.) Camacha (2369 ft.; no inn; bullock-car 2500 rs.), a well-to-do village of basket-makers in a charming wooded region, with many villas owned by English residents in Funchal. Beyond the Pico dos Iroses (p. 21) the road, now less attractive, crosses the gorges of the Ribeira de Porto Novo and Ribeira de Santa Cruz, and then, turning to the N., reaches (13 M.) Santo Antonio da Serra (2320 ft.), a poor village on a grassy tableland. We descend thence to the N.W. into a sequestered valley carpeted with flowers (Amaryllis Belladonna, etc.), where a rough path leads to the (15½ M.) Portella Pass (2021 ft.), which commands a superb *View of the mountains at the head of the Metade Valley (see below), of the N.E. coast from the Penha d’Aguia (see below) to the Ponta de São Lourenço (p. 20), and of the island of Porto Santo (p. 20). We now descend, at first by a zigzag path, through vineyards and sugar-cane plantations, to (18 M.) Porto da Cruz (no inn), a picturesque little seaport at the S.E. base of the abrupt *Penha d’Aguia (1949 ft.; ‘eagle-rock’), the most curiously shaped hill in the island. We next ascend the saddle to the S. of the Penha d’Aguia, noteworthy for its marvellously rich vegetation, and descend the ravine of the Ribeiro Frio (see below) to Fayal, a village not far from the charming Pescaria, a little bay to the N.W. of the Penha d’Aguia. The church-terrace here affords a grand survey of the valleys of the Ribeiro Frio, the Ribeiro da Metade, and the Ribeiro Secco (all mentioned below). From Fayal we then cross the Cortadas Pass, or Bocca do Cortado (1985 ft.), to (24 M.) Santa Anna (1408 ft.; Hot. Figueira, very fair; pop. 3200), a village well adapted for some stay, the capital of the Comarca de Santa Anna, the most fertile region in the island (sugar-cane, sweet potatoes, yams, etc.). From Santa Anna a rough mule-track, very indistinct at places, ascends past the curious basaltic Homem em Pé (‘man on foot’), and lastly over the saddle by the Encumeada Alta (5948 ft.), to the top of the Pico Ruivo (6060 ft.; p. 18), which commands a most imposing, but seldom very clear panorama of the central chain, part of the Gran Curral (p. 25), and the E. half of the island.

Turning back from Santa Anna, we first wend our way towards the S. to the Cova da Roda, where we again overlook the N.E. coast as far as the Portella Pass and the Porto da Cruz; we then cross the Ribeiro Secco and the (29½ M.) Cruzinhas Ridge, and descend into the valley of the *Ribeiro da Metade, a gorge vying in grandeur with the Gran Curral. A zigzag path (‘Quatorze Voltas’) ascends thence to the little venda (inn) of Cedro Gordo, and then crosses the Serra de Caramuja into the (33 M.) valley of the Ribeiro Frio, with its splendid groves of tilwood trees (see p. 19), laurel, and erica. Above the village of that name rises the Balcão, a rock of basalt (near the not easily accessible Levada do Furado), where we have a grand *View of the Metade Valley with mountain-background. Our route winds up the rocks of the Feiteiras (‘ferns’) and the Pouso Saddle, with its fine views, to the (34½ M.) Pouso or Poïzo Refuge (4603 ft.), situated on a dreary plateau. From the Pouso Refuge we may without difficulty climb the Pico Areeiro (5893 ft.; 1¼–1½ hr.), a famous point of view, but almost always capped with clouds. The bridle-path ascends past the Observatorio; we may then descend direct to the Vista dos Navios.

The next part of our route, from the Pouso Refuge to the Monte (p. 24), is uninteresting. From the Vista dos Navios (‘view of ships’), whence the bay of Funchal is visible, the track descends to the head of the valley of the Ribeira de João Gomes (p. 23), rounds the E. slope of the Pico do Arrebentão (3842 ft.), to which point a running sledge (p. 20) may be ordered from Funchal, and then descends rapidly, partly in windings, to the (39 M.) Monte. Thence to (41½ M.) Funchal, see p. 24.

Steamboat Lines. 1. Union Castle Line, fortnightly from London and Southampton, touching alternately at Las Palmas and Teneriffe; fares to either, 1st cl. 14–16, 2nd 9–11 gs. (return about ⅔ more). For summer tours, comp. p. 17.—2. Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., see p. 17.—3. Peninsular & Oriental Branch Service, from London monthly for Australia, calling at Las Palmas; 12l., return (tickets interchangeable with No. 5 from Teneriffe) 20l.—4. Bucknall Line, monthly from London to Teneriffe; 10l., return 18l.—5. Aberdeen (Thompson’s) Line, from London and Plymouth monthly for Australia, calling at Teneriffe; 13l., return (also valid for No. 3) 22l.—6. Aberdeen (Rennie’s) Line, from London, about once every 10 days, for S. and E. Africa, calling alternately at Las Palmas and Teneriffe; 10 or 8l., return 18 or 14l.—7. German East African Line, once every 3 weeks from Southampton for S. Africa, calling at Las Palmas and Teneriffe, 12l. 10s. or 7l. 10s.; no return-fares, but an abatement of 20 per cent is allowed on the fare back to Southampton, either by this line, by the Woermann, or by the Hamburg-American Line.—8. Woermann Line, monthly from Dover to Las Palmas, and monthly to Teneriffe; fares and abatement for return, same as No. 7.—9, 10. New Zealand Line and Shaw, Savill, & Albion, each monthly from London and Plymouth for Teneriffe, 14l. or 11l. 10s.; interchangeable return-ticket 22 or 17l.—11. Yeoward Bros. Line, from Liverpool, weekly pleasure cruises to Teneriffe, Grand Canary, and back (10–12 gs.), also single tickets (6–8 gs.).—12. Natal Line, from London fortnightly for S. Africa calling at Las Palmas, fare 8 gs., return 15l. 2s. 6d.—13. Federal, Houlder, & Shire Lines, see p. 17.—There are also steamers to the Canary Islands from Cadiz (see p. 58), Genoa (see p. 114), Naples, and Trieste (see p. 425).—It should be noted that almost all the British lines have recently raised their fares by ten per cent in consequence, it is said, of a rise in the price of coal. Inquiry as to this ‘surtax’ should therefore be made in every case.—The direct steamers perform the voyage (1707 M. from Southampton to Teneriffe) in 5–6 days; the coasting steamers (viâ Oporto, Lisbon, etc.; about 2250 M.) take much longer.

In addition to the above-mentioned steamers communication among the islands themselves is effected by the small cargo-boats of the Compañía de Vapores Correos Interinsulares Canarios which ply 9 times monthly between Teneriffe and Las Palmas in 6 hrs. (fare 20 or 15 pesetas); and by those of the Servicio de Pailebotes which ply weekly from Teneriffe to Las Palmas, and weekly to Santa Cruz de la Palma. Inquiry as to the sailings, which often vary, should be made on the spot. The Spanish cuisine on board these local boats is not very inviting.

The Canary Islands (Islas Canarias or Afortunadas, i.e. ‘fortunate islands’), the Makáron Nésoi or Insulae Fortunatae of antiquity, in 27° 30′ to 29° 26′ N. lat., and 13° 15′ to 18° 2′ W. long., lie off the coast of Mauretania, the nearest point being Cape Juby (p. 104). There are in all thirteen islands, forming a Spanish province of a total area of 3305 sq. M., with a population of 364,000. They consist of two groups. The E. group is composed of Lanzarote (rising to 2231 ft. above the sea), Fuerteventura (2789 ft.), and five smaller islands (Alegranza, Graciosa, etc.); to the W. group belong Gran Canaria (6400 ft.), Teneriffe (12,175 ft.; once the meridian used by the Spaniards and the Dutch), Gomera (4366 ft.), Palma (7737 ft.), and Hierro or Ferro (4643 ft.), the meridian used by France since the time of Louis XIII. (1634). Teneriffe, Gran Canaria, and sometimes Palma are the islands usually visited by tourists; the others chiefly attract botanists and geologists.

29The Canaries, supposed by some geographers to form part of the submerged continent of Atlantis, and by others to have been outlying spurs of the Atlas of Morocco (p. 93), have the same geological formation as Madeira (see pp. 17, 18, 19). ‘In Fuerteventura especially there occur masses of slag and lava, thrown up by countless eruptions, superimposed on the diabase formation, which is still visible in many places; and in Teneriffe we find phonolithic and trachytic rocks as well as the basaltic. Grand old craters (calderas) exist in Ferro, Gran Canaria, and most of all in Palma and Teneriffe. The enormous basin of the Cañadas in Teneriffe has been almost entirely filled up with later streams of lava and scoriæ, which have formed a distinct volcanic cone, the great Pico de Teide, 12,175 ft. in height.’ The last considerable eruptions were those of 1677 in Palma, of 1730–36 and 1824 in Lanzarote, and of 1705, 1706, 1796, and 1798 on the N.W. coast of Teneriffe, all of which caused great havoc. On the occasion of the eruption of 1909 in Teneriffe a large lava-stream, accompanied by the emission of vapour and stones from the central crater (see p. 41), burst forth near the foot of the Chahorra (p. 42) and advanced in a N.W. direction towards Santiago and El Tanque but came to rest before reaching these villages. There was little damage and no loss of human life. In the W. islands, which like Madeira rise very abruptly from the sea, the effects of erosion in the broad valleys, with their rich soil, as well as in the deep ravines (barrancos) of more recent origin, are specially noticeable.

The climate of the Canaries is remarkable for the striking contrasts prevailing between the E. and the W. groups on the one hand, and between the lower and the higher levels on the other. In the almost treeless islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura (62 M. to the N.W. of Cape Juby) years sometimes elapse without rainfall, while the dreaded tiempo del sur, the hot and extremely dry wind from the Sahara, covers them with dust and sand and often brings swarms of locusts. Even more disastrous for agriculture are the sandy dunes or coast-hills, thrown up by the currents off the African shores, the sand of which is driven inland by violent N. winds. The Gran Canaria, on the other hand, though by no means free from the locust pest, holds an intermediate position in point of climate and scenery between the more continental E. group of islands and the almost wholly oceanic W. group. Owing to the influence of the gulf-stream (p. 18) and the zone of high air-pressure prevalent in the W. Canaries in winter, the N. coast of Teneriffe and the islands of Gomera and Palma enjoy a remarkably mild and equable winter climate (the mean temperature of winter at Puerto Orotava being 60° Fahr. and the minimum 51°). 30In the region tempered by the trade-wind clouds, which gather at a height varying from 2300 to 5000 ft. above the sea, even the summer temperature is quite bearable; but on the high mountains, above the cloud-zone, the air is extremely dry, and the burning heat of the day is suddenly followed, as in the tropics, by a severe chill. The rainfall at Santa Cruz de Tenerife averages 12 inches, at Santa Cruz de la Palma 14 in., at Puerto Orotava 17 in., at Laguna 22 inches. The lowest snow-line is about 3300 ft.

The vegetation of the W. islands, the Eldorado of botanists, surpasses that of Madeira in variety, though not in luxuriance; but it is confined to the forest-zone in the region of the trade-wind clouds, and to the low ground irrigated with the aid of these clouds, where the soil consists of disintegrated diabase, tufa, and lava. On the other hand large tracts of land, especially in the Gran Canaria and on the S. and E. coasts of Teneriffe, are entirely destitute of vegetation, even in winter, while in summer the verdure of the cultivated land is often covered with a mantle of grey dust.

The Canary Islands, together with Madeira and the Azores, have been described as a region ‘where the tertiary flora, destroyed in Europe during the glacier epoch, has survived and developed, at least since the pliocene age, in insular solitude’. To the primæval African flora, the same as that of the original ‘diabasic Canaries’, belong in particular the stately Canary pine (Pinus canariensis), several species of laurel, such as the Laurus canariensis, the viñatigo (Persea indica), the aloe, the oleander-leaved Kleinia neriifolia, the cactus-like euphorbias, the balo (Plocama pendula), and the famous dragon-tree (Dracæna Draco). Besides the endemic trees and plants are others of very early origin, the seeds of which were originally brought over from India or America by the gulf-stream. During the Spanish period countless other plants, now cosmopolitan, were imported from America, fruit-trees from Europe, and shrubs from the Mediterranean, which last, favoured by the climate, develop into bushy trees. In the gardens, which are mostly enclosed by high walls, we are struck with the gorgeous wealth of bougainvilleas, gloxinias, poinsettias, bignonias, daturas, walbergias, passifloras, and many other flowers. In the lower and more tropical districts grow, side by side, bananas (plátanos), tomatoes, sugar-cane (caña de azúcar), yams (Span. ñame), tobacco, oranges and lemons, prickly-pear (Opuntia Tuna), coffee-plants, Peruvian pepper-trees (pimenteros), E. Indian bread-fruit, mango and camphor trees, eucalypti, cork-trees, tamarisks (tarajales), araucarias, magnolias, fig-trees, Japanese medlars, palms (about 25 varieties), notably the superb Canary palm (Phœnix canariensis or Jubæ Webb), the date-palm (p. 171), the royal palm (Oreodoxa regia), and, in Palma, the cocoa-nut palm. The vineyards, yielding the famous Malmsey (p. 19) and Vidueño wines, rise on the S. side of Teneriffe from 31the lower land to a height of 4070 ft. above the sea-level. In the upper cultivated regions the chief crops and fruits are wheat, potatoes, lupins, maize, chestnuts, walnuts, and, among other European fruits, peaches. On the rocky sides of the barrancos occur everywhere the aloe, the cactus-like Euphorbia canariensis (Span. cardón), the tabayba (Euphorbia Regis Jubæ), the orchilla lichen (Roccella tinctoria; woad), and Sempervivum (house-leek; some 60 varieties). At the bottom of the barrancos and in the cloud-region we encounter beautiful underwood, composed of evergreen myrtles and laurels, the strawberry-tree (Arbutus canariensis), ericas, stemless ferns, and a few climbing plants. Above the level of the trade-wind clouds we may still meet with the cistus, the Canary pine (up to 7050 ft. above the sea), the white Cytisus proliferus (Span. escobón), and the Adenocarpus frankenoides (Span. codeso), a kind of gorse. The Alpine retama (Spartocytisus supranubius; Span. retama blanca), a kind of broom, the commonest plant in the Cañadas, grows on the Peak up to a height of 10,300 ft.; but a few mosses and lichens alone reach the summit.

The fauna of the Canaries is remarkably poor. The characteristic bird is the canary (Serinus canariensis), which, as in Madeira, is of a greenish-grey colour, while the yellow canaries are imported. Mosquitoes, especially on the E. and S. coasts of the islands, fleas, and flies, including some whose bite is very unpleasant, abound in summer. The more important fish are cod, tunny, and sardines. Chief among domestic animals is the goat. Camels were introduced from the continent in 1405.

The islands, which were probably known to the Carthaginians and Greeks, were for a time occupied by king Juba II. (p. 244) with a view to the manufacture of purple dye from the juice of the Orchilla (see above). At that period the population consisted chiefly of the so-called Guanches (from guan, son, and Chenerfe, Teneriffe), whose culture down to the middle ages was still that of the flint age, while their inscriptions are Libyan in character. In 1402–96 the islands were conquered, first by the Normans, under Jean de Betancourt, at the instance of the kings of Castile, and later by the Spaniards, with the result that the Guanches, in spite of their heroic resistance, were largely exterminated or sold into slavery. A few survivors still lingered in their cave-dwellings, as at Atalaya (p. 46) and Artenara (p. 46), but others intermarried with Moorish immigrants (1405), and, in the Spanish period, with Norman, S. Spanish, and Irish settlers. Their language has been extinct since the 17th century. A few peculiarities of the present population, which somewhat resembles that of S. Spain and of the W. Indies, survive in the costume of the peasants, consisting of a white blanket (matta) wrapped round the body like a shepherd’s cloak, in their quaint old pottery, in the whistling language of 32Gomera, and in the national gofio, a kind of porridge of maize and wheat. The Grand Canary contains also several villages of negroes, descendants of the slaves on the sugar-plantations. Among the foreigners there are 2100 English, 600 French, and 600 Germans.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Puerto de la Luz near Las Palmas, the chief ports of the Canaries, as also Puerto Orotava (p. 39), Santa Cruz de la Palma, and others, all declared free harbours in 1852, are rising places and compete with Madeira in provisioning the ocean steamers. The trade is in British, Spanish, and German hands. The chief exports are bananas, tomatoes, early potatoes and other vegetables, and wine. The only industry of any importance is the embroidery and lace-making of Teneriffe (‘calado’ embroidery after Mexican patterns, rosette-work introduced from Paraguay, the rich Vilaflor lace, and embroidery in relief from Venetian and Irish models). The cochineal insect (living on the prickly-pear plant) was introduced from Honduras in 1826, and for many years its culture yielded large profits to the islanders, but the discovery of aniline dyes has well-nigh ruined this industry.

The best Season for a tour in the Canaries is from the beginning of March to the end of May. The best winter-quarters for invalids are to be found at Puerto Orotava or the more remote Güimar in Teneriffe, and at the Monte in the Grand Canary. Good quarters are obtainable also at Santa Cruz and Laguna in Teneriffe, and at Las Palmas in the Grand Canary, where most of the best hotels are in the English style, and English money circulates freely. The Spanish ‘fondas’, where the national currency is in vogue, fall short of modern requirements, while the country inns are mostly wretched taverns.

The chief public conveyances in the islands are, in Teneriffe, the electric tramway from Santa Cruz to Tacoronte, and in the Grand Canary the harbour tramway at Las Palmas; the only others are the dirty and often crowded coches públicos, the very expensive four-seated vehicles, and the tartanas or gigs. For mountain excursions horses or mules are used, the arriero or attendant serving as a guide.

Among numerous Books on the Canary Islands are Samler Brown’s guide (see p. 20); Whitford’s The Canary Islands as a Winter Resort (London, 1890; 7s. 6d.); Ward’s Vale of Orotava (London, 1903); C. Piazzi Smyth’s Teneriffe, an Astronomer’s Experiment (London, 1858); and Olivia Stone’s Tenerife and its Six Satellites (London, 1889).

Teneriffe, Span. Tenerife, the largest and most populous of the islands, 51½ M. long, 31 M. in breadth, and 781 sq. M. in area, contains about 140,000 inhab., mostly living on the N. coast. The island is composed of three mountain-ranges, chiefly of eruptive rock of a basaltic character, which have been welded together, probably since the miocene period, by great phonolithic and trachytic eruptions. These are the Anaga Mts. on the N.E., the Teno Mts. on the N.W., and the Adeje Mts. in the Bandas del Sur. Beyond the lofty plain of Laguna the Anaga range is prolonged to the Llano de la Maja by the massive Cumbre. In the centre of the island, from the enormous crater-ring of Las Cañadas, and high 33above the trade-wind clouds, towers the mighty Peak of Teneriffe, or Pico de Teide (12,175 ft.), visible for 100 M. around.

Approaching the island from the N., we first sight the sombre and wildly fissured Anaga Mts. (3406 ft.). We steer past the lighthouse (Faro; 811 ft.) a little to the N.W. of the Punta del Drago, whose light is visible for 40 M., then skirt the rocky E. coast, with the Punta de Anaga and Punta Antequera, and at length cast anchor in the open roads of the bay of Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife.—Arrival. Passengers are conveyed in steam-launches (falúas) or in rowing-boats to the pier (Muelle; Pl. C, 2; landing or embarkation 1 peseta, each trunk 75 c.). The hotels, which send their porters on board, charge 3–5 shillings for the landing and conveyance to the hotel of each passenger and his luggage.

Hotels (often crowded in Feb., March, and April; mostly closed in summer). *Grand-Hôt. Quisisana (Pl. a; A, 1), on the hill-side (about 330 ft.) to the N.W. of the town, 1 M. from the pier, with fine views, R. from 3s., B. 2, déj. 3, D. 5, pens. 12½–15s. (but more in Feb. and March); *Pino de Oro (Pl. b; B, 1), to the N. of the town, ¾ M. from the pier, also finely situated, with a beautiful old park, pens. 8–12s.; Hot. Battenberg (Pl. c; A, 2), in the Paseo de Ronda, below Quisisana. pens. from 9s.—Camacho’s English Hotel (Pl. d; B, 2), Calle San Francisco 11, pens. 9–12s.; Hot. Orotaya (dépendance of the ‘Humboldt Kurhaus’ 34at Puerto Orotava, p. 39), Plaza de la Constitución, R. 3–6, B. 1, déj. 3, D. 4½, pens. 8–12½s.; Alexandra (Pl. e, B2; Olsen’s), Calle de Alfonso Treceno, pens. from 7½s., commended; Victoria (Pl. f, B 2; Holmström’s), Plaza de la Constitución, pens. 6–8s.; the last four rather plain; wine is always an extra. Table-water, Agua Firgas.

Cafés. Cuatro Naciones, Europa, and Belge, all in the Plaza de la Constitución.

Theatre. Teatro Isabel Segunda (Pl. B, 3), adjoining the market.—Bull Ring (Plaza de Toros; Pl. A, 2), in the Paseo de Ronda; ‘corridas’. mostly in May.—Music in the Plaza de la Constitución (Pl. B, C, 3) and the Plaza del Príncipe Alfonso (Pl. B, 2) alternately, thrice weekly, 8.30 to 10.30 p.m.

Shops. Teneriffe Handiwork (p. 32): Bazar Nivaria, Calle San Francisco 11; Bazar Taoro, corner of Calle San Francisco and Calle San José. Indian dealers offer defective goods (bargaining necessary).—Bookseller: Benítez, Calle San Francisco 6.—Tinned Foods: Quintero & Co., Calle San Francisco 2.—Photographic Materials: Lohr, Calle San Francisco 34; Espinosa, Plaza de la Constitución.

Bankers. Hamilton & Co., Calle de la Marina 15; Miller, Wolfson, & Co., same street, No. 1; Ahlers, same street, No. 31; Dehesa, Calle de Alfonso Treceno 64.

Steamboat Agents. Hamilton & Co. (see above), for the Peninsular & Oriental Co., Union Castle, Aberdeen (Rennie’s), Aberdeen (Thompson’s), Shaw, Savill, & Albion, New Zealand, Hamburg-American, White Star, and other lines; Teneriffe Coaling Co., for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.; Ahlers (see above), for the Hamburg & South American, German East African, and Woermann lines; Elder, Dempster, & Co., Calle de Alfonso Treceno 84, for the Belge Maritime du Congo, the Italian ‘La Veloce’, the Société de Transports Maritimes, and the Vapores Correos Interinsulares Canarios; Viuda é Hijos de Juan de la Roche, Calle de Alfonso Treceno 35, for the Compañía Trasatlántica; Miller, Wolfson, & Co. (see above), for the Servicio de Pailebotes.

Post & Telegraph Office (Correos y Telégrafos; Pl. 3, C, 2), Marina.

Physicians. Dr. Otto, Santa Rita, and others.—Chemist. Serra, Calle de Alfonso Treceno 7.—Baths (baños), Plaza de la Constitución.—Sea Baths (poor) at the pier; better at the Club Tinerfeño.

Cabs (‘coches de punta’; stands in the Plaza de la Constitución and the Plaza San Francisco): drive in the town, each pers. 50 c. (at night one-half more); per hour 1–2 pers. 2 pesetas, each addit. pers. 50 c.; to San Andrés 10 p., to Tegueste or Tacoronte 20, to Güimar 30, to Puerto Orotava 35, to Icod de los Vinos 60 p. (but bargain advisable).

Electric Tramway from the Alameda de la Marina (Pl. C, 2) through the Calle de Alfonso Treceno, viâ Cuesta and Laguna (1 hr.; fare 1 p. 30 c.; change carriages), to Tacoronte (1¾ hr.; fare 2 p. 60 c.). Cars for Laguna hourly from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; to Tacoronte every two hours till 5 p.m. The cars starting at 7 and 3, in connection with the diligence mentioned at p. 37, are usually crowded; motor-omnibus from Tacoronte to Puerto Orotava, see p. 37.

Consuls. British, J. E. Crocker; vice-consul, R. C. Griffiths.—United States, S. Berliner.

English Church in the upper part of the town; service in winter.

English Club (also for temporary members), adjoining the Governor’s Palace (p. 35).

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a fortified seaport with 30,300 inhab., and the capital of the island since 1821 when it superseded Laguna, lies picturesquely in 28° 28′ N. lat. and 16° 15′ W. long., on a bay 3 M. broad between the Valle del Bufadero (p. 36) and 35the Barranco de Santos, below the spurs of the Anaga Mts. and the plateau of Laguna. Its beautiful patios, or courtyards, recall those of Seville and the flat roofs with their miradores, or belvederes, are reminiscent of Cadiz. The harbour is entered by 3500–4000 vessels per annum. At Regla, to the S. of the town, is a wireless telegraph station.

The town was heroically defended in 1797 against the British fleet under Nelson, who lost his arm here and had to retire after heavy loss. Near the old Citadel (now Cuartel Almeida; Pl. C, 1) stands the saluting battery. The old Castillo de San Cristóbal (Pl. C, 2, 3) now contains public offices.

From the Alameda de la Marina (Pl. C, 2), near the landing-place, we soon reach the Plaza de la Constitución (Pl. B, C, 3) to the S.W., with the Governor’s Palace (Gobierno Civil; Pl. 5, B 2; fine patio), the club-houses, and the cafés (p. 34). On the side next the sea rises the Triunfo de la Candelaria, a column in honour of the Virgin, the tutelary saint of the Canaries (p. 36), erected by the Spaniards as a memorial of their victories, with four Guanche kings as worshippers.

From the S. side of the Plaza de la Constitución the Calle de la Cruz Verde leads to the Iglesia de la Concepción (Pl. B, 3), the principal church in the town, consisting of a nave with double aisles, and situated close to the Barranco de Santos. It was founded early in the 16th cent., but was rebuilt after a fire in 1652. The tower, 181 ft. high, affords an extensive panorama.

Interior. The central chapel of the aisle on the left contains two flags captured from Nelson’s fleet (see above), of which the town is very proud. Here too, by the high-altar, is a stone cross originally erected outside by Al. Fernandez de Lugo (p. 37) in 1494 as a memorial of his victories. The pulpit, in Italian marble, is by Matias Rodriguez (18th cent.). The burial chapel of the artist (entered to the right of the high-altar) contains several pretty, but unfinished carvings in juniper-wood.

Near this is the Mercado (Pl. B, 3), a covered market for fruit and other commodities (worth visiting in the early morning).

From the N.W. angle of the Plaza de la Constitución the Calle San Francisco leads, a few yards farther on, to the church of San Francisco (Pl. 6, B, 2), built in 1680. The tower, inlaid with azulejos, or ornamental tiles, dates from 1777.

The old Franciscan monastery contains at present the Museum with fine art and anthropological collections (new building being erected near the Ayuntamiento, Pl. 1, B 2). Beyond it lies the Plaza del Príncipe Alfonso (Pl. B, 2).

The long Calle de Alfonso Treceno (Pl. B, A, 2), or Calle de Castillo, the main street, connects the Plaza de la Constitución with the pretty Plaza de Weyler (Pl. A, 2). The Paseo de los Coches and the Paseo de Ronda (Pl. A, B, 2, 1), a charming promenade bordered with pepper-trees, oleanders, and geraniums, lead thence to the N. through the villa quarter (Barrio de Ensanche).

36Excursions on the E. Coast (cabs, see p. 34). From the Paseo de Ronda we may go past the Pino de Oro Hotel (p. 33), or by the Hotel Quisisana, to the Conduit (llevada), skirt this and the right bank of the Barranco de Almeida, and thus reach the (1 hr.) tunnels, or we may continue our walk to the (3 hrs.) Aguere Springs.—Starting from the harbour the fine coast-road leads to the N.E. to the mouth of the Valle del Bufadero, which lies at the foot of the Anaga Mts. and is defended by a fort; from here we may go on, crossing some barrancos and skirting the rocks, to the dirty fishing-village of (5 M.) San Andrés (poor inn). Thence to the Cruz de Taganana, see p. 37.—Drive from Cuesta (see below) by the Carretera del Sur, a road shaded by tamarisks, to the S.W., along the slope of the bare sunburnt Cumbre (p. 33), up and down hill, through many barrancos, viâ (8 M.) San Isidro to (10½ M.) the so-called Halfway House (tavern; good wine); then through the deep Barranco Hondo, below the village of that name (1310 ft.), mostly through pine-woods (pinal). To our right, on the hill, lies the village of Igueste; to our left, on the Ladera de Candelaria, is the village of Candelaria, with the famous pilgrimage-church of the Virgen de la Candelaria. Lastly we cross a lava-stream from the Garganta de Güimar (p. 40) to (20 M.) Güimar (975 ft.; Hot. El Buen Retiro, with a fine garden, pens. 8–10s., English, good; Pens. Sunnyside, pens. 7s.), a village of 2000 inhab. in a sunny and sheltered site, in the Valle de Güimar. This fertile valley, 3¾ M. in breadth, bounded on the S. by the Ladera de Güimar, and on the W. by the ash-cone of the Arafo and the Monte de Izaña (7380 ft.), yields sugar-cane, oranges, and bananas. Luxuriant vegetation, including gigantic arbutus-trees, is seen also in the Barranco del Rio, to the W., above the village. From the S. end of the village we may reach (ca. 1½ hr.) two cave-dwellings of Guanches (p. 31), now empty, in the upland valley of the Barranco de Badajoz. Route over the Pedro Gil Pass to Orotava, see p. 40; ascent of the Peak of Teneriffe, see p. 41.

The Excursion to the Orotava Valley, the most charming spot in the island, takes 1-1½ days. We go by tramway (p. 34) to Tacoronte and drive thence to Puerto Orotava (see p. 37).

The shadeless and generally very dusty Carretera del Norte, the continuation of the Calle de Alfonso Treceno (p. 35) and Rambla de Pulido, crosses the Barranco de Santos and ascends the N.W. slope of the Plateau of Laguna in windings affording several fine views. The country is parched and scorched in spite of the numerous reservoirs (estanques), but corn-fields, tamarisks, fruit-trees, and relics of prickly-pear plantations are occasionally seen.

3 M. Cuesta (962 ft.; inn). The road to Güimar (see above) diverges here. Farther on, as we approach the cooler and better watered tableland, the vegetation becomes richer.

6¼ M. Laguna.—Hotel. Hot. Aguere & Continental, Carrera 57, pens. 10–12s., good.

Laguna or La Laguna (1740 ft.), once the capital of the Canaries (see p. 34), now a quiet little country-town (pop. 4900), is a favourite summer residence of the wealthier families of Santa Cruz. The old-fashioned houses, as at Villa Orotava, often have pretty, carved balconies; their unglazed windows, closed with shutters only, generally have a postígo, or flap, from which the inmates can view the street.

37The Cathedral, founded in 1513 and since 1908 in course of reconstruction, contains the tomb of Alonso Fernandez de Lugo, the conqueror of Teneriffe (1493–6). From the Calle Juan de Vera, diverging to the N., we follow the first side-street, the Calle de San Agustín, to the left, to the old Augustinian monastery, once the university, and now the Instituto de Canarias, which contains the Biblioteca Pública (26,000 vols.) and a small natural history collection. To the right, in the same street (No. 28), is the Palacio Episcopal, whose patio is richly adorned with flowers.

From the E. end of the street a few paces bring us to the Plaza de Adelantado, No. 1 in which is the old Palace of the Nava family.

From the S. side of the Plaza the Calle de Santo Domingo leads to the Priests’ Seminary (Seminario Conciliar), once a Dominican monastery. In the side-street opposite No. 30 the second door on the left leads into the garden of a Farm Building (finca) which contains a venerable dragon-tree (p. 30; fee).

The Iglesia de la Concepción, at the W. end of the town, contains a fine carved pulpit.

Excursions. A fine drive (12–15 p.) may be taken viâ (4½ M.) Tegueste and (5½ M.) Tejina, not far from the gloomy Barranco de las Palmas, to (10½ M.) the fishing-village of Bajamar, near the Punta del Hidalgo, a headland which affords a splendid survey of the precipitous N. coast of the island.—We may also hire a mule (6 p.) to take us to the laurel forests of Las Mercedes or La Mina. From Las Mercedes we may ascend past the Cruz el Carmen (about 2950 ft.) with its rich thicket of bushes (Erica scoparia), and past the Cruz de Afur (3405 ft.) to the (3½ hrs.) *Cruz de Taganana (3068 ft.), a splendid point for surveying the great Peak and the E. coast as far as Santa Cruz. We may then descend to the N., through a magnificent old *Forest of Canary laurel, viñatigo (p. 30), tree-heath (Erica arborea), and Pleiomeris, to the village of Taganana (689 ft.), near which the tall pinnacles of the Hombres de Taganana tower above the abrupt rocky coast. Or we may go on to the N.E. to the Cruz del Draguillo (2205 ft.) and descend thence to Igueste and San Andrés (p. 36) on the E. coast.—Another excursion from Laguna is to the (2 hrs.) ancient Forest of Agua García (p. 38) to the W.

Beyond Laguna the High Road, bordered at first with eucalypti, now crosses the plateau of the Rodeos to the Laguna Saddle (2008 ft.; watershed), and descends thence, affording fine *Views of the Cumbre (p. 33), the Peak itself, and its spurs, and passing the hills of Guamaza famed for their view of Tacoronte, to the Bandas del Norte, the far cooler and greener N. coast of the island.

12 M. Tacoronte (1762 ft.; Camacho’s Tacoronte Hotel, on the road above the town, pens. from 9s., good; pop. 4200), beautifully situated, is well adapted for a longer stay. Near it is produced the best wine in the island, and its orange-groves are famous.

From Tacoronte to Puerto Orotava a motor-omnibus of the Grand Hotel (p. 39) plies daily at noon in connection with the tramway mentioned at p. 34 (½ hr.; fare 12 s.); cab, ordered by telephone from Santa Cruz, in 2–2½ hrs., 20–25 p.; diligence (dirty) at 9 and 5, viâ Villa Orotava (3 hrs.; fare 3 p.), to Puerto Orotava (4 hrs.; 4 p.).

38Excursions. The road to the N.E. leads past the slopes of the Montaña del Picón, and through the Valle de Guerra, to (7 M.) Tejina (p. 37).—To the N. we may descend (1½ hr.) the precipitous rocks on the Coast (650–980 ft.), where the numerous caves are said to have once been inhabited by the Guanches (p. 31).—To the S.E. lies the (1½ hr.) primæval *Forest of Agua García (2588 ft.), the finest in Teneriffe, with its huge erica trees overgrown with creepers, its venerable laurels, and superb tree-ferns. Specially charming is a sequestered nook at the Madre d’Agua, the source of the water-conduit.

The Puerto Orotava road (conveyance, see p. 37), whence the route to Sauzal diverges to the right a little farther on, passes through wheat-fields, vineyards, and orchards, and is bordered with tamarisks, Canary palms, oleanders, aloes, and hedges of geranium. The steep slopes of the Cumbre are carefully cultivated in terraces up to the evergreen zone of the cloud-region. Fine view of the rock-bound coast and the blue ocean to the right.

15 M. Matanza (1585 ft.; ‘slaughter’), the scene of the last defeat of the Spanish invaders (1494), is now a village of 2000 inhabitants.

Beyond (17 M.) the little town of Victoria (1240 ft.), where the Guanches sustained a decisive defeat in 1494, the road forks. The new road, to the left, crosses the Barranco Hondo, a ravine about 330 ft. deep, by a viaduct (1909); the old road winds down into the Barranco Hondo. The two roads unite at the church of (20 M.) Santa Ursula, a palm-girt village (886 ft.; 2200 inhab.), on the crest of the Ladera de Santa Ursula, noted for its wine. About 1 hr. above it is the farm of La Florida (p. 40).

Beyond the village we obtain a glimpse, and then, at the Humboldt Corner, a full and glorious view of the **Orotava Valley, the Taoro Valley of the Guanches, famed at once for its harmonious outlines, for its superb colouring, and for its luxuriant vegetation. The valley, about 7 M. long by 6 M. wide, probably formed by subsidence, and descending rather rapidly to the sea in terraces, is sprinkled with smiling villages and countless white country-houses, embosomed among palms, pines, orange-trees, rosebushes, and climbing plants, which are abundantly watered by cuttings and conduits descending from the cloud-region. The tropical character of the landscape is enhanced by the extensive plantations of bananas. On the E. and W. the valley is flanked by the lava slopes, about 1000 ft. in height, of the Ladera de Santa Ursula and the Ladera de Tigaiga, and on the S. it is bounded by the Cumbre, with the ‘organ-pipes’ at the S.E. angle (p. 40). Far above its steep banks, but most often concealed by the trade-wind clouds, towers the majestic pyramid of the Peak. In the middle of the valley rise three eruptive cones of recent origin, the Montaña de la Horca (833 ft.; p. 39), the Montaña de Chaves (p. 42), and the Montaña de las Gañanias, which have sent forth lava-streams descending to the sea.

39Beyond the Barranco del Pinito the direct road to (24½ M.) Villa Orotava (p. 40) branches off to the left, and 1 M. farther on another road from that town joins ours. We are next carried through deep barrancos by means of cuttings, with their surprising variety of layers of slag and beds of lava, and at the Montaña de la Horca we come to a point where a new road diverges, to the left, for Realejo Bajo (p. 42) and Icod de los Vinos (p. 43). We descend to the right to Puerto Orotava, passing a private entrance to the Grand Hotel on our right.

27½ M. Puerto Orotava.—Hotels (often crowded in March and April). *Grand Hotel (or ‘Kurhaus Humboldt’; about 330 ft.), in a fine open situation on the N. slope of the Montaña de la Horca, with splendid views from the roof-terrace, beautiful grounds, and sea-baths on the Martianez beach (see below), R. from 4s., pens. 12s. 6d.–20s.; for guests ascending the Peak the hotel provides mule, guide, porter, accommodation in the Alta Vista hut, and food for two days for an inclusive sum of 30s. *Hot. Martianez, at the E. end of the town, not far from the sea, once a nobleman’s château, with a charming garden, pens. 12–15s.; Hot. Monopol, Plaza de la Iglesia, R. 2s. 6d.–3s., pens. 8–10s., good (all three under German management); Hot. Marquesa, Plaza de la Iglesia, pens. 5–6s., Spanish, well spoken of.

Post & Telegraph Office, Calle de Quintana, near the Plaza de la Iglesia.

Banker. T. M. Reid, Calle San Juan.—Photographer. Baeza, Calle de la Hoya.—Teneriffe Work. Franken, Calle de Santo Domingo 10.

Physicians. Dr. Lishman, Casa Montaña; Dr. Perez.—Chemist. R. Gomez, Calle de Santo Domingo.

Music in the Plaza de la Constitución.—Sortija Riding (tilting at the ring) in the grounds of the Grand Hotel.

Carriages. To Villa Orotava or Realejo 10 p.; to Tacoronte 20–25 p.; to Icod de los Vinos 25 p.—Omnibus to Villa Orotava twice daily, 1 p.—Mule (mulo) to Agua Mansa 10 p., to Güimar 12½, to the Peak 20 p.—Donkey (burro), 5 p. per day (according to bargain).—Guide to the Peak 20 p.

English Church (resident chaplain) in the grounds above the Grand Hotel.—English Cemetery and others to the W. of the town.

Puerto Orotava, officially called Puerto de la Cruz, the most popular invalid resort in the Canaries, a poor little seaport with 3100 inhab., lies on a delta formed by lava-streams. The Calle San Juan, the main street, in continuation of the highroad, descends, passing near the Plaza de la Constitución, with its garden-grounds, to the Pier (Muelle), whence the produce of the Orotava Valley is conveyed by small boats to the vessels in the roads.

In the Plaza de la Iglesia, to the E. of the Plaza de la Constitución, are the Iglesia de la Peña de Santa Francisca, with its new tower, and the Casas Consistoriales or town-hall, with its old-fashioned wooden balcony.—Mr. R. Gomez, the chemist (see above), possesses a small Guanche Museum (adm. 1 p.).

To the E. of the town a palm-avenue leads along the Barranco de Martianez to the bathing beach (Playa de Martianez). Beyond the ravine, about halfway up the abrupt coast-hill, is the spring 40called Fuente de Martianez.—A zigzag path ascends to the Sitio de la Paz (492 ft.), once occupied by Alex. von Humboldt (1814), and now containing several memorials of that savant. A cypress-avenue is the sole relic of the old garden (fee).—A beautiful walk may be taken to the Barranco de las Arenas, 1½ hr. to the E.

To the S. the Camino del Puerto (see below) leads past the Observatorio (belonging to the nautical observatory of Hamburg) to the *Botanic Garden (Jardín Botánico or de Aclimatación), laid out in 1788, which, though sadly neglected, contains exquisite flowers, superb magnolias, and fine specimens of royal, Canary, and exotic palms, dragon-trees (p. 30), and fig-trees (Ficus imperialis and Ficus nitida; p. 233).

A dusty road (donkey 3 p.) leads from the cemetery at the W. end of the town to the Finca los Frailes of Dr. Perez, with its splendid avenue of palms. The road ends at the Risco do Burgado, with its fissured lava cliffs, washed by huge breakers.

Pleasant ride (4–5 hrs.; donkey 4, horse 8 p.) by Los Frailes to Realejo Bajo and Realejo Alto (p. 42), returning, above the three eruptive cones (p. 38), viâ Cruz Santa (p. 41), Perdoma, and Villa Orotava.

From Puerto Orotava the dusty roads mentioned on p. 39, besides the Camino del Puerto, the old bridle-path, lead through a garden-like region in 1¼–1½ hr. to Villa Orotava (1080–1480 ft.; Hot. Suizo, pens. 6–8 p., good; Hot. Victoria, same charges; 3600 inhab.) the Arautápala of the Guanches, now the capital of the Orotava Valley. The antiquated little town, which has fallen into great poverty since the decline of the cochineal culture (p. 32), occupies almost the loveliest site in the whole island.

At the E. entrance is the Plaza de San Agustín, with the old Iglesia de San Agustín and a band-stand, whence we have a fine view of Puerto Orotava and the sea. Near it is the Villa of Marquesa Quinta, now owned by Dr. Perez (p. 39), with its beautiful park; on the highest terrace is a marble mausoleum (adm. to both 1 p.).

In the quarter above the Iglesia de la Concepción are several châteaux of the noblesse. On the S.W. side of the town, near the monastery of San Francisco (now a hospital), are two old mansions with very handsome carved balconies (comp. p. 36).

An excursion, attractive in clear weather only, may be made to the farm of Aqua Mansa (3491 ft.), in the S.E. angle of the Orotava Valley, within the cloud-region, 1½ hr. to the S.E. of Villa Orotava. Steep bridle-path; mule, see p. 39. The chestnut and erica woods are succeeded in the Barranco de la Arena by primæval *Pine Forest, near which is an abrupt slope with huge columns of basalt, known as the Organos (organ-pipes). From Agua Mansa we may either ride back by the W. margin of the Ladera de Santa Ursula (p. 38) and the farm of La Florida, or we may cross the Pedro Gil Pass (6522 ft.; the top of the Cumbre, to the S.W., commands a striking view of the E. coast and the Grand Canary) to the grand basin of the *Garganta de Güimar, and along the lava-stream of 1705, past Arafo, to (6–7 hrs.) Güimar (p. 36).

41The Ascent of the Peak of Teneriffe, which is fatiguing but without danger, takes two days and should be made in the warmer season (hotel arrangement for the ascent, see p. 39; tariffs for mule and guide, also see p. 39). The excursion affords an admirable insight into the geological structure of the island, while the view in clear weather is of unparallelled grandeur. The equipment most needed consists of riding leggings, an Alpenstock (lanza), stout boots, a lantern, rugs, drinking-water, abundant provisions, grey spectacles or goggles, and lanoline for the face. In the Cañadas (see below) the guides and mule-drivers often refuse their services when snow is falling. The shortest way to the peak is by the bridle-path from Puerto Orotava, viâ Cruz Santa, to the Portillo. In about 10 hrs. we reach the refuge-hut of Alta Vista, the keys of which are brought by the guide. We may afterwards descend to Icod Alto and Realejo Alto (p. 42; about 8 hrs.), where a vehicle may be ordered to meet us; or we may descend viâ the Llano de la Maja to Güimar (p. 36; 10 hrs.).

Our route ascends through every climatic zone in the world. From the tropical region of Puerto Orotava we pass, beyond Cruz Santa (1500 ft.), through the Taoro Basin into the temperate zone, the region of maize and cereals, where numerous cottages are shaded by chestnut-trees. Leaving behind the thickets of Monte Verde and following the Camino del Brezal with its view of the sombre Ladera de Tigaiga (p. 38), we mount, beyond the cloud-region, a wilderness of lava. A most striking change of scenery is observed at the Portillo (6611 ft.), lying a little to the E. of the Fortaleza (p. 42), and forming the entrance to the *Montañas de las Cañadas, the lowest and oldest crater. This enormous basin, 6–12½ M. in diameter, girdles the base of the Peak with its ring-shaped wall of lava rocks (650–1650 ft. high), the continuity of which has, however, been broken by later eruptions. The summit of the Peak is rarely free from snow except in August and September. We now ride across the Cañadas Plateau (midday-rest; view of the Peak), a desolate expanse of pumice-stone, overgrown with scanty Retama (p. 31), and in summer enlivened by a few goats. Here and there it is intersected by huge lava-streams and covered with isolated eruptive cones. The sky is generally cloudless, the sun intensely hot, and the air marvellously clear. At the foot of the lower portion of the Peak, not far from the spur of Los Rastrojos (7562 ft.), begins the toilsome ascent over the grey-white pumice-stone of the Montaña Blanca (8691 ft.) to the saddle adjoining the pyramid-like peak. The zigzag path now mounts the slopes of slag, inhabited by rabbits, mostly between streams of black obsidian, to the Lomo Tiezo. In the midst of the expanse of slag shady resting-places are formed here and there by great blocks of lava, such as the Estancia de los Ingleses (9711 ft.) and the Estancia de los Alemanes (10,018 ft.). Below the spot where the lava-streams unite to form the sickle-shaped Piedras Negras stands the refuge-hut of Alta Vista (10,728 ft.; accommodation for 15 pers. at the utmost, at 5 p. each). From this point we already enjoy, in clear weather, an imposing view of the E. half of the island, of the Grand Canary (p. 43), and even of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote (p. 28), a glorious spectacle more particularly at sunset, when the Peak gradually casts its shadow over the sea as far as the Grand Canary.

Next morning we start early. The winding path ascends a field of lava to (1 hr.) the Rambleta (11,713 ft.), the central crater-basin, out of which towers the trachytic cone, covered with pumice-stone, of the Pitón or Pan de Azúcar (‘sugar-loaf’), the summit of the **Peak of Teneriffe, or Pico de Teide (12,175 ft.; ‘peak of hell’). In ½¾ hr. we climb its slopes to the Corona, the very narrow margin of the Caldera, the insignificant highest crater (77 by 110 yds.; 130 ft. in depth), which was still active in the middle ages, but now emits a few jets of steam only from its fumaroles (comp. p. 29). When the horizon is perfectly clear, the eye ranges over an area of some 2200 sq. M.; floating, as it were, in the midst of the boundless expanse of the ocean, the blue of which seems to blend on the horizon with the blue of the sky, we can sometimes see the whole 42of the Canaries, from Palma, Hierro, and Gomera on the W. to the far-distant E. group. To the W. we look down upon the grand crater of the Pico Viejo (see below), the Chahorra, and the Talus de Bilma, studded with countless coloured cinder-cones. We survey, from the Fortaleza on the N.E. to the Morro del Cedro on the S.W., the ring-shaped wall of the Cañadas, with the pumice-stone wilderness of the Cañadas Plateau and the coloured lava-masses of the Azulejos (see below). The older serrated mountains in the island (pp. 32, 33) and the green basins of Orotava and Icod are generally shrouded by a sea of clouds of dazzling whiteness.

On the Descent, which experts may shorten at first by glissading down the cinder-slopes, we may visit the Cueva del Hielo (11,044 ft.), a fine lava cavern a little below the Rambleta, always filled with ice and water. From the Montaña Blanca (p. 41) we then turn to the N. to the Fortaleza (8300 ft.), the only considerable height on the N. margin of the Cañadas wall. The bridle-path, very steep and rough, next descends to the Corona de Icod (about 2900 ft.), the highest point of the Ladera de Tigaiga (p. 38), falling away to the E. in a huge rocky slope, and again offering a glorious view of the Vale of Orotava. From Icod Alto (1716 ft.) we may descend rapidly to the N.E. to Realejo Alto (see below), or we may wend our way due W. to Icod de los Vinos (p. 43).

Round the Cañadas is an interesting but toilsome excursion. From the Portillo (p. 41) we strike to the S. across the Cañadas Plateau to the rocks of the Risco Verde (7130 ft.), on the E. margin of the encircling wall, where a lava cavern serves for night-quarters. The path then leads to the S.W., skirting the basaltic rock of Las Pilas (7228 ft.), passing below the Espigón Hill, and along the wildly fissured and variegated Roques de la Grieta (7211 ft.), where a new Observatorio has been built near a spring (1909). This brings us to the Guajara Hill (8908 ft.), near the Guajara Pass (see below). Our route, now running to the W., crosses the so-called Azulejos (9400 ft.), a lava wall consisting partly of blue-green rock, and at the Boca de Tauze (7021 ft.) surmounts the huge lava-streams (of 1798 and 1909, comp. p. 29) of the Chahorra (7743 ft.) and the Pico Viejo (10,289 ft.). To the left rises the Morro del Cedro (8000 ft.), the highest hill on the W. side of the crater-wall. From the N.W. side of the Cañadas, whose girdle-wall was here almost entirely destroyed by the numerous cones thrown up in 1705 and 1706, we next reach the *Pinal de la Guancha, the finest pine-forest in the island. Thence we traverse the huge lava slopes of the Lomo de Vega (5168 ft.) to the basin of Icod de los Vinos (p. 43).

A somewhat shorter path from the Portillo, crossing the saddle between the Rastrojos and the Montaña Blanca (p. 41), leads to the S.W., in 3½ hrs., direct to the Guajara Pass (7992 ft.), which gives access to the village of Vilaflor (4842 ft.; inn), finely situated on the S. slope of the girdle-wall of the Cañadas amid pine-woods and luxuriant orchards, and noted for the ‘Vilaflor embroidery’ (p. 32). From the brow of the Llano de los Quemados we overlook the late-volcanic terraces of the Bandas del Sur, which are bare and thinly peopled. A fine excursion from Vilaflor is made viâ Escalona (3750 ft.) and Arona (2198 ft.), with views, towards the W., of the islands of Gomera and Hierro, to the little town of Adeje (935 ft.), situated behind the Adeje Mts. (p. 32; Roque del Carasco, etc.), the ancient Guanche capital of the island. Near it is the *Barranco del Infierno, the upper half of which is the grandest ravine in Teneriffe.

The *High Road, which at the foot of the Montaña de Chaves (p. 38) sends off a by-road to the village of Realejo Alto (1158 ft.), nears the sea at the rocky headland of Rambla de Castro.

At (27½ M. from Santa Cruz) Realejo Bajo (883 ft.) the Ladera de Tigaiga (p. 38) comes close down to the coast. The next stretch of road, as far as (32½ M.) San Juan de la Rambla 43(2000 inhab.), situated on a recent lava-stream, is particularly fine. It leads past abrupt rocks and through sombre gorges (Barranco de la Torre, Barranco Ruiz), and often through banana plantations and vineyards extending to the cliffs of the coast.

37½ M. Icod de los Vinos (755 ft.; Hot. Inglés, poor), a small town with 2000 inhab., is the chief place in the *Vale of Icod, which is bounded by the Ladera de Tigaiga, the Lomo de Vega, and the Pinal de la Guancha (p. 42), rivalling the Vale of Orotava in fertility and beauty. We enjoy here a magnificent *View of the Peak, towering almost immediately above the coast, between the Fortaleza and the Pico Viejo (p. 42). A garden near the Iglesia Parroquial contains an old dragon-tree. The Guanches’ Cave below the village is not worth visiting (fee 2 p.).

A pleasant way back to the Vale of Orotava is the bridle-path viâ Guancha, Icod Alto (p. 42), and Realejo Alto (p. 42).

The Gran Canaria or ‘Grand Canary‘, the second-largest island in the archipelago, nearly circular in form, with 127,000 inhab. in an area of 626 sq. M., lies about 66 M. to the S.E. of Teneriffe. The best-watered and most fertile parts are the environs of Las Palmas, the capital, and the N. coast. The barren brown mountains in the interior, with their sharp outlines, culminate in the Pico de las Nieves (6400 ft.). On every side deep barrancos or ravines descend to the coast, conspicuous among which, as we near the island from Teneriffe, is the Barranco de Tejeda.

The Isleta (748 ft.), the N.E. promontory of Gran Canaria, once a separate island, has gradually been united to the greater island by deposits of sea-sand which form the Istmo de Guanarteme. The Lighthouse (Faro) on the Punta Morro de la Vieja, on the N. side of the Isleta, is the chief landmark for steamers coming from Teneriffe or the N.

Beyond the Isleta, in the Confital Bay opening to the W., lies Puerto de la Luz (Hot. Rayo, with café, pens. 6 p., a very fair Spanish inn; comp. Plan, p. 46), a rapidly rising place, the chief port of Gran Canaria, and the best harbour in the islands. The entrance to it is protected by a breakwater (rompeolas), about 1100 yds. long, and by the Muelle (mole) de Santa Catalina (landing or embarking in steam-launches or small boats, 1 p., trunk 50 c.). The hotel-agents from Las Palmas come on board.

A dusty Road leads from Puerto de la Luz, passing many new buildings, the mineral baths of Fuente de Santa Catalina (near which is the English Church, p. 45), and the large hotels named at p. 44, to (4½ M.) Las Palmas. (Tramway in about 40 min.; fares 20–40 c.; tartana, a kind of dog-cart, 2, with luggage 3–4 p.)

44Las Palmas.—Hotels. Santa Catalina, pens. 10–16s., and Métropole, pens. 10–12s., both on the road to the harbour (comp. Plan, p. 46), ca. ¾ M. to the N. of the town, with beautiful gardens towards the sea, tennis-courts, etc.; both closed in summer.—In the town: Hôt. Continental (Pl. c; B, 2), with American bar and pretty garden, pens, from 8s. 6d., and Quiney’s English Hotel (Pl. d; B, 2), R. 4–6, B. 1, D. 5, pens. 10–15s., both in the Plaza de San Bernardo (p. 45), in a quiet and pleasant situation.—Catalan Hotel (Pl. e; B, 3), Calle de los Remedios 8, pens. 6 p., and Cuatro Naciones (Pl. f; B, 4), Alameda de Colón, with café, pens. 6 p., both quite Spanish.—The best table-water is Agua Firgas.

Post Office (Correos; Pl. 1, B 4), Plaza de Santa Ana (best hours 12–4). Telegraph Office (Telégrafo; Pl. 5, A, 2), Calle de Domingo J. Navarro 36.

45Theatre (Pl. C, 3), at the month of the Barranco Guiniguada.—Music in the Alameda de Colón.

Bankers. Miller & Co., Muelle de Santa Catalina, in Puerto de la Luz; Blandy Bros. & Co., Calle Mayor de Triana 68, and others.

Steamboat Agents. Miller & Co. (see above), for the Union Castle, the Austro-Americana, Aberdeen (Rennie’s), Bucknall, and other lines; Grand Canary Coaling Co., for the Peninsular & Oriental Co. and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.; Behrens, at Puerto de la Luz, to the N. of the Muelle de Santa Catalina, for the German East African, Woermann, and Hamburg-American Lines; Elder, Dempster, & Co., Calle Mayor de Triana 93, for the Vapores Correos Interinsulares Canarios; M. Curbelo & Co., Calle de Muro, for the Compañía Trasatlántica.

Carriages (stands in the Plaza de Cairasco, in the Plaza de San Bernardo, and near the theatre). Drive in the town for 1–3 pers. 1½p., for 4 pers. 2 p.; per hour 2½ (or for a tartana or dog-cart 2) p.; to Puerto de la Luz 5 (tartana 2) p.; to the Monte, Telde, or Arucas 15 (tartana 12½) p.; to Atalaya, San Mateo, or Teror 20 (tartana 15) p.

English Church, near the Hôt. Métropole, on the road to Puerto de la Luz (comp. Plan, p. 46).—English Club at Puerto de la Luz.

Las Palmas, a town of 28,600 inhab., of a S. Spanish type like Santa Cruz (comp. p. 35), the seat of the bishop of Gran Canaria, situated in 28° 6′ N. lat. and 15° 12′ W. long., is the busiest and wealthiest town in the whole archipelago. The houses of the well-to-do townspeople, built of pale-grey tufa or blue lava-basalt, often enclose beautiful patios filled with plants, which are watered by means of pipes conducted from the roofs. On the hills at the back of the town, which have been fortified since the Spanish and American war, are sprinkled many gaily painted country-houses.

Las Palmas is divided into two parts (barrios) by the Barranco de Guiniguada: on the N. Triana, and on the S. Vegueta.

The main street of Triana, with its numerous shops, in line with the road from Puerto de la Luz, is called Calle Mayor de Triana (Pl. B, C, 1–3). Beyond the Baranquillo de Mata it intersects the Plaza San Telmo (Pl. B, 1), in which rises the Gobierno Militar (Pl. 2; B, 1).

The Paseo de Bravo Murillo (Pl. B, A, 1) ascends the gorge to the right to the Carretera del Norte (p. 47). On the left is the Harbour (Pl. B, C, 1), with the pier (Muelle), where the sea-breezes may be enjoyed in hot weather.

From the Calle Mayor de Triana, farther on, the Calle Constantino diverges to the right to the Plaza de San Bernardo (Pl. A, B, 2), a square planted with Indian laurels. Near the S. end of the street the Calle del General Bravo leads to the Alameda de Colón (Pl. B, 3), which is embellished with a bust of Columbus and fine royal and date palms (p. 30). In this square rise the Iglesia de San Francisco (1689) and the Casino.

The central point of Vegueta is the Plaza de Santa Ana (Pl. B, 4), where the guides lie in wait for strangers. The bronze dogs at the lower end of the plaza, as well as those in the arms of the town, recall the tradition that Juba II. (p. 31) carried away some dogs (canes) from the island, and that their name is derived thence.

46The Cathedral (Pl. B, C, 4; San Christóbal), founded in 1497 and restored in 1781, with its heavy façade flanked with towers 184 ft. high, contains, in the first chapel of the left aisle, the tombstone of the native poet Bart. Cairasco de Figueroa (1540–1610), and in the crypt the tomb of Viera y Clavijo (1731–1802), the historian of the Canaries.

The Town Hall (Palacio Municipal; Pl. B, 4), built in 1842, contains, on the third floor, the Museo Canario, consisting of natural history collections and of curiosities from the Guanche caverns of the Isleta (p. 43) and other places (implements, weapons, and tools in basalt, obsidian, horn, wood, and clay, leather-work, and mummies). Adm. free, daily 11–3.

For a prolonged stay the Monte is preferable to Las Palmas. It is reached by the Carretera del Centro (comp. Pl. A, 5), the best road in the island. Ascending from the suburb of San Roque, and soon affording splendid views, the road at first follows the Barranco de Guiniguada (p. 45), and then winds up the slopes of the Pico del Viento (820 ft.).

3¾ M. Tafira (1230 ft.; Hotel Victoria; James’s Boarding House), the first village on the *Monte, a colony of villas and a favourite winter resort of the English.

8 M. Santa Brígida (1572 ft.; Hot. Santa Brígida, in a fine open situation with a beautiful park, pens. from 10s. 6d.; Quiney’s Bella Vista, ½ M. below the other, pens. 8–10s.), a finely situated village with 500 inhabitants.

The road, still unfinished, goes on to Telde (p. 47), passing the curious cave-village of Atalaya (1720 ft.), which rises in terraces on the hill-side. The tufa walls of the cave-dwellings are hung with mats. The industry of the place is the manufacture of pottery, notably the porous water-jars so common in N. Africa.

The ascent of the *Pico de Vandama (1838 ft.) may be made from Atalaya or direct from Santa Brígida (there and back 2 hrs.; mule 3 p.). This hill, overgrown with pines and tree-like broom, overlooks the grand mountain landscape of the E. coast. Very striking is the view of the *Caldera de Vandama, a huge crater-basin of about 550 yds. in diameter and 683 ft. in depth. Its floor is planted with vines and cereals, and it is worth while to ride down into it.

The Carretera del Centro leads, beyond the bifurcation for Atalaya, to (13 M.) the little town of San Mateo (2575 ft.; fair inn), superbly situated among the mountains. Rough mule-tracks lead thence to the Pico de las Nieves (6400 ft.), to the village of Tejeda (3160 ft.) in the *Barranco de Tejeda (p. 43), and to the cave-village of Artenara.

Scarcely less attractive than the Monte road is the *Carretera del Sur, which leads from Las Palmas, at first passing the cemeteries, then skirting the rocks of the E. coast, and at length turning inland, piercing the lava-rock by a tunnel, to Ginámar and (8 M.) Telde (394 ft.; inn; pop. 4000), a picturesque little town amidst beautiful orange-groves.

47The Carretera del Norte, crossing the Barranco de San Lorenzo and the road from Puerto de la Luz (p. 43) at Tamaraceite, and farther on, beyond a long tunnel, the Barranco de Tenoya above the village of that name, leads to (10 M.) Arucas (1017 ft.; two inns), an industrial little town of 2900 inhab., at the foot of the Montaña de Arucas, a hill affording fine views. The sugar-cane is cultivated in the vicinity.

A by-road diverges from this carretera, beyond the Barranco de San Lorenzo, to (12½ M.) Teror (1936 ft.; dirty inn), a little town with the famous pilgrimage-church of the Virgen del Pino (16th cent.).

The island of Palma, or La Palma, in the extreme N.W. of the archipelago, 28½ M. long and 17 M. broad, lying about 16½ M. to the W. of Teneriffe, is remarkable for its fine scenery and superb forests, but is as yet rarely visited by tourists. The famous Caldera, the largest and deepest of all the crater-basins in the islands, opens towards the W. in the huge Barranco de las Angustias, while many smaller gorges render the N. coast in particular very difficult of access. The whole of the S. part of the island is of recent volcanic origin and therefore poorly watered. The population (42,000, in an area of 280 sq. M.) is confined to the S.E. margin of the island and the middle of the W. slopes Many of the natives emigrate, especially to Cuba.

Starting from Santa Cruz de Tenerife (p. 33) the steamer rounds the Anaga Mts., with the lighthouse already named (p. 33), and steers to the W. from the Punta del Hidalgo (p. 37) to Palma. The lighthouse on the Punta de Teno (23 ft.), the N.W. point of Teneriffe, remains visible for some time. The bold coast of Palma presents a grand appearance as we approach.

Santa Cruz de la Palma.—Hotels. Hot. Miramar; Hot. Español; Hot. Internacional; Fonda Verbena, pens. 4–5 p.—Carriage to Los Llanos 45 p. (also motor-omnibus).—Mule per day 5–6, to Los Llanos 7½ p.