1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

The Wines of Tenerife.

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•era, it is now scarcely known in England; and since the vine yards were attacked by the oidium in 1852 little wine has been produced and far less exported. Between 1830 and 1840 the vintage in the seven principal islands of the group averaged over 46,000 pipes yearly; and of these more than half were contributed by Tenerife, which shipped between 4,000 and 5,000 pipes per annum—equivalentto the present produce ofthe whole island, whence only some 200 or 300 pipes are now-a-days exported to England, Eussia, France, Hambui-g, the West Indies,and the West Coast of Africa. After the destruction of the vines by the oidium," the inhabitants of Tenerife devoted themselves to the cultivation of cochineal,a highly profitable industry at that epoch ; and for a period of fifteen or sixteen years—while the demand for this product continued active—the island enjoyed great material prosperity. But the wealth thus -accumulated seems to have been squandered even more swiftly than it had been acquired ; and when the demand for cochineal abated,through the discovery of other dyes,many of thefarmers found themselves ruined. Most of those who possessed any re maining means either replanted vines on a small scale or devoted their attention to the cultivation of tobacco, an industry which requires to be pursued for several years before it begins to pay. It is rather more than four-and-twenty hours' sail from Madeira to Tenerife. Although the island is said to possess fields and forests as luxuriant as those of the most favoured countries of Europe, and to boast of mountain scenery as magnificent as that of Switzerland,the first view of it is scarcely inviting. What meets the eye off Santa Cruz is a frowning coast-line of precipitous rocky cliffs, rising out ofthe sea,scarcely a patch of cultivated land being discernible. At Santa Cruz, the present capital, and only port in the island possessing a tolerable harbour, the chief import and export commerce of Tenerife,which previous to 1810 was concentrated at Orotava, is now carried on. The inhabitants of this so-called"heroic city," which lies at the water's edge in a kind of basin formed by the surrounding hills, count as their fellow-to"wasman the late