No sooner had we anchored, than we were visited by the master of the port, who satisfied himself with asking the ship’s name.  Upon his leaving us, I sent an officer ashore, to present my respects to the governor; and to ask his leave to take in water, and to purchase such articles as we were in want of.  All this he granted with the greatest politeness; and, soon after, sent an officer on board, to compliment me on my arrival.  In the afternoon, I waited upon him in person, accompanied by some of my officers; and, before I returned to my ship, bespoke some corn and straw for the live stock; ordered a quantity of wine from Mr McCarrick, the contractor, and made an agreement with the master of a Spanish boat to supply us with water, as I found that we could not do it ourselves.

The road of Santa Cruz is situated before the town of the same name, on the S.E. side of the island.  It is, as I am told, the principal road of Teneriffe, for shelter, capacity, and the goodness of its bottom.  It lies entirely open to the S.E. and S. winds.  But these winds are never of long continuance; and, they say, there is not an instance of a ship driving from her anchors on shore.[69] This may, in part, be owing to the great care they take in mooring them; for I observed, that all the ships we met with, there, had four anchors out; two to the N.E., and two to the S.W.; and their cables buoyed up with casks.  Ours suffered a little by not observing this last precaution.

[Footnote 69:  Though no such instance was known to those from whom Captain Cook had this information, we learn from Glas, that some years before he was at Teneriffe, almost all the shipping in the road were driven on shore.  See Glas’s History of the Canary Islands, p. 235.  We may well suppose the precautions now used, have prevented any more such accidents happening.  This will sufficiently justify Captain Cook’s account.—–­ D.]

At the S.W. part of the road, a stone pier runs out into the sea from the town, for the convenience of loading and landing of goods.  To this pier, the water that supplies the shipping is conveyed.  This, as also what the inhabitants of Santa Cruz use, is derived from a rivulet that runs from the hills, the greatest part of which comes into the town in wooden spouts or troughs, that are supported by slender posts, and the remainder doth not reach the sea; though it is evident, from the size of the channel, that sometimes large torrents rush down.  At this time these troughs were repairing, so that fresh water, which is very good here, was scarce.

Were we to judge from the appearance of the country in the neighbourhood of Santa Cruz, it might be concluded that Teneriffe is a barren spot, insufficient to maintain even its own inhabitants.  The ample supplies, however, which we received, convinced as that they had enough to spare for visitors.  Besides wine, which is the chief produce of the island, beef may be had at a moderate price.  The oxen are small