On the back of the town there is a large plain of 3 or 4 leagues in length and 2 miles wide, producing a thick kindly sort of grass, which looked green and very pleasant when I was there, like our meadows in England in the spring.  On the east side of this plain, very near the back of the town, there is a natural lake or pond of fresh water.  It is about half a mile in circumference; but being stagnant, it is only used for cattle to drink of.  In the wintertime several sorts of wildfowl resort hither, affording plenty of game to the inhabitants of Laguna.  This city is called Laguna from hence; for that word in Spanish signifies a lake or pond.  The plain is bounded on the west, the north-west and the south-west with high steep hills; as high above this plain as this is above the sea; and it is from the foot of one of these mountains that the water of the conduit which supplies the town is conveyed over the plain in troughs of stone raised upon pillars.  And indeed, considering the situation of the town, its large prospect to the east (for from hence you see the Grand Canary) its gardens, cool arbors, pleasant plain, green fields, the pond and aqueduct, and its refreshing breezes; it is a very delightful dwelling, especially for such as have not business that calls them far and often from home:  for, the island being generally mountainous, steep, and craggy, full of risings and fallings, it is very troublesome travelling up and down in it, unless in the cool of the mornings and evenings:  and mules and asses are most used by them, both for riding and carriage, as fittest for the stony, uneven roads.

Beyond the mountains, on the south-west side, still further up, you may see from the town and plain a small peaked hill, overlooking the rest.  This is that which is called the Pike of Tenerife, so much noted for its height:  but we saw it here at so great a disadvantage, by reason of the nearness of the adjacent mountains to us, that it looked inconsiderable in respect to its fame.

Of the wines and other commodities of Tenerife, etc.

The true malmsey wine grows in this island; and this here is said to be the best of its kind in the world.  Here is also canary wine, and verdona, or green wine.  The canary grows chiefly on the west side of the island; and therefore is commonly sent to Oratavia; which being the chief seaport for trade in the island, the principal English merchants reside there, with their consul; because we have a great trade for this wine.  I was told that that town is bigger than Laguna; that it has but one church, but many convents:  that the port is but ordinary at best and is very bad when the north-west winds blow.  These norwesters give notice of their coming by a great sea that tumbles in on the shore for some time before they come, and by a black sky in the north-west.  Upon these signs ships either get up their anchors, or slip their cables