in honour of
our Lady of Candelaria, the tutelar goddess of the place. The Spaniards
erected this statue, calling it Our Lady, keeping up some semblance of
the ancient worship that they might better keep the Tenerifeans in
subjection. At the top of the obelisk is placed the statue, and at its
base are four well executed figures, representing the ancient kings or
princes of Teneriffe, each of which has the shin-bone of a man's leg in
his hand. This image is held in great honour by the lower classes of
people, who tell many absurd stories of its first appearance in the
island, the many miracles she has wrought, etc.

"We visited a nunnery of the order of St. Dominic. In the chapel was a
fine statue of the Virgin Mary, with four wax candles burning before her.
Peeping through the bars, we perceived several fine young women at
prayers. A middle-aged woman opened the door halfway, but would by no
means suffer us to enter this sanctified spot. None of the nuns would be
prevailed upon to come near us. However, they did not seem at all
displeased at our visit, but presented us with a sweet candy they call
Dulce, and some artificial flowers, in return for which Mr. Smith* (* The
botanist.) gave them a dollar. In general these people appear to be a
merry, good-natured people, and are courteous to and appear happy to see
strangers. We found this always the case, although they said we were no
Christians: but they generally took care to make us pay well for what we
had. They live principally upon fruits and roots, are fond of singing and
dancing, and upon the whole they live as lazily, as contentedly, and in
as much poverty as any French peasant would wish to do."

The Cape of Good Hope was reached in October, and Flinders told Captain
Pasley what he thought of the Dutch colonists:

"The Dutch, from having great quantities of animal food, are rather
corpulent. Nevertheless they keep up their national characteristic for
carefulness. Neither are they very polite. A stranger will be treated
with a great deal of ceremony, but when you come to the solid part of a
compliment their generosity is at a stand. Of all the people I ever saw
these are the most ceremonious. Every man is a soldier and wears his
square-rigged hat, sword, epaulets, and military uniform. They never pass
each other without a formal bow, which even descends to the lowest ranks,
and it is even seen in the slaves."

On April 10th, 1792, Bligh's ships anchored at Tahit