guished service in the field--or rather the forest--and
also as an administrator at a State Post. There were also many other
officials, soldiers, lawyers and commercial agents on board.

I determined therefore, to read the various books and reports written
against the Congo--whether the writers had ever been in the country or
not--then to question the officials who had worked there, and finally to
see the actual condition of affairs for myself.

We tumbled about in The Bay of Biscay a little and the motion did not
much aid the digestion of the contents of histories and blue and white
books. A welcome break was therefore made when we reached Teneriffe on
June 29th. It is early afternoon and the view of Santa Crus from the sea
is very beautiful. In the foreground is ultra-marine coloured water; on
shore, bright yellow houses with red roofs dotted among palms and other
foliage of vivid green, and behind all, frowns the great grey mountain
12,000 feet high. The hills stretching up from the sea are in many cases
terraced for gardens and vineyards and a new hotel stands out
prominently on one side. It is a glorious picture, but if the eye is
delighted as the boat approaches the shore, the nose is offended
immediately on landing. Streets, houses and people near the harbour are
dirty and odoriferous and as the shops are all shut for a saint's day,
the town looks dismal in spite of the bright sun.

After changing some money at the shop of a jew who gave us the wrong
amount and looked injured when we insisted upon the right, we took an
open carriage and drove to the Cathedral. The building is not imposing
from the outside, but is highly gilded within where is the famous Holy
Cross which gives the town its name. There are also many wax figures
representing saints, mostly dressed in the costume of the seventeenth
century and enclosed in glass cases. The boy who acted as our guide
having discovered our nationality, pointed out with great glee _English
organ_, _English clock_. and finally with satirical humour--probably
unconscious--_English flags_. These flags are those lost by Nelson at
the siege of Santa Crus where he lost his arm and a good story is told
about them. An ambitious British middy stole them from the Cathedral and
was very disappointed, when instead of being at once promoted, he was
forced to apologize and restore them.

We next drive up a broad, fairly well kept, boulevard to the Bull Ring
situated in an open spac