Like
many other travel authors of his time Harold Lee placed the Portuguese Madeira
archipelago and the Canary Islands into one area of study. Both groups of
Atlantic islands form part of Macaronesia, the Islands of the Fortunate
or μακάρων νῆσοι makárōn nêsoi, as ancient Greek
geographers referred to them. But there was another, more practical explanation
for this. Steamers from the British Isles carrying passengers to the colonies
often called in on both. His book, Madeira and the Canary Islands, a
Handbook for Tourists which was published in Liverpool in 1888, is a constant
comparison between the two and he portrays them, especially the island of Tenerife, with charm and candour.
Madeira and the Canary Islands, published in Liverpool in 1888
The
image of Mount Teide, of course, captured his imagination from the moment it
became visible from about ninety miles away and, as so many adventurers and
sailors long before him, he paid reverential attention to the great volcano.
With a wicked sense of humour that on occasions betrayed a very Victorian and superior attitude towards the rest of the
world he wrote of passengers on board the ship en route from Madeira to
Tenerife virtually keeping themselves awake in order to be the first to spot
the peak. Nevertheless Lee, whilst perhaps not so elaborate as some writers when he
described Mount Teide, was both lyrical and accurate when he
suggested,
You must not look at the horizon
itself, but in the sky above. Then, as you gaze, you will suddenly behold it,
not looking like land at all, but to all appearance a nebulous cone, faint
sepia in tint, floating above a deep bank of haze or cloud.
Mount Teide, as seen from afar, floating above the clouds
Most
visitors in the late 19th century
aimed to stay in the Orotava valley which indeed charmed him and where oleander,
euphorbia, poinsettia and hybiscus flaunt
their radiant colours before every passer-by and where orange trees were
borne down to the earth by the sheer weight of their golden fruit. But Lee
preferred the gentle rhythm of life in the capital, Santa Cruz, possibly
because he liked to study people and their ways of life,
especially those which so differed from his own.
Santa Cruz, a place of extraordinary beauty, according to Harold Lee
Camacho's English Hotel
Harold
Lee was a keen observer of local custom. He referred to the eating of gofio with almost every meal. It was the
staple diet of the original Guanche inhabitants,
based on ground and toasted grain, typically wheat and varieties of maize
and very similar to that used by Berber tribes of North Africa. He noted a
preference for salt fish too and sketched a peasant woman selling roasted chestnuts on
a street corner in the autumn.
A peasant woman roasting chestnuts
On
occasions he sounded somewhat cynical in his honesty, as he would do, for
instance when suggesting the visitor to the Canary Islands must not
expect to find energy a feature of their inhabitants. He did qualify this by
reporting that the peasantry, whom he described as exceedingly poor but content, did
labour very hard to make the land produce. Lee remarked at the amount of
children who smoked, and at the easy life the law keepers had, with hardly a
disturbance ever occurring. Indeed, he suggested that any misbehaviour
upsetting the tranquillity of this paradise was most likely to come from
foreigners. A resident Englishman once admitted that in three years the only
drunk he had seen was “precisely an Englishman”.
Nevertheless,
although he assured brutality
is here unheard of or very rare, Lee was told about the clerk of a wealthy merchant having been murdered for money in
Port Orotava. He was of course referring to a cause
célèbre, to the death in 1878
of Mr James Morris, a gentleman who looked after the accounts of a firm
belonging to Mr Peter Spence Reid, a well-known Scottish merchant.
Peter Spence Reid
Like one or two other comfortably off English travellers of his time, Harold
Lee did show signs of irritability on occasions. One has visions of him being
molested by marauding flies, especially after reading that his dislike for the
habit of begging was so profound as to suggest that the practice might actually
have been authorised, usually on Saturdays.
On
a gentler, more charming note perhaps, referring to courting couples he wrote
that they were not permitted to whisper in each other´s ear at a dance. In fact
wishful lovers were only permitted to court after the man had proven his
creditable conduct and when his economic value had been approved by the girl´s
family. Of course she would never be alone with her novio, always being escorted by
her mother, aunt or sister.
Will his music pave the way to her heart?
But
like so many visitors to the Canary Islands, Mr Lee felt quite blessed by this
Atlantic paradise. There is a hint from time to time that he might even have
wished he weren't so inhibited by his superiority. He admits, in a fleeting
reference to Canary Island women, their
flashing eyes and expressive features are quite in keeping with Spanish
loveliness.
(Certain images have been reproduced from internet with no personal financial gain intended.)
By John Reid Young
Author of The Skipping Verger and Other Tales, a collection of short stories
