When
he arrived on the island of Tenerife in 1826, The Blind Traveller was forty four years old and already one of
Britain’s most widely travelled personalities. But he was no ordinary voyager for James Holman, the
fourth son of an English chemist from Exeter, was completely
blind. He also suffered from debilitating pain and limited mobility.
Nevertheless he was an adventurer in mind and spirit and like so many of his
contemporaries with that typical stiff
upper lip education, he forbade anything from weakening his resolve.
James Holman, The Blind Traveller, as a young man
James Holman had entered the Royal Navy in 1798 just a year after Horatio Nelson suffered his only defeat at the hands of the Spanish garrison in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and was appointed lieutenant in 1807. But in 1810, whilst off the Americas on HMS Guerriere, a ship captured from the French, he was struck down by a strange disease which at first affected his joints and quite soon afterwards his sight. He became totally blind at the age of 25.
The American USS Constitution sinking HMS Guerriere - Painting by Michel Fernice Corne
He had to
be a man of notable energy and perseverance and was curious about absolutely everything.
To begin with he travelled mostly alone, daring to go a bit further every time,
and depended to a large extent upon his own astuteness as well as the kindness
of ordinary folk. His journeys took him from France to Syria and Turkey and
from Italy and Switzerland through to Russia and Siberia, where he was actually arrested on suspicion of being a spy! He even travelled in Africa
and as far as Australia.
When his
ship anchored in the bay off Santa Cruz James Holman expected to be met by Mr
Gilbert Bruce, the British Consul General. However Mr Bruce was away in England
and so it was the new Consul, Mr Francis Coleman Macgregor, who went to the port to welcome him. In fact this worked out rather well. Not only had they met before but Mr. Macgregor who had recently been appointed Consul to the
Canary Islands, was just as eager to learn about Tenerife and its
inhabitants.
Ships at anchor in the bay off Santa Cruz
Although Holman journeyed mainly on his own, he would never turn down the companionship of a fellow traveller. What he could not
feel or sense, his companion would describe. The population in Santa Cruz was
only about 6,000 people in 1826 and he wrote about the streets being rather empty
and lifeless. In the heat of mid-day that would not have been unusual. The road
to La Laguna he found in a deplorable state, rocky, dusty and dirty.
It was in La
Orotava that he really encountered the colourful charm of the tinerfeño, feeling a vibrant commercial
buzz mingled with the people’s open and warm nature. Like so many visitors, James Holman was evidently touched by the islander's uninhibited generosity and how curious that even a blind man could appreciate the Canary Island women as being extremely beautiful, with black eyes that
made them even more attractive.
The dusty road from Santa Cruz to La Laguna
The colours The Blind Traveller could only imagine - Ella Du Cane's Santo Domingo Convent and Church - La Orotava
In recent
years one of the principal complaints made by older visitors and local people
alike has been that the island of Tenerife has been overcome by reckless construction
and an overpopulation of about one million inhabitants. So it is interesting to
know that even as long ago as the early 19th century a blind man sensed
there were too many people on the island and remarked upon the need for islanders
to emigrate. His observation was made when the population in Tenerife was
only 80,000. He also remarked at how remote the islanders were despite being so
close to the continent. One can´t imagine what James Holman, who came to
Tenerife when travel was certainly more adventurous but possibly gentler, would
feel if he visited the island today with its busy airports ferrying in five million
tourists every year!
Like Holman, traditional fishermen today refuse to be defeated
Holman noted
that most islanders in 1826 lived from agriculture and fishing and referred to a
land of palms, fig trees, vineyards, sugar cane, lemons and oranges. He must
have felt a considerable echo from the majestic examples of Canary Pine, the pinus canariensis, because he wrote most enthusiastically about it. He also found the wines
quite exquisite.
Some of his observations might seem a touch eccentric, but one has to understand that any minute detail can be of enormous significance to a blind person. Holman mentioned the fact that there were a lot of camels used
for transport and that everyone seemed to smoke, complaining nevertheless that it was difficult to find any cigars! He remarked upon ice-sellers, men who made a living offering ice which they brought down from
Mount Teide, sometimes offering it to travellers stirred in refreshing, squeezed lemon juice.
His reference
to traditional fiestas is particularly revealing. In his book Travels in Madeira, Sierra Leone, Teneriffe, St. Jago, Cape Coast,
Fernando Po, and Prince´s Island, he pays special tribute to the custom of
the Piñata, possibly because it
alluded to the instinct and perception of blinded people. Today it is a favourite
at birthday parties when blindfolded children take turns to beat a decorated bag, the piñata, which
hangs full of surprises and gifts from a tree.
What James Holman described were
blindfolded young men doing much the same to a bag containing gifts. The men
would then race to gather the contents which spilled out of the broken bag and offer the gift they were able to retrieve to their chosen lady or novia.
How he must have wished to have beaten a piñata
and received the gift in the form of a miracle. An interesting subject for the
student of psychology…….a blind man observing blindfolded men at play.
Children taking turns to beat the piñata - a custom believed to have been introduced from China in the times of Marco Polo
(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.
