Journey to the Fortunate Islands

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Literature · Subcategory: Literary fragments · Year: 1879 · Authors: Jules Leclercq

Journey to the Fortunate Islands: letters from the Canaries in 1879 by the jurist, geographer, traveller and writer Jules Leclercq (Brussels, 1848-1928) was printed in Paris in 1880. Leclercq was a professional and tireless traveller who toured the world purely for the pleasure of travelling, landing in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on 17 July 1879. Suddenly, he felt attracted by the presence of a population completely different from what he was used to, capturing and portraying with a surprising spirit of observation characters, customs, streets, houses, popular festivals, activities and trades, clothing, food and all kinds of ethnographic singularities that caught his attention.

Upon landing in Santa Cruz that summer of 1879, in the midst of oppressive heat, he toured the city, being received with extreme hospitality and courtesy. The Plaza del Príncipe, with its lush vegetation, enchanted him, dedicating the following words to it:

«In Santa Cruz, as in all warm countries, the most pleasant hour of the day is the evening stroll. These are moments of relief from the heat, from the lethargy of body and soul. At last one breathes and, around ten o'clock at night, the temperature is delightful.

Behind the Church of San Francisco, there is a promenade unlike any other. There is no alameda in Spain comparable to it. Neither the Prado in Madrid, nor the Cristina in Seville, nor Le Cascine in Florence admit comparison. This promenade, a true garden of Arminda, is called Plaza del Príncipe. It is shaded by magnificent Indian laurels which, in a few years, have reached the height of our oaks. This is the pearl of Santa Cruz.

But even more charming than the promenade are the ladies who come to show off here every afternoon; a custom, if not a passion, found in every corner of Spain. What poise, what swaying waists, what splendid Creole hair! Under this blessed sky, they stroll with low necklines, bare arms as if in ball dress. In their coquettish way of wearing the mantilla over the tortoiseshell comb and, above all, in the complicated art of handling the fan, there is a whole arsenal of seductions capable of melting the snows of Pico de Tenerife. Oh, how right they are to keep the mantilla! This is the headdress that suits ladies best and, quite rightly, Gautier could say that a woman must be very ugly, even frightening, not to look pretty with a mantilla. Could this be the reason why I have only seen pretty women in Plaza del Príncipe? Or is it that the ugly ones are hidden? [...]».

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