The legendary Garoe or 'Fountain Tree' was sacred to the Bimbaches, the early
inhabitants of El Hierro in the Canary Islands. The tree intercepted the rolling fog and
the water dripping from its leaves was collected and channeled off to provide drinking
water for the inhabitants.
The effect is most pronounced in Tenerife where the pine forests on Mount Teide
contribute at least three times more water by fog capture than is provided by rainfall.
"On Tuesday, July 22nd (1494), he departed for Jamaica.... The sky, air, and climate
were just the same as in other places; every afternoon there was a rain squall that
lasted for about an hour. The admiral writes that he attributes this to the great
forests of that land; he knew from experience that formerly this also occurred in the
Canary, Madeira, and Azore Islands, but since the removal of forests that once
covered those islands they do not have so much mist and rain as before."
The Life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus by his Son Ferdinand
Translated by Benjamin Keen (1978).
