1 12 CANARY ISLANDS. 



place every morning, and travelling two or three leagues 

 into the interior, at day-break, with a basket of fresh or 

 salted fish, and other articles of demand in the country, 

 which they barter for vegetables or fruit. They return to 

 town with a heavy load which they dispose of from door to 

 door, in small quantities, or sell them to market-women for 

 the next day's consumption. These women lead a very 

 hard life for small gains. It is common to meet parties of 

 them, barefooted, on their return in the evening, pouring 

 forth in measured accents their spontaneous song, which 

 gives utterance to their '* hopes and fears," their "joys 

 and sorrows." 



In the island of Gomera, one of the principal employ- 

 ments of the men is that of gathering orchilla, a kind of 

 lichen, which generally grows on the face or in the clefts 

 of the steepest rocks. The mode of collecting it is as fol- 

 lows : — The gatherer fastens one end of a rope twenty or 

 thirty fathoms in length to a trunk of a tree or to a large 

 stone on the summit of the precipice, and, after trying its 

 strength, he lets himself over the brink, and slides down 

 the rope to its lower extremity, where a stick or piece of 

 board is fastened cross-wise. On this, he seats himself, 

 holding on the rope with his left hand, while with a scra- 

 per in his right hand, he collects the weed and lodges it in 

 a bag, suspended to his neck. As soon as the bag is filled, 

 he ascends the rope, " hand over hand," and after dislodg- 

 ing its contents, he either descends again, or shifts his 

 place, according to the scarcity or abundance of the arti- 

 cle of his pursuit. The dangers of this occupation are 

 obvious, and accidents often occur from the vibrating of 

 the rope, or from the giving way of its support; yet habit 

 has rendered it so little to be dreaded, that the gatherer 

 pursues it with the most daring intrepidity. He often fixes 

 his feet against the rock, and darts off to a considera- 

 ble distance from it, in order to ascertain where the orchilla 

 grows in the greatest abundance. Often they may be 

 heard singing, suspended in the air, at an elevation where 

 the eye cannot easily distinguish them. 



Notwithstanding these dangers, if a man once com- 

 mences this business, he seldom, if ever, attempts any other 



