124 CANARY ISLANDS. 



which were as fine as common tliread. Instead of knives 

 and scissors, they used sharp stones of obsidian. Their 

 shoes were made of goat-skins with the hairy side out- 

 ward. They wore bonnets made of goat-skins also, hav- 

 ing three large feathers placed in front ; the women wore 

 the same, with a fillet of leather dyed red with the bark 

 of some shrubs. The men had long hair, and wore their 

 beards plaited. The king of the island wore a diadem or 

 crown resembling a bishop's mitre, made of goat-skin, and 

 ornamented with sea-shells. 



When they sowed their ground with barley, their only 

 grain, they dug or ploughed it with goats' horns. They 

 threshed their grain with sticks and winnowed it with their 

 hands, and reduced it to flour by means of two small porta- 

 ble mill-stones. 



Their houses were built of stones, without the aid of 

 mortar, and were very strong. The threshold was so 

 narrow that but one person could enter at a time. They 

 also had houses of worship and devotion, called efeguen^ 

 which were built of loose stones, of a circular form, com- 

 posed of two walls, one within the other, with a space 

 between, and like their dwelling houses, were entered by 

 a narrow threshold. In these temples, they offered to their 

 one and only God, milk and butter. They sacrificed to 

 him on the mountains, pouring out, from earthen vessels, 

 offerings of goats' milk, and adoring him at the same time, 

 by lifting their hands towards the heavens. 



Duels' and combats were frequent among them, which 

 they fought with large clubs called tezzezes. If a man en- 

 tered the door of his enemy's house, at his knowledge, and 

 killed him, or did him any injury whatever, he was not pun- 

 ished for it ; but if he came upon him unawares and killed 

 him, he was put to death, by placing his head upon a flat 

 stone, and with another, dashing out his brains. 



The manners, and customs, and mode of life of tlie 

 natives of Fuerteventura were similar to those of Lanzarote. 

 They were of a larger stature, however, and were pos- 

 sessed with solid courage, and a warlike spirit. They 

 were clothed with jackets made of sheep-skins with the 



