126 C A X A R Y ISLANDS. 



ing the limits of their respective districts ; and when a quar- 

 rel was to be decided by combat, they divested themselves of 

 their cloaks, tied a kind of bandage about their waists and 

 proceeded to action. 



The natives of Hierro were of a middling stature, and of 

 a melancholy turn of mind. Their songs were on grave 

 subjects, and set to slow, plaintive tunes, to which they 

 danced in a ring, joining together their hands. They 

 lived in large circular inclosures, the walls of which were 

 built of dry stones without the aid of cement, each inclos- 

 ure having one narrow entry. On the inside they placed 

 poles or spars against the walls, in such a manner that one 

 end might rest on top of the wall, and the other end on 

 the ground, at a considerable distance from it ; these they 

 covered with the branches of trees and ferns. Each 

 inclosure contained about twenty families. Their beds 

 were made of ferns covered with goat-skins. 



Their principal food consisted of the flesh of goats, 

 sheep, and hogs ; they also had a species of potatoe, but 

 no grain. Their bread was made of fern-roots which they 

 ate with butter and milk. Before they oifered their infants 

 the breast, their mothers gave them fern-roots, roasted, 

 bruised, and mixed with butter. 



When any one became ill, they rubbed the patient's 

 body all over with sheep's marrow and butter, taking care 

 to cover him up warm to promote perspiration. When any 

 one happened to get cut or wounded, they burned the part 

 affected, and then anointed it with butter in the same 

 manner as the natives of Lanzarote. They deposited 

 their dead in caves, and if the deceased was wealthy, they 

 buried him in his clothes, and placed a board at his feet, 

 and the staff with which he used to travel at his side, and 

 then closed the mouth of the cavern with stones to prevent 

 the ravens from devouring him. 



The costume of the men consisted of a cloak made of 

 three sheep-skins sewed tocrether, the wool side of which 

 they wore next to their skin, in winter, and in sum.mer, 

 they reversed it. The costume of the women, besides a 

 cloak made of sheep-skins, consisted of a petticoat which 



