CANARY ISLANDS. 133 



they needed. It was unlawful for any of them to slaughter 

 animals, except the butchers, and when any person wanted 

 a beast killed, he was obliged to lead it to the public sham- 

 bles for that purpose. 



When the Europeans first came to Canary, it was sup- 

 posed that the island contained 14,000 fighting-men. 

 They were governed by captains, or patriarchs, who pre- 

 sided over small circles, like parishes. Each tribe was 

 confined to its own district, and was not allowed to graze 

 its flocks on the grounds of another tribe. The natives 

 were more polished and civilized than those of the other 

 islands. Their division of time was reckoned by moons. 

 They tilled their ground with a wooden instrument, 

 not unlike a hoe, with a tooth or spur at the end of it, 

 on which they placed a goat's horn. After sowing their 

 barley, if the rain neglected to fall, they watered their 

 fields by means of canals or rills. They threshed their 

 grain with sticks, or beat it out with their feet, and win- 

 nowed it with their hands. 



When the Europeans first landed on Palma, the island 

 produced no sort of corn nor edible roots, except the seeds 

 of a kind of shrub, and fern roots. Both of these substan- 

 ces were reduced to powder and eaten with milk or broth. 

 The rest of their food consisted of the flesh of goats, sheep, 

 and hogs, which they either boiled or roasted. The skins 

 of the first two animals served for clothing, and that of the 

 latter for shoes. The weapon they used in war was a staflf 

 or pole, sharpened at the point, and hardened by the fire. 



The island was divided into twelve districts, each of 

 which was governed by its own lord or captain. Their 

 police was not so good as that of the other islands. He 

 who could steal with such address as not to be discovered, 

 was considered as the cleverest fellow, and if any one hap- 

 pened to be detected in this practice, no other punishment 

 was inflicted on him than of being obliged to restore the 

 article stolen. If a man received an insult from any one 

 of his own district' he thought it mean to complain of the 

 injury to his captain, and avenged his own cause, by col- 

 12 



