134 CANARY ISLANDS. 



lecting his friends, and retaliating the affront, by taking up 

 their residence in some other district. 



The natives of Pahna held the sun and moon in great 

 veneration, keeping an exact account of time, in order to 

 know when it would be new or full moon, which were 

 times of particular devotions. Their manner of worship 

 was by assembling together on certain occasions, sing- 

 ing and dancing round a high pyramid of loose stones, 

 and sometimes accompanied with wrestling, and perform- 

 ing other feats of agility. In one of the districts, instead 

 of a pyramid of loose stones, there was one formed by 

 nature, being a large basaltic rock upwards of a hundred 

 fathoms in height, where the natives worshipped their god 

 Idafe, whose name the rock still retains. They were in 

 continual apprehension of its falling down, and therefore, 

 when they killed a sheep or goat, they roasted a piece of 

 it, which was presented to the rock by two persons, who, 

 on going thither, sung these words : — Yiguida, y igiian, 

 Idafe, which signifies in their language, " It will fall, 

 Idafe." Upon this, the other answered in the same tone, 

 Guegerte, y guantaro, which signifies " Give to it, and 

 it will not fall." On reaching the rock, they threw 

 down the oifering, and both ran away, and the meat was 

 quickly devoured by the ravens which hovered round the 

 rock. Besides Idafe, they acknowledged one God in the 

 heavens, greater than all, called Abora, whom they adored. 

 They also believed in an evil being, called Irvene, which 

 it is said, sometimes appeared to them in the shape of a 

 shock-dog. They were extremely alarmed in time of sick- 

 ness, and when any one was taken ill, he sent for his 

 friends, and said to them, vacoguare, that is, *' I want to 

 die." Upon this he was carried into a cave and laid upon 

 a bed of goat-skins, with a vessel of milk by his side, and 

 the mouth of the cave was closed, leaving him to expire by 

 himself The natives deposited their dead in caves, and 

 always placed them on goat-skins, considering it improper 

 for a dead body to touch the ground. 



The Guanchcs, or natives of Teneriffe, were generally 

 famed for their tall stature, and sometimes attained an 



