CANARY ISLANDS. 139 



also had a custom, that in a house or cave where the hus- 

 band and wife slept, no other person was allowed to lodge, 

 and the man and wife were obliged to sleep on separate 

 beds. 



When any person died, they preserved the body, by first 

 carrying it to a cave, and placing it on a flat stone, where 

 they opened it and took out the intestines ; then, twice a 

 day, they washed the porous parts of the body, such as the 

 groins, the arm-pits, the parts between the fingers, and be- 

 hind the ears and neck, with cold water ; and then they 

 anointed those parts with sheep's butter, and sprinkled 

 them with a powder made of the dust of decayed pine 

 trees and pumice-stones, and let the body remain till it 

 was perfectly dry, when the relations of the deceased came 

 and swathed it tight with thongs of sheep or goat skins ; 

 then they deposited it in a cave which had been set apart 

 by the deceased for his place of inhumation. The king 

 could only be interred in the cave of his ancestors, in 

 which the bodies were so prepared as to be known again. 

 There were particular persons set apart for the office of 

 embalming, each sex performing that of his or her own. 

 During the process of embalming, the bodies were strictly 

 watched, to prevent the ravens from devouring them.* 



The Guanches have now become nearly or quite ex- 

 tinct, and probably there is not an individual of pure blood 

 in existence, although there are a few families in the south 

 part of Tenerifie, who boast of being possessed with pure, 

 unmixed blood. In the fifteenth century, the Spaniards 

 and Portuguese made voyages to this and other islands, to 

 procure slaves, in the manner as has latterly been done 

 by Europeans on the coast of Africa. At that time, it is 

 said that one Guanche became the property of another, 

 and was sold to the dealers ; while many of them, rather 

 than be carried away, killed their children and themselves. 

 They had been greatly depopulated in this manner, and 

 w^hen Alonzo de Lugo completed their subjugation, most 

 of the residue of that unfortunate race perished by a terri- 



* The above method of embalming, given by Gallineo, does not exactly corres- 

 pond with that given in page 65 ; however, it is not probable that all the manners 

 and customs of tlie Guanches were uniform ; hence both may be correct. 



