382 Dr Hodgkin on the 



Inches. 



Femora of different Guanches, . 1 -..f) Sent to Dr H 



Part of a small Cranium, . . j ,g|J from Teneriffe. 



A small Cranium, Dr Mora's collection. 



Radius and hand, larger size, do. 



Entire body, dried, weighing only 7^ib. — Bluraenbach. 



Measurement of Ossa Femoris, not Guanche: 



The result of this investigation has rather tended to confirm 

 my previous impression that, in former times, a small race of 

 men existed in the Canary Islands ; and as there is, at the 

 same time, no reason to doubt the general accuracy of those 

 authors who wrote from personal observation, and whose state- 

 ments bear out the description adopted by Dr Prichard and 

 Sabin Berthelot, it becomes a matter of curious ethnological 

 speculation and inquiry, how these conflicting evidences are 

 to be reconciled. That which suggests itself as the most plau- 

 sible is, that the Canary Islands have, at difi'erent epochs, been 

 occupied by tribes or nations of men presenting different phy- 

 sical characters. So far from there being any thing extraordi- 

 nary in such succession, it is known to have taken place in 

 several other parts of the globe. The numerous sepulchral 

 mounds and tumuli, and other remains, extensively, if not 

 numerously, spread over the northern portion of the Old Con- 

 tinent, attest the former existence of a race differing in their 

 physical as well as their social character and degree of civili- 

 zation from the population now possessing the same territory, 

 and even from those whom history, in some instances, teaches 

 us to have more recently preceded the existing stock. The 

 parallel case which I have just suggested Avith respect to the 

 Canary Islands, is only offered as a conjecture tending to the 

 removal of an apparent difficulty ; and I am aware that it must 

 be by no means easy to apply any test by which to confirm or 

 weaken its probability. 



The vocabulary of the language spoken by the inhabitants 

 of the Canaries at the time of the conquest, so far as it has 



