Ancient Inhabitants of the Canary Islands. 383 



been preserved, indicates that this people Avere closely con- 

 nected with the Berbers ; and several points of resemblance, 

 both in disposition and customs, have been pointed out in con- 

 firmation of this received connection. In addition to the points 

 of correspondence, it would be desirable to discover and indi- 

 cate those of difference. So far as I am aware, the Berbers 

 were not in the habit of embalming their dead. We may, 

 therefore, not imreasonably suspect that the Berbers who 

 passed over to the Canary Islands did not take this practice 

 with them, but rather adopted it from another people who 

 preceded them, and whose process of embalming, whilst strik- 

 ingly resembling that of the ancient Egyptians, was yet ac- 

 companied with the same particulars, indicative of a no less 

 remarkable difference, which makes the Guanchee mummies 

 hold a character intermediate between those of Egypt and 

 those of Peru. It is rather remarkable that there had appa- 

 rently been a falling off in the art of making mummies, and 

 that a practice of inferior character was in use at the time 

 when the island became known to the Spaniards. The state 

 of civilization seems likewise to have been of rather an ano- 

 malous character. Temples, houses, progress in some of the 

 arts, and the state of society divided into classes, seem to be 

 the token of advanced civilization with which the semibarbar- 

 ous character observable in other particulars, is strangely con- 

 trasted. I may mention, more especially, the practice of going 

 in a state almost approaching to nudity, which appears to have 

 been very common. The girdle, forming a deep fringe of nu- 

 merous threads, constituted a garment altogether characteristic 

 of savage life. I regret that I do not at present see any clew 

 to the satisfactory solution of the question ; but whilst the 

 philologist may possibly detect in the vocabulary of the Gu- 

 anchees words so distinct from those of the Berbers as to indi- 

 cate that mixture of different races had at one time taken place, 

 the careful examination of the few relics which have been pre- 

 served, and more especially of the mummies which are to be 

 found in many collections, may admit a ray of light where 

 none at present is to be seen. A careful investigation of the 

 original sources of information would, in this, as well as in 

 many other ethnological inquiries, be very important. 



