CANARY ISLES. 



marrow and buttn, :.nl then covered him well up, to 

 kri-p him warm, and promote perRpii;ition ; but, when 

 troubled with acute pains, they drew blood, by sca- 

 rifying the ifiected p.ut with sharp stones. When 

 they iTfiivfd any cut or wound, they burned it with 

 fire, and then anointed it with Boat's butter. They 

 also employed herbs ; and, in Teneriffe, they had a 

 kind of medicine prepared from mocants, which they 

 used in fluxes and pleurisies, the most common dis- 

 eases of the island. When any of the noble* died, 

 they embalmed the body, and shut it up in the cave 

 Bet apart for the family burying-place. Some of 

 them were put into chests, and afterwards deposited 

 in stone sepulchres. The office of embalming' be- 

 longed only to particular persons ; and each sex per- 

 formed it for their own dead. In Teneriffe, the king 

 could only be buried in the cave of his ancestors ; 

 and the corpses were so arranged as to be known 

 again. About the middle of last century, two 

 of these embalmed bodies, which were taken out of 

 a cave, were found perfectly entire, and as light as 

 cork. The hair, teeth, and garments, were quite 

 sound and fresh, and without any disagreeable smell. 

 Some of these islands were remarkable for their 

 good government and strict administration of justice. 

 In Grand Canary, the punishment immediately follow- 

 ed conviction. If the delinquent was charged with a 

 capital crime, his head was placed upon a flat stone, 

 when the executioner, with another, dashed out his 

 brains. In all other cases, they used the lex talionis. 

 In Ferro, no crimes were punished but murder and 

 theft. The murderer was put to death in the same 

 way as he had killed the deceased ; and the thief, for 

 the first offence, lost one eye, and for the second the 

 other, that he might not sre to steal any more. In 

 Lancerota and Forte Ventura, they had a law, that, 

 in cases of quarrel, if a man entered openly by the 

 door into his enemy's house, and killed him, or did 

 him harm, he was not liable to be punished ; but if 

 he climbed over the wall, or came upon him una- 

 wares, he was condemned to suffer death ; and the 

 method of execution was the same as in Grand Canary. 

 In Palma, as in Sparta, theft was considered as a vir- 

 tue ; for he was esteemed the cleverest fellow who 

 could steal with such address as not to be discover- 

 ed ; and, if detected in the act, he was merely ob- 

 liged to restore the plunder. The common punish- 

 ment in Teneriffe was cudgelling, which was gene- 

 rally executed in the presence of the king and elders. 

 In cases of murder, the criminal was punished with 

 banishment and the confiscation of property, which 

 was bestowed upon the relations of the deceased ; 

 but death was never inflicted for any crime, as they 

 had a belief that it belonged to God alone to take 

 away that life which he gave. 



Some authors, following the account of the Nd- 

 bian geographer, have represented the inhabitants of 

 the Canaries as gross idolaters. This geographer 

 relates, ' that in each of the Fortunate islands is to 

 be seen a pillar raised of stone, of an hundred cubits 

 length, each pillar supporting a brazen image, with 

 its hand lifted up and pointing backwards." Pyra- 

 mids of this description, though without the image, 



were found in the inland of I'alma ; and iu one dis- 

 trict, there is a long narrow rock upwards of a hun- 

 dred ("'thorns high, where the natives used to wor- 

 ship their god Jdafc, whose name the rock itself 

 Btill retains. It would appear, however, that the re- 

 ligion of many of these islands was pure theism. 

 They adored only one god, whom they denominated 

 by various titles, as the Great,* the Sublime, -j- the 

 Possessor of the World, Jl the Su&tainer of Heaven 

 and Earth ;$ and the only worship which they offer- 

 ed, was the lifting up of their hand towards heaven in 

 silent adoration. In Grand Canary and Lancerota they 

 had houses of worship, but no images, or any repre- 

 sentation of the Deity ; and their sacrifices consisted 

 in the pouring out offerings of goats' milk. Th' 

 Canarians had also several convents, inhabited by re- 

 ligious women called Magadas, which were held sa- 

 cred ; and all criminals who fled thither, were pro- 

 tected from the officers of justice. In Ferro, how- 

 ever, they had two deities ; one of them male, named 

 Eraoranzan, who was worshipped by the men ; the 

 other female, called Moneyba, worshipped by the 

 women. In seasons of great distress, occasioned by 

 a long drought, or any other public calamity, it was 

 an universal custom in these islands, for the natives 

 to assemble in certain places, set apart for the pur- 

 pose, with their children and flocks, and, sitting I'D 

 a circle on the ground, began to lament and make a 

 mournful noise, their flocks bleeting also for want of 

 food ; for both men and beasts, on these occasions, 

 were debarred all kind of sustenance. These fasts 

 sometimes lasted three days and three nights. The 

 wealth of these islanders consisted chiefly in their 

 flocks and herds. Agriculture was little known 

 among them ; and practised only in its rudest form. 

 They broke the ground with a wooden hoe, which 

 had sometimes a goat's horn fixed to the end of it, 

 and then threw in the seed. Barley was their prin- 

 cipal grain ; but they had also wheat, beans, and peas 

 or vetches. In harvest, they reaped only the ears, 

 which they threshed with sticks, or beat out witk 

 their feet, and then winnowed the corn with their 

 hands. Their only fruits were vicacorras, mocanes, 

 and wild dates. 



Various opinions have been entertained concerning 

 the first inhabitants of the Canary islands ; but the 

 most probable account is, that they were originally 

 Lybians, who, upon the conquest of Barbary by the 

 Arabs, fled thither, to avoid falling into the hands of 

 their victorious enemies. The truth of this Mr Glas 

 has attempted to prove, by a comparison between the 

 language of South Barbary and that of the natives 

 of the Canaries. The languages of all the islands, 

 except Teneriffe, though different, had some affinity 

 to each other, and were evidently branches of one 

 original language ; and their resemblance to the Shill- 

 ha, and other dialects of the Lybian tongue, is a 

 strong presumption, that they derived their origin 

 from the same stock. The probability is also con- 

 siderably strengthened by the similitude of customs. 

 The principal dish of the Lybians, called couscous- 

 sou, was much the same with the goffio of the Ca- 

 narians. They both poured hot butter into their 



* Achuhuiaban. 

 VOL. V. PART I. 



Aahuhucana. 



Guararirari. 



Achoran. 



