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among the Guanches, the ancient inhahitants of the island ot 

 Teneriffe. Those who survived the general destruction of this 

 people by the Spaniards, when they conquered this island, in- 

 formed them, that the art of embalming was still preserved 

 there ; and that there was a tribe of priests among them pos- 

 sessed of the secret, which they kept concealed as a sacred mys- 

 tery. As the greatest part of the nation was destroyed, the 

 Spaniards could not arrive at a complete knowledge of this art ; 

 they only found out a few of the particulars. Having taken out the 

 bowels, they washed the body several times in a lee made of the 

 dried bark of the pine-tree, warmed, during the summer, by the 

 sun, or by a stove in the winter. They afterwards anointed it 

 with butter, or the fat of bears, which they had previously boiled 

 with odoriferous herbs, such as sage and lavender. After this 

 unction they suffered the body to dry ; and then repeated the 

 operation as often as it was necessary, until the whole substance 

 was impregnated with the preparation. When it was become 

 very light, it was then a certain sign that it was fit and properly 

 prepared. They then rolled it up in the dried skins of goats ; which 

 when they had a mind to save expense, they suffered to remain 

 with the hair still growing upon them. Purchas assures us, 

 that he has seen mummies of this kind in London ; and men- 

 tions the name of a gentleman who had seen several of them in 

 the island of TenerifTe, which were supposed to have been two 

 thousand years old ; but without any certain proofs of such 

 great antiquity. This people, who probably came first from the 

 coasts of Africa, might have learned this art from the Egyptians, 

 as there was a traffic carried on from thence into the most inter- 

 nal parts of Africa. 



Father Acosta and Garcilasso de la Vega make no doubt but 

 that the Peruvians understood the art of preserving their dead 

 for a very long space of time. They assert their having seen the 

 bodies of several incas, that were perfectly preserved. They still 

 preserved their hair and their eye-brows ; but they had eyes made of 

 gold, put in the places of those taken out. They were clothed in their 

 usual habits, and seated in the manner of the Indians, their arms 

 placed on their breasts. Garcilasso touched one of their fingers, 

 and found it apparently as hard as wood ; and the whole body was 

 not heavy enough to overburden a weak man, who should attempt 

 to carry it away. Acosta presumes that these bodies were embalmed 



