IN THE PETER EEDPATH MUSEUM OF MCGILL UNIVERSITY^ ETC. 241 



tliat at a very remote period were isolated from each other 

 by being forced to take shelter on the summits of momitains 

 by a submergence, probably more or less rapid." This pos- 

 sibility will be discussed in the sequel. 



A larger donation was made in 1892, by Dr. E. I. Lam- 

 bert, who being about to visit the Canaries, kindly offered to 

 procure additional specimens illustrating the primitive 

 inhabitants. In a letter accompanying the specimens Dr. 

 Lambert says : — 



" I have been able to procure a Guanche mummy and ten 

 Guanche skulls, in the selection of which I was assisted by 

 Dr. Wilson, late demonstrator in University College, London. 

 I also visited Las Palmas, and was received Avith much 

 courtesy by Don Gregorio Chil, the founder of the Museum 

 nnd author of the most important work on the history of the 

 Guanches, From him I received the skull specially marked 

 as from the Island of Gran Canaria, I procured together 

 with the mummy some beads used by the Guanches and 

 specimens of the awls with Avhich they sewed, as well as a 

 supposed fish-hook. I was unable to procure an example of 

 the mill in which they ground their corn, or any pottery, 

 these objects being scarce." 



The collection is accompanied by a certificate from the 

 German Consul at Santa Cruz that the objects were obtained 

 from an old Guanche cave in the Barranco Santos. 



The mummy referred to in Dr. Lambert's letter is in fairly 

 good preservation, and swathed in the prepared goat-skins 

 in which it was originally wrapped. The skins are sewed 

 together apparently with tendon, and are wrapped around 

 with bands of skin neatly knotted. The process of preser- 

 vation applied to the body has been very imperfect. The 

 brain has not been removed. The viscera appear to have 

 been taken out and the body dried, seemingly without any 

 preservative substance. Little, therefore, remains of the 

 soft parts except ligament and skin. The body is apparently 

 that of a man of moderate stature, and in its present shrunken 

 condition, only five feet in length, so that it does not bear 

 out the statement of some writers that the Guanches were 

 of great stature. It lies on its back on a plank of dark- 

 coloured wood, somewhat split and broken, but which has 

 been slightly hollowed and has two projecting handles at 

 the head and one at the feet, so as to permit it to be used 

 as a bier. This plank seems to have been shaped by stone 

 implements. The mummy is not fiistened to it. 



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