244 SIE J. W. DAWSON, C.M.G.; F.K.S., ETC., ON SPECIMENS 



compare the Canarian words preserved to us with the Berber 

 language. There is said to have been a system of hierogly- 

 phics, but I have seen no examples of these, and the marks 

 upon the so-called clay seals are apparently merely orna- 

 mental. 



The absence of canoes has led to the theorj^ already 

 referred to, that the islands are the remains of a submerged 

 continent ; but their volcanic character and the depth of the 

 ocean round them are adverse to this conclusion on physical 

 grounds, while the distinctness of the fauna from that of 

 Africa would seem to indicate long isolation.* At the same 

 time, if the inhabitants were colonists from the mainland, it 

 is very extraordinary that they should lose all knowledge of 

 navigation in islands holding out so many inducements to 

 seafaring habits. If the objects regarded as fishing hooks 

 are really of that character it would be interesting to know 

 in what way they could practise sea-fishing without the aid 

 of some kind of boat or raft. They are known, however, to 

 have fished with drag-nets from the shore. 



By the Portuguese and ^Spanish, the islanders were not 

 only plundered but hunted and sold as slaves. This led to 

 wars of extermination, in which the unhappy natives perished, 

 except in so far as traces of their blood may remain in the 

 present inhabitants. Thus this interesting people became 

 extinct, and the valuable information which might have been 

 derived from a scientific study of their languages, physical 

 characters and habits, was lost to the world. This is the 

 more to be regretted, as we shall see in the sequel that the 

 aborigines of the Canaries may have been a survival of the 

 so-called Neolithic peoples of Europe, and may have served 

 to connect these with certain of the populations of Eastern 

 America. Fortunately some attention has recently been 

 given to the scanty remains still extant, and the accumula- 

 tion of a museum of Guanche objects in the Canary Islands 

 themselves, is an important step in advance, which it is 

 hoped may be very successful, and may be accompanied by 

 such publications of the objects obtained as may bring them 

 more prominently under the notice of archseologists. 



3rd. Cranial Characters. 



Of the eleven skulls which we owe to Dr. Lambert, one was 

 presented to Sir Daniel AVilson for his collection in the Tor- 



* Wallace, Geographical Distribution of Animals, chap. x. 



