256 SIE J. W. DAWSON^ C.M.G., F.E.S., ETC., ON SPECIMENS 



portion at least of tlie American aborigines reached America 

 from the eastern side of the Atlantic, 



Nor should we omit to notice tliat volcanic islands 

 like the Canaries, rising from great depths in the ocean, 

 may not be of long duration in geological time, and that 

 in the early human period there may have been chains 

 of such islands connecting the Mediterranean volcanic belt 

 with that of the West Indies, and which have since disap- 

 peared by erosion or by subsidence. The existence even in 

 comparatively modern times of such insular connection 

 Avould be in no respect contradictory to the known facts as 

 to the ancient insularity of the Canaries already stated. 

 Even the supposition that the Canaries may in the early 

 modern period have belonged to a much larger insular 

 region is not excluded by the facts of physical geography 

 already referred to, since there may have been subsidence 

 correlative to the great elevation of the mountains of these 

 islands ; a consideration which has not been suflEiciently 

 attended to by inquirers as to the fauna and flora of the 

 Atlantic Islands.* 



The conclusions of this imperfect study of an extinct 

 people may be summed up in the following statement : — 



1. The Guanches present the characters of a primitive and 

 little mixed race ; and their rudimentary civilization corres- 

 ponds with this, and assimilates them to such peoples as 

 those of the early Swiss Lake habitations, and the early 

 Iberian races of Western Europe and the earliest colonists of 

 Egypt and other parts of North Africa. 



2. They are not closely allied either in physical characters 

 or in arts and habits ojf life to the Palanthropic or ante- 

 diluvian peoples of the river gravels and caves of Europe ; 

 and their nearest analogues among them are the somewhat 

 exceptional types of Truchere and Laugerie-basse. On the 

 other hand they have closer physical affinities with the 

 earlier or postdiluvian peoples of Europe and Northern 

 Africa and with the Basque and Berber populations of more 

 recent times. 



3. There are sufficient resemblances between them and 

 native American races of the eastern part of that continent, 

 to render it not improbable that there was early intercourse 

 between the two sides of the Atlantic, in which the Guanches 

 or peoples allied to them may have borne a part. 



* The Peak of Teneriflfe is 12,000 feet in height. 



