TEANSACTIOXS OF SECTION H. 851 



prayers for raiu offered up to St. Elias. In a MS. from Lesbos this idea of union 

 "between St. Elias and a power over the elements is clearly shown. Taygetus in 

 Laconia shows too the same connection. 



There is a connection between Sun worship and St. George ; the Kapa fires are lit on 

 his day, and the connection is noticeable not only in the islands, but in Macedonia, 

 where a curious swing ceremony is performed on St. Georges Day, in honour of the 

 Sun's bride having been swung up to heaven on that day. Also, there is a close 

 connection between St. George and St. John, the universal day for lighting fires on 

 the eve of the summer solstice. 



4. The Ancient Inhabitants of the Canary Islands. 

 Bij J. Harris Stone, M.A., F.L.8., F.G.8. 



The author stated that the name Guanche, though generally used for the old 

 inhabitants of all the seven islands of the Canary group, should properly be only 

 applied to the ancient inhabitants of Teneriffe. The ancient inhabitants of these 

 islands were ignorant of the use of metals, and up to 1402, when the conquest first 

 began, had to all practical intents remained apart from the civilisation of that day. 

 They were a branch of the great Berber race, and probably also a tribe of that 

 white dolicho-cephalic race of cromlech builders which at a very early period 

 swept through Europe. Their connection with the ancient Egyptians was noticeable 

 in many traits and customs. The ornamentations in caves and on pottery which 

 the author had come across in his travels in each island of the archipelago were 

 Egyptian in character. The method of embalming the dead, particularly the practice 

 of removing the entrails by a slit made with the tahona, and the wrappings of the 

 corpse, was very similar to that employed by the lower class of Egyptian embalmers. 

 Though the ancient inhabitants of all the islands had so much in common, there 

 were so many specific differences in their languages, manners and customs, that the 

 conclusion was almost forced upon the investigator that they must originally have 

 been peopled by more than one tribe of the same race. 



The author had examined a large number of skulls in collections in the islands, 

 and found them very European in contour and general appearance. In a large pro- 

 portion of those in the collections in the islands he had noticed a pecuhar indentation 

 in the frontal bone, usually the left, and to his surprise found that of the twenty-six 

 skulls at the Royal College of Surgeons, no less than fifteen possessed this mark, and 

 of these ten on the left frontal bone. 



The ancient inhabitants are now quite extinct as a separate race, but the author 

 in his travels had noticed several traits, manners, and customs of the present in- 

 habitants which were clearly, in his opinion, derived from the old race. The food 

 gojio and its method of making and eating ; the number of cave dwellings and 

 villages ; the still prevalent inter-insular jealousy ; the size and great physique of 

 the men of the Purpurarise ; the confiding, generous, hospitable character of the 

 Conejeros ; the use of the vaulting pole ; the general absence of bigotry and 

 religious intolerance ; the preference to this day of the Gomeros to carry baggage 

 on the head ; the abomination of butchers ; the torchlight fishing ; the method of 

 laying-out the dead ; the wit of the Palmeros ; the cleverness with which buildings 

 are constructed with stones without mortar ; the honesty of the Canaries ; the un- 

 usual beauty of the peasant women, were points alluded to by the author in 

 illustration of his assertion. 



The position of women was considered at some length, the author bringing for- 

 ward many facts to show that they held a far higher position in the social scale 

 than was usual among ancient nations. 



5. Some Account of the Ancient (prce-Bf^man) Stronghold of Worlehurij, near 

 Weston-super-Mare. By the Eev. Henrt George Tomkins. 



Worlebury belongs to a small and highly interestiitg class of so-called ' British ' 

 camps, and in some respects is believed to be unique in England. It has been 



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