168 Mr Shrubsall, Crania from Teneriffe. [May 11, 



(3) A Semitic race, with a skull of the third type, probably 

 dark and of medium height. 



(4) A brachycephalic race (type IV) probably short and dark. 



The records in European history anterior to the XVth century 

 relating to the Canary islands are very scanty, but from them we 

 learn that the only races known to have been aware of the exist- 

 ence of that archipelago and thus to have come in contact with 

 and possibly had some influence on its population are the Greeks 

 and Phoenicians possibly, the Carthaginians certainly ; the Mauri- 

 tanians who invaded the islands but were repulsed except at 

 Lanzarote and Furteventura ; the Irish, whose missionaries under 

 St Brondan appear to have reached the ' Fortunate Islands,' and 

 finally the modern Europeans of whom one nationality, the Span- 

 iards, conquered the Archipelago. At the time of the conquest 

 the islands were certainly inhabited by mutually hostile tribes 

 differing however only slightly in physical features and speaking 

 similar languages, although on these last points there is a conflict 

 of evidence between the various chroniclers of the invasion, and 

 as the earliest accounts of these people agree in most respects 

 with those of the 'conquistadores' and also with later descriptions, 

 there can be no doubt that the islanders must have been left 

 undisturbed for a great number of years, perhaps of centuries, 

 uninfluenced by the great migrations which have shaken Europe 

 and rendered racial differentiation therein so difficult. Possibly 

 then the Guanches, or typical race of Teneriffe, may represent an 

 early race of mankind existing down to the present day in com- 

 parative purity under conditions similar to those which have 

 preserved the characteristic fauna of Australasia. Their physical 

 features lend support to such an hypothesis ; for, on the one hand, 

 the Guanches resemble the Cromagnon race, more especially those 

 relics of it discovered at Solutre, and also the Basques of North- 

 western Spain, while, on the other hand, they have many features 

 in common with the Kabyles, Berbers, and Hamitic tribes gener- 

 ally of North Africa. The other and less dominant types in the 

 island have very probably been introduced at the time of the 

 various discoveries of the archipelago by the Mediterranean races. 



