3 8o 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Oct. 12, I J 



devote great space, as was the custom of the time, to 

 religious details and glorifications, and the sad story of 

 the conquest of Peru and Mexico is foreshadowed. Yet 

 withal that Bethencourt himself managed to endear him- 

 self to the natives. He personally seems to have been a 

 judicious and capable man. The natives were a loving, 

 as well as a long-suffering and simple-minded race. 

 Once, when Bethencourt returned to Lanzarote, after a 

 visit to Normandy, the natives cried out : — " Here is our 

 king coming," and so great was their joy, " that they 

 leaped and danced and kissed each other." The same 

 happened at Fuerteventura. " It is impossible," say the 

 learned clerks, " to describe the joy which they testified, 

 after their fashion ; they seemed to fly for joy." And 

 again, when Bethencourt left the islands, never to 

 return, " all the inhabitants were to be seen weeping 

 and lamenting, the Canarians more bitterly than the 

 Normans." 



Physically the ancient inhabitants were a fine race of 

 people. This is stated over and over again by the con- 

 querors and other travellers, and, coming from Normans, 

 the statement may be taken at its full value. 



Morally, it may be said, they were surprisingly high 

 up in the scale we are accustomed to guage by in these 

 days. In many respects they were the superiors in cul- 

 ture and manners of their conquerors. Their character 

 has been thus succinctly and truthfully summed up by 

 Viana : — " They were virtuous, honest, and brave, and 

 the finest qualities of humanity were found united in 

 them ; to wit, magnanimity, skill, courage, athletic 

 powers, strength of soul and body, pride of character, 

 nobleness of demeanour, a smiling physiognomy, an in- 

 telligent mind, and patriotic devotedness," and, I would 

 add, great gentleness. 



From the skulls which I have examined in collections, 

 and have myself found in their cemeteries, the people 

 apparently possessed good brain-power. From an exami- 

 nation of many hundreds of skulls in the islands, I was 

 struck by the fact that a great many possessed an inden- 

 tation — about the size of the tip of the little finger — on 

 the frontal bone, generally the left. I saw such indented 

 skulls in Palma, Canaria, and Tenerife, and recently, on 

 examining the collection at the Royal College of Surgeons 

 of England, to my surprise I noticed that, out of the 

 twenty-six skulls there labelled " Guanche," no less than 

 fifteen had this indentation, and no less than ten on the 

 left frontal bone. These indentations were evidently 

 made during life, and after the infliction of the injury 

 the subject appears to have lived in some instances for 

 many years. At present no explanation can be given 

 for the frequency of the occurrence of this indenta- 

 tion. To imagine that these skulls are all of people 

 damaged in battle is to suppose a constant concur- 

 rence of circumstances which is well nigh impossible. 

 It would necessitate that the blow was always given 

 by the same weapon, on the same place, and with about 

 the same force, and that, too, not a fatal force. The 

 curiously frequent occurrence of these indentations is not 

 mentioned in the catalogue of the museum, but a few re- 

 marks made in the catalogue of the Barnard Davis Col- 

 lection are worth quoting : " No. 505 is very European 

 in its look, with a narrow face and long aquiline nose." 

 " No. 506 is a small ovoid skull of beautiful proportions, 

 with a fine aquiline nose." The teeth of all these skulls 

 are sound, not decayed, but very much worn, as we 

 might expect from the " gofio " food. In the general re- 

 marks in this same catalogue occur the following signi- 



ficant words concerning the skulls : "All agree in being 

 small. They belong to the ovoid division of skulls, that 

 which is the common form among Europeans. The 

 whole series is non-African, and would be classified in 

 Blumenbach's Caucasian division, notwithstanding the 

 Guanche cranium has a certain typical physiognomy 

 which distinguishes it from all others." There was a 

 Guanche mummy once at the museum, but it was di- 

 vested of its flesh for the purpose of obtaining the 

 skeleton, which is there now, disarticulated, in a drawer. 

 A photograph was taken of it before it was subjected to 

 the boning process, but this could not be traced. The 

 museum also possesses, hid away in the recesses of a 



A 

 A 



A 



ROYAL PAINTED CAVE GAIDAR 



Fig. 2. — One-Tenth Actual Siz w - 



distant room, at the bottom of a box, specimens of brown, 

 straight hair from a Guanche mummy, found in a cave 

 at Tacoronte, and sent by Don Sebastian Casilda, the 

 founder of the Tacoronte Museum.* The paper contain- 

 ing it is dated 10th March, 1854, and is distinctly greasy 

 — an interesting point, for the Guanches used grease in 

 heir process of embalming. I have seen no black hair 

 belonging to this ancient people. It is always red, 

 reddish-brown, or dark brown. One of the oldest ac- 

 counts of the people say : " Their long, light hair veiled 

 their bodies down to the waist." The famous, beautiful, 

 and courageous Princess Dacil is distinctly stated to have 

 had fair hair. 



* This Museum[is, I hear, now for sale. The British Museum 

 should not lose the exceptional opportunity of acquiring the Guanche 

 i remains which are there. 



