38 



GUANCHES. 



the name of Guanches. They have now entirely 

 disappeared under the oppression of a more power- 

 ful and more enlightened race, which, assuming the 

 superiority supposed to be sanctioned by civilization 

 and the profession of the Christian faith, disposed 

 of the natives in a manner little accordant with the 

 character of a true follower of the Cross. The 

 archipelago of the Canaries was divided into small 

 states hostile to each other; and in the fifteenth 

 century the Spaniards and Portuguese made voy- 

 ages to these islands for slaves, as the Europeans 

 have latterly been accustomed to do to the coast of 

 Guinea. One Guanche then became the property 

 of another, who sold him to the dealers ; while 

 many, rather than become slaves, killed their chil- 

 dren and themselves. The natives had been greatly 

 reduced in this manner, when Alonzo de Lugo com- 

 pleted their subjugation. The residue of that un- 

 happy people perished by a terrible pestilence, which 

 was supposed to have originated from the bodies 

 left exposed by the Spaniards after the battle of La- 

 guna. At the present day no individual of pure 

 blood exists in these islands, where all that remains 

 of the aborigines are certain mummies, reduced to 

 an extraordinary degree of desiccation, and found 

 in the sepulchral caverns which are cut in the rock 

 on the eastern slope of the Peak. These skeletons 

 contain remains of aromatic plants, especially the 

 Chenopodium ambrosioides, and are often decorated 

 with small laces, to which are suspended little cakes 

 of baked earth. 



The people who succeeded the Guanches were de- 

 scended from the Spaniards and Normans. The 

 present inhabitants are described by our author as 

 being of a moral and religious character, but of a 

 roving and enterprising disposition, and less indus- 

 trious at home than abroad. The population in 1790 

 was 174,000. The produce of the several islands 

 consists chiefly of wheat, barley, maize, potatoes, 



