85 



The island of Lanzerota bore formerly the 

 name of Titeroigotra. On the arrival of the 

 Spaniards, it's inhabitants were distinguished 

 from the other Canarians by marks of greater- 

 civilization. Their houses were built with free 

 stone, while the Guanches of TenerifFe, like real 

 troglodytes, dwelt in caverns. At Lanzerota, a 

 very singular custom * prevailed at that time, of 

 which we find no example except among the 

 people of Thibet. A woman had several hus- 

 bands, who alternately enjoyed the prerogatives 

 due to the head of a family. A husband was 

 considered as such only during a lunar revolu- 

 tion, and whilst his rights were exercised by 

 others, he remained classed among the house- 

 hold domestics. It must be regretted, that the 

 missionaries who accompanied Jean de Bethen- 

 court, and who sketched the history of the con- 

 quest of the Canaries, have given us no ampler 

 details on the manners of a people who had such 

 singular customs. In the fifteenth century, the 

 island of Lanzerota contained two small distinct 

 states, divided by a wall ; a kind of monuments 

 which outlive national enmities, and which we 

 find in Scotland, in China, and Peru. 



* Viera, t. i, p. 150, 171, 191. Du Halde, Descrip. of 

 China, t. iv, p. 461. In Thibet, polyandry is nevertheless 

 much less common than is thought, and is blamed by the 

 clergy. Hack man in Pallas, Neue Nordische Beitraege, 

 B, 3, p. 282. 



