278 



as we seek them at present on the coast of Gui- 

 nea*. The Christian religion, which in it's origin 

 was so highly favourable to the liberty of man- 

 kind, served as a pretext to the cupidity of Eu- 

 ropeans. Every individual, made prisoner be- 

 fore he received the rite of baptism, was a slave. 

 At this period, no attempt had yet been made to 

 prove, that the blacks were an intermediary 

 race between men and animals. The swarthy 

 Guanche and the African negro were simulta- 

 neously sold in the market of Seville, without a 

 questionNvhether slavery ought to weigh only 

 on men with a black skin and frizzled hair. 



The archipelago of the Canaries was divided 

 into several small states hostile to each other. 

 Oftentimes the same island was subject to two 

 independent princes, as happens in the islands 

 of the South Sea, and wherever society is not 

 highly advanced. The trading nations, influ- 

 enced by that hideous policy which they still 

 exercise on the coast of Africa, kept up intestine 

 warfare. One Guanche then became the pro- 

 perty of another, who sold him to the Euro- 

 peans ; several, who preferred death to slavery, 

 killed themselves and their children. It is in 

 this manner that the population of the Canaries 



* The Spanish historians speak of expeditions made by the 

 Huguenots of La Rochelle tojcarry off Guanche slaves. I 

 have some doubt respecting these expeditions, which would 

 have taken place posterior to the year 1530. 



