TENERIFFE, ^ 51 
inhabitants, that the ill effects arising from promiscuous love 
have become habitual to their constitution and hereditary, 
so that few families either are or can be free from their in- 
fluence. There are equally few who are not troubled with 
the itch ; the leprosy is not uncommon, and scorbutic affec- 
tions almost universal. These cutaneous diseases are attri- 
buted by them to the copious use of fish ; but the real cause 
may perhaps be more satisfactorily accounted for by suppos- 
ing them, like the first, to be transmitted from father to son, 
and their action on the system kept alive by indolent habits, 
by want of exercise and, above all, by a total disregard to 
cleanliness. Under the idea, however, that the frequent and 
abundant use of fish may contribute to the continuance of 
these disorders, the good Bishop of the Canaries was induced 
to grant a dispensation with the strict observance of Lent 
and other fast days, so far at least as to commute the 
usual restrictions and privations for a certain number of 
Pater nosters and Ave Marias, to be repeated publiclj^ in the 
middle of the great square, by all such as were desirous of 
availing themselves of this indulgence. This worthy prelate, 
whose revenues are not much less than 10,000/. a year, and 
who usually resides at Palmas on Grand Canaria, is said to 
distribute a great part of them in acts of charity ; for enablino- 
him to do which, he is frequently under the necessity of ap- 
plying to his domestics for temporary supplies of money till 
his. rents become due. 
The maintenance of a numerous body of ecclesiastics be- 
comes a heavy charge on the colonists. In additior^ to the 
ordinary alms, individual donations, legacies, and extraordi- 
H 2 
