In Reward Of This Sanguinary Homage,
The Lords Consider Themselves Bound To Heap Extraordinary Honours And
Rewards On The Parents Of The Victims.
Teneriffe, which is the largest of these islands, and the best inhabited,
is one of highest islands in the
World, and is seen in clear weather from
a great distance; insomuch, that I was informed by some mariners, that it
had been descried at the distance of between sixty and seventy Spanish
leagues, which make about 250 Italian miles. In the middle of the island,
there is a prodigiously high peaked mountain, shaped like a diamond,
which is always burning. I received this account from some Christians,
who had been prisoners in the island, who affirmed that it was fifteen
Portuguese leagues, or sixty Italian miles, from the bottom of the
mountain to the top of the peak.
They have nine lords on this island, who are called dukes, and who do not
succeed by inheritance or descent, but by force; on which account they
have perpetual civil wars among themselves, in which they commit great
slaughter. Their only weapons are stones, maces or clubs, and darts or
lances, some of which are pointed with horn, and others have their points
hardened in the fire. They all go naked, except a few who wear goat skins
before and behind. They anoint their skins with goats tallow, mixed up
with the juice of certain herbs, which thickens the skin, and defends
them against the cold, of which they complain much, although their
country is so far to the south. They have neither walled, nor thatched
houses, but dwell in grottos and caverns of the mountains. They feed on
barley, flesh, and goats milk, of which they have abundance, and some
fruits, particularly figs. As the country is very hot, they reap their
corn in April and May.
We learnt all these things from the Christians of the four settled
islands, who sometimes go over by night to the three other islands, and
make prisoners of the natives, whom they send into Spain to be sold as
slaves. Sometimes the Spaniards are themselves made prisoners on these
expeditions, on which occasions the natives do not put them to death, but
employ them to kill and flea their goats, and to cure the flesh, which
they look upon as a vile employment, and therefore condemn their
Christian prisoners to that labour in contempt. The native Canarians are
very active and nimble, and are exceedingly agile in running and leaping,
being accustomed to traverse the cliffs of their rugged mountains. They
skip barefooted from rock to rock like goats, and sometimes take leaps of
most surprising extent and danger, which are scarcely to be believed.
They throw stones with great strength and wonderful exactness, so as to
hit whatever they aim at with almost perfect certainty, and almost with
the force of a bullet from a musket; insomuch that a few stones thrown by
them will break a buckler to pieces.
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