Grand Canaria Has Between Eight And Nine Thousand Souls, And Teneriffe, Which Is The Largest Of All These Islands, Is Said To Contain Fourteen Or Fifteen Thousand, And Is Divided Into Nine Separate Lordships. Palma, However, Has Very Few Inhabitants, Yet It Appears To Be A Very Beautiful Island.

Every lordship seems to have its own mode of religious worship; as in Teneriffe, there were no less than nine different kinds of idolatry; some worshipping the sun, others the moon, and so forth.

They practise polygamy, and the lords have the jus primae noctis, which is considered as conferring great honour. On the accession of any new lord, it is customary for some persons to offer themselves to die as a sacrifice to his honour. On this occasion, the lord holds a great festival on his accession day; when all who are willing to give this cruel proof of their attachment, are attended to the summit of a high cliff in a certain valley, where, after some peculiar ceremonies, and certain words muttered over them, the victims precipitate themselves from the cliff, and are dashed to pieces. 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.

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