The Original Inhabitants Of The Four Islands That Are Subject To The Christians, Are _Canarians_[12], Who Speak Various Languages Or Dialects, Not Well Understood Between The Different Tribes.

These people have only open villages, without any fortifications; except on the mountains, which are exceedingly high, and there they have a kind of rude walls or redoubts, to flee to in case of need.

The passes of these mountains are so difficult of access, that a few resolute men might defend them against an army. The other three islands of this group, Grand Canaria, Teneriffe, and Palma, which are larger and better peopled than the other four, are still unsubdued and possessed by the aboriginal idolaters. 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. 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. I once saw a native Canarian, who had become a Christian, who offered to give three persons twelve oranges a-piece, and taking twelve to himself, engaged, at eight or ten paces distance, to strike his antagonists with every one of his oranges, and at the same time to parry all theirs, so that they should hit no part of him but his hands. But no one would take up the wager, as they all knew he could perform even better than he mentioned. I was on land in Gomera and Ferro, and touched also at the island of Palma, but did not land there.

[1] In Grynaeus, this person is called a patrician or nobleman of Venice, and his surname is omitted. - Astley.

[2] _Con Veuto da greco et tramantana in poppe_; literally, having a Greek, and _beyond the mountain_ wind in the poop. The points of the compass, in Italian maps, are thus named, N. _Tramontana_. N. E. _Greco_. E. _Levante_ S. E. _Sirocco_. S. _Mezzoni_. S. W. _Libeccio_. W. _Ponente_. N. W. _Maestro_. - Clarke.

[3] This date ought to have been 1413. - Astl.

[4] Barbot says eight leagues; other authors say more, and some less.

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