CANARY ISLANDS. In the E la will be found some account of this Archipe ago, so far as known at the time of its publication. Since that time, M. Doty& St Vincent has ,published his Essay on, the Fortunate Islands, in which, besides giving the result of his on observations, he has collected, with great industry, ill that is to be found in the Spanish writers on the subject. M. Humboldt also, who, in his way to South America, ascended the Peak of Teneriffe, has communicated, in his Personal Narrative, a num ber of learned .and curious remarks. From these sources we have ;derived a considerable accession of new materials. • It is notyroposed to follow M. Bory into his spa• culation 'concerning the ancient Atlantic Continent, of which the Canaries appear to him to have com posed a fragment ; because the whole theory appears to us destitute of any solid foundation. He has collected, however, from the early Spanish historians, a variety•of particulars respecting that singular peo ple, called the Guanches, by whom the Canaries were originally inhabited. They appear to have considerably surpassed in civilization, both the inha bitants of the West India Islands, and those of the op posite Continent of Africa. The most remarkable of their customs, and of which monuments still re main, was that of embalming the bodies of their dead. This operation was performed by extracting the intestines, washing the whole•body with salt water, and filling the large cavities with aromatic plants. The bodies were then dried in the heat of the sun, or, if that were wanting, in a stove. Where this method was too expensive, corrosive liquids, cal culated to 'destroy the intestines, were merely pour . ed down the throat previous to The emballient being completed, usually in about fifteen days, the body was sewed up in several folds of goat skin, was placed in a chest or coffin, cut out from a single piece of wood,'and was finally lodged in a grotto excavated from the reek, lied the entrance of which was carefully. guatded. These mummies or =mos, as they are called, when found at the present day, are of a tanned colour, and usually of an agreeable odour. They are often perfectly well preserved, particularly the hair ; the features are distinct, but drawn back ; the belly sunk. On being taken out of the goat skins, and exposed to • the air, they fall gradually into dust.
The Spanish authors have translated some sped mens.of the poetry of the Guanches, which display considerable imagination and sensibility. The fe. males appear to have been treated with a respect very unusual among savage tribes. In the island of Lancerota, a plurality of husbands is said to have prevailed, as in Thibet. There were a species of vestal priestesses called Malgades, who were held in the utmost veneration, and supposed to enjoy pecu. liar communication with the divinity. form of government was hthly aristocratic. A tradition prevailed, that the nobles were created first, and had the property of the earth, and of all its productions vested in them ; after which a supplementary crew. tion took place•of beings destined solely to perform the office of slaves. They had a king, however, but of limited power. There are reports of the exist. ence. among the Guanches, of a race of giants; and the.Spanish annaln mention one chief who was nine,
and another who was fourteen feet in height; but these are evidently fables, such as are found in the early traditions of every nation.
The Guanches have long been entirely extinct. They made a vigorous resistance to the invades; but the sword of the Spaniards, aided by a pestilen. tial disorder, soon swept entitely this ancient pope. lotion from the face of these islands.
• The information furnished by Humboldt reboil chiefly to the physical aspect and present state of the; Canaries. In ascending the Peak of Teneriffe, be found five zones of vegetation. The first was that of vines, rising about two or three hundred toises above the sea. It forms the only part of the ishind which is much inhabited, or carefully cultivated. Here corn, the vine, the olive, the fruit trees of Europe, the date, the plantain, the Indian fig, the arum eoloctuia, are found in a flourishing state. The bread-fruit, cis. namon, coffee, and cocoa, have been tried with suc cess. The second zone, or that of the laurels, con. tains the wooded part of Teneriffe. It contains four species of laurel, an oak resembling the petal Turneri of Thibet, a native olive, the largest tree of this zone, and several species of myrtle. The third zone, beginning at the height of 900 toises, and ex. tending 400 upwards, consists entirely of a vast pine forest. The tree resembled the Scotch fir; but M. Humboldt, not having an opportunity of examining the fructification, could not determine whether there was any thing peculiar in the species. The fourth and fifth zones, called those of the Retama and the Gramina, consist of an. immense plain, or rather sea, of sand, covered with pumice stones and large blocks of obsidian. In its lower part, are scattered tufts of the retama (spartium nubigenum of Aiwa), a begun ful plant, whose odoriferous flowers render delicious the flesh of the goats who feed upon them., the upper end of the plain, grasses and licens faintly struggle against the volcanic matter. At 1530 toises above the sea, they reached a station commonly called the English Halt, consisting of a cavern inclosed between two rocks. Here they sptht the night, suffering considerably from cold. Next morning, after two hours walk, they came to a small plain called Alta Vista, where persons called Neueros were collecting snow for the the in habitants of the coast. Then began the Malpar, a tract entirely destitute of mould, covered with fragments of lava, which, sinking beneath the feet, rendered the ascent very laborious. The guides now earnestly dissuaded them from proceeding farther, and were found, on examination, never to have them. selves.reached the summit. At the extremity.of the Malpays, however, the travellers came to a small plain, whence they saw rising the cone of the piton. This hillock is extremely steep, and is so covered with volcanic ashes and fragments of pumice stone; as to render the ascent scarcely possible. They succeeded only by following a current of old lava, the wrecks of which formed a wall of scorious rocks, by grasping the points of which, in half an hour, they reached the top. This volcano appeared to Hum boldt the most difficult to ascend of any he had seen, except that of Jorullo in Mexico.