GRAN CANARIA, which is next in im portance, has an area of 758 square miles, with a population of 80,000. Its culminating peak is El Cumbre, with a height of 6,648 feet. The capital, Las Palmas, on the E. coast, is the largest town of the archipelago. The surface of this island is so broken that only a small part is under cultivation. At Artinara, at a height of 3,850 feet, there is a vil lage of caves, with a population of 1,100 persons. A few miles from Las Palmas is the cone of Vandama, 1,800 feet high, with an extinct crater, circular and per fect, 800 feet deep.
PALmA, a classic spot for geologists, has an area of 718 square miles, and a population of 36,000. Its highest peak, Pico de los Muchachos, has an elevation of more than 7,600 feet. The ancient crater of the Caldera is of enormous size, though open to the sea on one side. Cap ital, Santa Cruz de las Palmas, on the E. coast, The area and population of the other islands are as follows: LANZAROTE is 323 square miles, pop. 19,000; FUERTE VENTURA, 326 square miles, pop. 15,000; GOMERA, 169 square miles, pop. 13,000; HIERRO, 82 square miles, pop. 5,000. In former times the first meridian of longi tude was commonly drawn through Hierro. The chief towns of these islands are small.
The Canaries are supposed to have been the Fortunate Islands of the an cients. The geographers of Greece and
Rome were acquainted with their po sition, and King Juba's account of them has been preserved by the elder Pliny. For many centuries they were lost sight of, and not rediscovered until 1334, when a French vessel was driven among them by a storm. In 1402 the Norman Jean de Bethencourt fitted out an expe dition for the purpose of subduing the islands, and in 1404, having obtained as sistance from Spain, he succeeded in mastering four of them. His successor having sold his rights in Spain, they were afterward acquired by the King, who sent a large force in 1477 to conquer the Guanches, a brave and intelligent race of large stature, and comparatively fair. Their origin is unknown, but they are assumed by many to have been of Berber or of Libyan stock. Their resistance was so stubborn that it was not until 1495 that the last of the islands was mastered. They have been ever since the property of Spain. The Guanches suffered ter ribly from their conquerors, and have long ceased to exist as a separate people; but in the local museums may be seen specimens of their mummies, skeletons, weapons, and pottery works. On Tene rife is a wireless station for communi cation with Spain.