The principal inanufactures of these ish:nds are, tarn ties, coarse linens, gauze, quilts, I, lit silk hose, and silk garters ; and in order to encourage their silk manufac ture, t he exportation of raw silk is strictly prohibited. Coarse woollen cloths, and w bite bl-t•ikets, ale al. o ma nufactured in many of the islands from the m•oduce of their own sheep. In all the villages, tile women only arc employed in treat ing, or as tailors, and it is only in large towns that the men exercise those trdes. The inhabi tants of the Canaries employ a considerable number of vessels in the fishery on the coast of Barbary, which, Jr properly encouraged by the Spaniarda, might he render ed a source ol• great convenience and profit to duos islands. But the trade is clogged with foolish and un reasonable duties ; and the price is impolitically regulat ed by the magistrates. This fishery extends along the coast about six hundred miles, from Cape Blanco on the south, to the southern extremity of M omit Atlas on the north. The vessels employed in this trade are from fif teen to fifty tons burthen, the smallest carrying fifteen men, and the largest thirty ; and the general place of rendezvous is at Porto de Luz, in the island of ('rand Canary. They make from eight to ten so ages in the year. The bulk of their cargoes consist of somas or bream ; but they also catch a great quantity of tas sarte, cod, ahhoua, carbino, and other kinds of fish. The tassartc tastes like a very large and fat mackerel. and when dried cannot be distinguished from dried sal mon ; and the cod that is caught on this coast arc consi dered as preferable to those of Newfoundland. Although
this fishery," says Mr Glas, " is capable of the greatest improvement, yet the English have no reason to be ap prehensive of the Spaniards ever being able to bring it to any degree of perfection, so as to rival them in the Spanish or Italian markets : the power of the clergy in Spain is a better security to the English against such an event, than if a fleet of a hundred sail of the line were stationed on the coast of Barbary, to obstruct the Spanish fishery." The situation of the Canary islands. the salubrity of their climate, the fertility of the soil, and the quality of their productions, all conspire to render them t as most valuable of the Spanish colonies ; and even preferable to those boasted possessions of America, which fill their galleons with treasure. If they were inhabited by au ac tive and industrious people. and placed under a govern ment where agriculture and commerce were encouraged mid protected, they would soon rise to deserve the distin guished appellation of the Fortunate Isles. According to M. Humboldt, the population of these islands is estimat ed at 180,000 persons. and their rot crow at 240,000 pias tres; hut the expellees of their administration are such, that they require an annual remit:an -e from Spain. See Histoire de la premiere de couverte. ct cor.quete des Cana ries, par F. Pierre l3outhier Ileligieux de S. Francois, et Jean le Verrier Prestre, Paris 1630, 8vo. ; Glas's Des cription of the Canary Islands ; Viera's History of the Canaries ; Bory de St Vincent Essai sur les Iles tuities; and Memoires de I,' Institut National a Paris, torn. i. p. 250. (p)