they catch two or three, they collect around a fire, and barely heating them, devour the poor fish as the greatest luxury. As far I could see, the fish of Teneriffe correspond to those of Madeira. Numbers of large kites float in the sultry atmosphere they are brown, with forked tails, and white under the wing. Hundreds of hawks balance themselves upon the wing, ready to pounce upon the lizards, which form their food. There are but few gulls or sea-birds of any description; we saw no hoopoes on this part of the island, and as there are no groves, and but little vegetation, it would not be expected we should find many of the songsters that enliven the woody landscapes of Madeira. Canary birds are latterly becoming scarce in this island; and I may remark, that the true plumage of this brilliant melodist is, in its native wildness, green, yellow being the effect of culture. The tinto negro is found here, and was said to be known in the Canaries before its introduction to Madeira; but from the fact of finding it afterwards in Barbary, I am inclined to think that its original habitat was Africa. The red-legged partridge is now become very plenty in all the Canary islands. The bay of Santa Cruz is much better riding than that of Funchal. Vessels have very rarely to put to sea, and on this account, it is much to be preferred for yachts, though the swell at times is very great. The people of Teneriffe, especially about Santa Cruz, are good looking. The men are a fair, stout race; and the women decidedly the handsomest I had seen since I left England. They all wear the mantilla, manufactured of the finest white wool, handsomely trimmed with a broad edging of satin, and satin rosettes at the corners, which hang down in front. The graceful effect of this is, however, much spoiled by all wearing a high-crowned hat, black or white, like Welsh women; some were decorated with parti-coloured ribbons, and even the poorest peasant girl wears silk stockings and satin shoes! They are generally tall, and beautifully formed, possessing all the graces of Spanish costume, combined with English personal attraction. Except those engaged in actual labour, or shipping wine, who are generally naked, all the men are enveloped in a singular cloak, being nothing more nor less than a good blanket, with a running-string at the top, to fasten it round the throat. primitive habiliment appears as old as the Guanches. A simple cloak seems to have been the first attempt at general clothing made by all nations in their infancy. This we have still in the simple abba worn in the east by the Arab and the Bedouin, over thousands of miles of the sandy deserts of Arabia. Of this description was doubtless the cothamore, worn by the ancient Irish; and to this may be referred the burnoose of Algiers, the plaid of the Highlander, the blanket of the American, the toga of the Roman, the flowing garment of the Druid, This and ultimately, the improved cloak of our own civilized people. We had heard of a famous museum at Santa Cruz, got up by an old Spanish major several years ago. We found it, like many such concerns at home, a collection of all sorts-rudely carved ostrich eggs, old cracked china, bits of spun glass, shells spoiled by polishing, and even English toys. The only things of any value were the Guanche remains. The sculls I was shown of those aborigines were decidedly of the Caucasian race, well formed, the forehead low, but not retreating like the negro; the teeth did not project, nor were they filed, or the incisors worn down in any one instance. This ancient race embalmed their dead, and I had here an opportunity of seeing a small female mummy, taken from a cave on the other side of the island some years ago. No sort of antiseptic preparation seemed to have been used except in the cavities, which were emptied of their contents, and then filled with seeds, supposed to be those of the chenopodium ambrosioides, and it appeared like mummies of the lowest class which I afterwards saw in Egypt. The body was sewn up in a skin or leather of some description, but there were no remains of bandaging or linen texture of any kind that I could discover. This people, as well as others, seemed to study the concealing of the dead: the caves in which they are found are almost inaccessible, and those who have been let down by a rope to fish up a mummy, speak of the excessive dryness of those caverns. No doubt this atmosphere, as in Egypt, conduced largely to the preservation of those remains. Among other antiques connected with this race, I was shown some rudely constructed bowls; bits of bones, said to have been used as money, which were found in the coffin or mummy case; and also small clay pipes, similar, in every respect, to those found in Ireland in some of our old forts and kistvaens, so that evidently this race were acquainted with smoking, though, as with us, it may not have been tobacco. Some say that the human remains found at Grand Canary are not those of Guanches, from their having been found, not in caves, but inclosed in loose pieces of lava; but we should recollect that caves are not to be found in the same number in Grand Canary, and that the broken pumice afforded an easy mode of burial to the people. Were I to hazard an opinion on it, I would say it was only those of the highest rank who were embalmed and buried in the caverns, while the common people were buried in the lava stones and scoriæ of Grand Canary.* * The scenery in the neighbourhood of this place is of a character that at first we did not comprehend. The beds of the largest rivers and torrents were perfectly dry; on the sides of these the moun *For further particulars concerning the Guanches, see Appendix, C. 140 BASALTIC SCENERY. tains rise up abruptly, void of every trace of vegetation except a few cacti and euphorbia. There is an awful grandeur in basaltic scenery. The scorched tops of those enormous rocks, fluted at the sides into gigantic pillars, rise into every fantastic shape of dome and castle the mind can imagine; above, the sky is of the most intense blue; beneath your feet is what but a few hundred years ago ran in a stream of liquid fire, burning and hissing down these valleys-a solemn stillness reigns around— not a leaf rustles in the breeze-not a sound to break the most expressive silence-no trace of life-no effort of vegetation-one almost starts at the extreme quiet of those lonely spots where solitude reigns with undisputed sway. But barren though it be, it hath its interest-an interest for the lover of nature, no matter how varied, or where placed a charm for those who love To sit on rocks-to muse o'er flood and fell- Converse with nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled. The native fishermen are often driven upon the coast of Africa, and made prisoners by the Arabs. A ransom is fixed upon them; they pledge their |