St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1892-07-21
A BREED OF ATHL ETES.


Guanches of Tenerife through their
simple and healthy manner of life,
and their methodical athletic exer-
else, is little short of fabulous. 1t
is difficult to credit some of the
stories that have come down to us
in illustration of this. The follow
ing is told of man of Gomera: He
and certain companions swan one
day to rock at little distance
from their island to gather cookies
and other shell-hsh. When they
were about to return, to their an
noyance they found themselves sur
rounded by horde of sharks. One
of the men then straightway dived
into the sea, and, graphing the first
shark he touched, he Rugged its body
with all his might, SO that it began
to lash the water with its tail. This
frightened the other sharks so that
they all decamped and the men of
Gomera made prompt use of their
opportunity, and were able to swim
home safely.
In Palma the women were as
robust as the men. We read of a
certain one of them, Guayanfanta by
name, who being pursued by several
marauders from the adjacent island
of Hero "a proof that the islanders
| did occasionally lntercOmmunicate)
allowed the foremost of them to
come up with her. Him she then
seized, aud carried in her arms to-
wards ravine. She proposed to hold
| her captive over the abyss until she
had made terms with his companions.
Unfortunat elv, however, she was
not fleet enough of foot to escape the
others. That the men of Palma
were not wanting in stoical courage
the deed of one Mayantigo may bear
witness Being wounded in the arm,
and perceiving that the wound was
about to mortify, he deliberately cut
off the diseased limb below the elbow
with his other hand. AS the Canari-
ans used knives of obsidian instead
of steel, this must have been a pain
full and not very speedy operation.
But the Guanches and their neigh
bors of Grand Canary seem to have
excelled all the other islanders in
their feats of skill and strength. At
ter the Spanish occupation, certain
enormous stone was for long point
ed out as one of the instruments of
the Guanche athletic courses. The
natives had been able to lift it, set
it on their heads. Their degenerate
posterity and the Spaniards could
not raise it from the ground. Tradi-
ton has immortalized one Adargoma
of Grand Canary, who could wrestle
for two successive hours, and, hav-
ing been thrown undermost in a GER
tain contest, got his antagonist be-
tween his legs and arms, and squeezed
him so that his bones began to crack.
This native was subsequently, sent
as prisoner to Spain, where he
astounded the people by his per-
formances. One day, in Seville, he
he was visited by brawny youth of
La Macha, who was anxious to try
a bout with him. MY good friend, :"
said Adargoma. las we are going to
wrestle together, it is only reason
able that we should begin by drink
ing something" A large bowl Of
wine having been brought, he took
this in one hand and continued to
address his challenger. ''If with
both your arms you can overpower
one of mine, SO as to hinder me from
drinking every drop of this wine, we
Will try our strength together. LII
not, you may return to your own
home" The struggle took place,
and Adargoma by degrees drained
the bowl in the coolest manner, with
out spilling drop of the wine. His
one hand was more than a match
for the others two.
1t was reckoned nothing out of the
common for man to take an I'M
tethered OK by the horn with one
hand and STAY it with the other. A
certain native-born priest of Grand
Canary, in the seventeenth century,
showed that he inherited some of his
ancestors vigor. He could not kill
an OK in this way, but one day, hear
, ing that an enraged bull had broken
loose and was in the street, he ran
out, and, grasping it by the leg,
threw it down, and so held it until