The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1896-04-02

carrying grain and food supplies from the
islands that produce them to other less
fertile; and also because all the exports
must go either to Santa Cruz de Teneriffe,
or to Las Palmas, those being the only
ports of shipment to the outer world.
! Therefore, being in one Of the islands it
/ IS an easy matter to visit all the rest.
! That nearest to 'Teneriffe on the east, and
second in importance, is Gran Canaria, the
most fertile island of the seven. In shape
/ it is almost a perfect circle, - miles in
circumference, with mass of high noun
tains in the middle, from which ravines
radiate to the shore like the spokes of
wheel. Las Palmas, on a small bay of
the eastern coast is the seat of local gov
ernment and has a population of Is, 600
1t derived its name from numerous palm
trees growing in the vicinity, and is a well
built, cleanly town, with a handsome
are now all devoted to secular uses, a
hospital, college, alameda and the only
sugar mills now operated in the Canaries
Years ago sugar was extensively manu-
featured in the islands, but it has fallen
off before that of the West Indies and the
United States. The snug little harbor of
Las Palmas, which the Spaniards, with
their customary modesty in such matters,
christened La Puerta de la Luz, 1.-The
Gate of Light is defended by several
forts and is always crowded with vessels
from many lands. We have a Consul
here, (Mr. Thomas Milier,) and there are
others from Great Britain, France and
| Germany. Telde, the second town of
Gran Canaria, stands in the middle of a
plain surrounded by gardens and palm
trees. Up among the hills are great tracts
covered with Canary pine, and mineral
springs abound. The climate is more
| humid than that of Teneriffe, and so de-
lightful that the island has become a
health resort for half of Europe, but some
10 years ago the cholera reached here one
season, with such violence that 1900 peo-
/ pie died from it, While not a case occurred
+
from Las Pamas there is a manufactorv
for the making OF earthen ware vessels.
which employs about a thousand natives,
who live in holes made in the tufa, as did
! their ancestors the Guanches, Many re
mains of ancient stone dwellings still exist
in Gran Canalia, but the aborigines seem
to have been uniformly trogIodytes, and
the custom Of turning the volcanic soil
into dwellings, has never been abandoned
Some of the later ones have face walls and
other s'modern improvements" but
are cave dwellings nevertheless. The
Guanches embalmed their dead and hid
them in caverns, the most inaccessible
they could find. Two immense caves,
high up in a vertical cliff near Santa Cruz
de Tenerife, another at Icod de los Ninos,
ard several in the rocky wallis of Gran
Canaria, still contain mummies, but the
greatest catacombs of all, in which
thousands OF munmies are believed
to exist, are in the precipices of
Gulmar, where they can be reached
only by one who is willing to let
himself be lowered over the edge of the
cliffs, and then down into the darkness of
the cavern thousand feet or more. The
mummies are always found standing erect,
each chief with staff in his hand, and a
vessel, supposed to have contained milky,
beside him. No sort of antiseptic prepar-
alton seems to have been used, but the
bowels were removed and the cavities fill
ed with seeds. No traces of bandages,
them, but each is sewed up in tanned
goat skin, and many of the coverings are
decorated with raw hide thongs, like
fringe, knotted in peculiar manner and
hung with little disks of baked earth. In
the museum of Las Palmas, among a
lot of rudely carved ostrich eggs, bits of
spun glass, English toys and other things
Of no value, are several Guanche num-
mies-one that of princess-together
with things found in the catacomhs,
spears, hand Mills leather pitchers and
bowls of baked clay, small bones used for
money and clay pipes. The latter are
similar to the pipes found in some of the
old kistvaens of Ireland, from which it
may be inferred that the Guanches were
acquainted with smoking, though, like
the Irish, they may not have smoked to-
bacco. Not a great deal is known of them
beyond the fact tlat they we've re-
markedly brave and intelligent rate They
had a complete feudal system Of govern
ment, composed of wealthy class ruled
by chiefs or kings, and OF serfs who took
care of the tlocks which formed the ma
tlonal riches. Their code of laws, though
unwritten, was well defined and strictly
administered. One of the upper classes,
who SO far lowered himself as to milk a
goat, was degraded to vassalage, but cap
ital punishment was not allowed. Their
weapons were deliberately carved, the ar
row and spear heads made of obsidan
The food of all classes was gofio, the
same that is universally used to day among
tho poorar Canarians-a mivtura al