The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-09-10
CANARY ISLAND TYPES.
In Truth They Are Not Beautiful, the Wo-
men Being MASCULINE.


men Being Masculine.
Today the common type Of the Canaries,
Of both men and women, consists Of tall
frame, an elongated head, a badly chisoled
nose and mouth, large, heavy face and
blue eyes, This type is universal, but the
dress in every island Is slightly different
OF course the true Canary costumes are
seen on these peasants, for tho higher
classes IRE entirely Spanish and European.
They have no native clothes, such as the
Philippians have; hence the material for
their clothing is imported from Europe,
and the women make up the garments in
their houses However, hats and shoes
are made in the Canaries.
Strange to say, the men, women and
children are accustomed to walk barefoot
over the thorny plants, the plains filled
with spiny oacti and tho burning rocks Of
lava, which in few hours will burn and
wear out the stoutest shoes. Both mon
and women always wear their shoes in the
towns, but II you meet them on the road
the men are invariably carrying their
shoes at tho end of stick, while the
women carry theirs on their heads.
The women Of Tenerife wear skirt and
apron Of cotton, q we'll fitting bodice, or
namented with large sleeves, and fiohu
which ends in points both front and be-
hind. The head is covered with tho great
est care. A silk handkerchief Is folded
around the chin, and then large wooden
shawl Is wrapped around the entire head
and falls down below the waist behind.
Above this Is placed small straw hat
with a low crown, saucer shaped, on
which the bundle, jar or load Of fagots Is
placed.
Notwithstanding their feminine attire,
the women OF Grand Canary arc entirely
masculine In appearance. Their hair is
short, the mustacho which ornaments their
upper lip is luxuriant, they wear mans
hat, and they are passionately devoted to
smoking cigars. The women Of tho Grand
Canary are not sirens according to Amer-
can ideas Neither arc they as polite as
they are generous, for, although they will
give stranger a drink of water, when he
has lifted tho jug to his mouth they will
often throw an unexpected shower over
his head and shoulders as a practical joke.
In tho island of Palma the women go
about almost naked, yet occasionally they
dress with their heads and necks covered
with kerchief and surmountcd by Curl
ou1 lat.
Tie woman g costume In Lanzarote con-
sists of short striped cotton skirt, sleeves
to the elbow. a bodice laced in front and a
white cap folded around the head and
shoulders, surmounted by straw hat Of
ten trimmed with flowers They make
the mems clothes, which are quite gay in
this island, consisting Of trousers to the
knee, tied with bright ribbons or garters.
sleeveless jacket, q sash betting In the
shirt and montera or cap, generally of
blue, embroidered with yellow, green or
red, and displaying knot of ribbons at
the side Tho natives Of Lanzarote are
content with very little. They drink wa
ter and live on goao, the native barley
bread, dried fish, potatoes and Barbary
figs.
Many inhabitants of tho Canaries still
live in grottoes. In the Grand Canary, for
example, there is an entire village of frog
lodytes-l.a Talaya. The ordinary house
is Of stone, with terraced roof rendered
impervious to water. Tho furniture Is
very simple A bed with its straw mat
tress Is the chief object in tho room, and
the rest consists of chest to hold the
clolhlnR, mat on tho llOor, Jug Tor wa
ter, "a dish for the grain, a little hand mill,
kind of etagere TO hold some highly
priced plates of porcelain ornamented with
gaudy ilowers-for decoration and not use
and u few wooden chairs
At mealtime the entire family sits on
the MT around large wooden bowl or
earthenware platter, and all dip their fin
gers and rude spoons and forks in at plea
sure. The food is generally gofo, dried
fish, figs etc, as in the other islands. In
the evening the women boil some herbs,
without any butter or grease, and this
bouillon is used to knead the bread, or
goilo, instead Of water. They also eat in
large quantities kind of thistle which
has flowers as large as artichokes. Water
is tho universal beverage. New York
Telegram.