The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-13
IN THE CANARIES
4 PROVINCE OF SPAIN MANAGED
 FOR PROFIT ONLY.
Life Among the PeopIc--The Gunnehes,
 or Aboriginal Inhabitants.

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 or Aboriginal InhabifRnts. Special Correspondence of the Journa
 and Courier).
 Santa Cruz, Teneriffe,
 Dec. 4th, 1901.
 However fine the scenery or quain
 the architecture of unfamiliar countries
 it is after all the people, with theii strange costumes and customs, that most interest the traveller. The Canary archipelago has long been province of Spain--not a colony, as was Cuba and other eastern possessions; and so well did the Norman baron Jean de Bethen- court, do his work when he conquered the seven islands in the name of Juan II, of Castilc-exactly five hundred years ago next June-that the popula- ton of to-day is as thoroughly Spanish in thought and feeling as natives of the step-mother country, There are about three hundred and fifty thousand peo- pie. all told, in the islands, and as mon- . SEbl Il CplltCLltl bLo tetIl pS LohAiN Si'J where in equal space. Being descend- ed from Phoeniclans, Carthaganians, Moors and Negroes, mixed with all the races of modern Europe, they are dark CT in color than even the people or southern Spain, where Moorish blood predominates. Most of them are simple, amiable folk, devoted to such agricul- ture as the soil and climate admits, in- dustrious as might be expected under tropical sun, with no lofty ambitious and easily ruled by their self-appointed task masters.
 Far greater interest centers around the Guanches, or aboriginal inhabitants of the Canaries about whose origin ethnolgists and historians are yet quar- relling, though the race has been eX- l tinct two or three centuries Some maintain that the Guanches were an off shot from one of the Iybian tribes of nearby Africa, because the few words that have been preserved of their language resemble the Berber dialects of to-day. Others find equal proof of their Greek or Roman origin in the fact that they had fair skins. blue eyes and | long straight hair often red or sandy" -NlHCU are Cel ldlillS tIOI fhiiiS acteristics. Perhaps they belonged to the lost continent, Atlantis. of which. if it ever existed these islands were part--descandants of the Noah of that ! ancient catastrophe which drowned world At any rate, all authorities agree that the orignas inhabitants of the Happy Islands" the Garden of Hesperides. the "Elysian Fields" as the group has been known to Various nations, were a tall and handsome race. brave and strong, and such good fight CTS that their wooden spears and ar rows several times repelled Spanish and Portugese expeditions sent to subjugate them. But those primitive weapons could not long withstand the power of firearms. Most of the Guanches were killed in opposing invasions; many were sold by their conquorers as slaves, and most of the remainder perished in the terrible pestilence of 149i-caused it is said, by the great number of dead bodies left unburled by the Spanlards after the battle of Laguna.
 History tells us that the ancient peo- pie had no boats, and therefore could hold no communication with the main
 
 that each island was little Kingdom by itself, with a different dialect and it's own laws and customs. Their food was gofia, or roasted corn mixed with goat milk; and they also ate cheese. fish fruit and fresh meat. Their clothes were of skins, sewed together with fish bone needles; and a few wore skirts made of plaited rushes-thOse of the married women being longer than the mems. The historian quaintly adds: 'The maidens of the Fortunate Islands went about quite naked but without of shame, such was their innocence They sang sweetly and danged almost as well as Frenchmen." In religion the Guanches were theists, worshipping the God of earth and heav- en- air and water; they believed in inn and in sewards and punish ments after death. A few had stone houses matched with palms, but the maiorty were troglodytes, or dwellers in caves. By the way, the custom of turning the soft volcanic rock into habitations has never been entirely abandoned by the Islanders. Especially in Gzan Canaria you may see many tdNt-uNtlllliSS yet III uot, tiipuSli liS modern ones have face walls and many Among the greatest sights" of the islands are the stone houses and honey combed rocks of the aborigines, and their catacombs in the cliffs The Guanches embalmed their lead and then hid them in the most in- accessible caverns they could find. High up in vertical cliff just back of this port of Santa Cruz are two immense ,averns, said to be crowded with num- mics. They are many others, notably hose at Icod de los Who's, in the rocky ,liffs that environ Gran Canaria, and greatest of all and last discovered he catacombs in the precipices of fuimar The last-named caverns have IS yet been little explored, for they can ,e reached only by one who is courage JUS enough to let himself be lowered 1 ,ver the edge of the cliffs, where he langs suspended above tremendous turf, pounding more than thousand eet blow---until his feet finally touch a , larrow shelf of rock at the mouth of a avern which runs sharply downward nto eternal darkness nobody knows to what depth, Neither your correspond mt nor any of her party are brave nough to venture on such a gruesome | z xpedition; but we have been so for , unate as to meet a couple of jealous 7