CANARIES, a group of fine islands situated at some distance from the western coast of Africa, in the Atlantic Ocean. They are thirteen in all; but only three, Grand Canary, Teneriffe, and Fuerteventura, can be called large; Palma, Lancerota, Gomera, and Ferro, are comparatively small; while Graciosa, Rocca, Allegranza, St Clara, Inferno, and Lobos, are little more than rocks. They lie between 29. 26. and 27. 39. north latitude, and 13. 20. and 18. 10. west longitude. This group was imperfectly[7:6:73] known to the ancients, yet celebrated by them under the appellation of “the Fortunate Islands.” Ptolemy made them his first meridian, in which he has been followed by many of the moderns. They were, however, in a great measure forgotten, till, in 1344, Louis de la Cerda, infant of Spain, procured a donation of them from the Romish see; and several expeditions were sent to take possession of them, but were for some time repulsed with loss. In 1402, however, John de Bethencourt, a French nobleman, made himself master of Lancerota and Ferro. In 1464 Herrera, a Castilian gentleman, who had married the heiress of Bethencourt, landed with a larger force on Canary and Teneriffe. Fresh reinforcements were continually sent; and after a long and chequered struggle with the Guanches, the brave native inhabitants, the latter were completely subdued; and through the combined action of the sword and the inquisition the race was finally exterminated. M. Bory de St Vincent has published his Essay on the Fortunate Islands, in which, besides giving the result of his own observations, he has collected, with great industry, all that is to be found in the Spanish writers on the subject. Μ. de Humboldt, also, who in his way to South America ascended the Peak of Teneriffe, has communicated, in his Personal Narrative, a number of learned and curious remarks.

It is not proposed to follow Μ. Bory de St Vincent into his speculation concerning the ancient Atlantic continent, of which the Canaries appear to him to have composed a fragment, because the whole theory seems to us destitute of any solid foundation. He has collected, however, from the early Spanish historians, a variety of particulars respecting that singular people the Guanches. They appear to have considerably surpassed in civilization both the inhabitants of the West India islands and those of the opposite* continent of Africa. The most remarkable of their customs, and of which monuments still remain, was that of embalming the bodies of their dead. This operation was performed by extracting the intestines, washing the whole body with salt water, and filling the large cavities with aromatic plants. The bodies were then dried in the heat of the sun, or, if that was wanting, in a stove. Where this method was too expensive, corrosive liquids, calculated to destroy the intestines, were merely poured down the throat previous to desiccation. The embalming was completed usually in about fifteen days, after which the body was sewed up in several folds of goat-skin, placed in a chest or coffin cut out of a single piece of wood, and finally lodged in a grotto excavated from the rock, the entrance of which was carefully guarded. These mummies, or xaxos as they are called, when found at the present day, are of a tanned colour, and usually of an agreeable odour. They are often perfectly well preserved, particularly the hair; the features are distinct, but drawn back; and the belly is sunk. On being taken out of the goat-skins, and exposed to the air, they fall gradually into dust.

The Spanish authors have translated some specimens of the poetry of the Guanches, which display considerable imagination and sensibility. The females appear to have been treated with a respect very unusual among savage tribes. In the island of Lancerota a plurality of husbands is said to have prevailed, as in Thibet. There were a species of vestal priestesses, called Malgades, who were held in the utmost veneration, and supposed to enjoy peculiar communication with the divinity. The form of government was highly aristocratic. A tradition prevailed that the nobles were created first, and had the property of the earth and of all its productions vested in them; after which a supplementary creation took place of beings destined solely to perform the office of slaves. They had a king, however, but of limited power. There are reports of the existence among the Guanches of a race of giants; and the Spanish annals mention one chief who was nine, and another who was fourteen feet in height; but these are evidently fables, such as may be found in the early traditions of every nation.

The Guanches have long been entirely extinct. They made a vigorous resistance to the invaders; but the sword of the Spaniards, aided by a pestilential disorder, soon swept entirely this ancient population from the face of these islands.

The information furnished by Humboldt relates chiefly to the physical aspect and present state of the Canaries. In ascending the Peak of Teneriffe he found five zones of vegetation. The first was that of vines, rising about two or three hundred toises above the sea, and forming the only part of the island which is much inhabited or carefully cultivated. Here corn, the vine, the olive, the fruit trees of Europe, the date, the plantain, the Indian fig, the arum colocasia, are found in a flourishing state. The bread-fruit, cinnamon, coffee, and cocoa, have been tried with success. The second zone, or that of the laurels, contains the wooded part of Teneriffe. It contains four species of laurel, an oak resembling the quercus Turneri of Thibet, a native olive, the largest tree of this zone, and several species of myrtle. The third zone, beginning at the height of 900 toises, and extending 400 upwards, consists entirely of a vast pine forest. The tree resembled the Scotch fir; but Μ. Humboldt not having an opportunity of examining the fructification, could not determine whether there was any thing peculiar in the species. The fourth and fifth zones, called those of the Rétama and the Gramina, consist of an immense plain, or rather sea, of sand, covered with pumice stones and large blocks of obsidian. In its lower part are scattered tufts of the retama (spartiurn nu-bigenum of Alton), a beautiful plant, whose odoriferous flowers render delicious the flesh of the goats who feed upon them. At the upper end of the plain grasses and lichens faintly struggle against the volcanic matter. At 1530 toises above the sea they reached a station commonly called the English Halt, consisting of a cavern inclosed between two rocks. Here they spent the night, suffering considerably from cold. Next morning, after two hours’ walk, they came to a small plain called Alta Vista, where persons called Neueros were collecting snow for the use of the inhabitants of the coast. Here commence the Malpays, a tract entirely destitute of mould, and covered with fragments of lava, which, sinking beneath the feet, rendered the ascent very laborious. The guides now earnestly dissuaded them from proceeding farther, and were found, on examination, never to have themselves reached the summit. At the extremity of the Malpays, however, the travellers came to a small plain, whence they saw rising the cone of the piton. This hillock is extremely steep, and is so covered with volcanic ashes and fragments of pumice stone, as to render the ascent scarcely possible. They succeeded only by following a current of old lava, the wrecks of which formed a wall of scorious rocks, by grasping the points of which, in half an hour, they reached the top. This volcano appeared to Humboldt the most difficult to ascend of any lie had seen, except that of Jorullo in Mexico

On arriving at the summit, our traveller was surprised to find scarcely room to sit down. The crater was inclosed with a small circular wall of porphyritic lava, with a basis of pitchstone. This wall, at a little distance, has the appearance of a small cylinder or a truncated cone. It would have entirely blocked up the approach to the crater, had there not been a breach on the east side, through which they descended into the funnel. They found it of an elliptic form, 300 feet in length and 200 in [7:6:74]breadth. It is remarkable that these dimensions are only a fifth part of those of the crater of Vesuvius. In fact, very lofty volcanoes usually throw out the matter by lateral openings, so that some of the greatest among the Andes have very small apertures at the summit. The inside of the funnel indicated the appearance of a crater which had not thrown out fire for thousands of years. There were none of those layers of scoriae and ashes which mark recent volcanic action; the floor was strewed with fragments of stony lavas, which the action of time had detached from the sides. The strata along the edges were very irregularly piled over each other, exhibiting various grotesque ramifications. The inclosing wall is snow white at its surface, owing to the action of sulphuric acid gas on pitchstone porphyry. The aspect of the whole is rather curious than awful. “The majesty of the site consists in its elevation above the level of the ocean, in the profound solitude of those lofty regions, and the immense space over which the eye ranges.”

The view from this point is described by Humboldt as interesting in a very peculiar manner. He observes, “Travellers have learnt by experience, that views from the summit of very lofty mountains are neither so beautiful, picturesque, nor varied, as those from the summit of heights which do not exceed that of Vesuvius, Riga, or Puy-de-Dome. Colossal mountains, such as Chimboraço, Antisana, or Mount Rosa, compose so large a mass, that the plains, covered with rich vegetation, are seen only in the immensity of distance, where a blue and vapoury tint is uniformly spread over the landscape. The Peak of Teneriffe, from its slender form and local position, unites the advantages of less lofty summits to those which rise from very great heights. Vie not only discover from its top a vast expanse of sea, but we see also the forests of Tenerifte, and the inhabited part of the coasts, in a proximity fitted to produce the most beautiful contrasts of form and colouring. The volcano seems as if it crushed with its mass the little isle which serves for its basis, and shoots up from the bosom of the waters to a height three times loftier than the region where the clouds float in the summer.” The remarkable transparency of the atmosphere increases greatly the apparent proximity in which the hamlets, vineyards, and gardens on the coast are beheld.

The Peak appeared to Humboldt to be composed entirely of volcanic products, without any mixture of primitive rocks. It is peculiarly distinguished by the vast quantity of obsidian, a substance not found in the immediate vicinity of almost any other volcano. It alternates with, and passes into pumice, in a manner which convinced our traveller that pumice was merely tumefied obsidian. These two rocks, together with a porphyry consisting of vitreous lava in a basis of pitchstone, composed the whole upper part of the Peak. Although the crater was entirely silent, yet, near the summit, vapour, which condensed into pure water, issued from different spiracles, called the Nostrils of the Peak.

The active volcanoes of Teneriffe arc considered by Humboldt as merely lateral eruptions of the great volcano. The only one recently in operation is the volcano of Cahorra, situated on the west side of the Peak. After a long silence, it began its discharge on the night of the 8th of June 1798. A hollow and stifled sound was first heard, like that of distant thunder; then a louder noise, like that of matter in violent ebullition; after which another sound, which resembled a great discharge of artillery. A short interval still elapsed, till the liquefied substances began to ascend. Four mouths were opened, of which the two highest threw up only red-hot stones. The third poured out lava, but slowly; and it is fortunately surrounded by a rampart of rocks, the interval between which and the volcano must be filled up before the stream could reach the cultivated fields.

Humboldt observed the other islands merely by sailing along their coasts. Lancerota exhibited every mark of having been recently overwhelmed by volcanic agency. This appears to have taken place in 1730, when nine villages were entirely destroyed. The summit of its great volcano did not appear to exceed 300 toises. The coast of Graciosa is distinguished by rocks of basalt 500 or 600 feet in height, which frown in perpendicular walls over the ocean, like the ruins of vast edifices. One of them so exactly resembled a castle, that the French captain saluted it, and sent a boat on shore to make some inquiries of the governor.

All the rocks which Humboldt observed were thus either volcanic or of very recent trap formation. Μ. Broussonnet, however, who spent a long time upon these islands, stated that Gomera was composed of the primitive rocks of granite and mica slate. The Grand Canary has never been explored; but it struck Humboldt as wearing a different aspect from the rest, its mountains being disposed in parallel chains.

The eastern side of the island of Teneriffe is entirely naked and barren, but the northern and western sides are beautiful and fertile. It does not produce two thirds of the corn necessary for its own consumption, but is supplied from the other islands. Santa Cruz, the Capital, is situated on the eastern side, the convenience of the harbour and situation compensating for the barrenness of the surrounding country, it supports itself by trade, forming as it were a great caravanserai between Spain and the Indies. English ships often touch at this port for fresh provisions, which are obtained of excellent quality, though chiefly from the neighbouring island of Canary. The appearance of this city, which exhibits houses of dazzling whiteness, with flat roofs, and windows without glass, stuck against a perpendicular wall of basaltic rocks, appeared very unpleasing to Humboldt. The streets, however, are neat, with foot-walks on each side. The houses within are remarkably spacious; the halls and galleries so extensive as, in Μ. Bory de St Vincent’s opinion, to exclude the comfortable feeling of a house, and rather to suggest that of an open space. The roadstead is excellent, and forms the chief recommendation of Santa Cruz. The harbour is well built, but the landing difficult, and even dangerous. The population is estimated at about 8000 souls.

Laguna i⅛ the nominal capital of Teneriffe, and contains the tribunals belonging to the island; but since the volcano of 1706 destroyed its port of Garachico then the finest on the island, its commerce has been supplanted by that of Santa Cruz, and it has been in a state of rapid decline. It still, however, contains 9000 inhabitants. The situation is beautiful, about 350 toises higher than that of Santa Cruz, and crowned by a wood of laurel, myrtle, and arbutus, which maintains a delightful coolness. The situation of Orotova is still finer, and it is refreshed by numerous rivulets passing even through the streets. Its aspect, however, is gloomy and deserted, and it is chiefly inhabited by a haughty race of nobility. The population amounts to 7000, with 3000 in its port of Santa Cruz. The road is bad.

The other islands have been very little examined. The Grand Canary is said to surpass Teneriffe in fertility, but has been much neglected. Its chief town, Ciudad de las Palmas, contains upwards of 9000 inhabitants, and is the ecclesiastical capital of the islands. Lancerota and Fuerteventura are the most arid, and their soil so nearly resembles that of the African continent, that thecamel has been introduced with success.
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The following statement is given by Humboldt of the progressive population of the different islands:—
[table]

Hassel reckons 181,000; but Tarrente (Geografia Universal, 1828) states the result of the last census to be 196,517. He does not, however, give the distribution of this number among the different islands.

The inhabitants are said to be of an active and industrious disposition. They have emigrated in great numbers to the different parts of South America, where they are supposed to be as numerous as in their native islands. They are fond of considering these as a portion of European Spain, to whose literature they have made some not unimportant additions, by the labours of Clavijo, Vieyra, Yrairte, and Betancourt. A most formidable list of prohibited books is exhibited at Laguna, but this only whets their avidity for these forbidden treasures.

The chief article of export is wine, of which the average produce in Teneriffe is estimated by M. Bory de St Vincent at 22,000 pipes. Lord Macartney reckons 25,000, and Mr Anderson (in Cook’s Third Voyage) 40,000; but this last amount is doubtless greatly exaggerated. A large proportion is consumed in the island; the export, chiefly to Britain and America, amounts to 8000 or 9000 pipes. The other exports are brandy, raw silk, soda, and some fruits, which, however, are not equal in quality to those of Portugal. The revenue amounts to 242,000 piastres, (e.) Canary-Bird. See Ornithology.