Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/89

 INHABITANTS OF THE CANAEIES. 68 being frank and pleasant, corresponding to an unsuspicious, cheerf id, and mild disposition. Endowed with marvellous agility, they bounded like deer from rock to rock, and such was their strength that with two or three blows of the fist they would break a shield to pieces. They went naked, jor clad with a light garment of grass or a few goatskins, smearing the body with fat or the juice of certain herbs to render it insensible to changes of temperature. Men and women also painted themselves in green, red, or yellow, expressing by such colours their particular affections. Marriage usages differed greatly from island to island, monogamy prevailing in Teneritfe, while polyandria is said to have been practised in Lanzarote. But the women were everywhere respected, an insult offered to any of them by an armed man being a capital offence. The natives were also very religious, vener- ating the genii of the mountains, springs, and clouds, addressing invocations to them, unaccompanied, however, by bloody sacrifices. In times of drought they drove their flocks to the consecrated grounds, where the lambs were separated from the ewes, in order to propitiate the Great Spirit with their plaintive bleatings. During the religious feasts a general truce suspended all civil strife and even private quarrels ; all became friends for the time being. Priests and priestesses were highly venerated ; and in Gran Canaria a/a'iean, possibly the Amh f aid/? , or fakir, presided at the great solemnities, his power acting as a check on that of the gaanarteme, or political chief. In some islands the authority of these chiefs was absolute, while elsewhere small feudatories were united in confederacies. In Teneriffe aU the land belonged to the menceijR, or "■ kings," who leased it out to their subjects. The haughty nobles claimed descent from an ancestor created before that of the poor, who had been commanded to serve him and his race for ever. They looked on manual labour as degrading, and they were especially forbidden to shed the blood of animals, although they might boast of slaughtering men on the battlefield, and burning or quartering their Spanish captives. Nevertheless, they did not con- stitute an exclusive caste, as any plebeian might become ennobled through favour or in virtue of some great deed. The power of the chiefs was also limited by a supreme council, which discussed the affairs of state, judged and sentenced criminals. In Gran Canaria suicide was held in honour, and on taking possession of his domain a lord always found some wretch willing to honour the occasion by dashing himself to pieces over a precipice. In return the nobleman was held greatly to honour and reward with ample gifts the victim's parents. In Palma the aged were at their own request left to die alone. After saluting their friends and relatives, and uttering the words Vaca guare, " I wish to die," they were borne on a couch of skins to the sepulchral grotto, and a bowl of milk placed by their side. Then all retired, never to return. The method of interment varied with the different islands. In Teneriffe numerous embalmed mummies in a perfect state of preservation have been exhumed from the sepulchral caves and vaulted chambers covered with vegetable humus. These mummies, which belonged to the wealthy classes, were carefully wrapped in skins sewn together with