Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/880

796 king, he sailed in 1404 with a strong force, which mastered Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gomera. and Hierro, without bloodshed. Being repulsed in his attempts on Palma and Canary, he returned to Europe in 1408 to obtain further assistance. He was well received at the Castilian court, where he was promised aid ; but he died shortly afterwards iu France. Bethencourt s nephew had been left governor ot t bo islands, and claimed to succeed to his uncle s rights.

Being charged with many acts of misgovernment, he went to Spain to clear himself, and whilst there sold his rights to Don Enrique de Guzman, who, after expending large sums in fruitless endeavours to reduce the unconquered islands, sold them to another Spaniard named Paraza. His successors, about 1461, took nominal possession of Canary and Teneriffe, but the natives effectually resisted their occupation of them. Meantime it appeared that Jean de Bethencourt s nephew had fraudulently made a second sale of the islands to Portugal, and the difference thus arising between the crowns of Spain and Portugal was ended by the cession of the islands to the former. Grand Canary, Teneriffe, and Palma remaining unsubdued in 1476, Ferdinand? and Isabella of Spain compelled Paraza s successors ; to sell those islands to the crown ; and the following year 1000 men were despatched to reduce them. After much bloodshed, and with reinforcements from the mother country, the Spaniards, under Pedro de Vera, became masters of Grand Canary in 1483. Palma was conquered in 1491, and Teneriffe in 1495, by Alonzo de Lugo. All the islands still continue in the possession of Spain.|1}}

Inhabitants.—As to the derivation of their original inhabitants, the Guanches, nothing certain is known. The most probable supposition is that they came from the adjoining coast of Africa. Pliny states that the islands were uninhabited at the time of which he wrote. If this were so, we might infer, from the absence of any trace of Mahometanism amongst the people found there by the Spaniards, that the migration took place between the time to which his account refers and the time of the conquest of Barbary by the Arabs. Many of the Guanches fell in opposing the Spanish invasion, many were sold by the conquerors as slaves, and many conformed to the Roman Catholic faith and intermarried with the Spaniards, so that all trace of them as a distinct race is lost. They were said to be of tall stature, and Humbohlt styles them the Patagonians of the Old World; but the skeletons of Guanches when measured have been found to be less than average skeletons of Europeans. The Guanches embalmed the bodies of their dead, and placed them in caves ; and many mummies have been found at different times in a state of extreme desiccation, eoch weighing not more than 6 or 7 ft). Two inaccessible caves in a vertical rock by the shore, three miles from Santa Cruz (Teneriffe), are said still to contain bones. A few words of the languages spoken by the ancient inhabitants have been preserved, and a resemblance of some of them to words of North African dialects has been noticed. On the other hand, the Guanches had customs, such as that of preserving their dead, in which they differed from the Berbers. Councillor Von Loher, one of the most recent investigators of the question, finds that the names of places in the interior of the island are generally either of Berber or of Teutonic origin, and maintains that the Guanches were in all probability the descendants of Vandal and Gothic immigrants. The present inhabitants are slightly darker than the people of Spain, but in other resp2cls arc scarcely dis tinguishable. The men are of middle height, well-made, and strong ; the women are not striking in respect of beauty, but they have good eyes and hair. Spanish is the only language in use. The people have most of the traits of the people of the peninsula ; they are sober, but given to gambling ; they are quick, but lazy, faithless, and supersti tious. The lower orders are quite illiterate, and the better classes not very enlightened. A few booksellers shops of a minor description exist at Santa Cruz and Las Pal mas. The sustenance of the lower classes is chiefly composed of fish, potatoes, and f/nfio, which is merely Indian corn or wheat roasted and then, when ground, kneaded with water or milk.

Government, &c.—The Archipelago is politically con sidered part of the province of Andalusia. The governor- general, who resides at Santa Cruz, has chief command both in civil and military affairs. The actual administration of affairs is in the hands of two lieutenant-governors, who reside at Santa Cruz and Las Paltnas. On the other islands are deputy-governors, acting under the lieutenant-governor to whose district they belong. The military force is com posed of a battalion of soldiers of the line, numbering about 1000 men; six regiments of militia, amounting to about 8000 men, distributed amongst the islands ; and a few companies of artillery, There is a military commander on each island. The great court of appeal sits at Las Pal mas. Courts of first instance sit at Santa Cruz, Orotava, and Las Piilmas. The land in great part is strictly entailed. The islands form two bishoprics, Teneriffe and Grand Canary. The whole ecclesiastical revenue is estimated at upwards of 36,000. The monkish establishments have been sup pressed, and such of the monasteries and convents as are not kept up for secular purposes are falling to ruin. No form of religion except the Roman Catholic is tolerated.

Climate and Meteorology.—From April to October a north or north-east wind of more or less strength blows upon the islands, commencing at 10 A.M. and continuing until 5 or 6 P.M. In summer this wind produces a dense stratum of sea cloud (cumuloni), 1000 feet thick, whose lower surface is about 3500 feet above the sea at Teneriffe. This does not reach up to the mountains, which have on every side a stratum of their own, about 500 feet thick, the lower surface being about 2500 feet above the level of the sea. Between these two distinct strata there is a gap through which persons on a vessel approaching or leaving the island may obtain a glimpse of the peak. Travellers who ascend the mountains look down on these stationary layers of cloud. The sea cloud conceals from view the other islands, except those whose mountains pierce through it. On the south-west coasts there is no regular sea or land breeze. In winter they are occasionally visited by a hot south-east wind, called Levantc, from the African continent, producing various disagreeable consequences on the exposed parts of the person, besides injuring the vegetation, especially on the higher grounds. Locusts have sometimes been brought by this wind. In 1812 it is said that locusts covered some fields in Fnerteventura to the depth of 4 feet. Hurricanes, accompanied by waterspouts, sometimes cause much devasta tion ; but, on the whole, these islands are singularly free from such visitations. The climate generally is mild, dry, and salubrious. On the lower grounds the temperature is equable, the daily range seldom exceeding 6 Fahr. The rainy season occurs at the same period as in southern Europe. The dry season is at the time of the trade-winds, which extend a few degrees farther north than this latitude. &quot;In no part of the world is the barometer more susceptible of atmospheric changes than amongst the Canary Islands. A rapid rise is the sure precursor of an easterly wind, whilst the contrary as certainly indicates a change to west or south-west &quot; (Lieut. Arlett).

Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce.—In ordinary years sufficient grain and potatoes are produced to supply the wants of the islands. The soil on the lower part of the islands, where water is plentiful, is productive; in some places two crops of Indian corn and one of potatoes 