The Guanches of Our Lady of Candelaria
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Serie. /l. Vol. XXI. PORTRAIT OF OUR LADY OF CA DELARIA, By JUA PEREZ, 1703. In ""r, OretffJilk's COp)l o/ Juan Nu;;.:. <le 1" Pe;;"• .. Conquista" &:c .• 1676. Reproduce,l atul "rinted /or tlJe Hakll4)1t Societ)l b)l Dotf"J,d ltlacbetl&. , 1 / THE GUANCHES OF TENERIFE THE HOLY IMAGE OF OUR LADY OF CA DELARIA A. o THE SP.\l rsH CONQUEST Al'D SETTLEl\IEl 1', BY THE FRIAR ALO, 'SO DE ESPIlTOSA OF [HE ORDER Of PREACHER.. l'rall.lattl1 anl1 el1lttl1, Illltt Ihlt' alll1 an Illtrol1uctlOll, BY IR CLEl\IE TTS l\IARKHAl\I, K.CB., LO 'DON: PRI1'TED FOR THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY. N.'Il CCC\ Ir. LO DON: PRINTEI) AT THE BIi:DFORD PRESS, 20 A. 1) 21, BEDFORDBURY, w.e. TO ETHEL TREW, WHOSE INTEREST IN THE PEOPLE OF GUIlIfAR, THE L\ND Of OUR L.\DY Of CANDELARIA, IS • 'OT CO:-lFVED TO WORDS ALONE, THIS VOLUME 1 DEDICATED BY HER fRIEND, T H E E D 1T O R. TIIE HAKL 'YT SOr:rETY. SIR CLE.IE~TS :\IARKHAM, K.CB., F.R.S., Presiden/o THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL <lF LII'ERPOOI, Vice-Prcsidrnf. THE RIGHT Ho.·. 1 HE LUHI> o·\\IHl<:H'T U~ H,\('KNEY, Vire-PrtSidOlf. rilE RIGHT Ho.·. LoRU H~.I.H,\\"F. A.·O STE.·TO.·. THO.IA B. BOWRI,'G, COLO. ·EI. tiEOHGE E.\RI. ( llL'H( 11. SIR 'A'ILLlAM ;\1. HTL' Co 'WAY THI: RE\' r' \ 'o. rUH'. "ALfo UAI.I'U. , <:':\1.G., l.\'.0.. l'. ,rl. Gl<:ORGE \\'ILI.IA.I FORHE T. Cl.E. \\'II.LIA 1 Fo 'TER B.A. THE RIGHT Ho. ::'IR G ()RG~ f'AUB.IA.· GULDJE. K.l.:\l.ti., Pru. N.(r.S ALBERT GRA \-, K.C. EDWARU HEA\\UOD, .l.A COLO 'EL SIR THO lA HU.·GERFURU HOI.DJCH, K.C:\l.G., K.lo .1. JUH. ScOTT KELTIE. LL.D. AUYIRAL 'IR ALBER'l HASn. G :\IARKHA.J, K.CB. AD IIRAL SIR FREDEHICK \\·ILLI.\~1 RICHAROS. G.C B. SIR RI<'HARD CARNAC TEMPLE, BART., C.l.E. ROL.\. 'o VE.'ABLES VER. ·ON. B.A. BASIL H. SoULSBY, B.A.. F,,·.A., Honorary Secretary. I ..~ co. TE, -T. lntroduction l'emnant - of the l;uanche Langua 'e .x The • ',ne (;uallche Sentences \. The Ori¡;in and :\IlracJes of the Ho!y Image of Our Lady uf Canclelaria . Table of the Chapters 3 Table of the :\liracles in Uook 1\' l'reface of Alonso de Espll1usa 9 Report on the Presenl Condition o{ the Image o{ Our Lady o{ Candelaria. By 11iss Ethel Trew 137 Hibliography, in Four Parts : !'\IU I. -General Hi,tory, ctc., .\.D. 1341-1907. Chronologicafh' rranged, "ilh lhe Briti. h ~Iu eum Pre -mark 139 P RT II.-Index of Aulhor , Editor,. etc., \.1'. 1341.1907 17.) P.\ R r Ir1. - Index of Tille 1 5 l' KI n'.-Lisl of otheT \\ork ,ljuoled by lhe Editur. Alphabeti- ca1l)' arranged. wilh lhe nfil!. h ~Iu eum Pre ··marks 197 lnJe. • ~03 {/ LIST OF ILL STR.\TIO.· T. \Iap of Tenerife. By the Editor 2. ::\Iap of the Territory of üur Lady of Candelana. B} the Editor XV} ]. Fac~lmile of the Title-page of Del Origm y JIill1l:ros de la Santa Imagen de mles/r" SeJlOrrl de Candelaria, by Alonso de Espinosa, 5e7'I'11a, 1594, from the Copy in the British :\Iuseum. By Donald :\Iacbeth to fue 4. Facsímile of the Colophon of the same edition. By Donald :\Iacbeth /0 fla 136 ). R.educecl facsimile of the Engra\'ed Portrait of ·ue tra "eñora de Candelaria, by Juan Perez, 1703, inserted in :\lr. Thomas Grenville's cop>, of Conquista y Antiguedades de las Islas de la Gran Cfl11an'il, by Juan i 'uñez de la Peña, ,lfadrid, 1676 (Briti~h :'.1 usellm). By Donald :'.Iacbeth. lo/ace Tille 6. Redllced facslmile of a \'lew of the Catacombs of the Guan, ches. From the British :\Iuseum copy of Allgellldne His torie del' Rdsen ::u lf~lSsa' l/I/li DllUÜ, vol il, p. 40, l'late 4, I.dP::l:::, 1748. 40. By Donald ;\[acbeth to jíla 4° Ser n Vol. 2. ~ .~ 1 ~ i ~ ~....' & I % i I ~ I ;3 " TENERIFE Seale af Miles o , , J .. • 10 I "MI C.1t MarJeham De119D R.eprodw:ed for the lla.k~ SOClety by John Bartholo",ew & Ca ,1907 INTRODUCTION. ~~tlU HE story of the discovery and settlement of the Canary Islands has long been considered by the Council as a proper and desirable subject for a volume or more in the Hakluyt Society's series. The enterprise of Jean de Bethencourt and his galIant companions is the opening chapter of the story, and 1 pro posed its translation to our former President upwards of thirty-six years ago. Sir David Dundas cordialIy approved the suggestion, and lent me his fine copy of Bergeron's edition. My dear friend, schoolfelIow, and messmate, the late Commo dore James G. Goodenough, undertook to translate and edit, and we began to make researches together: work in which he took a deep interest, and for which his linguistic and other accomplishments specialIy fitted him. But in 1871 he was calIed away on important duties connected with relief work in F rance, and in 1873 he went out to take command of the Australian Station. c10sing a most valuable and meritorious career by an heroic death two b 11 INTRODUCTIO '. years afterwards. 1 secured an equaI1y competent editor for Bethencourt in 1\1r. Major, of the British l\Iuseum, and the volume was issued to members in 1872 . The authors. Pierre Bontier and Jean le Verrier, who were Bethencourt's chaplains, knew how to tell their story. l\Ir. Major truly says that .. there is much of picturesque beauty about the quaint old narrative of the adventures of the Sire de Bethen court. \Ve find ourselves in an atmosphere of romance, albeit the story is most essentiaIly true. It lends the charm of chivalry to an expedition of discovery, undertaken at a period when chivalry was itself a reality." Mr. Major, in his learned and interesting intro duction, supplied us with an able résumé of aI1 that was previously known of the Canary Islands. The aI1usion of Strabo is foI1owed by the curious notices given by Plutarch in his Life o/ Sertorius, and by Pliny in his remarks on the career of King Juba. Ir. Major goes on to inform us of what can be gleaned from the 1\1edicean portolano of 135 I: of the acceptance of a Canarian kingly crown by Don Luis de la Cerda, the rightful King of Spain; and he gives aI1 the information to be obtained from the works of Qa da Mosto and Azurara. Bethencourt himself, and his lieutenant, Gadifer de la Salle, took possession of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, the two most eastern islands. They made descents upon Canaria, but were driven back to their ships by the inhabitants. They visited the eastern íslands of INTRODUCTION. III Palma, Gomera, and Hierro, but made no attempt on T enerife. 1t remains, then, to present the members of the Hakluyt Society with an account of the island of Tenerife, the central island, and the most interesting and important of the group; of its original inhabi tants; and of its conquest and settlement. Bethencourt and his gallant adventurers, though they never landed on the island, must often have gazed with admiration at the glorious peak of Tenerife shooting up high aboye the clouds, and at the serrated ridges of Anaga. But the conquest was left for another people, and delayed for well nigh another century. The brave Guanches had a respite. Tenerife is an island of quite exceptional beauty and interest, gifted by Nature with every attraction that can please the eye, and by every advantage of climate, soil, and position. From its backbone of volcanic mountains the beautiful peak rises into the region of perpetual snow; while from the grassy and forest-covered uplands lovely valleys and ravines slope down to the sea leve!. The gap, in which lies the city of Laguna, separates the moun tain mass, culminating in the peak, from the wild and jagged mountains of Anaga to the north, and forms a natural highway from the eastern to the western side. The various elevations ensure a great variety in the vegetation of the different zones, which has been well described by Humboldt in his personal narra b2 IV INTRODUCTION. tive. On the hilIs and in the valIeys of thc coast there is an African vegetation represented by date palms and bananas, by the famous dragon trees, the wonderful candelabra,l and several other euphorbias, and an infinity of wild flowers and ferns in the well watered ravines. Higher up, on the lower slopes of the mountains, are the dark evergreen forests with shady groves, where the nymphs and shepherds of Theocritus might have strayed, and where streams, rippling over the rocks under cool shades, suggest the abodes of fauns and hamadryads. Here f10urish the Canarian arbutus,2 laureJ,3 and laurestina4 as tall trees, the Canarian holly,5 venatico,O and myrtle,7 with the shrubby cineraria, and the cistus, on which a bright red parasite grows. Ten or a dozen kinds of ferns hang over the streams, and derive moisture from their cool spray. Higher up the forests of mighty pines commence, called tea by the natives,8 with the Jzmiperus cedrus, now nearly extinct, the fruit-bearing mocan;9 and a rich undergrowth of broom, and of escaboll lO and retama,l1 yielding never-failing supplies of firewood.