eed. The passes
of these mountains are so difficult of access, that a few resolute men
might defend them against an army. The other three islands of this group,
Grand Canaria, Teneriffe, and Palma, which are larger and better peopled
than the other four, are still unsubdued and possessed by the aboriginal
idolaters. Grand Canaria has between eight and nine thousand souls, and
Teneriffe, which is the largest of all these islands, is said to contain
fourteen or fifteen thousand, and is divided into nine separate lordships.
Palma, however, has very few inhabitants, yet it appears to be a very
beautiful island. Every lordship seems to have its own mode of religious
worship; as in Teneriffe, there were no less than nine different kinds of
idolatry; some worshipping the sun, others the moon, and so forth. They
practise polygamy, and the lords have the jus primae noctis, which is
considered as conferring great honour. On the accession of any new lord,
it is customary for some persons to offer themselves to die as a
sacrifice to his honour. On this occasion, the lord holds a great
festival on his accession day; when all who are willing to give this
cruel proof of their attachment, are attended to the summit of a high
cliff in a certain valley, where, after some peculiar ceremonies, and
certain words muttered over them, the victims precipitate themselves from
the cliff, and are dashed to pieces. In reward of this sanguinary homage,
the lords consider themselves bound to heap extraordinary honours and
rewards on the parents of the victims.

Teneriffe, which is the largest of these islands, and the best inhabited,
is one of highest islands in the world, and is seen in clear weather from
a great distance; insomuch, that I was informed by some mariners, that it
had been descried at the distance of between sixty and seventy Spanish
leagues, which make about 250 Italian miles. In the middle of the island,
there is a prodigiously high peaked mountain, shaped like a diamond,
which is always burning. I received this account from some Christians,
who had been prisoners in the island, who affirmed that it was fifteen
Portuguese leagues, or sixty Italian miles, from the bottom of the
mountain to the top of the peak.

They have nine lords on this island, who are called dukes, and who do not
succeed by inheritance or descent, but by force; on which account they
have perpetual civil wars among themselves, in which they commit great
slaughter.