.2S0 Similarity between the Shelluhs habitants o f the Canary Islands. T he words between inverted commas are quotations from Glasse’s History o f the Discovery and Conquest o f the Canary Islands. The inhabitants o f Lancerotta and Fuertaventura are social and c h e e r f u l l i k e the Shelluhs o f A t la s ; “ they are fond o f singing and dancing; their music is vocal, accompanied with a clapping o f hands, and beating w ith their f e e t t h e Shelluhs resemble them in all these respects; “ The ir houses are built o f stone, without c em en t; the entrance is narrow, so that but one person can enter at a time.” The houses o f the Shelluhs are sometimes built without cement, but always with stone; the doors and entrances are low and small, so that one person only can enter. “ In their temples they offered to their God milk and butter.” Among the Shelluhs milk and butter are given as presents to princes and great m en : the milk being an emblem o f good will and candour. “ When they were sick (which seldom happened) they cured themselves with the herbs which grew in the coun try; and when they had acute pains,they scarified the part affected with sharp stones, and burned it with fire, and then anointed it with goat’s butter. Earthen vessels o f this goat’s butter were found interred in the gronnd, having been put there b y the women who were the makers, and took that method o f preparing it for medicine." The custom o f the Shelluhs on similar occasions is exactly similar ; the butter which they use is old, and is buried under ground many years in (bukul) earthen pots, and is called b u d ra : it is a general medicine, and is said to possess a remarkably penetrating quality. and Natives o f Canaria. if T h e y grind their barley in a hand-mill, made o f two stones, being similar to those used in some remote parts o f Europe. In Suse, among the Shelluhs, they grind their corn in the same way, and barley is the principle food. “ T h e ir breeches are short, leaving the knees bare ; so are those worn by the Shelluhs. “ T h e ir common food was barley meal roasted and mixed with goats milk and butter, and this dish they called Asamotan. T h is is the common food o f the Shelluhs o f Atlas, and they call it by a similar name, Azamitta. The opinion o f the author o f the History and Conquest o f the Canary Islands, is, that the inhabitants came originally from Mauritania, and this he founds on the resemblance o f names o f places in A fr ica and in the islands: for, says he, “ Telde,* which is the name o f the oldest habitation in Canaria, Orotaba, and Tegesta, are all names which we find given to places in Mauritania and in Mount Atlas. It is to be supposed that Canaria, Fuertaventura, and Lancerotta, were peopled by the A la rb e s .f who are the nation most esteemed in B a rb a ry ; for the natives of those islands named milk Aho, and barley Temecin, which are the names that are given to those things in the language o f the Alarbes o f Barbary.” He adds, that “ Among the books o f a library that was in the cathedral o f St. Anna in Canaria, there was found one so disfigured, that it wanted both the beginning and the end: it treated o f the Romans, and gave an account, that when A fr ica was a Roman * Telde o r T i l d i e is a place in the Atlas mountains, three miles east of Agadeerj the castle is in ruins. • •J- The Alarbes, this is the name that the inhabitants of Lower Suse and Sahara have, E l JrflO or Arabs.
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