Madeira and the Canary Islands : a practical and complete guide for the use of invalids and tourists / A. Samler Brown.

  • Brown, A. Samler.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Madeira and the Canary Islands : a practical and complete guide for the use of invalids and tourists / A. Samler Brown. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    sovereignty of Spain has never been seriously disputed, both Portugal and Morocco have laid claims to the islands and Tarife& King of Fez, invaded Lanzarote in 1569, in virtue ot his descent from Atlas of Mauritania, but was forced to retire. In 1505 a large English fleet, under Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins, was repulsed off Las Palmas and met with little success at Gomera. A Dutch fleet, which followed m [599, did considerable damage to the first place, but was eventually driven away and was unable to land m the latter. In 1657 Admiral Sir Robert Blake attacked Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, and worked great havoc amongst the forts and shipping. In 1706 Admiral Jennings paid a visit without, however, opening fire. In 1743 Admiral Charles Winton made some unsuccessful attempts on Palma, Gomera and Grand Canary. Privateers seem, however, to have done a good deal of damage at this time. In 1797 Nelson attacked Santa Cruz in form but, after four days' fighting, was forced to withdraw, losing his arm, whilst standing on the mole, and two of his flags. The latter are now to be seen in one of the churches. In 1839 monasteries were declared illegal, but nuns are still allowed to take the veil on condition of depositing with the Government a small sum, about ^150, to guarantee the possession of means of livelihood. The ecclesiastical pro- perties, which were numerous, were at the same time taken possession of by the Government, in return for salaries to be paid to the bishops and priests, as agreed upon with the Pope. However interesting the later history of the Canaries may be as a harbour for Spanish galleons ; as a point of departure for Columbus on his way to the discovery of a new world ; as the site of the only direct repulse which our greatest of admirals ever suffered, or as a group of islands which, under the somewhat lax rule of Spain, has yet developed into one of the most important coaling stations of to-day ; such records, although far the most complete, precise and trustworthy, can scarcely arrest the attention of the most prosaic mind so completely as must the many social and ethnographical problems presented by the earlier traditions, so rudely handed down by mediaeval visitors or conquerors, and enshrined in a halo of romance by the fanaticism or vivid imagination of the monkish' writers by whom they were preserved. It is a vexed question from whom the inhabitants were descended. The measurements of a number of skulls, and the most elaborate researches into the construction of the languages used, have only resulted in causing a few very positive men to agree to differ. Without entering into the