Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/703

CANARY ISLANDS OANBY 693 Teneriffe, 12,182 ft. high. The watercourses which traverse the islands are sometimes swol- len to torrents, and sometimes dry. The soil is fertile, and the climate, although at times excessively hot, and exposed to severe changes and to a pernicious hot wind from the African continent, is on the whole saluhrious. The vegetation of both the tropical and temperate zones flourishes here in great luxuriance, and has been described at length by Ilumboldt and by Von Buch. Horses and cattle are scarce, but other kinds of domestic animals abound ; only a few, however, are indigenous. The rep- tiles are limited to a small scorpion, a seolopen- dra, and the frog. Among the insects is a spe- cies of troublesome gnat or mosquito. Among the birds are the African vulture, the falcon, buzzard, sparrow hawk, kite, two species of owl, three of sea mew, the goldfinch, the quail, wren, magpie, and the canary. The only fresh- water fish is the eel. Marine fishes are scarce, but whales and seals are occasionally seen. Wine was formerly the chief article of export, the annual produce being about 40,000 pipes. But in 1853 the crop was nearly all destroyed by the grape disease, and cochineal took its place, the produce rising from 800,000 Ibs. in 1849 to 1,500,000 in 1856, and 0,037,894 Ibs. for the year ending June 30, 1870. Its com- mercial value, however, declined from about $1 per Ib. in 1866 to about half as much in 1870. The value of the entire exports from the two principal ports, Teneriffe and Las Palmas, in 1870 was about $3,200,000, of which cochineal formed $2,550,000, and vege- tables, nuts, and fruits $400,000; about four fifths of the exports were to England. Pota- toes and onions are shipped to Cuba and the West Indies; the export of wine was about $40,000. The value of the imports at these ports was about $3,100,000, of which about $1,000,000 were manufactured goods, $300,- 000 flour and grain, $260,000 guano, $275,000 sugar, molasses, and spirits, $130,000 wood and lumber, and $120,000 oil. At these ports there entered 191 stealners, tonnage 137,000, and 1,134 sailing vessels, tonnage 102,000. Of the steamers, 131 merely touched at the islands on the voyage between England and the coast of Africa; of the sailing vessels, 796 entries were from one island to another, 107 from Spain, 46 from England, 35 from France, 36 View In the Canary Islands. from the West Indies, and 11 from the United States. Some raw silk is manufactured on the spot into silks and ribbons ; coarse linen and woollen stuffs are made for home consumption ; the leaves of the date palm are made into hats and baskets; but the bulk of manufactured goods is imported. The Canaries are suppos- ed to be the islands which are mentioned by the elder Pliny, and also by Plutarch and Ptolemy, as the Fortunate islands. They were visited by Moors in the 12th century, and by Italian navigators in the 13th ; and in 1334 they were rediscovered by a Spanish vessel which had been driven thither by stress of weather. After various abortive expeditions, the first effectual attempt at conquering them was made, with the assistance of Spain, by Jean de Bethen- court, a gentleman of Normandy, in the begin- ning of the 15th century. (See BTHENOOURT.) After various conflicts, caused by the subse- quent governors of the islands, by the resist- ance of the natives, and by the claims set up by Portugal, they passed eventually into the pos- session of Spain. They are now under the same form of administration as the other provinces of Spain, and are represented in the cortes; the captain general resides at Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The inhabitants are chiefly Span- iards (slightly darker than those of the mother country), though some claim descent from the aborigines, named Guanches, who however are extinct. There are two bishoprics, and the Erevailing religion is the Roman Catholic, panish is the only language in use. CAN BY, Edward Richard Sprigg, an American soldier, born in Kentucky in 1819, killed in Siskiyou co., California, April 11, 1873. He graduated from West Point in 1839, became second lieutenant of the second infantry, served in the Florida war, and in 1842 superintended the emigration of Indians to Arkansas. In the Mexican war he fought at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, and the city of Mexico, and was twice breveted for gallantry. He became major of the 10th infantry in 1855, and colonel of the 19th in 1861. After the outbreak of the civil war he commanded in New Mexico from June 23, 1861, to Sept. 18, 1862, being stationed at Fort Craig on the Rio Grande, and engaged in the battles of Valverde, Feb. 21, and Peralta, April 15, and was made brigadier general of volunteers March -31, 1862. He was much employed by Mr. Stanton as a consulting officer in the war department, and