r the higher hills. Fishing is a very important
industry, employing over 10,000 hands. The fleet of about 2200 boats
operates along some 600 m. of the African coast, between Cape Cantin and
the Arguin Bank. Shipbuilding is carried on at Las Palmas; and the minor
industries include the manufacture of cloth, drawn-linen (_calado_)
work, silk, baskets, hats, &c. A group of Indian merchants, who employ
coolie labour, produce silken, jute and cotton goods, Oriental
embroideries, wrought silver, brass-ware, porcelain, carved sandal-wood,
&c. The United Kingdom heads the import trade in coal, textiles,
hardware, iron, soap, candles and colonial products. Timber comes
chiefly from North America and Scandinavia, alcohol from Cuba and the
United States, wheat and flour from various British possessions, maize
from Morocco and Argentina. Large quantities of miscellaneous imports
are sent by Germany, Spain, France and Italy. Bananas, tomatoes,
potatoes, sugar and wine are exported. The total value of the foreign
trade fluctuates very greatly, and the difficulty of forming an estimate
is enhanced in many years by the absence of official statistics; but
imports and exports together probably amount in a normal year to about
L1,000,000. The chief ports are Las Palmas and Santa Cruz, which
annually accommodate about 7000 vessels of over 8,000,000 tons. In 1854
all the ports of the Canaries were practically declared free; but on the
1st of November 1904 a royal order prohibited foreign vessels from
trading between one island and another. This decree deprived the
outlying islands of their usual means of communication, and, in answer
to a protest by the inhabitants, its operation was postponed.

_History_.--There is ground for supposing that the Phoenicians were not
ignorant of the Canaries. The Romans learned of their existence through
Juba, king of Mauretania, whose account of an expedition to the islands,
made about 40 B.C., was preserved by the elder Pliny. He mentions
"Canaria, so called from the multitude of dogs of great size," and
"Nivaria, taking its name from perpetual snow, and covered with clouds,"
doubtless Teneriffe. Canaria was said to abound in palms and pine trees.
Both Plutarch and Ptolemy speak of the Fortunate Islands, but from their
description it is not clear whether the Canaries or one of the other
island groups in the western Atlantic are meant; see ISLES OF THE BLEST.
In the 12th century the Canaries were visited by