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amounts to many thoufands. In 1490, alfo, many thoufand perfons, Germans as wellas Flemings, refuted here, who had emigrated under the noble knight Job de Huerter,Lord of Moerkirchen, in Flanders, my dear father-in-law, to whom thefe iflands weregiven for himfelf and his defcendants by the faid Duchefs of Burgundy. In thefe iflandsgrows the Portugal fugar, fruits ripen twice in the year, and all kinds of provifion arevery cheap ; fo that they are competent to fupport a Hill greater number of inhabitantswho may go thither to feek fubfiftence.
In the year of our Lord 1431, when the infant Don Peter reigned in Portugal , twovefiels were fitted out by his orders, ftored with every requifite for two years’ fubfiftenceof the crews, and difpatched for the exploration of the countries behind St. Jago deFinifterre. Thefe vefiels, thus equipped, conftantly made fail towards the weft for thefpace of nearly five hundred German leagues. At length they one day difcoveredthefe ten iflands, and on their landing found only deferts, and birds which were fo tamethat they never avoided man ; in thefe deferts no man was found, nor any quadruped,which accounts for the tamenefs of the feathered race. On this account thefe iflandsreceived the name of Azores (Aftures) or gofs-hawks. Furthermore, in compliancewith orders from the King of Portugal , in the fucceeding year fixteen vefiels were dif-patched hither, carrying with them all kinds of domeftic animals, a portion of each ofwhich was landed on every ifland that they might multiply thereon.”
The IJland Antilia , called alfo Septe Ritade*.
“ In the year of Chrift, 734, that year in which the whole of Spain was conqueredby the Pagans from Africa , the ifland Antilia, called alfo Septe Ritade, was peopled byan archbifhop from Porto, in Portugal , accompanied by fix bilhops and a number ofChriftians, men and women, who had fled from Spain with their cattle and effedts. Itwas a Spanifh veflel which, in 1414, approached the neareft to this ifland.”
The IJland Saint Brandanf
“ In the year of Chrift, 565, Saint Brandan touched at this ifland and landed here}feeing many wonderful things 5 and after the lapfe of feven years, returned to his owncountry.”
The
* This is one of the moft remarkable things on the globe of Behaim . The Portuguefe from this ap-pear to have known, even thus early, the name of Antilles , the explanation of which term is thus given inthe great Portuguefe Dictionary of Blutean, under the head Antilhas . <( He o nome de humas pequenasilhas do archipelago da America Meridional affikchamadas, como quern differa ilhas oppoftas, ou frontierasas grandes ilhas da America.” This is the name of certain fmall iflands of the archipelago of SouthernAmerica, fo denominated to fignify their being oppofite to or limitaneous of the great iflands of America .
f “ I his ifland,’’ fays Honorius Philoponus, of the order of Benedidtines (Nova typis tranfadla navi-gatio novi orbis Indias Occidentalis R. R, patrum monachorum ordinis S. Bcnedifti, 1621 fol. pag. 14-J“ fome geographers and hydrographers call the ifland of Saint Brandun. It is fituate in the NorthernOcean, off the Cortereal region, or that of New France in North America .” It is placed, on the globeof Behaim , between the latitudes o° and 8 ° N. from 42 0 to 48° weft of the ifland of Ferro. The pofitiongiven by the defeription of Philoponus is that of Newfoundland , while excepting in his aferibing to it 3more weftern longitude than what that country has in reality (an error pardonable in his age) the ftte ofthe imaginary ifland of Behaim correfponds with that of Guiana .
This imaginary ifland feems alfo to have been called Ima, and the fabulous voyage of St. Brandan i»noticed in the fifth and fixth chapters of the Bibliotheca Horacenfl of Jean de Bos. St. Brandan is lik e '■wife mentioned in the Adlis Sanctorum, d. xvi. Maii (t. iii. p. 602) ; the paflage runs as follows :—
“ With his mailer (Brandan ) and his companions he prepared to vifit an ifland of great celebrity, fituatein thofe parts of the Ocean, and called Ima, which was faid to bear no fmall refemblance to Paradife- A
veffe*