LIFE OF COLON, BY HIS SON.

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iflands, fays in his third book, that it is the nature of certain fpungy and light rocks,fo that the iflands made of them in India , fwim upon the water. So that were itnever fo true, that the faid Anthony Leme had feen fome ifland, the admiral was ofopinioh, it could be no other than one of them, fuch as thofe called of St. Brandainare fuppofed to be, where many wonders are reported to have been feen. There isalfo an account of others that lie much northward, and always burn. Juventius For-tunatus relates, that there is an account of two iflands towards the weft, and morefouthward than thofe of Cabo Verde , which fwim along upon the water. Thefe andthe like grounds might move feveral people of the iflands of Ferro and la Gomera ,as alfo of the Azores , to affirm that they faw iflands towards the well every year,which they looked upon as moll certain, and many perfons of reputation fwore it wastrue. He fays, moreover, that in the year 1484, there came into Portugal , one fromthe ifland of Madera to beg a caraval of the King, to go to difcover a country, which hefwore he faw every year, and always after the felf-fame manner, agreeing with others,who faid they had feen it from the iflands Azores . On which grounds in the chartsand maps formerly made, they placed fome iflands thereabouts ; and particularly be-caufe Ariftotle in his book of wonderful natural things, affirms, it was reported that1 'ome Carthaginian merchants had failed through the Atlantic fea to a mod fruitfulifland, as we lhall declare more at large hereafter, which ifland fome Portuguefe infertedin their maps, calling it Antilla; though they did not agree in the Situation withAriftotle, yet none placed it above two hundred leagues due well from the Canariesand Azores , which they conclude to be certainly the ifland of the feven cities, peopledby the Portuguefe at the time that Spain was conquered by the Moors in the year714- At which time, they fay, feven biffiops with their people embarked and failedto this ifland, where each of them built a city ; and to the end none of their peoplemight think of returning to Spain , they burnt the ffiips, tackle and all things necef-fary for failing. Some Portuguefe difcourftng about this ifland, there were thofethat affirmed feveral Portuguefe had gone to it, who could not find the way to itagain. Particularly they fay, that in the time of Henry, infant of Portugal , a Portu-guefe ffiip was drove by ftrefs of weather to this ifland Antilla, where the men wenton ffiore, and were led by the iflanders to their church, to fee whether they wereChriftians, and obferved the Roman ceremonies, and perceiving they did, they de-fired them not to depart till their lord came, who was then abfent, and would makevery much of them, and give them'many prefents, and to whom they would prefentlyfend advice; but the mafter and feamen were afraid of being detained, fufpeflingthofe people had not a mind to be difcovered, and might therefore burn their fliip, andfor that reafon they failed back to Portugal , hoping to be rewarded for what they haddone, by the Infante. He reproved them feverely, and bid them return quickly butthe mafter for fear run away from Portugal with the ffiip and men ; and it is re-ported, that whilft the feamen were at church in the faid ifland the boys of the ffiipgathered fand for the cook-room, the third part whereof they found to be pure gold.Among others that fet out to difcover this ifland, was one James de Fiene, whofe pilotPeter Velafquer, of the town of Palos de Moguer, told the admiral in the monafteryof St. Mary de la Rabida, that they fet out from Fayal, and failed above one hun-dred and fifty leagues fouth-weft, and in their return difcovered the ifland Flores, beingled to it by abundance of birds they faw fly that way, becaufe thofe being land and notfea fowls, they judged they could not reft but upon land : after which they failed fofar north-eaft, till they came to Cape Clare, in the weft of Ireland , where they metwith ftiff wefterly winds, and yet a fmooth fea, which they imagined was caufed by

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