The History of the Discovery and Conquest of the Canary Islands - Translated From a Spanish Manuscript, Lately Found in the Island of Palma; With an Enquiry Into the Origin of the Ancient Inhabitants, to Which Is Added, a Description o... #245563

There is no reason to doubt that the ancients had some knowledge of the Madeira, Canary, and Cape de Verd Islands, with the adjacent coast of Africa; but their accounts of these places are so indistinct and confused, that one is at a loss to know which of them they describe; yet the nature and situation of them being known, he must convinced that they were acquainted with them all, but confounded them together under the common name of the Fortunate Islands.<br><br>The islands Madeira and Porto Santo seem to answer to the description of the Fortunate Islands in Plutarch's Life of Sertorius, which is as follows: "When Sertorius was at the mouth of the river Bœtis, in Spain, he met with seamen newly arrived from two islands in the Atlantic, which are divided from one another only by a narrow channel, and are distant from the coast of Africa ten thousand furlongs: these are called the Fortunate Islands, where the rain falls seldom, and then in moderate showers; but, for the most part, they have gentle breezes, bringing along with them soft dews, which render the soil not only fat and fit to be ploughed and planted, but so abundantly fruitful, that it produces of its own accord plants and fruits for plenty and delicacy sufficient to feed and delight the inhabitants, who may here enjoy all things without trouble or labour.