refer it to the colour of braise or hot coals, and its first application was to the dye-wood from the far East" (Yule's Book of Ser Marco Polo, vol. ii. p. 316). "The word brazil is found in our literature as early as the reign of Edward 1." (Talbot, English Etymologies, p. 451). French, braise; Portuguese, braza, live coals; English, brasier. The vast country known as Brazil (South America) was "so called from the discovery on its shores of a dye-wood which produced the Brazil-colour, or colour of glowing coals (Etymological Illustrations, by Isaac Taylor, M.A.).

"The Isle of Seven Cities," otherwise Antillia,1 appears in several early maps. Toscanelli's map shows his belief in the existence of this island, and Toscanelli himself, in writing to Columbus with explanations of the map or chart which he had made out as a guide of "a shorter route to the places of spices by ocean navigation," speaks as follows:"That city [Quinsay] is in the province of Mangi, or near the province of Cathay, in which land is the royal residence. But from the island of Antilia, which you know, to the very splendid island of Cipango, there are ten spaces. For that island

3

in speaking of the people of the kingdom of Lambri and Tansur, we are told: "They also have plenty of brazil. This they sow, and when it is grown to the size of a small shoot they take it up and transplant it; then they let it grow for three years, after which they tear it up by the root. You must know that Messer Marco Polo aforesaid brought some seed of the brazil, such as they sow, to Venice with him, and had it sown there, but never a thing came up. And I fancy it was because the climate was too cold."

1 The word "Antilia," or "Antillia," is the origin of the name Antilles, which, since the first decade of the sixteenth century, has been applied to the West India or American Islands.

2 Japan. This and other names of places were taken by Toscanelli from Marco Polo's book.

3 Each space on Toscanelli's map was supposed to contain two hundred and fifty miles.

abounds in gold, pearls, and precious stones, and they cover the temples and palaces with solid gold." The most ancient tradition as to the Isle of Seven Cities, otherwise Antillia, informs us that certain refugees sailed from Spain, on the occasion of the conquest of the Spanish peninsula by the Moors, in the early part of the eighth century, and after a long voyage in the "Sea of Darkness" they discovered the island. They were accompanied "by an archbishop and six bishops, each of whom built him a town." (A variant of this story declares that the ecclesiastics were "seven bishops"; another variant declares that there were "two archbishops and five bishops.") One of the legends states that when the refugees landed, the bishops burned the ships which had conveyed the party to the island, in order to prevent the desertion of their followers. The island, in the current belief of the period, " abounded with gold, with magnificent houses and temples, and high towers that shone at a distance." Ruych's map contains a legend that "Antilia was discovered by the last of the Gothic kings of Spain, who took refuge on the island after his defeat by the Moors." The various ephemeral stories, which were passed from mouth to mouth by enthusiastic believers, created among men of all grades an anxiety to obtain some particulars as to this scene of dazzling splendour. Traditions of early unsuccessful attempts were current; on the other hand, it was a popular belief that this island, like that of "St. Brandan," had been found by a number of persons, who, when they once landed on it, were compelled for ever after to remain there. The visionary land invariably faded before research, yet the belief in its existence never ceased.

The inhabitants of Madeira and Puerto Santo were for centuries under the impression that they could see at certain times, and in clear weather, land appearing in the western horizon, and ever in the same direction. This belief is said to have continued until a comparatively recent period; indeed, some people say it yet exists in a few of the credulous inhabitants.

References to "Antilla " and "the Island of the Seven Cities" appear in Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. The work of Ferdinand Columbus is regarded by students of American history as one of great value. He tells us that his father fully expected to meet with, "before he came to India, a very convenient island or continent, from which he might pursue with more advantage his main design. This hope was grounded upon the statements of many wise men and philosophers, who believed that the greatest part of this terraqueous globe was land, or that there was more land than water, and, if this were true, he assumed that between the coast of Spain and the limits of India, then known, there existed many islands and a considerable extent of mainland. A pilot of the King of Portugal, named Martin Vicente, told him that, being at one time four hundred and fifty leagues westward of Cape St. Vincent, he found and picked up in the sea a piece of wood ingeniously carved, but not with iron, which led him to believe, as the wind had been blowing from the west for several days, that the piece of wood had drifted from some island lying toward the west. Then one Pedro Correa, who had married the sister of the admiral's wife, told him that at the island of Porto Santo 1 he had seen

1 Situated to the north-west of Madeira.

another piece of wood, brought by the same winds, as nicely carved as the piece already mentioned, and that canes had been found there so thick that each joint would hold more than four quarts of wine, which reports, he said, he communicated to the King of Portugal while talking to him about these matters. The pieces of cane were shown to him. There being no place in our parts where such cane grew, he inferred it to be true that the wind had brought the cane from some neighbouring islands or else from India. For Ptolemy, in the first book of his geography, in the seventeenth chapter, says there is such cane in the eastern parts of India. And some of the people living on the islands, particularly on the Azores, told him that the west wind blew for a long time, the sea drifted some pieces of pinewood upon these islands, particularly on the islands Gratiosa and Fayal, there being no pine-wood in all these parts, and that the sea cast upon the island of Flores, another of the Azores, the bodies of two dead men, who were very broad faced and different in appearance from Christians. At Cape Verd and thereabouts, they said they once saw some covered canoes or boats, which, the people believed, were driven there by stress of weather while the persons in them were going from one island to another. Nor were these the only grounds he then had which seemed reasonable, for there were those who told him that they had seen some islands in the Western Ocean. . . . These persons he did not believe, because he discovered from their own words and statements that they had not sailed one hundred leagues to the westward. . . He says, moreover, that in the year 1484 a man came to Portugal from the

island of Madeira to beg a caravel of the king to discover a country which he affirmed he saw every year, and always after the same manner, he agreeing with others who said they had seen the island from the Azores. On this account the Portuguese placed some islands thereabouts on the charts and maps made at that time; and also because Aristotle, in his book of wonderful things, affirms that it was reported that some Carthaginian merchants had sailed over the Atlantic Ocean to a most fruitful island. . . . This island the Portuguese inserted in their maps, calling it Antilla; and though they did not give it the same situation designated by Aristotle, yet none placed it more than two hundred leagues due west from the Canaries and the Azores. Some believe it to be the Island of the Seven Cities, peopled by the Portuguese at the time that Spain was conquered by the Moors, in 714,—at which time, they say, seven bishops with their people embarked and sailed to this island, where each of them built a city; and in order that none of their people might think of returning to Spain, they burnt the ships, tackle, and all things necessary for sailing. It was also said that in the time of Prince Henry of Portugal, a Portuguese ship was driven by stress of weather to this island of Antilla, where the men went on shore, and were conducted by the islanders to their church, to learn whether or not they were Christians and acquainted with the Roman ceremonies. After perceiving that they were, the people of the island importuned them to remain till their king came, who was then absent, and who would be delighted to see them, and would give them many presents. . . But the master and the seamen were afraid of being detained, suspecting