46
LIFE
A N D
VOYAGES
OF
[BOOK
I.
the distinctness with which distant objects may be discerned in their pure, transparent atmosphere.
The island, it is true, was
only seen at intervals: while at other times, and in the clearest weather, not a vestige of it was to be descried.
When it did
appear, however, it was always in the same place, and under the same form.
So persuaded were the inhabitants of the Canaries
of its reality, that application was made to the king of Portugal for permission to discover and take possession of it; and it actu ally became the object of several expeditions.
The island, how
ever, was never to be found, though it still continued occasionally to cheat the eye. There were all kinds of wild and fantastic notions concerning this imaginary land.
Some supposed it to be the Antilla men
tioned by Aristotle; others, the Island of Seven Cities, so called from an ancient legend of seven bishops, who, with a multitude of followers, fled from Spain at the time of its conquest by the Moors, and, guided by Heaven to some unknown island in the ocean, founded on it seven splendid cities.
While some consid
ered it another legendary island, on which, it was said, a Scottish priest of the name of St. Brandan had landed, in the sixth century. This last legend passed into current belief.
The fancied island
was called by the name of St. Brandan, or St. Borondon, and long continued to be actually laid down in maps far to the west of the Canaries.*
The same was done with the fabulous island
of Antilla; and these erroneous maps, and phantom islands, have given rise at various times to assertions, that the New World had been known prior to the period of its generally reputed discovery.
* See Illustrations, article“Island of St. Brandan.“