ABSTRACT
Having, by the help of God, come to the end of this short history, it has appeared to me that it would be satisfactory to my readers, if I were to add to it some of the remarkable things in the Canary islands; which are seven in number, that is–Gran Canaria, Teneriffe, Palma, Gomera, Ferro, Lanzarotta, and Forteventura. 1 These are all in a row, and not far asunder from each other. They lie east and west, in twenty-seven degrees and a half, and about seventy (miles) from Africa. From Cape de Boldori in Spain, they are nine hundred and eighty miles. We read in some authors that 260they were called Fortunate from abounding in everything that is requisite for human life. Though Solinus, contradicting them, greatly diminishes their goodness and fertility. The Canarians (Guanches ?) however, are nearly all at an end; for I only saw one of them in Palma, who may have been about eighty years old, and was allowed a pension by the Spanish government, as a descendant of some of the principal people in the island. I occasionally talked with this man to learn their mode of living and their habits, but never could find him free from the effects of wine; for after having once tasted it, all his delight was in getting intoxicated. So much so, that I can only relate the little that I saw, or that was described to me by some old Spaniards. But before I treat of this matter, I will relate what nation (according to the opinion of some authors) first acquired the aforesaid islands. We read in the history of Peter king of Aragon, the fourth of that name, that in the year 1334 a Spanish gentleman came to him, named Don Luigi dalla Corda, a man of great experience in military affairs, who, in consequence of all his enterprises succeeding, assumed the epithet of the Prince of Fortune. This man asked for help and favour to conquer the Canary isles; and being provided with money to arm two caravels, he started with these from Cadiz, and soon arrived at Gomera. Landing a hundred and twenty men there, they were attacked with such courage and ferocity by the natives, that the greater part of them were killed. Some saved themselves by swimming off to the caravels, and others reached them safely in their boats. These few, together with the captain, who had evidently lost his command over fortune—“perduto il principato della fortuna,” melancholy and ailing, returned to Spain. 1
