[31] Ninguna in original, a Spanish word.
[32] MS. 5,650 adds: “otherwise called ‘labeiche.’” Labech (Italian libeccio) is simply a name for the southwest wind. This is another instance in which the French adapter adds an explanation to the Italian, thus explaining the Italian term garbino, “southwest.”
[33] MS. 5,650 reads wrongly: “sixteenth.” The so-called Genoese pilot (the author of the “Roteiro,” by which name his account will be hereafter designated, and concerning whom, see Guillemard’s Magellan, p. 145, and Mosto, p. 32, and note 4) gives the date of departure as September 21 (with which Barros agrees) and the arrival at Tenerife as the twenty-ninth (see Stanley, p. 1). Peter Martyr, Gomara, and Oviedo agree with Pigafetta, while Castanheda makes the departure in January, 1520. Hughes observes that if one keep in mind the circumstance that the day of the arrival coincided with the day dedicated by the Church to St. Michael, the date September 29 seems more admissible. However, one may reconcile the two dates of the arrival by observing that the ships stopped at Tenerife until October 2; while Herrera says that the ships fetched Montaña Roja (the Monte rosso of the text) on September 29. See Mosto, p. 53, notes 4 and 5. It should be noted that Gomara and Oviedo are not entirely trustworthy authorities, and that many times they have simply copied from authorities, such as Maximilianus Transylvanus, who is not always to be relied upon.
[34] The Canaries were known to the ancients under the names of Islands of the Blest, Fortunate Islands, and the Hesperides. The Moors knew of them under the name of Islands of Khaledat, but had no practical acquaintance with them. In the fourteenth century these islands began to be known to Europeans, especially through the Portuguese. In 1402, the Frenchman Jean de Bethencourt went there, and shortly after began their conquest under the auspices of the crown of Castile. In consequence of the settlements made by Bethencourt, the islands were definitely ceded to Spain in 1481 (see Birch’s Alboquerque, London, 1875–1884, Hakluyt Society Publications, ii, p. vi). The inhabitants of the islands were known as Guanches or Guanchinet, the latter meaning “men of Tenerife.” The inhabitants of this island, holding out longer than the others, were not subdued until 1496. See also Conquest of Canaries (London, 1877); and History and Description of Africa (London, 1896), i, pp. 99–101: both publications of the Hakluyt Society. The island of Tenerife was formerly called Nivana and by some the Island of Hell. Like all the other islands of the Canaries it is volcanic in formation, and its peak, the Teyde, is one of the largest volcanic cones known. Its latitude is 28° 15′.
[35] Guillemard conjectures that this is Punta Roxa, located at the south end of Tenerife.
[36] MS. 5,650 adds: “which is a substance needed by ships.” Herrera says that they waited three days at the port awaiting a caravel that was laden with pitch for the fleet (Mosto, p. 53, note 8).
[37] MS. 5,650 reads: “water coming from spring or river.”
[38] Eden (p. 250) adds to this account which he greatly abridges: “The lyke thynge is alſo ſcene in the Iland of ſaynt Thomas, lyinge directly vnder the Equinoctiall lyne.” Of this island of Hierro, Pory (History and description of Africa, Hakluyt Society edition, p. 100) says: “Hierro hath neither spring nor well, but is miraculously furnished with water by a cloud which over-spreadeth a tree, from whence distilleth so much moisture, as sufficeth both for men and cattel. This cloud ariseth an hower or two before the sunne, and is dissolued two howers after sunne rising.” This is an old story and is related by Pliny and founded upon fact “for both in Madeira and the Canaries the laurel and other heavy-foliaged evergreens condense abundant water from the daily mists” (Guillemard’s Magellan, p. 149). Gregorio Chil y Naranio (Estudios históricos ... de las islas Canarias, 1879) believes Pigafetta means here the island of Palma, and that the first navigators visited only the coast and so did not see the lake in the interior (Mosto, p. 53, note 9).
[39] MS. 5,650 adds: “which the sailors of the east call ‘Cyroc’” This is the Italian sirocco, which is the name for the southeast wind instead of the south. Herrera says they left the port October 2 (Mosto, p. 54, note 2).
[40] Eden (p. 250) reads incorrectly: “In this coaſt they had no maner of contrary wynds but a great calme and fayre wether for the ſpace of three ſcore and tenne dayes, in the which they came vnder the Equinoctiall lyne.”