Arras (p. 152).—[The siege of this place began in Sept. 1414.]—S.
[124] (p. 152). Lançarote ... Stevam Affonso.—See Introduction to vol. ii, p. xii, and note 77; pp. 60-80, 83, 86 of this version.
[125] (p. 152). In that year [viz. 1447].—S. The place is of course Lagos.
[126] (p. 153). Dinis Diaz [see ch. xxxi].—S. See pp. 98-100 of this Chronicle. Also Introduction to vol. ii, p. xii, and notes 93, 94, 95, etc.
[127] (p. 153). Tristam ... Zarco ... Lagos.—See Introduction to vol. ii, pp. ix, xii, xcix-cii, notes 76, 80, and pp. 192, 213, 225-9, 244-8, 60-2, 79, 83, etc., of this Chronicle.
One of Zarco's caravels was under the command of Alvaro Fernandez, the only captain on this expedition who accomplished much (see ch. lxxxvii, and Introduction to vol. ii, p. xii).
[128] (p. 156). [This bird is the Buceros nasutus of Linnæus, the same that the French call Calao-Tock. Notwithstanding some exaggeration which may be noted in the description of Azurara, it is beyond doubt that the bird of which he treats here is that which the Negroes of the Senegal call Tock, and which the Portuguese named Cróes. Latham calls it Buceros Africanus.
Brisson made two species, Linnæus and Latham two varieties; but Buffon considered them as individuals of the same species, a fact which is otherwise witnessed to by Sonini. Buffon says that the beak, considered apart from the body, is a foot in length and of enormous size (see Buffon, Plate 933). The "work" of which Azurara speaks is not due only to the pores of the beak, but chiefly to a series of cuts or incisions, in the form of half-moons, which this bird has upon its beak. It was the famous naturalist Aldrovandi who first gave a picture of the enormous beak of this bird; but the oldest description of it is certainly that given by Azurara. It was not, therefore, Père Labat who first among travellers saw and carefully observed this notable bird, but Lourenço Diaz and the other Portuguese, his companions in 1447: that is, at a date almost three hundred years before Labat. On this bird the reader may also consult the Memoir of Geoffroi de Villeneuve (Actes de la Société d'histoire naturelle de Paris).]—S.
[129] (p. 158). Isle of Herons.—[Since it was to these islands on the coast of Africa, that, in the first epoch of our discoveries, expeditions (by preference) usually directed their course, in conformity with the instructions of the Infant, for the reasons which (in part) Barros gives us (note 97, p. 104, note 79, p. 78 of this version). We have already indicated their position to the reader, conformably to the ancient charts, but we have nevertheless thought well, for the better illustration of the matter, to point out here their true position. In some maps, and among others on that of the famous Livio Sanuto, on the first sheet of his Africa, these islands are placed thus:—The Isle of Herons in the most northerly part of all the group, Tider in the most southerly of all, and the Isle of Nar (Naar) between the two.]—S.