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On the title-page stood a characteristic motto from his favourite Horace: ab ipso ferro. Possibly at this moment Luis de Leon looked forward to a period of learned leisure: O ya seguro puerto de mi tan luengo error! o deseado para reparo cierto del grave mal pasado, reposo dulce, alegre, reposado!
The knight carries a shield, on which fire and water are sculptured, and bears a banner upon his lance, with the word "DEFEROSUM," which puzzled me for some time. It should be read, I believe, "De ferro sum;" which would be good Venetian Latin for "I am of iron." SECTION XC. Fourth side. The Sun, in his house Leo.
And as the shores of Ferro, the very last of the Canary Islands, faded out of sight, the sailors burst into sighs and murmurings and tears, saying that now indeed they were sailing off off off upon the awful Sea of Darkness and would never see land any more. One of these records was a true one; this he kept for himself. The other was a false one; this he kept to show his sailors.
"Le mure me parean die ferro fosse, . . . e el mi dixe, il fuoco eterno Chentro laffoca, le dimostra rosse."
After six weeks of skirmishing, Béthencourt left Palma, and went to Ferro for three months, a large island twenty-one miles long and fifteen broad. It is a flat table-land, and large woods of pine and laurel-trees shade it in many places. The mists, which are frequent, moisten the soil and make it especially favourable for the cultivation of corn and the vine.
They saw a bird called "'Rabihorcado, which never alights at sea, nor goes twenty leagues from land," wrote the confident Columbus; "Nothing is wanting but the singing of the nightingale," he says. Sunday, the thirtieth, brought "tropic-birds" again, "a very clear sign of land." Monday the journal shows them seven hundred and seven leagues from Ferro. Tuesday a white gull was the only visitor.
And seeing that no temper of arms is of proof to secure us: "Ille licet ferro cautus, se condat et aere, Mors tamen inclusum protrahet inde caput" let us learn bravely to stand our ground, and fight him. And to begin to deprive him of the greatest advantage he has over us, let us take a way quite contrary to the common course.
On the night of Saturday the 15th September, being then near 300 leagues west from Ferro, they saw a flame of fire drop into the sea, four or five leagues S.W. from the ships, the weather being then calm, the sea smooth, and the current setting to the N.E. The people in the Ninna said they had seen some water-wagtails on the day before, at which they much admired, considering that these birds never go above fifteen or twenty leagues from land.
There are seven of these islands in all, four of which have been settled by the Christians, Lançerotta, Fuerteventura, Gomera, and Ferro; over which Herrera , a Spanish gentleman, is lord. Large quantities of an herb called Oricello or Orchel , are annually sent from these islands to Cadiz and Seville, which is used in dying, and is sent from these places to all parts of Europe.
Some people think these islands correspond to the Fortunate Isles, but others hold a contrary opinion. These islands are named as follows: Lancelota and Fortaventura are the first sighted, after which the Grand Canary, followed by Teneriffe: Gomera lies a short distance to the north of Teneriffe and the islands of Palma and Ferro seem to form a rear-guard.
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