ad. THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



c. 1550. 



touching his owne travell, which he affirmeth, I refer 

 to the judgement of the expert in our dayes, and there- 

 fore for mine owne part I write of these Canaria Hands, 

 as time hath taught me in many yeres. 



The Hand of Canaria. 



THe Hand of Canaria is almost equal in length and 

 bredth, containing 12 leagues in length, touching 

 the which as principall and the residue, the Spanyards 

 holde opinion, that they discovered the same in their 

 navigation toward America, but the Portugals say, that 

 their nation first found the sayd Hands in their navi- 

 gation toward Aethiopia and the East Indies. 

 English men g u t truth it is that the Spanyards first conquered these 



at t epst Hands, with divers English gentlemen in their company, 

 conquest of the . ' . ,. & to . . . , . k n 



Canaries. whose posterity this present day injoyeth them, borne 



write that this Hand was named Canaria by meane of the 



number of dogs which there were found : as for example, 



Andrew Thevet sayth, that one Juba carried two dogs from 



thence : but that opinion could I never learne by any of 



the naturall people of the countrey, although I have 



talked with many in my time, and with many of their 



children. For trueth it is, that there were dogs, but 



such as are in all the Northwest lands, and some part 



of the West India, which served the people in stead of 



sheepe for victuall. But of some of the conquerors of 



those Hands I have heard say that the reason why they 



were called the Canaria Islands is, because there grow 



generally in them all fouresquare canes in great multitude 



together, which being touched will cast out a liquor as 



[II. ii. 4.] white as milke, which liquor is ranke poison, and at 



the first entry into these llands some of the discoverers 



were therewith poisoned : for many yeeres after that 



conquest the inhabitants began to plant both wine and 



sugar, so that Canaria was not so called by sugar canes. 



The people which first inhabited this land were called 



Canaries by the conquerors, they were clothed in goat 



skinnes made like unto a loose cassocke, they dwelt in 



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