LETTER XIX. 



History. 



It is generally admitted that the Canary Islands are 

 the Fortunate Islands of the ancients, and many writers 

 have contended, and with some degree of plausibility, that 

 they formed a part of the vast island known under the name 

 of Atlantis. Those who are of this opinion found their 

 belief on the testimony of Plato. He represents it as a 

 large island in the western ocean, situated before or op- 

 posite to the Straits of Gades. Out of this island there 

 was an easy passage into some others which lay near a 

 large continent, exceeding in bigness both Libya and 

 Africa together. Neptune settled in this island, from 

 whose son. Atlas, came its name, and divided it among 

 his ten sons. The descendants of Neptune reigned there 

 during a period of 9,000 years. But subsequently, pro- 

 digious earthquakes and deluges took place, and in the 

 space of one day and night, the whole was brought into a 

 state of desolation, and the noble race of people who in- 

 habited it, was at once merged into the earth, and the 

 island itself being absorbed in the sea, entirely disappeared, 

 and for a long time afterwards the sea was innavigable on 

 account of the rocks and shoals that existed thereabouts.* 



Most of those who admit the foregoing remarks to be 

 true, consider the Azores, the Madeiras, the Canaries, and 

 the Cape de Verds to be the fragments of Atlantis ; and 

 contend that the Azores were connected with Ireland, 

 and that the Cape de Verds extended to the Carribee Islands. 

 One thing, however, is certain, if this be true, the whole 



* Vide Plato'3 Timaeus. 



