CANARY ISLANDS 



121 



situated about 10,000 stadia from the coast of Africa. 

 These flattering descriptions seemed to offer so much tran- 

 quillity to the harrassed partizan of Marius, that Sertorius, 

 in a moment of despondency, had resolved to embark ; but 

 the war which broke out in Africa awakened the military 

 spirit which he possessed in so eminent a degree. He 

 therefore returned to scenes more congenial with his nature, 

 delivered the Mauritanians from the yoke of a tyrant, and 

 having accepted the proffered friendship of the Lusitanians, 

 was invested by them with absolute authority. The infor- 

 mation which Sertorius had received respecting these 

 islands, and the disposition he had manifested to reside 

 there, induced others to make the voyage. About twenty 

 years afterwards, Statins Sebosus collected the various 

 accounts that had prevailed, and whatever journals had 

 appeared ; but vahily attempting to make such narratives 

 agree, he was led into errors which required more than 

 fourteen hundred years to correct. 



The short account which Juba, the young king of Mau- 

 ritania composed, respecting some islands in the Atlantic, 

 was preserved, and confused by Pliny. In this royal jour- 

 nal of maritime discovery, a new island is added to the 

 number which Sebosus had previously mentioned. 



The following table exhibhs the names of these islands 

 as described by Sertorius, Plutarch, Sebosus, Juba, and 

 Ptolemy, corresponding with their modern names : — 



Ombrios is described by Juba as being uninhabited. 

 The Mauritanian seamen found a pond in the mountains, 

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