Politics and Social Changes 



Trying fowle means as well as faire, if they 

 wont heare theire prayers, the islanders try if 

 beateing will learne them better manners ; like 

 Baals priests, who leaped and stamped on the 

 altar, when theire deaf God would not heare." 



From his hosts, the traveller heard much 

 of an Enchanted Island, which had several 

 times been seen by very credible persons 

 to the northward or north-west of Madeira. 

 The Governor had employed a French ship 

 to seek it, but in vain. This story was long 

 as persistent as that of the sea-serpent. A 

 floating island figures in the legendary history 

 of St. Brendan, that Odysseus of the sixth 

 century; and in succeeding centuries stories of 

 islands which appeared from time to time are 

 quite common. In a treaty between Portugal 

 and Spain in 1519, the former actually ceded 

 to the latter the " Island not found." It is 

 probable that this bafiling phantom was due 

 to the effects of mirage, not uncommon in 

 these latitudes. Mr. Samler Brown states 

 that he has often seen portions of the coast 

 reproduced on the horizon with a startling 

 fidelity. 



A more remarkable traveller arrived off the 



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