ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 65 



vulgaris, Erica tetralix, E. ciliaris, and E. cinerea; and 

 in the south, Erica arborea, E. scoparia, and E. medit- 

 terranea. The uniformity of the aspect offered by the Eucus 

 natans is greater than that of any other assemblage or 

 association of plants. Oviedo calls the fucus banks 

 "meadows/' praderias de yerva. Considering that the 

 island of Elores was discovered in 1452, by Pedro Velasco, 

 a native of the Spanish port of Palos, by following the 

 flight of certain birds from the island of Eayal, it seems 

 almost impossible, seeing the proximity of the great fucus 

 bank of Corvo and Flores, that a part of these oceanic 

 meadows should not have been seen before Columbus, by 

 Portuguese ships driven by storms to the westward. Yet 

 the astonishment of the companions of Columbus in 1492, 

 when surrounded by sea- weed uninterruptedly from the ]6th 

 of September to the 8th of October, shews that the magni- 

 tude of the phenomenon at least was previously unknown 

 to the sailors. The anxieties excited by the accumulation 

 of sea-weed, and the murmurs of his companions in reference 

 thereto, are not indeed mentioned by Columbus in the 

 extracts from the ship's journal given by Las Casas. He 

 merely speaks of the complaints and murmurs respecting 

 the danger to be feared from the weak but constant East 

 winds. It is only the son, Fernando Colon, who, in 

 writing his father's life, endeavoured to depict the fears 

 of the sailors in a dramatic manner. 



According to my researches, Columbus crossed the great 

 fucus bank in 1492, in lat. 28|- , and in 1493, in lat. 37, 

 both times in the long, of from 38 to 41 W. This is 



VOL. I. T 



