856 CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT 



"Oct. 27th" (Barros, and Camoens iv. 60 to 64), John II. succeeded by Manuel, fourteenth king 

 of Portugal. 



" 1496 A. D." (Major edit Bethenc. p. 129), the Guanches of Teneriffe subdued, and the Canary 

 Islands now entirely in Spanish possession. 



"In this year" (art de verif.), Kayt-Bay succeeded by Mohammed Abu-1-Saadat, thirty-eighth 

 Memluk sultan of Egypt. 



"The same year" (narrat., and Mason ii. 28), Pegu first visited by a European, Hieronimo di 

 Santo Stefano, who lost his companion "Dec. 27th." — Proceeding Southward, he found on Sumatra 

 a cadi who had some knowledge of Italian ; and on his way home, touched at the Maldive Islands, 

 and at Cambay was assisted with money by some Moorish merchants of Alexandria and Damascus. 

 He wrote an account of his voyage "at Tripoli in Syria, on the first of September, 1499." 



Lodoicea Seychellarum of the Seychelles Islands. A remarkable palm, bearing very large 

 double nuts, which drifting to the Maldive were long supposed to be produced there : " cocoa nuts of 

 large size" were found on the Maldive Islands by Hieronimo di Santo Stefano : — and nuts imported 

 from the Maldives were used as an antidote by the Javanese when visited by Nieuhoff in 1665. The 

 "cocos maldavica" was first ascertained by Sonnerat to be a native of the Seychelles Islands; and 

 L. Seychellarum is also described by Commerson and Labillardiere. 



"1497, June 24th" (Pasqualigo, J. W. Jones introd. Hackl. p. lxix, and Asher edit. Huds. p. 

 lxviii), under letters patent from Henry VII. of England, John or Zuan Cabot sailing from Bristol 

 Westward "seven hundred leagues" discovered land which he called Terra-primum-visa. He 

 " coasted for three hundred leagues, and landed," saw " no human being," but "found some felled 

 trees," also "certain snares which had been set to catch game, and a needle for making nets." He 

 planted a large cross "on his new-found-land," and returned to England " about August 10th." 



" In this year" (Spreng.), Schrickius editing the writings of Johannes Tollat von Vochenberg. 



Ribes rubnim of Subarctic climates. Called in Britain red currant from the diminutive raisins 

 imported from Corinth, by Turner " raisin-tree " (Prior), at Anjou " castilles " (Manage), in France 

 in the days of Dodoens p. 74S "groseille d'outre mer," names indicating foreign origin, the earliest 

 notice of the plant being " ribes Ioannis '' in this edition by Schrickius — (Spreng.): the thornless 

 "rubra grossula " called " transmarina " is mentioned by Ruel i. 106, the "ribes hortense" by Tragus 

 375, and the " ribes " bearing red fruit by Fuchsius pi. 663; but in Britain, R. rubrum is not enu- 

 merated by Tusser in 1557 among cultivated fruits (Philips), and continued rare in 1597 as appears 

 from Gerarde p. 1143: Eastward, was observed by Forskal in gardens at Constantinople, but has not 

 been met with in Greece nor in Egypt. Is said to grow wild from North Britain and Sweden as far 

 a-. Lapland (Pers., and Wats.) and throughout Siberia to Kamtchatka (Ledeb., and A. Dec.) : farther 

 E 1st, is clearly wild from the mouth of the Mackenzie throughout Canada (Hook.), at the Lake of 

 the Woods (Schwein.), in Wisconsin (A. Gray), was observed by Michaux along the Mistassiny river, 

 and by myself as far South as the flanks of the White mountains : but our gardens have been stocked 

 from Europe. 



"Dec. 21st" (Castanheda), Vasco da Gama in three ships from Portugal passing the island of 

 Cruz, containing the last landmark left by Diaz. The wind favouring "for three or four days," on 

 Christmas he gave the name of "Natal " to the new country. — "Jan. 24th," anchored within a large 

 bay at the mouth of a large river, careened the ships, and left on " Sunday, Feb. 24th : " following the 

 coast, a sambuc at anchor contained a " Moor " from Cambav who understood a few words of Arabic, 

 and a crew of caffres : after passing the shoals and bank of Snf.ila, another sail was sighted, and 

 a " caffre " obtained from it who could converse with one of Da Gama's men, " a cafre of Guine" " 

 (through the Congo Language, Stanley edit. C. Correa 79). " Thursday, March 1st " (Castanh., and 

 Barros), Da Gama " saw the four islands of .Mozambique," his crew on entering the port giving thanks 

 that they could now see houses and people. -April rst," he finally left Mozambique, and "on the 

 7th" arrived at Mombaza; "on the 15th, Easter Sunday," at Melinda ; and "on the 24th " (Barros), 

 having procured " a Guzarat pilot," sailed for Hindustan. 



Ximcnia spinosa of the Tropical shores of America, Africa, and as far as the Malayan archi- 

 pelago. A small submaritime tree, more or less spinescent, called in Telinga "oora-nechra " (Drur.), 

 in Suahili " m'peenjee," in Kinyoro " m'toondwah " (Grant) ; and the "yellow fruit of the size of wal- 

 nuts " eaten by the natives around the bay where the ships were careened — (C. Corr. i. 10), may be 

 compared : X. spinosa was observed by Grant in Unyoro and Ugani, oil extracted from its kernels. 

 Eastward, was observed by Roxburgh, and Wight, in the Circars, its " yellow fruit, which is about 

 the size of a pigeon's egg " eaten by the natives, and its pulverized wood used by the brahmins on the 

 Coromandel coast in their religious ceremonies (Drur.); but possibly through Arab or Banian traders 

 carried to Hindustan and Timor (Decaisne, and A. Dec). Westward, is known to grow on the 

 Atlantic shore of Equatorial Africa, in the maritime sands of Senegal (rl Seneg., and fl. Nigr.), 

 was o! served by Chr. Smith as far as the Congo : also on the opposite American shore, was observed 



