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granza is synonimous with the Joyous*, which 

 was given it by the first conquerors of the Ca- 

 nary Islands, two Norman barons, Jean de Be- 

 thencourt, and Gadifer de Salle. This was the 

 first point on which they landed. After remain- 

 ing several days at Graciosa, a small part of 

 which we examined, they conceived the project 

 of taking possession of the neighbouring isle of 

 Lanzerota, where they were welcomed by 

 Guadarfia, sovereign of the Guanches, with the 

 same hospitality that Cortez found in the palace 

 of Montezuma. The shepherd king, who had 

 no other riches than his goats, became the vie 

 tim of coward treachery, like the sultan of 

 Mexico. 



We sailed along the coasts of Lanzerota, of the 

 island of Losbos, and of Fortaventura. The se- 

 cond of these islands seems to have anciently 

 formed part of the two others. This geological 

 hypothesis was started in the seventeenth cen 

 turyby a Franciscan, Juan Galindo. This writer 

 even supposed that, the king, Juba,had named six 

 Canary Islands only, because, in his time, three 

 among them were contiguous. Without admit- 

 ting the small probability of this hypothesis, 

 learned geographers have seemed to recognize, 

 in the Archipelago of the Canaries, the two isles 



* La Joyeuse. 

 H 2 



