The
Caravel Being In Readiness, And Furnished With Every Thing Necessary For
The Voyage, We Set Sail On The 22d Of March 1455, Having A Favourable
Wind At North-East, And By North[2], And Steered Our Course For The
Island Of Madeira.
On the 25th of that month we came to the island of
_Puerto Santo_, which is about 600 miles southward from Cape St Vincent,
whence we took our departure.
Puerto Santo was discovered by the Portuguese on All Saints day, about
the year 1418[3], and Don Henry first sent inhabitants to settle there
under Bartholomew Perestrello, whom he appointed governor. It is about
fifteen miles in circuit[4]. It bears good bread corn, and a sufficiency
of oats for its own use; and abounds with cattle and wild hogs, and
innumerable rabbits[5]. Among other trees, it produces the drago or
dragon tree, the sap or juice of which is drawn out only at certain
seasons of the year, when it issues from cuts or clefts, made with an axe
near the bottom of the tree in the preceding year. These clefts are found
full of a kind of gum; which, decocted and depurated, is the dragons-
blood of the apothecaries[6]. The tree bears a yellow fruit, round like
like a cherry, and well tasted. This island produces the best honey and
wax in the world, but not in any quantity. It has no harbour, but a good
road in which vessels may moor in safety, being well sheltered on all
sides, except the quarters between the south and east, all of which winds
make it unsafe to ride here at anchor.
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