The East End Of The Island Is A High Land Like A
Saddle, Having A Valley Which Gives It That Appearance; While The West
End Is Lower, With Several Small Round Hillocks[227].
Porto Santo is in
about lat.
33 deg. N. The same day at 11 o'clock A.M. we raised the island
of Madeira, which is 12 leagues S.W. from Porto Santo. Madeira is a fine
and fertile island belonging to the Portuguese, and rises from afar like
one great high mountain. By 3 P.M. being athwart of Porto Santo, we set
our course to the S.W. leaving both Madeira and Porto Santo to the
eastwards, being the first land we had seen after leaving England. About
three next morning we were abreast of Madeira, within three leagues of
its west end, and were becalmed under its high land. We estimated having
run 30 leagues in the past day and night. The 4th we remained becalmed
under the west end of Madeira till 1 P.M. when the wind sprung up at
east, and we continued our course S.W. making in the rest of that day 15
leagues. The 5th we ran 15 leagues.
[Footnote 226: Hakluyt, II. 480, Astl. I. 150. - From several passages in
this journal it appears that Towerson had been on the former voyage to
Guinea with Captain Lock; but in the present voyage he appears to have
acted as captain or chief director, and seems to have been the author of
the journal here adopted from Hakluyt. - Astl. I. 150, 2.]
[Footnote 227: The saddle-backed hills of old navigators, are to be
considered in reference to the old demipique or war-saddle, having high
abrupt peaks, or hummocks, at each end, with a flattish hollow
between. - E.]
The 6th in the morning we got sight of _Teneriffe_, otherwise called the
Peak, being very high land, with a peak on the top like a sugar loaf;
and the same night we got sight of _Palma_, which also is high land and
W. from Teneriffe [W.N.W.] The 7th we saw _Gomera_, an island about 12
leagues S.E. from Palma, and eight W.S.W. from Teneriffe; and lest we
might have been becalmed under Teneriffe, we left both it and Gomera to
the east, and passed between Palma and Gomera. This day and night our
course was 30 leagues. These islands, called the Canaries, are 60
leagues from Madeira, and there are other three islands in the group to
the eastward of Teneriffe, named _Gran Canarea_, _Fuertaventura_, and
_Lancerota_, none of which we saw. All these islands are inhabited by
Spaniards. On this day likewise we got sight of the Isle of _Ferro_,
which is 13 leagues south from Gomera, and belongs to the Spaniards like
the others. We were unable all this day or the following night to get
beyond Ferro, unless we had chosen to go to the westwards, which had
been much out of our proper course; wherefore we put about, and stood
back five hours E.N.E. in hope of being able to clear it next tack, the
wind keeping always S.E. which is not often met with in that latitude by
navigators, as it generally keeps in the N.E. and E.N.E. Next morning,
being on the other tack, we were nearly close in with the island, but
had room enough to get clear past.
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