and
that in his time the islands of the West Indies were discovered, and
called the Hesperides, after his name. He alleges many reasons in proof
of this assertion, and even says particularly, that these early
navigators sailed in forty days from Cape Verde to these islands. Others
say, that the islands of St Thomas and de Principe are the Hesperides,
and not the Antilles; which is the more probable, as these ancient
navigators only sailed along the coast, not daring to pass through the
main ocean, having no compass, nor any means of taking altitudes for
their guidance. It is not to be denied that many countries, islands,
capes, isthmuses, and points, the names of which are found in histories,
are now unknown; because, in course of ages, the force of the waters has
wasted and consumed them, and has separated countries from each other
formerly joined, both in Europe, Asia, Africa, New Spain, Peru, and other
places.

In his dialogue called Timaeus, Plato says there was anciently a great
country and large islands in the Atlantic, named Atlantides, greater than
Europe and Africa, and that the kings of these parts were lords of a
great part of Spain; but that, by the force of great tempests, the sea
had overflowed the country, leaving nothing but banks of mud and gravel,
so that no ships could pass that way for long after. It is also recorded
by Pliny[12], that close by the island of Cadiz, there was a well
inhabited island called Aphrodisias, towards the Straits of Gibraltar,
abounding in gardens and orchards; but we have now no knowledge of this
island, except from the bare mention of it in ancient authors. The Isle
of Cadiz is said to have been anciently so large as to join the continent
of Spain. The Acores are held to have been a continuation of the
mountains of Estrella, which join the sea coast beside the town of Cintra;
and the Sierra Verde, or Green-mountains, which reach the coast, near the
city of _Sasin_ in the land of _Cucu_, or the island of Moudim in which
Algarbe is situated, are supposed to have reached to Porto Santo and
Madeira. For it is considered as an indubitable fact, that all islands
derive their roots from the firm land or continent, however distant, as
otherwise they could not stand firm. Other authors say, that from Spain
to Ceuta in Barbary, people sometimes travelled on foot on dry land; that
the islands of Corsica and Sardinia were once joined; that Sicily was
united with Italy, and the Negropon