It is related that, in 1424, Don Henry sent a squadron with some land
forces, under Don Ferdinando de Castro, on purpose to make a conquest of
these islands; but, being repulsed by the bravery of the natives, de
Castro prudently desisted from the enterprize and returned home; and
that Don Henry afterwards resigned his claim to these islands in favour
of the crown of Castile. The Castilian writers, however, assert that both
Don Henry and the king of Portugal refused to give up these islands,
until the dispute was ended by the judgment of Pope Eugenius IV. who
awarded them to the king of Castile. These islands, anciently called the
Insulae Fortunatae, or Fortunate Islands, are seven in number, in lat.
28° N. where the longest day is thirteen hours, and the longest night the
same. They are 200 leagues distant from the coast of Spain, and 18
leagues from the coast of Africa. The people were idolaters, and eat raw
flesh for want of fire. They had no iron, but raised or tilled the ground
with the horns of oxen and goats, for want of better implements of
husbandry. Every island spoke a separate language, and many pagan customs
prevailed among the natives; but now the Christian religion is planted
among them. The commodities of these islands are wheat, barley, sugar,
wine, and Canary-birds, which are much esteemed for the sweetness and
variety of their song. In the island of Ferro they have no water but what
proceeds in the night from a tree, encompassed by a cloud, whence water
issues, and serves the whole inhabitants and cattle of the island[4].

In the year 1428, Don Pedro, the king's _eldest_[5] son, who was a great
traveller, went into England, France, and Germany, and thence into the
Holy Land and other places, and came home by Italy, through Rome and
Venice. He is said to have brought a map of the world home with him, in
which all parts of the earth were described, by which the enterprizes of
Don Henry for discovery were much assisted. In this map the Straits of