Note 38 — PRIMO VIAGGIO INTORNO AL MONDO

Eden (p. 250) adds to this account which he greatly abridges: “The lyke thynge is alſo ſcene in the Iland of ſaynt Thomas, lyinge directly vnder the Equinoctiall lyne.” Of this island of Hierro, Pory (History and description of Africa, Hakluyt Society edition, p. 100) says: “Hierro hath neither spring nor well, but is miraculously furnished with water by a cloud which over-spreadeth a tree, from whence distilleth so much moisture, as sufficeth both for men and cattel. This cloud ariseth an hower or two before the sunne, and is dissolued two howers after sunne rising.” This is an old story and is related by Pliny and founded upon fact “for both in Madeira and the Canaries the laurel and other heavy-foliaged evergreens condense abundant water from the daily mists” (Guillemard’s Magellan, p. 149). Gregorio Chil y Naranio (Estudios históricos ... de las islas Canarias, 1879) believes Pigafetta means here the island of Palma, and that the first navigators visited only the coast and so did not see the lake in the interior (Mosto, p. 53, note 9).