"According to another account, the giant told them he knew of an island in the ocean, defended by walls of burnished gold, so resplendent that they shone like crystal, but to which there was no entrance. At their request he undertook to guide them to it, and, taking the cable of their ship, threw himself into the sea. He had not proceeded far, however, when a tempest arose and obliged them all to return, and shortly after the giant died.[202] A third legend makes the saint pray to Heaven, on Easter day, that they may be permitted to find land where they may celebrate the offices of religion with becoming state: an island immediately appears, on which they land, perform a solemn mass, and the sacrament of the Eucharist; after which, reembarking and making sail, they behold to their astonishment the supposed island suddenly plunge to the bottom of the sea, being nothing else than a monstrous _whale_.[203] When the rumor circulated of an island seen from the Canaries, which always eluded the search, the legends of St. Brandan were revived, and applied to this unapproachable land. We are told, also, that there was an ancient Latin manuscript in the archives of the cathedral church of the Grand Canary in which the adventures of these saints were recorded. Through carelessness, however, this manuscript disappeared.[204] Some have maintained that this island was known to the ancients, and was the same mentioned by Ptolemy among the Fortunate or Canary Islands by the name of Aprositus,[205] a Greek word signifying 'inaccessible,' and which, according to Friar Diego Philipo, in his book on the Incarnation of Christ, shows that it possessed the same quality in ancient times of deluding the eye, and being unattainable to the feet of mortals.[206] But, whatever belief the ancients may have had on the subject, it is certain that it took a strong hold on the faith of the moderns during the prevalent rage for discovery; nor did it lack abundant testimonials. Don Joseph de Viera y Clavijo says there never was a more difficult paradox or problem in the science of geography, since to affirm the existence of this island is to trample upon sound criticism, judgment, and reason, and to deny it, one must abandon tradition and experience, and suppose that many persons of credit had not the proper use of their senses.[207]