"A learned licentiate, Pedro Ortez de Funez, inquisitor of the Grand Canary, while on a visit at Teneriffe, summoned several persons before him who testified having seen the island. Among them was one Marcos Verde, a man well known in those parts. He stated that, in returning from Barbary, and arriving in the neighborhood of the Canaries, he beheld land, which, according to his maps and calculations, could not be any of the known islands. He concluded it to be the far-famed St. Borondon. Overjoyed at having discovered this land of mystery, he coasted along its spell-bound shores until he anchored in a beautiful harbor, formed by the mouth of a mountain ravine. Here he landed with several of his crew. 'It was now,' he said, 'the hour of Ave Maria, or of vespers. The sun being set, the shadows began to spread over the land. The navigators, having separated, wandered about in different directions, until out of hearing of each other's shouts. Those on board, seeing the night approaching, made signals to summon back the wanderers to the ship. They re-embarked, intending to resume their investigations on the following day. Scarcely were they on board, however, when a whirlwind came rushing down the ravine with such violence as to drag the vessel from her anchor and hurry her out to sea, and they never saw any thing more of this hidden and inhospitable island.' "Another testimony remains on record in a manuscript of one Abreu Galindo, but whether taken at this time does not appear. It was that of a French adventurer, who, many years before, making a voyage among the Canaries, was overtaken by a violent storm, which carried away his masts. At length the furious winds drove him to the shores of an unknown island covered with stately trees. Here he landed with part of his crew, and, choosing a tree proper for a mast, cut it down, and began to shape it for his purpose. The guardian power of the island, however, resented, as usual, this invasion of his forbidden shores. The heavens assumed a dark and threatening aspect; the night was approaching; and the mariners, fearing some impending evil, abandoned their labor, and returned on board. They were borne away, as usual, from the coast, and the next day arrived at the island of Palma.[209]