[11] After this mention by Pliny, the Canaries, or Fortunate Isles, are lost sight of for a period of thirteen hundred years. In the reign of Edward III of England, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, one Robert Machin sailed from Bristol for France, carrying away a lady of rank, who had eloped with him, and was driven by a storm to the Canaries, where he landed, and thus rediscovered the lost Fortunate Isles. This fact is curiously established by Major, in the _Life of Prince Henry_, so that it can no longer be regarded as an idle tale (see pp. 66-77). In 1341, a voyage was also made to the Canaries, under the auspices of King Henry of Portugal. The report, so widely circulated by De Barros, that the islands were rediscovered by Prince Henry is therefore incorrect. His expedition reached Porto Santo and Madeira in 1418-20. [12] He also speculates upon the probability of this continent having been visited by Christian missionaries. See vol. VI, p. 410. [13] Kingsborough's _Mexican Antiquities_, vol. VI, p. 285. [14] Ibid., p. 332. [15] _Monastikon Britannicum_, pp. 131-2-187-8. The fact that the word _America_ is here used, seems quite sufficient to upset the legend. [16] The Irish were early known as Scots, and O'Halloran derives the name from Scota, high priest of Phoenius, and ancestor of Mileseuis. Me quoque vicins pereuntem gentibus, inquit, Munivit Stilicho. Totam cum Scotus Iernem, Movit et infesto spumavit remige Thetys. By him defended, when the neighboring hosts Of warlike nations spread along our coasts; When Scots came thundering from the Irish shores, And the wide ocean foamed with hostile oars. [17] Speaking of Britain and Ireland, Tacitus says of the latter, that "the approaches and harbors are better known, by reason of commerce and the merchants."--_Vit. Agri._, c. 24. The Irish, doubtless, mingled with the Carthagenians in mercantile transactions, and from them they not unlikely received the rites of Druidism. [18] As the tradition of a Welch voyage to America under Prince Madoc, relates to a period _following_ the Icelandic voyages, the author does not deem it necessary to discuss the subject. This voyage by the son of Owen Gwyneth, is fixed for the year 1170, and is based on a Welch chronicle of no authority. See _Hackluyt_, vol. III, p. 1. [19] _Turkish Spy_, vol. VIII, p. 159. [20] See "Northmen in Iceland," _Sociètà des Antiquaires du Nord, Seance du 14 Mai_, 1859, pp. 12-14. [21] It is sometimes, though improperly, called the _Norse_. [22] In the time when the Irish monks occupied the island, it is said that it was "covered with woods between the mountains and the shores."