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Legendary islands of the Atlantic; a study in medieval geography

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Autolocus
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« Reply #105 on: July 19, 2009, 03:44:53 am »

EQUESTRIAN STATUES 169

Atilie. But perhaps the best and most apposite account is that of
Manuel de Faria y Sousa in the "Historia del Reyno de Portugal :"

In the Azores, on the summit of a mountain which is called the moun-
tain of the Crow, they found the statue of a man mounted on a horse
without saddle, his head uncovered, the left hand resting on the horse,
the right extended toward the west. The whole was mounted on a pedes-
tal which was of the same kind of stone as the statue. Underneath some
unknown characters were carved in the rock. 12

Apparently the reference is to the first ascent of Corvo after its
rediscovery between 1449 and 1460. The mention of "characters"
recalls those found in a cave of St. Michael, also by rediscoverers,
during the same period, as related by Thevet 13 long afterward,
most likely from tradition. A man of Moorish-Jewish descent,
who was one of the party, thought he recognized the inscription
as Hebrew, but could not or did not read it. Some have supposed
the characters to be Phoenician. There is naturally much uncer-
tainty about these stories of very early observations by untrained
men, recorded at last, as the result of a long chain of transmis-
sions: but they tend more or less to corroborate the other evi-
dences of Phoenician presence.

It may be possible that the persistent and widely distributed
story of westward-pointing equestrian statues marking important
islands may have grown out of the ancient mention of the pillars
of Saturn, afterward Hercules, and Strabo's discussion 14 as to
whether they were natural or artificial in origin; but this puts a
severe strain on fancy. We know that the Carthaginians did set
up commemorative columns; and that the horse figured conspicu-
ously in their coinage. Nothing in the enterprising character of
the Phoenician people is opposed to the idea of incitement to ex-
ploration westward. It seems easier to believe that they set up
these statuary monuments on one island after another than that
the whole tradition has grown out of a misunderstanding. Such

u Humboldt, Examen critique, Vol. 2, p. 227.

w Andre Thevet: La cosmographie universelle, 2 vols., Paris, IS7S; reference in
Vol. 2, p. 1022.

14 The Geography of Strabo, transl. by H. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer (Bonn's
Classical Library), 3 vols., London, 1854; reference in Vol. i, pp. 255-257.



170 CORVO

statues might well vanish subsequently as completely as the great
silver "tabula" map of Edrisi and many other valuable things of
olden time.

Corvo has no statue now; but it is reputed to hold a statue's
representative. Captain Boid (1834) relates:

Corvo is the smallest, and most northerly of the Azores, being only
six miles in length, and three in breadth, with a population of nine hun-
dred souls. It is rocky and mountainous; and on being first descried,
exhibits a sombre dark-blue appearance, which circumstance gave rise
to its present name, whereby it was distinguished by the early Portuguese
navigators. . . . It is not known at what period this island was first
visited, though from a combination of circumstances, it is supposed, about
the year 1460. The inhabitants are ignorant, superstitious, and bigoted,
in the highest degree, and relate innumerable ridiculous traditions re-
specting their country. Amongst other absurdities they state, with the
utmost gravity, that to Corvo is owed the discovery of the western world
which, they say, originated through the circumstance of a large pro-
jecting promontory on the N. W. side of the island, possessing somewhat
of the form of a human being, with an outstretched arm toward the west;
and this, they have been led to believe, was intended by Providence, to
intimate the existence of the new world. Columbus, they say, first inter-
preted it thus; and was here inspired with the desire to commence his
great researches. 18

Captain Boid was wrong in his derivation of the name Corvo, as
we have seen; wrong also, in another way, in despising the "super-
stitions" as "absurd" and refusing them record, for they might
embody some valuable suggestion. Humboldt thought, however,
that the story of the pointing horseman might have grown out of
this natural rock formed in human semblance. No doubt this is
possible; but it would not account for like stories of the other
islands nor the general similitude of their figures. Perhaps an
equally valid explanation might be found in the former presence
of such artificial figures, leaving a certain repute behind them and
causing popular fancy to point out resemblances which would
not have been noticed otherwise.

15 Captain Boid: A Description of the Azores, or Western Islands, London, 1834,
PP. 316-317-
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