Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1869-07-01
CANARY ISLAND AND CANARY BIRDz.
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Islands, think of the pretty birds which bear the
same name. used to myself being fond Of q
canary, and always liking to have one In the house
to fll it with cheerful melody. There wass time,
too, when l used to wonder whether the birds rave
their name 10 the islands, or the Islands 10 the
birds. Neither Is true. The word Canary (fiom
the Latin Cdaa'ia) signifies do9gy, and thssname
was given them because on one Of the idands,
when it was visited by the Romans great num-
Der Of large dogs we're found, some Of which yere
carried away, and gseuto one Of sAficsnk kings
This breed of dogs has long ago disappeared, md
only skeletons Of them are occasionally found.
But there are plenty Of canary birds in sll de
Canary Islands, as well as in the other groups On
the African. coast Not yellow ones, such Is. pe
have in America. but Of an olivegreen color, dap
pied with black, or yellow, or both. About thres
hundred and twenty years ago, small vessel from
Leghorn came to these islands, and carried awsy
as many of the little green singing birds as it could
well accommodate -thenptain thinking, no doubt,
that the people Of Italy would be willing to paya
good price for such sweet musicians But on bis
way up the Mediterranean, the ship was bIosm
ashore upon the Island of Elba, whore, Invent to
pieces, and many of the birds escaped to the land.
They found Elba pleasant abode, reared large
families there, and thus the canary was introduced
into Europe
By careful breeding, their color hasbeen changed
from olive.grsen to light yellow, although I an
told that, among nest full Of young birds, there
will often now be found one almost as green as its
forefathers In these latter days, the gresn birds
have come into fashion again in Europe, and some
of the bird dealers take as much pains to need
green canaries as they once did to get nd Of the
green. An English gentleman told me, the other
day, .thata very nice green canary, Of certain
shape, will sometimes sell for fifty pounds in Lon
don, which is equal to more than three hundred Of
our dollars. For my part, am well satisfied with
three-dollar yellow one
It is not, however, Of canary birds that now
think, when I read or hear of the Canary Iaands.
think how fortunate it was that thosefour groups
the Canaries, the Cape Verdes, the Madsisas
and the Azores-were upheaved from the bottom
Of the Atlantic, just where they were, off the
coast Of Africa, to encourage the brave sailors Of
Portugal in their attempts to discover unknown
lands and explore the unknown sea- Just look at
them, as they lie upon the map. See how con-
veniently the Azores are situated. almost on line
with Lisbon and Philadelphia. What nice halt
ing place they were for the bold naHgators who
first made their way to America. Being eight hun
dred miles from the coast Of Portugal Columbus
was nearly one-third Of the way across when be
had lost sight Of the island farther west; and with.
out that assistance and encouragement another
century, or many centuries, might have passed be-
fore America had been discovered. "
| Then look at the Canariea They were even sM
more useful to the earliest navigators, who did not
dare to sail far out into the broad ocean, but gan.
orally crept cautiously down the African coast, hap
py and proud if they could go little farther south
than any one had gone before. From the African
coast to the nearest of the Canary Islands, Is only
6fty-seven miles; 50 that captain who was with
in ten miles of the continent could often see ono of
them, and had OILY to sail a little farther to come
in sight of the wonderful Peak of Tenerife, tow
ering aloft more than two miles above the level of
the sea. What an encouragement to the gallant
men who first ventured so far from home, It must
have been to discover group Of islands contain
ing land enough to make two States as large as our
Delaware, and lying so close to Africa that they
could be reached without losing sight Of that coun-
try Look at the Madeiras, too-two large and
fertile islands, three hundred and eighty miles from
Africa, and six hundred and sixty miles from Por-
tugal-just far enough from both to make their
discovery at once possible and glorious to the first
explorers of the ocean-Rachuds Mouthly