This has been the universal tradition of the ancientIrish, who supposed that a great part of Ireland had been swallowed by thesea, and that the sunken part often rose and was seen hanging in thehorizon: such was the popular notion. The Hy-Brasail of the Irish isevidently a part of the Atlantis of Plato; who, in his 'Timaeus,' saysthat that island was totally swallowed up by a prodigious earthquake."(O'Flaherty's "Discourse on the History and Antiquities of the SouthernIslands of Aran, lying off the West Coast of Ireland," 1824, p. 139.)The name appeared first (1351) on the chart called the MediceanPortulana, applied to an island off the Azores. In Pizigani's map (1367)there appear three islands of this name, two off the Azores and one offIreland. From this time the name appears constantly in maps, and in 1480 aman named John Jay went out to discover the island on July 14, andreturned unsuccessful on September 18. He called it Barsyle or Brasylle;and Pedro d'Ayalo, the Spanish Ambassador, says that such voyages weremade for seven years "according to the fancies of the Genoese, meaningSebastian Cabot." Humboldt thinks that the wood called Brazil-wood wassupposed to have come from it, as it was known before the South AmericanBrazil was discovered.A manuscript history of Ireland, written about 1636, in the Library ofthe Royal Irish Academy, says that Hy-Brasail was discovered by a CaptainRich, who saw its harbor but could never reach it.
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