Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/109

 F E R F E R Lactantius and Galeazzo Sforza were born in Fermo. The port, Porto di Fermo, is situated on the Adriatic, about four miles from the town. The harbour is small, but there is some trade in corn, silk, and woollens. The population of Fermo in 1871 was 7002. FERMO Y, a market-town of Ireland, in the East Riding of the county of Cork, is about 21 miles distant from Cork, and about 130 miles from Dublin, and is connected with both these cities by the Fermoy branch of the Great Southern and Western Railway. It is situated on the river Black- water, which divides the town into two parts, the larger of which is on the southern bank, and there the trade of the town, which is chiefly iu flour and agricultural produce, is maiuly carried on. A stone bridge of 13 arches which formerly spanned the river, and which had been erected in 1689, was in the year I860 removed, and replaced by one of strong cut stone. The town, which strikes the visitor as being exceedingly neat and clean, has several good streets, and some noteworthy buildings. Of the latter, the most prominent are the military barracks on the north bank of the river, capable of accommodating 3000 men, the Protestant Episcopal church, the Roman Catholic cathedral, St Colman s Roman Catholic college, the convents, and the court-hause. Quarter sessions are held in the town, and the muncipal affairs are managed by fifteen com missioners, who meet every alternate Wednesday. The market day is Saturday. The population in 1871 numbered 7388, 78 per cent, being Roman Catholics. FERN AN CABALLERO. See FABEK, CECILIA BO HL vox. FERNANDEZ, ALVARO, one of the numerous band of Portuguese explorers who, in the earlier part of the loth century, took part in the search for a sea-passage into the Indian Ocean, was born about the year 1420, and seems to have been brought up as page or esquire to Prince Enrique of Portugal. He was related to Joam Gonsalvez, discoverer of Madeira and governor of Funclml. While still a com paratively young man, he was commissioned to prosecute the exploration of the African coast. After visiting the mouth of the Senegal and landing on the island of Goree, he suc ceeded in reaching Cape de Matos or Mastos, the most southerly point that had ever been attained (1446). Soon afterwards he took command of a second expedition, in which the utmost limit reached was Rio Tabite, a little to the south of Rio Grande. Ill health thereafter compelled his return to Portugal, where he was welcomed at court as a distinguished discoverer. Sea Azurara, Ilistoria de la Con- qui-sfa de Guinc, and Joam de Barros, Asia, dec. i. lib. i. c. 13, 14. FERNANDEZ, DIEGO, a Spanish adventurer and his torian of the 16th century. He was originally educated for the church, but about 1545 he embarked for Peru, where he served in the royal army under Alonzo de Alvarado. Mendosa, marquis of Cafiete, who succeeded Alvarado as viceroy, bestowed on Fernandez the office of chronicler of Peru ; and in this capacity he wrote a narrative of the in surrection of Giron, of the rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro, and of the administration of Gasca. The whole work, under the title Ilistoria del Peru, was published at Seville in 1571. It is written in a clear and intelligible style, and with more art than is usual in the compositions of the time. It gives copious details, and, as he had access to the correspondence and official documents of the royalist leaders, it is, although necessarily possessing a royalist bias, the fullest and most authentic record existing of the events it relates. A notice of the work will be found in Prescott s History of the Con quest of Peru. ^FERNANDEZ, JOAM, a Portuguese traveller, also of the loth century. Early in life he had been taken captive by pirates of Barbary. While amongst them he acquired a knowledge of Arabic, and had his curiosity stimulated with regard to the geography of the African continent. On re- gainiug his freedom he joined an exploring expedition, and got himself laudedat the mouth pf the Ouro river(lat. 23N.), where, exposed to considerable hardship and danger, ho spent seven months of a nomadic life with some of tho native tribes, and acquired a considerable amount of infor mation about the geography of the interior (1445). Two years afterwards he explored the territory in the neighbour hood of Cape Blanco. He deserves some notice as having been the earliest of modern African explorers. The narra tive of his adventures, which is said by those who have seen it to resemble that of Mungo Park, is to be found in Azurara s Conquista de Guine. FERNANDEZ, JUAN, a Spanish navigator and dis coverer. While navigating the coasts of South America it occurred to him that the south winds that almost constantly prevailed near the shore, and retarded the voyages between Peru and Chili, might not exist further oat at sea. His idea proved to be correct, and by the help of the trade winds and some currents at a distance from the coast he made a voyage with so great rapidity that he was apprehended ou a charge of sorcery. His inquisitors, however, accepted, with a readiness far from common, his natural explanation of the seeming marvel, and he was set at liberty. During one of his voyages in 1563 Fernandez discovered the two islands which now bear his name. He was so enchanted with their beauty and fertility tltat he solicited the concession of them from the Spanish Government. It was granted in 1572, but a colony which he endeavoured to establish at the largest of them soon broke up, leaving Behind them a number of goats, the progeny of which still continue on the islands. In 1574 Fernandez discovered the islands of St Felix and St Ambrose, and his companions who survived him affirmed that during a voyage in 1576 in the southern ocean he came in sight of a continent, which must have been either Australia or New Zealand if the discovery is to be accepted as a fact, but more probably it was either a delusion or an invention of his followers. See Alexander Dalrymple, An Historical Collection of the several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, London, 1769-71. FERNANDEZ, JUAX, a Spanish sailor and adventurer. In 1531 he joined tho army of the celebrated, Francesco Pizarro, conqueror of Peru, with a small force, but in 1533 he passed into the service of his rival Pedro de Alvarado. When the latter, however, agreed for a sum of money to cede his claims on Peru and make over his navy to Pizarro and Almagro, Fernandez necessarily returned to the service of Pizarro, who not only granted him pardon, but gave him tho command of tho ship. In 1538 ho accompanied Antonio de Secleno on an expedition despatched by the Spanish Government against the island of Trinidad. Instead, however, of attempting to fulfil the purpose of the expedition, they were tempted by rumours of the existence of gold to disembark on the mainland, where, after endur ing great privations and hardships, both leaders died in the winter after they set out, without finding the object of their quest. Tho survivors, under four different^ leaders, and decimated by hunger, fatigue, and continual combats with the natives, managed to find their way to the Spanish settle ments. FERNANDO DE NORONHA, a group of islands in the South Atlantic, about 194 miles N.E. of Capo St Roque, South America, 3 50 S. lat., 32 25 W. long. The largest of them is about 20 miles in circumference, its surface is ru-gged, and it contains a number of rocky hills from 500 t &amp;gt; 700 feet hjgh, and a mountainous peak towering to tho height of about 1000 feet. The island is covered with wood, but on account of the irregular occurrence of rain, if contains scarcely any other vegetation, It has several har-