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 3 8 ST. BRENDAN'S ISLANDS the benignity of the climate. He was "without any human rai- ment, but all his body was full of bright white feathers like a dove or sea mew; and it was almost the speech of an angel that he had." "Vast is the light and fruitfulness of the island." he cried in welcome and launched forthwith on a prodigal expenditure of superextolling words outpoured on their new delightful home. It is all perfectly in keeping with the glow and luxuriance of sun- warmed shores and the unique airiness of his spontaneous rai- ment. Clearly "summer isles of Eden," and nothing that has to do with icebergs or wintry blasts, are called for in this case. About six centuries lie between St. Brendan's experiences and the earliest writing purporting to relate them and generally accepted as to date. Doubtful manuscripts and miscellaneous allusions also often doubtful may lessen the gap; but at best we have several centuries bridged by tradition only, and that rather inferred than known. It seems likely that he^reaUy> ^/iatetr^ndnenjoyed some remote^ov^y-islandsj jioFvery often reache4-rom the mainland, such as could in any age hayeJaieen^ I discovered among the eastern Atlantic archipelagoes. In doing so he might well meet with surprising adventures, readily dis- torted and magnified ; and the first tales of them would be basis enough for the florid fancy of Celtic and medieval romancers, growing in extravagance with passing generations. THE CARTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE That he found some island or islands was certainly believed, for his name is on many maps in full confidence. But as to the particular islands thereby identified we find that conjecture had a wide range, varying in different periods and even with indi-^""^ vidual bias. THE HEREFORD MAP OF CIRCA 1275 Probably its first appearance is on the Hereford map of 1275 or not muclrlatef^'fhe inscription being "b ortunate^hreulae sex 6 R. D. Benedict: The Hereford Map and the Legend of St. Brandan, Bull. Amer. Geogr. Soc., Vol. 24, 1892, pp. 321-365; reference on p. 344.