would be ftagnated; Riches whould be of no Advantage to the Great; and Labour of no Service to the Poor. The Romans, as Hiftorians all allow, Sought, in extreme Diftrefs, the rural Plough ; INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD DISPLAYED. TAVIGATION, like other Arts, has been. N perfected by Degrees. It is not cafy to con ceive that any Age or Nation was without fome Veffel, in which Rivers might be paffed by Travellers, or Lakes frequented by Fishermen; but we have no Knowledge of any Ship that could endure the Violence of the Ocean, before the Ark of Noah. As the Tradition of the Deluge has been transmitted to almoft all the Nations of the Earth; it must be supposed that the Memory of the Means by which Noah and his Family were preferved, would be continued long among their Defcendants, and that the Poffibility of paffing the Seas could never be doubted. What Men know to be practicable, a thousand Motives will incite them to try; and there is Reafon to believe, that from the Time that the Generations of the poftdiluvian Race fpread to the Sea Shores, there were always Navigators that ventured upon the Sea, though, perhaps, not willingly beyond the Sight of Land. Of the ancient Voyages little certain is known, and it is not neceflary to lay before the Reader fuch Conjectures as learned Men have offered to the World. The Romans by conquering Carthage, put a Stop to a great Part of the Trade of diftant Nations with one another, and because they thought only on War and Conqueft, as their Empire en creased, creased, Commerce was difcouraged; till under the latter Emperors, Ships feem to have been of little other Ufe than to tranfport Soldiers. Navigation could not be carried to any great l'egree of Certainty, without the Compafs; which was unknown to the Ancients. The wonderful Quality by which a Needle, or fmall Bar of Steel; touched with a Loadftone or Magnet, and turning freely by Equilibration on a Point, always preferves the Meridian, and directs its two Ends North and South, was difcovered according to the common Opinion in 1299, by John Gola of Amalphi, a Town in Italy. From this Time it is reafonable to fuppofe that Navigation made continual, though flow, Improvements, which the Confufion and Barbarity of the Times, and the Want of Communication between Orders of Men fo diftant a Pas Sailors and Monks, hindered from being diftinctly and fucceffively re corded. It feems, however, that the Sailors ftill wanted either Knowledge or Courage, for they continued for two Centuries to creep along the Coaft, and . confidered every Headland as unpaffable, which ran far into the Sea, and against which the Waves broke with uncommon Agitation. The Firft who is known to have formed the Defign of new Difcoveries, or the Firft who had Power to execute his Purpofes, was Don Henry the Fifth, Son of John the First, King of Portugal, and Philippina, Sifter of Henry the Fourth of England. Don' Henry having attended his Father to the Conqueft of Ceuta, obtained by Converfation with the Inhabitants of the Continent, fome Accounts of the interior Kingdoms and fouthern Coast of Africa; which, though rude and indistinct, were fufficient to raise his Curiofity, and convince him that there were Countries yet unknown and worthy of Discovery. He He therefore equipped fome fmall Veffels, and commanded that they fhould pafs as far as they could along that Coaft of Africa, which looked upon the great Atlantick Ocean, the Immenfity of which ftruck the grafs and unskilful Navigators of thefeTimes, with Terror and Amazément. He was not able to communicate his own Ardour to his Seamen, who proceeded very flowly in the new Attempt; each was afraid to venture much further than he that went before him, and ten Years were spent before they had advanced beyond Cape Bajador, fo called from its long Progreffion into the Ocean, and the Circuit by which it must be doubled. The Oppofition of this Promontory to the Course of the Sea, produced a violent Current and high Waves, into which they durft not venture, and which they had not yet Knowledge enough to avoid by standing off from the Land into the open Sea. The Prince was defirous to know fomething of the Countries that lay beyond this formidable Cape, and fent twoCommanders, named JohnGonzales Zarco, and Triftran Vaz, (1418) to pass beyond Bajador, and furvey the Coaft behind it. They were caught by a Tempeft, which drove them out into the unknown Ocean, where they expected to perish by the Violence of the Wind, or perhaps to wander for ever in the boundless Deep. At laft, in the Midst of their Despair, they found a fmall Island, where they fheltered themfelves, and which the Senfe of their Deliverance difpofed them to call Puerto Santo, or the Holy Haven. When they returned with an Account of this new Ifland, Henry performed a publick Act of Thanksgiving, and fent them again with Seeds and Cattle; and we are told by the Spanish Hiftorian, that they fet two Rabbits on Shore, which encreased fo much in a few Years, that they drove away the Inhabitants, tants, by deftroying their Corn and Plants, and were fuffered to enjoy the Island without Oppofition. In the fecond or third Voyage to Puerto Santo, for Authours do not well agree, a third Captain called Perello, was joined to the two former. As they looked round the Island upon the Ocean, they faw at a Distance fomething which they took for a Cloud, till they perceived that it did not change its Place. They directed their Course towards it, and (1419) discovered another Ifland covered with Trees,. which they therefore called Madera, or the Isle of Wood. Madera was given to Vaz or Zarco, who fet Fireto the Woods, which are reported by Souza, to have burnt for feven Years together, and to have been wafted, till Want of Wood was the greatest Inconvenience of the Place. But green Wood is not very apt to burn, and the heavy Rains which fall in thefe Countries must surely have extinguished the Confla gration, were it ever fo violent. There was yet little Progrefs made upon the Southern Coaft, and Henry's Project was treated as chi-merical by many of his Countrymen. At laft Gilianes (1433) paffed the dreadful Cape, to which he gave the Name of Bajador, and came back, to the Wonder of the Nation. In two Voyages more, made in the two following Years, they paffed forty-two Leagues further, and in the latter, two Men with Horfes being fet on, Shore, wandered over the Country, and found nineteen Men, whom according to the favage Manners of that Age they attacked, the Natives having Javelins, wounded one of the Portuguese, and received fome Wounds from them. At the Mouth of a River they found Sea-wolves in great Numbers, and brought home many of their Skins, which were much efteemed. Antonia |