to the east, abfurdly gave the name Prefter or Prefbyter John; and as he hoped to receive information and affiftance from a Chriftian prince, in profecuting a scheme that tended to propagate their common faith, he refolved to open, if poffible, fome intercourfe with his court. With this view, he made choice of Pedro de Covillam and Alphonfo de Payva, who were perfect mafters of the Arabic language, and fent them into the east, to fearch for the refidence of this unknown potentate, and to make him proffers of friendship. They had it in charge likewife, to procure whatever intelligence the nations which they vifited could fupply, with refpect to the trade of India, and the courfe of navigation to that continent b).

Voyage of Bartholomew Diaz. 1486.

While John made this new attempt by land, to obtain fome knowledge of the country, which he wifhed fo ardently to discover, he did not negleck the profecution of this great design by fea. The conduct of a voyage for this purpose, the most arduous and important which the Portuguese had ever projected, was committed to Bartholomew Diaz, an officer whofe fagacity, experience, and fortitude, rendered him equal to the undertaking. He ftretched boltly towards the fouth, and proceeding beyond the

b) Faria y Soufa Port. Afia, vol. I. p. 26. Lafitau Decouv. des Ports. I. 46.

utmoft limits to which his countrymen had hitherto advanced, discovered near a thousand miles of a new country. Neither the danger to

which he was expofed, by a fucceffion of violent tempefts in unknown feas, and by the frequent mutinies of his crew, nor the calamities of famine which he fuffered from lofing his ftorefhip, could deter him from profecuting his enterprife. In recompence of his labours and perfeverance, he at laft defcried that lofty promontory which bounds Africa to the fouth. But to defcry it, was all that he had in his power to accomplish. The violence of the winds, the fhattered condition of his fhips, and the turbulent fpirit of his failors, compelled him to return, after a voyage of fixteen months, in which he difcovered a far greater extent of country than any former navigator. Diaz had called the promontory which terminated his voyage Capo tormentofo, or the ftormy Cape; but the king, his mafter, as he now entertained no doubt of having found the long defired route to India, gave it a name more inviting, and of better omen, The Cape of Good Hope c),

More certain profpecs of fuccefs.

Thofe fanguine expectations of fuccefs were confirmed by the intelligence which John received over land, in confequence of his embaffy to Abyffinia. Covillam and Payva, in

c) Faria y Soufa Port, Afia, vol. 1. p. 26,

had

obedience to their mafter's inftructions, repaired to Grand Cairo. From that city, they travelled along with a caravan of Egyptian merchants, and embarking on the Red Sea, arrived at Aden in Arabia. There they separated; Payva failed directly towards Abyffinia; Covillam embarked for the Eaft Indies, and having vifited Calecut, Goa, and other cities on the Malabar coaft, returned to Sofala, on the east fide of Africa, and thence to Grand Cairo, which Payva and he had fixed upon as their place of rendez vous. Unfortunately the former was cruelly murdered in Abyffinia, but Covillam found at Cairo two Portuguese Jews, whom John, whofe provident fagacity attended to every circumftance that could facilitate the execution of his fchemes, had difpatched after them, in order to receive a detail of their proceedings, and to communicate to them new inftructions. By one of these Jews, Covillam tranfmitted to Portugal a journal of his travels by fea and land, his remarks upon the trade of India, together with exact maps of the coafts on which he had touched; and from what he himself had obferved, as well as from the information of fkilful feamen in different countries, he concluded, that by failing round Africa, a paffage might be found to the Eaft Indies d).

d) Faria y Soufa Port. Afia, vol. i. p. 27. Lafitau Decouv. i. 48%

Preparations for another voyage.

The happy coincidence of Covillam's opinion and report, with the discoveries which Diaz had lately made, left hardly any fhadow of doubt with respect to the poffibility of failing from Europe to India. But the vaft length of the voyage, and the furious storms which Diaz had encountered near the Cape of Good Hope, alarmed and intimidated the Portuguese to fuch a degree, although by long experience they were now become adventurous and fkilful mariners, that fome time was requifite to prepare their minds for this dangerous and extraordinary voyage. The courage, however, and authority of the monarch, gradually dispelled the vain fears of his fubjects, or made it neceffary to conceal them. As John thought himfelf now upon the eve of accomplishing that great defign, which had been the principal object of his reign, his earneftness in profecuting it became fo vehement, that it occupied his thoughts by day, and bereaved him of fleep through the night. While he was taking every precaution that his wifdom and experience could fuggeft, in order to endure the fuccefs of the expedition, which was to decide concerning the fate of his favourite project, the fame of the vast discoveries which the Portuguese had already made, the reports concerning the extraordinary intelligence which they had received from the Eaft, and the prospect of the voyage which they now

meditated, drew the attention of all the European nations, and held them in fufpence and expectation.

The attention of mankind fixed upon it.

By fome, the maritime fkill and navigations of the Portuguese were compared with those of the Phenicians and Carthaginians, and exalted above them. Others formed conjectures concerning the revolutions which the fuccefs of the Portuguefe fchemes might occafion in the course of trade, and the political state of Europe. The Venetians began to be difquieted with the apprehenfion of lofing their Indian commerce, the monopoly of which was the chief fource of their power as well as opulence, and the Portuguese already enjoyed in fancy, the wealth of the Eaft.

Suddenly turned to a new object.

But, during this interval, which gave fuch fcope to the various workings of curiofity, of hope and of fear, an account was brought to Europe of an event no lefs extraordinary than unexpected, the difcovery of a New World fituated in the weft; and the eyes and admiration of mankind turned immediately towards that great object.