his vessel as far as they could. After his visit Book I. to Spain and to Rome, he returned to his Ch. 1. paternal domains in Normandy, where, while meditating another voyage to his colony, he died A. D. 1425. Maciot de Béthencourt ruled for some time successfully; but, afterwards, falling into disputes with the bishop, and his affairs generally not prospering, Maciot sold his rights to Prince Henry of Portugal, also, as it strangely appears, to another person- and afterwards settled in Madeira. The claims to the government of the Canaries were, for many years, in a most entangled state; and the right to the sovereignty over these islands was a constant ground of dispute between the crowns of Spain and Portugal. Thus ended the enterprize of Juan de Béthencourt, which, though it cannot be said to have led to any very large or lasting results, yet, as it was the first modern attempt of the kind, deserves to be chronicled before commencing with Prince Henry of Portugal's long continued and connected efforts in the same direction. The events also which preceded and accompanied Béthencourt's enterprize, need to be recorded, in order to show the part which many nations, especially the Spaniards, had in the first discoveries on the Coast of Africa. We now turn to the history of the discoveries made, or rather caused to be made, by Prince Birth of Henry of Portugal. This Prince was born in Henry of 1394. He was the third son of John the First of Portugal. Prince Prince Ceuta. BOOK I. Portugal and Philippa the daughter of John of Ch. 1. Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. That good Plantagenet blood on the mother's side was, doubtless, not without avail to a man whose life was to be spent in continuous and insatiate efforts to work out a great idea. Prince Henry was with his father at the Henry at memorable capture of Ceuta, the ancient Septem, in the year 1415. This town, which lies opposite to Gibraltar, was of great magnificence, and one of the principal marts in that age for the productions of the Eastern World.* It was here that the Portuguese nation first planted a firm foot in Africa; and the date of this town's capture may, perhaps, be taken as that from which Prince Henry began to meditate further and far greater conquests. His aims, however, were directed to a point long beyond the range of the mere conquering soldier. He was especially learned, for that age of the world, being skilled in mathematical and geographical knowledge. And it may be noticed here, that the greatest geographical discoveries have been made by men conversant with the book knowledge of their own time. A work, for instance, often seen in the hands of Columbus, which his son mentions as having had much influence with him, was the learned treatise of Cardinal Petro de Aliaco (Pierre d'Ailly), the Imago Mundi. But, to return to Prince Henry of Portugal. We learn that he had conversed much with "Toda Europa considerava que produzia, naõ só Alexandria, a Ceuta como hum erario das e Damasco, mas a Libia, e o preciosidades do Oriente, indo a Egypto.". Vida do Infante, ella buscar as drogas de preço, | Lisboa, 1758, p. 26. those who had made voyages in different parts of Book I. the world, and particularly with Moors from Fez Ch. 1. and Morocco, so that he came to hear of the Azenegues, a people bordering on the country of the negroes of Jalof. Henry's discovery. Such was the scanty information of a positive kind which the Prince had to guide his endeavours. Then there were the suggestions and the inducements which to a willing mind were to be found in the shrewd conjectures of learned men, the fables of chivalry, and, perhaps, in the confused records of forgotten knowledge once possessed by Arabic geographers. The story of Prester John, which had Prince, spread over Europe since the crusades, was well motives for known to the Portuguese Prince. A mysterious voyage of a certain wandering saint, called Saint Brendan, was not without its influence upon an enthusiastic mind. Moreover, there were many sound motives urging the Prince to maritime discovery: amongst which, a desire to fathom the power of the Moors, a wish to find a new outlet for traffic, and a longing to spread the blessings of the Faith, may be enumerated. The especial reason which impelled Prince Henry to take the burden of discovery on himself was, that neither mariner nor merchant would be likely to adopt an enterprize in which there was no clear hope of profit.* It belonged, therefore, "E porque o dicto senhor quis tremeteryam, porque claro sta BOOK I. to great men and princes; and amongst such, he knew of no one but himself who was inclined to it. Ch. I. Known world in the 15th century. OCEAN OCEAN Asia This is not an uncommon motive. A man sees something that ought to be done, knows of no one who will do it but himself, and so is driven to the enterprize, even should it be repugnant to him. And now the first thing for those to do, who to maps would thoroughly understand the records of Book I. maritime discovery, is the same as it was for Ch. 1. Prince Henry, in which we may be sure he was not remiss; namely, to study our maps and charts. Without frequent reference to maps, a Frequent narrative like the present forms in our mind only reference a mirage of names and dates and facts; is wrongly necessary. apprehended even while we are regarding it; and soon vanishes away. The map of the world being before us, let us reduce it to the proportions it filled in Prince Henry's time: let us look at our infant world. First, take away those two continents, for so we may almost call them, each much larger than a Europe, to the far West. Then cancel that square massive-looking piece to the extreme South-East; happily there are no penal settlements there yet.* Then turn to Africa: instead of that form of inverted cone which it presents, and which we now know there are physical reasons for its presenting, make a scimitar shape of it, by running a slightly-curved line from Juba on the eastern side to Cape Nam on the western. Declare all below that line unknown. Hitherto, we have only been doing the work of destruction; but now scatter emblems of Hippogriffs and Anthropophagi on the outskirts of what is left in the map, obeying a maxim, not confined to the ancient geographers only: where you know nothing, place terrors. Looking at the map thus completed, we can hardly help This was written before gold was discovered in Australia; and when penal settlements were the most notable things in the colony. VOL. I. C |