BOOK by his example, visited most of the countries I. in the east which he had described, and, like

r

him, published an account of them. The narrations of those early travellers abound with many wild incoherent tales, concerning giants, enchanters, and monsters. But they were not, from that circumstance, less acceptable to an ignorant age, which delighted in what was marvellous. The wonders which they told, mostly on hearsay, filled the multitude with admiration. The facts which they related from their own observation attracted the attention of the more discerning. The former, which may be considered as the popular traditions and fables of the countries through which they had passed, were gradually disregarded as Europe advanced in knowledge. The latter, however incredible some of them may have appeared in their own time, have been confirmed by the observations of modern travellers. By means of both, however, the curiosity of mankind was excited with respect to the remote parts of the earth, their ideas were enlarged, and they were not only insensibly disposed to attempt new discoveries, but received such information as directed to that particular course in which these were afterwards carried on.

the in

the mari

WHILE this spirit was gradually forming in B O O K Europe, a fortunate discovery was made, which contributed more than all the efforts and inge- and by nuity of preceding ages, to improve and to vention of extend navigation. That wonderful property ner's comof the magnet, by which it communicates such pass. virtue to a needle or slender rod of iron, as to point towards the poles of the earth, was observed. The use which might be made of this in directing navigation was immediately perceived. That valuable, but now familiar instrument, the mariner's compass, was constructed. When, by means of it, navigators found that, at all seasons, and in every place, they could discover the north and south with so much ease and accuracy, it became no longer necessary to depend merely on the light of the stars and the observation of the sea-coast. They gradually abandoned their ancient timid and lingering course along the shore, ventured boldly into the ocean, and, relying on this new guide, could steer in the darkest night, and under the most cloudy sky, with a security and precision hitherto unknown. The compass may be said to have opened to man the dominion of the sea, and to have put him in full possession of the earth, by enabling him to visit every part of it. Flavio Gioia, a citizen of Amalfi, a town of considerable trade in the kingdom of Naples,

BOOK was the author of this great discovery, about

I.

the year one thousand three hundred and two.
It hath been often the fate of those illustrious
benefactors of mankind, who have enriched
science and improved the arts by their in-
ventions, to derive more reputation than benefit
from the happy efforts of their genius. But the
lot of Gioia has been still more cruel; through
the inattention or ignorance of contemporary
historians, he has been defrauded even of the
fame to which he had such a just title. We
receive from them no information with respect
to his profession, his character, the precise time
when he made this important discovery, or the
accidents and enquiries which led to it. The
knowledge of this event, though productive of
greater effects than any recorded in the annals
of the human race, is transmitted to us without
any
of those circumstances which can gratify
the curiosity that it naturally awakens. But
though the use of the compass might enable the
Italians to perform the short voyages to which
they were accustomed, with greater security and
expedition, its influence was not so sudden or
extensive, as immediately to render navigation
adventurous, and to excite a spirit of discovery.
Many causes combined in preventing this be-

S

s Collinas & Trombellus de Acus nautica Inventore. Instit. Acad. Bonon. tom. ii. part iii. p. 372.

I.

neficial invention from producing its full BOOK effect instantaneously. Men relinquish ancient habits slowly, and with reluctance. They are averse to new experiments, and venture upon them with timidity. The commercial jealousy of the Italians, it is probable, laboured to conceal the happy discovery of their countrymen from other nations. The art of steering by the compass with such skill and accuracy as to inspire a full confidence in its direction, was acquired gradually. Sailors, unaccustomed to quit sight of land, durst not launch out at once and commit themselves to unknown seas. Accordingly, near half a century elapsed from the time of Gioia's discovery, before navigators ventured into any seas which they had not been accustomed to frequent.

of a bolder

navigation.

THE first appearance of a bolder spirit may Some apbe dated from the voyages of the Spaniards to pearance the Canary or Fortunate Islands. By what spirit in accident they were led to the discovery of those small isles, which lie near five hundred miles from the Spanish coast, and above a hundred and fifty miles from the coast of Africa, contemporary writers have not explained. But, about the middle of the fourteenth century, the people of all the different kingdoms into which Spain was then divided, were

I.

S

BO O K accustomed to make piratical excursions thither, in order to plunder the inhabitants, or to carry them off as slaves. Clement VI., in virtue of the right claimed by the Holy See, to dispose of all countries possessed by infidels, erected those isles into a kingdom, in the year one thousand three hundred and forty-four, and conferred it on Lewis de la Cerda, descended from the royal family of Castile. But that unfortunate Prince, destitute of power to assert his nominal title, having never visited the Canaries, John de Bethencourt, a Norman baron, obtained a grant of them from Henry III. of Castile. Bethencourt, with the valour and good fortune which distinguished the adventurers of his country, attempted and effected the conquest; and the possession of the Canaries remained for some time in his family, as a fief held of the crown of Castile. Previous to this expedition of Bethencourt, his countrymen settled in Normandy are said to have visited the coast of Africa, and to have proceeded far to the south of the Canary Islands. But their voyages thither seem not to have been undertaken in consequence of any public or regular plan for extending navigation and attempting new discoveries. They were either excursions suggested by that

1365.

s Viera y Clavijo Notic. de la Histor. de Canaria, I. 268, &c. Glas. Hist. c. 1.