1.

BOOK situated on their continent, at a great distance towards the east, the king of which, according to their description, professed the Christian religion. The Portuguese monarch immediately concluded, that this must be the emperor of Abyssinia, to whom the Europeans, seduced by a mistake of Rubruquis, Marco Polo, and other travellers to the East, absurdly gave the name of Prester or Presbyter John; and as he hoped to receive information and assistance from a Christian prince, in prosecuting a scheme that tended to propagate their common faith, he resolved to open, if possible, some intercourse with his court. With this view, he made choice of Pedro de Covillam and Alphonso de Payva, who were perfect masters of the Arabic language, and sent them into the east to search for the residence of this unknown potentate, and to make him proffers of friendship. They had in charge likewise to procure whatever intelligence the nations which they visited could supply, with respect to the trade of India, and the course of navigation to that continent ".

Voyage of Bartholomew Diaz.

1486.

While John made this new attempt by land to obtain some knowledge of the country which he wished so ardently to discover, he did not neglect the prosecution of this great design by sea. 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 whose sagacity, experience, and fortitude, rendered him equal to the undertaking. He stretched boldly towards the south, and roceeding beyond the utmost limits to which his countrymen had hitherto advanced, discovered near a thousand miles of new country. Neither the danger to which he was exposed by a succession of violent tempests in unknown seas, and by the frequent mutinies of his crew, nor the calamities of famine which he suffered from losing his store-ship, could deter him from prosecuting his enterprise. In recompense of his labours and perseverance, he at last de

Faria y Sousa Port. Asia, vol. i. p. 26. Lasitau Decouv. de Port. 'i. 46.

I.

scried that lofty promontory which bounds Africa to the BOOK south. But to descry it, was all that he had in his power to accomplish. The violence of the winds, the shattered condition of his ships, and the turbulent spirit of his sailors, compelled him to return after a voyage of sixteen months, in which he discovered a far greater extent of country than any former navigator. Diaz had called the promontory which terminated his voyage Cabo Tormentoso, or the stormy Cape; but the king his master, as he now entertained no doubt of having found the long desired route to India, gave it a name more inviting, and of better omen, The Cape of Good Hope.

tain pro-,

Those sanguine expectations of success were confirmed More cerby the intelligence which John received over land, in spects of consequence of his embassy to Abyssinia. Covillam and success. Payva, in obedience to their master's instructions, had 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 sailed directly towards Abyssinia; Covillam embarked for the East Indies, and having visited Calecut, Goa, and other cities on the Malabar coast, returned to Sofala, on the east side of Africa, and thence to Grand Cairo, which Payva and he had fixed upon as their place of rendezvous. Unfortunately the former was cruelly murdered in Abyssinia; but Covillam found at Cairo two Portuguese Jews, whom John, whose provident sagacity attended to every circumstance that could facilitate the execution of his schemes, had dispatched after them, in order to receive a detail of their proceedings, and to communicate to them new instructions. By one of these Jews, Covillam transmitted to Portugal a journal of his travels by sea and land, his remarks upon the trade of India, together with exact maps of the coasts on which he had touched; and from what he himself had observed, as well as from the information of skilful seamen in different countries, he concluded, that by sailFaria y Sousa, Port. Asia, vol. i. p. 26.

VOL. III.

BOOK ing round Africa, a passage might be found to the East Indies d

i.

Prerara- The happy coincidence of Covillam's opinion and renother voy-port with the discoveries which Diaz had lately made,

tions for a

age.

left hardly any shadow of doubt with respect to the possibility of sailing from Europe to India. But the vast length of the voyage, and the furious storms which Diaz had encountered near the Cape of Good Hope, alarmed and intimidated the Portuguese to such a degree, although by long experience they were now become adventurous and skilful mariners, that some time was requisite 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 subjects, or made it necessary to conceal them. As John thought himself now upon the eve of accomplishing that great design which had been the principal object of his reign, his earnestness in prosecuting it became so vehement, that it occupied his thoughts by day, and bereaved him of sleep through the night. While he was taking every precaution that his wisdom and experience could suggest, in order to ensure the success of the expedition, which was to decide concerning the fate of his favourite project, the The atten- fame of the vast discoveries which the Portuguese had kind fixed already made, the reports concerning the extraordinary upon it; intelligence which they had received from the East, and the prospect of the voyage which they now meditated, drew the attention of all the European nations, and held them in suspense and expectation. By some, the maritime skill 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 success of the Portuguese schemes might occasion in the course of trade, and the political state of Europe. The Venetians began to be disquieted with the apprehension of losing their Indian commerce, the monopoly of which was the chief

tion of man

Faria y Sousa Port. Asia. vol. i. p. 27. Lasitau Decouv, i. 48.

I.

turned to a

source of their power as well as opulence, and the Por- BOOK tuguese already enjoyed in fancy the wealth of the East. But, during this interval, which gave such scope to the va ous workings of curiosity, of hope, and of fear, an suddenly account was brought to Europe of an event no less ex new object traordinary than unexpected, the discovery of a New World situated in the West; and the eyes and admiration of mankind turned immediately towards that great object.

G 2

BOOK II.

II.

Birth and of Colum.

education

bus.

BOOK AMONG the foreigners whom the fame of the discoveries made by the Portuguese had allured into their service, was Christopher Colon, or Columbus, a subject of the republic of Genoa. Neither the time nor place of his birth are known with certainty a; but he was descended of an honourable family, though reduced to indigence by various misfortunes. His ancestors having betaken themselves for subsistence to a sea-faring life, Columbus discovered, in his early youth, the peculiar character and talents which mark out a man for that profession. His parents, instead of thwarting this original propensity of his mind, seem to have encouraged and confirmed it, by the education which they gave him. After acquiring some knowledge of the Latin tongue, the only language in which science was taught at that time, he was instructed in geometry, cosmography, astronomy, and the art of drawing. To these he applied with such ardour and predilection, on account of their connection with navigation, his favourite object, that he advanced with rapid 1461. proficiency in the study of them. Thus qualified, he went to sea at the age of fourteen, and began his career on that element which conducted him to so much glory.

See NOTE XI.