4 THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH POLE 



took more definite shape. Our gratitude to these first 

 discoverers should be profound. 



And yet even to-day we hear people ask in surprise: 

 What is the use of these voyages of exploration? What 

 good do they do us? Little brains, I always answer 

 to myself, have only room for thoughts of bread and 

 butter. 



The first name on the roll of discovery is that of 

 Prince Henry of Portugal, surnamed the Navigator, 

 who is ever to be remembered as the earliest promoter 

 of geographical research. To his efforts was due the 

 first crossing of the Equator, about 1470. 



With Bartholomew Diaz another great step in advance 

 was made. Sailing from Lisbon in 1487, he reached 

 Algoa Bay, and without doubt passed the fortieth parallel 

 on his southward voyage. 



Vasco da Gama's voyage of 1497 is too well known 

 to need description. After him came men like Cabral 

 and Vespucci, who increased our knowledge, and de 

 Gonneville, who added to the romance of exploration. 



We then meet with the greatest of the older ex- 

 plorers, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese by birth, 

 though sailing in the service of Spain. Setting out in 

 1519, he discovered the connection between the Atlantic 

 and Pacific Oceans in the strait that bears his name. 

 No one before him had penetrated so far South to 

 about lat. 52 S. One of his ships, the Victoria, 



