EXTENT OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE. 217 



oriental merchandise. At length the Portu- 

 guese,- jealous of the exclusive privilege enjoyed 

 by those countries, and desirous of participating 

 in this lucrative commerce, conceived the idea 

 of circumnavigating Africa, and of opening out 

 a route by which she might partake of those 

 profitable sources of wealth. They were greatly 

 encouraged in this idea by the successful issue 

 of a voyage, performed along the coast of Africa, 

 in the short, but brilliant reign of Prince Henry 

 of Portugal, a voyage which had dispelled the 

 preposterous notion of the equatorial regions 

 being uninhabitable on account of the excessive 

 heat of the climate, and of the inevitable fate 

 which would attend the navigator who should 

 attempt to double Cape Boyador. 



It was this desire of transporting to the shores 

 of Europe the golden treasures of the east, that 

 gave so powerful a stimulus to early discovery. 

 It may, indeed, be said to have been almost the 

 only great incentive which actuated the mer- 

 chants of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 

 to engage in distant and hazardous enterprises. 



The extent of the geographical knowledge of 

 the Globe was at this time extremely limited. 

 All the southern part of Africa was unknown, 

 and a full third part of the Globe toward the 

 west was a blank, which the most daring navi- 



