THE VOYAGERS 



To reinforce this magnanimous and generous motive The increase of 



Columbus quotes instances ' of what great princes ^^^'^^^^i^- 



throughout the world have done to increase their fame : 



as, for example, Solomon, who sent from Jerusalem to the 



uttermost parts of the East, to see Mount Sopora, in 



which expedition his ships were detained three years ; 



and which mountain your Highnesses now possess in 



the island of Hispaniola ; . . . Alexander, who sent 



to observe the mode of Government in the island of 



Taprobana, in India ; and Cassar Nero, to explore the 



sources of the Nile, and to learn the causes of its 



increase in the Spring, when water is needed ; and 



many other mighty deeds which princes have done, and 



which it is allotted to princes to achieve.' Lastly, 



there is 'the recent noble example of the Kings q{ The example 



^ ° of Portugal 



Portugal, who have had the courage to explore as far 



as Guinea, and to make the discovery of it, expending 

 so much gold and so many lives in the undertaking, 

 that a calculation of the population of the kingdom 

 would show that one half of them have died in Guinea ; 

 and though it is now a long time since they com- 

 menced these great exertions, the return for their labour 

 and expense has hitherto been but trifling ; this people 

 has also dared to make conquests in Africa, and to 

 carry on their exploits to Ceuta, Tangier, Algiers, and 

 Alcazar, repeatedly giving battle to the Moors ; and all 

 this at great expense ; simply because it was an exploit 

 worthy of a prince, undertaken for the service of God, 

 and to advance the enlargement of His Kingdom.' In 

 consonance with these aims, the behaviour of Columbus Columbus and 

 to the natives of Hispaniola was ordered by the loftiest the Indians. 

 code of a Spanish gentleman. ' I gave,' he says, ' to 



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