EARLY fOKTl"(:n-:SK DTSCdVERIKS IX AFRICA. "JJ 



The doing's of \ asco da Ciama and of his successors in 

 India form a magnificent page of history which, however, cannot 

 find its place here if I am to abide by my subject. 



While King John II was sending out Bartholomeu Dias by 

 sea in search of the Cape t)f (rood Hope, his emissaries were 

 also doing verv interesting work on land. It was then believed 

 that a certain powerful Christian King called Prester John 

 lived in the interior of Africa. King John II had a keen desire 

 to enter into communication with this ruler, sure as he was that 

 Prester John would assist in the discovery of an overland 

 route to the East Coast of Africa, and thence to India, and 

 also in the opening up to the Portugp.iese of the routes through 

 which Oriental spices and wares were conveyed. A native who 

 cartie to Portugal told the King that there resided in the interior 

 of Africa a certain potentiate 1)v name O'gano. who had juris- 

 diction over all the neighbouring tribes, the rulers whereof he 

 invested with the roval insionia. consisting^ of a cane, which 

 was the emblem of the sceptre, a sort of a helmet in g^-ii^e of the 

 crown, and a bra-s cross. Their ambassadors, when visiting 

 O'gano's Court, never saw the monarch, but were permitted to 

 see onlv one of his feet, which they kissed in religious devotion. 

 Before thev left, a brass cross was placed round their necks, an 

 act which freed them from all .servitude and entitled them to rank 

 with the nobilitv. Narratives of this kind naturallv impressed 

 King lohn's mind and confirmed his idea that ?reat things could 

 be achieved if he could onb- get into touch with the Native rulers 

 of the interior. In fact, he thought O'gana. who distributed brass 

 crosses, could be nobody else but the much talked of Christian 

 King, Prester lohn. So he sent out Pedro da Covilham. who, 

 after a most extraordinarv v<^vage through Naples. Cairo. Aden 

 and Sofala. ultimatelv penetratf^l into O'gano's states. The 

 ruler's real name was Kscander i a corruption of Alexander") and 

 his land was called .\bvssinia. To him Covilham handed King 

 John's letters and a chart of the Portuguese explorations. Rut 

 Covilham was never allowed to return to Portugal. He appar- 

 entlv got marrie(' and left descendants, fo^ the chronicles of i.SSQ 

 report that a certain Eurooean called .\lvaro da Costa Covilham 

 resided in the .-Xbvssinian Empire. In all pn^babilitv, this man 

 was a son of King John's messenger. 



Let me also mrntion tho name of Goncalo Eanes. whom King 

 John sent un the Senegal River, and successfullv reached Tim- 

 buctu. He WPS there^'orc the first European to visit the citv 

 which for many centuries afterwards remained, and porhaps still 

 is, a mysterious place. 



In 1500 a -econd exnedition, consisting of thirteen vessels, 

 was sent to India under Pedro Alvares Cabral. Keeping far to 

 the westward, to avoid the calms usually met with on the coast of 

 Guinea, to his surprise he discovered a country unheard of before, 

 the mainland of South .America, Brazil, which was subsequentlv 

 annexed and cokmised by Portugal, with the success of which 



