EARLY PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES IX AFRICA. 79 



Among the presents, it is perhaps interesting to note, was an 

 elephant, an animal which had not been seen in the Papal City 

 since the days of the Roman Empire. This fiact greatly contri- 

 buted to bring to Rome a huge crowd eager to witness the arrival 

 of the ambassadors of the country which was doing so- much for 

 the expansion of the Christian faith, and who were the bearers of 

 such wonderful specimens of the wealth of the Orient. 



Portuguese settlement in East and West Africa went on 

 steadily, as the subsequent expeditions to India required the 

 establishment of refreshment stations, and men were left at the 

 various ports, to see to the needs of the fleets and to open up 

 commerce with the interior. Important commercial centres 

 sprang up at Loanda and Benguella, in Angola, and at Mozam- 

 bique and Sofala in this territory. A great portion of the in- 

 terior, as well as the whole of the coast belt, was gradually ex- 

 plored by Portuguese officials and traders. 



In 1545, Dom Joao de Castro, one of the most distinguished 

 Governors of India, reported to the King the recent discovery of 

 the bay and rivers of the Lagoa by a man called Lourenzo 

 Marques, and the following year the King, in reply, sent instruc- 

 tions for a closer investigation of the discovery. King Manoel 

 apparently had more faith than the succeeding generations in the 

 destiny of this town, since this place remained for centuries un- 

 developed, and it is only in recent years that it has attained suf- 

 ficient comfort to attract the members of the South African Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science ! 



Portuguese penetration and settlement in Africa has been 

 steady and consistent. When, during the first portion of the 

 seventeenth century, the wars with I^ngland and Holland de- 

 prived her of her Indian Empire. Portugal remained in Africa. 

 If her African dominions do not show a degree of development 

 and wealth equal to those of other powers, the reason is easily 

 traceable to the small population and limited financial capacity of 

 the Mother Country. In spite of that, the work of the Portuguese 

 will leave its mark for all time in all branches of human activity. 

 They have rendered gigantic service to science by their nautical 

 discoveries, and by their gift of a new geography to the world. 

 They have augmented the world's wealth by opening up new 

 channels of commerce. In Africa in particular, they were faced 

 with enormously large tribes extremelv superstitious and tena- 

 cious in their habits as well as in their hatred of any innovation. 

 Christianity' has made many converts in Africa : it has, perhaps, 

 not made a single civilised man who will adopt our customs and 

 mode of living, so much so that a celcl)rated statesman once ex- 

 pressed the fear that x\frica would for ever be the eternal abode 

 of barbarism. Nevertheless, the Portuguese were the first to 

 attempt to civilise the African Natives, and the greatest share in 

 whatever Iws been achieved to this day is undoubtedlv theirs. 

 Thev claim that with reason, as they also claim with equal reason 

 a great part in the European colonisation of this countrv. where 



