1898] A GEOGRAPHICAL COMMEMORATION 381 



not to be wondered at that the event has just been enthusiastically 

 celebrated at Lisbon from May 17-20, an exhibition being held 

 there, to which charts and plans were sent from our own India Office. 

 Considering, indeed, that our own country has proved the largest 

 heir of Vasco da Gama's benefits, it was natural that a meeting 

 should be held at the India Office, and that a special meeting, 

 attended by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, was held in the rooms of 

 the Royal Geographical Society on May 16th. The Hakluyt Society, 

 too, has signalised the occasion by publishing a translation, from the 

 pen of Mr E. G. Ravenstein, of the ' roteiro ' or log of the famous 

 voyage which we have just described. 



That voyage did not in itself effect any extension of our know- 

 ledge of the geography of India other than a more exact determina- 

 tion of the distance between Africa and India, and an improved 

 charting of a short stretch of the west coast of the peninsula. But 

 the enthusiasm with which Vasco da Gama's achievement was 

 hailed in Portugal had for long an immense influence on the devel- 

 opment of commerce and navigation. Not merely single vessels, but 

 whole fleets, fvilly manned, were despatched to India by the route 

 that Gama had opened, in order to make conquests there, and to 

 procure strongholds on the coast, to force the natives into treaties of 

 tribute and commerce, and, if possible, to abolish the Indo-Egyptian 

 and the Indo-European trade. As a result, the wave of Portuguese 

 exploration and geographical discovery passed rapidly through the 

 Indian Ocean to Ceylon, the Sunda Islands, and Malacca ; to Socotra 

 and Ormuz, and thence to the interior of the Eed Sea and Persian 

 Gulf ; and again, from Malacca to the Moluccas, China, and Japan. 

 Among the chief conquerors and explorers we may recall the 

 well-known names of Tristao da Cunha, Affonso D'Albuquerque, 

 Joao de Castro, and Ferdinand Magellan ; and not less immortal is 

 the name of Camoens, who sang the story of his country's deeds 

 while banished to the distant gardens of Macao. 



