LESSONS IN GECHJIIAI'HY. 



101 



in his cipedition-i, and thin travelled over Cent 



'letti, \\ellt til I'ekill by 



the Of i: 1 in 1 t*i.i I'lavijo was sent as an 



ambassador by t! Spain to Samarcand. About tin- 



ihe fourteenth century tho brothers /ciii re. discovered 



uid, and iinnouneed the existence of a largo island, which 

 they called / Modem geographers have not yet arrived 



.it tlm satisfactory solution of tho problem, to what country or 

 island this name :i|,|. 



i had almo-t become unknown, when tho Port 

 began to explore tho western part of this continent. This 

 nation, animated by a zeal for making voyages and discoveries, 

 undertook to nctity the errors of geographers, and to contradict 

 tho dreams of Greek and Roman antiquity, as well as tho 



s of the middle ;< ;>crimentally proving tho fact 



that the zone of tho globe hitherto deemed uninhabitable was as 

 accessible to man as the temperate regions. Previous to tho 



: 1 1, the Portuguese had never ventured beyond Capo Nun, 

 which they considered as an impassable limit. An expedition 



i en prepared and sent out, which proved completely sue- 

 ! ; it not only doubled this redoubtable cape, but extended 

 its researches as far as Cape Boja- 

 dor. Then commenced that series 

 of successful enterprises which have 

 gained for this people their lasting 

 reputation as early discoverers of 

 unknown lands. Under tho direc- 

 tion of Henry of Portugal, a noblo 

 and zealous prince, in 1432, explor- 

 ing squadrons from Lisbon doubled 

 Cape Bojador, discovered the river 

 Senegal, reconnoitred tho coast of 

 Africa from Cape Blanco to Cape 

 Verd, landed on the islands which 

 take their name from tho latter 

 cape, and took possession of the 

 Azores, situated about nine hundred 

 miles from the African continent. 

 Some years later tho Portuguese 

 crossed the equinoctial line or equa- 

 tor, and established tho fact, hitherto 

 problematical, that the torrid zone 

 was not only habitable, but also 

 very populous and fertile. No longer 

 did the block statues of the Canary 

 Islands appeal to the fears of the 

 traveller, and forbid him to go a step 

 beyond that limit. Suddenly also 

 was the Sea of Darkness illumined 

 by the rays of tho tropical sun, and 

 soon were its waves opened up as 

 a public highway to enterprising 

 navigators. After new exploring ex- 

 peditions to the kingdoms of Benin and Congo, the Portuguese, 

 under Bartholomew Diaz, in 1493, reached the Cape of Good 

 Hope, which was then called by him the Cape of Tempests, on 

 account of tho stormy aspect which it presented to them on its 

 first appearance. In 1497, however, under the auspices of 

 Emmanuel of Portugal, Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and reached India, after having sailed along the 

 whole western and southern coast of Africa. 



Whilst tho Portuguese were thus striking out a new route 

 to the East Indies, tho Spaniards were opening up America to 

 Europe. The latter years of the fifteenth century made this 

 double present to Christendom. Tho erroneous representations 

 which the maps of the world presented at this period, and 

 which, according to the authority of Ptolemy and tho travels of 

 Marco Polo, gave an exaggerated extent to -Asia on the east, 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 



a short rest at the Canary Islands, were refitted on the 6th of 

 September f-> I 'mm that moment the crew of the little 



nVet , alarmed at tho immensity of the ocean, and destitute of 

 : > of success to sustain their courage, cherished a thou- 

 sand apprehensions which almost led them to despair. De- 

 spondency gave place to anger, and anger produced revolt The 

 energy of the great leader of the enterprise calmed these 

 extravagant fears, and warded off the dangers with which even 

 his life was threatened. Yet keen anguish continued to agitato 

 his noble hi -art. during those long and dreary nights when the 

 land, indicated )>y certain customary signs, seemed to fly from 

 his presence. At last, at ten o'clock on tho night of tho 1 

 October, 1492, Columbus distinctly perceived a light. Some 

 hours afterwards, the rising sun showed him in the distance the 

 land which ho wmght. America was discovered ! 



Tho first land seen by Columbus was the inland of Guanahani, 

 which is now called San Salvador. Tho Spaniards discovered, in 

 succession, the West India Islands, including Cuba and Hayti, 

 which received the name of Hitpaniola, and in 1 I'J" Columbus 

 set foot for the first time on the mainland of tho continent of 

 North America. It has been said that Amerigo Vespucci 

 visited, a year before Columbus, tho 

 coasts of Guiana and Terra Firma, 

 now Venezuela; but this is mere 

 conjecture. Two years later, how- 

 ever, this learned Florentine care- 

 fully reconnoitred the northern 

 coast of South America. 



In the space of a few years, con- 

 stant accessions were made to these 

 discoveries in the New World. In 

 1497, John Cabot, accompanied by 

 his sons Lewis and Sebastian, dis- 

 covered Newfoundland and Labra. 

 dor, and is said to have sailed 

 southward along the coast of North 

 America as far as Florida. Yanez 

 Pinzon, in 1500, reached Brazil, and 

 three months after him, Alvarez 

 Cabral landed on the same coast, 

 which he transferred to the sove- 

 reignty of Portugal ; while Caspar 

 Cortereal touched at the coast of 

 Labrador, which had already been 

 discovered by Cabot. Ponce de Leon, 

 in 1512, landed in Florida. Three 

 years later, the Bio de la Plata, or 

 River Plate, was laid open to Europe 

 by Juan Diaz de Solis. Magellan, 

 one of tho most illustrious of these 

 early voyagers, -in 1520, established 

 the fact of the existence of the strait 

 which bears his name, saw Tierra 



del Fuego, and reached the Philippine Islands, after having 

 ploughed the Pacific Ocean, which Nunez de Balboa had taken 

 possession of, in the name of tho king of Spain ! This Balboa 

 was the first who saw, from the elevated shores of Central 

 America, the waters of the great Pacific Ocean, which he name*! 

 the South Sea. Now the Spaniards commenced the exploration 

 of the new continent. The curiosity of Europe was raised to 

 its highest pitch. An unknown and mighty world unfolded its 

 wonders to bold adventurers, when Mexico, Guatemala, and 

 Peru exhibited to the eyes of the astonished Europeans tho 

 splendours of their imperial cities, and their inhabitants told 

 them of the priceless store of inexhaustible treasures that lay 

 hid in the bowels of their mountains. 



Put the wealth of the men of tho New World proved their 

 ruin, and led to their speedy subjugation and the overthrow of 



led Christopher Columbus to imagine that by sailing continually I empires and dynasties that wore older, perhaps, than any that 

 westward, it was possible to reach the continent of Asia and the j existed in that quarter of the globo from which their conquerors 

 East Indies. There was, besides, a vague but common belief i came. Tho sight of gold and silver used for purposes for which 

 that there existed towards the west a great unknown land, the baser metals were thought even too valuable in Europe : tho 



Tho history of all tho difficulties which tho illustrious Genoese 

 met with in the execution of his project, and of all tho obstacles 

 which ignorance, indifference, and jealousy raised up against 



indifference with which Mexicans and Peruvians alike regarded 

 that which the Europeans looked upon as the enly thing which 

 could render life desirable; and tho incredible news that, any 



him is well known ; but tho facts of the discovery must be day they liked, they could gtt more than a strong man could 

 repeated hero. Tho three vessels charged with this great ex- .-t:i'_r_-er under, at tho price of a few hours' work with spado 

 ploring expedition set sail on the 3rd of August, 1492, and after and piok, raised in the human vultures that had flocked weit- 



