452 THE PROGRESS OP MARITIME DISCOVERT. 



knowledge of the compass than before the beginning of the 

 fourteenth century, since its use by the mariners of his time is 

 expressly mentioned by that author. 



Confidently 'following this unerring guide, the Catalonians 

 sailed at an early period to the north coast of Scotland, and even 

 preceded the Portuguese in their discoveries on the west coast of 

 Africa, since Don Jayme Ferrer penetrated to the mouth of the 

 Rio de Ouro as early as August 1346. About the same time the 

 long-forgotten Canary Islands were rediscovered by the Spaniards; 

 and at a later period (1402 — 1405) conquered and depopulated 

 by some Norman adventurers, the Bethencourts. . 



While thus the South-European navigators unfurled their sails 

 on the Atlantic, and gave the first impulse to the glorious dis- 

 coveries that in the following century were destined to open up 

 the ocean, and reveal its hitherto unknown greatness to mankind, 

 the Indian Sea still remained closed to their enterprise; for 

 though the Venetians by this time rivalled, if they did not sur- 

 pass the ancient maritime greatness of the Tyrians in the Medi- 

 terranean, they did not, like them, directly fetch the rich produce 

 of the South in their own ships from the East-African and 

 Indian ports, but received them at second hand from the Arabian 

 masters of Syria and Egypt. 



But though no ship of theirs was ever seen in the Indian 

 seas, through them the knowledge of the Arabian discoveries 

 in those parts penetrated to Europe, and widely extended the 

 knowledge of the ocean. For when the Arabs, fired by the pro- 

 phetic ardour of Mahomet, suddenly emerged from the obscurity 

 of pastoral life, and appeared as conquerors before the astonished 

 world, the trade of the Indian Ocean fell into the hands of these 

 new masters of the Eed Sea and Persian Gulf, who soon learnt 

 to pursue it with an energy which the Eomans and Persians had 

 never known. The town of Bassora was founded by the caliph 

 Omar on the western shore of the great stream formed by the 

 confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates, and % soon emulated 

 Alexandria herself in the greatness of its commerce. From Bas- 

 sora the Arabs sailed far beyond the Siamese Grulf, which had 

 formerly bounded European navigation. They visited the un- 

 known ports of the Indian archipelago, and established so active a 

 trade with Canton, that the Chinese emperor granted them the 

 use of their own laws in that city. 



