DISCOVERY OF PORTO SANTO AND MADEIRA.. 455 



but spirited people could hope to reap a rich harvest of wealth 

 and glory. 



The first two ships which Prince Henry sent out on a voyage 

 of discovery along the African coast (1412) did not reach 

 farther than Cape Bojador, whose rocky cliffs stretching far out 

 into the Atlantic intimidated their inexperienced commanders. 

 Six years later (1418) Juan Gronsalez Zarco and Tristan Vaz 

 Tejeira were intrusted with a new expedition, and sailed with 

 express commands to double that ill-famed promontory-; but a 

 terrible gale drove them out to sea, and forced them to seek 

 a refuge on an unknown island, to which they thankfully gave 

 the name of Porto Santo. This discovery, though extremely 

 unimportant in itself, served to confirm the prince in his 

 projects, and encouraged him to send out in the following year 

 a new expedition under the same commander, to take posses- 

 sion of the island. 



This led to a more important discovery, for on landing on 

 Porto Santo the attention of the Portuguese was struck by a 

 black and prominent spot, rising above the southern horizon. 

 To this they now directed their course, and were equally de- 

 lighted and surprised to see it swell out as they approached to 

 the ample proportions of a large island ; to which, on account of 

 the dense forests which at that time covered its verdant hill- 

 slopes up to the very top, they gave the name of Madeira. Prince 

 Henry immediately equipped a considerable fleet to carry a 

 colony of his countrymen to the new land of promise, and fur- 

 nished them with the vine of Cyprus, and the sugar-cane of 

 Sicily, which throve so well on the Atlantic isle, that after a 

 few years the produce of Madeira began to be of consequence in 

 the trade of the mother country. 



Thus the first undertakings of Prince Henry were not left 

 unrewarded; but, besides the commercial advantages arising 

 from the possession of Madeira, it encouraged the Portuguese 

 navigators no longer servilely to creep along the coasts, but 

 boldly to steer into the open sea. Thus Don Gilianez, by avoid- 

 ing the shore-currents, succeeded at last in doubling the dreaded 

 Cape Bojador (1433), and opening a new sphere to navigation. 

 One discovery now rapidly followed another. Gonsalez and Nufio 

 Tristan (1440-1442) penetrated as far as the Senegal; Cape de 

 Verd was reached in 1446 ; and three years later, the limits of 



