PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS 17 



Joao II., who in the meantime had ascended the 

 throne, enthusiastically bent on carrying out the 

 projects of his illustrious relative, fitted out a fleet, 

 which discovered the Congo and pushed its way 

 south as far as Cape Cross. The next undertaking 

 of the kind was the despatch in 1486 of three small 

 vessels under the command of Bartholomew Dias, 

 the first European navigator to reach the Cape. 

 They were absent from the Tagus for nearly eighteen 

 months, and there is little doubt that the devoted 

 Dias would have forestalled his luckier rival, da 

 Gama, and reached India had it not been for the 

 importunity of his officers and men, who, owing 

 to lack of provisions, insisted on his abandoning 

 the voyage when the " Cape of Storms," as he 

 named it, had been actually successfully doubled. 



In the meantime, as we learn from the fine 

 work of the Conde de Ficalho on the subject. 

 King Joao of Portugal, still thirsting for informa- 

 tion, had despatched one Pero da Covilha in search 

 of the dominions of the fabulous Prester John. 

 Passing by way of Naples to Alexandria and Cairo, 

 and thence to Aden, he shipped to Calicut and 

 Goa, and thence took passage for Sofala. Here, 

 it is believed, he heard some news of the passage 

 by his adventurous countrymen of the Cape of 

 Storms, and this may have been the first account 

 of that exploit to reach Europe, since, it would 

 appear, he returned to Cairo, where he met 

 messengers from his royal master, to whom he 

 entrusted important despatches, receiving in return 

 others instructing him to proceed in a new direction 

 on a further quest of the fabled kingdom which it 



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