126 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



poem by Antonio of Bologna, who lived but a short time after 

 Gioia: — 



"Prima dedit nautis usam magnetis Amalpbis." 

 Amalfi first gave to sailors the use of the magnet. 



The tradition was subsequently confirmed by the statement mado 

 by authors of repute, that the city of Amalfi, in order to commc- 

 morate an invention of so much importance, assumed a compass 

 for its coat of arms. This was believed till the year 1810, when 

 the coat of arms of Amalfi was found in the library at Naples. 

 It did not answer at all to the description given of it : instead 

 of the eight wings which were said to represent the four cardin 0 ' 

 points and their divisions, it had but two, in which no resemblance 

 to a compass could be traced. Later investigations have, as we 

 have said, completely demolished all the arguments by which 

 the compass was maintained to be of European origin and of 

 modern date. The curious reader will find the extracts from 

 Chinese works whicn substantiate the Chinese claim, in a volume 

 upon the subject published in 1834, at Paris, by M. J. Klaproth, 

 and composed at the request of Baron Humboldt. 



In t-:e sketch which we are now about to give of the Portu- 

 guese voyages to the African coast, it will be remarked that the 

 compass was already introduced and acclimated. No mention 

 whatever is extant of the first venture made upon the Atlantic 

 under the auspices of this mysterious but unerring guide. Science 

 and history must forever regret that the first European navigator 

 who employed it did not leave a record of the experiment. 

 What would be more interesting to-day than the log of the 

 err^est voyage thus accomplished in European waters? The 

 modern reader would surely give his sympathy, unreservedly, to 

 a narrative in which the navigator should describe his wonder, 

 his terror, his joy, when, throughout the voyage, he saw the 

 tremulous index point invariably north ; when, upon the disper- 

 sion of the clouds which had concealed the Star from view, it 

 was found precisely where the needle indicated : when, upon its 



