PORTO SANTO DISCOVERED. 



131 



filled these timid navigators with terror and amazement. They 

 dared not venture out of sight of land, and, seized with a sudden 

 remembrance of the fabulous horrors of the torrid zone, they 

 regarded the interposition of this terrific cape as a providential 

 warning, and sailed hastily back to Portugal. There, with that 

 fancy for embellishment peculiar to sailors of all ages, they 

 narrated stories, or, as would be said in the present day, yarns, 

 calculated forever to dissuade from further ventures in the lati- 

 tudes of Capes Non and Bojador. 



Don Henry, who had returned from Ceuta, resolved, in spite 

 of these obstacles, to employ a portion of his revenue as Grand 

 Master of the Order of Christ, in further maritime experiments. 

 He fixed his residence upon the Sacrum Promontorium of the 

 Romans, of which we have given a representation in the chapter 

 describing the voyage of Pytheas. Here he indulged that 

 passion for navigation and mathematics which he had hitherto 

 been compelled to neglect. In 1418, two naval officers of his 

 household volunteered their lives in an attempt to surmount the 

 perils of Bojador. Juan Gonzalez Vasco and Tristan Vax 

 Texeira embarked in a vessel called a barcha and resembling a 

 brig with topsails, and steered for the tremendous cape. 



Before reaching it, however, a violent storm drove them out 

 to sea, and the crew, on losing sight of their accustomed land- 

 marks, gave themselves up to despair. But, upon the abatement 

 of the tempest, they found themselves in sight of an island four 

 hundred miles to the west of the coast. Thus was discovered 

 Porto Santo, the smallest of the group of the Madeiras, and 

 thus was the feasibility and advantage of abandoning coasting 

 voyages and venturing boldly out to sea made manifest. The 

 adventurers returned to Portugal, and gave glowing accounts of 

 the fertility of the soil, of the mildness of the climate, and the 

 character of the inhabitants. Vessels were fitted out to colo- 

 nize and cultivate the island; but a singular and most untoward 

 event rendered it useless as a place of refreshment for navi- 



