134 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



bushes on fire, and that the flames, being communicated to the 

 forests, burned for seven years. The sugar-cane was planted, 

 and its cultivation yielded immense sums until sugar-plantations 

 were established in Brazil and thus interfered with the monopoly. 

 The attention of the islanders was then transferred to the grape, 

 and from that time to this Madeira has supplied the world with 

 a favorite — nay, almost indispensable — brand of wine. 



Don Henry had now, it would appear, surmounted the prin- 

 cipal obstacles opposed by ignorance or prejudice to the object of 

 his laudable ambition. But there were many interests threatened 

 by a continuance of discovery by sea. The military beheld with 

 jealous dislike the distinction obtained by, and now willingly 

 accorded to, a profession they held inferior to their own. The 

 nobility dreaded the opening of a source of wealth which would 

 raise the mercantile character, and in an equal degree lower the 

 assumptions and pretensions of artificial social rank. Political 

 economists suggested that there were barren spots in Portugal 

 as capable of cultivation as any desert islands in the sea or any 

 sandy coasts within the tropics. It was urged, too, that any 

 Portuguese who should pass Cape Bojador would inevitably be 

 changed into a negro, and would forever retain this brand of his 

 temerity. 



While Henry was resisting the arguments of his detractors, 

 his father died, and was succeeded upon the throne by his son 

 Edward. The latter gave every encouragement to the maritime 

 projects of his brother, and, in 1433, one Gilianez, having in- 

 curred the displeasure of Henry, determined to regain his favor 

 by doubling Cape Bojador. Though we are without details of 

 the voyage, we know at least that it was successful, and that the 

 historians of the time represent the feat as more remarkable 

 than any of the labors of Hercules. Gilianez reported that the 

 sea beyond Bojador was quite as navigable as the Mediterranean 

 and that the climate and soil of the coast were agreeable and 

 fertile. He was sent the next year, with Henry's cup-bearer, 



