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HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



and which never ceased till it had united the four quarters of 

 the globe in commercial intercourse. Henry had stood alone 

 for almost forty years ; and, had he fallen before those few ounces 

 of gold reached his country, the spirit of discovery might have 

 perished with him, and his designs have been condemned as the 

 dreams of a visionary." The sight of the precious metal placed 

 the discoveries and enterprises of Don Henry beyond the reach 

 of detraction or prejudice. Numerous expeditions were suc- 

 cessively fitted out : — that of Nuno Tristan, in 1443, who dis- 

 covered the Arguin Islands, thirty miles to the southeast of 

 Cape Blanco ; that of Juan Diaz and others in 1444 ; that of 

 Gonzalez da Cintra in 1445, who, with seven others, was killed 

 fifty miles south of the Rio del Ouro, — this being the first loss 

 of life on the part of the Portuguese since they had undertaken 

 their explorations. In 1446, a gentleman of Lisbon, by the 

 name of Fernandez, determined to proceed farther to the south- 

 ward than any other navigator, and accordingly fitted out a 

 vessel under the patronage of the prince. Passing the Senegal 

 River, he stood boldly on till he reached the most western pro- 

 montory of Africa, to which, from the number of green palms 

 which he found there, he gave the name of Cape Verd. Being 



CAPE VERD. 



alarmed by the breakers with which this shore is lined, he returned 

 to Portugal with the gratifying news of his discovery. In 1447, 

 Nuno Tristan sailed one hundred and eighty miles beyond Cape 

 Verd, and reached the mouth of a river, which he called the Rio 



