1831.] CAPE OF GOGD HOPE. , 67 
pillar, as lie had previously done on the western coast of the same 
continent, for an ensign of the Portuguese dominion. 
A general murmur, however, amounting to a mutinous move- 
ment, noAv arose among his exhausted and dispirited crew. They 
urged that they had already discovered enough of land for one 
voyage, that their vessel was shattered, and their provisions draw- 
ing to a close ; in a word, they positively insisted on returning 
home. Diaz called a council of his officers, who all concurred 
in the wishes of the men ; so that the enterprising and indefatiga- 
ble navigator was here compelled to relinquish a still brighter 
* chaplet than he had already acquired; one which was in full 
view, and almost within his ~ reach. He yielded, it is said, with 
deep reluctance, and parted with the island where he had planted 
his last ensign, " as a father parts from an exiled son." In re- 
gaining the Atlantic, they for- the first time doubled, in full view, 
the long sought-for cape or promontory, to which Diaz, tortured 
by his feelings of mortification and chagrin, gave the name of 
" Cohas totas Tormentas" — " the Cape of all Torments f but his 
joyful sovereign, on his return to Portugal, inspired with a well- 
grounded hope that the long sought-for passage to India was at 
length discovered, changed the appellation to that which it noW 
bears, the " Cape of Good Hope." In 1497 this hope was fully 
realized by Vasco de Gama, another Portuguese discoverer, who 
doubled the cape, and explored his way to India, landing at Colicut 
on the twenty -second of May in the following year. 
A pathway for all nations was now opened to the "land of 
promise," whose precious merchandise soon began to be poured 
into the lap of every European country with profuse abundance. 
But notwithstanding their constant passing and repassing the 
Gape of Good Hope, its admirable locality for furnishing refresh- 
ments, and the inviting aspect of the country, none conceived the 
idea of planting a civilized colony among its sable native residents^ 
But in 1650, one hundred and fifty-seven years after its first dis- 
covery. Van Riebeck, a surgeon of one of the Dutch East India 
Company's ships, pointed out to the directors the great advantages 
which would be derived from estabHshing a settlement on the 
southern extremity of Africa, and they listened to the suggestion. 
In two years afterward his views were carried into effect, and he 
himself appointed governor of the new colony. From thattime^ 
E 2 
