Chap IL 
Portuguese Empire in the Baft-Indies. 
663 
reducing fuch a vaft Abundance of Materials, as the For - 
tugueze Hiftorians, and thofe of other Nations, who have 
treated on different Parts of this Subjeft have amaffed, 
within the Bounds of one Section, and that too of no great 
Size, will require great Diligence, and put me under the 
Neceffity of laying afxde many things which thofe Writers 
thought worthy of tranfmitting to Pofterity. But this will 
be fo far from proving in any rcfpedt prejudicial to the 
Reader, that it will on the contrary turn to his Advantage, 
becaufe it will free him from the Trouble of running thro’ 
a long Courfe of trifling Circumftances that have little or 
nothing to do with the main Point. 
For, as to the copious and fwelling Panegyricks on par- 
ticular Captains, the long Accounts of the Travels and La- 
bours of Miffionaries, and that pompous Detail of Church 
Hiftory, which makes up at lead two-thirds of what thefe 
Authors have delivered, they are certainly Matters that an 
Englijh Perufer would be tempted to hurry over as fall as 
poffible, and therefore the Omiffion of them muft contri- 
bute not only to the Elegance, but to the Ufefulnefs of this 
Performance. Indeed, when freed from thefe and other 
cumbrous Circumftances, there cannot be any thing more 
pleafant or entertaining, and at the fame time more curious 
and inftru&ive than this Part of our Hiftory, in which we 
fee what mighty things may be performed by Courage, In- 
duftry, and Application, and how foon even the fmalleft 
States, by cultivating a maritime Power, become potent 
and confiderable. 
The little Kingdom of Portugal is bounded on the North 
and on the Eaft by fevera! Provinces of Spain , and on the 
South and Weft by the Atlantick Ocean. It extends from 
37 0 to 42 0 of North Latitude, and lies between the 7 0 and 
io° Longitude Weft from London. It is in Length from 
North to South about three hundred Miles, and in Breadth 
from Eaft to Weftaboutone hundred. The Climate is plea- 
fant and wholefome, the Soil fertile in fome Places, but not 
in many, fo that they are fupplied with Corn by us, and 
by the Butch. This Country was formerly famous for 
Gold, but for many Ages there has been none, or at leaft 
but little of that precious Metal found there. There is, 
indeed, a very rich Silver Mine at Guacaldana , ftill 
wrought with confiderable Profit ; but the principal Advan- 
tage of Portugal is its Situation on the Sea, and the Ex- 
cellence of its Habours. That of Lijbon , if we extend it 
from St. Benet’s above it, to the Bay of Cafcais , at the 
Mouth of the River, is four or five Leagues Jong ; but if 
we only take in that Part of it about the Town, where 
Ships ride in the greateft Security from Storms and Enemies 
in eighteen Fathom Water, it will contain federal tnoufand 
Sail 5 the Entry of it indeed is hazardous without a Pilot, 
but on the other hand, Ships ride fecurely when they are 
in it, being covered by the Hills on which the City ftands 
on one Side, and by the oppofite Banks, which are very 
high, on the other. There are, befides this, feveral other 
good Ports in this Kingdom, the Subjects of which have 
been always famous for their Application to Maritime Af- 
fairs, and after they had driven the Moors out of their 
. Country, followed them into their own, and, under the 
Reign of King John the Firft, defeated them in a great 
Battle, and took from them the Fortrefs of Ceuta , which 
ftill remains in the Power of the Crown of Spain a . 
It was to the Zeal and Magnanimity of the Infant Don 
Henry , the Fifth Son of this King John, that the Portu- 
gueze ftand indebted for all that Glory which they have ac- 
quired by their Difcoveries and Conquefts in the Eaft, and 
we may juftly confider the Attempts made by them at this 
Juncture, as the more extraordinary, fince their Country 
was but juft recovered from a long and dangerous Civil 
War, the Power of their Prince very far from being great, 
his Finances very low, and the Country fo indifferently peo- 
pled, that he was obliged to have Recourfe to other Na- 
tions for Men to recruit his Armies, and to ferve on Board 
his Fleets, which were very far from being confiderable 5 I 
do not mean in Comparifon of the Fleets fitted out in our 
Times, but of thofe that were then employed by the Crown 
of Spain , and the Repubjfeks of Italy. Yet under thefe 
Difcouragemen ts, this Spirit of Trade and Navigation not 
only fprung up, but proipered *, and this too, notwithftand- 
ihg that many of their Statefmen were very averfe to fiich 
Undertakings, from the Danger and Difficulties that at- 
tended them *, nor could they in all probability have been 
carried into Execution, but from the Zeal of the Clergy*, 
who, out of a Defire of propagating the Chriftian Faith, 
promoted them to the utmoft of their Power. 
2. The Infant Don Henry Count de Vifeo was a Prince 
endowed with all the great Qualities that diftinguifh Heroes 
from other Men. He had fhewn his Courage in his Youth 
in the Wars againft the Moors •, but he was far from valu- 
ing himfelf on the Power of deftroying or making mifer- 
able his Fellow-creatures, and therefore thought the proper 
Objebl of Valour was the facing thofe Dangers that hin- 
dered the Profecution of fuchDefigns as might be beneficial 
to the human Species. He refolved therefore to make 
himfelf Mafter of the Canaries , which were then in the 
Hands of Maciot de Be thane our t , who held them under a 
Grant from the King of Cajiille , and who for a valuable 
Confideration made over his Right to Prince Henry about 
the Year 1406. He fent Ferdtdand de Caftro, who was at 
that time Mafter of his Houfhold, to take Poffeffion of 
them, and conceiving that they might be of great Ufe in 
the Difcovery of the Coafts of the great Continent of 
Africa , which were then very little known, he began about 
the Year 1410, to fit out Ships for that Purpofe, and took 
Spaniards , and others who were (killed in Navigation, into 
his Service for that Purpofe. 
The utmoft Limits of the South- weft Part of Africa , 
then known to the Portugueze , was a Cape running out 
from the Foot of Mount Atlas, the proper Name of which 
was Chaunar , butcalledby the Seamen Cape Non, fituatedin 
the Latitude of 28° ,10' North 5 and thefe Veffels proceeded 
along the Coaft to Cape Boj adore, in 2 6° North Latitude, 
but they had not the Courage to double it. In 1418 Trif- 
tan-Vaz difeovered the Ifland of Porto-Santo , and gave it 
that Name, becaufe he firft faw it on the Feaft of All 
Saints. The next Year the Portugueze difeovered the Ifland 
of Madeira , to which they gave that Name, on account of 
its being covered with Wood. In 1439, a Portugueze 
Captain doubled Cape Bojadore , which fome think is the 
fame that in the Writing of Ptolemy is called Cape Canarea. 
The next Year they failed as high as Cape Blanco, in the 
Latitude of 20°, and foon after difeovered the Rio delOro , 
with feveral frnall Iflands upon the Coaft. In 1446, Nuno 
Triftan doubled Cape Verd, in the Latitude of 14 0 40b In 
1448, in the Spring, Don Conzalo Vallo failed to the 
Iflands called Aporres , or the Hawk- Iflands, from the Word 
Apor, which, in the Spanifh Language, fignifies a Hawk. 
They were at that Time uninhabited, and were fettled by 
this Commander, who did not, however, vifit at this Time 
the Iflands of Flores and Corvo, which were fettled, as we 
have elfewhere obferved, by fome Flemings , and from thence 
were called the Flemijh Iflands. 
In the Year 1449, the Iflands of Cape Verd were difeo- 
vered on the Behalf of the Infant Don Henry the firft of 
thefe was called the Ifland of May, becaufe they came thither 
on May-day, and at the fame time they beftowed the Names 
of St. James, and St. Philip on two of thofe Iflands, the reft 
remaining undifeovered till the Year 1460. The Progrefs 
made by the Infant Don Henry , gave great Satis fabtion to 
the Princes that poffeffed the Crown of Portugal, infomuch 
that King Alphonfo IV. or rather the Infant Don Pedro , 
who governed the Kingdom during his Minority, made 
him a Grant of the Iflands of Porto-Santo and Madeira. 
The Infant, however, judged it requifite, according to the 
Cuftom of thofe Times, to obtain the Sanction of the Holy 
See, and for that Reafon fent Don Ferdinand Lopez d 3 Aze- 
vedo as his Embaffador, to Pope Martin V. who, as the 
a It was very far from being my Intention to give the Reader either a Defcription of the Kingdom of Portugal, or the Hi Horv of it, for both 
belong to the Succeeding Volume. What I have faid in the Text was purely to render the fubfequent Part of this Sedlion perfectly clear, and well 
conne&ed. By comparing the Force of the Kingdom of Portugal with the Conquefts gained by the Portugueze in the Ea ft- Indies , he will be made 
fully fenfible of the Truth of my Remarks, and by attending to the Situation of this Country, he will be fatisfied, that there was nothing in it 
.more than a Nation’s turning their Thoughts to that for which Nature defigned them ; for with RefpeCt to Eajl -India Voyages, as the Art of Navi- 
gation then flood, the Portugueze were better feated than any other People in Europe. 
thing 
