147 
A BIT OF AFRICAN HISTORY. 
East; but had been steadily resisted by the Semitic races. These efforts 
were not relaxed, even after western civilization had found other repre¬ 
sentatives. Toward the end of the fifteenth century, however, the fall of 
Constantinople and the expulsion of the Moors from Spain seemed to 
establish the boundaries of the Aryan empire and of the Semitic; and 
A MAGICIAN AT WORK. 
the people of the former race, no longer struggling vainly for a foot¬ 
hold in the East, sought new worlds to conquer in the West. Even 
before these events had actually come to pass, the results of the move¬ 
ment had begun to be felt. The same spirit which sent Columbus west¬ 
ward to find India, sent the Portuguese southward to explore the coast 
of Africa. 
The local position of Portugal, and its constant wars with Morocco, 
were the circumstances which seem to have directed the minds of the 
