tue of which it became great. His death interrupted not the advance of his kingdom, because he had known how to rear a son who was but another Alfonse. Strength and courage he exhibited in a high degree, and these are usually sufficient for a great personal success. But to found a family, to be the progenitor of a line of noble kings, a man must be wise and virtuous, and both in an eminent degree. How many men there are among us to to-day who have made a great fortune; but how few of them have succeeded in the infinitely more difficult task of rearing a son worthy to inherit and able to use it!

BARTHOLOMEW DIAS.

ALL sailors and geographers, I repeat, should pronounce with respect the word, Portugal; for it was that little kingdom which led the way in navigating the ocean. But for Portugal, Columbus had never discovered America. It was the example of Portuguese navigators that gave him courage to undertake his great voyage; and it was while living in Portugal and exercising his vocation of map-maker that the conviction grew in his mind of the existence of land in the western hemisphere. Alfonse, the first and greatest King of Portugal, was, as I have said, the progenitor of a noble line of kings, who raised one of the smallest of kingdoms to a rank and importance in Europe scarcely inferior to that of the largest.

The first of the series of events which ended in the discovery of a new world was the introduction of the Mariner's Compass, without which it had never been safe to venture out of sight of land. No one knows who invented this sublime instrument. We only know that it was first used in navigating the seas about the year 1420,-seventy years before Columbus sailed.

The whole of that period of seventy years was filled with events of the highest interest to navigators. Then it was that the science of navigation began to exist. In the court of a Portuguese king the compass was first seriously studied. There, too, were constructed the first tables of the sun's declinations, for sailors' use; and there was first disclosed the modern mode of taking observations of the sun. By Portuguese navigators the islands lying off the African coast — the Azores, Madeiras, Cape Verdes, and others were discovered. Portuguese sailors first ventured down along the coast of Africa; first visited the negro in his native home; first saw the elephant; first brought

to Europe pepper, ivory, and gold dust, from the shores of Guinea; first planted the cross upon those distant coasts; first saw that remote headland which was afterwards named the Cape of Good Hope; first doubled the cape, and so reached by sea the East Indies. These were great achievements, second in importance only to the discovery of a new continent, and surpassing even that in difficulty and danger.

Of the Portuguese navigators who preceded Columbus, Bartholomew Dias was the most famous and successful. It was in 1486 six years before the discovery of America-that Dias made the voyage which immortalizes his name. At that time, the principal islands off the northern coast of Africa were paying tribute to the Portuguese king, and the coast itself had been explored to a point within 1,100 miles of the southern extremity of the continent. Beyond that point all was as yet unknown. But there existed then in Portugal such an enthusiasm for explorations and discoveries, that no sooner had one navigator returned and related his adventures than plans were entertained for new attempts. This was the case in 1486. A ship returned in that year which had sailed up the river Congo, and brought home a chief of the country to be baptized a Christian. Religious zeal, the desire of gain and national pride, all concurred to induce the King of Portugal to fit out a new expedition, to ascertain, if possible, how far Africa extended, and what there was at the end of it. They had been working at Africa for many a year. Great and strange things had been discovered; but they had not yet reached the bottom of the mystery.

Two vessels, each of fifty tons burthen, were equipped and armed, and placed under the command of Dias, a man of rank and a member of the king's household. The little vessels put to sea, followed by the ardent wishes of all Portugal. Columbus was not upon the shore to see them off; for, one year before, after having long endeavored to obtain the patronage of the King of Portugal, he had left that country and offered his services to the King of Spain. How bitterly the King of Portugal regretted this six years after !

The two ships sped away before favorable gales, and quickly reached the southernmost point attained by previous navigators.

Beyond latitude twenty-two degrees nothing was known; and Dias had no guide but the line of the coast. This, however, proved to be a very deceptive guide; for sometimes it stretched away toward the west, then indented eastward; so that, in attempting to make short cuts, he often lost the land, sailed many days out of his course, and was then obliged to retrace his steps and grope about, as it were, until he found the continent again. As the ships advanced toward the south, the astonishment of the navigators was unbounded when they found the weather daily growing colder. This was contrary to all past experience. No European had ever before gone far enough south of the equator to discover that the temperature lowers as you go south of the equator in the same proportion as when you go north of it. This fact was the first great discovery of Dias and his followers.

Sailing along the coast, he saw at length the lofty promontory, a thousand feet above the level of the sea, which terminates the continent. He had accomplished his mission, but he knew it not. Still hugging the shore, he soon observed that the line of coast now tended northward; whence he gradually concluded that he had doubled the southern extremity of Africa.

It is much to the credit of Dias and of the enlightened king whom he served, that, in obedience to his orders, he treated the natives of Africa with all possible kindness. Four negro women, beguiled from their home by previous explorers, he carried back to their country, loaded with presents. He exchanged gifts, also, with the chiefs whose dominions he visited, and treated them with great consideration. They reciprocated his kindness and supplied him with provisions. On one occasion, however, he encountered a hostile tribe. Soon after rounding the great cape, he had occasion to land for a supply of water. On reaching the spring, he found a great assemblage of natives, who attempted to drive away the sailors by a shower of stones, hurled from slings. Dias ordered up one of those enormous bow-guns in use at that time; by means of which a large stone was thrown into the crowd of howling savages, stretched one of them lifeless upon the ground, and put the rest to flight.

This encounter completed the discouragement of his men. Dias wished to push on, in quest of the rich shores of India;

but nothing could overcome the unwillingness of his crew to proceed farther, and he saw himself, at length, obliged to yield. Ordering the crews of both ships ashore, he set up, with imposing ceremonial, a wooden cross, rudely fashioned by a ship's carpenter, which bore also the royal arms of Portugal. Beneath this cross mass was said, and the communion administered. When these services were concluded, and Dias was about to return to his ship and sail for home, his heart was overcome with the bitterness of his regrets. The thought that he had come so far only to set up a cross, and that he was turning back just when complete success seemed within his grasp, shook his frame with emotion. It was long before he could tear himself from the spot. "You would have thought," said one of his comrades afterwards, "that he was taking leave of an only son exiled forever to that distant shore."

It was not till Dias had again doubled the cape, that he knew for a certainty that it was indeed the end of the continent. He named it the Cape of Storms.

One strange and melancholy incident occurred on the voyage home. Dias had stationed a small store-ship in one of the bays on the coast of Guinea, which he left in charge of a purser and a small crew. During his long absence, disease had reduced the number of this little band, until none remained but the purser and two or three sick, despairing sailors. When, at last, the purser saw in the distance the well-known vessel of his commander, such was the shock of his joy that he fell dead upon the deck of his vessel.

The return of the expedition was hailed with delight by king and people. John II., comprehending the importance of the discovery, and foreseeing all its probable consequences, would not permit the cape to retain the name given to it by Dias. He called it the Cape of Good Hope, which it has ever since retained. He meant by this appellation to express the feeling that now there was Good Hope of reaching India by sea; Good Hope of Portugal sharing in the commerce which had enriched Venice; Good Hope of making up for the small territory of Portugal by great possessions on another continent; and, not least, Good Hope of adding to the realm of the cross countless