It unfortunately happens that we have no record
of the particular voyages themselves, and are therefore reduced to the
necessity of giving the relation of this great discovery historically
from the best remaining sources of information. The writings of Cada
Morto, which will be found in the sequel, form a pleasing exception to
this desideratum in the history and progress of early navigation and
discovery.
[1] Astley. I. 9. Clarke, I. 140. Purchas, I. 6. Harris, I. 662.
[2] Wealth of Nations, II. 347.
SECTION I.
_Commencement of Portuguese Discoveries, from Cape Non to Cape Bojador_
Three years before the reduction of Ceuta, the Duke of Visco had sent a
vessel in 1412 to explore the western coast of Africa, being the first
voyage of discovery undertaken by the Portuguese, or by any other nation
in modern times. The commander was instructed to endeavour to follow the
western coast of Africa, to the southward of Cape Chaunar, called by the
Portuguese mariners Cape Nao, Non, or Nam, which, extending itself from
the foot of Mount Atlas, had hitherto been the _non plus ultra_ or
impassable limit of European navigation, and had accordingly received its
ordinary name from a negative term in the Portuguese language, as
implying that there was no navigation beyond; and respecting which a
proverbial saying was then current, of the following import:
