All This Fine Speculation, However, Rested On Mistaken
Foundations; As The Niger Is Altogether An Inland River, Running To The
East, And Has No Communication With The Senegal And Gambia, Which Run
West Into The Atlantic.
Yet time, and the civilization of the natives on
the Senegal and Gambia, may hereafter realize this scheme of a valuable
traffic into the interior of Africa; but it is fervently to be hoped,
that the trade in slaves may never be revived.
In his preface, after an apology for his performance, and making a
declaration of his strict adherence to truth in all the particulars he
relates, Cada Mosto gives some account of the infant Don Henriquez, or
Henry, of Portugal, the great author and promoter of maritime discoveries.
He praises him, as a prince of a great soul and sublime genius, and of
great skill in astronomy; and adds, that he applied himself entirely to
the service of Christ, by making war against the Moors. While on death-
bed, in 1432, Don John, king of Portugal, exhorted his son Don Henry to
pursue his laudable and holy purpose, of _persecuting_ the enemies of the
Christian faith, which he promised to perform; and, accordingly, with the
assistance of his brother Don Duarte, or Edward, who succeeded to the
throne of Portugal, he made war in Fez with success for many years.
Afterwards, the more effectually to harass the Moors, he used to send his
caravels, or ships of war, annually, to scour the coasts of Azafi, or Al
Saffi, and Messa, on the coast of Africa, without the Mediteranean, by
which he did them much damage.
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