[39] Id.

I. 2.

C. 67.

[40] Ziphilin. in vit. Traj.

[41] Ramusio, V. f. 372. p. 2

[42] Strabo, I. 11.

[43] Plin. I. 6. c. 11.

[44] Newfoundland?

[45] Jidda.

[46] Leo Afric. Ramus. v. 1. f. 373.

SECTION II.

_Summary of Portuguese Discoveries, from the Commencement of the Fifteenth Century, to the Discovery of America by Columbus_[1].

According to the chronicles of Portugal, John I. went from Lisbon in 1415, attended by his sons Don Duarte, or Edward, Don Peter, and Don Henry, and other lords and nobles of his realm, into Africa, where he took the great city of Ceuta, which was one of the principal causes of extending the dominions of Portugal. After their return, Don Henry, the king's _third_[2] son, being then in Algarve, and desirous to enlarge the kingdom by the discovery of unknown regions, gave directions for discovering the coast of Mauritania; for in those days none of the Portuguese had ever gone beyond Cape Non, in lat. 29 deg.. N.[3]. For the better accomplishment of this purpose, Don Henry prepared a fleet, and commanded the officers whom he employed to proceed in making discoveries to the south of that cape, which they did; but when they came to another cape, named Bajador, none of them dared for a long time to go beyond it, at which cowardice the prince was much displeased.

In 1417, in the reign of John II. of Castile, and while his mother the lady Catharine was regent of the kingdom, Ruben de Bracamonte, the admiral of France, craved a grant of the Canary Islands, and the title of king, for his kinsman John de Betancourt; which being conceded, he departed from Seville with an armament to attempt the conquest.

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