The Original Prejudices Against The Possibility Of
Navigating Or Existing In The Torrid Zone Still Subsisted, And Although
The Navigators
Of Don Henry had gradually penetrated to within ten
degrees of the equator, yet the last successive discovery was always
Held
forth by the supporters of ignorant prejudice, as that which had been
placed by nature as an insurmountable barrier to farther progress in the
Atlantic. In this situation, the settlement of the Acores was of
considerable importance. In 1457, Don Henry procured the grant of many
valuable privileges to this favourite colony, the principal of which was
the exemption of the inhabitants from any duties on their commerce to the
ports of Portugal and even of Spain.
In 1461, a fort was erected in the isle of Arguin on the African coast of
the Moors, to protect the trade carried on there for gold and negro
slaves. Next year, 1462, Antonio de Noli, a Genoese, sent by the republic
to Portugal, entered into the service of Don Henry, and in a voyage to
the coast of Africa, discovered the islands which are known by the name
of the Cape de Verd Islands, though they lie 100 leagues to the westward
of that Cape. In the same year Pedro de Cintra, and Suera de Costa,
penetrated a little farther along the coast of Africa, and discovered the
river or Bay of Sierra Liona or Mitomba, in lat. 8 deg. 30' N. This
constituted the last of the Portuguese discoveries, carried on under the
direct influence and authority of Don Henry, the founder and father of
modern maritime discovery, as he died next year, 1463, at Sagres, in the
sixty-seventh year of his age; and, for a time, the maritime enterprise
of the Portuguese nation was palsied by his death.
Thus, during a long period of fifty-two years, this patriotic prince
devoted almost his whole attention, and the ample revenues which he
enjoyed as Duke of Viseo end grand master of the military order of Christ,
in extending the maritime knowledge, and consequently the commercial
prosperity of his country. The incidents of the last seven years of the
life of this distinguished prince, are involved in uncertainty, and we
know very little with regard to the progress of his maritime discoveries
from 1456, the date of the second of the voyages of Cada Mosto, of which
we propose to give a separate account, till the year of his death, 1463.
From the year 1412, when he began his operations, at which time he could
scarcely exceed fifteen years of age, the navigators who had been formed
under his auspices and direction, and often instructed by himself in the
theory of navigation and cosmography, gradually explored the western
coast of Africa, from Cape Nam or Non, in lat. 28 deg. 15', certainly to Rio
Grande, in lat. 11 deg. N. or rather to Rio de Nuno, not quite a degree
farther south; but it is highly probable that the southern limit of
discovery in his time extended to Cabo Verga, in lat. 10 deg. N. the northern
boundary of the country usually called the Sierra Liona, or the Ridge of
Lions, perhaps to the gulf of Mitomba, or bay of Sierra Liona, in lat. 8 deg.
30' N. an extent of 29 deg. 15' of latitude, or 1185 nautical miles; a mere
nothing certainly when compared with modern navigation, but a wonderful
effort in the infancy of the science, when even coasting voyages of any
extent along well known shores, and in frequented seas, were looked upon
as considerable efforts. No brilliant discovery, indeed, rewarded the
perseverance of Don Henry, and the courage of his servants; but an
indestructible foundation of useful knowledge was laid, for overthrowing
the ignorant prejudices of the age, and by which, not long afterwards,
his plans were perfected by completing the circumnavigation of Africa,
and by the discovery of the _New_ World. Dr Vincent, the learned editor
and commentator of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, is disposed to
limit the discoveries of Don Henry to Cape Verd[2], but Ramusio believed
that the Island of St Thomas was settled in his time; and the ingenious
translator of the Lusiad of Camoens is of opinion that some of his
commanders passed beyond the equator[3]. According to Mickle, it was the
custom of his navigators to leave his motto, _Talent de bien faire_,
wherever they came; and in 1525 Loaya, a Spanish captain, found that
device carved on the bark of a tree in the island of St Matthew, or
Anabon, in the _second_ degree of southern latitude. But this proof is
quite inconclusive, as the navigators long reared in the school of this
great prince might naturally enough continue his impress upon the
countries they visited, even after his lamented death.
About seven years before the decease of Don Henry, two voyages were made
to the African coast by Alvise da Cada Mosto, a Venetian navigator, under
the auspices of the Duke of Viseo; but which we have chosen to separate
from the historical deduction of the Portuguese discoveries, principally
because they contain the oldest nautical journal extant, except those
already given in our First Part from the pen of the great Alfred, and are
therefore peculiarly valuable in a work of this nature. Their
considerable length, likewise, and because they were not particularly
conducive to the grand object of extending the maritime discoveries, have
induced us to detach them from the foregoing narrative, that we might
carry it down unbroken to the death of the great Don Henry. These voyages,
likewise, give us an early picture of the state of population,
civilization, and manners of the Africans, not to be met with elsewhere.
To this we subjoin an abstract of the narrative of a voyage made by Pedro
de Cintra, a Portuguese captain, to the coast of Africa, drawn up for
Cada Mosto, at Lagos, by a young Portuguese who had been his secretary,
and who had accompanied Cintra in his voyage.
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