creased, Commerce was difcouraged; till under the latter Emperors, Ships feem to have been of little other Ufe than to tranfport Soldiers.

Navigation could not be carried to any great Degree of Certainty, without the Compaís; which was unknown to the Ancients. The wonderful

Quality by which a Needle, or fmall Bar of Steel, touched with a Loadftone or Magnet, and turning freely by Equilibration on a Point, always preferves the Meridian, and directs its two Ends North and South, was difcovered according to the common Opinion in 1299, by John Gola of Amalphi, a Town in Italy.

From this Time it is reafonable to fuppofe that Navigation made continual, though flow, Improvements, which the Confufion and Barbarity of the Times, and the Want of Communication between Orders of Men fo diftant as Sailors and Monks, hindered from being diftinctly and fucceffively recorded.

It feems, however, that the Sailors ftill wanted either Knowledge or Courage, for they continued for two Centuries to creep along the Coaft, and confidered every Headland as unpaffable, which ran far into the Sea, and against which the Waves broke with uncommon Agitation.

The First who is known to have formed the Defign of new Difcoveries, or the Firft who had Power to execute his Purposes, was Don Henry the Fifth, Son of John the Firft, King of Portugal, and Philippina, Sifter of Henry the Fourth of England. Don Henry having attended his Father to the Conqueft of Ceuta, obtained by Conversation with the Inhabitants of the Continent, fome Accounts of the interior Kingdoms and fouthern Coaft of Africa which, though rude and indistinct, were sufficient to raise his Curiofity, and convince him that there were Countries yet unknown and worthy of Discovery.

He

He therefore equipped fome fmall Veffels, and commanded that they fhould pafs as far as they could along that Coaft of Africa, which looked upon the great Atlantick Ocean, the Immenfity of which ftruck the grofs and unfkilful Navigators of these Times, with Terror and Amazement. He was not able to communicate his own Ardour to his Seamen, who proceeded very flowly in the new Attempt; each was afraid to venture much further than he that went before him, and ten Years were spent before they had advanced beyond Cape Bajador, fo called from its long Progreffion into the Ocean, and the Circuit by which it must be doubled. The Oppofition of this Promontory to the Courfe of the Sea, produced a violent Current and high Waves, into which they durft not venture, and which they had not yet Knowledge enough to avoid by standing off from the Land into the open Sea.

The Prince was defirous to know fomething of the Countries that lay beyond this formidable Cape, and fent twoCommanders, named JohnGonzales Zarco, and Triftran Vaz, (1418) to pass beyond Bajador, and furvey the Coaft behind it. They were caught by a Tempeft, which drove them out into the unknown Ocean, where they expected to perifh by the Violence of the Wind, or perhaps to wander for ever in the boundless Deep. At laft, in the Midft of their Despair, they found a small Island, where they fheltered themselves, and which the Senfe of their Deliverance disposed them to call Puerto Santo, or the Holy Haven.

When they returned with an Account of this new Ifland, Henry performed a publick Act of Thanksgiving, and sent them again with Seeds and Cattle; and we are told by the Spanish Hiftorian, that they fet two Rabbits on Shore, which encreafed fo much in a few Years, that they drove away the Inhabi

tants,

tants, by deftroying their Corn and Plants, and were fuffered to enjoy the Ifland without Oppofition.

In the fecond or third Voyage to Puerto Santo, for Authours do not well agree, a third Captain called Perello, was joined to the two former. As they looked round the Ifland upon the Ocean, they faw at a Distance fomething which they took for a Cloud, till they perceived that it did not change its Place. They directed their Courfe towards it, and (1419) difcovered another Island covered with Trees, which they therefore called Madera, or the Ifle of Wood.

Madera was given to Vaz or Zarco, who fet Fire to the Woods, which are reported by Souza, to have burnt for seven Years together, and to have been wafted, till Want of Wood was the greateft Inconvenience of the Place. But green Wood is not very apt to burn, and the heavy Rains which fall in thefe Countries muft furely have extinguished the Conflagration, were it ever fo violent.

There was yet little Progrefs made upon the Southern Coaft, and Henry's Project was treated as chimerical by many of his Countrymen. At laft Gilianes (1433) paffed the dreadful Cape, to which he gave the Name of Bajador, and came back, to the Wonder of the Nation.

In two Voyages more, made in the two following Years, they paffed forty-two Leagues further, and in the latter, two Men with Horfes being fet on Shore, wandered over the Country, and found nineteen Men, whom according to the favage Manners of that Age they attacked, the Natives having Javelins, wounded one of the Portuguese, and received fome Wounds from them. At the Mouth of a River they found Sea-wolves in great Numbers, and brought home many of their Skins, which were much efteemed.

Antonio

Antonio Gonzales, who had been one of the Affociates of Gilianes, was fent again (1440) to bring back a Cargo of the Skins of Sea-wolves. He was followed in another Ship by Nunno Triftam. They were now of Strength fufficient to venture upon Violence, they therefore landed, and without either Right or Provocation, made all whom they feized their Prisoners, and brought them to Portugal, with great Commendations both from the Prince and the Nation.

Henry now began to please himself with the Succefs of his Projects, and as one of his Purposes was the Converfion of Infidels, thought it neceffary to impart his Undertaking to the Pope, and to obtain the Sanctions of Ecclefiaftical Authority. To this End Fernando Lopez d'Azevedo was difpatched to Rome, who related to the Pope and Cardinals the great Defigns of Henry, and magnified his Zeal for the Propagation of Religion. The Pope was pleased with the Narrative, and by a formal Bull conferred upon the Crown of Portugal, all the Countries which fhould be difcovered as far as India, together with India itself, and granted feveral Privileges and Indulgences to the Churches, which Henry had built in his new Regions, and to the Men engaged in the Navigation for Difcovery. By this Bull all other Princes are forbidden to encroach upon the Conquefts of the Portuguese, on Pain of the Cenfures incurred by the Crime of Ufurpation.

The Approbation of the Pope, the Sight of Men whofe Manners and Appearance were fo different from thofe of Europeans, and the Hope of Gain from golden Regions, which has been always the great Incentive of Hazard and Difcovery, now began to operate with full Force. The Defire of Riches and of Dominion, which is yet more pleafing to the Fancy, filled the Courts of the Portuguese Prince with innumerable Adventurers from very distant Parts

of

of Europe. Some wanted to be employed in the Search after new Countries, and fome to be settled in those which had been already found.

Communities now began to be feized with the Infection of Enterprife, and many Affociations were formed for the Equipment of Ships, and the Acquifition of the Riches of diftant Regions, which perhaps were always fuppofed to be more wealthy, as more remote. Thefe Undertakers agreed to pay the. Prince a fifth Part of the Profit, fometimes a greaterShare, and fent out the Armament at their own Expence.

The City of Lagos was the firft that carried on this Defign by Contribution. The Inhabitants fitted. out fix Veffels, under the Command of Luçarot, one of the Prince's Houfhold, and foon after fourteen more were furnished for the fame Purpose, under the fame Commander; to those were added many belonging to private Men, fo that in a fhort Time, twenty-fix Ships put to Sea in queft of whatever Fortune fhould prefent.

The Ships of Lagos were foon separated by foul Weather, and the reft, taking each its own Course, stopped at different Parts of the African Coaft, from Cape Blanco to Cape Verd. Some of them, in 1444, anchored at Gomera, one of the Canaries, where they were kindly treated by the Inhabitants, who took them into their Service, against the People of the Ifle of Palma, with whom they were at War; but the Portuguese at their Return to Gomera, not being made fo rich as they expected, fell upon their Friends, in contempt of all the Laws of Hofpitality, and Stipulations of Alliance, and, making feveral of them Prisoners and Slaves, fet fail for Lisbon.

The Canaries are fuppofed to have been known, however imperfectly, to the Antients, but in the Confufion of the fubfequent Ages, they were loft and forgotten, till about the Year 1340, the Bifcay