No More Learning

[51] At his town of
Sagrez, from whence he had not moved for many years, Don Henry, now in
his sixty-seventh year, yielded to the stroke of fate, in the year of
our Lord 1463, gratified with the certain prospect that the route to the
eastern world would one day crown the enterprises to which he had given
birth. He saw with pleasure the naval superiority of his country over
the Moors established on the must solid basis, its trade greatly upon
the increase, and flattered himself that he had given a mortal wound to
Mohammedanism. To him, as to their primary author, are due all the
inestimable advantages which ever have flowed, or ever will flow from
the discovery of the greatest part of Africa, and of the East and West
Indies. Every improvement in the state and manners of these countries,
or whatever country may be yet discovered, is strictly due to him. What
is an Alexander, crowned with trophies at the head of his army, compared
with a Henry contemplating the ocean from his window on the rock of
Sagrez! The one suggests the idea of a destroying demon, the other of a
benevolent Deity.

From 1448, when Alonzo V. assumed the power of government, till the end
of his reign in 1471, little progress was made in maritime affairs. Cape
Catherine alone was added to the former discoveries. But under his son,
John II. , the designs of Prince Henry were prosecuted with renewed
vigour. In 1481 the Portuguese built a fort on the Gold Coast, and the
King of Portugal took the title of Lord of Guinea. Bartholomew Diaz, in
1486, reached the river which he named _dell'Infante_ on the eastern
side of Africa, but deterred by the storms of that coast from proceeding
farther, on his return he had the happiness to be the discoverer of the
promontory, unknown for many ages, which bounds the south of Africa.
From the storms he there encountered he named it Cape of Storms; but
John, elated with the promise of India, which this discovery, as he
justly deemed, included, gave it the name of the Cape of Good Hope. The
arts and valour of the Portuguese had now made a great impression on the
minds of the Africans.
The King of Congo sent the sons of some of his
principal officers to Lisbon, to be instructed in arts and religion; and
ambassadors from the King of Benin requested teachers to be sent to his
kingdom. On the return of his subjects, the King and Queen of Congo,
with 100,000 of their people, were baptized. An ambassador also arrived
from the Christian Emperor of Abyssinia, and Pedro de Covillam and
Alonzo de Payva were sent by land to penetrate into the East, that they
might acquire whatever intelligence might facilitate the desired
navigation to India. Covillam and Payva parted at Toro in Arabia, and
took different routes. The former having visited Conanor, Calicut, and
Goa in India, returned to Cairo, where he heard of the death of his
companion. Here also he met the Rabbi Abraham of Beja, who was employed
for the same purpose by King John. Covillam sent the Rabbi home with an
account of what countries he had seen, and he himself proceeded to Ormuz
and Ethiopia, but, as Camoens expresses it--

"To _his_ native shore,
Enrich'd with knowledge, _he_ return'd no more. "

Men, whose genius led them to maritime affairs began now to be possessed
by an ardent ambition to distinguish themselves; and the famous Columbus
offered his service to King John, and was rejected. Every one knows the
discoveries of this great adventurer, but his history is generally
misunderstood. [52] The simple truth is, Columbus, who acquired his
skill in navigation among the Portuguese, could be no stranger to the
design, long meditated in that kingdom, of discovering a naval route to
India, which, according to ancient geographers and the opinion of that
age, was supposed to be the next land to the west of Spain. And that
India and the adjacent islands were the regions sought by Columbus is
also certain. John, who esteemed the route to India as almost
discovered, and in the power of his own subjects, rejected the proposals
of the foreigner. But Columbus met a more favourable reception from
Ferdinand and Isabella, the king and queen of Castile. Columbus,
therefore, proposed, as Magalhaens afterwards did, for the same reason,
to steer a westward course, and having in 1492 discovered some western
islands, in 1493, on his return to Spain, he put into the Tagus with
great tokens of the riches of his discovery. Some of the Portuguese
courtiers (the same ungenerous minds, perhaps, who advised the rejection
of Columbus because he was a foreigner) proposed the assassination of
that great man, thereby to conceal from Spain the advantages of his
navigation. But John, though Columbus rather roughly upbraided him,
looked upon him now with a generous regret, and dismissed him with
honour.