Jupiter having
assumed the figure of that goddess, completed his amorous desires.
assumed the figure of that goddess, completed his amorous desires.
Camoes - Lusiades
--_Ed.
_
[349] During the reign of John II. the Portuguese erected several forts,
and acquired great power in the extensive regions of Guinea. Azambuja, a
Portuguese captain, having obtained leave from Caramansa, a negro
prince, to erect a fort on his territories, an unlucky accident had
almost proved fatal to the discoverers. A huge rock lay very commodious
for a quarry; the workmen began on it; but this rock, as the devil would
have it, happened to be a negro god. The Portuguese were driven away by
the enraged worshippers, who were afterwards with difficulty pacified by
a profusion of such presents as they most esteemed.
[350] The Portuguese, having brought an ambassador from Congo to Lisbon,
sent him back instructed in the faith. By this means the king, queen,
and about 100,000 of the people were baptized; the idols were destroyed
and churches built. Soon after, the prince, who was then absent at war,
was baptized by the name of _Alonzo_. His younger brother, Aquitimo,
however, would not receive the faith, and the father, because allowed
only one wife, turned apostate, and left the crown to his pagan son,
who, with a great army, surrounded his brother, when only attended by
some Portuguese and Christian blacks, in all only thirty-seven. By the
bravery of these, however, Aquitimo was defeated, taken, and slain. One
of Aquitimo's officers declared, they were not defeated by the
thirty-seven Christians, but by a glorious army who fought under a
shining cross. The idols were again destroyed, and Alonzo sent his sons,
grandsons, and nephews to Portugal to study; two of whom were afterwards
bishops in Congo. --_Extracted from_ Faria y Sousa.
[351] According to fable, Calisto was a nymph of Diana.
Jupiter having
assumed the figure of that goddess, completed his amorous desires. On
the discovery of her pregnancy, Diana drove her from her train. She fled
to the woods, where she was delivered of a son. Juno changed them into
bears, and Jupiter placed them in heaven, where they form the
constellations of Ursa Major and Minor. Juno, still enraged, entreated
Thetis never to suffer Calisto to bathe in the sea. This is founded on
the appearance of the northern pole-star, to the inhabitants of our
hemisphere; but, when GAMA approached the austral pole, the northern, of
consequence, disappeared under the waves.
[352] The Southern Cross.
[353] The constellation of the southern pole was called _The Cross_ by
the Portuguese sailors, from the appearance of that figure formed by
seven stars. In the southern hemisphere, as Camoens observes, the nights
are darker than in the northern, the skies being adorned with much fewer
stars.
[354]
_Non, mihi si linguae centum sunt, oraque
centum, Ferrea vox, omnes scelerum comprendere formas. _--AEN. vi.
[355] _That living fire, by seamen held divine. _--The sulphureous
vapours of the air, after being violently agitated by a tempest, unite,
and when the humidity begins to subside, as is the case when the storm
is almost exhausted, by the agitation of their atoms they take fire, and
are attracted by the masts and cordage of the ship. Being thus,
naturally, the pledges of the approaching calm, it is no wonder that the
superstition of sailors should in all ages have esteemed them divine,
and--
_Of heaven's own care in storms the holy sign. _
In the expedition of the Golden Fleece, in a violent tempest these fires
were seen to hover over the heads of Castor and Pollux, who were two of
the Argonauts, and a calm immediately ensued.
[349] During the reign of John II. the Portuguese erected several forts,
and acquired great power in the extensive regions of Guinea. Azambuja, a
Portuguese captain, having obtained leave from Caramansa, a negro
prince, to erect a fort on his territories, an unlucky accident had
almost proved fatal to the discoverers. A huge rock lay very commodious
for a quarry; the workmen began on it; but this rock, as the devil would
have it, happened to be a negro god. The Portuguese were driven away by
the enraged worshippers, who were afterwards with difficulty pacified by
a profusion of such presents as they most esteemed.
[350] The Portuguese, having brought an ambassador from Congo to Lisbon,
sent him back instructed in the faith. By this means the king, queen,
and about 100,000 of the people were baptized; the idols were destroyed
and churches built. Soon after, the prince, who was then absent at war,
was baptized by the name of _Alonzo_. His younger brother, Aquitimo,
however, would not receive the faith, and the father, because allowed
only one wife, turned apostate, and left the crown to his pagan son,
who, with a great army, surrounded his brother, when only attended by
some Portuguese and Christian blacks, in all only thirty-seven. By the
bravery of these, however, Aquitimo was defeated, taken, and slain. One
of Aquitimo's officers declared, they were not defeated by the
thirty-seven Christians, but by a glorious army who fought under a
shining cross. The idols were again destroyed, and Alonzo sent his sons,
grandsons, and nephews to Portugal to study; two of whom were afterwards
bishops in Congo. --_Extracted from_ Faria y Sousa.
[351] According to fable, Calisto was a nymph of Diana.
Jupiter having
assumed the figure of that goddess, completed his amorous desires. On
the discovery of her pregnancy, Diana drove her from her train. She fled
to the woods, where she was delivered of a son. Juno changed them into
bears, and Jupiter placed them in heaven, where they form the
constellations of Ursa Major and Minor. Juno, still enraged, entreated
Thetis never to suffer Calisto to bathe in the sea. This is founded on
the appearance of the northern pole-star, to the inhabitants of our
hemisphere; but, when GAMA approached the austral pole, the northern, of
consequence, disappeared under the waves.
[352] The Southern Cross.
[353] The constellation of the southern pole was called _The Cross_ by
the Portuguese sailors, from the appearance of that figure formed by
seven stars. In the southern hemisphere, as Camoens observes, the nights
are darker than in the northern, the skies being adorned with much fewer
stars.
[354]
_Non, mihi si linguae centum sunt, oraque
centum, Ferrea vox, omnes scelerum comprendere formas. _--AEN. vi.
[355] _That living fire, by seamen held divine. _--The sulphureous
vapours of the air, after being violently agitated by a tempest, unite,
and when the humidity begins to subside, as is the case when the storm
is almost exhausted, by the agitation of their atoms they take fire, and
are attracted by the masts and cordage of the ship. Being thus,
naturally, the pledges of the approaching calm, it is no wonder that the
superstition of sailors should in all ages have esteemed them divine,
and--
_Of heaven's own care in storms the holy sign. _
In the expedition of the Golden Fleece, in a violent tempest these fires
were seen to hover over the heads of Castor and Pollux, who were two of
the Argonauts, and a calm immediately ensued.
