- In 1471, Juan de Santarem and Pedro de Escobar penetrated as far as La Mina, in the fifth degree of latitude, and afterwards to Cape St. Catharine, in 2 degrees. Ferdinand Po also discovered the island that goes by his name. About the same time the islands of St. Thomas, Anno Bono, and Principe, were discovered.

Being now fully intent on the profit to be derived from the trade, discoveries were not pursued with any great degree of alacrity. How ever, in 1480, James Cam ran as far along the coast as to the 22d degree of south latitude.

In 1486, Bartholomew Diaz was sent out with three ships to discover India. He had the good fortune to discover the southern promontory of Africa, which, from the storms he encountered there, he denominated Cape Tormentoso, but which, from the prospect it afforded of opening the way to India, was, by the King of Portugal, called the Cape of Good Hope.

Anno 1497. King Emanuel, who, with the crown of Portugal, had inherited the ambition of enlarging his dominions, and the desire of finding a way by sea to the East Indies, appointed Vasco de Gama, a gentleman of undaunted spirit, admiral of those ships he designed for this expedition, which were only three, and a tender; their names were, the St. Gabriel, the St. Raphael, and Berrio; the captains, Vasco de Gama, admiral; Paul de Gama, his brother; and Nicholas Nunez; and Gonzalo Nunez of the tender, which was laden with provisions. Gama sailed from Lisbon on the 8th of July, and the first land he came to after almost five months sail was the Bay of St. Helena, where he took some blacks. The 20th of November he sailed thence, and doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and on the 25th touched at the Bay of St. Blas, 60 leagues beyond the aforesaid cape, where he exchanged some merchandize with the natives. Here he took all the provisions out of the tender and burnt it. On Christmas-day they saw the land, which, for that reason, they called Terra do Natal, that is, Christmas Land; then the river they named De los Reyes, that is, of the kings, because discovered on the Feast of the Epiphany; and after that Cape Corrientes, passing 50 leagues beyond Zofala without seeing it, where they went up a river in which were boats with sails made of palm-tree leaves: the people were not so black as those they had seen before, and understood the Arabic character, who said that, to the eastward lived people who sailed in vessels like those of the Portuguese. This river Gama called De Bons Sinays, or of Good Tokens, because it put him in hopes of finding what he came in search of. Sailing hence, he again came to an anchor among the islands of St. George, opposite to Mozambique, and, removing thence, anchored again above the town of Mozambique in 14 degrees and a half of south latitude; whence, after a short stay, with the assistance of a Moorish pilot, he touched at Quiloa and Monhaza; and having at Melinda settled a peace with the Moorish king of that place, and taken in a Guzarat pilot, he set sail for India, and crossing that great gulph of 706 leagues in 20 days, anchored two leagues below Calicut on the 20th of May. To this place had Gama discovered 1200 leagues beyond what was

known before, drawing a straight line from the river Del Infante, discovered by Bartholomew Diaz, to the port of Calicut, for in sailing about by the coast it is much more. Returning home not far from the coast, he fell in with the islands of Anchediva, signifying in the Indian language five islands, because they are so many; and having had sight of Goa, at a distance, sailed over again to the coast of Africa, and anchored near the town of Magadoxa. At Melinda he was received friendly by the king, but, being again under sail, the ship St. Raphael struck on the shore and was lost, giving her name to those sands: all the men were saved by the other two ships, which parted in a storm near Cabo Verde. Nicholas Coello arrived first at Lisbon, and soon after him Vasco de Gama, having spent in his voyage two years and almost two months. Of 160 men he carried out, only 55 returned home, who were all well rewarded.

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Anno 1500. King Emanuel, encouraged by the success of Vasco de Gama, fitted out a fleet of 13 sail, under the command of Peter Alvarez Cabral, and in it 1200 men, to gain footing in India. He sailed on the 8th of March, and, meeting with violent storms, was blown off from the coast of Africa so far, that on Easter-eve the fleet came into a port, which, for the safety found in it, was called Seguro, and the country at that time Santa Cruz, being the same now known by the name of Brazil, on the south continent of America. Hence the admiral sent back a ship to advertise the king of the accidental new discovery, leaving two Portuguese ashore to enquire into the customs and product of the land. Sailing thence on the 12th of May for the Cape of Good Hope, the fleet was for 20 days in a most dreadful storm, insomuch that the sea swallowed up four ships, and the admiral arrived with only six at Zofala, on the 16th of July, and on the 20th at Mozambique; where having refitted, he prosecuted his voyage to Quiloa, and thence to Melinda, whence the fleet stood over for India, and reached Anchediva on the 24th of August: then coming to Calicut, peace and commerce was there agreed on with Zamorin, or King of Calicut, but was soon broken, and the Portuguese entered into strict amity with the Kings of Cochin and Cananor, where they took in their lading and returned to Portugal.

Anno 1501. John de Nova departed from Lisbon with four ships and 400 men, and in his way discovered the island of Conception, in eight degrees of south latitude, and on the east side of Africa, that which from him was called the island of john de Nova. At Cananor and Cochin he took in all his lading, destroying many vessels of Calicut, and in his return home found the island of St. Helena in 15 degrees of south latitude, distant 1549 leagues from Goa, and 1100 from Lisbon, being then unpeopled, but since of great advantage to all that use the trade of India.

Anno 1502. The king set out a fleet of 20 sail, commanded by the first discoverer of India, Vasco de Gama, whose second voyage this was. No new discoveries were made by him, but only trade secured at Cochin and Cananor, several ships of Calicut taken and destroyed; the King of Quiloa, on the coast of Africa, was brought to submit himself

to Portugal, and pay tribute; and Vasco de Gama returned home with nine ships richly laden, leaving Vincent Sodre behind with five ships to scour the coasts of India, and secure the factories there.

Anno 1503. Nine ships were sent under three several commanders, Alfonso de Albuquerque, Francis de Albuquerque, and Antony de Saldanha, each of them having three ships. The Albuquerques with per+ mission of the king built a fort at Cochin, burnt some towns, took many ships of Calicut, and then returned richly laden homewards, where Alfonso arrived safe with his ships, but Francis and his were never more heard of. Saldanha, the third of these commanders, gave his name to a bay short of the Cape of Good Hope, where he endeavoured to water; but it cost the blood of some of his men, and there, fore the place was called Aguada de Saldanha, or Saldanha's wateringplace. Thence proceeding on his voyage, he obliged the king of Monbaza, on the other coast of Africa, to accept of peace; and then went to cruise upon the Moors at the mouth of the Red Sea, which was the post appointed him.

Anno 1504. Finding no good was to be done in India without a considerable force, King Emanuel fitted out 13 ships, the largest that had been yet built in Portugal, and in them 1200 men, all under the command of Lope Soarez, who made no further discoveries, only concluded peace with Zamorin, and returned rich home.

Anno 1505. D. Francisco de Almeyda was sent to India with the title of viceroy, carrying with him 22 ships, and in them 1500 men, with whom he attacked and took the town of Quiloa on the east coast of Africa, and in about 9 degrees of south latitude, where he built a fort; then burnt Monbaza on the same coast in four degrees, and, sailing over to India, erected another fort in the island Anchediva, and a third at Cananor on the Malabar coast.

Anno 1506. James Fernandez Pereyra, commander of one of the ships left to cruise upon the mouth of the Red Sea, returned to Lisbon with the news of his having discovered the island Zocotora, not far distant from the said mouth, and famous for producing the best aloes, from it called Succotrina. In March this year sailed from Lisbon Alfonzo de Albuquerque, and Tristan da Cunha, with 13 ships, and 1300 men, the former to command the trading ships, the latter to cruise on the coast of Arabia: in their passage they had a sight of Cape St. Augustin, in Brazil; and, standing over from thence for the Cape of Good Hope, Tristan da Cunha ran far away to the south, and discovered the islands which still retain his name. Sailing hence, some discovery was made upon the island of Madagascar, that of Zocotora subdued, and the fleet sailed, part for the coast of Arabia and part for India. In the former Albuquerque took and plundered the town of Calayate, the same he did to Mascate, Soar submitted, and Orfuzam they found abandoned by the inhabitants. This done, Albuquerque sailed away to Ormuz, then first seen by Europeans. This city is seated in an island, at the mouth of the Persian gulph, so barren that it produces nothing but salt and sulphur, but it is one of the greatest marts in those countries. Hence Albuquerque sailed to India, where

he served some time under the command of the Viceroy Almeyda, till he was himself made governor of the Portuguese conquests in those parts, which was in the year 1510, during which time the whole business was to settle trade, build forts, and erect factories along the coasts already known, that is, all the east side of Africa, the shores of Arabia, Persia, Guzarat, Cambaya, Decan, Canara, and Malabar; and, indeed, they had employment enough, if well followed, to have held them many more years. But avarice and ambition know no bounds; the Portuguese had not yet passed Cape Comorin, the utmost extent of the Malabar coast, and, therefore,

Anno 1510, James Lopez de Sequeira was sent from Lisbon with orders to sail as far as Malacca; this is a city seated on that peninsula formerly called Aurea Chersonesus, running out into the Indian sea from the main land, to which it is joined by a narrow neck of land on the north, and on the south separated from the island of Sumatra by a small strait or channel: Malacca was at that time the greatest emporium of all the farther India. Thither Sequeira was sent to settle trade, or rather to discover what advantages might be gained; but the Moors who watched to destroy him, having failed of their design to murder him at an entertainment, contrived to get thirty of his men ashore on pretence of loading spice, and then falling on them and the ships at the same time, killed eight Portuguese, took sixty, and the ships with difficulty got away. However, here we have Malacca discovered, and a way open to all the further parts of India. In his way to Malacca, Sequeira made peace with the kings of Achem, Pedir, and Pacem, all at that time small princes at the north-west end of the island Sumatra. Whilst Sequeira was thus employed, Albuquerque assaults the famous city of Goa, seated in a small island on the coast of Decan, and taking the inhabitants unprovided, made himself master of it, but enjoyed it not long; for Hidalcan, the former owner, returning with 60,000 men, drove him out of it, after a siege of 20 days: yet the next year he again took it by force, and it has ever since continued in the hands of the Portuguese, and been the metropolis of all their dominions in the least, being made an archbishop's see, and the residence of the viceroy who has the government of all the conquests in those parts. Albuquerque, flushed with this success, as soon as he had settled all safe at Goa, sailed for Malacca with 1400 fighting men in 19 ships. By the way he took five ships, and, at his arrival on the coast of Sumatra, was complimented by the kings of Pedir and Pacem. It is not unworthy relating in this place that, in one of the ships taken at this time, was found Nehoada Beeguea, one of the chief contrivers of the treachery against Sequeira; and though he had received several mortal wounds, yet not one drop of blood came from him; but as soon as a bracelet of bone was taken off his arm, the blood gushed out at all parts. The Indians said this was the bone of a beast called Cabis, which some will have to be found in Siam, and others in the island of Java, which has this strange virtue, but none has ever been found since. This being Hooked upon as a great treasure, was sent by Albuquerque to the king of Portugal, but the ship it went in was cast away, so that we have lost

the rarity, if it be true there ever was any such. Albuquerque, sailing over to Malacca, had the Portuguese that had been taken from Sequeira delivered; but that not being all he came for, he landed his men, and, at the second assault, made himself master of the city, killing or driving out all the Moors, and peopling it again with strangers and Malays.

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THE WONDERFUL CUNNING OF A FOX.

[FROM OLD MSS.]

that this creature has a kind of reasoning with itself, prove Sir Henry Wotton told the following story to King James. A fox had killed a young pig, and was to cross a river to his den. By the water side some alder-trees had been newly stubbed, and there lay chips of all sizes. The fox, before he would venture himself and his prey into the stream, weighs the danger, weighs his pig, and divers chips after it. At last he takes up into his mouth one of the heaviest, passeth the river with it, and, arriving safely, comes back to fetch his pig.

A story of the same nature the Earl of Southampton related to the king. In his Brook-hawking at Shellingford, he saw divers fowl on the river, and, a little way up the stream, a fox very busy by the bank-side. The earl delayed his sport on purpose to see what Reynard was about-He saw him very busy fetching of the green sod which had been cut a few yards from the river. He takes two or three, one after another, in his mouth, and lets them drive towards the fowl. After he had well familiarized them to this stratagem, he puts many more in together, and himself after them with one in his mouth, and under this cover, gaining on the thickest part of the fowl, suddenly darts from his ambush and seizes one. This did the earl report as being an eye-witness to the fact.

MEMORABLE SPEECH OF THEOPHRASTUS

TO HIS DISCIPLES ON HIS DEATH-BED.

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die.

IFE is delusive; it promises us great pleasure in the possession of glory; but scarcely have we begun to live when we are called to No passion is often more fruitless than a love of fame. Nevertheless, my disciples, be contented: if you set little value on the esteem of men, you will save yourselves much labour; if your courage does not sink under it, glory may happen to be your recompence. Remember only that there are many useless things in life, and few that lead to a sure end.