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 !."> UISTOKV or INDIA. [Book T.

A u. i4o.i. passed away before he couid induce any Euroj)can state to incwr the expenm: whiuli would Im! necessary in oi-d<;r to realize tljem. Spain at la«t undertook the task, and was rewarded with the discovery of a New World. Tliis wan more than even Columbus had anticipated. TJKMigh his geographifxil ideaK were far more accurate than tho.se of his crmtemporaries, he had greatly underrated tlie magnitude of the globe; and hence, imagining that the land which he first reached belonged to Asia, he gave it the name of West Indies. In this name he informs us of the goal after which he had been striving, and which he was so confident of having actually attainecl, that for a time he would scarcely believe the evidence of his senses, and in.si.sted that everything which he saw was Indian. The delusion under which Columbus thas laboured is a striking proof of the general interest which was now felt in regard to India, and of the eager longings of the maritime states of Europe to obtain a share in its trade, without being fettered by the monopolies which the Maho- metans and Venetians had established in the Levant. ProUabie Tliougli Columbus faded to discover an oceanic route to India, he clearly

routes to _ _ _ _

the East pointed out the direction in which it lay. It was previously known that the

Xiidiss

Atlantic was bounded on the east by the continents of Europe and Africa, and lie had now proved that an equally insurmountable barrier bounded it on the west. The conclusion, therefore, was obvious, that if India was accessible from Europe by a continuous sea voyage, it could only be by tracing one or other of these continents to its termination, and then sailing round it. In accordance with tliis conclusion, four lines of passage presented themselves as possible — a north-west, a north-east, a south-west, and a south-east. The tliree first were subsequently attempted ; but the last, which was certainly the most promising, is the only one with which we have now to do. Trince As early as 1415, more than twenty years before Columbus was bom,

Henry of _

Portugal. Prince Henry, fourth son of John I., King of Portugal, after distinguishing himself at the capture of Ceuta, on the coast of Africa, returned with a determination to devote himself to maritime discovery, by employing navigators to trace the western coast of that continent, and thereby perhaps solve the great proljlem of a practicable route to the East Indies, by sailing round its southern extremity. He had all the talent and scientific acquirement necessary, in order to qualif' him for superintending the great task thus undertaken, and gave a striking proof of his inflexibility of purpose by Avithdi'awing from coiu"t, and fixing his residence in the seaport of Sagres, not far from Cape St. Vincent. Here he erected an observatory, and established a school of navigation for the training of youth, whom he might afterwards employ on voyages of discovery. He was not destined to solve the grand problem ; but before his death, in 1 463, had paved the way for it, by fitting out expeditions, which, leaving Cape Non (so called because no previous navigator had pavssed it) far behind, discovered Madeira and the Cape Verd Islands, and penetraf ed as fiir south as Sierra Leone.