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 THE VOYAGE OF VASCO DA GAMA 69 if we could but be sure they were authentic, of Da Gama's two ships and caravel. They were built of care- fully chosen wood, strongly fastened with iron, carried 160 men, and each had a triple store of sails, spars, and rope. The improvement of the astrolabe by Martin Behaim in 1480 gave Da Gama facilities for navigation unnown to Prince Henry, nor were his nautical instruments as a whole inadequate. Vasco da Gama finally sailed from the Tagus on Saturday, July 8, 1497, reached Calicut on the Indian coast on May 20, 1498, and returned to Lisbon in August or Septem- ber, 1499: successful indeed, but having lost THE FLEET OF VASCO DA GAMA. After a painting made by order of Jorge Cabral (1549-1550). his brother, half his ships, and more than half his crew. That memorable voyage has a whole literature of its own. It supplied the national epic of Portugal and many a glowing page to the Portuguese historians. It has been examined and re-examined by modern nau- tical critics. It is made to move afresh before our eyes by one of the most picturesque, yet most practical, trav- ellers of our time Sir Richard Francis Burton, in his work on Camoens and the Lusiad. Da Gama not only found the way from the Cape of Good Hope over the