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 and to spread the Christian religion into other and far distant lands.

With these professed objects and amid splendid demonstrations, in which the whole population of Lisbon took part, Vasco de Gama set sail on the 9th of July 1497. Favoured by a northerly wind and fine weather, the expedition reached St. Iago, Cape Verde Islands, in thirteen days from the time of its departure. Having replenished his stock of provisions, De Gama shaped his course to the south, and on the 4th of November anchored in the bay of St. Helena, on the west coast of Africa. Though aided by the skill and knowledge of Pedro d'Alemquer, Dias's pilot, it was not until the 22nd November that he succeeded in doubling the now famous Cape of Good Hope, entering on the 25th the bay to the eastward of it, which Dias had named San Bras. Here he encountered one of those storms so frequent on the Agulhas banks, which Correa graphically describes. The ships were in imminent danger, the crews mutinied and resolved to put back; and the fine weather, as had been anticipated, did not restore either contentment or resignation. At length on Sunday, the 17th of December, they passed the Rio do Iffante, the limit of the discoveries of Dias, and on the 25th of that month sighted land. In commemoration of the birthday of Christ, De Gama gave to this spot the name of Costa de Natal. Continuing his course along the coast to the north-east, he arrived on the 22nd of January, 1498, at a river which he named the Rio de Bons Sinaes (now called the Quillimane), where he was detained for a month,