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Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche it droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. y errata Id to nt ie pelure, tfon A 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 ROOM 12 SHfcLF XUAVV,' ' MKMUIK OF SIU GAUNKT WOLSKLKY, ' SOLDims OF XllK VICXOKIAN AGE,' JiTC, ETC. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : NEWMAN AND CO., 43, HART STREET, I3LOOM8BURY, AV.C. lb8L (ylW .AVf////s Jieservcd.} c PREFACE. In accordance with a general practice wliicli, in many instances, however, would be ' more honoured in the breach than in the observance,' I lay before the reader this Preface, apologising for its appearance by the expla- nation that it is in the nature of an Introduction describ- ing the objects and scope of the work. To write a preface is not only a general, but an ancient, practice, as I was reminded lately when perusing a trans- lation of a curious old book, ' The Visions of Dom Francisco De Quevedo Villegas,' ' made English,' in 1696, by Sir Roger L'Estrange, a famous man of letters contemporary "^^'ith Dry den, who gives certain reasons for following the custom of writing a preface, which certainly display great candour on his part. ' This preface,' says L'Estrange, * is merely for fashion sake, to fill a space, and please the stationer, who says 'tis neither usual nor handsome to leap immediately from the title-page to the matter.* Far other is my object in writing these introductory lines. Briefly, it is to point out that though Travels 1)y Sea and Land have filled countless volumes, no com- VI i>in:rArF. pciidions wf>rk 1ms been i)u1)lisho(l dciilin;^' with the<^Teat sul)ject of Maritime Dis'^overy in a complete, if necessaril}' sneeinct, form. 1 do not lay claim to any orif>'inality either in the matter of thene volumes or its treatment. No ' hitherto unpublished manuscripts' have been un- earthed by me, but I have merely had recourse to the vast tomes in -which our forefathers delif^hted to bury their learning and research, and thence have disinterred a continuous record of nautical research. The volumes of Churchill, Pinkerton, Ilakluyt, and other old writers, treating of voyages and discoveries, form a considerable library in themselves, and even later authors, compiling from these, are too diffuse for the present generation of readers, who prefer knowdcdge presented to them in a 'concentrated' form, like the extracts of meat which compress the nutritious essence of a bullock into a single tin. This w^ork, then, is in the nature of a survey, but, I believe, every voyage of discovery, with its results, has been recorded, and, I trust, the reader will consider the task — which to me has been a congenial one, from a natural taste for geographical studies and some exjie- rience in this branch of literature — has been completed in an attractive form. Chief among the old authors I have consulted in that portion of the work dealing with the discoveries of the Spaniards and Portuguese, are Harris, Dalrymple, and Burney. The importance of the explorations completed by these nations during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries may be gathered from the fact that, from the date of the discovery of America by Columbus, and the exploration of the Portuguese Navigators, Diaz, De Gama, and ^lagellan, the daring seamen of the Iberian I'l{i:i ACK. Vll H ])eninsula Iji'ouL'ht a New World into existence, and defined the unvi.sited nhores of the Old. Not only were the West Indies and the Spanish Main, together with the whole western coast of America, from California to Cape Horn, explored hy the Spaniards, and the seahoard of the Eastern Hemisphere, from Cape Hojador to Macao, traced out by the T'ortiiguese, hut these nationalities divide between them the honour of havinf the Piritish Navy, in which the country takes a special pride, as the model and standard of those of other countries, and that one of our puhlic institutions which the jealous foreif^ner, even the German, that ' Sir Oracle' of the Continent, cannot teach us how to better. Wo should not i)lace too much confidence in that 'silver streak' of sea which divides us from nations who have in array millions of armed men, but, as Cymbeline's queen says, trust rather to * the natural bravery of our isle' than to the accident of its standins: ' As Neptune's park, ribb'd and paled in "With rocks unscalable and roaring water ; "With sands that will not bear our cueuiiea' boats iJut suck thera up to the topmast.' C. R. LOW. 4 Kensikgton', Jjn-il, 1881. 'I tv CONTENTS OF VOL. I. -♦c-^- CHAPTER I. The Vessels of the Ancients — Ship-building among the Phoenicians — The Origin of the Sail, Rudder, Anchor, and Cable — Notes on the Attic and Roman Triremes — Ancient Mariners and PACK their Superstitions — The Ancients Art of Navigation among the 1— 3G CHAPTER II. Varieties of Craft in use in Ancient Babylonia — Sea-going Vessels in the Persian Gulf — Chinese Junks and other Craft — Naviga- tion among the Celestials — The Vessels of the Ladrone Islanders and Peruvians ...... 37~G9 CHAPTER III. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians, and their Maritime Researches — The Voyage of Jason — The Fleets of Solomon and the Land of Ophir — ^The Voyages of Scylax, Sataspes, and Jambulus — — The Discoveries of Hanno — The Phoenicians in Cornwall — State of Geographical Knowledge among the Ancients . 70- -86 CHAPTER IV. The Voyage of Nasarchus from the Mouth of the Indus to the River Karoon — Eudoxus' Attempt to circumnavigate Africa — Early Trading Ventures to the Indian Ocean — Travellers' Stories of the East — The Discovery of the Monsoons by Hippalus — Ancient Roman Trading Fleets . . 87— 104 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. PACiK Tho Saracens as a IMaritimo Nation — Tlie Narratives of Soleiman, JMassoudi, Abulfeda, Edrisi, and Ibn Batata — Tho Traditional Voyage to America of Madoc — Tiie Search for tho Land of Gog and Magog ...... 105—117 CHAPTER VI. The Art of Navigation among tho Britons — Improvement in Ship- building by Alfred and tho '^axon Kings — King Alfred despatches the First English Sli • to tho Arctic Regions — The Discovery of the Faroe Islands and Iceland by tho Norsemen — Discovery aad Colonisation of Greenland in the Eleventh Century — Supposed Discovery of America — The Voyage of the Zeno Brothers — The State of Navigation in the Middle Ages — Tlie Genoese and Venetians — The Rise of the Hanseatic League — The Merchant Ships of the Middle Ages — The Introduction of Aids to Navigation . .... 118 — 158 CHAPTER VII. Prince Henry the * Navigator/ and Portuguese Maritime Research — Discovery of the Islands and Capes of West Africa — The Legend of Prester John — Further Discoveries on the West Coast of Africa — Diaz rounds the Cape of Good Hope 159 — 167 CHAPTER VIIL Survey of European Intercourse with, and Knowledge of, India, from the Time of Alexander the Great to the Landing of De Gama at Calicut ..... 168 — 191 CHAPTER IX. Tho Voyage of Vasco de Gama to India — Cabral establishes tho First European Factory in India — Other Portuguese Expedi- tions to India — Almeida appointed Viceroy of the Indies — Discovery of Tristan da Cunha and Madagascar — Almeida is succeeded as Viceroy by the great Albuquerque— His Career and Conquests — Death and Choiucter of Albuquerque —Decline of the Portuguese Power in the East — The Establishment of the Portuguese at Macao, and a Sketch of their Relations with China — Portuguese Dii^coverics in the Far East — A Portuguese Fleet traverses the Red Soa as far as Suez — Decline of Portugal in the East ..»».. 192—219 •AOE 17 CONTKNTS. CHAPTEli X. XUl I'AGE The Early Voyages of the English East India Compauy — Forma- tion of the Dutch Settlements in the Far East — Brief llist'^'-y of the French Eust India Compauy — Voyage of Commodore Beaulieu — liiso and Progress of the French, Danish, and Swedish East India Companies . . . 220 — 215 58 CHAPTEli XI. Christopher Columhus and his Times — His First Voyage to America in 1192, and Discovery of San Salvador — The Fir.st Spanish Colony founded at llisi)aniola — Columbus's Second Voyage, and Discovery of Dominica, the Antilles, Porto liico, Cuba and Jamaica — Third Voyage of Columbus to the West Indies, and Discovery of Trinidad and the Coast of South America — The Voyage of Americus Vespucci — Exploration of the Coast of South America by Pinzon, and Discovery of Drazil by Cabral — Columbus's Fourth \'oyiige and Exploration of the Coast adjacent to the Isthmus of Panama — Death and Character of Columbus ...... 246— 2G6 CHAPTEE XII. Sebastian Cabot and his Family — Discovery of Labrador and Newfoundland — The Voyage and sad Fate of Gaspar de Corte Eeal — Cabot explores the Eiver La Plata — Jacques Carthier colonises Canada — The Discoveries of Spanish IS'avigators — The Voyage of Juan Ponce de Leon on the Coast of Florida, and of Diego Velasquez in Central America — The Career of Hernando Cortez as a Navigator— Discovery of California by Francisco de Ulloa — Nunez de Balboa sights the Pacific Ocean — Magellan rounds South America, discovers the Ladrones and the Philippines, where ho is killed — The Expedition continues the Voyage, and making various Discoveries of Islands, com- pletes the First Circumnavigation of the Globe . 267 — 285 CHAPTEli Xin. The Career of Pizarro— His Couquestd and Discoveries— Orellana sails down the Amazon— The Voyages of Juan Diaz de Solis, Loyosa, Urdaneta, De la Torre and Saavedra — Exploration of New Guinea by Saavedra— Discovery of the Bermudas— A'oy age of Sebastian Cabot to the Plate liiver, of Alcazova to the il XIV CONTENTS. rjioa Straits of Magellan, and of Grijalva and Carmargo to tlio Pacific — Exploration of the American Coast beyond California by Cabrillo, of the Philippine Islands by Villalabos, and of the Chilian Coast by Ladrillcros — The Voyage of Urdaneta and Do Legaspi, and their Discoveries in the South Seas — Discovery of Juan Fernandez by that Navigator, and of the Solomon Islands by Mendana ..... 280 — 302 CHAPTER XIV. The English in the South Seas — Privateering Venture of Oxnam — Memorable Voyage of Circumnavigation by Sir Francis Drake — Sir Thomas Cavendish's Voyage round the World — The disastrous Expedition of Andrew Merick — The Second Voyage of Sir Thomas Cavendish — Discovery of the Falkland Islands by John Davis — The Voyage to the South Seas by Sir Eichard Hawkins ...... 303—315 CHAPTER XV. Foundation of the English Colonial Empire — S'r Humphry Gilbert's Voyage to America, and Death — The Voyages of Captains Amadas and Barlow, and of Sir Richard Grenville, who colonises Roanoke Island — Removal of the Colonists by Sir Walter Raleigh, and Recolonisation by White — Raleigh's Attempt to colonise Guiana in South America — Voyages of Englishmen to the Gulf of Mexico — Unsuccessful Attempts to colonise Virginia and New England by Captains Gosnold, Pringe, and Mace — Permanent Establishment of British Colonists in Virginia, North Carolina, and New Jersey — Con- stitution of the Hudson's Bsy Company — The Sailing of the May Flower for Massachusetts — The Settlement of the Ber- mudas, of Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton — Renewed Attempts by the English, under Sir Walter Raleigh and others, to colonise Guiana — The Colonisation of Barbadoes, the West Indies, and Honduras ..... 316 — 342 I ' / ' I I MARITIME DISCOVEEYi A HISTORY OP NAUTICAL KE8EAECII FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES. -•XX* ' CHAPTER T. The Vessels of the Ancients — Ship-building amonf; tiio Plicenician?.— The Origin of the Sail, liudder, Anchor, and Cable — Xotes on the Attic and lioiuan Triremes — Ancient Mariners and their Super- stitions — The Art of N^avigation among the Ancients. Before entering on the maritime discoveries of the ancients, a sm'vey of the ships and vessels in use among them will be necessary, as the retrospect shows the vast disadvantage under which tlicy laboured in their voyages in comparison with urr moderns. The most rude and elementary of all adaptations of a vessel to float on the water, is the ' catermaran,' or surf-raft, for one person, employed by the IVIadras native, or the canoe, which is simi)ly a log of wood hollo^vcd out and propelled by a paddle in the dirccti(^n of the view of the sitter: of such a character is the 'dim'-out' of the South Sea Islander, and similar to it was the canoe which Arrian saw at the mouth of the Indus, when the IMacedonian seamen thought the natives were digging the water with spades. In an expedition to the VOL. I. 1 ii •%■•/ ' 2 MARITIME DISCOVERY. North American coast, made in the year 1G03 by Cap- tains Fringe and ]>rown, of l^rlstol (See Harris's ' Collec- tions of Voyages,' vol. ii. p. 222), was bronght home from the coast of the United States, in 40° nortli latitude, one of the boats used by the Indians, which is described as , made of the bark of a birch-tree, sewed togetlier with twigs, the seams covered with rosin or turpentine ; and though it was se^'cnteen feet long, four broad, ai.i capable of carrying nine persons, it did not weigh sixty ])ounds.' These canoos were paddled with ' two wooden instruments like to our bakers' peels.' Scarcely less primitive than the canoe was the coracle of our British forefathers, a basket-like structure covered with hide, sucli as may still be seen on the Severn ; and the very similar ' kufahs,' or round vessels, which were in use on the rivers of Mesopotamia, at the time of Herodotus, who describes them, are still employed on the classic waters of the Euphrates and Tigris, the author having frequently employed them in crossing the latter stream at Baghdad. ' The father of history' describes the kufahs as consisting of a frame- work of -N^'illow covered with skins, forming, when complete, a sort of large tub, which was managed by two men with long poles, without any regard to stem or stern. They were of various sizes, and carried an ass ebsides the merchandise ; the animal was employed in con- veying the vessel homti by land, when taken to pieces, as the downward force of the river's current prevented the kufah from sailing up the stream. The raft, formed by the lashing together of two or more planks, seems to have been an early, as it is one of the readiest, modes for conveyance on the water. Thus Hannibal used rafts for transjiorting his horses and elephants across the Rhone. The Egyptians in very by or ass on- as ited or He of lius and rery THE VESSELS OF THE ANCIENTS. 3 early times used the raft on the Nile. An improvised sort of raft was found in use among the Peruvians at the time of the visit of the Spanish discoverers, tapered at the prow in order to pass througli the water more easily, the planks heing fastened together with leather thongs. The old timber rafts which floated down the Khine to Dort in the Netherlands, from the forests of German}^ were oftentimes lUUO I'ect long, and 80 or 90 feet wide, consisting of trees fastened together with iron spikes and cross timber, a floating island with a village at the to}), and requiring nearly oOO labourers to manage it. When the raft was broken up and sold, it sometimes fetched a sum of £30,000. The same method was employed on the coast of Norwa}-, thereby saving the trouljle and expense of land- carriage. On a slight raft, the surf- swimmers of the South Sea Islands swim out to sea through a violent surf, plunging under every breaker, and rising beyond it. In returning, they are carried swiftlj' on the top of a large wave towards the shore, when they steer among the rocks, taking care to recover their planks. Superior in contrivance and effect is the construction of the pottery -floats of Egypt. A large number of the jars and various earthen vessels, which are made in great quantities in Upper Egypt, are fastened together with cords and twigs into a triangular shape, having the mouths of the vessels upwards ; they are then covered with bulrushes, and the raft is rowed and steered down the Nile to Cairo, where it is taken to pieces, just as is done at the present day in the waters of Babylonia. In ancient timers, a vessel was in use on the Nile, made from the planks of acanthus wood, so laid together as to lap over, ' clinker-built,' as we call it, and fastened with 1—2 11 ! 4 MARITIME DISCOVERY. wooden pegs, the seams being tightened with leaves. It was also covered over with flags of the papyrus, and properly cemented, to keep out the water. In process of time an acanthus mast Avas added, and a spar, on which was bent a sail, formed of pap}'rus leaves. In ascending the Nile the vessel was towed along; in its descent it was steadied against the effects of the north-east winds by a hurdle of wood from the prow. The American Indians use wooden-ribbed vessels, covered with skins, which vessels, owing to their light- ness, can be carried overland, when it is necessary to avoid the rapids and waterfalls, or traverse the 'p(n*- tages' between the inland lakes. The Greenlander's canoe is covered in at the top with a skin, so as to be watertight, and encloses the lower part of his body when he is sitting in the vessel, in a manner rendered familiar to us in England by the tiny craft of the Canoe Club. TuC double canoe of the Society Islands, described by old voyagers, was an ingenious contrivance for affording a safe platform whereon the warriors may wage battle. Two canoes being placed alongside of each other, at a certain distance apart, planks are firmly fixed, across which they make a stage safe from capsising. The whole is so contrived that the rowers may work under- neath this floor, while the warriors eno;ao-e in battle above. The proas of the Ladrone Islands present another form of the canoe, the peculiar quality of which is the great swiftness resulting from their construction. Like the boats in use among the Cingalese, the proas are long and narrow, and have a contrivance on one side, called an outrigger, to preserve a steady b-ilance and prevent their upsetting. With regard to the form of the vessels emj)loyed by SIIir-DUILDIXG AMONti TllK riKKNR'IAN.S. 5 the Phoenicians in ancient tiniew, it seemed that those vessels intended for eonnnereial purposes were without keels, being flat-floored, drawing little water, and of great beam in proportion to their length. Their floor-timbers were continuous, and, with the addition of one futtock only on each side (called by the Greeks ' egccelia,' mean- ing the ribs or internal i)arts of the animal body) the frame was comi)leted. IJefore the introduction of the keel, the framework of the vessel was formed of timbers bent round, and kept in the curved form by beams passing across, to which the timbers were bolted; but as this was a laborious practice, the keel* was intro- duced, by which the necessary shape of the frame was more easily ensured. The frame was covered Avith planking, the planks being fastened to it by large nails, or bolts, formed of wood or iron ; in the latter case, those that passed through both plank and timber Avere clenched at the end. It has been ascertained that the mode of dovetailing, which is now so frequently applied in carpentry, was known in those days, for when the i)lanks were not long enough to reach from stem to stern of the ve&sel, they were joined end to end, the ends being dovetailed into each other. The strengthening and improvement of the timbers and other parts of a vessel, assumed greater importance as nations became more involved with each other in war- like operations. Accordingly experiments were made, and experience was appealed to, as to the best kinds of wood for ship-building. The Phanicians, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Komans, successively directed their thoughts into this channel. The poet Thomson gives to the cities of Phoenicia, * Tho Latin word for keel is * carina,' from * curro,' to run, allud- ing to tho mode in which the keel runs or cuts through the water. 6 MAKITIMK DIbCuVKUY. I . Tyre and Sidon, the credit of iiiitiiitin^ the niivi«^ator's art in the lines : ' The ports Ot' old Pha3nicift, first for lottors funioil, That paint tho voice, ami silent speak to siyht ; Of art's prime source, and guardian ! by fair stars, First tempted out into the lonely deep j To whom I first disclosed mochanic arts, The winds to conquer, to subdue tho waves, "With all tho peaceful power of ruling trade ; Earnest of Britain.' The alder and poi)lar were used by the ancients for ship-buikling, as being liard and light woods, Ijiit oak and fir were chiefly preferred. The Greeks used chestnut and cedar, the latter of which tliey considered to be very durable. Cypress was valued for its being V ter-tight, and ehn was chiefly used for the parts of the vessel under water. Sometimes a fleet of ships was formed within a month of the time when the timber spread out its leafy arms in the forest — haste, not skill, being used in their formation. When, however, time allowed, ship-timber was not always hastily Tilled, nor carelessly employed. As ship-building advanced in general use and repute, practice and experience introduced certain maxims, some of which were really found necessary, Avliile others were the result of caprice or superstition. Hesiod, for example, informs us that it was deemed improper to fell any tim- ber for the purpose of ship-building, except on the 17th day of the moon's age, because it being then in the Avane, the sap or internal moisture, which is the grand cause of early decay, would be considerably lessened. Yegetius extends the time, and allows that if trees be cut down between the loth and 23rd clays of the moon, they will endure for a long lime "without perishmg j but he Sllir-BUILDING AMONG Tllli AXCIKNTS. ndds that, if that Ihultation be transf^a'cssod, the practice and experience of all jirtisans allows that the wood ])econies worm-eaten and rotten in an incredibly short s))aec of time. Some (suppose that the timber felled on the day of the neAV moon was absolntely incorruptible; they were e\cn attentive to the quarter from whence the wind blew, and to the season of the year — lor instance in the beginning of autunni it was deemed improper to fell timber for ship-building, excei)t the wind was westerly; or in the winter, unless it blew from the north. The materials with which the planks or other parts of these vessels were fastened together were various. Sometimes Avooden bolts were employed, and at other times they were connected together with thongs made from the skins and sinews of animals ; iron .'^eldoni coming within the reach of the more primitive naval architects. To stop leakage, the ancients used lime and pounded shells, which being observed to waste away, pitch, resin, and wax were employed. Sometimes the crevices were first stopped up with flax, and then leather was em})loyed for sheathing ; at a later time sheet-lead was used for the same purpose, and coj^per nails. For their tools they used flints and shells for cutting, while the bones of certain fishes served them to pierce, saw, and i)lane with. Before proceeding further, it will be necessary to give some account of the origin of the component parts of a ship, beginning with the sail. About 1230 years before the Christian era, as far as we are able to discern actual fact through the hazy and fabulous records of anti- quity, the adoption of sails promoted the nautical art beyond former conception, and served as an epoch in history. The statements of the early writers of tlie world, says Charnock, in his ' History of Marine Architcc- I 8 MAKITI.Mi; DISCOVKIIV. tun;,' sccni to coiKnii* in (Ic-cnijiii;^' Danlalus of Atlioiis, the moist skilful inochaniciiin of the day. us tlic iinlividiial Avho first i)rc'sscF THK SAIL. the poL'tic .'M't. Wlicii U'c considci* tlie sur|H*ise of h.'ivm^o races at helmldiiii;- slilps, like ll(iatin«^ castles, witli ex- j)an(le(l wln;^s, making' their unassisted way over th* sea, we diseern easily wheiiec an^se tlie fiction of tlie flight of .IV'i'HCUS to the Gordons, who, we are told ])y Arislo- ])]iancs, was carried in a ship. The story of Triptoleinws, who was feii*!! to ride about the world on a wIu'^mI dra^^on, doin^'^^'ood to the Iminan race, receives a fanciful exi>lanati()n in his havin<^-l)een employed hy his country • men to procure corn in a shii) from forei^ai shores, for the supply of their necessities. The win^''ed liorse, re«^'asus, is described as a ship of that name, fabled to have been the offspring of Neptune, the <^'od of the sea. In n word, it is thus sought to account for the stories o\i ships transformed into fishes and birds, so frefjuently met with in the ancient i)oets. IJy some the idea of a sail has been referred to the nautilus, or sailor-fish, which is seen in the Mediter- ranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Polynesian waters of the racitic. It is oftentimes observed in calm weather, floating on the surface of the water, using its side fins as oars, its hinder one for steering, while its dorsal fin serves as a sail, which is ' shortened,' in nautical phraseo- logy, when it is desirous of sinking. ' Sailing away in his ancient shell ; Ho has no need of a compass like us, Foul or fair weather ho manages well.' Again, IJyron speaks in some picturesque lines of * The tender nautilus, who steers his prow, The seahoru sailor of his shell canoo, The ocean Mab, the fairy of the sea.' The material of which the sail was composed varied according to the produce of the country. Hercules is said to have used the skin of a lion, which was his t 10 MARITIME DISCOVEKY. i^ f;? ' garment ; and Julius Ca;sar observed that tho Gallic Veneti employed leather. In other countries they u&cd sails made from twisted flax or hemp. We do not find more than one sail or one mast used in the vessels of the earliest ages, -which moreover were without a deck. The sails were commonly white, which was esteemed lucky, though sometimes they were of other colours, and the vessels were painted red and sometimes blue. When we read of the ' black ' ships of Homer, it must be understood that they had this appearance from the pitch with which they were externally covered to ex- clude the w^ater. Sometimes other materials were used to produce the same effect, and hence a diversity in the colours of the shij^s which conveyed the allied army to the plains of Troy. The size and number of the sails increased wdth the magnitude of the vessels and the length of their voyages, all which depended on the importance of the nation, Avhich, in the progress of time, by the adventurous searching spirit of commerce, or the desire of conquest? advanced the maritime art. The form aiul disposition of the sails in the vessels have been found to be different in various countries. We are told that, in ancient Egypt, the sail was suspended on two upright poles, so that it could be used only before the Avind, as is the case among some of the South Sea Islanders, whose sails are made of matting. It seems that the original rudder was nothing more than one of the oars or paddles held sternwise by the person in the boat, with which natural observation and practice taught him to steer the vessel. This method is even now in common use. The ancient Greeks, we are told by Homer, used only one rudder, but as their vessels enlarged in size, they used two, one at the prow ■i.u«taui!!aaMiMMHKi: THE ORIGIN OF THE RUDDEU AND ANCIIOU. 11 and the other at the stern, connected therewith hy fasten- ings termed rudder-bands (alluded to in the voyage of St. Paul), so that these were called double-stern ships, and could be propelled either way without turning, a practice now in vogue in river steamers. Tacitus relate.-i that the Grermans used vessels of this sort. The object of the rudder-bands was to fasten the helm up out of tlio Avater, Avhen the ship was left to drive, or take its own course. We read of four rudders being employed, but nothing definite seems to be known of ships of this sort; nor of ships which are mentioned as having two prows and two sterns. In ancient times we do not hear of anchors, the vessels being galleys, which were sometimes made so that they could be conveniently carried overland, when so doing would tend to lessen distance. For this puri)o.>e, they were oftentimes constructed so that they could be easily taken to pieces. They were also drawn up out of the water, even for a single night, and hence it is clear that the anchor was not needed. The Tuscans are said to have invented the anchor, while some ascribe it to Midas, whose anchor Avas long preserved in one of the temples of Ju2)iter. But whatever means may have been originated by any party to stay their vessels on the water, though the effect obtained was always the same, the instrument was various. The most ancient anchors were large stones bored through the middle, and sometimes they were made of wood having lead inserted. In some places, baskets of stones, or sacks of sand, suspended by cords in the sea, served as anchors, by impeding the course of the ship by their weight. At length the anchor was made of iron, with one fluke, and soon after, two-fluked anchors became general, and sometimes they employed an anchor with four flukes. i I If if! 12 MABITIME DISCOVEHY. The ancients generally used more anchors than one, and dropped them from the stern by a boat which wns usually towed along after the ship. Of the several anchors belonging to each ship, one exceeded the rest in size and strength. This was called the sacred anchor, and was used only in extreme danger ; so that the phrase, to throw out the sacred anchor, was in process of time proverbially applied to those who were driven to the last shifts. In modern times the princij)al anchor is called the ' sheet anchor,' the others being the two ' bower' anchors, suspended from the ship's bows for ordinary use, and the smaller ' stream ' and ' kedge ' anchors. We find occasional mention made of iron chains for dropping the anchor. Cables, however, were generally employed, made from leather thongs, or the sinews of animals ; and, at a later time, of flax, hemp, rushes, or seaweed. Greece was the mother alike of the arts of peace and war, and improved the science of navigation, which is also so greatly indebted to the Phoenicians, and to the Arabs of a later date. * Greece ! thou sapient nurso of finer arts ! Which to bright science blooming fancy bore ; Bo this thy praise, that thou, and thou alone, In these hast led the way, in these excell'd, Crown'd -with the laurel cf assenting Time.' The ancient (Greeks j^rocured from Egypt, ropes and cables manufactured from rushes and sea-willow. It seems to have been the ordinary practice of the ancients, to place at the head or prow of the vessel, an image, called the sign, which we see aho in modern thnes. This gave then, and usually gives now, a notion of the ship's name. The sides of the prow were called cheeks,* * The cheeks, or cheek-knees, in modern ships, are pieces of timber on the ship's bows for the security of the beak-head, or knee of the head. DESCRirXION OF ANCIENT VESSELS. 13 as this part of the vessel generally showed a human fiice called Parasemon. What we know as the ' cut- water/ was called the goose, a fancied similarity being detected between the ship and this bird while on the water. At the stern, often carved into the form of a shield, and elaborately painted, were small streamers. Here also was set, or in some way delineated, a repre- sentation of the deity to whose tutelary favour the ship was committed ; to this deity daily prayers and sacrifice were offered, and here was the naval sanctuary. Ancient vessels were universally named after some beast, bird, or fish, and were often termed hordes among the ancients. In the legend of K^eptune and Minerva contending for the honourable guardianship of the cit}' of Athens, the horse which the former gave, was a symbol of maritime affairs ; as the olive, given by the latter, was of agricultural peace and quiet. Though the victory was at the time adjudged to Minerva (called Pallas Athena}), the goddess was an early patroness of navigation. We are told that the poorer people of Gades, now Cadiz, a Phoenician colony in the south of Spain, called their small barks, horses. The Gemini were the patrons of the mariner, and were deemed to be present with mortals when a sacred light played around the tops of the masts, which is now known as St. Elmo's fire, and is due to electricity, which, as every schoolboy knows, is attracted by points. Many of the signs of the Zodiac, and other constella- tions, received their names from the ships of early days, which the admiration of the times resolved to honour with immortal remembrance by a belief in their transla- tion to the skies. It was customary in ancient times, says a writer, to give an appellation to a vessel, according to the place from whence it started, or the purpose tc i\ III * pi 14 MARITIME DISCOVERY. |i I which it was intended to be applied. Thus, Phaselus a small yacht, or pleasure vessel, was named, in all pro- bability, from Phaselis, a town in Pampliylia, belonging to the Cilicians, where such boats were much in use ; Cydarns, a vessel peculiar to a river in Tlirace of the same name ; Parone?!, which were small vessels built on the Parian Islands, in the ^l^gean Sea, the inhabitants of which were much accustomed to use those vessels ; Myoparones, nearly of the same description with those last mentioned, and acquirhig their title from the same cause, ^^'ith the addition of the term Myon, a city in Epirus, Avhere the use of them Avas much adopted. Cicero states the name of Cyl^ea was applied to a large vessel built for the purposes of merchandise, and so called from the word cihiis, meanino- meat or food. The term Gaulus was applied to vessels nearly round, somewhat resembling the present jolly-boat, which term was pro- bably derived from the same Latin word, which signifies a milk-pail; the term Corbitte was applied to the wicker- work vessels Ciesar saw when he invaded Britain — the word corhis signifying a wicker-basket. Caudica) was a term applied to raft-*, and was derived from cauchw, the stump or body of a tree ; Hippagines, from hippos, a horse, denoted vessels employed for the transportation of cavalry or horses ; Pontones, from which is derived the word pontoon, was the term applied to such vessels as were adapted to the passage of rivers. Many others might be enumerated. In the reign of Ptolemy Philopater, King of Egypt, according to Athenai'us, a galley of forty tiers of oars, so it was said, was constructed, each tier containing one hundred rowers. This ship carried, moreover, its com- plement of sailors and soldiers, and was called the Isis. Snelling, in his description of this galley, says : ' The ANCIENT GALLEYS. u , oars, which were near the stern of the vessel, were con- siderably longer than those in the midships, the largest being thirty-eight cubits or about fifty-seven feet in length ; they were rendered more manageable by a quantity of lead attached to the handle.' Some people have attempted to solve the problem by supposing the oars of ancient galleys were disposed in diagonal rows, so that the seats of the rowers resembled a flight of stairs, but it would be impracticable to work tliem thus. Others again have sought the solution of the enigma by the suggestion that the terui bircme, trireme, octoreme, and so on, denoted the number of men employed at each oar ; but this cannot be I'econciled by the descrip- tions always given of the ancient galleys ; • flemorum ordines et remigum gradus,' which cannot allude to the numbers employeresent century, Mr. John Howell, about the year 182G, constructed a trireme for '1 TllK AXCIKNT TlJIHKMi:. 17 tlie Edinburgli Society of Antiquaries, aiKl of late years the subject has been lianclled "witli ability by Mr. ^mith, of Jordan Hill, and by M. Jal, the author of the ' Glos- saire Xautique,' and of two volumes on ' Archeolooie Xavale.' In accordance "with his ideas, Napoleon 111. directed the construction of a trireme under the superin- tendence of the eminent n?.\i\\ architect, j\[. l)uj)uy de Lome. Tiie iionour, says Mr. AVarre, of havin«jf solved many, if not most of the difficulties which have ])erplexed so man}' eminent men, nuist be jL(iven to the illustrious German scholar, Boeckh, and his pupil, Dr. Graser, Avho, in an exhaustive treatise, ' l)e Ke Xavali,' has elucidated satisfactorily the most knotty points of this ancient problem. The discovery at Athens, in the year I80I, of a number of inscriptions which jiroved to be inventories of galleys and their gear, belonging to the dockyard at the Piraeus, dating from a period not long subsequent to the close of the Peloponnesian War, was an event of the utmost importance when elucidated bv the critical acumen and vast learnini]^ of the author of the ' l^iblic Economy of Athens,' and of his learned pupil, Graser, which have shed a flood of light upon the Avhole question of the construction of ancient ships of war. In the early galleys, any increase in the number of oars necessitated an increase in the length of the ship, and hence arose the invention of tiers of oars, which, as far as we know, were not double-banked until Roman times. The single-banked galleys carried twenty, thirty, fift}^, and up to a hundred oars each, in which the usual space between the rowers' benches of two cubits, affords a conjectural ground for estimating their length. The;-e are all embraced under the term of ' moneres,' or * mono- crota,' as striking the water with one beat. Tlic first VOL. I. 2 a.i ^1 18 MAIUTIME DISCM ►VKUV. improvement upon this was the construction of the bireme, wliicli, according to Pliny, is duo to the Erytli- ra^ans. The ])iromcs gave place to triremes in the seventh century before Christ, and ultimately survived them, and in the seventh century after Christ were in use when sucli a thing as a trireme was hardlv to be seen. In like manner they in turn disa})poare{l, while their predecessors, the monocrota, survived. We are told by Thucydides that the Corinthians were tlic first who built triremes in Greece, and furtlier, tliat an eminent naval ccnstructor of Corinth, Aminocles by name, did not confine his skill to the limits of his own country, but built four of these new ships-of-war for the Samians, of which event he fixes the date at about 800 years before the end of the Peloponnesian AVar, or about 700 B.C. Their skill as seamen saved the Greeks from the domination of the Persians — wdio, from their inland training, never developed nautical capabilities — quite as much as the heroism of the soldiers who died in the unequal struggle for independence. * Clime of tlio unforgotten brave ! "Whose laud, from plaiu to mountain cave, ^Vas freedom's homo, or glory's gmvc.' Two clashes of vessels, says Graser, appear to have been emi)loyed by the Grecians, distinguished by the names of ' aphract,' unfenced, and ' cataphract,' fenced, according as the rowers of the upper tier were protected or exposed. Jiotli classes were decked and floored, but the ' ai)hract ' class carried their decks and floorinof lower than the ' cataphract,' so that in them the rowers of the upper tier werr visible above the side of the vessel, as ai)pears in the uireme and trireme, given by Montfaucon from the Column of Trajan. The aphract ships had their flooring one foot below the water-line, and the f I TlIK ANCIKNT TlilRKME. 19 tc as tlic lave tlio iced, }ctcd but .'1, as I deck five feet above it. The battle of Actluin, the Trafalgar of ancient times, wliich caused tlie ruin of Antony's cause, was won by tlie use of tlie lio-lit Lil)urnian biremes, whicli w^ere 'aplu'act;' and after that event tlie Iiomans seem to liave ])uilt most of tlieir vessels in that fashion. Previous to that date, from the time of the invention of tliis system, all the lari^er vessels of war used by both Greeks and Komans were cataphract. In the cataphract trireme, the space allovvcd for each oarsman was, says Graser, eight square feet per man, and this proportion was observed in the lar<]^er vessels u[) to the octireme. The seat itself was from nine to twelve inches broad. The lowest rank used the shortest oars, and the difference of the leno-tli of the oar in-board was provided for by the outward curvature of the ship's side. The oar-ports were vertically one foot three inches below the handle of the oar Avhen tlie blade was just touching' the water. The lowest (thalamt).^) oar-ports were three feet above the water; the middle (cn(/os) oar- ports were four and a quarter, and the upper (thra/ios) iive and a half feet above the water. The vertical dis- tnnce between the oar-ports was but fifteen inches, and each oar-port was protected by the ' ascoina,' or leather bag, whicli fitted close over the oar, closing the aperture without impeding the action of the oar. The seats of the rowers were supported on benches, three feet long or thereabouts, which ran from the ship's side to beams four feet apart,, whicli rose from the floor and reached up to the under surface of the deck. The space on either side between the ' diaphragmata,' as the beams Avere called, constituted that part of the vessel in which stood the masts, and in whieli stowage was possil)le. It was in the Attic trireme seven feet wide. The longest oar,? in the trireme (thranite) varied from 2—2 V *' '.; BW«UU^,,, l j^.JiJtAm.J,imfm».t.i.yi..;jALl- ti * 20 MAuiTiMK nrscovKii V. thirteen feet six iuclics to fcjiirtt^cn feet tliree inehcs in lenfi'tli; the zyf^ite oars were ten and a litilf feet, and the tlialamite seven and a lialf feet. In the case of tlio fj-io-aiitic oars of the ' teascracon teres ' of PtoUany, a vessel of the size of the At/itiroiwt, Snellin;^' informs us tliat tlie liandles were wei^^'htel with lead, so as to l)rini^' the onr in-hoard and out-board nearly to an e(|uilil)riuin, hut in ordinary cases, the ju'oportion was ono-thir•) Maiutimk DI.SCOVKKV. ,1 was s.iiuircj ri^i'^c'd, and lu'forc aiul abaft it, tlui two ' acatl,' lure-mast and nil/./en-nia.st, wlilcli carried latoon Hails — tlioUjL'li in action the; ancients did not use sails. Tlie re;^ular crew of an Attic trireme probaMy consisted, nccordinp'' to ^Ir. Warre, of 22.') persons in all. ()ftlie>e, 171 were employed in rowing-, disposed as follows — lifty-fourtlialamlta', (irty-ei;4lit zy^•itu•,^ixty-tW(Jtlu•ilnita\ the upper oars ln'ine(l vessels ehielly of ih.at chiss, hut their (Kjfeat hy the h^ht Liliur- iilan hireiiies prepared the way for the disa[tpearaneu of the «,nvat hanked galleys. Ivc^ardin;^' tlje 'piestion of the sj»eed of these vessels, there is a [>assa<;\^ in Xenophon (' Anahasis' vi. 12), in which it is stated that the distanve from Uyzantiuni to Jleraeh^i, in iiithynia, about l.')0 nautical niih;s, could he rowed in a day hy a trireme. Xow, allowin_L>' eighteen liours' daylight for the work, a speed would have to he maintained of over ci^i^'ht knots. Lon^' and cariiful train- uv^ had perfected the system of rowing- ami steerin;^' amonii* the Athenians, who for manv vears held the sovereignty of the J''.r that the ' brazen beak ' Avas used in the earliest navj 1 battle on record. Diodorus says that * Scmiramis, when she 4i TIIK AXCIKNT ' KAM.' lio Ins jcks )ed one md »vlio icn ak, d a liat ttlc reached the Indns, found the King's ileet prepared for battle, i)ut her soldiers on board her own flotilla, at- tacked him, and after a desperate struggle, in wliieh nigh a thousand vessels were sunk, won the victory ;' and Suidas says that ' Seniiramis had constructed in JJactria oOOO vessels of war with brazen beaks, the crews for Avliieh were furnished from Syria, Phamicia, Egypt, Cyprus, and Cilicia.' That the Egyptians possessed a fleet and navigated the Mediterranean and Red Seas at a very early period is tolerably certain, even if the statement made by the priests to Herodotus (book ii. 102), concerning Sethi or Sethosis, that he navigated the Erythnean Sea, or Indian Ocean, in a fleet of ships of war, be fabulous. The legends of Daniius and .Egyptus connect Egyptian maritime cnterju'ise with Greece, and in a remarkable passage Euripides calls the ropes of the Greek vessels, the ' twisted teachin"- of Ei»-vi)t.' The e"rliest representations of PlKjenician vessels that we have, says ]\Ir. AN'arre, in his lecture already ({uoted, are of a nuich later date than those on Egyptian monu- ments, and are in most respects similar to the early Greek tyi)es, which i)robably were borrowed from them. In these, both on coins and vases, we have the project- ing beam for a beak, and a nearly straight bow and fore- castle rising above it. Passing to the Uomans as a naval power, it was not till the (Jarthaginian fleet, ravaging the coast of Italy, brought home to them the real conditions of the contest upon which they had entered, that they turned their attention to maritime affairs. Hitherto the conquest of Italy had occupied their thoughts, but the first Piuiic War was the connnencenient of a struggle for the empire of the ancient world, in wliieh Home conquered. if 1 ' 20 .AIAl'JTLMK DISCOVKUY. ' WhereV'i lliy legions canip'd, Stern sons of conquest, still is known ])}' many a grassy luound, by many a scnlptur'd stone' The Roinaii fleet consisted of only a few triremes, ■which could not be oi)posed to the Carthaginian qnin- queremes, vessels of five banks of oars ; but by chance, in the ^ear 2(50 u.c., one of the Carthaiiinian vessels of tins rate was driven ashore and captured by the Romans. With the practical sagacity and unswerving energy of l)urpose which distinguished them, they determined to construct a fleet upon this model. The timber was felled, the s-hipwrights set to Avork, and, -within two months of the time when the trees were standing in the woods, a fleet of a hundred vessels, each 1G8 feet long and of ool tons measurement, had been constructed. JMeanwhile the futiu'e crews Avere i)ractised on framework f;'et up on the land^ and in the motion of rowing to the voice of the ' keleustes.' When all Avas nearly ready, the admiral, Cn. Cornelius, set sail in advance Avitli seven- teen ships, but Avithin a few days Avas captured by the (lu'thaginians. MeanAvhile the I'cst of the fleet Avas under Avay, but the ships Averc badly built, and terribly sloAV. Some ingenious spirit suggested to Duillius, Avho now assumed connnand, the construction of a novel engine of Avarfare, destined to counteract the rams of the enemy. This contri\'ance, called th'^ ' raAxn ' (corvus), is described by Poly bins as being attached by a pulley to the top of t;'.e mast, tAventy- four feet high, fitted at the i)row of each vessel. It consisted of a long ladder-shaped con- struction, Avith planks nailed across it, four feet Avide and thirty- six feet long, ha\dng a balustrade about the heiglit of a man's knee running the Avhole length of each side, Avith an iron claAV fastened at the end, Avhich Polybius TIIK HUMAN ' COKVUS.' 27 w comparcs to tlic knocker of a door, >ht. Even witli a smooth sea, and fair wind, they did not for ages venture ll 30 MARITIME DISCOVERY. out of sight of tlie land, lest, apparently, in the boundless waste of waters, thev mi^'lit be drifted about for ever : tlieir voyages, therefore, to which they were tempted by trade and commerce, were a continual coasting, and vessels were in certain circumstances even towed along. As the poet says: * Still in tho crook of shore, the coward sail Till now low crept ; and peddling commerce ply'd between near joining lands.' To the maritime natives of antiquity, and the 'Por- tuguese in the Eastern world and the Spaniard in the West, after the heroic Ferrarese seaman had brought a new world into existence, beloni^s the credit of having first dared to launch out into the untravcrsed wastes haunted with a nameless terror to the media3val mariner. Having regard to the discoveries of Columbus, De Gama, and other navigators of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the poet Thomson was hardly justified when he claimed for his countrymen that they first dared the perils of the deep sea in his noble lines : ' For Britons, chief, It was reserved, with star-directed prow, To dare the middle deep, and drive assured To distant nations through tho pathless main. Chi^if, for their fearless hearts the glory waits, Long months from land, while the black stormy night Around them rages, on the groaning mast With unshook knee to know their giddy way ; To sing, unquell'd, amid tho lashing wave ; To laugh at danger. ' Superstitious fears seem to have haunted sailors from the earliest to the present time. It was an article of belief among the ancients, that a soul which had depai :ed from a body unhonoured with the rites of sepul- ture, was condemned to wander in sorrow for a hundred SIIir-LAUNCIIING IX INDIA. 81 U' years on the banks of the infernal river Styx, ere it could be admitted to the resting-place of bliss. Beini]^, therefore, in their coastina; vovai»;es at tlie mercy of tli3 people, and inii)atient at the close confinement and restriction of the ship, having also a religious dread of the unfathomable and stormy deep, it is not surprising that ages upon ages sliould pass away, and the shores of the Mediterranean, the first civilised portion of the West, (which, as its name implies, seemed to them to be the middle of the earth), remained the only navigable sea. When a voyage was contemplated, the ships, which liad in all probability been hauled up on dry land, were l)uslied into the sea by the shoulders of the mariner.-;, or by levers ; or latterly, by means of a rolling machine called a helix, invented by Archimedes, about 200 years B.C. The ships of India, were, we are told, launched b}^ means of elephants. It is related that one of these animals being directed to force a very hir<>'e vessel into the water, found the task exceed liis strength ; wliere- upon his master, in a severe tone, ordered the keeper to take away the lazy beast and bring forward another ; the poor animal, upon this, instantly rene\ved his efforts, and, in so doing, fractured his skull and died upon the spot. It is a remarkable commentary on the want of progressiveness of civilisation in Ilindostan, that, nearly 2000 years after the above was written, this metliod of launching vessels by the assistance of elephants was still adopted by native ship-builders, llyder Ally, the ruler of the Carnatic, with whom and his son Tippoo Sultan we had a life-and-deatli struggle in the latter half of the last century, founded dockyards at Onore and Bangalore, on the West Coast of India, and a visitor to Onore in December 1775, describing two ships of war r ]i™ ■ i .if 82 MAIJIThME DISCOVEKV. of twenty-two and twenty-four guns in course of con- struction at that port, says: 'Instead of the liead or stern fronting tlie river, their l;roatlsides do; they are built witli tlieir sides parallel to the banks. On my asking how they launched them, I was told that when ready, they laid long, straight timbers squared, which reached from the ship's bottom to the water. Then they take away the supports from the side next the river, and the ship resting on those tind)ers, which are greased, by the force of elephants, first at one end, and then at the other, alternately, is pushed into the river.' In ancient times when a fleet of merchant-ships was about to sail, every in'ocecding connected therewith became matter of religious ceremony. Sacrifices had to be performed, each ship committed to the care of some deity, and omens and prognostics to be observed like the Avcs alite.^ of Iloman augury. Thus the i)erching of a swallow on the mast, or the sneezing of any person to the left, would so perturb the minds of the sailors as to delay the departure till the following day. When, . owever, nothing had occurred to alter their resolution, the ships were unmoored and departed with oars or sails, or perhaps both, decked with flowers and garlands, and attended with prayers to Xeptune and the other gods, from the voyag jrs and their friends remaining at home. Having made a good offing, doves ^^ ere let loose from the ships, which, flying back to land, Avere hailed as omens of the safe return of the crew. The ship of the commander usually led, conspicuous for its gaudy orna- ments ; the others followed in order, and, Avhen fiiirly out at sea, sailed three or more abreast if the weather permitted. Excepting under very favourable ch'cum- stances, they anchored throughout the night in some I 'V 1 J ' \ KATJA' NAVrC.ATIOX. 88 f lic'ltcrcd spot, or drew up tlicir ships r>n tlio beach, so that all liands nii^lit repose until tlic returning dawn. Jf they actually lost sif>ht of land, it was -with the view of directing their course to some headland, which they knew lay in a certain direction. In the progress of ages, as the knoAvledge of astronomy advanced, and various ohservations of the heavenly bodies were made and collected, the situations and bearings of places were noted by these means. Though it appears that the general principles of the loadstone were well known many ages before the Christian era, yet the i)olarity of a suspended needle was never dreamed of among the maritime nations on the Avestern side of the ancient hemisphere, until within the last iive hundred years — although the first missionaries to China found that the compass had long been in use in that country among the inhabitants, whose early advance in ci\'ilisation is as remarkable as their unprogressiveness. As the ' ancient mariner' could only look to the heavens for assistance, and they, oftentimes, in the midst of his greatest difficalties, were obscured, it was natural that ho should cling to the coast. l>nt in process of time, in addition to the motions of tl"' nm and moon, it had been observed that certain stars t^ vards the north never sank below the horizon, but seemed to move continuallv round a definite point. The ancient Greeks noticed the constant revolution of the seven conspicuous srars, forming the liinder part of the Great Bear ; and it appears that the commercial Phoenicians had already more closely tracked up the northern point of the sky by directing their attention to a set of stars which kept on revolving in smaller circles than those observed by the Greeks. This was the constellation called the Little Bear ; at the tip of the tail of which is situated a star, now called the VOL. T. 3 I . III; Ui'l ■ ) i ' H 31 MAIUTIME DISCOYEUV. Pole Star. This is the nearest plainly visible star to that point which is in a lino with the polo of the earth, infinitely extended northward. AVheii the nse of these observations had been made familiar l)y practice, the nautical art advanced considerably, and various schemes of enterprise were formed, and cfl'ected with more or less success. The chief ofHcers of the tradin,i>'- ships of the ancients were the master of the rowers, and tlie pilot. It was tlie business of the formOi to attend to the rowers, to encourage them in their labours, and to keep time to the motion of the oars, by the strokes of his r.iallet, or the musical intonations of his voice. To the pilot, or master of the ship, belonged the duty of navigating the vessel, for the safety of which, and all on board, he was con- sequently rcsponsi])lo. ills place was at the stern, and to excel in his vocation he had to 1)0 prolicient not only in the art of seamanship, but to have a knowledge of the winds, of the heavenly bodies, as indicating the seasons, of portending the weather, directing the course of the ship and of the coast-line and harbours. The ancients remained in port during the ^\ inter, and until the indications of spring invited them to sea again. It was not usual, therefore, for them to prosecute their voyages long after the autumnal equinox, the gales Avhicli then ])re vailed in the ]\Iediterranean, formerly called euroclydons (an east Avind), but now Levanters, l)cing hazardous to shipping. It was also required of tlie pilot to understand and explain the signs which offered themselves from the sea-birds, the fishes, and the billows dashing ui)on the shores, for a seaman unapt in the solution of any portent of this sort, could not attain to the reputation of a good pilot. Wonderful things Avere expected of that notable pilot, Palinurus, I,' \ ■ KAULY NAVIGATION'. 85 ic L'ly rs, of Ich nd pt lot fill lis. I and wc arc told of anotlior nvcat man . r, UlysscF«, that liavin^'' ju'ociircd a h{\6 MAUiTiMi: Disrovr.iiv. by liiiu, wLicli sccin;;" land aliciul iinmcdintcly fU'W to- wards it, find I'Mok, f'ollowinu,* his <^nido, IMI in witli tljo eaRt end of tlio island. Sudi was the simple mode of k •k d cepmf^ then* reokonnif^ and sieenn*'' tneir course, jmic til tiscd by these bold na\ig{itors of the .stormy Northern Ocean. The noti(Mi of li<'hthouses to <^uide mariners seems to have been o-cnorally adopte.l about the time of the Chris- tian era, from the Ei;yi)tians. The small island of I*haros, in the l>ay of Alexandrl.', had been joined to the conti- nent by a causeway of a mile in length, about '281 u.r., and at the extremity of this mole, was l)uilt a Avhite marble tower, one Inuubvd and thirty-five feet hi;i,'h, on the to]) of Avhieh iires were constantly maintained for the direction of ships u])on the coast. The expense of this tower was some e in the present aoe, wonld rc4uire u volume in itself. J>ut, stranoe as it may seem, we may, even at the present day, see almost in juxtai)osition the rafts and boats employed in prehistoric times and the triumphs of the shi})- builders' art of the nineteenth century. At the head of the Persian Gulf, where the war-ships of her ]\[ajesty steam in undisputed sovcrei<^ntv, there flows a river, on whose bosom still float vessels which have existed in their present state from the earliest dawji of histor}'. The best and most detailed account of the various de- scriptions of craft in use in Mesopotamia, may be found in the pages of the late General Chesney's ' Expedition for the Sur\'e}' of the Rivers Eu[)hratcs and Tigris, 1835-87.' Anything relating to this country is of special interest, for not only is it commonly regarded as the cradle of the human race, but within its confines arc the sites of those cities of prehistoric times, ]>abel, Accad, Erech and Nipur (the Calneh of Genesis), all built by the mighty hunter ' Nimrod ' (identified by Assyriolo- .< ii • M IP ii ■n 1{V\ ,;•:«■* 38 MARITIME DISCOVEllY. gists with the Izdubar of Dabyloniaii tablets), who lived 2250 B.C. In Mesopotamia arose, flourished, and decayed the Chaldeans, whose city Ariocli (Ur of tiie Chaldees) was the site of the most ancient literature ; also the ancient laces who founded the kingdoms of Babylonia and Assyria ; here ruled Minus and his more flimous Queen, Semiramis, and the monarchs whose edicts were supreme from the confines of Egypt and the island of Cyprus to the borders of China. No records of navigation would be complete without so2Vi3 notice of the vessels in use among the races who founded the most ancient civilisations known to man. In Mesopotamia, the cradle of the human race, are found numerous specimens of the vessels used in navigation, from the hoUowed-out tree on which the pre-liistoric man may lie supposed first to have floated. The use of a simple log is very common among the people on the Upper Euphrates, by whom noc only single trees, but also rafts of timber, are frequently floated to ^hoir place of destina- tion. A better description of raft is prepared, of any required size, by lashing a numljer of hurdles together ; and ouch means of transport are in use along t'.ie Euphrates and I'igris, but more frequently on the latter river. In places where reeds abound they are substituted for timber, and,, in a surprisingly short space of time, a raft is prepared suitable for transporting individuals and their baggage acrosa a river, the animals swimming by tlic side. The usual method of passing rivers is, how- ever, by means of inflated skins of sheep and goats, on vrhich the Arabs, male and female, fearlessly cross, or descend to a considerable distance along the great streams of Mesopotamia, for agricultural and other pur- poses, taking e\'erything they pobscss, and even bowls of milk are carried m this way. ^ THE VESSELS OF MESOPOlA^kllA. 39 In a country like Mesojwtamia, a great desideratum is pasture for the cattle, and this is procured b}' the people causing the buflaloes and other animals to cross from one bank of the river to the other in the morning, returning in the afternoon in the same manner. This operation is generally accomplished without any other precaution than that of the shepherd accompanying the animals on an inflated skin, carrying his clothes, and a small supply of bread, upon his head. Two inflated goat-skins, attached to one another by means of a couple of hoops, form the next s-tcp in navigating these rivers; this custom prevails also in Central Asia, with this difference : that larger skins, such as those of oxen, asses, or horses, are substituted for those of the goat or the sheep; and with these, says Wendover, they pass rivers and other waters without loss.* Four such skins being attached by means of withes of willow, or tamarisk, there is placed over them a kind of platform, consisting of branches in layers, at right angles to one another, and reaching from side to side. This constitutes the smallest; kind of ' kellek,' on one of which may be seen an Arab family moving with the stream from one pasture-ground to another, carrying- its bags of corn and other effects. For commercial pur- poses, or when proceeding to a greater distance than is required in changing pasture-grounds, a larger construc- tion of this kind is substituted, which, like the preceding, is extremely simple, and is described by Chesneyf and by Layard in his work on his explorations in Nineveh. A rectangular or a square platform, having a sort of v/ell or inlet at one extremity, is first constructed, * ' Voyage of Wendover,' 1239. See Purchas's ' Pilgrimos,' vol. ii?. p. 62. t See the late General Chesney's 'Expedition for the Survey cf the Euphrates and Tigris, 1835-37.' •Hi ..I <; II I i lili ':h\ -I' ■I '.! .1 III 40 MARITIME DISCOVEEY. by means of successive layers of branches, crossin;^ at right angles, till the whole has become suffi- ciently stable, which is usually the case when the flooring is eighteen inches or two feet deep. On this platform there is a fireplace or hearth, within a little enclosure cf damp clay to prevent accidents. Kougli planks PxYc then laid over the rest of the space, which is occupied by the boatmen and merchandise; the necessary buoyancy being obtained by attaching in j^arallel rows a number of inflated goat or sheepskins to the bottom of the platform. These skins are refilled with air, from tune to time, by means of a reed pipe, an operation which can be performed at j)leasure, since most of the skins can be reached at the sides, and by means of the inlet alluded to, which is left in the body of the raft for this purpose. The ordinary kellek, or raft, is from sixteen to eighteen feet long by fourteen or sixteen broad, and is supported by about thirty-two or thirty-four skins, but the larger ones are thirty or forty feet in length, and have at least fifty skins, and those 'used to transport merchandise from Mosul to Baghdad, have as many as 300 skins. The rafts are generally kept mid- stream during the voyage by means of two rude oars made of the rough branches of trees, a palmbrancn fan at the end of each fori ling the blade. When the cargo has reached its des- tinat'on, the materials composing the raft are sold for firewood, and the skins are taken back by land for future use. This description of raft was in use on the waters of the Upper Indus, and may still be seen on the Kabul River, and Chesney is of ojiinion tliau this was the kind of raft used by the Gerrha3ans, Avho transported the chief part of their articles of commerce, including some of the spices of Arabia, from their capital into Babylonia, and TIIK RAFTS OF TIIK TIGRIS. 41 r ■ ! onward to Tliapsacu8, to be carried from thence to other places l)y hmd. Kafts were also used for commercial transport from Armenia to Babylon, the frame bein*^ of wood, which was usually overlaid with reeds, and the bottom covered with skins. From the ' Anabasis/ whose classic purity of diction the poet extols — * Xenophon's pure strain, Liko the clear brook that steals along the vale ' — it appears that the Greeks crossed the Euphrates opposite Carmanda} on rafts made with the skins of their tents, stuffed with rushes and tightly sewn together ; and a i)art of Jovian 's army crossed the Tigris on a raft made of the inflated skins of sheep, oxen and goats, covered witli a floor of earth and fascines. At a later period the trooi)S of Xadir Shah crossed the latter river by means of a very large raft, on which 2500 men were transported the first day, and 15,000 on the second, after which the raft fell to pieces. This float Avas formed by large beams of palm- tree wood fastened together with cables, and rendered more buoyant by having a number of camel's skins tied to it, these being sewed up and filled with air. Pietro della Yalle speaks of rafts transporting goods to the value of 100,000 dollars, and that which carried Tavernicr had merchandise of 33,000 pounds, Paris weight, in addition to thirty persons, for whose accommodation a kind of shed was constructed on the raft. A remarkable description of boat is constructed at Tekrit, and in the marshes of Lamlum, but more com- monly near the bituminous fountains of Hit, on the Euphrates. At these places the operation of boat-build- ing is conducted with no other tools than a few axes and saws, with the addition of a large metallic ladle to pour out the melted pitch, and a wooden rollei' to assist m I ; m ill' ill 42 MARITIMK DISCO VKRY. smoothing it. The first step, says Chcsney, in this l)riinitivc mode of slii])-biulcling, is to choose a level piece of ground of suitable size, and liufficiently near the edge of the AA atcr ; on this the builders trace out the size of the A'csscl's bottom, not with mathematical precision, it is true, but still a line is used, and a certain system followed, the floor of the boat being the first object. In the space marked out a number of rough branches arc l)lace(l in parallel lines, at about a foot distance, and other branches are placed crosswise at similar distances, and interlaced. These, Avith the addition of a sort of basket- Avork of reeds and straw, to fill up the interstices, form a kind of rough i)latforni, across which, to give the neces- sar}'' stability, stronger branches are laid transversely from side to side at distances of about eight or twelve inches. The sides are constructed by driving through the edge of the floor upright posts, about a foot apart, of the requisite height ; these are filled uj) in the same Avay, and the whole is strengthened by means of rough pieces of timber, which are placed at intervals of about four feet from gunwale to gunwale. All parts are then coated with hot bitumen, which is melted in a hole close to !:lie work, and reduced to a proj^er consistency by a mixture of sand or earth. This bituminous cement being spread over the framework, the application of a roller gives the whole a smooth surface, both within and without, which after a brief space becomes not only quite hard and durable, but impervious to w^ater, and well suited for navigation. The usual shape of the boats thus constructed at Hit, roughly resembles that of a coffin, the broadest end representing the bow. Such a boat, forty-four feet long, eleven feet six inches broad, and four feet deep, drawling one foot ten inches of water when laden, and only six inches when empty, can \> M THE BASKET-BOAT OF THE TIGRIS. 13 of »*• be constructed at Hit in the course of one clay, an 1 is cnn)loyc(l to carry bitumen, salt, and lime to llillali, Bussorah, and even to Baghdad during the early part of the present century wlien navigation was feasible through the S iklawiyah and Hal Canals. When arrived at its destiuiition the boat is broken up, and the bitumen with ■which it was coated, as well as the cargo, is sold. liound boats, similar to those mentioned by Herodotus, still float on the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The ' Father of History ' describes them as being round, like a shield, without any distinction of stem or stern, con- structed of willow, lined within with straw or rushes, and covered without with leather. They were of various sizes, and some were even capable of carrying a cargo of the weight of 5000 talents, equal to about 101 tons. They were managed by two men standing up, one of whom propelled an oar, whilst the other drew one back, much as bargemen do now on the Thames. The smallest- sized boat had an ass on board, and the largest several, Avhich were used to carry back to Armenia the skins Avith which the boats were covered, all the other materials having been sold at Babylon. The ordinary freight carried from Armenia and other countries on the route from thence to Babylon was, says Herodotus, palm wine in earthen jars. The ' kufah,' or basket-boat, is still used on the Tigris and Lower Euphrates ; but they are m more general use at Baghdad, and form a convenient and safe method of crossing that broad and rapid stream. They are con- structed of osiers plaited together, in'ccisely like baskets, over a circular frame of stout materials. In some in- siances the basket-work is covered with leather, which is stretched over it after being soaked, and whilst still in a wet state, so that, when dry, the vessel becomes rl rl I i! HI ii II 44 MARITIME DISCOVEIIY. water-tight. Jiut the common method is to cover the bottom with bitumen, whicli, being smooth as v/ell as hard, eftectually excludes tlie water, and is more easily and clieaply procured. The smallest-sized kufali is about three feet eight inches in diameter, and about two feet six inches deep. This vessel is managed by one man, who uses a large-bladed paddle alternately on each side. There are ccher kufahs, however, varying in size up to ten feet diameter, with a depth of three to three and a half feet, but some arc fifteen feet from gun^\alc to gunwale, and are capable of carr^'ing a camel, Avith several passengers in addition, though none of those in use in the present day would carry such a cargo as that mentioned by Herodotus. A boat of this shape is scarcely more difficult to construct than a raft, and possesses a decided advantage over all other vessels when crossing a rapid current, though, on the other hand, it has a 2)roportionate disadvantage when going against the tide ; in descending the river, a bundle of hurdles is attached, which floats in advance, and a stone drags along the bottom to guide them. These circular boats were in use not only in Egypt, whither, doubtless, the art of constructing them was carried from Babylonia, but are recognised in the coracle, still to be seen on the upper waters of the Severn, which is covered with skins sewed together, and so liglitl}' framed that no coast Avas too shallow, no river too small for them, and, if danger pressed, says Sharon Turner, in his ' History of the Anglo-Saxons,' their owners carried them on their shoulders from one river to another. It was by the aid of these simple vessels, the predecessors of the mighty fleets that swarm on every sea, that the Ancient Britons sought to stem the tide of invasion when, as Thomson says, Kome — if TIIK ' nKLLK .M ' OF Rl'SSOKATT. 45 f * Saw'st tliy Cassar, from tlio naked land, AVhoso only fort was Ihitish licarts, rcpollM, To seek Pharsalian wreaths. "Witness tho toil, The blood of ages, bootless to sccuvo, Leneatli an empire's yoke, a stubborn isle. Disputed bard, and never (luite subdued.'j Two of the greatest commanders of ancient and modern times alike employed these circular boats. Arrian (chap, xx.) speaks of the floats of hides con- structed by Alexander, and in the ' Duke of Welling'ton's Despatches' (edited by Colonel Gurwood, vol. i. p. loG) there is an order addressed to Colonel ]\[unroe, to pre- pare some of them for the IMalpoorba Kiver, in India.* In the Lamlum marshes, on the Lower Eui)hrates, are also used canoes, made of reeds and covered with bitu- men. The stem and stern of the boat being alike, she moves both ways with equal facility, and is propelled either by one man sitting towards the stern, or in the case of larger canoes, by one at each extremity, facing the direction in which the boat is proceeding. At Koornah and Bussorah, the natives use a canoe cidlcd a 'bellem,' of a more substantial construction, formed out of a sino^le tree, commonlv beech. The usua^ dimensions * The following is the Duke of "Wellington's despatch : * Camp at Hattiauy, fifty miles fromMeritcii, 'Amlim, 1803. * My deau Munroe, ' As it is possible that the service on which I am employed may last after tho rivers will lill, it is necessary that I should make arrange- ments for having boats upon all of them ; I have accordingly written to I'urneab and to ^fr. Road to have some prepared in Mysore, and in Loondab ; and I must request you to have twenty basket-boats made in the ceded districts. They should be tbe size of ton foet diameter, and three feet deep, and I wish that they may bo covered Avith doul)lo leather. The leather ought to be sewn witb thongs, and of such a size as to cover the gunwales of tho boats all round. I intend that your ]>oat3 shall be on tho Malpoorba.' ■i iJ I 'I ''' I Jill 4G MAllITIME DISCO VKIIY. |i- of these bellcms nrc from eiiiiitccn to twenty-five feet lorjx by eighteen to tAventy-two inches deep, and from two feet to two find n, half feet broad alnost throug'hout tlie whole lenf^th. Tlic boat is f^cnerally managed by one man sitting as far aft, and as low as possible, nsing his paddle alternately on each side ; though ^'ometimes a s-econd uses a jiaddlc at the bow. At IJiissorah, where tlicse canoes \)[\ for hire, a light awning of striped cotton, with a movable curtain on the snnny side, shades the boatmen as well as the passengers. The canoe ^vill accomaiodate four or ev^ii five ])ersons without incon- venience, and is l^oth swift and comfortable ; but owing to the ]uuiid f.nd Jiarrow bottohi, a slight movement is sullicicnt to capsize it. Between Hit and Anah on the Euphr»iles, as well us to some distance above the latlor town, there is used a roughly-built wooden boat, Avhich is tracked upward by hand, a id returns with the current. These boats are flat-bottomed and partly wall-sided, but sharp at the extremities, where they rise abruptly several feet higher than amidships. Vvy this arrangement the track line is sutHciently high to pass brnsliwood and other ordinary obstacles, whilst jnorc command is given to the helms- man, Avho stands on the platform at the other extremity steering by means of a very long crooked pole, which terminates with a fan or blade, to increase its power. These boats are ' carvel-built,' of roughly-sawn planks of the beech and other trees growing in that part of the country, and being very liable to leak, a coating of bitu- men is sometimes added to make them watertiirht. They are principally of two sizes, the larger of which i^ rather more than forty feet long b}' fourteen fiet beam, and the smaller thirty-three feet long, thirteen ieet two inches broad, and three feet six iuclic.-i deep amidsliips. I OTIIKR CHAFT OF MESOl'UTAMrA. •i: They arc chiefly used in traiisporthiu,' bulky articUs upwards, such as wool, o-rain, sheep, limo, etc., their return carmios behi**' timber, or brushwood and cliar- coal for fuel, and they arc decked only at the ex- tremities. ]]esides the round boat, which is so admirably suilc"h pieces of timljer extendino- the whole len<;"th, and strongly planked across, fnnns the bottom of the l)oat, on which the three sides are raised, by means of u[)rights, planked in the same Avay. The boat is poled across the stream, except when the water is too deep, when oars are used. Those used at lUr for the passai»'e of the caravans arc of the same rouiih build as the former, but they arc wider and ratlier shorter, Avith an open stern, havhig a movable platform attaciied, Avhieh enables the camels and horses to walk on board Avith case. These boats will transi )ort six of the f )riner or eiiiht of the latter animals. Their u^ual dimensions are from thirty-five to forty feet long", and from twelve to fourteen feet broad at the stern, Avhich breadth con^uiucs almost to the bow. The latter portion approaches the shape ol a Avedge, and is covered Avith an elcA'ated platform or forecastle, about five feet in length, on Avhich stands the nakeedah, or helmsman, Avho uses n long curved pole having a blade or fan at its extremity, Avhich is so placed as to form a lever against the stream ; the current does the rest, for by tracking the boat up the stream to a Butiicient di^tance, after the camels arc embarked, a pas- iii ' ^,. ■ 48 MAlUTl.Mi: DlSCOVr.liV sn«^'c3 U cnsuivd to the in'opcr liimrm^-placo on tlie oj)])o- slt(! side. Tlio \V(»rkmniislii|), wliicli is of roii<^li plnnk- iiio-, ()verlii|)|)C'(l, and Jjistcucd citlici* ])y iiJiils or wooden ])(\i^s, sufficiently indicates lliat lliere Iuih Ixjon little change, and ])f'rliaj)S no improvement for ag(!s in the construction of those hoats. Tn the lower waters of the Euphrates, Ti^'ris, and Shat-ul-Aral), a kind of vessel is used for conveyinir ciu'o'oes of dates, which cond)incs the advantau'cs of sails and oars. They are of various sizes, from five tons to nearly seventy tons hurthen, and have a shai'j) rakin^f how and a full and heavy stei'n, with a raised ))oo[), for the acconnnodation of the crew, the rest of the space being left for the cari^'o. Tn f>'eneral, the rig is the same, consisting of one mast nearly amidshi[)s, raking forward, and spreading an inunense lateen-shaped sail, Avhieh extends from stem to stern. The length of such a hoafc is ninety feet, and hreadth twenty feet, with a draught of water of seven feet three inches, and the vessel carries about sevont}' toUH of cargo. The sea-going vessels in use among the y\rabs are as varied as the river boats. They include 'trankies,' impelled by both oars and sails, A^diich, (hough Hu'Mierly nuich employed in the Persian Gulf, are, we believe, not to be seen now. The ' Jiatil ' is a vessel with a long iiddle-headed bow and two masts, which may l)e dis- tinguished from other craft by the inner part of the st'irn-post bi'ing ornamented witii devices cut in the wood. The IJatil of tlic southern part of the IMalabar coast, is about fifty to sixty feet in length, sixteen to eighteen feet in breadth, and eight to ten »eet in depth, and has more of the European form than any of the Indian-built vessels that are met with. The after-part shows the origin to be of Portuguese construction, as it fit TIIK fKAKT OF TMK I'K.KSIAN OULF. 49 is very siniilnr to that of many ot the boats still in use by the people of tliat country ; indeed they are said to be of the same sliape as the vessel in vl.ich Vasco de Gaina sailed to India. They have a deck fore and aft, and are built in a very rouoh manner ; little or no iron is used in puttin«>' the tini])ers to(rether, its place bein^ supplied with coir strinf^,* and vessels thus constructed, besides being exceedin<(ly pliant and elastic, jmssess many sailinfif advantag'cs over those fastened entirely Avith nails and bolts. Contrary to the European mode of boat-building, they tie the planks together before the ribs are fastened in, wliich is the last and concluding ))ju*t of the process. Occasionally they are found fastened with uails and l)olts. They are equipped with one mast which inclines forward, and a srpiare lugsail with one ])air of shrouds and a backstay ; also a small bow-sprit at an auglc of about 45°, with a sort of ji])-foresail. The l)ai>arah of the Persian Gulf is similar to the bitil, with one mast and a small deck-house abaft. The !'ghalah, or buggalow, is a species of native vessel Avnich it is the fashion to call a ' dhow,' though dliows are, at the present day, never seen in the Gulf, or indeed rarely anywhere, only a few being found at Jiddah and f^ome other ports. The baulialah is of {»Teat size, sometimes of 200 or 300 tons burthen, and carrying scN'cral guns- u^ called the Dwi?i/a/i, belonging to the Sultan of jiuhrein, had ten. The Persian Gulf baghalahs have two masts raking forward like those of the batil and bagarah, and a high * Tills prnctico is oxtromely ancient, as ■svell as that of paying the seams with )jt*es'-\vax. ])uiiiig Arrian's exiieditious one of the vessels was wrecked, hut the sails ami rigging ■\vero proserveil. Having secured these, the sailors next proceeded to scrape oil" the wax, which Arrian and other writers represent as one of the most necessary articles in lilting out ships. VOL. r. 4 ! si i ;| M '. ^ :ii\ 50 MAUITIMi: DISCOVKUY. poop with stern-ports, and a lon;^ pointod bow. The ba'dmhih is steered with an orliiuirv tiller, unlike the hiitil and ba^arah, whicli are steered by yoke-lines lead- ing from a point a little above the water on the outside cd«rc of the rucl.ier. The baiihalah of the (iulf of Cutch is one of the most aneient vessels to be met with. Mr. Edye, formerly master shipwright of the Doekyard at Trincomali, deseribes these vessels minutely in a paper communicated to the 'Journal of the IJoyal Asiatic Society.' Their extreme length, from stem to taffrail, is about seventy-four feet, the breadth twenty- five feet, and the dei)th in hold eleven feet six inches, and they arc about l.")() tons burthen. The peculiarity of form and extraordinary equipment of these vessels is said to have l)een the same from the period of Alexander the Great. They '»re armed with two guns on the after- part, and have their poop-decks with a round stern. Their extreme section is abaft the waist or middle of the vessel ; they are very broad in proportion to their length, with a sharji rising floor, the stern is straight, and rakes very little more than the stern-post. These vessels are constructed with timbers and planks which arc ' nail and trenail fastened ' in the most rude and unsafe manner possible. The topside above the deck is barricaded with mats on the outside of the timbers, which run up to about eight feet from the deck ; and when they have no cargo on board, this barricade is removed. They have only one mast, and a lateen- sail, the tack of which goes to the stem-head as in all other vessels. The extra- ordinary longevity of these native vessels may be gathered from the fact that in 1837 a baghalah, the J^eria Doichd, or ' Wealth of the Seas,' which was built at Bownuggur in t'\e year 1750, was still trading in the Red Sea. r I THK ARAD DIlONV. 51 las Ing The Aral) dliow is a vessel rrcnerally of a1»out l')0 to 2r)0 tons hurtlu'ii l)y ineasuronu'iit, and sometiiues Inn»-or. It is ' nral)-built,' * with ten or twelve jiorts, al)oiit eii;hty-iive feet Ion;;- fVoni stem to stern, twenty fe(?t nine indies l)roa(l, and ehiven favt six inclies deep. These vessels have a ^ivjit rise of floor, arc ealenlated for sailinn- with small ear<^ocs, and ai*e fully prepared, hy internal ecpiipment, for defenee, with decks, hatchways, ports, and i)oop-(leck, like a vessel of war. ^[any of them arc sheathed on two-and-a-half-inch i)lank bottoms with one-inch hoard, and the prei)aration of elnuiam, cocoanut oil, and 1 1 Ms III 4 li;.; 52 MARITIME DISCOVERY. backstay, to support the mast when the sail is set ; this, with two or three pairs of slirouds, completes the rigj^in^, the whole being of coir rope. Dhows may be dis- tinguished from baghalahs by a long gallery projecting from the stern, which is their j)ecuUar clip 'acteristic. The pattamars are a class of vessel which may be considered the best sailers in India, and the most useful as stowing a good cargo. They belong principally to Bombay merchants, and carry on the whole of the coasting trade to that port. They are grab-built, and the dimensions of the large class are seventy- six feet six mches in length, twenty-one feet six inches in breadth, eleven feet nine inches in depth, and about 200 tons burthen. They are planked, says Mr. Edye, with teak, upon jungle- wood frames, and are really very handsome vessels, being put together, in the European manner, with nails, bolts, etc., and their bottoms are sheathed with inch-board, and have the preparation before described. Some of the smaller class of these vessels, of about sixty tons burthen, are sewed together with coir like other native boats. The small class have one, and the large class two masts, with the lateen- sail, the fore-mast raking forward for the purpose of keeping the ponderous yard clear. The yard is slung at one-third of its length ; the tack of the sail is brought to the stem-head through a fixed Mock, and the sheet hauled aft at the side as usual. The halliard is a pendant and treble block from the mast- head aft to midships ; thus acting as a backstay for the mast's security, together with about two pairs of shrouds. A boat peculiar to the Indus, and described in the * Journal of the Hoyal Geographical Society ' (vol. iii. p. 355), by that enterprising traveller, the late Sir Alex- ander Burnes — who fell a victim to Afghan treachery at Cabul on the 2nd Xovembcr, 1841 — is the dundi, which NATIVE BOATS OF THE IXDLX. 0»1 .^f jli a iial. ast- the Lids. the • • • 111. icx- at liich is well adajited for the navigation of the river and the transport of goods. The sluq)e is peculiar, being with- out a keel, Hat-bottomed, and both the bow and stern, "which are i)erfectly flat, rise from the water at an angle of about 30°, to suit the shelving banks of the river. It is rigged Avitli a square-sail aft, and a lateen-sail forward, and is steered by means of a large triangular rudder, hung over the slanting stern ; the largest are eighty feet long, and carry sixty tons, drawing only four feet of water. For Avant of better materials, says Captain Carless, of the late Indian Navy, the boats of the Indus are formed of innumerable small pieces of wood, fastened b}'^ bamboo pegs, and they are consequently liable to acci- dents ; but any great deviation from the principle of their construction would not be an improvement. JJetween lUikkur and IVIittun, the boat most in use, called a zohrny, is built of the talee tree, of an oblong sqi are shai)e, flat-bottomed, and rounded at the extremi- ties. Some exceed eighty feet in length and twenty in width, with only one mast. Ever since the time of Alexander, this great stream and its tributaries have been navigated by the above kind of flat boat, in one of which Burnes ascended at the favourable season to Lahore, a distance of nearly 1)50 miles in sixty days, and which was also used by Lieutenant Wood, of the Indian navy, the discoverer of the sources of the Oxus. * Unchangeable as the East ' is an axiom that may be applied to the ships and navigation of the Chinese, whose types of vessels have been as ancient and immut- able as their civilisation ; as specimens of the craft employed by the earliest navigators they claim brief notice here. .:; (i .! 54 MAIUTLME DISCOVEUY. That the Chinese cMTied on commercial intercourse with Europe from the earliest historic times, we have ample records to prove ; and recentl}' a singular piece of corroborative evidence has been afforded, though Pro- fessor Sayce, Mr. Robert Douglas of tlie British Museum, and other Chinese scholars, ridicule the so-called dis- covery. The Norddeutsche ZeitiuKj says that the Chinese Ambassador at Berlin, Li Fangpao, well-known in his own country as a great scholar, has lately read as Chinese the inscription on a vase found by Dr. Schlie- mann in the lowest stratum of his excavations at Ilissarlik, and figured on p. 50 of the introduction to his ' Troy and its Bemains.' The learned Ambassador has thus confirmed the identification of the language of the inscription made six ^ears ago by the eminent Orientalist, Emile Burnouf, which was greatly ridiculed at the time. Li Fangpao is quite confident that the unknown characters, which recur again and again on the Trojan antiquities, especially on the terra-cotta whorls, are those of his native tongue, and gives as the purport of the inscription, that about B.C. 1200 three pieces of linen gauze were packed in the vase for inspec- tion. Burnouf 's French version also contained the words ' pieces d'etoffes.' ' This vase,' adds the Nord- deutsche Zeltumj, ' seems consequently to furnish a fresh proof of the active commercial intercourse which the people of the " Hyperboreans," the Chinese, carried on with Greece and Asia ]\Iinor.' The English Chinese scholars, however, above-mentioned, aver that the similitude between the Trojan and Chinese characters is only accidental, and nc^t very apparent. Of whatever size the boat may be, says Chesney (whose accuracy of description we can certify from service in Chinese waters), the part mimerscd is invariably spoon- I CIIINESK VESSKLS. i)0 .-r I ; shaped, and almost without a keel. In the lar«^ei' defosides the principal owner of ti.o cargr? v,r ;m.'- mt for those who own it, there is the captain or pile iio ri ' s constantly on the weather- side of the vessel, observing tho shores and promontories as they are ar,proached, and from habit seldom lies down to slee}). Though he has the nominal command over the sailors, these obey him or not according to their pleasure. Xext to the pilot is the helmsman, who manages the steering and sails ; and besides clerks for the cargo, there is a purchaser of provisions, and another whose express business it is to attend to the offerings and to burn incense. The crew consists of two classes, the able sea- men, who are called Tow Mo, 'heads and eyes,' and the ordinary seamen, or ' conn'ades,' bui both classes ahke are recruited from the worst characters. All these, with the exception of the last class, have sleeping-berths, j ust large enough to hold one person. Everyone is a share- holder with the privilege of putting a certain cjuantity of goods on board. The principal object of all is trade, and the woiking of the junk would seem to be a sub- ordinate point. The crew exercise full control over the ^■essel, and oppose every measure which they deem in- jurious to their own interest; so that the captain and l)ilot are frequently obliged to submit to them. In time of danger the confusion that attends the absence of dis- cipline, not unfrequently proves the destruction of the CIIINKSK INVKXriOX OF TlIK COMPASS. (U ' 1 '"J I junk. Mr. GutzlafF adds that, altlioiioli thev consider our mode of sailing' as soniL'tliinif better than their own, tliey claim the sup'^'riority upon tlie whole for their own vessels, and Avoald consider any alteration jis a retro- grade movement. The Cliinose have often l)cen credited, and ir would a]ipear witli p^ood reason, witli tlic invention of tlie mu^neiic compu'-Js. Kla])rotli, writing- to Humboldt in 1834, gives the result of his investigations on this inter- esting subject. The first distinct notice in Europe of the properties of the j'ohuMsed needle, a|)pears in a «jatiri- cal poem of Guyot de Provins, about the year 11. ); • ul the next writer wlio refers to the same phenoi* noi ^s one of use to seamen, is Cardinal dc Vitrv, v\ visited I'alestine in the fourth Crusade, and a second rii e :.ul)- seqnently at tlie beginning of the thirteen-' C'^nturv. Subsequently, lirunette Latini, author of a Avork in French called ' Le Tresor,' written about 12()(), observes likewise that it Avas calculated to be highly useful at sea, but at the same time notices the ignorant prejudice b}- which navigators were deterred from its adoption ; for, says he, ' Xo master mariner dares to use it, lest he should fall under the supposition of being a mag'ician ; nor would even the sailors venture themselves out to sea under his command if he took with him an instrument Avhich carries so great an appearance of being constructed under the influence of some ifernal spirit.* A more recent writer, the Jesuit Iviccioli, states that, in the reign of St. Louis, the French mariners connnonly used the magnetic needle, which they kept sAvimming in a little vessel of water, and prevented from sinking by two tubes. From the above authorities, and one or two others, M. Klaproth, with sufficient reason, infers that the use of the magnetic needle was known in Europe at !)| m "I *M 62 MAniTIME DISCOVKHV. the beginniiif^ of the thirteenth century ; none of those AvriterH fvith the magnet it acquires the property of pointing to tlie south ; yet it declines always to the east, and is not due south. Tf the needle be passed through a wick, made of Ji rush, and placed on water, it will also indicate the south, but with a continual inclina- tion towards tlie i)oint ping or {f south.' Klai)roth then shows that such is actually the case at Peking, according to the observations of Pere Amiot, Avho states, as the result of his own experiments during a number of years, that ' the variation of the magnetic needle continues the same in this capital, viz. oetween 2° and 2° 80' to the west.' Xow, as the Chinese suppose that the jmint of magnetic attraction is to the soutli, they of course reverse the foregoing terms, and say that the needle points south, with a valuation east. This verj^ difference is a mark of the originality of the Chinese compass, -which is farther l)roved (as Mr. IJarron observes) by their having en- grafted upon, and combined with it, their most ancient astrological notions. This instrument, instead of con- sisting of a movable card attached to the needle, is simply a needle of less than an inch in length, slung in a glazed hole in the centre of a solid wooden dish, finely varnished. The broad circumference of this dish is marked off into concentric circles, on which are inscribed the ' eight mystical figures of Fohy, the twelve horary I'i !' I'I ill i! 1.1 CA MAHITIMK DISCOVMUV. I chnrnctcrH, tlio ion otliors wliidi, combined with those, mark the years ot'tlic cycle, tlie twenty-four divisions of tlieir solar year and the twenty-ei^dit lunar niiuislons.'* To En<»ian(' however, ])elon«^s the cliief credit of per- fcctiuf^ the instrinnents ])y the aid of which navi^^'ltors are enabled to pass over trackless seas, thus ensuring to eonnnercc tliat re;^ularity and safety whicli the fury of the tempest so sadly lessens. ' Theirs the triumph be, r.y iloop luvontioii's keen piTvafling oyo, The heart of Counigo, ami the Imnd of Toil, liiich conqnor'il ocean 8taiiiiii<,'\vitli their Moot], Instead of treasure robbM by ruHian war, ]Iound social earth to circle fair exchange, And bind the ualiuus in a (;oldeu chain.' The sailino- canoes, or flyinf^ proas, of tlie Ladrone islands are an admirable, and, witliout doubt, most ancient type of vessel. 1 )ami)ier, in his ' A'oyages,' j>'ives ji detailed description of them. JIc says: 'Their proe, or sailino^ canoe, is sliarp at both ends ; the bottom is of one piece, of frood substance, neatly hollowed, and is about twenty-eio-ht feet long-; tlie under or keel part is made round, but inchning to a wedge ; the upper part is almost flat, having a very gentle hollow, and is about a foot broad ; from hence, both sides of the boat are carried up to about five feet high witli narrow ])hmk, and eacli end of the boat turns up roiuid very prettily. IJut what is very singular, one side of the boat is made perpendicuhu' bkc a wall, while the other side is round- ing as other vessels are, with a pretty full belly. The dried husks of the cocoaiuits serve for oakum. At the middle of the vessel the breadth aloft is four or five feet, or more, according to the length of the boat. The mast * See Sir John Davis's work, * The CMiinose ; a General Description of China and its Inhabitants,' pp. 277-79. .-». THE LADllONE I'HoA. (>:) stands exactly in tlic middle, with a .lon<( yard that peepH up and down like a ship's mizzen-yard ; one end of it reaches down to tlic end of the boat, where it is l)laced in a notch made purposely to keep it fast ; the other end hand's over tlie stern. To this yard the sail is fastened, and at the foot of the sail is another small yard to keep the sail out s(piare, or to roll the sail upon when it blows liard ; for it cerves instead of a reef to take tip the sail to what decree they i)lease. yVlong the belly-side of the boat, parallel with it, at about seven feet distance, lies anolher boat or canoe, very small, bein<( a log of very light wood, almost as long as the great boat, but not above a foot and a half wide at the upi)er part and sharp like a wedge at each end. The little boat is fixed firm to the other b}- two bamboos placed across the great boat, one near each end, and its use is to keep the great boat upright from oversetting They keep the fiat side of the great boat against the wind, and the belly-side, consequently, with its little boat, is upon the lee.* ' The vessel has a head at each end so as to be able to sail with either foremost ; they need not tack as our vessels do, but when they i)ly to windward and are minded to make a board the other way, they only alter the setting of the sail by shifting the end of the yard, and they take the broad paddle with which they steer instead of a rudder to the other end of the vessel. I ■ r J 1 • ThoLadrono ilyinj; proa, described in Commodore Anson's voyage, sailed witli the bell;' or rounded side, and its small canoe to windward ; by which it appears that these proas were occasionally managed eithcv way, probably according to the strength of the wind, the little parallel boat, or canoe, preserving the large one upright by its weight when to windward, and by its buoyancy when to leeward. These outriggers are also used to the present day by tlm Cingalese, and all who have used them can certify how admirably they sail. VOL. I. 5 66 MAIUTLME DISCO VKRY. have been particular in describing these their sailing canoes, because I believe they sail the best of any bon^s in the world. I tried the swiftness of one of them with our log ; we had twelve knots on our reel, and she ran it all out before the half-minute glass was half out. I believe she would run twenty -four miles in an hour. It was very pleasant to see the little boat running so swift by the other's side. I was told that one of these proes being sent express from Guahan to Manilla (a distance of above 480 leagues), performed the voyage in four days.' Le Maire and Schouten, in the memorable voyage in which they made the discovery of the passage between Tierra del Fuego and Staten Island, overtook, in the Pacific Ocean, far distant from land, on the 8th May, 1616, an outrigger canoe of similar principle, but dif- fering somewhat in construction, to the preceding. Jacob le Maire thus describes this vessel in tlie ' Navi- gations Australes dcs Couvertes:' ' The vessel was formed of two large and handsome canoes, which 'were placed parallel and at a convenient distance from each other ; in the middle of each canoe, a very broad thick plank of a red-coloured wood, and very light, was placed lengthways upon its edge ; across the two pitUiks were laid some small beams, and upon the beams a platform of thin planks. The whole was compact and well fastened together. Over one part of the plat- form was a small shed of matting, under which the women and children remained. There was but one mast and one sail. The mast was fixed in a step towards the fore-part of the starboard (right hand) canoe ; the sail was of triangular form, and attached to a vard which rested on the upper end of the mast, Wi.ach was forked for the purpose. The vessel was i i THE PKRUVIAN BALZA. 67 Am tep Id) to ist, ivas f i steered with oars abaft. The sail was of matting, and towards the upper part of it there was marked a figure representing a cock, which it is probable was intended, like the flags of more civilised and more powerful nations, to denote to Avhat island or state the canoe belonged. Their cordage was well made; they were provided with hooks for fishing, the back part of which were of stone, and the hook or bearded part of bone, tortoiseshell, or mother- of pearl. Everything apper- taining to the vessel was neat and well fitted for sea.' The vessel in use among the Peruvians was called tlic ' balza,' and as Captain Burney obser\ cs, ' in the Peruvian method of mana^ail which hangs from a yard and is fitted with bow-lines ; wliich ' fashion of rigging,' he adds, * is doubtless, in part at least, European.' The balza, men- tioned in Spilbergen's voyage, is rigged in a more rude and simple manner, tlie sails fjeing triangular, and the same spar being made to serve both the p',. poses of mast and vard. 4 CHAPTER III. Tho Phoenician? ind Cartha'ation advanced at a creeping pace, and but a small amount of fresh experience was hiid u}) by one generation for the benefit of the next, it took very many ages to explore the ^Mediterranean, Tyrrhene, Adriatic, and ul^'gean Seas. The people of Tyre and Sidon, the Plianiicians, were among the first Avhom the si)irit of commerce and the desire of gain prompted to fresh discoveries ; their great antiquity is perhaps ihe reason why our knowledge of them is ob- tained from incidental and isolated accounts. The first Pliojnician colonies in Northern Africa were said to have been founded about 1490 B.C., though this is more or less matter of speculation. According to tradition, Carthage owes its existence to Dido or Elissa, daughter of a King of Tyre, who, driven from that city by the cruelty of her brother Pygmalion, who had murdered her liu'.bard^ established a colony in the vicinity of Utica. PIcre about the vear 878 B.C., 125 years before the fuundufion of Kouo, the great queen, immortalised fy iio geniiiji of Yirp^, foundcid the city, which was at FOUNDATION OF CARTHAGE. 71 1,1 : f I 'St one time the rival of Rome in military glory, and her su- perior in commercial greatness. The city was built on a promontory, connected l)y a narrow isthmus witli the mainland, and about fifteen miles distant from the modern town of Tunis ; on the isthmus was the citadel, called Byrsa, situated on a rock and surrounded by a triple wall, each sixty feet high, and strengthened at intervals with forts, a stupendous and impregnable work. The city, which had a circum- ference of twenty miles, and a population of 700,000 souls, was bounded on the north and east by the ocean ; and, according to Botticher, in his ' Geschichte de Carthager,' on the eastern side of the peninsula was the harbour, formed of an inner and outer basin, the former called Cothon, being used exclusively for vessels of war, and having round its sides the naval storeliouses, and the docks, capable of containing 240 ships. Tbe extent of territory subjugated by Carthage is computed at about IGOO geograi)liical miles, and they Ind settle- ments as far West as the Straits of Gades (or (ribraltar) and even on the West Coast of Africa. They also seized the Balearic Isles, Sardinia, Corsica, and Malta, and had colonies in Spain, and at one time held ay over the greater portion of Sicily. For two and lalf cen- turies they waged incessant war with the Gru k colonies established in the latter island, notably with -vracuse. With the Carthaginians originated the id- i f quitting the Mediterranean by the Straits of Gadrs, of sailing southward, circumnavigating the coast of Africa, and then returnint'' northward by the Bed Sea, t«jwar(ls the Levant, or eastern side of the iMcditevranean. This notion seems to have been cherished for agos, as the crowning act of maritime enterprise; knowing only a small portion of the globe, and conceiving that portion m ■m I 7% MARITIME DISCOVERY. to be upon an extended plane, those who held a voyage from Crete to Egypt to be a signal proof of naval courage, and regarded as a subject of thankfulness and gratitude their having escaped the dangers of Scylla and Charybdis, and the Syrtcs, those wavcbound prisons of mariners, manifestly feared to commit themselves to unknown waters, tracking shores which the reports of others, who had never seen these regions, no less than their own fears, had represented as the abode of every horror. In short, distance from tl'^ land seems to have alarmed all the ancients, who, upon every occasion, when quitting sight of the shore fancied they saw, as Homer tells us : ' A length of ocean and unbounded sky, Which soaro the sea-fowl in a year o'erfly.' The general truth of these observations is corroborated by the story of the inhabitant of Pampliylia, who was taken prison or and carried to Egypt, as told by Eusta- thius, the commentator of Homer. He was kept as a slave, for a very long time, at a town near one of the mouths of the Nile, v.here Damietta noAV stands ; and, being frequently employed to assist in maritime business, conceived the idea of committing himself to the mercy of the waves in a sailing-boat, in order that he might once again behold his native country. Having provided him- self to the best of his means and abilitv, he set sail, resolving to perish in the ocean rather than remain longer in captivity. He traversed the exjwnse of waters which lies between Egypt and Asia Minor, and arrived safely at Pampliylia. From this bold and unusual adventure he lost his original name, and received the appellation of Mononantes, or the lone sailor. The following are among the chief voyages of ancien^ history with which we are acquainted, beginning with the . 1 THE VOYAGE OF JASON. 73 k1 111 le If le i f famous venture of Jason in search of the Golden Fleece, * known to every schoolboy,' as liord Macaulay would have said. This voya<^e is decidedly apocryphal, but ought not to be omitted in an c})it()me of the nautical adventures of the ancients. In the thirteenth century B.C., Jason, accompanied by a IMurnician pilot, sailed in the ship Ar*(o, over the Pontus Euxinus, now known as the Euxine or IJlack Sea, to recover the treasure which had been carried away by Phi'yxus, in the ship Aries, or liam. The Pha'nician word ior ' treasure,' is about the same as the Greek word for ' fleece ;' hence, the confusion of ideas, by Avhich the poets profited to adorn their legends, for Jason was reported to have made a voyage to recover the ram with the golden fleece. Those who manned Jason's ship were called Argonauts, or sailors of the Argo ; and, at their return, doflar d that their passage had been alongside of the al)ode^ of the Just and the prisons of the infernal regions, it has Ijcen sought to clear up the account of this voyage by the far-fetched e\[»lanation that the lidiabitants on the eastern side of the Euxine Sea were in the habit of extendini]^ fleeces of wool to catch the golden particles Avhich were washed down from Mount Caucasus. It is believed b\- some connnentators on the IJible, that the Ophir to which Solomon, who lived about a thousand years before the Christian era, sent large fleets, was Malacca or, as others ha\"^ it. the West Const of India, whe^e the recent gold discoveries have been made in what is now called the Wynaad district, or again, on the Mozambique Coast of Africa. These ships were managed by Tyrian mariners who were the most ex}>ert of the day ; yet, for want of the mariner's compass, their navigation was performed by coasting along the, -bores. Regarding the three years recpiired to comjjlete a I ' "1 -[ -Ifc 74 MARITIME DISCOVERY. voyage to Opliir and back — supposing Ophir to be Malacca — the ignorance of navifjation and the frail nature of the vessels put a direct voyage out of the ques- tion, and Ophir could have been reached only by coasting along the shores of Arabia, afterwards keeping along that of Mekran, and finally following both sides of the penin- sula of Ilindostan. The following calculation has been made : MILES. Fiom Ezion-gobor, or Dlmhab, pursuing the wlnilings of tho coast, tho western side of Arabia gives a distanco of 1 20G The southern side of the Peninsula to tlio coast of Persia, at tho Straits of Ormuz - IGGO From the Straits of Ornniz to the River Indus - - - 732 From the ' *ter to Cape Comorin 1390 From Cape Comorin to tho River Ganges ... 1350 From the River Ganges to tho Straits of ^lalacca 1500 Total i838 At the rate of about twenty-five miles in twenty-four hours, this would occu])y 313 days, which, with the addition of the Sal)baths, forty-four days, and other halts, as rests, ft "rtervals of about ten days, say thirty -one, would make the outward voyage to the coast of Sumatra (piite 388 days ; and this is exclusive of dcte.ition from bod weather, which nuist have occurred frequentl}', esj)ociallN" during' the monsoons, for assuredlv such frail barks could not venture to proceed, excepting at the commencement or towards the termination of these periodical winds. This applies more particularly to the IJ<.m1 Sea, for outside of the Straits of liab-el-Mandeb, and again, along the coasts of Mekran and the western shore of India, the only resource woul I be to haul up the flotilla until the strength of the gaie were passed. It is difficult to estimate the time lost in consequence of these delays, outward and homeward; but as a monsoon would THE VOYAOF. TO OrillR, 75 'll 1 be encountered dnring each voyn«fc, about three month may be allowed, making ninety days each way ; and as from ninety to 120 days would probably be occupied on the coasts of Ophir and J*arvaim in waiting for the return cargo, and in refitting the ships, this number of days, with 478 for the return voyage, will give 107G days, or nearly three years in all for the time consumed in an enterprise which forms one of the glories of Solo- mon's reign. Some idea of the distance traversed by the ancient mariners, with a fair wind, in the course of a single day, may be gained from the following statement: The fleet of Xerxes, starting from the Euripus, reached Phalerum, a poK of Atticx^, in three days, which is ninety-six miles, or thi^y-two miles during twelve hours. Xenophon, in his \Vn{d)asis,' sa) s, he sailed in two days and one niaht from Cotvora to Harmene, a distance bv sea of 1422 starepared food, and again set sail. At length, to their great joy and astonishment, they reached the Straits of Gibraltar, passed between the pillars of Hercules — two roeks so called as being the nearest and opposite points of the • Chesney's 'Expedition for the Survey of the Tigris and Eu- phrates,' vol. i. p. 127. 76 MARITIME DISCOVERY. !."•■ continents of Europe and Africa — and at length arrived in safety at tlic shores of Kgyi)t. In the i)ublication of tills nieniorahle voyage, tlio world was jistonished at being informed that the sun, while the IMia'iMcinns were ])assing round the southern part of Africn, was at the right hand; or in other words, that it dcscrilK'd its course from cast to west, m the northern heavens, thus appear- ing at midday in the north, contrary to tl^eir former experience. ¥vr this reason we are given to understand that the relation of this voyage was almost universally discredited anion<,; the ancients, though the statement should have moved them to belief. About 510 B.C., Darius, the son of ilystaspes, being then the sovereign of the vast Persian Empire, influenced by hisatiable andjition, j)laMued an expedition to India; but in order that he might ac(piire some knowledge of the nature of the country he was about to attack, he fitted out a naval exju'dition, which was placed under the connuand of S('\ lax, of Caryanda, with orders to sail down the river Indus into the Southern Ocean then to return by steering westward for the i)urpose of acquir- ing information as to the strength and riches of the countries on both sides of the river, as also on the sea- coast. Scylax, in i)ursuancc of these instructions, passed down the Indus into the Indian Ocean, and, returning by the Straits of I Jab-el- Mandeb into the Ked Sea, landed on the Egyptian coast, near the Isthnms of Suez. Scylax, who employed about thirty months on this voyage, gave a favourable report concerning the nature of the countries which he had seen, upon which Darius fitted out a naval armament to co-operate with his army in the subjuga- tion of the Indiiuis. This voyage of the Persian monarch opened the way for a more frequent intercourse between India and the nations bordering on the ^lediter- VOYAGKS OF SCVLAX AN'I) SATASl' 3. 77 rancan. Tho V()ya^^>^ of Sc^ylax is believed to have been the first maritime cx])e(lition to India. Tlic next attempt to sail round the e(mtinent (jf Africa was that of Sataspes, a Persian nobleman wliom Xerxes had condenmed to deatli, but wliosc sentenec was com- nniteil to tlie circunuiavi«^'ati()ii of Africa. Tic sailed from E^'y[)t, in the year ISO n.c, through the Straits of Gibraltar, and then southward, but, horror-struck at the mighty waves of the Atlantic, he returned home, after beating about for some months, and suffered according to the terms of his original sentence. The Persians Avere generally unaccjuainted with maritime affairs, and there- fore never made any advance in the naval art worth describing, and hence the Athenians, who had nuidc great hnprovemcnts in their war-shipi)ing, defeated them when attacked during the reign of Xerxes. Jn a collection of ancient voyages, published about 170 years ago, there is a translation of a curious account of the discovery of an island some o(M) or OOO years n.c, made by one Jambulus, who is described as having been carried off by the Ethiopians while travelling in India. His captors had a custom, in order to expiate the sins of their naticm, once in thirty years of setting adrift in a well-found and provisioned vessel, two strangers, with instructions to steer directly south in order to arrive at a certain fortunate island, inhabited by a king and some hosi)itable people, with whom they might live ha})pily for the rest of their days. The oracle declared that if these men succeeded in their voyage, the country would enjoy rest and (juiet for many years ; but they threatened Jambidus and his companion with the severet-t punish- ments, m case they did not prosecute their voyage. Having crowned each of them with garlands^ the}- put Jambulus and his companion on board the vessel that . <' 4 ' 1 % iM IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. 1.0 1.1 1.25 ISO ■M 112.0 jm V] /^ ^<=^J ^^?>"^^ ^^^ ^^J^ / *1 '/ w Photographic Sciences Corporation as WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^^ \ 78 MAKITIME DIbCUVEKY. had been prepared for them, and obliged them to j^utto sea. They were four months tossed by the winds and -vvavt's, before they arrived on the coast of the island to which they were bound ; but at length they reached it safely. la its form it is ' described as almost round, being about 5000 stadia in compass ; containing about 500 of our miles, if we allow GOO stadia to a degree.' When they landed, multitudes came from all quarters to gaze at and admire them, wondering how they came thither, but treating them with the utmost kindness and civilit}-, aud offering them whatever their country afforded. These people are described m detail, one of the pecu- liarities being a cloven tongue, ' which enabled them to imitate the notes and even the chattering of birds ; and, if our travellers say true, they could discourse with two people at once.' This island is said to be situated in a temperate climate, very near the equator. After Jam- bulus and his companion had continued in this island seven years, they were compelled to depart, their ship being again fitted out for them, and well furnished with provisions. ' Continuing their voyage for above four months, they fell, at length, upon the sandy shallows of India, where Jambulus's companion was drowned, and himself was afterwards cast ashore near a certain village, and carried away by the inhabitants of the place to the king, who was then at a city called Polybothra, or Polunbothra, many days' journey distant from the sea; where he was kindly received by that prince, who had a great love for the Grecians, and was studious in the liberal sciences. At length, having obtained provision from the king, he first sailed into Persia, and from thence safely arrived in Greece.' It has been supposed by most commentators on the above account, that the main incidents are true ; and with respect to the island THE VOYAGE OF JAMBULUS. 79 mentioned, some have supposed it to be Sumatra, others Borneo, others again Java, while one writer has con- sidered it to be one of the Maldive Islands, which we arc inclined to believe is the most specious surmise, though the size of the island is against the suj^position. Polibothra, or Palibothra, is the name by which Patna on the Ganges was anciently known, and its King Sandracottus received Megasthenes, ambassador of Seleucus, not many years after the invasion of India by Alexander the Great. Sandracottus is identified with Chandragupta of the Shaunjan dynasty, whose grand- son was the great King Asoka, who styled himself Pujada^i, and flourished about the year 250 B.C. His far- famed inscrijjtions are found at different points of India, from Pcshawur to Guzerat on the West Coast, and Cuttack on the East Coast. They consist of thirteen rock inscrip- tions, seventeen cave inscriptions, and six pillar inscrip- tions, in the two-fold characters known as the Aryan Asoka and Indian Asoka, both derived from the Phoeni- cian alphabet, according to Professor Kern, of Ley den. Of great historical importance are the two expeditions fitted out about 500 years B.C. by the Carthaginians for the prosecution of discoveries to the north and south, after clearing the Herculean Straits. Himilco is sup- 2)osed to have visited England and Ireland, which he mentions as Al-fionn and the sacred i,sle, lerne, but the name of Britannicie is first applied to them by Aris- totle. The second fleet, under Hanno, steered round by Mount Atlas, the ' pillar of heaven,' and doubled the ' African Forehead,' as its great western promontory was called. By day the land was too hot to walk upon, and the country" eeemed to lie silent and deserted ; but by night the mountains seemed on fire, songs of rejoicing were heard, accompanied with the sounds of rl m •'I! m I'll ' 1 80 MAIUTIME DISCUVEUY. flutes, drums, cymbals, and gongs, together with erics which waked the shrill echoes of night, and startled the senses of the Punic sailors. Here they saw various species of the monkey trihc, including the gorilla, the description of which was believed to be mythical until the accounts of ])u Chaillu and other travellers have enabled us to identif\' a creature, a member of which in the shape of ' Pongo ' was one of the ' lions ' (to use an Hibernicism) of London in the season of 1877. Hence, some suppose, arose the mythical satyr, just as the Thessalians had before this given rise to the flibles of the < Centaur by appearing to their neighbours on horses, which they had been the first to tame. Hanno says : ' Having doubled the fiery regions, we three days afterwards entered the Gulf Notu Ceras (the Horn of the East), at the extremity of which lay an island with a lake and islet similar to those we had before discovered. Having touched at this island we found it inhabited by savages. The number of women infinitely exceeded that of the men. They were quite covered with hair, and our interpreters called them gorilles. We pursued them, but without being able to overtake them. They fled over the precipices with astonishing agility, throwing stones at lis. We suc- ceeded, however, in taking three women, but were obliwd to kill them that we miffht not be lacerated b^• them. We have 2)reserved their skins.' Chateaul riand says on this passage: ' The barbarity of the Punic mariners must also strike every reader. The hairy women of whom he speaks were, probably, some species of ape, but it was sufficient that the African commander believed them to be human, to render his conduct atrocious.' In these places gold was found to be the universal II ANNO S VOYAGK KOUNl) AFIilCA. 81 V d ' metal, so common that the chains of captives were for<^ccl from it. The Carthaginians relate tliat the transactions which they had witli the people of the African coast, were carried on in dinnb show, that, a si<^nal having been n^ade with smoke, the savages placed the goods which they had to dispose of on the coast and retired, and that the Carthaginians, liaviiii*' removed these ij^oods, de2)osited an eqnivalent. If that which the latter hiid down did not satisfy the former, it was not removed until a suitable a(hlition had been made. This sort of barter is the primeval state of connnerce, and is nuich the same as Cai)tain Cook describes as having been carried on between the crews of his ships anaal — the god of the sun and of fire, the Moloch of the lUble and Saturn of the Romans — Avhen 200 children of the [uistocracy were sacrificed, and 300 citizens voluntarily jirecipitated themselves into the flames. It is not known whether Neptune had a temple for his worshij) in Carthage, though it appears from the coins that the gmd was re- presented under a figure resembling that of the Greek Deity, and horses and dolphins were sacred to him, as also lions and the tunny-fish. The only literary production of the Carthaginians extant, is a fragment of a treatise on farming, by Mago, a ' sufFete,' or statesman, and general, though there is ' ^! riI(i:XICIAX TIJADK WITH inUTAIN. 83 racv ated ithcr ■ lagc, ,' s rc- rcck 1, as nans tngo, Je is reahun to believe that tlioy cultivated with siieccss Hcioncc and literature, and the names of some Cartha- ginian philosophers and historians arc mentioned hy Jioman writers. Their languane was unknown to the Greeks and liomans. and is supposed to be the same as that of the Pha-nieians, and as on the eapture of Carthage, in 1 i() B.C., by Sei})io, the city was razed to the ground, the only record of their history is to be found in the works of the Greeks and liomans, the mo?-t impartial source being the Greek historian Polybius who visited Carthage during its last struggle for independence. Thus the treatise of ]\[ago, and a Greek translation of the narrative of Ilanno's voyage to the West Coast of Africa, with a few inscriptions and coins, are all the vestiges of the military glory and commercial grandeur of ' the Tyrian' Carthage, a city Avhich produced the greatest general of antiquity. All military critics are a<»Teed that not even the achievements of Alexander and of Xapoleon exceed the generalship of Hannibal, who, marching from Spain across the Kliine, the Alps, and the Apennines, with 1)0,000 foot and 12,000 horse, gained brilliant victories, encamped at the very gates of Jiome, and maintained himself in an enemy's country for sixteen years. Xot the superior generalship and valour of the sons of liome, but the enervating luxury of Capua, and the intrigues of a hostile faction, who refused the necessary reinforcements, forced the greatest captain of his age to quit the scene of his triumphs, in order to meet Scij^io on the i)lains of Zama. It is, with great reason, believed that the Phucnicians, and, though with less probability, the Carthaginians, traded in tin to the south-western coasts and islands of Britain. Even in those distant daAs r>ritain was famed for its metals : G— 2 ■ 1 .1 1 !!' ' 1 I * ^11 ; .1 1!| *,!; 84 MAIUTLMK DISCUVKKY. f l! ' She too the mineral feeds : the oljcbient lead, The warlike iron, uor tlio peaceful less, Forniing of life art-civilised the bond ; And that the Tyrian niercliant sought of old, Not dreaming then of Uritaiu's brighter fame.' Hence, Cormvall and the Scilly Isles were called by the ancients Cassiterides, or tin countries, a term derived from tlic rii(enieian and Sanscrit, which language, as well as the more corrupt form known to philologists as Prakrit, derives its alphabet from the tongue of the people of Tyre. About 400 years B.C., Pytheas, who lived at Marseilles, then a Grecian colony, directed his course to the north-western parts of Europe. He reached Britain, then called Al-lionn (Albion), or White-land, from the appearance of its cliffs at a dis- tance, and continuing on his course towards the north, arrived at an island which is called Thule, supposed to have been Iceland. Of this place, as also of the other islands and coasts of the sea, he relates that he found, in some parts, the light of the setting sun continuing so strong till dawn of day, that the stars could not venture tc appear ; in others he found the sun shining by day and night. This account seems to have perplexed those who would otherwise have been inclined to credit him, though this fact, related by Pytheas, is quite natural during the middle of our summer when approaching towards the Arctic circle, and forms a strong testimony to the truth of his narrative. The converse of this, the eflfects of the Polar winter, felt less in proportion to the diminution of latitude, may ajiply to the account which we have of Ulysses, who, we read, sailed, perhaps at the fall of the year, to the ends of the ocean, where the Cimmerians dwell in profound gloom, and see neither the rising nor setting sun, but have the veil of night for ever spread over them. / ), as ;s as tlic who . his He lung pny the the lich the the ther for TIIM VOYAGK 01^ I'VTHKAS. 85 Pytlicas (h*cw very largely on the credulity of hi>* contemporaries, as when he described the four and six- liorned sheep on the shores of the Baltic, and Tacitus quotes hiui as his authority for the marvellous assertion that the noise of the sun in its passage below the ocean is heard, and that the figures of the gods appear visible, crowned with immortal light, Avhich it has been sought to exjilain by the appearance of the phenomenon known as the northern lights. J*ytheas intimates, that, in going very far to the north, sea, land, and air seemed all confused, and that the water was so dense that the ship's bows could scarcely force a passage. This enter- l)rising navigator of antiquity is said to have been the first to ascribe the tides to the influence of the moon. The popular belief even up to the time of jMela, in the middle of the first century after Christ, was that the earth was a huge animal, the heaving of whose breast occasioned the rise and fall of the waters. The followers of Thales, who flourished about 000 B.C., believed the earth to be a sphere, and tlieir successors that it was of a cylindrical form, while some gave it the shape of a drum, and others that of a cube. Mnny believed it to be a high mountain, with an infinitely extended base, and that the stars moved round and round its sunnnit ; but Ileraclides, the disciple of Aristotle, who lived about 335 B.C., actually taught that the earth had the figure of a ship. Anaximander, the disciple of Thales, was the first who represented the earth by maps and spheres. With the improvement of navigation, advanced the knowledge of the earth, though the great geographer, Strabo, compared the Spanish peninsula to ' a hide sj^read out.' The ancients knew that a great boundary to the west was formed by the Atlantic Ocean ; but the confines of the earth towards the east they su]:>posed 11 1' .'^ ■ t'i i 8G >rAlUTIME DISCOVMUV. ■\verG illimitable. I Fence the distanoe on the earth's mrface, measured from west to east, they termed longi- tude or measurement in Icn^'th, wliieli they sui)[)oscd infniilely <4*reater than the measurement In l>re:idth north and south, which they termed latitude. The knowledji^e of this Ijeu'an to be made nracticalJN' uscfid for hxiuii' the position of places, liitherto often doii])tful, on the earth's surface, by IHolemy, in the middle of the second century of the Christian era. JUit in this the most celebrated ^'eographer of ant'((uity, only approximates towards correctness. The ]Mediterranean Sea he makes i^()° too lon^' ; the breadth of the Caspian JSca exceeds the length; and the mouth of the Ganges is placed 4.i')° out of its place. Xor can avc wonder that the maps of the ancients should be incorrect, when they were formed from road-books or itinei'aries, wherein marchiuii' distances were set down bv the i>uides of an army, and from a sort of log-book wherein was inserted dead reckoning or the distance the ship liad sailed, as calculated from point to point, the magnetic needle beinfif as yet unknown. It was believed up to the middle of the iirst century after Christ, that the ocean had within itself vast caves, into which the water was regularly received, and out of Avhich it was again as regularly ejected. Previously to quitting' the ^Mediterranean, the tidal influence had not come under the consideration of man, as this sea, as is well known, gives scarcely any indication of that lunar attraction which operates upon the waters of the earth generally.* * The reason that has been assigned for this tiJolcssncss, as also in the case of the Ealtic, is that these seas being almost entirely cut off from the main oceann, the narrowness of the connecting straits does not allow the swell of tlie great waters to be felt within tlio reqiiisito time of the moon's passing the meridian. •| I, ; »••;. larlv [ai'ly the l>n of any ipoii Iso Ul lit off I (lous liisito CHAPTKU IV. TIio Voyage of Xa'arcluis from llic ^fnutli of llio Indus to tho Kivcr KiU'oon — KmiIoxih' uU('iiii»t to circninnavi^ato Alri(!a — Kiirly trading vi'iitiiros to the Indian Ocoau — TravellL'i.s' .Stoiits of tlio Ka.st — Tlio Discovery of tlio ^Monsoous by llippuliis— Aiiciont liouuiu Tradiii;^ rk't'ts. I^KiniAi's the most famous voya^-o of antiquity, if not for its (liscovcrics, at least for its historical importance, is tliat made by Xjearehus, the jMaeedonian athniral, down tlie Indus, alono- the coast of Beloochistan, and up the Persian Gulf It is recorded by Arrian that the object of Alexander in inider;al^ini»- this voyage, was to survey the islands and shores of the unknown continent ; and lience the details are of paramount interest to geo- i;Taphers, and have formed the theme of many treatises of which the great work by Dr. A'incent is the most valuable. After the defeat o^ Porus on the l)anks of the Jhelum (Ilydaspes),* Alexander built a fleet for the descent of * Alexander encamped on the Hydaspes, and founded two cities ho called Nicrea and Jiacephalia. The former, which was on the sile of Alexander's victory, Sir Alexander Uurues identilies with the ruins of Oodeenuggur, fifteen miles below Jhelum, and the latter with some mounds and ruins on the west bank of the Hydaspes. General James Abbott discusses the site of the battle-field in an interesting paper in the 'Journal of the Asiitic Society' for December, 1848, and in othtr jjapers, the sites of the cities of Niciea and Lucephalia, and tlio iden- tilication of the rock Aornos, taken by Alexander, Avhich Curtius considers is the Mahabun, near Sitaua and Umb, on the ludun. i. 'i ul l( 88 MAUITIMK DISCOVr.KV. m the IndiiH. The f^^rcater part of n.c. 320 was consumed in the passaj^c down that ris-cr, and the reiUiction of the different pooi)le on its hanks. At tlic ch)se of the rainy season, Alexander, dividin*;' liis army into three divisions, commenced his return march, the lirst division, under Craterus, hy Candaliar and Seistan ; the second, led hy himself, throu^i^h I>eloo>,'histan and ^[ekran to Karman ; the third, under Xiearchus, hy the sea route to the Persian Gulf. The three divisions met at Susa at the close of ii.c. 325. Alexander himself sailed at the head of the fleet down the Indus and gazed upon the expanse of ocean, which the ancients deemed the circular houndary of the world, runniiif^ like a river round the earth, the river bein«^ itself hounded by the dark clouds of heaven. Such, we arc told, was it depicted on the shield of Achillea, which seems to have presented on its surface, a map of the world as then known. What Lucan flnely said of the Nile — • ^Nec licuit populis parvum to, Nile, viJcro ' — could have been applied equally well to the Indus, as none knew of its sources, and we are told that Alex- ander, at sight of the crocodiles, for some time con- founded the river with the Xile. On arriving at the mouth of the Indus, the Grecian soldiers were much alarmed at sight of the surge rolling over the bar, and at iirst scarcely any officer in Alexander's army could be induced to head the further progress of this enterprise, for all felt doubt and dismay at the sight of the ocean, whose angry mood seemed to portend celestial vengeance at their impiety in approaching the end of the world. This horror had been increased by finding, at break of day, their ships, which they had anchored during the night, f TIIK VOVAGi: OK NM'.AHCMLS. H!) iced felt [heir this kht, I left on dry o'l'onnd l)y tlie (O)l)of tlic tide. When, however, Xiearchus had siec'(»[)ted th(» coimnaiKl, niid they ion it even defketed towards tlie south, whieli was a ficticju, for Nu'nrelm was never witliin 2.V of tlie e(juator ; that stars whieli they had seen hi<^li up in the liortheni sk}', now descended in altitude, or sank alto^-ether helow the horizon, and that others never visible before now rose up in the south. For a f:reat part of their voyage they found it ditHcult, or impossible, to procure corn, so that they wore reduced to live upon fish; and, worse than all, as these rjrceks dolefully complained, on the flesh of turtle, which al)ounded on the coast. Arrian, Avho liourished about the year 1 10, gives jin account of this famous voyage in liis Pc'n'i>/t(s, or ' cir- cunmavigation,'of the Erythriean* Sea, under which term were included the seas between India and Africa, now known as the Indian Ocean, including tlie Persian Gulf. The history of Xtearchus' voyage in the Persian Gulf is easily traceable, and it was within sight of the island of Kishm that he effected his junction with Alexander. From Bardis, now known as Cape Jask, he goes on to say : ' They saw a huge promontory stretched out a vast way into the ocean, which seemed abont a day's sail * Tho word Erythrasau was cloriveil from Erythras, tho nanio of a king of tho islaud of Oarakhta (now known as Kishm) in tho Persian Gulf. Arrian says : ' In Oarakhta tho inhabitants pretend to show the tomb of Erythras, who, they say, was tho first sovereign of tlieir territory, and who communicated his name to tho Erythrrean Ocean, or at least to that part of it which is comprehended in tho Gulf of Persia.' He goes on to say of Kishm, ' It produced plenty of vines, palm trees, and corn, and was full 800 stadia in length. Tho governor thereof, Mazanes by name, freely offered Xtcarclius his services, both as a companion and a pilot, in his voyage to Susa.' M I i #} it) 90 M/ KITIMK Dl.SCOVKRY. rstood the situation oiiifni distant from tlieni. Tliosc wlio und of* the country adirniod that tliis promontory l)olonf,^ed to Ara]>ia, and was called ^laceta, and that cinnamon and the fra«^rant spices were conveyed thence to the Ahyssinians. l''rom the sliores wliere the fleet hiy at ;mchor, and the ])romont()ry which they then saw hefore them, the Tiulf of Per.-ia, Avhich some call the lied Sea, has its hei^nnnino-.' This })romontory of ?\LMceta is that now known as Ca]»e j\Iussendom. While lyin;( at Cape Jiisk a controversy arose hetvveen Xa'archus and Oncsicritus, the otlicer who fidfilh'd the duties of ca])tain of tlie fiecrt, or 'ca])tain of the royal ^'•alley,' as the historian calls him. The latter proposed that the fleet should steer directly for Cape Mussendom, and coast iiloiiii' tin; waters of the Indian Ocean, A^hich in the then condition of the shij)s would liave hrouiLiht certain destru(;tion upon the entire fleet. Na>archns was of a different o[)Inion, and summoned his captains to take coinisel on the question. He declared ' that Oncsicritus nnist have a shallow memory if he did not rememher for what pur])ose the fleet was ordered to pass those sea>.' ]fe then assured them that the voya^^'-e was not nnder- taken hecause Alexander was unahle to convey the wi?ole army safe home hy land, Imt ' l)ecause he had fixed tiio resolution of viewing* the situation of all shores, havens, and islands, of searching the hottom of all faults and creeks, and havinji; an account fi:iven him of all maritime ])laces, and Avhich countries were fruitful and which harren and uninhahited ; and therefore they ought not entirely to ])ervcrt the whole design when they were now Avell near the end of their voyage, especially seeing they wanted no necessaries to ])rosecute it ; he was afraid, as that promontory stretched itself so much to the south - wardj that l)y sailing round the point they might fall TIIK VOy\GE OF N^AUCIIUS. 91 upon some sandy, barren, and sunburnt ro<^ion.' Arrian a I } '1 1 y-i :S[AHITLMK DISCOVKRY. the same island, and most distinctly states that it would be on tlic ri<^lit hand of a vo}'a^'c from the mouth of the Euphrates to Arabia, and this, consequently, would brin^' it near that coast. According to Strabo the temple already si)okcn of was erected in honour of Apollo instead of Diana ; but in other particulars he ag'rees with Arrian. In oi)position to liuckin^-ham's view, (iiptain (afterwards Sir John) McDonald Kinncir, who, under Sir John Malcolm's orders proceeded, in 1Tound for believing that it could not have existed in his day, though Che^ney is of opinion that the village of Agines, which is mentioned as being 500 stadia from Susa, and through which Alexander passed with his army, was on the site of Ahwaz. Sir Henry Kawlinson, in his * Memoir of a March from Zohali to Khuzistan ' (voh ix. of the 'Journal of the Ivoyal Geographical IS led gc THE VOYAGK ()F KUDOXUS. 95 nl Society ' ), ill order to reconcile the conflicting^ statements of tlie ancient gcogra])lK'rs, has assnined the river Karooii is the Euheus ; tlie Dizful, the Coprates ; the Klrkliali, the Choaspes ; and tlie nnited arms of the Karooii and Dizful rivers, the Pasitigris.* The result of Alexander's victories in Asia Avas, that the whole tract of countrv from the ^Icditerranean to the Indus, and from the Jaxartes and Caspian to the sea, "Nvas subdued, garrisoned, and colonised. Alexander died in the spring of b.(\ 323, but his empire, though of only ten years' growth, was not transient. Jlis colonies, says Mr. II. Prinsep, and their institutions, manners, and langunge, had struck deep root even in th.s sliort period, and the impulse towards Hellenism had a lasting action in Central Asia, the effects of which were felt at least 500 }'ears after the decease of the conqueror. One of the most remarkable navi2:ators of ancient times was Eudoxus, a native of Cyzicus, Avho flourished about 130 years d.c. He seems to have been a citizen of fortune. Like many otliers whose ardent minds have impelled them to travel, the strange and unheard-of thiniT^s he described brounlit down on his head the mis- representation and ridicule of the geographers and critics of his time. Bruce, Avho had related the circumstance of * The continual changes which have occurrcil in the course of tlio various rivers of Khuzistan, render it a well-nigh impossible task to identify these streams from the accounts given by Quintus Curtius and oMier historians of Alexander, of the entrance of Xicarchus into Susiana, and Dr. Vincent is at fault when ho attempts to identify them with Arrian's account. Mr. A. II. Layard, in his ' Description of the Province of Khuzistan ' (vol. xvi., 'Journal of tlie lioyal Geo- graphical Society'), enters into a learned dissertation on this point, and assumes witli Professor Long (vol. xii. of the 'Journal of the Ivoyul Gcograpliical Society '), tliat the Shapur is the Eulajus, and tliat the united waters of the Shapur, Karoon, and Dizful, were also known by that name, as well as by the name of Pasitigris. m m V. ■f ■,)S iii ■ r 11 J; 9() MAllITIMK DISCOVKUY. an Abyssinian cutting .steaks from the flank of a cow, skewering up tlie wound, and then driving her out to pasture, was thus satirised by a witty poet of tlie day : ' Xor Imvc I been whcic men — M'liat lack, alas ! Kill half a cow, and turn the rest to f:;rass.' But hiter travellers have spoken to the accuracy of this cruel practice, and many other observations and statements of this celebrated traveller have been con- iirmed by later A\riters. cd by Ptolemy Euergetes, King of Eud oxus, cncourag' Egypt, and his successor, made several voyages down the Ived Sea, and towards the East, but when he had resolved to pursue the grand object of nautical ambition, the circumnavigation of Africa, he seems to have eschewed royal patronage, and to have set out on his own account, with the assistance of some friends whom he induced to join him. It should be observeu that the traditions, or records, of the circuit of Africa, having been formerly made, were now becoming apocryphal, the geographers of the time having decided that the regions to the south, or the torrid zone, were utterly uninhabit- able by reason of the extreme heat, while the regions to the north, forming the frigid zone, were unapproachable by reason of the intense cold. They believed, theoreti- cally, that there was another temperate zone corresj^ond- ing with their own be3-ond the torrid, but that this southern temperate zone was completely severed from the northern b}' unendurable heat. Hence, in the time of Mela and Ptolemy, it was asserted that the ocean passed through Africa, and that the Nile rose in the southern division, and, flowing under the sea, appeared again in Upper Egypt. Eudoxus set out upon his adventurous voyage, and 'iX ; i I THE VOYAGE OF EUDOXUS. 07 I of .1 I 'If for some time all proceefled favourably, until the crew, fearing that they would be swallowed up by the stormy billows of the Atlantic, hugged the shore bo closely that the ship was stranded on one of the dangerous sand- banks abounding on the coast. A smaller and more compact galley, of fifty oars, was formed from the frag- ments of the stranded vessel, in which ship he continued to proceed southward, but wa^ at last forced to return, his resources not being equivalent to the undertaking after the disaster he had incurred. He is said to have made a second attempt, with the issue of which we are not so well acquainted. Eudoxus seems to have been regarded as an impostor, and he is rej^orted to have told many fables and other absurd stories of his voyages and adventures, though, according to some, he really made the circuit of Africa. He said that some nations he found without tongues ; of others, that, being mouthless, they received their food up the nostrils. liegarding this navigator, there is a remarkable passage in Pliny (see his 'Natural History,' book iii., chapter Ixvii.), who says: — ' Eudoxus, trying experiments upon the courses of the trade-winds, lost his passage, and was thrown upon the coast of Ethiopia. In the course of the voyage he discovered a portion of the prow of a vessel, which had been broken off by a storm. The figure of a horse* made it an object of inquiry ; and some of the sailors on board, who had been employed in European voyages, immediately knew this wreck to be part of one of the vessels used in trade to the Western Ocean. Eudoxus instantly perceived all the importance of the discovery, which amounted to nothing ; i -m J it * At the present day the figure of a horse is a common ornament on the prows of the native vessels of Surat. VOL. I. 7 -*ixrfiffint-i.4M"-MH»iinn^e»'»"*trH»w . '• ■4i--fv.tS.T^".-nX-:Vf-*'' 98 MARITIME DISCOVERY. less than that there was a passage round Africa from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean.' When the Romans became a nautical nation, it was with the double object of gratifying their love of con- quest and the demand for luxuries which latterly sprung up and sapped the \'irtues of Republican Rome. For these luxuries the extremities of tlie kno^vn world were ransacked, and thus maritime enterprise was indirectly promoted ; while their ships, when unemployed in war, made a survey of the dominions which their power had acquired. Thus, at the end of the first century of the Christian era, Agricola, the Governor of Britain, dis- covered it to be an island by sailing round it. The opportunity for surveying the coasts of the Erythrcean Sea was furnished by the regular trading voyages, undertaken by the Alexandrian merchants, from the northern ports of the Red Sea down into the Indian Ocean. The merchant vessels of the Roman Empire seem to have navigated this Erythra3an Sea as far south as Madagascar, and to the er.st up to the western coast of India, of which Arrian gives us an account in the ' Periplus,' a work which is still of interest as denoting the small change that time has v/rought in the manners of the people, and the productions of their countries. The keenness and activity of the Greeks inspired the Phoenicians with apprehension lest they should draw away from them the trade of which they had enjoyed a monopoly. They therefore invented stories of ' Gorgons, and hydras, and chimeras dire,' and told how they had met iii various climes Avith — * The cannibals that did each other eat, The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders.' 1 a riKENICIAN TRADE WITH THE EAST. 99 Iheir the Iraw id a ms, Ihad The Pli(rnicians brought the gokl and gems and spices of the East to Tyre and Sidon, by caravans or hind-carnage, and distributed them to the nations of the West by means of their shijiping on the Mediterranean. From an carl\' period, however, they tliirstcd to gain possession of some port which should give them a com- mand of the navigation of the Ked Sea. This object, for a long time, they could not attain ; for the eastern shores of the Ked Sea ■vere in the hands of the Arabians and Assyrians, while the western shores were in the power of the Egyptians and Ethiopians. They therefore tried to acquire some port on the Mediterranean, near the Isthmus of Suez, in order that, by a land -carriage of a few miles, they might connect together the navigation of che Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and, at length, attained this object by gaining possession of Rhinocorura, a city on the boundary between Palestine and Egypt. Thus, by making the Red Sea the channel of comnni- nication between Tyre and the Eastern countries, instead of transporting their commodities by land, they extended their commerce to a vast extent. The jealousy with which the Phoenicians regarded any attempt on the part of other nations to share with them the advantages and profit derivable from commercial navigation, was strikingly shown in numerous instances. It is said, that if, when bound on a foreign voyage, they observed a stranger in company with them, and found him endeavouring to pursue the same track, they immediately altered their intended course, using every j)0ssible means to avoid him, and to prevent him from following them ; and sometimes they purposely risked the loss of their vessels, and their own lives, rather than afford other nations any opportunity of breaking into their monopoly by sharing in the commerce of the 7—2 if 1' m 100 MAUITIME DISCOVKRY. t «l world. So fearful were they of rivalship, and so per- tinaciously bent on keei)in«j^ everythin<]f to thcmHclves, that to add to tlie natural dangers of the seas, and to discourage other nations from exposinn- themselves to it, they would attack any vessel of inferior force. Inspired by these fears, terrific accounts of the dangers of foreign navigation were pro[)agated among the lively, but cre- dulous, people of the Alorca, who not only received these stories with faciUty, but added embellishments of their own, and the Greeks pronudgatcd these accounts in their various writings with all the literary skill for which they were i)re-eminently distinguished. What little knowledge the people of antiquity had of the East, came to tliem by commercial transactions. They heard that the precious commodities of Oriental countries were obtained under circumstances of peculiar difficulty and peril, and so hideous and alarming were the objects to be encountered, after escaping the dangers of the sea, tliat the task of purveying the desired luxuries was gladly relinquished to those who chose to undergo such danger. The golden sands of Inult\ they were told, swarmed thickly ■\>ith ants as big as foxes; and wonder- ful caution and expedition was necessajy in gathering up the precious dust, loading it on camels, and getting off before swarms of these monstrous insects should environ and destroy both men and beasts. Cinnamon, Herodotus tells us, was brought from the country of Bacchus, that is, India. It was carried into Arabia by certain birds for the purpose of forming their nests, which were built on dangerous and inaccessible places. The Arabs would strew large pieces of flesh below their nests, which the birds descending would carry off to their young ; the nests would break down with the weight, and an opportunity of gathering up the cinna- TlJAVKLLKU.s' TALKS AMONG TlIK ANCIKNTS. lOl per- vcs, d to ,0 it, )ired cij^ii crc- :liese their ts in k^hich ad of tions. iental cuUar ' were I ngers urics dcrgo told, mder- lering 2tting m on was aftbrdcd. Cashia, it was said, was found on the l)orders of a lake hy persons covered overwitli hides and bkins, to save tlicmsclves from tlie assaults of enormous hats, which occupied tlie neighbouring trees. The real truth api)ears to he, that these celebrated spices, which the Egyptians sought after, and which the Hebrews used in the comi)osition of tlie holy oil, were brought from the coasts of the islands of Ceylon and Sumatra by Arabian merchants, wlio engrossed the connnercc of the Indies, until the discovery of the north-east and south-west monsoons and the improvement of navigation enabled the Greeks to take to the oi)en sea, instead of hugging the shores of Arabia. For many ages these Arabians were met by the Phoenicians, whose i)lace was afterwards usiu'ped by the Greeks. Whether frankincense came oriiiinallv from the land of Arabia, or from the mountains of India, it was said that winged serpents were its jealous guardians. We are also told of trees bearing wool for fruit, by which is meant the cotton -trees. Then there were wild stories of syrens, who seduced and changed the hardy mariners into beasts, of one-eyed c^'clops. to whom the human kind were but as insects, who cut the tallest trees of the forest for their walking-sticks, and also people with the heads of horses. No wonder that travellers' stories have from the earliest times formed the subject of satire, and been received with incredulity. The first great natural relief, given to ancient naviga- tion, was the discovery of the monsoons which prevail in the Indian Ocean, which, if noticed by the Arabians, was not made to serve their maritime trade, until the keener enterprise of the West, in the person of Hippalus, about 50 A.D., firrtt ventured to steer off across the Indian Ocean instead of coasting Arabia. A voyage which had consumed 1" .■1' 1:1 m 102 MAIUTIMK DISCOVK UV. months now took u[) but jis many weeks, Ijy n conformity on tlic part of the manner with tlils invarial)le hiw of nature. The means of profit and intbnnation were now less monopolised, and the West became better ac([iuiinted with the inhabitants and produce of the East. The ravigation to the Indies was continued, Avhcn tlie Romans became masters of Egypt, by sailing down the Red Sea, and thence to the mouth of the river Indus, along the southern coasts of Arabia and Persia. JUit under the Emperor Claudius, this route was so far changed, that after emerging from the Red Sea, they cut across the Indian Ocean directly to the mouth of the Indus, by noticing, and taking advantage of, the time when the north-east and south-west monsoons blew. The trade was carried on with India thus : The goods that were intended for the Indiiui markets were embarked at Alexandria, and carried up the Nile, a distance of about 800 miles, to Coj^tus. From the latter 2)1 ace the mer- chandise was carried on camels' backs to Berenice, on the Red Sea, a distance of 200 miles, where the goods were warehoused until the proper season for sailing. From Berenice the traders steered for the opposite coast of Arabia, and took on board frankincense, and other Arabian commodities, giving arms, knives and vessels, in return. They now i)rocecded on their voyage to India; whence, having disposed of their articles of merchandise, and got gold, spices and drugs, in return, they pursued their voyage back to I'^gypt, where they usually arrived about December or January. The Indian commodities were conveyed from Berenice to Alexandria, whence a fleet sailed annually to Rome, conveying the treasures of the East. That the shipping interest must have been a very im- portant branch of commerce under the Empire is evident. on )ods :5cls, [dill ; Use, Bucd vcd [ties tc a IS of Ho.MAN COMMKKCi: WITH TIIK KASP. 103 Bays n writer, from the mnn^nitudc of the Mediterranean trade, wliieli niiiiistercd for many eentnries to the neces- nitieH and hixiiries of the Iin|)erial eity. Corn from Sieily and Afriea was earried yearly in numerous fleets of what we should now eall small craft, and the gems, spices and silks of India found their way to the Roman palaces l>y a regular course of I Jed Sea tratUc. N'arious laws passed to re;4ulate shipping- affairs have come down to us. In the second century, B.C., no senator or father of a senator was allowed to own a sea-going ship of a greater capacity than 300 amphora*, and aristocratic traders were discountenanced down to the days of llonorius and Theodosius, when it was declared tliat the respect due to persons of quahty rendered it necessary to dei)rive them of the full liberty of trading, which should be confined to men of base extraction. When Cicero laid it down that trade on a small scale was mean, but that large dealings and con- veying merchandise from foreign parts were more honourable, he only drew the distinction between the merchant and the sho2)keeper so carefully made by society in our own day, and from some further remarks of the great orator, it is evident that the Roman merchants were just as fond as our own of buying an estate in the country with the fortunes they had made in trade. The world of those days was bound in the chains of commerce, though they were not powerful enough, as we see in our time, to bear the strain of war- like aspirations on the part of the people. Still * Commerce round the world Had w'ing'd unnumber'd sails, and from each land Materials heap'd.' Import and export duties were an important feature of Roman Government, and British goods and produce M. i'.' m' ill- 101 MARITIME DISCOVERY. paid transit dues on their passa* to effect the object. The French, when in Egypt, under N^apoleon, traced out the ancient line, and, as all the world knows, M. de Lesseps has earned for himself and his nation immortal renown by actually carrying through the great work in the face of the adverse prognostica- tions of English engineers, and the opposition of British statesmen, of whom Lord Palmerston was the most per- sistent. Probably no engineering work of ancient or modern times has worked such incalculable advantage to the human family. About the year G70, the Saracens, whose fleets now rode triumphant in the j\Iediterranean, and who had already taken possession of Cyprus, Rhodes, and many of the Grecian islands, laid siege, for the first time, to Constantinople. For seven years they annually renewed the siege by sea and land, with varymg success, but Avere ultimately repulsed, after the loss of 30,000 men and most of their ships. Their defeat was, in a great measure, brought about by the invention of a peculiar mode of offensive warfare, called the ' Greek fire,' * which was then used for the first time by Callinicus, a Syrian Greek. Durinof the dark aofcs, after the destruction of the Roman Empire, the Christians of Europe were excluded from almost every channel by which the precious goods of the East had formerly been conveyed to them. An * Gibbon supposes that it consisted principally of naphtha, a kind of liquid pitch, of a highly combustible nature, which springs out of the earth ; this was mixed with sulphur, and a kind of turpentine ex- tracted from evergreen firs. Sometimes it was poured down from the ramparts from large boilers, sometimes javelins and arroM's were wrapped round with tow dipped in this mixture ; and at other times it was deposited in fire-ships, from which it was, by some contrivance, blowu upon the enemy through long tubes. When once kindled, nothing could stop the flame, and water fed instead of extinguishing it. - PI ,n '1.1 108 MA RITIME DISCOVERY. 'i\ :: v i"^ '1'! inveterate antipathy, inflamed by religious bigotry, which made the Christians consider the Mahommedans as the enemies of God, while they, on the other hand, abhorred the Christians as Infidels, was almost an insuperable bar to commercial intercourse. But the mutual aliena- tion produced little or no inconvenience to the Saracens, Avho found ample scope for commercial enterprise within the vast extent of their own dominions. Owing to the scanty supply of Oriental goods, some Arab merchants were tempted by the enhanced price to traverse the vast extent of Asia in a latitude beyond the northern boundary of the Saracenic power, and to import by caravans the silks of China, and the valuable spices of India ; these, notwithstanding their enormous price, were eagerly purchased by the luxurious and wealthy courtiers of Constantinople, whose demands for silk the manufacturers of Greece were not capable of supplying to their full extent. Yov ship-building purposes the Saracens em- ployed the timber from the forests which clad the sides of the mountains of Lebanon, which had furnished materials for building the fleets of Tyre and Sidon in the infancy of navigation. About the year 850, Soleiman, an Arabian merchant, wrote an account of the state of the maritime commerce between the Arabians and Chinese. He says that in his time the Arabian merchants had extended their commerce and their discoveries in the East, far beyond the utmost knowledge of the Greek merchants of Egypt, or the Ethiopian merchants of Adulis, near Massowah. Their vessels now traded to every part of the Asiatic continent, as far as the south coast of China, and to many of the islands. Soleiman speaks of the Chinese, of whom scarcely anything was at that time known to the Western world. He says : * When foreign vessels MEPIiEVAL CHINESE TRADE. 109 IC 10 arrive at Can-fu (supposed to be Canton), the Chinese take possession of their cargoes, and store them in ware- houses till the arrival of all the other ships which are expected, whereby they are sometimes detained six months. They then levy a tax of thirty per cent, on the goods in kind, and restore the remainder to the merchants. The emperor has the right of pre-emption, but his officers, fairly and immediately, pay for what he takes at the highest price of the articles. Chinese ships trade to Siraf by the Persian Gulf, and there take in goods brought from Bussorah, Oman, and other places, to which they do not venture to proceed on account of the frequent storms and other dangers in that sea.' Soleiman mentions, though it appears almost incredible, especially if we regard the total absence of trade between China and the Persian Gulf in the present day, that ' sometimes there were 400 Chinese vessels together in the Persian Gulf, loaded with gold, silks, precious stones, musk, porcelain, copper, alu.ii, nutmegs, cloves, and cinnamon.' At the period to which these accounts refer, the Saracens had removed their principal seat of commerce almost entirely to the Persian Gulf, which is sometimes called the Green Sea, from the appearance of its water. Pearls were from time immemorial obtained from these parts, to which the ^loet Moore alludes in the song of the Peri : * Farewell — farewell to thee, Araby's daughter ! (Thus warbled a Peri beneath the dark sea;) No pearl ever lay, under Oman's green water, More pure in its shell than thy spirit in thee.' Here also was said to be found the star-fish, which was luminous, referred to by the same poet when singing the dirge — * Of her who lies f-'eoping among the pearl islands, With naught but the sea-star to light up her tomb.' !*! ■'1 1 i^:1 :l ; 't?- ^^|: no MARITIME DISCOVERY. iir f i \ The entrance to the Gulf of Persia — sometimes erroneously called by old writers the Gulf of Oman, which is a small sea outside the Gulf between Ras-ul- Had and Ras Mussendum — is bounded on one side by three small ii?lets, called the Quoins (from their re- semblance to the ' quoin,' or chock, of a gun), the largest of which, called the Great Quoin, is known among the natives as Sellameh, or Safety. As Sellameh is the eastern extremity of Arabia, so the strait or passage at the western end of the country, giving entrance to the Red Sea, received from the Arab navigators the poetical name of Bab-el- Mandeb, or the ' Cape of the Great Affliction.' Of these straits Moore writes : * But lone, unheeded, from the bay The vessel takes its mournful way. Like some ill-destined bark that steers In silence through the Gate of Tears.' Richardson says the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb re- ceived the name of Gate of Tears from the old Arabians, on account of the danger of the navigation, and the number of shipwrecks by which it was distinguished, which induced them to consider as dead, and to wear mourning for, all who had the boldness to hazard the passage through it into the Indian Ocean. Taking advantage of the ignorance of landsmen, and the dwellers on the shores of the Mediterranean, where the Pillars of Hercules, as the entrance to that sea was called, seemed the end of the habitable globe, the bold seamen who navigated the Indian Ocean spread strange stories of the monsters, rivalling anything heard in our time of the sea-serpent, that they had encountered in their voyages. It is narrated by some navigators that they saw the strangest sight which they had ever beheld, which was the head of a fish, ' that might be compared i'Vi ARABIAN TRADE IN THE EAST. Ill to a hill ; its eyes were like two doors, so that people could go in at one eye and out at the other.' The west side of the Red Sea appears, about the end of the ninth century, to have been deprived of all foreign trade. The vessels from Siraf, in or near the Persian Gulf, delivered their cargoes at Jidda, the port of Mecca, which appears not to have been used when the ' Periplus ' of the Erythrajan Sea was written. From thence the goods destined for Egypt, Europe, and Africa, were forwarded in vessels manned by natives acquainted with the navigation of the Red Sea, the many dangers of which deterred the foreign navigators from j)roceeding any further in those parts. We are told that the Red Sea coasters carried the goods to Cairo, Avhich had noNV superseded Coptus, as the general deposit of merchandise upon the Nile : and if that be strictly true, the vessels must have proceeded through the canal, which was restored b}^ Amrou, the Arabian conqueror of Egypt. The Saracens continued for a long period to maintain a naval superiority in the Mediterranean, whether for the purpose of war or of commerce. Some of the Saracenic vessels were of a very large size. It is recorded that about the year 970, Abdcrrahman, the Saracen Sultan, or Caliph, of the greater part of Spain, built a vessel larger than had ever been seen before in those parts, and loaded her with innumerable articles of merchandise for sale in the Eastern regions. On her way she met with a f hip carrying despatches from the ruler of Sicily to Almoez, a sovereign on the African coast, and pillaged her. Almoez, who was also King of Sicily, which he governed by a viceroy, fitted out a fleet, which took the great Spanish ship returning from Alexandria, laden with rich wares for Abderrahman's own use. Many other instances of ships of a very large size having been '\iV ' i 'i ; m; il 11-2 MAIUTIMK 1>ISC0VKKY ' = i oonslruotod ]»v tlio Sjii'iuvns niv on nvord, nnd ihvw siuvi'ssors in llio sovoroiiiulv of tlio McililorrancMn, llu' Spnniards, also Iniili (lu» largest vi'ssols of flio liino. vSiu'h was thi» stalo of Innnan knowlodov din'inu* llic Aliiltllo Auvs, tlial Cosnias, an Mu'vplian uumk o\' llic sixth (HMiturv, >vl»o ivccivod tlio nanu' oi^ ln(/l('t>/)(('itsfi's, or. t/ir ri\>/>hf('r to Ifulht, wroto (ho ' Toponraphy of tho Christian \Vorl«l.' tho ohiof intent of whirh was to oontnto tlio lioivtical opinion of tin* earth heinn' a i;IoIh\ toiivthor with tho pa^an assertion that then* was a tomporato /one on tlio otlior sidt» ot' the torrid /one. lie inionned his ivailers tliat, at'eordini>' to the true orthodox system (»!' eosniooraphy, the earth was a (piadraniinlar plane, extendinn' 100 ei)nrses, or days' jonrnevs. troin east to west, and ex:ietlv liaU' as inneh Ironi north {o south, enelosed hy h)l'ty nionntains npon whieli tlie eanopy ov vanh ol* the tinnament resti'd ; that a Iniiie nionntain on tlie north side (^f the earth, hv intereeptinii' tlie lii»ht oi' the snn, pro«hieed tlie vieissi- tiules of day and nii>'ht : and that tlu' phnie of the earth had a deelivity from north to south, by reast>n of whieli the Euphrates, Ti.iiris. and other rivers running' south- Avard are rapid, vrhereas the Nile, liavini*- to run uphill, has neeessarilv ;i verv slow eurrent. 'riie system at least showed that C'osmas possessed tho faeulty of imagi- nation to a hii>h dei»Tee. Massucii, who wrote a general history of the known world in J)17. eom]>aros the earth to a bird, of whieh ^leooa and ^ledina are the head, Persia and India the riiibt wino-. the 'land of Cioe,"' the left, and Afriea tho tail. Edrisi. like rtolemy, divides the world into seven elimates. lieginning with the equator, and going north- wards J those elimates are distinguished hy lines running TIIK LKOKND OF MADOC. 113 Ivliicli iMith- )hill, u at iai»i- own lliicli the the h'cn •th- liiig Cvom wont in cnst, wliicli roscml>lo tlio linom of lntItiiraley tlie great ocean. The Arahs, in ])nrsnit of conmierce, penefrafed into all regions, and fhe daring rcisearches of their seamen was l)onnded only hy the Northern Ocean, wliicli tliey termed 'the sea of ])itehy darkness.' India was visited regularly, and also the interior ])arts of Afri<^a, Jind al- thoniih fahU^ insinuated itself into tlie nion; veracious narrative of the geograi)her and liistorian, yet enougli remains to sliow that attempts were made to cross the Atlantic and anticipate the discoveric^s of Columbus and his compeers. There belongs to Welsli history some strange tradi- tions res])ecting the adventures of Madoc, a prince of North Wales, Avho is said to liavc first discovered America at the latter end of the twelfth century. Owing to certain domestic contentions about the sove- reignty, ]\Iadoc determined — so runs the story — to go out voyaging to a great distance, and having procured men and ships and all necessaries, set sail on his perilous venture. When they had been many weeks at sea, and had been much tossed about, they at length, to their discovered land, which seemed at first like a m eat joy, VOL. I. 8 114 MAKITIMK DISCO VEUY. i!" I: cloud resting upon the distant waters. Seeing that it was quite steady they concluded it to be hmd, and, sail- ing towards it, found it to be a fertile and pleasant country. Here they settled, and, in course of time, Madoc returned to Wales, whence he brought fredi men and ships, by means of which he stocked the country, whore they all remained. Thus fur the legend. Two Arabian geographers already mentioned, Abulfeda (also called Ibnel Vardi) and Edrisi, give a curious and almost identical account of a voyage made on the Atlantic Ocean, or Sea of Darkness, by the Almagrurim, or the AVanderers. It appears from the Arabian narratives that eight persons determined to find the ends of the ocean, and the great Avestcrn regions. This voyage took place in 1147, and therefore j ast before that reported to have been undertaken by ]\Iadoc. They set out from Lisbon, jmd kept sailing straight on to the west, in a vast and deep sea, for twenty- three days, when the wind took them southward to Ganam, or bheep Island. The flesh of the sheei:) on this island was too bitter to be eaten ; but having refreshed themselves at this place, and taken in water, they continued on their course to the south, and arrived among some Red Indians, whose chief persuaded them from pursuing any further the horrors of the glocny sea which lay to the west. Upon this they returned to Lisbon, having carried their voyage, as is supposed, as far as the Azores, and then southward to the Madeira and Canary Islands. They reported upon their return that they had been visited with a storm, wherein they had lost the light of day, and that beyond them lay darkness and chaos. Ibn Batuta, who sjDent nearly thirty years (from 1324 to 1353) visiting various countries from Timbuctoo to the eastern extremity of China, has left an interesting ADVENTURES OF IBN BATUTA. 115 lat it sail- asant time, fre>h 1 the gcnd. ilfcda s and lantic )!• the s that ocean 1324 )0 to Isting account of his adventures. Having been despatched from Dellii on a mission to China, he gives the following exaggerated account of the Chinese junks at Calicut : ' The sails of these vessels are made of cane reeds, woven together like a mat ; which, when they put into port, they leave standing in the wind. In some of these vessels there will be a thousand men, six hundred of them sailors, and the remainder soldiers. Each of the larger vessels i.^ followed by three others of inferior size. These vessels arc nowhere built except in the farthest ports of China. They are rowed with large oars, which may be compared to great masts, over which five-and- twenty man were stationed, who work stand- ing. The commander of each vessel is a great emir. In the large ships, too, they sow garden herbs and ginger, which they cultivate in cisterns ranged ftlong the side. In these, also, are houses constructed of wood, in which the higher officers reside with their wives ; every vessel is, therefore, like an independent city. Of such ships as these Chinese individuals will sometimes have large numbers, and, generally speaking, the Chinese are the richest people in the w^orld.* In addition to the pursuit after land lying at the extremity of Atlantic darkness, a still greater object of curiosity to the Saracens, or Arabs generally, was the seat of Gog and Magog, terms applied to a mighty race of cannibals, supposed to exist on the shores of the Euxine and Caspian Seas, though in the Guildhall of London they stand as mysterious giants, said to 1 e twin-bom. These notions are derived from the fancies of the Orientals, who supposed that Gog and Magog had an impregnable castle on the borders of Scythia. As the alchymist sought after the philosopher's stone and the youth- restoring draught; as the astrologer 8—2 l\ IIG MARITIME DISCOVKRV. computed tlic fortuncft of in(Uvi<»iials and of states by the aspects of heavenly bodies ; as the ^reat mediaeval voyagers searched for the fountain of youth in Fh)rida, and as the mechanician passed a lifetime in the search for perpetual motion, so also Arai)ian navigai'ors were anxious to explore the ideal abode of these monstrous productions of antiquity. lUit though nothing came of these quests after the unattainable, science was advanced in their vain pursuit, and so the search after Gog and Magog, which centuries ago was a i)art of the romance of navigation, was indirectly beneficial to nautical science and a knowledge of the world. Among those who prosecuted this search after Gog and Magog were the governors of Baghdad. They hoped at first to find the residence of these giants on the shores of the Caspian Sea ; but having conquered this country without discovering any trace or vestige of the castle of these fabulous beings, they turned to the more southern countries, which were also explored with the greatest care and attention, but without result. U^Don this failure they were reduced to excessive perplexity, and, says Edriyi, another exploring party was despatched with strict orders to spare no pa! ' " to discover the castle of Gog and Magog. The mission proceeded along the shores of the Caspian, then over a vast desert, after which they met with a stupendous range of mountains, where, according to their report, they actually found the structure of which they were in search. One does not know whether to wonder most at the exuberant imagination displayed in their account of this wonderful castle, or the credulity of their country- men, who swallowed these lying stories, which were probably invented to prevent any further attempt to penetrate so inhospitable a country. According to these / and TIIK COUNTIlY OF GOG Ai'D MAGOG. 117 vcrncious travellers, the castle had walU of iron, cemented with brasri, and was of cnonnous nia^^nitude. Tlic j^atos were ninety feet hi«(h, and fastened with bolts and bars of a tremendous size, and every thin<^ appertaining to thin wondrous structure was of similar proportions. Tha Arabian authorities were satisfied, and in all the maps of Asia, for ages after, the castle of Gog and Magog apj)eared at the northern boundary of that continent, on whose confines lie, in Dry den's words : ' Thoso cold regions which no summers cheer, Wiicro brooding darknoas covers half the year.' range they re in )st at Int of itry- iwere it to these 1 11.^ ■ I m if ' ^ :i \m 1:; :;5' {I i CHAPTER VI. Tho Art of Navigation among the Britons — Improvement in Ship- building by Alfred and ihe Saxon Kings — King Alfred despatches the first English Ship to the Arctic Regions — The Discovery of the Faroe Islands and Iceland by the Norsemen — Discovery and Colonisation of Greenland in the Eleventh Century— Supposed Discovery of America — The Voyage of the Zeno Brothers — Tho State of Navigation in the Middle Ages — The Genoese and Vene- tians — The Rise of the Hanseatic League— The Merchant Ships of the Middle Ages— The Introduction of Aids to Navigation. As the ancient Greeks owed their liberties and very existence as an independent state, to their naval superiority over the Persians, and as the Romans ac- quired the sovereignty of the ancient world almost as much by their fleets as their armies, so we Britons — who arrogate to ourselves the position formerly held by the latter mighty nation of antiquity, and to which, as regards our pre-eminence as the great colonisers of modern times, we are certainly entitled — owe our proud position as a great power alike in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, to our preponderance at sea. When, in 500 B.C., the Delphic Oracle was consulted, it advised the Athenians to defend themselves with wooden walls, which Themistocles, with characteristic acumen, inter- preted to mean that they were to trust to their ships ; so it is that as long as we command the sea, and continue to breed an unrivalled race of seamen, thi^ England of ours can never be relegated to a secondar}' position in COMMERCE AMO^■G THE ANCIENTS. 119 1, as in ised [ills, ter- ps; nue iof ia the councils of Europe, "vvhile it guarantees us facilities for the despatch of military expeditions to the ends of the earth such as no other power possesses. Britain has assumed the proud pre-eminence in navi- gation once held by the great maritime nations of antiquity. First the Phoenicians brought the commerce of the East for the use of the Western world, and their ships found their way as far to ti eastward as Sumatra, and to the westward as the shores of Cornwall. Their capital, Tyre, became for centuries the emporium for all nations, the mountains of Lebanon supplying the timber for building the ships, which were manned by the sea- men of the Levant. Then the great Phoenician colony, Carthage, iirst rivalled and then excelled the o})ulence and greatness of the mother-country, and her merchant princes sent their fleet along the western coasts of Africa and Europe. The Greeks excelled in the arts of seamanship and navigation as in all else, though superiority in war chiefly engrossed their attention, and they restricted themselves to the navigation of tiie seas adjacent to Greece. Their chief rivals for maritime supremacy were the Corinthians and Corcyra3ans. On the destruction of Tyre* by Alexander the Great, its pre-eminence in commerce was transferred to Alexandria, Avhich became the emporium of trade. When Antony staked and lost an empire at Actium, Egypt became a Roman province, and, under the fostering care of Augustus, the com- merce of Alexandria so greatly increased that it became the magazine of Rome, and its merchant princes were * It may here be noted that in the first unsuccessful attempt to capture Tyre, made by Alexander, the Tyrians employed •with great Buccess a fireship. Curtius gives a description of this fireship, -vvhich is V^e first mentioned in history. m 120 MAHITLME DISCOVKUY. r mv not inferior in wciiltli to the aristocracy of the mistress of the world. At length Alexandria, like its prede- cessors, Tyre and Cartlia<^e, fell from its high estate, though its abasement was neither so overwhelming nor final. The Saracens, in spite of the Byzantine Emperor, Heraclius, spread over Northern Africa, and ousted the merchants of Alexandria, which remained in a state of decadence until the channels assunif^d by modem trade, our conquest of India, and the establishment of the Ov^erland route restored to it much of its ancient pros- perity. The overthrow of Rome by barbarian races adversely affected the interests of maritime connnerce, and retarded the advancement of navigation, which, during the dark ages, was cultivated by the Norsemen, Britons, and Italian Republics of Genoa and A^enice. We will now trace the steps by which these races kept alive the nautical spirit that had found its chief ex- ponents in the great nations of antiquity, and induced that desire for maritime exploration which inspired a Columbus to discover a New World, and a I^e Gama to round the Cape of Storms. The British ships which vainly strove to oppose the landing of Julius Caisar were made, says a writer, with bottoms flatter than the Mediterranean vessels, in order to accommodate themselves to a tidal harbour and a shoal coast ; and they were elevated both at the prow and at the poop, in order the better :o adapt them to resist a stormy sea. They were constructed wholly of oak ; the anchors were secured by iron chains, instead of the cable which had been previously used ; and the sails were made of skins and thin leather. The elevated poops of the British vessels gave them an advantage over the Roman galleys, by furnishing a higher standing-place. h THE ROMAN AND SAXON INVADERS OF BiIITAIN. 121 from which missiles could be directed at tlie enemy, while their oak timbers afforded a successful resistance to the collision of the beaks of the gal! ys against their sides. The only way, it is said, in which Ciesar was enabled to capture these vessels was by causing his soldiers to fit sharp bill-hooks at the end of long poles, by which they severed the halliards and other tackle of the sails, thus placing the ships at their mercy. And here we may note that the dexterity of the ancient Britons in the management of their war-ships must have been acknowledged, as we find that on the coins of the Emperor Claudius, Britain is represented with the J row of a vessel at her feet, implying her national symbol, Lke the lion of Africa and the crocodile of Egypt. vShakespeare also puts into the mouth of an English queen, the defeat of Ciusar's first attempt to land in Britain : * A kind of conquest Ctesar made hero ; but made not hero his brag Of came, and saiv, and overcame : with shanio (The first that ever touch'd him), ho was carried From off our coast, twice beaten ; and his shipping (Poor ignorant baubles !) on our terrible seas, Like pgg-shells mov'd upon their surges, crack'd As easily 'gainst our rocks.' The swarthy soldier of Rome was succeeded by the blue-eyed Saxon, and again England knew the bitterness of conquest : ' From the black coast, that hears The German Ocean roar, deep-bloomingj strong And ycllow-hair'd, the blue-eyed Saxon came. He came implored, but carae with other aim Than to protect : for conquest and defence Suffices the same arm.' The Saxon invaders of England had ships made with a wooden keel, the sides being of wicker, with an • m ■A 1 ^1 I. V ' i I 'M; i f ii 1 i 122 MAKITIMK DISCOVDRY. exterior of hides. The batswan, or boatswain, had a wand in his hand to direct the motion of the rowers. During the sanguinary conflicts in which the Britons were engaged, first with the Komans, then with the Picts and Scots, and afterwards with the Danes and Saxons, it does not appear that any great change was made in the form or management of their war-galleys. When Alfred the Great had routed some of the Danish invaders, they revenged their defeats on land by harass- ing the coast of Wessex, in vessels called ' a3scs.' The boats of the Danes, ordinarily in use, "were broad- bottomed, but, unlike those belonging to the early Britons, their keels were made of light timber, and the sides and upper works were of wicker, covered with strong hides. The tuscs were superior to these, and indeed to Alfred's ships, for it is recorded that he ordered the latter to be made twice as long as the former, in order to be placed on an equality with them, and some of his galleys rowed thirty pairs of oars, as did likewise the largest of the icscs. For a long period the fierce and ruthless Danes harassed the unhappy inhabitants of Britain. ' The Danish Kaven, lured by annual prey, Hung o'er the laud incessant. Fleet on fleet Of barbarous pirates unremitting tore The miserable coast. The shores of the Baltic Sea, inhabited by these Danes, were parcelled out into a numbc^r of petty territories, each of which had its chief or sovereign. When a son of any one of these sea-kings succeeded his father, his brothers had each a vessel given to them, in which they were to seek their fortunes, and under the poetical name of vikings, w^hich may be freely translated into ' pirates,' they became the terror of the surrounding countries. So ALFKED AND THE DANES. 123 [•les. les, So hardy and ferocious -were they, that it was a proud boast of theirs that they never slept under a roof, and never ate by a fireside. Their vessels used to scour the Baltic and the German Ocean, and brin<^ devastation to all around. The piratical adventurers of the northern coast of Euro])*?, called Northmen and Normans, doubtless advanced the maritime art in the first centuries of the Christian era, and in time lent their assistance as mer- cenaries to the difi^jrent governments who sought their aid, or subsidised them in order to escape their exactions. Ofi'a, one of the Saxon kings, got together a very fair fleet, and made himself so formidable, that Charlemagne, King of France, who had been hostilely disposed towards him, sought his friendship and alliance. His successors neglected the fleet, and thus sufi^ercd the >:ea-coast to be harassed and plundered by the Danes ; and the facility with which the latter landed and laid waste the country shows tliat the English, up to the tiine of Alfred, in the ninth century, Avere very neglectful of maritime affairs, which was probably due to the Heptarchy and the consequent internal dissensions which distracted the country. King Alfred, seeing that the most effectual method of repressing the inroads of the Danes was to meet them on the seas, invited ship- builders from other countries, and made ^hips larger and stronger than those of the Danes. He also enlisted the services of foreign seamen, whereby the ships were more efficiently manned, and made stren- uous exertions to encourafije the love of the sea amonjr his own countrymen. The fruits of his patriotic efforts were soon ajjparent, and, in the year 885, Alfred's navy attacked and destroyed, off the Essex coast, a large Danish fleet. Before his death, Alfred had created a fleet of 120 ships, and we are also told that he greatly :! I ' 11 124 MAIUTIME DISCOVERY. ,1; encouraged commerce as a method of increasing the maritime proficiency of his subjects. It is noted as a proof of his attention to nautical affairs that, under his auspices, one Ochter undertook a voyage into the Arctic regions, and made a survey of the coasts of Lapland and Norway. According to the Saxon chronicles quoted by Harris, the learned writer on the deaUngs of the European States with the East Indies, this great monarch, in the year 883, despatched one of his ecclesiastics, named Sighelmus, * to carry his alms to the poor distressed Christians of Saint Thomas* and Saint Bartholomew, in the Indies,' supposed to be near Madras. ' The fact,' adds Harris, ' is indeed pretty extraordinary, and if we had not as clear and distinct evidence to support it as any point in our ancient history, I should not have men- tioned it ; but as the Saxon annals set down this as a passage, and as this Sighelmus did not only perform that voyage according to the instructions of his royal master, but afterwards returned home, and became Bishop of Shireburn, or Sherburn, in Dorsetshire, and left in the treasury of his church, as William of Malmesbury hath recorded, both spices and jewels which he brought back with him out of that country, I see no reason at all to doubt or question the fact.' During the dark ages, however, no attempts were made by the European nations to extend geographical knowledge, which re- 1 :M : I * An old traveller, J. A. de Mandelsloe, says that when the Portu- guese first took possession of Cochin and Cannanore, the Christian in- habitants of this coast implored their protection. They affirmed that St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, built a chapel here and was murdered whilst at his devotions. MafFens says, by the special com- mand of King John of Portugal, the bones of this saint were trans- ferred to Goa, where a fine church was erected to his memory. On the other hand, Eufinus affirms that St. Thomas suffered martyrdom at Edessa in Mesopotamia, to which pilgrimages used to be made. EARLY ENGLISH COMMERCE. 125 mained almost as limited as in the days of Pliny and Ptolemy. The Arabian geographers alone gradually began to acquire information concerning Asia and Africa, but their discoveries were unknown to Europeans, until, some centuries later, a translation of the travels of Abul- feda and Edrisi was given to the world by a French mvant. Much encouragement was given to mercantile pursuits by the enactment of a law by Athelstan, that every merchant who set forth three vova":es to the ^lediter- ranean, on his own account, should 1)C raised to the honour, and enjoy the privileges, of a ge'deman. This law seems to imply that a considerable improvement had taken j^lace in the construction and management of English vessels, and also that there was a marked increase in the mercantile marine of the country. The nav}' attained still greater proportion! s in the reign of Ethelred, surnamed the ' Unready,' who issued an edict that whoever possessed a certain number of hides of land — a hide being supposed to be as much ground as a man could turn up with one plough in a year — should be charged with the building of one ship or galley, and owners of a portion of a hide, a proportionate part. Soon after this, Ethelred attacked the Danes, who were at anchor off the coast of Es!=ex, with a powerful fleet, one of the admirals of which, by the way, was a bishop, and, notwithstanding the treachery of Earl Alfric, who deserted to the enemy, the Danes avoided an encoimter, and escaped during the night. HoAvever, they fell into the hands of a second British fleet, described by an annalist as belonging to London, which entirely dis- persed them, killing many thousands of them, and capturing the flag-ship of the traitor Alfric, although the earl himself escaped. In the year 959, King Edgar, it is said, equipped a fleet of 3000 vessels in order to 126 MARITIME DISCOVERY. I'' ■ : 1 1 IV i \' defend the kingdom against the Danes. By dividing and stationing this fleet in different parts, he kept the enemy at bay, but, owing to tho gradual neglect of these precautionary measures, the Danes, -with their king, Sweyn, in tlic year 1U09, "were able to land on the English coast, drive Ethelred from his throne, and place their own monarch thcrecn. The son and suc- cessor of the Danish monarch was Canute, of whom the story is told that he gave his sycoj)h antic courtiers a lesson in humility by affecting to command the waves of the sea to obey his pleasure. About this time, the Danes enlarged tiieir open barks of t^^•elve oars into regular vessels of considerable size and strength, many of them being capable of holding 100 men, and some even more. It appears that they had but one mast, which was orna- mented with a gilt metal vane under the figure of some bird, to denote the direction of the wind. At the stern were various figures of animals plated with gold and silver. The ancient English chronicles afford but slender information of the progress of naval architecture and navigation among the Anglo-Saxons; and, though it is 2^robable that but little change was made from reign to reign, an incident in the reign of Hardicanute shows that the art of ship -building had been making some progress. Earl Godwin, having murdered Prince Alfred, son of King Ethelred, in order to appease the anger of Hardi- canute, the half-brother of the prince, presented to him a galley sumptuously gilt, and rowed by eighty men, each of whom wore on his arm a golden bracelet weighing sixteen ounces. Shortly before the Xormans invaded Britain, they show^ed themselves to be powerful rivals, in maritime affairs, to the Southern nations. This w^as brought about in a w^ay very similar to the establisliment of the THE NORMANS AS NAVIGATOllS. 127 ing me [lit he Sioxon rule in Britain, some centuries before. ' The Normans,' says Sir Walter llaleigli, ' grew better ship- 'svri'j'lits than either the Danes or Saxons, and made the last conquest of this land — a land which can never be conquered whilst the kings thereof keep the dominion of the seas.' The Sicilians, being harassed by pirates, called in the assistance of the Normans, who, originally coming from Norway, conquered the north-west portion of France, Avhich they called after them, and, bein^ a robust, hardy, and courageous race, achieved great success in their predatory excursions. The Normans, after assisting the more effeminate Sicilians, afterwards settled amongst them, and, conforming to the habits of the people, ultimately gained great ascendency. They conquered a considerable part of Italy, and then directed their arms against the E:istern Empire. Thirteen hundred Norman knights and 18,000 soldiers, under Ilobert Guiscard, were transported across the Adriatic, to the Eastern Empire, but the attempt was ultimately unsuccessful. Scandinavia is alike the home of the Norseman and the cradle of freedom. Thomson makes the Genius of Liberty say of the race : ' Thence the loud Paltic passing, black with storm, To wintry Sco' ..via's utmost bound ; The/e I the raam^ race, the parent hive Of the mix'd kingdoms, form'd into a state More regularly free. By keener air Their geniu? purged, and tempoi'd l<.ard by frost. Tempest, ai d toil their nerves, the sons of those Whose onlj terror was a bloodless death.' The Norman invasion of England was effected with 60,000 men, embarked in 3000 vessels, which allowed, on an average, but twenty men to each vessel, so that the dimensions of the latter must have been very small, as the vessels were only used as transports to convey '^1 i I I I I I 128 MARITIME DISCOVERY. •i 1 tlie army across the Channel, and not as war-ships. The fleet which Harold opposed to the Xornian i)rogress appears to have been of a superior class of vessels ; but William's i)lan was to carry on the contest by land, and Harold's fleet failed to brin^j^ the invaders to action. There are accoiuits extant, due to the researches of the Society of Antiquaries of Copenhagen, of the dis- covery of the Orkneys, the Shetlands, the Hebrides, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland, by the Norse navigators ; and the voyages that led to these great results were undertaken partly v ith a mercantile view and j^nrtly under the romantic, but in those days wide-extended, notion of reaching the regions of +he dead and the abodes of bliss, which for coiuitless ages were supposed to lie in the direction of the setting sun — a belief which is still held by the Kcd Indians of North America. The Faroe Islands were discovered in the ninth century, and in the year 8(>1, a Norwegian freebooter, who was proceeding thither, was driven by an easterly gale to the westward, and *iorn had discovered last. I;and- ing here, they saw no grass. Great mountains there were in the interior, but between the sea and the moun- tains the land was a stony ]ilain.' This land Leif called ' Helleland,' or ' Stoneland.' Continuing their voyage, they discovered another country, where they landed. This country was flat, and covered with woods, and so Leif called it Markland, from its wood. Again they set sail, and on the second day came to land, to the north- ward of which was an island. They ascended a river which issued from a lake, and here they resolved to ])ass the winter. To this place Leif gave the name of Yin- land, from its vines. It is conjectured, that ^'inland is the country in Ne^v England between Boston and New York ; that Stoneland is Newfoundland ; and Markland, Nova Scotia. The Norse settlements, on the west shore of Green- land, increased until they consisted of four parishes, containing 100 villages ; but the settlers being engaged, says Barrow, in perpetual hostility with the Esquimaux, to whom they gave the name of Skeellings, it would NOUWKGIAN SETTLEMENTS IN OKEENLAND. 131 r pass Yin- ind is New tlandj [reen- tshes. aged, liaux, Ivould n| oar that ultimately tlioy were de.stro} ea ; the ruins of their edifices wiro visible in the year 1721, Avheii the miswionary Hans Kgcde visited antl described that country, on its being re-colonised by the Greenland eon4)any of l>ergen in Norway. The Eastern colony, about the commencement of the fifteenth century, con- sisted of twelve parishes, Avith IDO villages and two convents, the Avholc being under the ecclesiastical government of a bishop, of whom sixteen are recorded in Icelandic annals, to whom and the Holy Sec the colony paid 2GU0 11). weight of the walrus, or sea-horse, teeth. But the communication was frequently inter- rupted, and at length, in 110(1, entirely ceased, from which date nothing more was ever heard of the unfortu- nate colonists. The descriptior^ of Greenland by ancient writers greatly impressed the popular mind, ever prone to superstitious dread of the unknown. Enormous icebergs floated along the coast, and filled every inlet, and the awful a2)pearance of Nature in this desolate part of the Avorld, its remoteness, and the horrors of the stormy seas which intervened, s^oon made it, in the popular belief, a land of wonders. The surrounding sea was said to be inhabited by marine giants, of both sexes, and the terrific icebergs, as they moved along, were reported to be guided by invisible hands. It was also said that a man named Ilollin Geit walked from Norway to Green- land on the ice, conducted by a goat. The memory of the discoveries made by the Norse navigators was lost until towards the close of the four- teenth century, when Antonio and Nicolo Zeno, two Venetian nobles, were said to have visited the coast of America and Greenland. Their adventures in the northern seas, stated to have been compiled from the 9—2 m •If ''111 m^i ;iii 132 MARITIME DISCOVERY. 'I ' i letters * sent by Antonio to his eldest brother, Corto, were first published by Francesco Warutini, in 1558, and afterwards appeared in Ramusio's ' Collection of Voyages and Travels ' (vol. ii. p. 220). From these it appears that Nicolo was cast away by a storm on a large inland, Avhich he called Frisland, and entered into the service of the king, Zickmni, who placed him in com- mand of a fleet of thirteen ships, with which he con- quered several adjacent islands. Antonio joined him, and remained for fourteen years — ten of them alone, and four with his brother. Nicolo proceeded towards the north, and arrived at Engroneland, supposed to be Greenland, and here he died. Soon afterwards Anionio, hearing an account of an island called Estotiland, 1000 miles to the westward of Frisland, which traded with a country to the southward called Dwjis, accompanied Zickmni with several ships in search of it. By many the entire story is disbelieved. Humboldt declares that the narrative has much merit, and the learned John Pinkerton says in his ' History of Scotland,' that ' Zeno's book is one of the most puzzling in the whole circle of literature.' Buache, Forster, and Eggerj<, identify Frisland as the Faroe Islands ;f Maite-ErunJ con- * The original ' Italian Letters ' with a map, was published in 1380, of which the latest edition, including the original and an English translation, with notes and introduction, is that by Mr. E. H. ]\Iajor, Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, published in 1873, for the Hakluyt Society. + In ibis they are followed by Mr. Major and Admiral Zahrtmann, but Admiral Irminger, who stayed for a long time m Iceland and the Faroe Iislands, is strongly of opinion that Frisland is Iceland, and the Engroneland he identifies with the same island. The editor of the original letters, Zeno the younger, confesses that when a child ho had torn many of the letters in pieces, and that the map, when he edited it, was rotten with ago. The question is discussed fully by Mr. Major and Admiral Irminger, in voJ. xlix. of the * Journal of the Eoyal Geographical Society. X See his * Prdcis de la G^ographie Universelle,' vol. i. p. 405. i.'' I i rtmaDD, and the and the of the ho had e edited r. Major Royal VOYAGES OF THE BROTHERS ZENO. 133 I siders that Estotiland is Newfoundland, and Dwjis, Xova Scotia and New England. From Icelandic sources, quoted by Admiral Irminger, it appears that the English gained an absolute supremacy in the island aboat 1400, and for a long series of years continued to illtreat the inhabitants. In 1424, under the leadership of John Percy and others, they plundered, for the fourth time, Bessested, near Reikiavik, and, in succeed- ing years, burnt churches and carried away cattle, and even many of the inhabitants. The legitimate trade between England and Iceland during these years was considerable; and, in 1413, we find that thirty English fishing- vessels are enumerated as being then at the island. On the 13th April, 1419, no less than twenty- five were wrecked on the coast in a terrific hurricane lasting only three hours. So gross was the ignorance of geography even among the lettered, that we are told Otho, IMshop of Bamberg, in Bavaria, had never heard of the Baltic Sea, and was vastly surprised, when sailing across it, to find that it was so broad that from the middle of it the opposite shores seemed just like clouds in the horizon. Charle- magne, Emperor of France, anxious to acquire some knowledge of the world, of which he ruled so large a proportion, caused to be constructed a large table of silver, on whose surface was engraved a map of the world as then known ; but his grandson, Lothaire, in the war which he waged with the other Carlovingian princes, used this precious and expensive chart of the earth for his more immediate necessities, so that, as has been quaintly observed, ' the silver world was soon melted down to supply the necessities of one of its kingdoms.' In the dark ages, when all the arts of civilisation :iE;'l :i! f' i I . Ill -> ft I » I il 05. 134 MARITIME DISCOVERY. I ■i 5 1'i i I 'f 1 declined, the practice of navigation and the art of ship- building in Europe does not seem to have advanced beyond the state in Avhich it was left by the Carthagi- nians, when their country was finally depopulated by the Romans, and, about the year 800, maritime affairs had sunk to so low nn ebb, that the only navies worthy the name were the galleys of Venice and the vessels of the Saxons and some of the northern nations. The Eastern Empire, the Frankish Empire, under Charle- magne, the Saracens, and other nations, were now so busily occupied in military affairs, that they had neither time nor treasure to augment and maintain their fleets. It has been observed tliat had the founder of Islam turned his attention to naval affairs, he might have made a complete revolution in the mode of constructing and managing ships, and in the political condition of the globe, from the enormous power which gradually accumulated in his hands. Mahomet, however, pro- pagated his creed by armies, and, beginning from Mecca and Medina, his religion was spread by the sword throughout the neighbouring countries of Syria, Persia, Asia Minor, and Egypt, ev^en to the pillars of Hercules. But as Charnock observe-:?, in his ' History of Marine Architecture:' ' The collection of an army, more par- ticularly considering the simple state in which mili- tary tactics then were, was the operation of a few days, or perhaps only of a few hours. Every peasant could be transformed on the instant into a soldier. He readily became acquainted with all the duties of his profession. The production and plunder of the districts which he overran with religious zeal, and in the inspired hope of obtaining eternal sensual felicity after death, made him totally regardless of his life, and supplied him with lith EFFECT OF THE CRUSADES ON NaVIG \TIOX. 135 food, as well as with raiiaent, so that his sword and his Koran became the only necessary articles of equipment for the field of ravage and of glory. A navy was not to be collected by such slender means. Its formation required a species of deliberation that was incompatible with the views of Mahomet and his followers.' About the ninth century, the Roxolani, or Russians, first became known to the Constantinopolitans, and we are told they brought slaves, furs of every description, the spoil of their beehives, and the hides of their cattle, from the north towards the southern dis- tricts by means of river communication. They conveyed these articles of merchandise once a year to Constan- tinople, by a fleet of canoes, which passed down the rivers flowing into the Euxinc Sea, and, in exchange for their cargoes, carried back to their own country com, wine, oil, and other productions. These yearl}' visits gave the Russians a thirst for the wealth and luxury which they witnessed at Constantinople, and, in progress of time, they seized by force that which they had previously gained by barter. T'welve hundred of these boats were, in some cases, combined in one fleet, which descended the Borysthenes and other rivers, and landed their men wherever plunder could be obtained. A great change in naval afiiiirs was effected by the Crusades, which brought into prominence the naval arm, and made it almost of equal importance with the military. Every nation of Christendom was called upon to send its quota of soldiers to the general armament fitted out for the liberation of the Holy Land; but, as Palestine could not be approached by land from Europe, except through the territory of the Eastern Empire, and as the political relations of thft empire with m ri 1 1 I il^ : ■ . 136 MARITIME DISCOVERY. '4h ii h other countries did not always admit of its being made a military road from Europe, it followed that the Medi- terranean became the line of passage for the soldiers of the Cross. Not only was a spur given to the exten- sion and improvement of naval operations, but a great development of commercial enterprise by sea was brought about by the Crusades, which threw open the Mediter- ranean to English commerce, though the great centres of trade with Constantinojile and Alexandria continued to be Venice, Pisa, and Genoa, wdiich, intent only on commercial speculation, failed to promote maritime dis- covery and science. Hence geographical research Avas carried on by land, and Ave find that, besides the travels of Marco Polo and of the envoys of Pope Innocent IV. (in 1245) and of Louis IX. (in 1253), despatched into Central Asia, four centuries before their time, in the reign of our King Alfred, two Mohammedan travellers journeyed through India and China. Their travels, which were translated from the Arabic by the Abbe Kenaudot, may be found in Harris's ' Collection of Voyages and Travels ' (vol. i. pp. 521-46), and are spoken of by Pinkerton ' as not a little curious.' Besides the travels of Masudi and Abulfeda, we have the accounts of the journeys by land and sea of the Chinaman Hiouenthsang, of Soleiman, of the Jew Benjamin of Tudela, and of Ibn Batuta. It was in the time of Richard I. that there began to be a clear system of English maritime law, and some of the provisions of these early codes, called the laws of Oleron, became the common usage of maritime states, whose vessels passed through British seas. We find regulations as to stowage and delivery of goods, stoppage of sailors' wages for disobedience of orders, branding in the face for desertion, and penalties for incompetence. If a I are in [fa EARLY LAWS OF THE MERCANTILE MARINE. 137 seaman fell sick he was to be sent on shore, with a f?hip's boy to attend upon him ; and if he gave the lie to another at a table where there was wine and bread, he was to be fined four deniers, from which we may gather that the manners and language of the forecastle were more moral and choice than, we fear, they can be said to be in these degenerate days. Again, if a difference arose between a master and a seaman, the former was to deny the latter his mess thrice before he turned him out of his ship. A pilot stranding a vessel was to lose his head if he had no means to make good the damage, and pilots who, in ' connivance with lords on the coast,' ran a ship ashore, were * to be hung on high gibbets near the place where these accursed pilots brought the ship to ruin ;' while, as for the wicked ' lord of the coast ' who made money by wrecking, he was to be ' tied to a post or stake in the midst of his own mansion-house, which, being fired at the four corners, all shall bo burnt together, and the place converted into a market for hogs.' The more ordinary sort of wreckers, denounced as ' more barbarous, cruel, and inhuman than mad dogs,' were to be ducked in the sea till they were half- dead, and then drawn out and stoned to death. Among other barbarous articles contained in the ' Black Book of the Admiralty ' were the following : ' Whoever draws a sword upon the master of a vessel, or wilfully falsifies the compass, shall have his right hand nailed to the mast. Whoever behaves riotousl}" shall be punished by being keel-hauled. Whoever is guilty of rebellion shall be thrown over- board.' The reign of Edward III. marked another stage in English commerce, with the opening of the ^Newcastle coal-fields, though a royal edict prohibited the use of coal in London while the queen resided there, in case it W\ i i 138 MARITIME DISCOVEIIY. '« Uu H I might prove ' pernicious to her health,' which we wouhl recommend for tlie consideration of the bodies engaged in enforcing the consumption of smoke. The famous black-letter poem of tne ' Dominion of the Sea,' written about the time of Henry V., shows tlie value which Englishmen, oven then, set upon the * silver streak ' and the dominion of the narrow seas. ' The end of battaile is peace sickerly, And power causeth peace finally. Keep then the sea about in special Which of England is the town wall, As though England were likened to a citio, And the wall environ was the sea. Keep then, the sea, that is the wall of England, And then is England kept by Goddes hande, That as for anything that is without, England were at ease withoutcn doubt.' A Parliamentary document of the reign of Henry V. begins as follows : * The Commons do pray that, seeing our Sovereign Lord the King and his noble progenitors have ever been lords of the sea ;' and so long back, indeed, as the reign of tTohn, a law ordered the capture and condemnation of any vessels that did not * strike and veil their bonnets '* at the command of a kind's ship. These bonnets were not, as some people suppose, the studding-sails, which were unknown in John's reign, but the higher sails, such as top-gallant sails or royals, and the requirement to ' strike or veil,' denoted that these sails were to be lowered or the sheets ' clewed up.' Indeed, this custom of ships, no matter from wdiat country they hailed, of saluting a British man-of-war on * In nautical phraseology, the * bonnet' is an additional part laced to the foot of the jibj or other fore and-aft sail, in small vessels in moderate weather to gather more wind, the unbonneted sail being for stormy weather. • TIIK UNWRITTEN LAW OF TIIK SKA. 139 :ing s [pose, )hn's lis or LOted iwed wliat iron I lacctl 3ls ill igfor tlie high seas was not confined to merchantmen alone, for it is an historical fact that our great naval war with Holland in 1G52, in which Van Tromp and l)c lluyter struggled for the mastery of the Channel with JUake and Monk, was caused by an English frigate firing upon a Dutch man-of-war for neglecting to salute the British flag by striking or hauling down her colours — a compli- ment which our navy had claimed since the conquest. On the conclusion of peace, after Monk's decisive defeat of Van Tromp on the .31st of May, IGo.S, one of the articles of the treaty expressly recognised the obligation to salute the British flag in the Channel. Even to the present day this demand, though no longer enforced from foreign nations, is conceded as an act of courtesy by all British merchantmen when passing one of her Majesty's ships on the high seas. Sometimes the salute is rendered by ' dipping ' the ensign, and, when especial deference is sought to be shown, by ' letting fly ' the top-gallant sheets, or lowering the sail on the cap. As the poet says : * The winds and seas are Britain's wide domain ; And not a sail but by permission spreads.' The Crusades were golden times for Mediterranean shipowners, those of Venice especially enriching them- selves by the enormous freights charged for transporting the knights and their followers and equipments to the Holy Land. The ships of the Italian republics had their capacity measured by two experienced inspectors when they were launched, and to prevent overloading, a line, which it was forbidden to submerge, Avas marked on the hull, so that Mr. Plimsoll's load-line has its pre- cedent. At Venice this mark consisted ' of a cross painted or carved, or formed with two plates of iron ;' while at Genoa, the Government load-hne was indicated ?r I-'] "t\ ii :li 140 -ArARITIME DISCOVERY. 1 ' ]l : M; by * a trii)le mnrk of three small pliites of iron fastened upon a particular line on each side of the hull;' and in Sardinia the centre of a painted ring was the limit. The Mediterrnnean seamen of the Middle Ages had their sea-serpent, a monster with a mitre on his head and a dalmatic robe across his shoulders, who, it was well attested, once swallowed a sailor who had defied the A'^irgin Mary while throwing the dice, an occurrence which led to a law prohibiting the playing of such aa unlucky game on board ship.* After the decline of Norman supremacy in the Mediter- ranean, the republic of A^enice came into prominence as the greatotit nautical power of the age. Venetia was anciently' a province on the eastern coast of Italy, con- taining upwards of fifty ciJes; but when the barbarians, under Alaric, king of the Goths, and afterwartls under Attila, king of the Huns, overran Italy, the N^enetians fared miserably, and were driven from their homes and tiieir country. They retired to a cluster of small islands, seventy-two in number, situated in the Adriatic Sea, and there gradually formed a community which, in process of time, almost: ruled the sea, although for a long period they had no fence against its encroachments but hurdles, no othei' food than fish, no wealth besides their boats, and no merchandise but salt. The extent of the com- merce of Venice in Shakespeare's time is denoted in that passage in which Shylock says of Antonio's ventures : ' He hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to t\e Indies; I understand, moreover, upon the Rial to, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England.' Thus, by trade, arose A'enice, the Queen of the Adriatic : * The seeming God-built city ! vOiichmy hand Deep in tha bosom fixed of wontiering seas. * See Lindsay's 'History of Tlorchant Shippin,;.' i! ! m NAUTICAL SUrilEMACr OJT VENICK. Ul 'I ■ Aatonisli'd mortals aailVl with pleasing awo, Around tlio sea-girt walls by Noptuuo fouco'l. And down the briny street ; where on each hand, Amazing seen amidst unstable waves, The splendid palace shiur'i, ; and rising tides, The green steps marking, murmur at the door.' Tl slandf which these enter lisheri le islands, on, wnicii these enterpn.uno* usnernion founded a great State were marshy, and separated only by narrow channels; but they were well-screened, and almost inaccessible. It appears that the A'^eneti (not to be confounded with the Veneti of Gaul, men- tioned by Ciesar), or Venetians, did not think of making a permanent residence in these islands, each one of which was for many years governed by its own chief, and formed a distinct State. When their commerce and foreign dealings had made them objects of jtalousy to foreign states, they thought of combining for mutual safety; and this union was first begun in the sixth century of the Christian era, and com- pleted in the eighth. Their fleets, in the course of time, visited all the ports of the Mediterranean and Egypt, and other places to which t)ic produce of the East was usually brought. When the Venetians, by enterprise and perseverance, became a commercial people, they sent out galleys to accompany and protect their merchant ships. These galleys, we are told, were often luxuriantly fitted up, and near the bows Avas erected a })latform, on which the soldiers were stationed, armed with bow s and arrows and other arm .5. No other fleets v>'ere found so capable of conveying the vast armies of the Cross to the Holy Land, as those of Venice, which, in consequence, were much benefited by the employment. Under Vitalio MicheH, the thirty-third Doge of Venice, says a writer, a naval ii ill 4 ;ii vn 142 MAIUTLME DISCOVKUY. .\\[ ■ ■?{{ nrinamcnt was fitted out from Venice for the service of tlic Crusaders, whldi sliowed the poAver and "wealth of that coniuuuiity. Tavo hur.drcd galleys were prepared, which, after vaucpiishhig the fleet of the neighhouring JJepuhlic of Pisa, attacked Ascaloii in Syria, and captured it, as well as other towns. Under the next two Doges, Ordelapho Taliero and Domenicho Micheli, similar armaments were fitted out, and met with so much success on the eastern shores of the Adriatic, on the coast of Africa, and hi the Holy Land, that the envy of the Greek emperors was excited, and a series of fierce engagements took place between them. In the time of the Doge Sebastian Ziani, about the year 1177, an event occurred Avhich led to the Venetian ceremony of the * Doge marrying the Sea,' which has its religious counterpart in the Greek Church in the annual ceremony jierformed at St. Peters1)urg and Belgrade, of the Primate of those cities blessing the waters of the Xeva and of the Save. Pope Alexander III. being threatened with a hostile attack from Frederick Bar- barossa, solicited the aid of the A\'netians, which wrs aftbrded; on which Barbarossa sent a flrc^t of seventy-five large galleys, under his son Otho, to attack A'enlce, but the attempt utterly failed, and forty-eight of Otlio's galleys were either sunk, captured, or destroyed. In order to signify his gnititude to the A^enetians, Alexan- der presented the Doge with a ring, and accompanied it with these words, ' Take this ring and present it to the sea, in token of your dominion over it; enjoin your suc- cessors to perform annually the same ceremony, that succeiMliug ages may learn that your valour acrpiired this prerogative, and has subjugated the ocean, even as a wife is subject to her husband.' This custom of the ' Doge NAUTICAL HUPUEMACV UF VEN'lfi:. 143 marryln<^ the Sea,' wiis continued yearly for many centuries after this event. On Ascension Day in each year, the Doge, the senators, and persons of quality, together with the foreign {unbassadors, en;:ered a splendid vessel, called the Buccntdur, which was litted with great elegance for the ceremony of marriage. It was gilt from the prow to the stern, and was covered overhead Avith a kind of Lent, or awning, made of purjde silk. When all the companions of the Doge had sailed out into the open sea in their gondolas, following the Bnccutinw, the Doge threw a gold ring nito the waters, saying — ' We marry thee, Sea, in token of that true and })erpetual dominion whicli the Kepublic has over thee.' The word Biicen- taw now rather recalls to ]5ritisli minds the name of Count Villencuve's flagship at the battle of Tra- falgar : ' Tho spouseless Adriatic mourns licr lord ; And, annual marriage now no more renew 'd, Tho Bmcntaur lies rotting unrestorcd, ^Neglected garment of her widowhood.' In gratitude for the services which the A'enetians rendered him, Baldwin, Karl of Flanders, on being chosen emi)eror, gave them great privileges in his empire, and jiermittcd them to acquire by concpiest the Greek islands in the Archipelago. Not only did the Venetian State engage in this ttock on the islands, but private individuals form chemselves into companies for the same purpose; the terms on wliich they co-oi)erated being that every person whose property amounted to a certain sum, should furnish a ship of a given descrii)tion and force, and by a j^roportionate scale, tliat those who were more or less Avealthy should furnish a quota according to their means. As the J" H '4! ifl 144 MARITIMK DISCOVKHY. expense tliUH becnnie a^cnernl, tliougli privnto, concern, the profitri rcHultin^j^ from it ^verc proportioned according to cncli one's contribution. The result of these exixjdi- tions was, tliat the Avhole of the Greek ishuidb became subject to the Venetians. Shortly after this jicriod hostilities broke out between the Venetians and the Genoese, who liad risen to great- ness and now divided tlie emi)ire of the narrow seas with the (Juccu of the Adriatic. Tlionison makes the spirit of liberty speak of Genoa : ' Thcro in white prosiicct IVoin tlio rocky hill (iradiwl desceiuliiig to the shultci'il shore, J>y 1110 proud Genoa's marble turrets rose. And while my genuine spirit warni'd her sons, IJencath her Dorios, not unworth}', she Vied for the trident of the narrow seas, Ero Britain yet had opcn'd oil the main.' Jealous of the connriercial greatness of her rival, Genoa conspired with the Greeks, inider the connnand of Michael I'aheologus — who Avcre disaffected, after the. partition of the Grecian States, in 1 104, l)y the leaders of the fourth crusade — and drove the A'enetian merchants from Constantinople, thus securing the entire commerce by the Pilack Sea, and the inland trade with India. Their endeavours to share with their A'^enetian rivals the trade with Egypt, gave rise to a series of wars, during which many sanguinary battles took place, notably the great defeat of the A'^enetian fleet on the 8tli of September, 1298, in which the Genoese took eighty-five ships and 7-100 prisoners, among whom were the admiral and many persons of distinction, including the famous traveller, Marco Polo, who were set at liberty on the conclu.sion of peace in the latter j^art of the following year. Finally on the 21th June, 1380, by the surrendri- •I !• KNOMNII THADK WITH VENICE. 145 w-r- ^g of Chioza,* which had been desperately defended by Doria, who was killed, the GenocHe power received a fatal blow from which it never recovered. The glory of Venice also has long since set. What fthe was and now is, is best expressed in the eloquent words of the noble poet who loved Italy and died in the cause of Greece : • Sho looks a sca-Cybolc, frcah from ocean, KiHing with hor tiara of proud towors At niry distance, with majestic motion, A ruler of the waters and their powurti. And such she was ; — hor daughters had their dowers From spoils of nations, and the exhaustless East Pour'd in her lap all gems in sparkling showers. In purple was she robed, and of hor fuast Munarchs partook, and doem'd their dignity increased.' Though there does not appear to have been any great improvement in the construction of the vessels during the period of active warfare, the people of Venice and of Genoa are entitled to the credit of furthering the pro- gress of navigation at a time when the navy of England was in a very feeble condition, and the English were supplied by the Venetians with articles of foreign pro-i duce. Sir William Monson, a gallant and skilful sea- man, who lived in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, says : ' The Venetians engrossed the whole of the trade upon those seas, and furnished us with the rich merchandise of Turkey, Persia, and India at what rate they pleased. The Venetians sent yearly their argosies to Southamp- ton, which town enjoyed a charter from the kings of this land, which was wrested out of their hands by the Earl of Leicester, to the utter decay of that town ; and the argosies since then have become strangers in England, * An account of the final struggle ending at Chioza may be found in a work by Daniel Chinazzo, who was in Venice at the time. VOL. I. 10 I t ^ I ' >ii 'ii 146 MARITIME DISCOVERY. which my eyes were witnesses to in the month ot* October, 1587.' Sir William Monson then recounts how the last of these ships, being 1100 tons burden, and richly laden, was piloted to the shores of England by Forster, an English navigator, and on approaching the Isle of Wight, the passengers, being desirous of landing at Southampton that night, compelled Forster, against his urgent remonstrances, to pilot the ship through the Solent, when the ship was lost on the Needles, * where she, her goods, and company, except seven poor creatures, perished.' He continues: 'We may reckon from this time the decay in matters of Venetian trade, for argosies, which were wont to visit us, are now unknown to us, and we possess the wealth they were wont to reap. The commodities of Persia and the East Indies are brought by ourselves, in our own vessels, direct from Turke}^, where we have obtained as great a freedom as we can desire. Such places as the Venetians were wont to take freight in their ships to transport from port to port, now we absolutely enjoy that pri- vilege, for all strangers are more desirous to put their goods into English bottoms than theirs.' Thus, before the first voyage made to the East Indies by the English ships, under Captains Raymond and Lancaster, in the year 1591, which had a disastrous issue, and the establishment of the East India Company lo the last year of the century, the products of the East, conveyed thence by way of Trebizond, Damascus, and Aleppo, and distributed to England, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Baltic, as well as the Mediterranean States, by the ships of Venice^ Genoa, and Pisa, were carried in English bottoms, and the direct trade with Turkey, by the Levant, which became bo lucrative, was definitely established. After the desperate struggles St •1 ■•■J THE MOHAMMEDANS AS A NAVAL POWER. 147 th of aunts I, and id by [ i PKINCK IIEXRY, THE NAVIGATOn. l(jl )0ur8 ve to dis- ■vvcre 1 re- , not sue- 'i cessors in maritime supremacy, the French and English. All the geoorai)hical knowle' N., Avas Cape Non, which received this api)ellation from the idea that it was utterly impossible to get beyond it. The Portuguese mariners sent by Prince Henry, however, doulj ed it, but found Cape Bojador in the distance, whose violent currents and raging breakers * Two Jewish physicians of John of ]*ortugal, named Roderick and Jopoph, who also calculated tables of the sun's declination. VOL. I. 11 m Hm m I I' II, 162 MAUITIMK DISCOVEKY. running for miles out to sea, seemed a barrier which could not even ])c approached with safety by seamen who were in the habit of coasting along the shore; hence they propagated the idea that he who should double Cape IJojador would never return. In 1418, Tristan Xiv/. discovered an island of the ^fadeiras, to which he gave the name of Porto Santo, because he sighted it on the feast of All Saints ; and, in the following year, the Portuguese discovered an island to the westward of Porto Santo, to which the name of Madeira was given, on account of its being covered with Avood. These islands still remain in i)ossession of the Crown of Portugal. Ch*eeping on by slow but sure steps, in 1489 the awful promontory of Cape Bojador, situated in Lit. 2G° 1' N., was rounded, and, in the following year, the Portuguese navigators sighted South Cape IManco, in lat. 20° 4(/ N. Thus the trojncs Avere at length penetrated, and these regions divested of their fancied terrors. In 144(), Xuno Tristan doul^led Ca])e Verde, in lat. 14°44'X., and, two years later, Don Gon- zalo A'allo sailed to the islands which he called Azores (or the HaAvk Islands, from the Spanish Avord Acor, 'a hawk '), Avhere he established settlements. Three years later the Cape de Verde Islands Avere discovered. The first Avas called St. Maio, because it Avas seen on May Diiy, and others Avere named St. Philip and St. Jago; the latter is the chief island, being about thirty-two miles long and fifteen l)road, and contains Porto Praya, tlie finest bnrbour in the group. The other islands, seven in number, Averc discovei'ed in 14G0. Tlu! regent, Don Pedro, ruling during the minority of Alfoiiso IV., made a grant of the islands of Porto Santo and Madeira to Prince Henry, avIio apjilied for Papal sanction, and recei\'ed from Pope Martin V. a PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES IN WEST AFRICA. I o3 a bull, dated 1444, conferring on the Crown of Portugal all countries that should be discovered on that side to the Indies, which occasioned great disputes with the Spaniards, who obtained a l^apal grant of all lands to the west, as far as the Indies, thus dividing the world between them — that is, as far as paper edict i^' and bulls could do so. In 1471, Pedro d'Escovar passed the equator, and discovered the island of St. Thomas and Prince's Island, nnd, on the following New Year's Day, another island, Avhicli he called Anno lUiono, whence the Avord has been con'upted to Annabon. We arc told that the inhabitants of the African coast felt o'reat astonishment and fear at the sio'lit of the Por- ID O tuguese vessels, and when they first saw the shi])s under sail took them for large birds, w th white wings, that had come from foreign countries; but when the sails were furled, they thought from tlie great length of the vessels, and from their swimming on tlie water, that they must 1)6 great fishes. Otlicrs believed that they were s])irits tliat wandered about l)y niglit, l)ecause they were seen at anchor at one place in the evening, and would be a hundred miles distant by the following morning. Not l)eing able to conceive how anything human could (lavel imu'c in one night than they -(niid in tliree days, th^y set down the European ve^^sels as denizens of another world. ' 'J'hcre is no nuin ignorant,' says Sir Walter Ualeigh, ' that shi])s, without putting themselves out of breath, will easily outrun the soldiers that coast tliein ;' and he adds as an example : ' A fleet of ships may lie seen at sunset, and after it, at the Lizard, yet by the next morning they ma}- recover Portlctud, whereas an army on foot shall not be al)le to march it in six days.' A sjurit of discovery and a hope of gain through com- merce were the real and avowed objects of the I'ortu- 11—2 t 1 •■■k 164 .MAHITIMK 1)ISC(JVKRV. gnese in venturing into these unknown seas, and a naviga or, Diego Cam, having heard of a Cliristian monarch who was said to reign in Ethiopia, on his return to Portugal magnified \\h power so nmch that King John II. resolved to send an embassy to the prince who, he conchided, was the famous and mysterious jiotentatc known as Presbyter, or Prester, John. This singular name afterwards came to be ai)plied to the Clu'istian King of Abyssinia, and the geography of the African continent not being then well understood, it was su])pos(!d that ambassadors from the western coasts might very easily reach his capital. As in the case of the Arabs, who sought for Gog and Magog, and in our day, the popular desire to plant the British flag on the North i*ole, tlie Portuguese thought that great glory would be acquired by the discovery of the abode of this mysterioiis potentate. Hence, instructions were given to all officers employed in the African service, to endeavour in every cpiarter, and by every means, to accomplish this grand object ; and accordingly they never failed to question all whom they met on the coasts about I'rester John, whose name, they were told by th(^ natives, had ne\'er been heard of They then besought the people whom they saw on the coasts to inquire up the country for Prester flohn, i)romising large rewards to any Avho should give information Avluch might load to success. A correspondence bet'veen the King of Benin, on the African coast, and John II. of Portugal, lod the latier to supijose that the real Prester flohn had been at last discovered, for the negro ambassador of this sable monarch inforuicd the Portuguese king that about 600 or i'*iO miles east of Benin, there was a mighty king, cnliecl Ogane, wl o was held by the Pagan chiefs in that omuvi-y in the same veneration as was paid to the I^ope I! .1 THK LAND OF PKESTEIJ JOirX. 1G5 I by the sovereigns of Europe. They furtlier wtated that, at the death of the King of Jienin, his successor was required to send ambassadors Avith presents to Ogane, who confirmed him in his kingdom, and rcf^oived in return a staff anns o f tl lose various im})ortatioiis arc not Hebrew but Sanscrit. The earliest fact wliicli Herodotus has recorded res[)ei't- in«»' the intercourse of Indians with other nations, is the conquest of the western })art of llindostan by Darius I.; but the sway of the IV-rsians over that country was of brief duration, and with the conquest of Darius III. by Alexa'.der, and the death of that prince, in the year 380 H.C., the Persian Emjiire ceased. To Alexander — Avho proceeded to l^hc banks of the Ilyphasis, now know'i as tlie Suth'j, and i»y tlic natives called the (Jhurra, whence he was conq)elled to retrace his steps owing' to the discontent of his rrooj)s — is due the commencement of that Indian trade, which lias subsecjuently proved of such vast importance to Europe. The ^lacedoniaii con- queror founded Akra (Akron of the Greeks), Nicjca and Bucei)halia on the Hydaspes (fnielum) and other cities, and i)roceedcd down the Jhelum to ^[ooltan where he was wounded Avhen storming* the place. We have described how he commissioned Niuarchus to survev 1 i MKOASTIIllNKS VISIT Tt) INDIA. 1(1!) the coasts from the moutli of tlic Indus to that of the 81iatt-ul-Aral), tlnis openiiin- a eoimminicatio with Jiidia both hy hind and sea, so that the treasures of the country nii^ht l)e carried throu^ih tlie Persian Gull' into the interior ol' liis Asiati(r dominions, while hy the Jled Sea they mio-ht ])v. conveyed to Alexainlrin. Ihit tlie untimely ^ie}U'chuH, by Arrian (see Gronov edition). Moj^hu, or Moghimah, situjited in the bay between Has Hostanah and Has Varid, on the iV-rsian shore, and formerly a station of the Indian Xavy, was called Sidodone. Kas Yarid is called by Xiebuhr, Has- el-Jerd, or Ualdhead. Many other })laces in the IVrsian n ,. II :ir" ii !< I * This is the name of a city mcnt'oued in the senu-mythical voyage of Jambulus, though it can scarcely bo the same, unless the identification of the island mentioned therein with the Maldives or Ceylon is incorrect. 170 •MAKITIMK DISCO VKRY. ')i it I Gulf arc rondored clacsi al l)y the allusions to them in the voya»!,c of Niuuivhus. To the wc>*t of Kon^oon is Uhm-Klieilab, cal'ed by European sailors, Cape Jicrdistnn (or Verdistan), the 'Place of Cold.' The island Ormuz, mentioned by Arriaii Cp. 352), is called Organa, Gerun, and Gyrina, by Stiabo ; and Minab or Minaw, from Mina-aub (blue water), is called Ananiis by Na^archus. Keoptana in Karninniii is the country of the Ichthyophagi, •which terminates at Cape Jask, the Bi>rdis of Arrian. Other places outside the Gulf, identified as having been visited by Alexander's admiral, are Cape Gwadel, or Kas Noo, which he describes ; Gwadel J5ay, called Mosarna ; and Ashtola, kno^^•n also as Ilaptalah and Sungadcej), an island off the Beloochistan coast, which he calls Carmine. Koh Mubarek, near Cape Jask, signifying the ' 151essed Mount,' is called by Marcian, the ' Round Mount oi Semiramis' but we do not find any mention of it in Arrian.* One of Megasthenes' companions, Onesicritus, who had served in Alexander's fleet as ca2)tain of the royal galley, gives the earliest account of Ceylon. The Egyp- tians traded with India by way of Coptos and Berenice, Avhose ruins at Foul Bay, on the shores of the Red Sea, have been identified by Captains Moresby and Carless, Indian Xavy. Major Rennell says : ' Under the Ptolemies the Egyptians extended their navigations to the extreme points of the Indian continent, and even sailed up the Ganges to Palibothra.' By the decisive victory gained by Augustus CaBsar * Among the chief emporia mentioned by Arrian are 13arygaza (Broach) in the Gulf of Cambay, Ozene (Oojein) in Malwa, and Tagara (Deoghur) near Aurungabad. The stadium of Naearchus is 187 to the nautical mile. If OMAN* GKOCnArilKnS ON INDIA. 171 them in Kongooii s, Cape I.' The is called [inab or Ananiis country )e Jask, ide the iaiider's liich he ^.8htola, land off !. Koh IMessed )unt oi >f it in IS, who e royal Egyp- irenicc, le Red )y and Jer the ions to I even the fleets of Ant( lid Cl( the 2nd of C« sar iarygaza Tagara 18-7 to over tne neers ot Antony and l leopatrn, on tiie znti Septeinl)ci', u.c. Bl, oft' Actimii, on the coast of Kpirus, tlie Empire of Egypt passed from the family of Ptolemy, of whom Cleopatra was the last representative, to the Roman Concpieror, in whose honour the Senate of Rome decreed that the name of the month occupied in sul)duing this ancient monarchy should he changed from Sentilis to August. The Roman generals were Cfpially successful in repelling the invasion of Egypt by Candace, (^ueen of Ethiopia, of which Strabo gives an account, and the power of Augustus rose to such a height, that this sovereign and Porus, King of Iiitlia (this name, as also those of Candace and Cleopatra, appear to be commcm to the monarchs of those countries), sent embassies and sued for peace. Augustus fostered the maritime trade of his vast possessions, and Caligula, though in other respects a bad prince, raised the maritime strength of the empire to its highest pitch. Acconling to Arrian, the discoverer of the south-Avest monsoon was one Hippalus, after whom the wind was named, who made the experiment about the year a.d. ')0, that is about eighty years after Egyi)t had been annexed to the Roman Em[>ire. The great geographer, Ptolemy, Avho wrote early in the second century, is far less accurate in his description of India than Arrian,* whose account was written about 140 n.c, and who correctly repre- sented it as extending from north to south, while Ptolemy commits the egregious error of making the coast line run nearly Avest and east, the mouths of the Ganges, of which he names and describes six, being removed sufticiently eastward to allow room for tlie * It may be noted hero that some writers, includiug the learned Dodwell, deny the authorsliip of the 'Periplus' to Arrian. :i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ay, a few miles to the southward of Massowah, which the Greeks called Drine (see p. 2 of the ' Periplus'). From Ocelis the fleet sailed to India, making in forty days the port of Muziris — probably Mangalore, as Pliny describes it as dangerous for disembarcation on account of the roadstead being at a considerable distance from the sliore, so that cargoes had to be landed in boats (and in I-!" lat. according to Ptolemy), — or the port of JJecara, whence the goods Avere transported by boats to the great trading town called Madan. The fleet, in order to have the advantage of the trade wind, usually returned to Alexandria towards the latter end of December, when the goods were taken to Rome by the annual fleet established by Augustus. The capital invested by the Roman merchants in the com- modities for this commerce, amounted, in the time of Pliny, to 550,000,000 sesterces, equal to about £1,400,000 of our money, and the profit gained was 100 per cent. The Emperor Trajan f-ent a fleet to crush the pirates of the Red Sea, and it is certain that either he, or his successor, reduced a great portion of the country known as Yemen, for Arrian, in his ' Periplus,' speaks of a port called Endeman, or the Happy, formerly a jilace of great commerce, though he adds, a little before his time it was destroyed by CjBsar. Harris, in his learned and exhaustive dissertation on the commerce of the ancients with the Indies, is of opinion that Endeman is the same as Aden, and IVIuziris he identifies with Diu, ;'. • I iifi ittll '1 ' . i I i 1 1 1 is 1 17 1 .VfAIUTIMK DF.SCOVKUV. Many of tlic, iHlanrlH and placrts rncntioncid by flu; ancinnts it \h irnpD.sHihld to find. 'J'liii.s Diodorus SinuliiH f(iv(jH a (l(!tail(;d aftf;f)iint of an island called Pancliaia, lyln^ l)(;t\v(!(;n tlic, lied Sea and tli(; coast of India, wliicli Ik; lijid frotn one KiieueriiH, tlioii;^!! I'lutarcli d(;nonneeH the \vliol(! as an ahsolnte fiction, tlie only island we know of l)(;in;^ Srjcotra, wliicli was Kcttlcd l>y tli(; l*tolernir;H, and is (h^scrihed in the ' IViriplns.' 'I'Ik* Aral) voya;((;rs of the ninth centiny assert that Socolra was colonised with (ivc.ckH hy y\lexander th(! (ireat, and it is dctscrihed hv Afarco I'olo and Ahidfl^da, and Avas visited hy Xicoliis (>onti, who spent two months tlien;, and hy l''rancis Xavier and I*. Vinc(!n/o, the ('arn»(!lit(!. Till; anci(!nts knew little of tlu; productions and physical ((;atnres of tli(; interior of Indiii, hnt that inac- (tnnite writer, Diodorus Sicnhis, ;^av(! hi;^hly colonn^d d(!.scrij)tlons of the conntry, which, hesid(!s hein^ a ♦(anlen of jilenty, contained all the; minerals in profusion. Strahoalso wrot,e aji (!x;i'''f Midiaii,' would apply tlu! term Opliir (oUktwIhc c'lllcd I'slia/ or I'arvalin), wliuli h(; traiisljit.c.d ' I»(;d liand,' to I'lastci-.M Afrlruaiid WcjkI^tii India, but Sutzcn, anion;^ oth(!rH, is of opinion, iind as Honie tliink, has conduHively hIiowii, that Opliir, tlic true translation of wliifh is ' IiiclntH,' is to Ix; lookjtd for in Soiitlicrn Aral/ia. I»ut wlicJlicr the ships oCTarsliisli * went to Mozanil)iid, tin; voya;^eH an; Haid to ]iav(! lasted three years. Thou^^h Honi(; writers hiiv(! sou;»;lit to prove that the ancients wanted few of the eonvenictnees of niod(!rn iiavi;(ation, possessin;^ (tven the compass and charts, anrl that nnich of tlu; knowled^^e of modern times was only lost, and hiis now heen reco\-ered, there are only oliscure ])aHHSi;(eH (jr j»oems to hear out these statcmctnts, and \'e«''etiuH assiu'es us that there was no naviif-ation of the seaH hetwe(!n Xr)vemher and March, iind that it was not thou;(ht safe to undctrtjike a l(!n;(thy voya^^'e hef(jr(t May. Aecor.ling to I?liny and otlntr authors, the ancients f(!ared to V(!nture into the o[jen s(!as, hut r(r;(ulat\\\f voya«(es, or for (Micounterin^ a heavy sea. TIk; Arabians and Indians w(;re nnicli holder, and it may Ix; trathered from the acc(jimts oi Straho and othei" writers, that their vessels w(!re swiflfT, hein^* probably much like th(! dhows and ba;(ut for the other Asiatics, I boldly assert they are beholden to us for this wonderful instrument which they had from Europe by the hands of the Arabs, a long time before the Portuguese conquests; for first, their compasses are exactly like ours, and they buy them of the Europeans as much as they can, scarce daring' to meddle with their needles themselves. Secondly, it is certain the old navigators only coasted it, which I impute to the want of this instrument to guide them, and instruct them in the wide ocean. We cannot pretend to say they Avere afraid of venturing far from home, for the Arabs, the first navigators in the world, in my opinion, at least for the Eastern seas, have, time out of mind, sailed from the bottom of the Eed Sea, all along the coast of Africk, down to the tropic of Capricorn; which is a space of fifty degrees, and the Chinese have always traded with the inhabitants of the islands of Java and Sumatra, which is also a very considerable voyage.' He adds that he could never learn from the natives where the com- pass was introduced among them, though in all the Indian ships in which he sailed, he found that the quadrants in use were of European manufiicture, though having the Arabic characters. He speaks of the Arabs as the most skilful navigators of the East, but adds that tliey have no charts. Thus it may be gathered that to the want of charts and compass is due the meagreness of the discoveries made by the maritime nations of antiquity who traded with the East, commencing with the establishment of T) re to the reign of Constantine the Great, a period of eight centuries. INDIAN TllADE WITH THE MEDlTEKrANEAN. 177 Alexander's Indian conqncstH were lost to his suc- cessors for want of a navy, and Augustus, who designed to reduce Arabia, was unable to accomplish his ambi- tious projects for the same reason. It was reserved for this country to be the undisputed mistress of Southern Asia, and this great and unique position she owes to her navy, and will retain only as long as her maritime ascendency is maintained. After the partition of the Koman Empire, the intercourse between Kome and India, by way of the Ked Sea,, began to decline, though while the Greek Empire flourished, Constantinople was the centre of commerce between Asia and Europe. At the time the Koman State became sub-divided, three fleets were maintained for the defence and support of the Empire, but their sphere of duty was confined to the Mediterranean. One, called the fleet of Alexandria, carried the commodities of the coast from that port to Constan- tinople; and a second, called the fleet of Africa, Avas employed for the su2iply of Rome; while the third, v/hich was stationed at Seleucia, on the Orontcs, con- veyed the commerce of Persia and Upper Asia. This last was divided into several squadrons, and appears to have been of great importance. Besides theee there was the fleet of the Pontus Euxinus, or Black Sea, the shores of which, as in our own day, were a granary for Constantinople. Particulars of the laws regulating these fleets, and other Retails, may be gathered from the code of the Emperor Justinian, who reigned a.d. 528-565, and from contemporary writers. But the Greeks were supplanted in a great measure by the Persians, who, having learned from the small Indian traders, who frequented the various ports in the Persian Gulf, the safety and rapidity with which the voyage from thence to Malabar and Ceylon might be performed, VOL. I. 12 ; ) m i if , 178 MARITIME DIISCOVEUY. fitted out vessels which made this voyage annually, and thus in exchange for specie and some of the com- modities of their own country, they brought home not only the costly products of India, but also those of China, /hich they were able to procure at Ceylon. Under the Emperor Justinian, who introduced silk- worms, the Greek Emperors were no longer indebted to the Persians for their silks, but notwithstanding this advantage, the merchants of Constantijioplc, narrowed in their fortunes by the repeated exactions of Justinian, were but little able to contend with their wealthy rivals in commercial pursuits. In the reign of Justinian, Cosmas, an Egyptian merchant, made some voyages to India, on account of which he received the surname of Indicopleiistes, and composed various works of which one, entitled ' Topographia Christiana,' contains a particular description of India, whence, and from the account of the contemporary Greek historian, Procopius, is derived our knowledge of the events connected with Indian commerce in the time of Justinian. From the reign of Alexander there was a considerable trade from India through Persia, by the banks of the Tigris, to those of the Indus, but in process of time the line of route was changed, and the Indian commodities were shipped at Muziris (Mangalore), Barygaza, and Patala, supposed to be places near the mouth of the Indus, and carried through the Persian Gulf, up the river Euphrates, and thence by land to Palmyra (or Tadmor in the wilderness), where they were stored in magazines, and thence transported to Antioch for distribution over Europe. Great changes were wrought by the Arabs, who, imbued with the new religion of Mahomet, conquered Persia, established the Kaliphate at Baghdad, subdued 1 : ARABIAN COMMERCE WITH INDIA. 179 tiually, e com- me not tiosc of Ceylon, jd silk- bted to njx this [irrowed istinian, ly rivals istinian, yages to •name of lich one, articular ;count of derived Indian siderable is of the time the imodities iza, and h of the the river admor in agazines, tion over bs, who, onquered subdued JCgypt, and excluded the Greeks from all intercourse with Alexandria, Avhich had for a long time been the principal resort for Indian goods. The Arabs entered upon the pursuit of mercantile enteri)rise and speedily outstripped the limits of previous nautical investigation. The second Khaliff, Omar, desirous of attracting the Indian trade from Persia, in the G3(j, built the city of Bussorah, which enjoyed a vast trade up to very recent times, and, even in the early portion of the present century, the East India Company maintained an agent for political and mercantile purposes, with a marine guard. About the middle of the eleventh century the empire of the Khaliffs began to decline, and, soon after, the ncAvly established cities of Venice, Genoa, Amalfi, Pisa, and Florence, entirely engrossed the Indian trade, every important port of Eurojie being visited l)y their mariners. On the partition of the Grecian states, in 1104, by the leaders of the fourth Crusade, the Xenc- tians obtamed possession of part of the Morea, and of some of the most important islands of the Arcliipelago, and were thus enabled to secure essential advantages in the Indian trade over the rival states of Italy. The world poured its commerce through the gates of Venice. ' To this fair Queen of Adria's stormy gulf, The mart of nations ! long, obedient seas EoU'd all the treasure of the radiant East.' The Genoese, jealous of this superiority, conspired with the disaffected Greeks under the command of Michael Palajologus, and drove the Venetian merchants from Constantinople, and thus the entire commerce of the Black Sea, and consequently the inland trade with India, fell into their hands.* The Venetians, in reta- * See Introduction to * India in the Fifteenth Century,' by E. H. Major, Es(|. : (« Hakluyt's Society's' volume for 1857.) 12—2 180 MARITIME DISCOVKUY. i;i I liatioii, procured a Bull of dispensation from the Pope, by which they were permitted to open a free trade with the infidels ; and, accordingly, by the settlement of their merchants at the different trading cities of Egypt and Syria, established their intercourse with India upon a more solid basis. While these rivalries were pending between the Vene- tians and the Genoese, the J Republic of Florence, under the a(hnini.;tration of Cosmo de Medici, procured, through ambassadors sent to Alexandria, a i)articipation in the commercial privileges which were enjoyed by the Venetians. The Genoese, however, still carried on the nortliern trade between India and Constantinople, until they were finally expelled from that city on its capture, by Mahmoud II., in 1453. Wlien, says Mr. Major, the Turkish Government became permanently established in Europe, Constantinople was no longer a mart oi>en to the nations of the West for Indian commodities, of which a supply could only be obtained in Egypt, and the ports of Syria, subject to the Sultans of the Mamluks; and as the Venetians by their commercial treaty with these powerful princes commanded these channels of intercourse, they were enabled to monopolise the i-npply of the products of the East to the countries of the West, until the close of the fifteenth centurv, W'hen two of the most memorable events in the annals of the world, the discovery of America, and the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope, produced an effect which proved fatal to the commerce of the Venetian Kepublic, and 02)ened the trade of India to the Portuguese and the Western nations. Before the arrival of the Portuguese in the East, the chief maritime commercial powers were the Arabs, who established themselves in various places in the AllAlJIAN COMMKnrK WITH INDIA. 181 Pope, dc with of their ypt aiul upon II ic Vene- uiult'i* throu<>h ill the by the I on the ]g, luitil capture, . Major, :abUshc(l lart oi)€n idities, of rypt, and lamluks; !aty with annels of 3e s-upply the West, wo of the s'orld, the e Cape of ital to the )encd the Western the East, lie Arabs, es in the Persian Gulf, East Coast of Africa, and ^Ialal)ar coast. Muscat became af>^roatcm])orium; IMoliannnedan cokmios were cstabhsliod at ^lagadoxa, Hrava, and (^uilon; they were a power in Guzcrat, C*anibay, Diu, and Ceylon, and even extended themselves to Malacca, and traded witli the Moluccas. The great mart in the Persian Gulf was the island of Kais, or Kenn of our seamen (the Kisi of Marco Polo), which obtained a surprising degree of opulence; at the present day the ruins of the ancient town of Harira, about two and a half miles from IMashi Point, attest the greatness of this emporium. But the arrival of the Portuguese gave a death-blow to the ascendency of these Mohammedan merchants. The trade of Malacca, Diu, Ceylon, Brava, and other places, Avas wrested from them, and Ormuz, under Christian sway, eclijised the commercial greatness of Kais, though it again was extinguished in 1622, by the rise of Gom- broon or Bunder Abbas, on the adjacent coast, when to a considerable extent the trade of Persia was temporarily revived. The Arabs of Muscat now became famous as a pirate state, and for a century harassed the trade of the Mogul Emperors, and their dependents the mer- chants of Holland, France, and Britain; but gradually they were chased from the seas, chiefly through the instrumentality of the War Marine of the British East India Company established at Surat and Bombay for the protection of their commerce, which at a later date developed into the Indian Xavy. How formidable these Arab pirates were at one time, may be gathered from the fact that, in the years 1809 and 1819, powerful com- bined military and naval expeditions were directed against their strongholds in the Persian Gulf, and it was only after the treaty of peace, signed in January, 1820, at their capital of Ras-ul Khymah (also known as Julfa ' ll' ^ :\> i "I I' ' 1 r 1 , ■ 1 l! i u 182 MAUITIMK DISCUVMHV. in old works f)f tnivel) thiit the fanatical votaries of Ab(l-ul-\Vabab, Avliose lilood-red fia^ liiid lon^^ been the terror of peaceful traders, and even of i)owerful poten- tates like the iniauni of Muscat, Avere brou;»ht to under- stand that the (jlreat 'Company Hahadoor,* which had succeeded to the suzerainty of the Mo<^uls, were as poAverful on the sea as tlu^y had shown themselves on land by the conquest of India. ]\Iention has already been made of the celebrated Arabian traveller and liis- toriiin, Massudi, and of Ibn llaukal, a contemporary of his, Ijotli of whom visited India, the latter confining his visits to the cities in or near the Gulf of Cambay, whicli, he says, 'are the towns with which I am accpiainted.' The Chinese scholar, Stanislas Julien, published in 1858, the narrative of the ' Journeys of Iliouen-thsang',' who passed seventeen years (from 029-4')) in the countries to the west of China, and especially in IJengal, and all Southern India, as far as Pondicherry, returning by Malwa, Scindc, and Mooltan. In the beginning of the ninth century a Mohammedan merchant, Soleiman * by name, started from the Persian Culf, visited the Gulf of Cambay, Malabar coast, the Coromandel coast near jVIadras, and, crossing the Bay of Bengal, proceeded to Burmah, Siam, and China. Soli- man mentions the port of Siraf in the Persian Gulf, as the emporium where the Cliinese ship their goods, which came from Bussorah and other ports. There has been much controversy as to the identity of this port of * See his narrative translated from an original Arabic MS., in the library of the Count do Seiguelay, by Renaudot in 1718, rendered into English in 1733, and again in vol. i. of Harris's 'Voyages* in 1744, and finally through a revisod translation into French, by M. Renaud in 1845. THE INDIAN TUAVELH OF SOLEIMAN AND HEN'J AMIS'. IB.'J ic8 of 11 the potcn- uuder- h Imd ere ns 1 selves ready Iiis- I'avy of ifiniiiir imbay, I am Julien, leys of (from a, and as far ), and medan Persian 3t, the Bay of Soli- riilf, as goods, ;re has aort of , in the endered iges' in by M. I Siraf. Some think it was situated at the Bay of C^" uh, or Cheroo, in lat. 2(r 42', on the Persian coast, thirty miles to tlie west of Charek, l)ut Cai)tains Constable and Stitle, of the Indian Xavy, have identified it with Taurie, or Tahri, in lat. 27° 40'. Soleiinan says that from Bussora to Siraf is 120 leagues, and from thence to Muscat 200 leagues. The Mohammedan traveller, whose account appears to have been written a.d. 8')0, calls the Indian Ocean the Sea of Ilerkend, the liay of Bengal being known to Oriental gcograi)her» as the Sea of Delarour, the Simes IMagus of the ancients. Eastern writers frequently speak of the seven seas, which are exclusive of the Ocean, which they call l>ab Mahit. There are the seas of Ilerkend and Delarour ; the sea of Persia or Bussora (the Persian Gulf) ; the sea of Ilot- zuma (Red Sea), so called from a town thought bv Harris to be the Clisma of the ancients; the Sea of Roum, or Constantinople (the Mediterranean) ; the sea called Al Chozar, or the Caspian ; and the sea of Pont, or Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus). Another important voyage in l^astern seas is that of the Si)anish Jew Benjamin, who started from Tudela in 11 GO, on a journey extending for a period of thirteen or fourteen years. In pages 13G-143 of the translation of his * Travels,' made by Mr. Asher of Berlin, is the portion relating to his voyage m the Persian Gulf, in which the island of Kais, and El Catif (still known as Kateef) are mentioned. But the voyage of Marco Polo claims chief attention as regards the detailed observation by which it is characterised, and, as Sprengel observes, ' was long the general Manual of Asiatic Geography throughout entire Europe, especially after the voyages of the Portuguese had^confirmed many of his supposed rhodomontades.' In company with his father and his ri\\ Lt ^V; I ::t ; lf .84 MAUITIMK DISCOVERY. uncle, natives of A'^enice, who had many years before made a trading journey to Tartary, Marco Polo started in 1271, and after travelling for three years and a half across Asia and encountering a variety of dangers and disasters, at length reached the court of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China. Marco became a great favourite with the Khan, and was employed by him in several important missions to distant provinces. After a resi- dence of seventeen years at the Court of Kublai, he became extremely anxious to return to his native countr}', and at length obtained permission to accompany the ambassadors of a King of Khorassan, who had come to demand a princess of the Khan's family in mar- riage for their sovereign. The voyage occupied a year and a half through the Indian Seas, before he reached the court of this king, named Arghun. Thence he travelled to Constantinoj^le, and finally reached Venice in 1295. On this return voyage, he proceeded to the king- dom of Ziamba, where he learned much of Great Java (Java), though he did not himself visit either that island or Borneo. He then sailed southward, and passing the small island of Pentan (Bentang) came to Java Minor, under which namt^ he designates Sumatra. He appears then, says Mr. Major, to have sailed along its coasts through the Straits of Malacca to Seilan (Ceylon), noticing on his way the Island Angaman (Andaman Islands). After some stay at Ceyloi he sailed to Mayabar, which, however, must not be con- founded with Malabar, but is the coast of Corom.uidel. He notices its fine cottons ; also its various superstitions, as the worship of the cow, the abstinence from animal food, the courtesans dedicated to the service of the temple, and the acts of voluntary self-sacrifice to their gods, as well as the custom of females burning them- W" — -^' MARCO rOLOS VOYAGE TO INDIA. 185 'I 'I ears before olo started and a lialf mgers and blai Khan, t favourite in several fter a resi- Kublai, he his native [iccompany who had ily in mar- 3ied a year •eached the e travelled in 1295. the kinor- jrreat Java ither that ivard, and y) came to i Sumatra, iled alonff to Seilan Angaman ^eyloi he >t be eon- iroir.iudel. •erstitions, )m animal ce of the 36 to their ng them- If i^clvjs after the death of their husbands. Then passing Cape Comorin he sailed along the coasts of Malabar, where he notices the abundance cf pepper and ginger ; then along those of Guzerat and Cambaia, and so, across the Indian Ocean, home. In the course of his inquiries and explorations, Marco Polo took pains to make him- self acquainted with the natural history and products of each country, and by his observations on the manufac- tures and navigation of different countries, he constantly shows his sense of what would be chiefly interesting to a maritime and commercial people like the Venetians. The commerce of India, he found, extended from the territories of Kublai Khan to the shores of the Pers^ian Gulf and the Red Sea. He expatiates not only on the products of the countries, such as the palm, betel nut, and spices, but also of the topaz, the amethyst, and the emerald, of the sapphires of Ceylon, the diamonds of Golconda, and the rubies from the mountains of Thibet. He furthermore traces down, as far south as the Island of Madagascar, the nautical explorations of the Asiatics of the Middle Ages, and suggests to us an explanation of the reasons why those early navigators failed in dis- covering the southernmost point of Africa. ' They can- not go,' he says, 'further south than this island and that of Zanguebar, because the current draws them so strongly towards the south that they cannot turn back again. The vessels from Mayabar (Coromandel) take twenty days in reaching this island and three months in returninof, so strono; does the current lie towards the south, and never has any other direction.' Chief among the Mohammedan geographers and travel- lers of Further Asia, we may safely place Ibn Batuta.* * A translation of Lis travels, from the abridged Arabic manuscript copies in the Public Library of Cambridge, with notes on the history, i*\ lil 186 MARITIME DISCOVERY. i , . i ■■ .1. This indefatigable explorer started in the year of the Hegira 725 (a.d. 1324), from his native city, Tangier, at the age of twenty-two or twenty-three, and continued for thirty years with unwearied diligence travelling about in distant countries. Ibn Batuta, who was a Moor by birth, and a doctor of the Mohammedan laws and traditions by profession, set out with the purpose of accomplishing the mission to Mecca, and proceeded by land tOAvards Egypt. The account of his singular ad- ventures derives interest from the details which he introduces, not only of the natural productions and agriculture of India, but of its manners, institutions, and history, under the Afghan dynasty, which preceded for nearly 300 years the establishment of the Mogul power. He gives an historical retrospect, extending from the first conquest of Delhi by the Mohammedans in 1188, to the accession of the reigning sovereign. Sultan Mahomed, the son of Tughlak, in 1325, and continues the narrative by his personal adventures in India, where he arrived at the crisis when the tyranny of Sultan Mahomed drove all the governors of the provinces into open revolt, and led to the erection of independent kingdoms in Bengal and the Deccan. On the arrival of an embassy fi'om the Emperor of China, Ibn Batuta accepted an appointment as one of the envoys destined to convey the gifts sent in return by Sultan Mahomed, and, receiving his credentials and outfit, quitted Delhi early in the year of the Hegira 743 (a.d. 1342). He had not advanced many days' journey towards the coast, when his escort was overpoAvered in a conflict with the Hindoos, his colleague in the embassy geography, botany, antiquities, etc., of the countries visited, was made by Professor Lee, and printed for the Oriental Translation Committee, London, 1829, 4to. THE TRAVELS IN INDIA OF IBN BATUTA. 187 *ar of the Tangier, continued travelling 10 was a idan laws urpose of ceded by ?ular ad- whicli he ions and ititutions, preceded e Mogul ixtending mmedans overeign, 325, and ntures in tyranny s of the ection of m. iperor of Ls one of n return tials and ^ira 743 journey vered in embassy was made ommittee, killed, and he himself, escaping with difficulty from his captors, made his way back, alone and on foot, to the presence of the emperor. After renewing his equip- ments, he again set forward, and this time reached without molestation the distant port of Calicut, where the Chinese junks awaited the embassy. He describes, among other places through which he passed, the cities of Daulatabad, Goa, and Onor, on the coast, and con- firms the statements of Marco Polo as to the habits of the people. The Imperial embassy remained three months in Calicut, till the monsoon enabled them to sail for China ; but every stage in this mission was doomed to misfor- tune. While the envoys and the suite, with the costly gifts of which they were the bearers, were in course of embarkation at the port, a violent tempest arose, by which part of the squadron was driven on shore and Avrecked ; while the remaining vessels, on board of which Ibn Batuta's property and harem had already been embarked, were driven far out to sea, and instead of returning to Calicut, made the best of their way to China. Batuta himself had accidentally delayed going on board ; but his two colleagues perished in one of the stranded ships, and he was left with only his prayer- carpet and ten dinars, which, he philosophically says, ' I kept as a blessing, as they had been given me by some holy men.' At length, receiving intelligence that all his property had been confiscated on the arrival of the junks in China, he determined to resume his wanderings, and, setting sail from Onor, arrived in ten days at the Zabiyah-al-Mohli, or Maldive Islands. ' These islands,' he says, ' constitute one of the wonders of the world, for their number is about 2000, nearly 100 of which are i 188 MARITIME DISCOVERY. SO close together as to form a kind of rirg. The people are religions, chaste, and peaceable ; they cat ^vhat is lawful, and their prayers are answered. Their bodies are weak, they make no war, and their weapons are prayers.* Their chief diet was fish, rice, and the fruit of the cocoa tree. The coir-rope, formed from the fibres of this tree, was their principal article of commerce, and a sea-shell, called wada, was current in lieu of coined money. On the arrival of Ibn Batuta in Ceylon, he visited the mountain of Serendib, the Adam's Peak of Arab geograj^hers, which they had seen from the sea, ' like a pillar of smoke,' at the distance of nine days' sail, and on the summit of which is the famous footstep attributed by tradition to Adam, and called by the Cingalese the footstep of Buddha, His stay in the islands of the Indian Archipelago was not of long duration, but he describes with accuracy and minute- ness the clove, camphor, nutmeg, and other spices. The only adventure which marked Ibn Batuta' s voyage to Sumatra, was the sight of a huge distant object in the air, which the sailors declared was a ' rokh,' the giant-bird alluded to in the narrative of Sindbad, for which some men of letters* claim an ,^! * The learned Baron Walckenaer, in a paper read before the Academio dcs Belles Lettres, on the 23rd of July, 1831, and pub- lished in the ' Nouvelles Annales des Voyages,' tome liii. p. 6, con- sidered the narrative as genuine. Although the voyages of Sindbad the Sailor have been inserted in the * Thousand and One Nights,' they form in Arabic a distinct and separate work, a translation of which into French was made by M. Langles, and published in Paris in 1814. The Baron Walckenaer ascribes to the voyages of Sindbad a date about coincident with that of Solciman, that is the beginning of the ninth century; and, says Mr. Major, although, doubtless, these voyages may bo imaginary when regarded as the explorations of an individual, they are not the less certainly based upon real facts within the knowledge of the Arabs of the time. Of Sindbad's account of the THE VOYAGE OF SINDBAD. 189 The people fit Avhat is leir bodies 'apons are I the fruit the fibres fierce, and of coined Ceylon, he s Peak of 1 the sea, line days' IS footstep I by the ly in the '' of lono- i minnte- ices. Batuta's :e distant 3d was a frative of claim an before the > aud pub- • p. 6, con- 'f Sindbad ghts/ they I of which is in 1814. •ad a date ing of the ess, these ions of au cts within unt of the authenticity that will astonish those of us who have always considered them as mere stories told by the fair Princess Sheherazade at the request of her sistc Dinarzade : ' Sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us one of those beautiful stories of yours.' In Wilford's paper on Egypt and other countries (' Asiatic Researches,' vol. viii. p. 343) we read : ' In the language of mytho- logy the nagas, or uragas, are large serpents, and the garudas, or supernas, immense birds, Avhich arc either the condors of M. Buffon, and vulture griffons of Linnieus, called rokhs by the Arabian fabulists and Marco Polo, or mere creatures of imagination, like the simor of Socotra who spent s it was for command, and, on the 1st of August, 1507, sailed for India with four ships, leaving six behind under com- mand of Albuquerque, ' and this not without many tears on either side,' says the chronicler. Having taken in cargoes, Da Cunha sailed for Portugal, where he arrived in safety, and his exploits on the East African coast, both as an explorer and conqueror, have been immor- talised by Camoens, in his celebrated poem of the ' Lusiad.' On the 10th of August, Albuquerque proceeded to Calayatt (Kalliat), between Ras el Had and Soor, and Curiarte (or Keriya), situated near a cape of the same name, a little south of Muscat, which he took by assault, capturing twenty-five guns, and burnt the town and thirty-eight vessels. Four days later he arrived off Muscat,* which he also captured after some severe * Muscat was in possession of tho Portuguese from a.d. 1508 to 1G51, when they were expelled from all their possessions in Arabia by a simultaneous revolt of the Arabs. They fortified tho place strongly, and built tho forts Jillali and Marani ; probably the others also are, in part at least, of Portuguese origin. In a Portuguese in- scription over tho inner gate of Marani is tho date 1588, and in an old wooden gate at the custom-house, is cut * Anno 1624.' Their expulsion from Muscat was effectcdby the Imam Sultan-ben-Seif, about a.d. 1 651-52, but only through the treachery of a Banyan, Narootem by name, who was treasurer and general agent to tho Portuguese, and whose daughter the commandant, Pereira, foolishly insisted on marrying. Tho crafty Banyan obtained his consent that the marriage should be postponed for a year, then he advised the commandant to clear out the water- tanks, to have all the powder restored, by being pounded anew, and the old supplies of wheat to bo removed, to make way for new. The stratagem succeeded, and whilst tho Portuguese were unprepared and lulled into fancied security, I^arootem secretly communicated with tho ruler of Oman, Sultan-bcn-Seif, advising him to attack the place on the following Sunday. Tho Arabs came on that day, surprised and slew the Portuguese, and recovered the town. The same Imam, fired with his successes against the Portuguese, attacked Diu and Damaun, carrying off an immense booty. (See Hakluyt Society's * Imams and Seyyids of Oman.') 200 MARITIME DISCOVERY. n'^'i If fighting ; having burnt the city and thirty-four vessels, he embarked much spoil and sailed from Muscat. So great was the terror of Albuquerque's name, that on the way he received the submission of the large town of Sohar on the Batna coast, where there was a strong fort having two towers ; he also captured, after severe fighting, another town called Orfacao, described as a large one, which was also burnt. Having rounded Ras Mussendom, Albuquerque arrived at Ormuz. He says in his ' Commentaries,' which are derived from his despatches to King Emanuel : ' The king detained all the ships in port, and added a force of sixty great vessels, having many soldiers and much artillery. Among them was one belonging to the King of Cambaya, called the 3feri, of 1000 tons, with many men and guns, and another of 600 tons ; and besides these ships, there were in the harbour 200 galleons, long ships with many oars, not very large, but armed with two large mortars in the prow : and many terradas (shore boats) full of small guns and men wear- ing armour. On shore, too, there were about 15,000 or 20,000 men, very brilliant with their arms, and many of them on horses.'* After much parlejdng, Albuquerque attacked the fleet, which he routed, capturing the Meri and several other ships by boarding. By his account, the slaughter was immense, for no quarter was given, and even the poor wretches swimming towards the shore were cut off^ and despatched, so that 'the sea was so tinged with blood, that it was a fearful thing to look at.' We are further told that ' one cabin-boy alone put to ■>*■ The description of the places captured by Albuquerque, and the resistance he met with, are doubtless much exaggerated. The Portuguese presumed upon the ignorance of their countrymen, as would appear from modern observation. Albuquerque's victories in the Persian gulf. 201 vessels, t. s name, I of the , where he also n called io burnt. 3 arrived hich are !l : ' The I force of ad much the King with and ns, ms ; our 200 arge, but nd many ten wear- 5,000 or nd many ked the eri and )unt, the ven, and he shore was so look at.' e put to Le, and the ted. The ;rymen, as (f death eighty Moors,' and ' the gunners put many men to death.' Albuquerque was wounded while seeking to land at the jetty, but his victory was nevertheless so complete, that Khojah Attah, the minister of the king, Turan Shah, a boy of fifteen, sued for peace, and the young prince signed a treaty agreeing to pay an annual tribute of 15,000 xerafins to the Kin": of Portugal, whose suzeramty he acknowledged, as well as 5000 xerafins for the expenses of the fleet, and permission to build a fort, the foundations of which were laid on the 24th of October. The fleet was now refitted, but the fort was not completed, owing to the hostile attitude of the people of Ormuz, and of Khojah Attah, who was encouraged by the numerical weakness of the Portu- guese, who only numbered -AGO men, and by the captains of their ships, three of whom deserted their chief and sailed for India. After some fighting at Ormuz ard the neighbouring island of Queixome (Kislim), whither he Avent to take in water, Albuquerque, who was guilty of great barbarity in slaughtering men, women, and children alike, proceeded, in April, 1508, to Socotra, where he found the garrison sufi'ering from the ex- tremity of famine. In August he returned to Ormuz, but was not in suflicient strength to enforce the treaty, and, in the following December, arrived at Cannanore, where he found the captains who had deserted him in high favour with the Viceroy Almeida. The latter had re- ceived his letters of recall by a squadron of three ships from Portugal, having served the prescribed period of three years, but he took advantage of his superior strength to refuse to yield up his authority. Desirous of revenging the death of his son, a gallant young officer, who had fallen in action with the Guzerat and Egyptian fleet, Almeida proceeded to the northward liii 202 MAKITIME DISCOVERY. ■n 'II- "with nineteen f?ail. Having captured Dabhol, the i)rin- cipal town on the Anjemvil river, lie attacked and routed, with great slaughter, the combined fleet of the enemy, though the glory of the victory was dimmed by the massacre of all the prisoners. On his return to Cochin, Albuquerque again pressed Almeida to resign the government into his hands, but the latter refused, and even took the step of causing the successor ap- pointed by his sovereign to be seized and thrown into the fort of Cannanore ; however, on the arrival of Fer- dinand Contighi, Grand- Marshal of Portugal, who was sent out with fifteen ships and 3000 men to put Albu- querque in possession of the government, Almeida sailed for Europe. On the 1st of March, 1510, he w^as slain, together with many of his men, at Saldanha Bay, in a quarrel with the natives. Albuquerque now commenced his extraordinary career of conquest. With a fleet of thirty ships he at- tacked Calicut on the 2nd of January, and set fire to the town, but, while plundering the palace, Contighi and eighty men were killed and 300 wounded, among the number being Albuquerque. As soon as he re- covered after this repulse, Albuquerque proceeded against Goa with twenty-one ships, and, having cap- tured the city, entered it in state on the 17th of Feb- ruary, 1510. He placed as governor his nephew, An tonio de Noronha, who, however, was killed, and the place retaken by Kumal Khan, general of the King of Bejapoor, who attacked it with 60,000 men. Albu- querque now appeared off the city with twenty- three ships and 5000 fighting-men, and captured it with the loss of only fifty men, the enemy losing, it was said, 6000. Albuquerque, who now harboured vast designs of tonquest, on the 2nd of May, 1511, sailed from Cochin i the prin- ked and it of the limed by eturn to resign refused, ssor ap- )wn mto 1 of Fer- vvho was it Albu- ia sailed as slain, lay, in a ordinary )s he at- t fire to ontighi among he re- [•oceeded ng cap- of Feb- nephew, and the King of Albu- 'ee ships the loss 6000. igns of Cochin ALBUQUERQUE S CONQUESTS IN IklALACCA. 203 with nineteen ships and 1400 men for Malacca, the prince of which, Mohamed by name, had, in September, 1509, treacherously detained some seamen of the squadron commanded by Sequelha, a Portuguese officer, who had sailed for Cochin on the lOtli of August to make discoveries, and had returned to Portugal. The prince surrendered his prisoners but refused compensa- tion, upon which, Albuquerque attacked the city by sea and land, and, though it was said to be defended by 80,000 men, carried it by storm, capturing immense booty. Having built a fort here, and received and sent embassies to Siam and Pegu, he left Rodriguez Patalino in command, and sailed, in the following year, for Cochin, but off Sumatra encountered a terrible storm,* in which he lost the greater part of his fleet . Albuquerque now resolved to undertake the long- projected attack on Aden, a natural fortress which his practised eye taught him would form an important link in the chain which, extending from Brava to Malacca, would make Portugal the mistress of the East. Accord- ingly, on the 18th of February, 1513, he appeared before Aden with a fleet of twenty sail, having on board 2500 men, of whom two-thirds were Portuguese. But he had underrated its strength, and the great admiral had to retire discomfited from the walls of a place which yielded, in 1839, to a British force of four ships and 1400 men. Albuquerque now proceeded to the Bed Sea, and, after remaining for some time at the Island of Kamaran, returned to India. Early in 1514, he sailed with twenty- two ships from * It is related of Albuquerque, that, his ship having struck on a rock, just as he was leaving her, he saw a young man fall from one of the masts into the sea, upon which he sprang overboard and rescued him at the imminent risk of his own life. yi 204 MARITIME DISCOVERY. ■' ■!< Goa, for the last time, on his memorable expedition against Ormuz ; on arriving before that place, in March, he forced the young king, Turan Shah, to accede to his terms — the surrender of the citadel and all his artillery, with an acknowledgment of the sujiremacy of the Crown of Portugal. While here, Albuquerque received an embassy from Ismail, King of Pert^ia, and, having placed his relative, Pedro, in command, sailed for Goa, off which city he died, after a few days' illness, on the 16th of December, 1515, at the age of sixty -three. TI\is remarkable man — whose chief fault was his boundless ambition, for he was indifferent to personal aggrandisement, and, says Machado, ' his desire was more for glory than wealth '■ — had formed designs to divert the Nile into the Red Sea before it reached Egypt, so as to deprive the Egyptians of the trade, and to attack Mecca and plunder the tomb of Mohammed, with a small body of horse landed in the Persian Gulf — both rather chimerical schemes. Shortly before his death, his mortal enemy, Loj)ez Soarez, arrived from Portugal with thirteen ships, and, it was said, that his supersession and the denial by the king, his master, of the title of Duke of Goa, which he had solicited, conduced to his decease. He is said, on hearing of his supersession, to have exclaimed, after animadverting on the ingratitude of his king and countrymen : ' To the grave then, old man, for it is now high time : to the grave.' Albu- querque, who deservedly earned the title of ' Great,' was not only a great conqueror and a prescient statesman, but a distinguished navigator and discoverer, and it is in this light that his achievements are deserving of especial notice in this work. He is eminent not only as the founder of Portuguese forts and settlements at Goa, Calicut, Ormuz, Cochin, Cannanore, Socotra and Malacca, .V- DEATH OF ALBUQUERQUE. 205 tl )edition March, e to his rtillery, Crown ^ed an placed - which I 6th of as his crsoiial re was igns to ) attack with a f— both ath, his ;al with 'session title of to his sion, to ■atitude len, old Albu- it,' was ;esman, it is in especial as the t Goa, [alacca, I r •' but as the first European to sail on the waters of the Red Sea, and to explore the coasts from Brava to Malacca. His personal appearance is thus described by Diojo liarbosa Machado, in his ' Bibliotheca Lusitana Historica :' 'In stature he was ordinary, his face loi j and fresh-coloured, his nose aquiline, his aspect agreeable and made venerable by the w^hite beard which reached down to his waist.' The likenesses of Albuquerque, of which we are cognisant, represent his countenance as Dantesque in its stony severity, like that of the weird, dumb boatman Avlio piloted the dead Elaine in her last voyage to Arthur's palace : * As hard and still as is the faco that men Shape to their fancy's eye from broken rocks On some cliff-side.' Fifty-one years after his death, his body was removed, in accordance with a request contained in his will, from Goa to Lisbon, w^here it was interred with great pomp on the 19th of May, 1566. His successor, Soarez, quickly displayed his incom- petence, for though he sailed to the Red Sea Avith a fleet of thirty-seven sail, he achieved no result, and returned to Goa with the loss of nearly one-third of his ships in a storm. The only memorable events in his viceroyalty were the visit for trading purposes of eight Portuguese ships to China, despatched in 1517 by Andrada, Governor of Malacca, and the agreement of the King of Ceylon, in the same year, to become tributary to Portugal and allow the construction of a fort at Colombo. The Portuguese retained possession of this island until the year 1657, when they were dispossessed by the Dutch, who had first begun to trade here in 1602, and who again were ousted by the British in 1796.* * A Portuguese officer, Eibeyro by name, wrote the history of Ceylon in 1685, and presented it to the King of Portugal. The 206 MARITIME DISCOVERY. ( • The Portuguese had established themselves in many other places since their arrival in the East. In 1508, Diego Lopez de Sequeira first visited Sumatra, and it was not until the year 1596 that the Dutch, who later became its masters, made their first ajDpearance. In 1511, the Portuguese, under Francis Serrano and Diego d'Abreu, discovered the Moluccas,* or Spice Islands. These ofiicers had been sent on a voyage of discovery, and the former penetrated as far as Ternate, and the latter visited the islands of Amboyna and Banda. A Portuguese writer, one Argensola, gives a history of the Moluccas, where his countrymen remained eight years. On his return voyage Serrano lost his life. The Dutch first began to trade with Ternate in "^ '99, and they assisted the native king to throw off the yoke of the Spaniards and Portuguese, the latter having, in 1580, lost their independence, and become subject to Philip II. of Spain, in which state they continued for sixty years, when the Duke of Braganza mounted the throne of Portugal as John IV. The first fort that the Dutch built in Ternate was Terlucco, and the second, Orange, which was captured by a British military and naval force in 1801. Portuguese settlements were also established at Tidor, Timor, and other islands, but they fell to the arms of the Dutch early in the seventeenth century, and, two centuries later, were captured by the British, though all conquests in this part of the world were restored at the peace in 1814. From a work privately printed at Macao, in 1831, island, during the one hundred and fifty years of its occupancy, had sixteen captain-generals, the first being Pedro Lopez de Souza, and the last, Don Antonio d'Amaral y Meneses. * The Portuguese have laid claim to discovering the J adrone Islands, because Magellan, who first visited them in 1521, was their country- man. . i !; Till-: I'OKTUGUKSK IN CHINA. 207 599, called the ' Canton Miscellany,' quoted by Sir John Davis in his excellent work on China, it appears that, in 151G, within a year of the death of Albuquerque, the Portuguese first made their appearance at Canton, where tlieir mercenary greed did not give a very favourable idea of European character. In the previous year a vessel, under one Perestrello, had made its ap|)earancG at the mouth of the Canton river, and the venture beiuir a connnercial success, eight ships followed under the command of Perez de Andrada, who was i)crmitted to proceed with two to Canton, where he successfully negotiated a trade. Some of his vessels returned with cargoes to Malacca ; the remainder sailed in company with some junks, belonging to the Loo-Choo Islands, for the province of Foikien, on the east coast, and succeeded in establishing a colony at Ningpo. The Portuguese subsequently brought their fiimilies to that port, carrying on a profitable trade with other parts of China, as well as with Japan ; but in the year 1 545, the Provincial Government, provoked by their ill-conduct, expelled them from Ningpo. Shortly after Andrada's visit, his brother Simon established a colony and fort at Sanshan, near Macao (corrupted into St. John, and famous as the place where Francis Xavier, the ' Apostle of the Indies,' died in 1552) ; but was attacked and defeated by a Chinese force. A strange chapter in the history of Portuguese relations with China, is that of the adventures of Ferdi- nand Mendez Pinto, who, at the head of a crew of desperadoes, plundered a quantity of silver from the tombs of seventeen Chinese kings, on an island north- east of Ningpo, but was attacked and compelled to retire. Being overtaken by a gale, only Pinto and thirteen Portuguese escaped with their lives, and were sent -t. 208 MARITIME DISCOVEUY. m ri't prisoners to Nankin and Pckin, whence tliey were liberated by the Tartnr.s, into whose service they entered, but Pinto ultimately found his way to Ningpo, whence he was taken off by a pirate, and driven by adverse winds to Japan. On his return to Ningpo, Pinto accompanied a large expedition to Japan, but his ship and others were v/reckcd on the Loo-Choo Islands, wlience he returned to Malacca. Ultimately this pirate turned saint, and engaged in a mission to Japan. The first European embassy to Pekin was that under Thomas Pirez, in 1520, the object being to establish a factory at Canton, as well as at Macao, but, owing to the feeling caused by the conduct of Simon de Andrada, Pirez was sent back to Canton, where he was thrown into prison and died. The Portuguese first established factories at Macao in 1537, but this place remained under a Chinese officer, called the Tso-Tang, and, in T725, by an imperial edict, the number of vessels, Portuguese aud S2)anish, permitted to trade with Macao, was restricted to twenty-five, though it seldom numbered more than half that number. In 1G30, the Portuguese trade with Japan was stopj^ed by an imperial edict, and when in the following year an embassy proceeded from Macao to Nagasaki, to plead for its resumption, its members to the number of sixty-one, including the envoy, Louis Pacheco, who had served with honour as commander of the Portuguese armies in the East Indies, and was seventy-eight years of age, were executed, their ships were burnt, and the survivors, thirteen in number, sent back to Macao. In 1647, and again in 1685, they renewed their attempts to open a trade with Japan, but without success. Captain Alexander Hamilton, in his 'New Account of the East Indies/ where he remained fi:om hi TIIK rORTUOUESE IN MACAO, 209 1688 to 1718, mentions tlic Portun^uesc Hcttlenicnt ut Xin<»[)o, which lie; calls Liinpoa, where they had about 1000 families settled and were cl occu- pied oy the Christians who fled from S[)ain when that Country was conquered by the Moors; and the Spaniards endeavoured to find them soon after their discosery of America. Northward of these cities tlic maps of the times placed the Island of the Devil's Hand, in accord- ance with an Arabian tale, which relates tliat, in the Indian sea, there is an islar ' near which a great hand rises every night from the v.at , and, grasping the in- habitants, plunges them "./") tine ocean. Farther on to the Avestward, but nea^ \^> equator, was placed St. Brr,ndon's Island, and stiu tarther on, many of the countries visited by M i cj Polo, which were said to abound in everything rich and beautiful, while the ad- jacent seas were peopled with sirens. Beyond these countries, but on the other side of the equator, were placed ten small islands, where ships could not sail, owing to the loadstone, which abounds in the rocks, attracting the nails and ironwork out of the ships, and so causing them to fall to pieces. Doubtless these fables had a certain effect upon the coast around every part of that Strait long before Magellan thought of his expedi*' a.' As Barron observes, the story of Behim's prior dis- coveries had its origin in the following remarkable passage in Pigafetta's narrative of Magellan's famous voyage : * The Captain-General knew that ho must make his passage through a Strait mouth concealed, as he had seen on a chart in the depOt of the King of Portugal, made by that most excellent man, Martin de Breraia.* Herrera also asserts that Magellan was in possession of a terrestrial globe made by Behim to assist him in directing his course to the South Seas, and that Colum- bus was confirmed iu his opinion of a western navigation by his friend Martin do Bohemia. (Sec Buruey's 'History of Voyages and Dis- coveries,' vol. i. p. 3.) ill! 250 MARITIME DISCOVEUY. I 1 i? mind of Columbus, in stirring him up to solve the problems and difficulties which had long been started on this point, but they could not have been sufficient to decide the calm and logical judgment for which he was conspicuous, which caused him to reason that land ex- isted to the westward, and tliat, by sailing in that direc- tion, the East Indies must necessarily be reached. A due consideration of the spherical figure of the earth, by which he was aware that India could be approached from Europe if land intervened, with the fullest know- ledge of astronomy, geography, and navigation whicli the times afforded, were the main aids whicli incited this distinguished navigator to institute, and to carry to a successful termination, the task of examining the more distant portions of the globe. Irrespective of his claims to immortal renown as the discoverer of the Kew World, and the enthralling in- terest attaching to the narrative of his ^'oyages, it is certain that the biography of Columbus is of value as showing wOiat high character, indomitable perseverance, and illustrious talents will achieve. From his youth he was filled with the consciousness of having a destiny to fulfil, and obstacles and difficulties, so far from daunting him, only urged this hero, in the true sense of the word, to persevere until he achieved the discovery of the Western hemisphere. If the first man who launched the frail bark on the stormy billow is entitled to immortal renown, how far greater was the courage of this indomitable seaman who dared to cross the unknown and mysterious Atlantic. ' Illi robur et aes triplex Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci Commisit pelago ratem Primus.' COLUMBUS S FIRST VOYAGE. 251 olvc tlie tarted on icicnt to b lie was land ex- lat dircc- hed. A jarth, by proached it know- •n which ited this irry to a he more n as the ling in- es, it is alue as /^erance, outh he destiny ir from sense of seovery n who entitled courage >ss the ( Probably few men have found so many biographers as Columbus, the first l)eing his son Ferdinand, wlio begins his work — for which see ' Pinkerton's Collection,* vol. xii., and * Churchill's Collection,* vol. ii. — by fanci- fully tracing the ancestry of his father to Junius Colon, of whom Tacitus, in his twelfth book, says that ho brought Mithridates prisoner to Home. Numerous cities claim the honour of having given him birth, though, from a document produced in a process concern- ing his dukedom of A'cragua (see the ' Viagero Univer- sal '), Ferrara wouhl ai)j)ear to be th3 genuine claimant. The opinions Columlnis had formed as to the exist- ence of another hemisphere, must have been strength- ened by various reports, such as that the inhabitants of some of the islands west of Africa had occasionally picked up pieces of artificially-carved wood, which could not have been cut with a knife, and must have been brought thither by strong westerly winds ; that seamen navigat'ng those seas had taken up canes of an extra- ordinary size^ described by Ptolemy as being peculiar to India, trunks of large pine trees, which had been torn up by the roots, and plants such as had not been seen in the Old World ; and that some bodies of men were said to have been cast by the waves upon the shore of Flores, one of the Azores, of which the features and complexions differed essentially from tliose of the in- habitants of Africa or of Europe, or from anything hitherto seen, thus pointing to the conclusion that they had been wafted over from the west. After much toil and vexation of body and mind, endured first at the Court of Portugal, which deluded him, and afterwards at the Court of Spain, Columbus at length, m the year 1 11)2, prepared for ^ea three vessels, having: on board less than 100 men. The task the >i . I: 252 MARITIME DISCOVruV. p^roat navigator set himself was, to reach the Kingdoms of Cathay, or China, and Zii)angii, or Japan, which formed, according to the cosmograpliy of tlie day, part of the great continent of India, on tlie Asiatic coast, and were distant about ono-tliird of tlic circumference of the earth, as was supposed. He thus sot out under the in- fluence of two favourable, though mistaken, ideas — first, that Asia extended considerably more to the east than it really does ; and secondly, that the earth was much smaller than we now know it to be. Columbus sailed from Palos on his ever-memorable voyage, on Friday, the 3rd of August, 1 1})2, with three vessels, the aS*^. Manj, Pinta, and iVma, having on board crews of the aggregate strength of ninety men, the com- manders of the two latter vessels being those ' skilful mariners,' Martin Alonzo and Vincent Yanez Pinzon, who were accompanied by their brother, Francis Mar- tinez Pinzon. During the voyage hope failed in the hearts of all the officers and seamen, and they were only restrained from breaking out into open nuitiny by the determined bearing of Columbus, v/ho appeared as though inspired ; at length, when they had sailed 950 leagues from the Canaries, for a period of thirty-three days, land was first lighted by a sailor, whose name, Roderick de Trians, deserves to be immortalised. In the morning Columbus, accompanied by the Pinzons, landed with a flag bearing a green cross with three crowns and the names of their Catholic Majesties. ' Having all kissed the ground, and, on their knees, given thanks to God for the goodness He had shown them, the admirrl stood up and gave that island the name of San Salvador, which the men called Guanaham, being one of those afterwards called Lucayo Islands.' After discovering other islands in the Bahamas, and Hispaniola, TIIK DIHCOVKUY OF AMERICA. 253 fCinfrdoins in, whicli (Iny, part const, and lice of tlio er tlio iu- niH — first, east than ^'as miicli lemorable .'ith three on board the com- e ' skilful Pinzon, cis Mar- I in the 'ere only y by the ared as iled 950 'ty-three e name, 5ed. In ■^inzons, ;h three ajesties. s, given II them, e name 1, being After paniola, where he lost his shij), and having planted a colony ut a point he called Xavidad (the Nativity), Columbub Hailed on the 4th of January, ll!);i, and, putting in at Ijisbon, where he had an audience of the King of Por- tugal, arrived safely at Palos on the 15th of ]\Iarch.* Columbus's journey from Seville to the Royal Court at Uarcehma was a trium[)hal procession, and Ferdinand and Isabella received him with great distinction. The king seciu'ed a Bull from Pope Alexander VI., dated the 2nd of May, 141)3, granting him the recent dis- coveries, and the Pope, in order to prevent disputes with the Portuguese, who were then in the full career of their discoveries in the Eastern hemisphere, exercised his claim to dispose of the kingdoms of the earth, by issuing, on the same day, ii second l>ull, fixing as limits of parti- tion between these two powers, a meridian to be drawn from pole to pole, one hundred leagues Avest of the Azores iind Ca])e do Verde Islands, all newly discovered lands, as far as 180" to the west, to belong to the crown of Spain, and the same distance eastward, to the Portu- guese. In 141)4, however, at the instance of the latter, the line of partition was removed 270 leagues more to the west. Ferdinand hastened the departure of Columbus on a second voyage of exploration, and, accordingly, on the 25th of September, 1493, he sailed with seventeen ships from Cadiz, and, leaving Gomera, in the Canaries, on the 7th of October, discovered, on the 3rd of November, the island he named Dominica, because it was seen on • A curious reference is made in this voyage to mermaids, -whoso existence Avas believed in by mariners of llicvt day. 'The Admiral affirmed that he had seen three morniaulis that raised themselves above the water, and that they were nob so iiandsomo rt they are painted, that they had something like n luimau ificoj a:id that he had seen others on the coast of Guanim.' These vvere doubtless seals. i ii [!i arcclona), Redonda, on account of its being round; others he called Santa Maria da Antigua; St. Martin ; a group, ' the Eleven Thousand Virgins ' (the largest being named St. Ursula) ; and to the island now known as l*orto ]tico, called by the Indians Boriquen, he gave the name of St. John the Baptist. On the 28th, Columbus anchored at Navidad, in Hispaniola, but found the settlement burnt and deserted, and, on making inquiries, learnt that the Christians had all been either killed by the Indians, or drowned while attempting to escape. On the 7th of December Columbus proceeded to the eastward, and planted a colony, which he called Isabella, and, on the 2nd of February, sent twelve of his ships back to Castile, under the command of Anthony do Torres, ^nth a full account of his proceedings to date, retaining two ships and three caravels. On the 12th of March, he proceeded inland to the mines of Cibao, which had been ' prospected,' as Australians say, by Alonzo de Ilodeida, and here, eighteen leagues from Isabella, he built a fort he called St. Thomas. Columbus, having resolved to continue his discoveries, appointed a council to govern the island of Hispaniola, in his absence, of which the president was his brother James, and sailed on the 24th of April for Cuba. Five days later he crossed the passage between Cape St. Nicholas and that island, and anchored in a bay situated a league beyond COLUMBUS S SECOND VOYAGE. 255 he island e landed, ladaloupe habitants by which c east of :spaniola, noiintain g round ; lartin ; a est being nown as gave the olumbus und the nquiries, tilled by 3ape. 1 to the Isabella, is ships hony de to date, 12th of ), which onzo de ella, he having council ence, of I sailed iter he nd that beyond Cabo Puerto, which he called Puerto Granda (Grand Port). On the 1st of May, he continued his voyage along the coast, discovering and naming the harbours, rivers, and headlands, and then crossed over to Jamaica, and gave the harbour in which he cast anchor the name of Puerto Bueno, because he * thought it was the best of any he had yet seen in the Indies.' After a skirmish with the natives he sailed on the 9th, and leaving Jamaica on the 15th, crossed over to that point of Cuba which he called Cabo de Santo Cruz, (Cape of the Holy Cross). The admiral sailed along the coast, past numberless islands, IGO being counted in one day, and 71 on the second, the navigation among which increased his labour and anxiet}', as we are told that ' he was much spent, because he had not slept or lain in bed ever since he went from Spain till the 19th of May, except eight nights, as appears l)y his journal, Avhen he was very much indisposed.' On the 13th of June, perceiving that the coast of Cuba still trended to the west, although he had been assured by an Indian a few days before that it was an island, and his f^u[)ply of i)rovisions failing him, he re- turned towards Hispaniola. On the 18tli of July he arrived at Cai)e Cruz, in CuVa, near which he nearly lost his ship in a violent storm on the 9th of August, and, standing over to Jamaica, named the most easterly cape on the south coast, Cabo del Farol. Proceeding on his voyage along the coast of Hispaniola, on the 2-ltli of September he named Ca[)e St. Raphael, and touched at the island of Mona, l)etwecn Hispaniola and Porto Rico, and, on the 29th, arrived at IsabeUa. I lere the admiral, to his great joy, met his brother Rartliolomew, whom he had sent seven years before to King Henry VII. of England, to propose that he should undertake the discoveries, and II I ii I rJ i 25G MARITIME DISCOVERY. who had arrived from Si)ain, in the i)revious April, with three ships bringing provisions. Columbus appointed Bartholomew, who is described as ' a very wise man, and as expert in sea affairs as his brother,' Adelantado, or Lord-Lieutenant, which Ferdinand resented, but ulti- mately confirmed him in the title. At this time Pedro Margarite, one of Columbus's officers, refused to obey his orders, and sailed with some vessels for Spain, where he spread lying rei)orts of the doings of his commander, who, on his part, having con- quered the inland part of Hispaniola, and placed his brother Bartholomew in command, with another brother, James, to succeed, in the event of his death, sailed on the loth of March, 1496, with two caravels, John Aguado being in command of the second, having on board 220 men. Calliijg at Marigalante and Guadaloupe, which he left on the 20th of April, on the 8th of June the land between Cape St. Vincent and Lisbon was sighted, and the admiral, landing, journeyed to Ikirgos, where he was I)ersonally received by Ferdinand and Isabella. One ship, under Peter Fernandez, was sent with supplies for the colonists in Hispaniola, but, owing to difficulties thrown in his wa}' by the numerous enemies his success had raised — chief among whom were Juan Fonseca, Archdeacon of Seville, and afterwards Bishop of i^urgos, who ought to be branded for his mean jealousy — it was not until May, 141)8, that he could procure a fleet sufficient to carry the necessary sujDplies to his brother Bartholomew, who, during his absence, had founded the settlement of San Domhigo. Columbus sailed from San Lucar, on his third voyage, on the 18th of May, with six ships, and, having sent, from Gomera, three shij)s, with supplies, in advance, proceeded to the Cape de A^erde Islands, and, :iteering a yagc, sent, [ance, inga COLUMBUS DISCOVERS SOUTH A^IERICA. 257 new course, on the 31st of July sighted a headland he called De la Galera (Gaily Point) in an island to which ho gave the name of Trinidada. Here he named Punta de la Playa (Point of Strand), where he took in water, and Punta del Arenal (Sandy Point), and entered the bay he called De la l^allena (or the Whale), without knowing that he was close to the continent of South America. From Point del Arenal, where his men went ashore to refresh themselves, he saw towards the N.W. what he believed to be an island, wliicli he called Isla Santa, ' which,' says Harris, ' proved to be the province he afterwards called Paria.' ' Being come up to the con- tinent,' adds the historian, ' which he at this time thought to be an islond, he named a headland Cape 13oto (burnt) and auv^ther in Trinidada he called De Lapa, the distance between them being five leagues, with two little islands in the middle, one of which he named El Caracal (the Snail), and the other El Dolfin (the Dolphin).' Owing to the narrowness of the strait dividing Trinidada from the continent, and the broken water of the river Yayapari, where it flows into the sea at the Bay of Bacena, he called the passage Boca del Drago, or the ' Dragon's Mouth.' Columbus now c.i:plored the coast line for some distance, naming Crapes Bellaforma (because it looked well), Del Aguina (Needle), and Sabeta; also a large town he called ' The Gardens/ and other points, Ysabeta and Tramontana, and a large bay, De los Perles, or the ' Bay of Pearls.' On the 11th of August he retraced his steps, intending to proceed to Hispaniola, to send for men and provisions into Spain, and order his brother to continue this discovery ; and, passing between Cai)es Boto and Lapa, sailed aloug the conti- nent, naming the Capes De Concha.^ (Cape of Shells), VOL. I. J 7 I ■;, ■ ■»'. : II m 258 MARITIME DISCOVERY. Luenga (Long Cape), and Capes Sabor and Rico ; also some islands, including Margarita and Cubaque. On the 16th of August, he steered towards Hispaniola, and arrived, on the 22nd, at Santo Domingo, where he was received by his brother Bartholomew, who informed him of the rebellion of one of his officers named Koldan. Some days later arrived the three ships he had sent on in advance from the Madeiras, under Alonzo Sanchez De Carvajal, Pedro de Arana, and John Anthony Columbus, which had put into the port of Xaragua, where Koldan had established himself with his followers. Ultimately one hundred and two of these men addressed a iictition to Columbus in October, llOD, praying lor forgiveness and asking that lands might be assigned to them, and he placed them in the province of Xaragua and other places, ' which,' says the historian, ' was tlie first distribution made in the Indies.' At this time the intrigues and lying reports regard- ing Columbus, spread by those of his rebellious followers who had returned to Sjiain, resulted in Ferdinand and Isabella adoj^ting a course of conduct towards that illustrious man which forms an eternal blot on their memory. Instigated by these mutineers and his enemies at Court, chief among whom was Fonscca, the Bishop of Burgos, their Catholic Majesties, on the 21st of May, 1499, appointed one Travies de Bobadilla, described as ' a poor Knight of the Order of Calatrava.' ^o proceed as judge to Hispaniola, ' to inquire into all these affairs, ordering him, in case he found the admiral guilty of what was alleged, to send him to Spain and stay there himself as Governor.' Bobadilla arrived at Santo Domingo, at the end of August, 1500, when Columbus and his brother was at Conception, ' settling the affairs of that province, where his l)rother had b'^en attacked ^1 ) ; also e. On )la, and he was iformed Koldan. ft>iicci never saw any other part of the coutiucnt than what Columbus i, td tliscovered sailing from the island of Trinity along the coast to Venezuela, yet he (Vespucci), ini- 1 7—2 ! ij' i I 260 MARITIME DISCOVERY. li i)' (, Columbus's companions on his second voyage, under the patronage of the Bishop of Burgos, sailed from Seville with four ships to explore the coast of South America, accompanied by Americus A^espucci (also called Amerigo Vespuchi), a Florentine, whose letters appear in ' Ramusio's Collection,' vol. i. The continent of America very improperly received its name from Ve^ipucci,* who is described by Herrera as ' i vain man, but an enterprising good navigator,' whereas not only is Columbus entitled o the honour, he having discovered the West India Islands, of which the discovery of the continent was a necessary consequence, but in August, 1498, he sighted the mainland which Cabot had already seen in the previous year. Not long after Ojeda sailed, some inhabitants of Seville formed a company, and Peter Alonso Nino, an inhabi- tant of Palos, who was with Columbus when Paria was discovered, obtained a license from the king, ' upon condition that he should not come to anchor, nor land anywhere within fifty leagues of what the admiral had discovered.' One, Guerra, having agreed to defray the necessary expense provided his brother Christopher went as captain, they arrived at the province of Paria a fe ./ days after Ojeda. They carried on a brisk trade in pudently pretended to have first discovered the continent.' In Spain the falsehood and injustice of Lis pretensions were soon discovered, for whereas he pretended that after a voyage of thirteen months spent in discoveries ho returned directly to Spain, Ojeda positively made oath that he spent but five months on the voyage. * This arose from the circumstance that in 1507, after Columbus's death, Vespucci was employed by the King of Spain, with the title of pilot-major, in making charts of the now discoveries, when he gave his own name to the land of South America, which has since been ex- tended to the whole continent. Vespucci is described as * the most accomplished draughtsman and cartographer of his time.' o \. KXPLORATION OF THE SOUIII AMERICAN COAST. 201 under I from South (also letters ntinent e from in man, only is covered f of the A.ugust, already f Seville L inhabi- ^nria was ' upon lior land ral hail ray the istophcr Paria a trade in In Spain iscovered, Dths spent made oath Columbus's ihe title of le gave his been ex- the most \ pearls with the Indians on the coast, and arrived in Galicia on the Gth February, 1500. In 1490, Vincent Yanez Pinzon, an able and daring seaman, who had sailed with Columbus in his first voyage, fitted out four ships at his own cost, and pro- ceeded on a voyage of discover}'. Quitting St. Jago, in the Cape de Verde Islands, on the 13th Januar}^, 1500, he crossed the equinoctial line, his being the first Spanish ship to do so, and, on the 2 Gth February, being drawn to the westward by a storm, sighted land which Pinzon named Cabo de Consolation (Cape Comfort) which was afterwards called Cape St. Agustine. lie landed and took possession of the country in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella, and, after a vain attempt to induce the people to trade, in which life was lo>-t on both sides, continued his voyage to the mouths of the Maranon, since named } ui; .:on, from the statements of travellers that they saw armed women on its banks. Pinzon now proceeded to Paria, and thoice to the Carriljce Islands, and while at anchor here a dreadful storm arose, in which two of his ships sunk with all hands on boa^'d. He refitted the two others at His- paniola, and returned to Spain in September, having explored GOO leagues of coast line. Soon after Pinzon's discovery of the Maranon, a Spanish navigator who had sailed from Spain m December, 1491), arrived at the mouths of that river, when the inhabitfints, enraged at Pinzon having captured thirty-six of their countrymen, attacked him and killed several of his crew. The dis- coverv of the vast country, known as Brazil,* from the * Adventurers visited and settled i:, Brazil, but, in 1549, John 111. of Portugal sent Thomas de Souza as Governor-General 'A Brazil, with six ships, a large number of men, and six Hermit fathers to convert the people. In 1555, Nicholas Durant, with a p;trty of Hu^nicnots, in three vessels, sought refuge here from the tyranny of Henry 11. of 262 MARITIME DISCOVERY. wood aboimdlnpf there, is due to Pedro Alvarez dc Cabral, a I'ortugucse officer, who sailed from Lisbon on the 9th March, 1500, with a fleet of thirteen ships, having on board 1200 men for the East Indies. Having kept far to the westward to avoid the calms that prevail on the Guinea coast, on the 24th April he fell in with the coast of America. He brought to an anchor in a harbour which he called Puerto Seguro (safe harbour), and communicated with the people whom he found very friendly. Cabral called the country Santa-Cruz, or Holy Cross, and, having sent a ship to Portugal, under Gaspar de Lemoa, with news of the discovery, and left behind two men, sailed for the East Indies, Columbus continued to press their Catholic Majesties for permission to return to the Indies, but his proposals were received with coldness, luitil he expressed an opinion that he should be able to discover a passage to the East Indies, and add that portion of the world as well as the West Indies to the Crown of Castile and Leon. This had the desired effect ; a fleet of four ships, one commanded bv his brother liartholomeAv, was im- mediatel}' fitted out, and he set sail from Cadiz on the l)th May, 1502. Arriving at Martinique on the 15th June, he touched at Dominica, Santa Cruz and Porto Rico, and proposed to proceed to San Domingo, to change one of his ships, which was a bad sailor, for another, as he designed to explore the coast of Paria to the westward until he came to the strait which he con- cluded existed about the isthmus of Panama. France, and, in November, settled at a place to which they gave the name of Fort Colignv, where they were joined by some Protestants from Geneva. In 1 325, the Dutch made themselves masters of the capital, called St. Salvador, and the struggle between the Portuguese continued until, by the terms of the treaty of Gth August, IGGO, they finally resigned all claims to Brazil to the House of Braganza. LAST VOYAGK OF COLUMnrS. 203 urez (Ic sbon on I sliips, Having prevail in Avith Lor in a irbour), nd very yiniz, or 1, under and left laiosties roposals ssed an sRage to vorld as tile and ir ships, was ini- '. on the le loth 1 Porto ngo, to ilor, for Paria to he eon- gave the rotostants ;ers of the ortugueso .ist, IGGO, ganza. \ii In order to give notice to Orlando, the governor, he sent in advance Peter de Terreres, one o. his captains, at the same time advising him not to permit the departure of the homeward-bound fleet for a period of eight days, as a storm was imminent. But the governor would not listen to the advice of Columbus, and scarcely had the fleet of eighteen ships sailed than they were overtaken by a terrific hurrioane, in which only four were saved, the ivst foundering with their crews, among those who were drowned being IJobadilla, Roldan, and most of the rebels to Columbus's authority. As for the admiral, being- infused admittance to San Domingo, he took shelter as cK>.-e to the land as he could. During the storm ihive of his ships broke away, but they all rendez- voustxi in safety at the Port of Agua, on the south side of Hispanioia. Columbus sailed on the l-4thof July, and came to the island he called Guanaia near the country now known as Honduras, which he named Cape Casinas. Sailing to the eastward, he called the coast De la Orejas (' of the cars *) because the ears of the inhabitants were bored with large holes. On the 11th of August, his brother went ashore at a cape he named Gracias a Dios, and took possession of the country for the crown of Spain. DiU'hig the months of Soptemler and October, the admiral explored the entire coast to the southward and eastward, naming the towns, rivers, and headlands, and, on the 2nd of November, he arrived at Puerto or Porto Bello, giving it that name, ' because it was lurge, beautiful, well peopled, and encompassed by a well-cul- tivated country;' without knowing it, he was at the narrowest part of the neck of land joining the continents of North and South America, and close to the vast Pacific Ocean, the highway he dreamt of, which war^ to ' es) now known as the Caymans ; whence, after visiting Cuba, they sailed to Jamaica. As the shii>s were now in such a condition that, though the pumps were working all day, they c( uld not be kej)t above Avater, they were beached, and, on the 7th of July, 1503, Columbus sent some of his officers, in two canoes, to Santo Domingo, with a request to the Governor that a ship might be sent to bring them away. After enduring the direst sufferings through thirst, Trendez de Sagura reached Domingo, but, owing to delays by Orlando, it was not until the 28tli of June, 150Jr, that a ship and caravel arrived to remove the shipwrecked mariners from Jamaica to ilispaniola. Meantime a large party under Francis de Porras had broken out into open mutiny, but Bartholomew Colum- bus defeated them in a severe action on the 20th of May, and they gave in their submission. DKATH OF COLUMBUS. 205 M, now •iniiino- irli till* r Betli- H. Ho le adjti- nes of colony s, was liut the heavv , one of er they float, ) iiola, [led tlie iHuans ; La. 1 tliat, uld not on tlio officers, to the 1 away, thirst, /ing to f June, )ve the )aniola. as had Colum- lOth of Cohimbus sailed for Spain on the 12th September, and arrived at San Lucar, the shii) havinfi; lost her main and mizzen masts durinji; the vova v^^/ ^.s'^ Photographic Sdences Corporation ^^ 1 \ SN i •sj :\ \ o^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^A^ t/. & I i , I 11 I I il \i 266 MARITIME DISCOVERY. coffin bearing the following inscription in German Gothic characters : ' Illtro Esdo. Faron Don Christobel Colon.' During his voyages Columbus settled Hispaniola, examined Cuba, visited Jamaica and Port Rico, and discovered most of the West Indies, including Trinidad, the nearest to the South American Continent. He also left behind him projects for extending his discoveries, and among his conjectures was one to the effect that there lay a sea on the other side of the newly- discovered continent, through which there might be a passage to the Indies, the justice of which was veriiied by Magellan fifteen years after his death. His personal appearance is described by a Spanish historian in the following terms : ' Columbus was tall of stature, long visage, of a majestic aspect, his nose aquiline, his e^cs grey, of a clear complexion and ruddy, his beard and hair, when young, fiur, though through many hardships they soon turned grey.' I Is Germf an paniola, CO, and ririidad, He also overies, !ct that covered sage to ied by ersonal in the 2, long- is eyes rd and •dships CHAPTER XII. Sebastian Cabot and his Family — Discovery of Labrador i^nJ New- foundland — The Voyage and sad Fate of Caspar do Corte Real — Cabot explores the River La Plata — Jacques Carthier colonises Canada — The Discoveries of Spanish Navigators — Tiie Voyage of Juan Ponce de Leon on the Coast of Florida, and of Diego Velasquez in Central America — The Career of Hernando Cortez as a Navigator — Discovery of California by Francisco de Ulloa — Nunez do Balboa sights the Pacific Ocean — Magellan rounds South America, discovers the Ladrones and the Philippines, where he is killed — The Expedition continues the Voyage, and making various Discoveries of Islands, completes the first Circumnavigation of the Globe. In, or^[about, the year 1497, Sebastian Cabot, wlio is said to have been of English origin, but brought up at Venice, which he quitted with his father for Bristol, discovered Labrador, Newfoundland, and thus — exclud- in^i" the claims of the Norse navio^atcrs from Iceland, who are said to have visited these parts, some centuries before — to the Cabot family belongs the honour of having first sighted the shores of America, as Columbus did not discover the mainland of that continent until his third voyage, in August, 1498, after leaving Trinidada. It appears that Henry VIL, who then occupied the English throne, in granting Cabot a royal commission to discover and trade with these new countries, was actuated by no more worthy motive than a desire to rival the Spaniards and Portuguese, whose wealth and grandeur, derived chiefly from their discoveries and ex- w Hll 268 MARITIME DISCOVEHV. i«! tensive commercial ventures, inflamed the cupidity of this avaricious hut sagacious monarch. It is imj)ossihle to make out the exact date of the dis- covery of Newfoundland,* as Ilakhiyt puhlishes no less tlian six accounts, Avhich cannot he reconciled. The j)atent of Henry YIL, granted to John Cabot, the father, and Lewis, Sebastian, and Saucias, his three sons, is dated the Tjth of March, 149G, or 1495, according to Harris, and it gives tliem authority to sail, with five ships, upon discoveries to tlie East, West and K^orth, with full property of such country or countries as they sliould discover, with tliis reservation only, that they should return to l^ristol and pay the king one-fifth of the net profits of the voyage. Harris says that in the year before this patent was granted, that is, in 1494, John Cabot, with his i-on, Sebastian, liad sailed on a voyage of discovery, and had actually seen Newfound- land, to which they gave tlr^. name Prima Vista (or First Seen), and, on the 24th of June in the same year, went ashore on an island which, because it was discovered on that day, they called St. John's. It was in conse- quence of the report of Cabot on this voyage, that the patent above-mentioned was granted. On the 3rd of February, 1497, a new grant, says Harris, was made to John Cabot, but he died soon after, and Sebastian, his son, applied to the king, proposing to * The first attempt to colonise Newfoundland ended disastrously. It was made in the year 153G, by Mr. Hore, a merchant of London, who, receiving the support of the Crown, in April sailed from Graves- end with the TrinU}/ (of 140 tons) and the Minion, with 120 people on board, including thirty young men of good family. A colony was formed on the east side of the island, but they were reduced to such dire distress that they resorted to cannibalism, and, taking advantage of the arrival of a French ship, seized her and returned to England (Harris, vol. ii. p. 192). DISCO VKUY OF NORTH AMERICA BY CABOT. 2()l) dity of the (lis- 110 loss :. The father, sons, is Hnf( to th five North, as they it they fifth of , in the 1494, i on a •found- Bta (or e year, jovered conse- hat the t, i^ays 1 after, >>ing to strously. Londou, Gravcs- eople on ony was to such .vantago Lngland discover a north-west passage to the East Indies, and, for this purpose, fitted out one ship at the king's ex- panse, at Bristol, and three or four others at the chiu'ges of Mr. Thorne and Mr. Hugh Elliot, merchants of that city. Cabot says in his account, given to the Papal Legate in Spain, printed in Kamusio's Collection and Hakluyt's Voyages : ' When my fiither died, in that time when news was brought that ])on C 'istoval Colon, the Genoese, had discovered the coasts of India, whereof was great talk in all the Court of King Henry VII., who then reigned, insomuch that all men, with great admira- tion, affirmed it to be a thing more divine than human to sail by the west into the east, Avhere spices grow, by a way that was never known before, by this fame and report there increased in my heart a great flame of desire to attempt some notable thing, and understanding by reason of the sphere, that, if I should sail by Avay of the north-west, I should by a shorter track come to India, I therefore advised the king to be advertised of my device, Avho immediately commanded two caravels to be fur- nished with all things appertaining to the voyage, which Avas, as far as I remember, in the year 149G, in the Ijc- ginning of summer. I began, therefore, to sail towards the north-west, not thinking to find any other land than that of Cathay, and from thence to run towards India ; but after certain days I found that the land ran towards the north, which Avas to me a great displeasure. Never- theless, sailing along by the coast to see if I could find any gulf that turned, I found the land still continued to the tift}^- sixth degree under our pole. And seeing that there the coast turned towards the east, despairing to find the j^assage, I turned back again, and sailed down by the coast of that land towards the equinoctial (ever with intent to find the said passage to India), and came m Pi ii .» >\* !; • I 270 MARITIME DISCOVKRY. to that part of this fine land which is now called Florida, where, my victuals failing, I departed and returned to England.' Harris, however, points out that Sebastian Cabot, speaking from memory, made a mistake as to the year in which this voyage was undertaken, for, whereas he speaks of the summer of 141)6, and says expressly, it was after his father's death, John Cabot was alive in the year 1497; direct testimony is also borne to this date by Robert Fabian, who states that the voyage was made in May of this year. On the 11th of June, he sailed as high as 67° 30' N". lat., but his crew mutinied, which compelled him to return into 56°, and thence he ran down to 38°, along the coast of the continent as fiu' as Florida — which was visited and so named by Ponce de Leon, in 1512 — whence, being in want of provisions, he returned to England, touching at Newfoundland. In the year 1500, Gaspar de Corte Real was permitted by King Emanuel to make a voyage for the discovery of the North- West Passage to Cathay and the Indies, and, proceeding from the Azores, sailed along the east coast of Newfoundland till he arrived at its northern extremity, when, finding an opening to the west, he proceeded in that direction until he came near the entrance of the river now called the St. Lawrence, to which he gave the name of the Strait of Anian, probably from a province of China called Ania by Marco Polo, concluding that it led to the Pacific Ocean. Antonio Gaivaom relates that Gaspar sailed a second time on the same route, but being wrecked, his brother Miguel proceeded in search of him Avith three ships, and was also lost at the entrance of the St. Lawrence. The other two ships which arrived in safety at the appointed rendezvous, on the 20th of August, returned to Lisbon, and, upon hearing of the DISCOVERIES AND DEATH OF THE CORTE REALS. 271 liim )fthe d ill th of f the fate of his brothers, the eldest of the family, named Joao Vasquez, who was court chamberlain, would have gone in search of them but that the king refused his consent. The land now known as Labrador, was for some time called Corte Real, and the entrance of the riv^er St. Law- rence bore the name of the Gulf of the Three Brothers. Sebastian Cabot, finding that Henry VI L, who Avas solely actuated by sordid motives, did not consider these voyages sufficiently profitable to give him further en- couragement in their continuance, accepted the invitation of Ferdinand and Isabella, and proceeded on a vo}'age of discovery to the coast of Jh'azil, where he gained fresh laurels as one of the greatest navigators of the century, by his discovery of the River Plate, up which he is said to have sailed a distance of 350 miles. On his return, he was appointed Grand Pilot of Spain, and resided some years at Seville, but returned to England, where he built himself a house at Blackwall, which he called Poplar, by which that locality is still known. Henry VIII. em- ployed Cabot, in conjunction with Sir Thomas Pctt, who was Vice- Admiral of England, and, in 151 G, he went on a voyage to the coast of Brazil, with two shijjs, one being of 250 tons, and afterwards visited the islands of Hispaniola and Porto Rico, where he traded, though Oviedo asserts that the ship was a privateer, whereas she "was a frigate fitted out at the king's expense.* Captain Burney, in his ' Discoveries in the South Seas and Pacific Ocean,' s-peaks of a voyage to Brazil and the river La Plata, with four ships, undertaken, ten j^ears later, by Cabot from Seville, but Harris makes no mention of this expedition, though he, and Hal! and Grafton, in their chronicles, say, * Little is known of this voyage, though it is referred to by Mr. Richard Eden, whose coUectiou of voyages, pubUshed in 1553, led to those of Hakluyt. 272 MARITIME DISCOVERY. i '■■ U-^l that, actin<( on tlic advice of this experienced seaman, Henry YIIL, on the 20th of May, 1527, desjiatched from London two ships, the names of the captains of Avhich are not given, though Hakluyt mentions that a canon of St. Paul's, Avho was reputed a great mathe- matician, had a share in the voyage. * These ships sail- ing very far to the north-west, the largest of them was cast away in the mouth of a very large gulf, and there perished ; the other, having coasted along the island of Cape Breton, returned in October following, and brought a large account of the places they had seen, and the hardships they had undergone.' The French were more successful in their attempts at colonisation, though they only founded colonies here as elsewhere for the English to enjoy the fruits by right of conquest. On the 20th April, 1534, Jacques Carthier, encouraged by Francis I., sailed from St. Malo with two small ships, of sixty tons and 122 men, and pro- ceeded to the country now known as Canada, to which he gave the name of ^e\v France. Again, in the following year, he sailed with three ships, and from that date the French possessions were gradually extended until the whole country near the St. Lawrence was added to the crown of France. Carthier* laid claim to the honour of being the discoverer of this noble river, but this is certainly due to the Corte Reals. No more attempts to colonise Newfoundland were made for some time after the failure of Mr. Hore, but the iisheries with that island grew in importance. In the reign of Henry YIIL, William Hawkins, father and grandfather of two famous British naval officers, Sir John and Sir Richard Hawkins, made three * For accounts of the first and second voyages of Carthier, sco Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 201, and p. 212 j also Pinkerton, vol. xii. SPANISU DISCOVEIUKS IN THE SOUTH SEAS. 273 man tclicd ns of hat a Tiaihe- s sail- n was tlicrc \nd of 'Ollgllt id the ipts at lere as ight of irthicr, with d pro- which 111 the Hn that ended e was aim to river, I were e, but tance. father cers, three liier, SCO prosperous voyages to Brazil and Guinea, with which a consideraljle trade liad sprung up. Between the years 1502-08, John Hawkins made three voyages to the West Indies, where his proceedings partook of tlio character of buccaneerinfj as much as that of legitimate trade. In the year 1572, Francis Drake hiade his expedition into the West Indies, with two ships, the Dragon, of seventy-fivj tons, and Swan, of twenty-five tons, having crews of the aggregate of seventy- three men ; and yet, with this small force, he ventured to declare war against the King of Spain, for the injuries he had received when he accompanied Sir John Hawkins in his expedition to St. John de UUoa in 1507-08. In this expedition he captured several large ships, stormed the town of Nombre de Dios, gained an immense amount of booty, and had a sight of the Pacific Ocean. This remarkable success encouraged other adventurers to prey upon Spanish commerce, and soon the ports of England swarmed with cruisers, whose exploits, crowned by the defeat of the Armada, in 1588, placed the country in the foremost position as the nur.-;ery of the most daring race of seamen and skilful navigators the world has known. And now we will proceed to describe the discoveries of the Spaniards in the South Seas. Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish adventurer, conquered the island of Puerto Rico, and, in 1510, Alonso de Ojeda, accom- panied by Francis Pizarro, undertook an expedition to Carthagena, which ended in disaster, John de Cosa and seventy men being killed ; a colony he planted at San Sebastian, under Pizarro, was equally unfortunate, and Ojeda himself died miserably of want in San Domingo. In this year also Yasquez Nunez de Balboa — who, being under sentence of death had escaped to sea in a ship's VOL. I. 18 ^f m I ' j m I 1 1< ■ I. i«ii ■1 ' il 271 :\iAinTiMF, i)iscovi:i{v. liold, headed up in ii bread-cask, wlierc he renuiined for four days — induced tlie eaptain, lOncis by uamc, to proceed to the river Darien, wliere tliey founded Ji colony, another one Ijeing planted at Xonibre de Dios by J)ie<(o Nicieesa, who j)eriHhed miserably. On the 1st March, ir)12, Ponce de Leon sailed from St. German Avith two ships iitted out at his own expense, and, on 2nd April sighted land which, ' believ- ing it to be an island, they named Florida,* because it a[)peared beautiful, having many pleasant groves, as also because they discovered it at Easter, which the Spaniards call I'ascha de Flores.' Loon now coasted along tlie shore, njuning a river ])e la Cruz, a headland Cape Corrientes (I)ecause of the stormy currents), and several islands including the Tortugas. During this voyage, and, indeed, all those of these Spanish navigators, except Columbus, they cjune into constant collision with the natives, and great slaughter ensued on both sides. A shi}) was now detached to proceed to the island of Bisnine where the Indians said there was a spring that made old people young, and the discovery of this Fountain of Youth and a river in Florida, which, according to Indian folk-lore had equal virtues, was one of the main objects of the voyage. In Xovember, 1511, Diego Velasquez commenced to conquer and settle the island of Cuba, under authority of .James Columbus (or Diego Colon, as the Spaniards call him), eldest son of the great navigator, who, in 1508, had succeeded to the Governorship of Hispaniola in succession to his fiither's enemy, Nicholas de Obando ; and, in February, 1517, he despatched an expedition consisting of two shijos and 110 soldiers to make dis- * In point of fact, Sebastian Cabot can claim the honour of dis- covering Florida, though Ponce de Leon has been credited with it. ( COXQI'ICST OF MKXirO BY CollTK/. 27.') 110(1 i'or inc. to idcd SI ie Dios id from is own believ- •ause it ives, as ich the coasted eadland ts), and ng this 'igaiors, on with jh bides, and of ]o; that of this which, as one need to ithority aniards vho, in paniola bando ; edition ke dis- ir of dis- "1th it. oovorles under Ferdinand de Cordova. Tlicy landed at ( 'ampeaehy, hut became embroiled with tlie natives, and fifty-six men were killed, Cordova dying liiniself ten days after his return to tlic Ilavanna. On the 8th May, in the following year, Velasquez des])atehed a second expedition, consisting of three ships and 250 men, under the connnand of Juan Grijalva, and, sailing along the coast of Florida, named the country they explored New Spain, and made ninny discoveries. Encouraged by the success of this voyage, Velasquez resolved to compier the countries recently discovered, and appointed to the command Hernando Cortez, who had arrived at Hispaniola in 1501, and, during the war in Cuba, had been distinguished for his courage in action and capacity in council. Cortez sailed from St. Jago, in Cul>a, on the 18th November, 1518, and, on the following 10th February, left Ilavanna with ten ships, among his ofHcers being Alverado, who had sailed with Grijalva and Montejo. Cortez landed at Talasco, where he gained his first victory, 800 Indians being slain, and, proceeding along the coast in his ships, received an embassy from Montezuma. He founded a colony at A'era Cruz, and, after fighting many battles with great loss to the natives, marched out of Tlascala with 300 men, and on the 8th November, 1519, entered Mexico, where he -was received by Mon- tezuma. Fearing treachery, he seized that prince, who was compelled to acknowledge himself a vassal of the King of Spain, and was soon after killed while attempt- ing to pacify his subjects who had risen in revolt. In the meantime Velasquez, jealous of Cortez's power and success, despatched Pamphilo de Xarvaez, with a second expedition, to supersede him, but Cortez defeated this officer and took him prisoner, though he ' 18—2 ;-.' 27G MA HI TIM I : DISCUVKHV. I ' ■:l liimsc'lf was compelled to abuiidon Mexico. On recciv- \njf liirfj^e reiiifurecinents from S})jiin, Cortez renewed the •war, marched on Mexico, and, after ])roh)nfj;cd and severe fi«(hting, secured the person of CJiiatimozin, the new emperor, and tlic surrender of the city, lie now carried his victorious arms through the country, though liis military skill and daring Avere stained by the exe- cution of Guatimozin for conspiring against him, and the revolting cruelties lie and his generals perpetrated. In 1528 Cortez proceeded to Spain, where he was re- ceived with great honour by the Emperor Charles V., and, in the following year, he returned to Mexico as Captain-General. In 1581, Nuno de Guzman, a cruel leader, built the town.3 rf Compostclla and San Miguel, and, in May of the following year, Cortez sent from Acapulco two ships, under the command of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, to explore the coast, but the commander and the crews of both ships were massacred by the natives, only two men escaping with their lives. Cortez despatched two other ships, on the 30th of October, 1533, to search for Ilurtado dc Mendoza, one commanded by Bezerra de Mendoza, and the second by Hernando de Grijalva, but the former w^as killed by his mutinous crew, who were slain, w4th the exception of three or four men, by the natives in a bay, afterwards called Santa Cruz, in the Gulf of California. Grijalva, according to Galvaom, dis- covered an island in 19° N. lat. (according to Herrera in 20° 20'), to which he gave the name of St. Thomas, and thence returned to New Spain. In 1536, Cortez himself sailed with three vessels towards the north-west, and proceeded as far as 23° 30' N., where he found a good harbour to which he gave the name of Santa Cruz. Here he landed settlers, and i:XI»LOUATI(>NS nv COUTKZ AND ULLOA. 277 I rccc'iv- wcd the ;cd and )zin, the lie now tliougli lie cxc- lim, and Dctratcu. was re- tries v., Dxico as )iult the May of vo ships, idoza, to I crews of nly two led two arch for zerra de dva, but ho were by the in the lom, dis- Herrera Thomas, vessels 5 23° 30' gave the irs, and dospatcliod the vessels for more jx^ople and suppli(!s, wlien two of these were? lost ; but Cortez sailed in tlie third a distance of fifty lea^^ues, 'in a sea like the Adriatic,' says Gomara, and returned with provisions to the colonists. Bernal Diazde Castillo, in his ' History of the Concpiest of Mexico,' says of this voya'^- n \ ■ ' h 278 MAIUTIMK UISCUVKKV. The iiiiiiie of Niinoz de Balboa is for ever famous as that of the first European who saw the Pacific Ocean. Balboa had settled a colony on the banks of the river Darien, in 1511, which he called Santa Maria, and learning', from an Indian ])rince, Comagre by name, of the South Sea and of the rich kingdom of Peru, he set out from Darien, in September, 1513, and, on the 25th September, caught sight of the ocean, from a hill- top. ' On learning that he was approaching- it, he com- manded his men to halt, and Avent up alone, and seeing* the South Sea, fell on his knees and returned thanks to Heaven for being the first that had seen it. Having- performed this, lie called his men and repeated the same; they followed his example. He then caused a certificate to be drawn up of his taking ])ossessi()n of th.it sea and all in it for the Crown of Castile.' To Niuiez de Balboa might be applied the words written by the poet of Xenophon, ' the sage-exalted chief,' when, having scaled the sunnnit of the Colchian Mountains, he exclaimed with ecstasy at the sight of the Euxinc, spread at his feet — ' Thalassa! Thalassa!' * Kind-hearted transport round their captains thnw The soldier's fond embrace ; o'ertiowed their eyetj With tender floods, and loosed the general voice To cries resounding loud — "The sea ! the sea !" ' By another account, two of Balboa's followers entered the Pacific before their leader. Balboa advanced down the mountains, and, we are told, sent Captain Francis Pizarro to vicAV the sea-coast, as also John Escarry and Alonso Martin, with twelve men each, to find out the shortest way to the sea. Alonso Martin hit upon the readiest road, and, in two days, came to a place where he found two canoes. Alonso got into one of them, and bid his companions witncr-?^ that he wut? the first who famous as [ic Ocean, the river aria, and r name, of ;ru, he set I, on the 3ni a hill- t, he com- nd seeing' thanks to Having" the same ; certificate it sea and de Balboa e poet of ing scaled exclaimed ad at his w s entered ed down a Francis :arry and 1 out the upon the ce where :hem, and first who BAl.n(»\ DISCO VKHS THK SOUTH SKA. 27!.) 1 i i entered the South Seas. Another, whose name was Ijlaez de Aticnza, did the same, and bid them bear witness that lie was the second. Thoy returned to Xunez witli the news, ' at which all rejoiced very much.' On the 29th September, 1513, they embarked on the newly- found sea, and having made some discoveries towards the south, in the following January returned to Santa Maria. In return for these important services King Ferdinand, with tiie proverbial gratitude of kings, appointed in Balboa's stead one Pedrarias, wlio sailed from Si)ain, on April 12th, l')!!, with fifteen ships and 2000 soldiers, Quevedo, a newly-consecrated bishop of Darien, and Enciso, the mortal enemy of Jialboa. I*edrarias, de- scribed as a ' wicked monster,' jealous of Balboa, treated him with the greatest harshness, and at length, in the year l.jlT, caused him to be execute;!. 'Such,' says the historian, 'was the fate of Vasquez Xunez deI>alboa, who, in the forty- second year of his age, suffered as a traitor for having served his prince with too much zeal and fidelity.' Pedrarias founded a colony at Panama, whither he removed the seat of government, and soon after, James Albetez founded another town at Xombre de Dios, which, however, was abandoned in (^onsefpicnce of the mortality among the inhabitants, avIio removed to Por- tobello, in the reign of Phili[) II. In 152(), Francis Hernandez conquered Nicaragua, but Pedrarias rewarded this service by striking off his head, and, on Peter los Rics being appointed in his stead, retired to this pro- vince, the government of which he assumed. A few years later, Carthagena was founded by Peter Heredia. The report of Nunez de Balboa's great discovery of the Paciiic Ocean, by which it was ascertained bey(jnd ■: i 1' 280 MARITIME DISCOVERY. ! ;J a doubt that America did not extend to the East Indies, made a great noise in Europe and gave a fresh impetus to nautical research. One of the first and certainly the most important results, was the memorable voyage of Ferdinand de Magalhanes, whose name we have Angli- cised, according to our custom, to Magellan. This great navigator, Portuguese by birth, had served for some years with reputation under the great Alfonso Albuquerque, and was present at the capture of Malacca in 1511. Argensola, the historian of the ' Conquest of the Moluccas,' says that Albuquerque sent Francisco Serrano, Antonio d'Abreu, and IMagellan from Malacca, in three ships, by different routes, to seek for the Moluc- cas, but Galvaom, who was Portuguese Governor at Ternate, one of the Moluccas, in the year 1537, mentions only the two former as engaged in this voyage of dis- covery. Serrano sent an account of the riches of these islands to the King of Portugal, and also letters to his friend Magellan, who, having returned from Malacca, was, at this time, at Lisbon soliciting employment at the hands of Emanuel. This prince, however, says Fraz Gaspar, in his account of the conquest of the Philippines — to which, and the narratives of Martire, Barros, and Herrera, Dalrymi)le, and Burney, and other writers, we are indebted for material in this account of his voyage — dismissed Magellan, who thereupon offered his services to the Emperor Charles Y. In the Council at Saragoza, where the conditions of service were accepted, Magellan, says Gaspar, engaged to reach the Moluccas and Western Islands in the Spanish de- marcation, by the ocean, thus binding himself to dis- cover a southern strait by which the American continent could be rounded, other than that to the Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. For the discovery of any islands J 'M: Indies, upetus Illy the %age of Angli- This i^ed for Alfonso lalacca [uest of ancisco [alacca, Moluc- •nor at entions of dis- ►f these to his aiacca. ent at , says lof the [artire, other Iccount 'eiipon I In the service reach Ish de- lo dis- Itinent )y the elands y Magellan's voyage of ciroumnavigation. 281 and lands within the Spanish limit, according to the partition of Pope Alexander VI., Magellan was to receive one-twentieth part of all pro^^s and other ad- vantages. Five ships* were fitted out, and, on September 20, 1519, according to Gomara, sailed from St. Lucar. On the 27th December, they quitted Santa Lucia, supposed to be Rio Janeiro, and on January 6, 1520, sailed from the River Plata, and wintered at Port San Julien, in 49°. 18' S. lat., where he quelled a mutiny of his captains, two of whom, Mendoza and Quesada, he caused to be executed and quartered, and a third, Cartagena, to be left ashore. On the 24th August, they sailed for the river Santa Cruz, twenty leagues to the southward, dis- covered, in the previous May, by Juan Serrano, whose ship, the Santiago, had been wrecked. Sailing thence on the 18th October, they discovered Cape de los Vir- gines, so named by Magellan, because it was discovered on St. Ursula's day (21st October). A week later, they arrived at the entrance of the strait called after the discoverer. Here it was proposed by the pilot, Estevan Gomez, that they should return to Spain, but Magellan replied, ' that if even he thought they would be reduced to the necessity of eating the hides which were on the yards, he would go to discover what he had promised the emperor.' The land separated from the continent by the strait, he named Tierra del Fuego, because they saw, in the night, many fires, and the inhabitants were called Pata-Gones, from pata, a hoof or paw, because they wore shoes made of the guanacos' hides. * The Trinidad, 130 tons and 62 men, iu which ^lagellan emhailced ; San Antonio, 130 tons and 55 men, connuanded by Juan de Carta- gena ; Vittoria, 90 tons, 45 men, Lays de Mendoza ] Conception, 90 tons, 44 men, Gaspar do Quesada ; Santiago, 60 tons, 30 men, Juan KodrigiU'z Serrano, who was also chief pilot. I if ■i n; 282 MAUITIMK UI8C0VKUY. Threadin;^ the straits, on the 27th November they sailed into the South Pacihc, the San Antonio alone re- turning to Europe, the crew, headed by Gomez, havin'nifvin<>* ' the kingdom.' On the 13th of Xovember, a Portuguese, Soroza by name, arrived from the island of Ternate, and informed them that twelve months before, thev had heard of Magellan having sailed from Seville, and that they had received orders to oppose the S[)aniards, and also that Francisco Serrano, the discoverer and first Portuguese Governor of Ternate, had died eight months before. Having completed their cargoes of spices, on the IStli of December it was discovered that the Trinidad was too leaky to proceed to sea; the Vittoria, accordingly, sailed alone, ' with a crew consisting,' eays Pigafetta, the I: V'. iif i I »1 i ! 284 MAUrriMK DISCOVEllY. i ■ ,i- 3 i ' historian of the voyage, ' of forty-seven Europeans and thirteen Indians : fifty-three Europeans remaining behind in the Trinidad.'' Quitting Timor, where a mutiny was quelled with the loss of several lives, on the 11th of February, the Vittoria rounded the Cape on the 6th of May, twenty-one men having died on the passage up to date, and arrived at St. Lucar on the 6th of Sei)tember, having been absent within fourteen days of three years, during which, by the sliip's dead reckoning, she had sailed 14,160 leagues. Her cargo consisted of 533 quintals of cloves, (r)333 lb,), besides other spices. Of all those who left Spain, only eighteen Europeans returned in safety, including the caj^tain, Juan Sebastian de Cano, who was ennobled by the emperor. The names of these eighteen, as well as thirteen others detained by the Portuguese Governor of St. Jago, one of the Cape de Verde islands, which they visited, is g'ven by Herrera, and the number includes Lombardo, who is better known as Pigafetta, the historian of this voyage. These men have the imperishable glory of being the first to circum- navigate the earth, thus placing beyond the possibility of cavil the great fact that it was a globe ; and the name of Magellan, as the navigator to demonstrate this truth, is second only to that of Columbus in the annals of maritime discovery. The Trinidad, after the departure of the Vittoria, sailed from Tidore on the 6th of April, 1522, under the com- mand of Espinosa, with the intention of proceeding to Mexico. After an absence of four months, during which they discovered four more islands of the Ladrone group, and lost twenty- seven men, they returned to the Moluccas, and, on putting in at Ternate, Antonio de Brito, the Portuguese commander, seized the ship, and, detidning such of the crew a^ he thought would Ije ans and r behind iny was llth of ! 6th of ^e up to •tember, e years, she had of 533 s. iropeans ebastian e names ined by he Cape ierrera, • knowji ise men circum- sibility He name truth, nals of sailed e com- [ing; to which group, to the nio de , and, lid Ije THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE GLOBE. 285 useful to him, sent the remainder away. Herrera says that forty-eight were taken to Malacca and Cochin, though some of these were, probably Indians, and, after an absence of five years, a small number reached their native land. Accounts of this voyage appear in ' Kamusio's Voyages,* said to have been written by a Portuguese seaman who sailed with Magellan ; in an abridgment of Martire's MS., which was lost at the sack of Rome by the Constable Bourbon in 1527; and in the ' History of the Indies,' by Antonio Herrera. The best known and, in many respects, the most satisfactory account of this memorable voyage was, however, that of Antonio Pigafetta, one of Vicenza Magellan's companions, and an abstract of it may be found in the Collecvions of Harris (vol. i.), Pinkerton (vol. xiii.), and Dalrymple. As Pigafetta says of the survivors, his comrades : * These were mariners who surely merited an eternal laemory more justly than the Argonauts of old, who sailed with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece into the regions of Colchis.' In our day, when the electric telegraph puts ' a girdle round the earth ' in 80 minutes, and steam enables us to do the same in person in as many days, we can scarcely do justice to the enterprise of these wanderers on the pathless highway, and their transports on seeing again their native land. As Camolus says in his * Lusiad ' : — * The joy one's own dear land once more to view, Sweet home and kith and kin to sight again, With whom old voyage-feats wc fall anew, And tell of climates strange, and strange men ; To taste the honeyed draught of praises duo By long mischance, toil, and ill, and pain, Each hath of pleasure such a perfect store, The hollow vessel of man's heart hrims o'er.* (! Solis to cxploro the coast of South Anuirica, and endeavour to din- cover a paHHa^o into tlio l*aci fu^ and the Moluccas, though by the discovery of tlic isthnuis of Panama, and the estahlislnnent of a colony at that place, it soon came to be understood that the passa^^e from Mexico (or New Spain) to these islands was shorter than that by the straits discovered by Magellan.* J)e Solis and several of his followers were killed in a quarrel with the natives f)f the Plata lUver, but his name was ^iven to a small island and two rivers on its northern bank. In order to {)rosecute the search for sup})0sed treasures, many expeditions were fitted out from New Spain, in Mexico, which resulted in discoveries of im- portance. In 1522, Gonzales d'Avila sailed with fear vessels from Panama, to 17° 30' N. lat., and, in this year, Cortez founded a town at Colima, and his dis- coveries connecting those made by Andres Nias, a general knowledge of the coast was obtained from that town to the Gulf of San Miguel. In 1525 took place i, ' I * Martire, a contemporary writer (see Eden's translation), says : * There came to me the day before the ides of October this year, 1616, Kodri^'uez Colininares and Francisco de la Puente, who affirmed, one that lie liad heard of, the other that ho had seen, divers islands in the South Seas, to the west of the Pearl Islands, in which trees are engendered and nourished, which bring forth aromatic fruits as in India, and therefore they conjecture that the land where the fruitful- ness of spices beginneth, cannot be far distant. And many do only desire that leave be granted them to search farther, and they will of their own charges furnish ships, and adventure the voyage, to see these islands and regions. And they think it better that ships should be prepared in the Gulf de St. Miguel, than to attempt the way by the Gulf of St. Augustine (in Brazil) which is long, difficult, and full of danger, and is said to reach beyond the 40° of latitude towards the Pole Antaictic' Martire, it should here be noted, was a Milanese (generally known as P. Martyr de Angera) employed in the service of Charles V. as Commissioner for the affairs of the Indies. 4 VnYA(}K OK I.OYOSA. 2!)| to (VlH- )1UC('IIS, via, and )n came or New by the [ several 3 natives a small •om New cs of im- vvith fcjr (I, in tiiis il his dis- Nias, a Ifrom that ook place [ition), says: 3 year, 1616, alUrmed, ono Llands in tho |ch trees are fruits as in I tho fruitful- [any do only thoy will of L to see these 1)3 should be \ way by the l, and full of lards the Pole ese (generally of Charles V. the voya«^o of I)e Loyosa from Spain to flio Mohicrus, witli an expedition, crmHistin^ of six V(;ssels and a pinnace, liavin;^ on board 450 persons, Sebastian del Cano, wlio brought home tlie Vittoria of M!iL;'eHaii'H ex- ])e(htion, bein;^ second in command. When passinnin, returned to Tidore. At this time the total strength of the Spaniards was only between ninety and one hundred men, and at length De la Trrre, seeing the hopelessness of strug- gling with the Portuguese for the possession of the Moluccas, which Charles V. had pledged to the Crown of Portugal for 350,000 ducats, consented to depart with his people, and, in 1534, the survivors were con- veyed to Cochin, in vessels belonging to the Portuguese, when they made their way to Europe. In January, 1537, Urdaneta, one of the officers, arrived in Spain, and was followed soon after by Hernando de la Torre, who was well received by the emperor. By the treaty of 1529, between the Emperor Charles V. and the King of Portugal, all the countries lying to the west of a meridian dawn at 17° E. from the Moluccas, were relin- (piished or pledged to the Portuguese. THE VOYAGE OF ALCAZOVA. 298 s rcscm- African ;ail, and, md what le north- p for the Florida^ in May, )ove 500 ' or 5° S. Pintados and Los ' N. and led, and, ) expired, as31°N., Timander, Moluccas, f Tidore. iards was I, and at of strug- )n of the le Crown to depart were con- )rtuguese, January, in Spain, la Torre, the treaty the King west of a vere relin- In April, 1526, Sebastian Cabot, who had long been in the service of the English Crown, sailed from Seville with four ships, for the purpose of proceeding to the Moluccas, but owing to a great lack of stores, he con- fined his researches to the Kiver La Plata, and dis- covered part of the adjacent coast; while here he was joined by some shipwrecked mariners from one or two Genoese vessels which attempted to pass through the Straits of Magellan. A similar failure attended an attempt made by other vessels from Galicia and Portugal, to proceed to the Spice Islands. Li 1527, Francis de Montejo settled and subdued the country of Yucatan, and about the same time, according to Harris, John Bermudez first saw one of the islands which have been named after him. A Portuguese, Simon de Alcazova by name, contracted with the King of Spain to discover and people 200 leagues of the Peruvian sea- coast, bemnnino; from the southern limits of New Toledo, as the Government of Almagro was called, to distinguish it from the northern province, under Pizurro's authority', called New Castile. Alcazova sailed from San Lucar on September 21, 153-1, with two ships manned by 250 men, and, on the 17th January following, they entered the Straits of Magellan. While here, an expedition was under- taken to examine the country, which met with little success, and Alcazova, the chief pilot, and several men were murdered by a portion of the crew, who mutinied and seized the ships, though the mutineers were soon overpowered, and their leaders and six men were executed. Rodrigo de la Isla and Juan Mori assumed command of the ships, which sailed for the West Indies, but misfortune dogged their steps. One ship was wrcL'ked on the coast of Urazil, where most of Ml il 294 MARITIME DISCOVERY. the crew were killed by the natives, only twenty men out of 110 escaping in a boat to the San Pedro, which at length arrived at Hispaniola. In 1535, Peter de Mendoza founded the town of Buenos Ayres, on the River Plata, which city was twice abandoned and twice rebuilt. Two years later, the province of New Granada was discovered, and Grijalva and Alvaredo were sent by Cortez with two ships to assij^t Pizarro in Peru and make discoveries, of which Galvaom, Portuguese Governor of the Moluccas, gives an account, though his data and distances traversed are very inaccurate. Grijalva was murdered by his crew, who abandoned the ship at New Guinea, and the survi- vors, seven in number, eventually found their way to the Moluccas. A remarkaljle voyage was made, in 1539, by Alonso de Carmargo, who >ailed from Seville with three vessels, one of which passed through the Straits of Magellan, and coasting along South America, arrived at Arequipa ; but one of the squadron was wrecked and the third returned to Spain without passing into the Pacific. Mendoza, Viceroy of Mexico, continued his explora- tions of the American coast, set on foot by his prede- cessor, Cortez. In 1540, Hernando de Alarcon, went 4° beyond Ulloa, in the preceding year, and Vasquez de Cornado penetrated, with a small force, to 40*^ N. latitude, but was compelled to retreat by the Indians. After Cortez returned to Europe, Mendoza and Pedro de Alvaredo collected an expedition of twelve ships and two galleys at Puerto de Navidad ; but the death of the latter, who assumed command, in an action with the Indians, put an end to his plans, which included voyages to the Moluccas and China, and the viceroy had to take the field in person to stop the progress of the natives in New Galicia. EXPLORATION OF CALIFORNIA. 295 ity men ?, which uown of ^as twice iter, the Grijalva ships to )f which as, gives irsed are is crew, le survi- • way to nade, in Q Seville ugh the ^^merica, ron was passing .8 explora- i prede- went 4° jquez de 40" K Indians, edro de lips and h of the vith the voyages to take :itivos in Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, however, proceeded to sea on June 2, 1542, with two vessels, the Sa?i Salvador and Vittoria, for the purpose of exploring the coast to the northward of the peninsula of California. Horrera, who gives an account of this voyage, says that, on March 1, they attained as high as 44° N. latitude, (a point which was not passed until 1579, by Sir Francis Drake,) but, owing to the severity of the weather, and their bread being all expended, were compelled to return to the southward, and arrived at Puerto de Navidad on April 14, ' sorrowful for having lost their commander, who was carried off by sickness.' Though Cabrillo sailed to 44°, Burney says that Cabo de Fortunas, in 41°, appears to have been the most northern land seen by him, and Miguel Vinegas, author of ' Noticia de la Cali- fornia,' mentions that he named a cape, in about 40° 30', Mendocino, after the viceroy, which it still bears. In this year also Mendoza fitted out a squadron of three vessels, a galley and two pinnaces, with 370 men, to explore the islands discovered by Magellan, on March 16, 1521, after leaving the Ladrones, to which he gave the name of Archipelago of St. Lazarus. His brother- in-law, Lopez de Yillalabos, was appointed to the com- mand, and sailed on October 31, 1542, and, on arriving at the group, gave them the name of Las Philipinas, in compliment to Prince Philip, which they have since re- tained. On April 24, 1544, he arrived at Gillolo, whence he proceeded to Tidore. One of his ships, the San Juan^ made two attempts to return to Mexico, but failed, owing to the want of provisions and the prevalence of calms, and eventually, as the vessels were in a decayed condition, Villalobos accepted an offer of the Portuguese to furnish them with a passage to Europe by way of India. Some elected to remain in the Moluccas, but the I ' :1 n 296 MARITIME DISCOVEKY. rt rest embarked and proceeded to Goa, and thence to Lisbon, where they arrived in the latter part of the year 1547; but the commander of the expedition, broken in health, and disgusted with the failure of his mission which had for its object, according to Grijalva, the colonisation of Zebu, one of the Philippines, died at Amboyna where they stopped on the passage. In 1551, Mendoza was succeeded in Mexico by Luis de Velasco, and proceeded to Peru as viceroy ; but he died in the following year, greatly regretted as an able and mild governor, forming a marked contrast to the sanguinary tyrants who represented their sovereign in the New World, among the number, Pedro de Valdivia, Governor of Chili, who was killed in an insurrection by the natives. Before his death Valdivia had despatched from the city, named after himself, which he had founded in the previous year, two vessels, under Francis de Ulloa, to explore the southern coast, and Herrera mentions that this officer examined that portion between the city of La Concepcion and the Straits of Magellan. In November, 1557, Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, the new Governor of Chili, son of Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis de Canete, now Governor of Peru, despatched from Valdivia two vessels, the San Luis and San Sebastian, under Juan Ladrilleros, to examine the southern portion of the Chilian coast, but the expedition ended in disaster. One ship returned to Valdivia with only a few of her crew remaining, and though Ladrilleros showed great determination in quelling a mutiny by hanging the ring- leader, and continued the minute examination of the coast, and afterwards of the strait to its eastern entrance, he actually returned to Chili with only one seaman and a negro besides himself. Figueroa says that seventy men died in this expedition, but the pertinacity SPANISH EXPLOIIATIONS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 297 nee to le year iken in [nission va, the died at by Luis but he an able to the reign in ^aldivia, ction by ^patched founded le Ulloa, ons that ty of La vember, rernor of Canete, via two er Juan of the disaster. ,v of her ed great he ring- of the eastern nly one ays that rtinacity and heroism of the commander was of that old Spanisli type which has given to geogra^^hy a knowledge of those remote seas and lands. Though the Straits of Magellan were explored, it was not until 1589 that Pedro Sermiento settled a colony there, of which Harris gives a detailed history in his first volume. In 1537, the province of New Grenada was explored, and, six years later, occurred the discovery of the mighty river Mississippi, by Louis de Alvarado, — who must not be confounded with the great Alvarado Pedro, the companion of Cortez in the conquest of Mexico — the exploration of which was completed, says Harris, in the year 1582. When Philip IL succeeded to the throne of Spain by the abdication of his father, the project of colonising the Philippine Islands was re- vived, and in 1559, orders were sent to Louis de Velasco, Viceroy of Mexico, to equip an expedition, and Andres de Urdaneta, the compan' n of Loyosa in his famous voyage of 1525, who, on his return to Spain after twelve years' wanderings, had entered a monastery, was com- manded by the king to undertake the pilotage and general conduct of the expedition. Urdaneta consented, and selected for the command, with the rank of Captain- General, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, then in his fifty-ninth year, but omng to the death of De Velasco, the expedi- tion did not sail from Puerta de la Navidad until November 21, 1564. It consisted of the San Pedro, 500 tons ; San Pablo, 400 tons ; San Juan, 100 tons, and San Lucar, forty tons; and the united crews numbered 450 persons. They passed islands, which they named De los Barbudos (bearded people), De los J^lazeres (having shoals), Las Harmanas (sisters), Los Jardines and other islands, and, on January 22, 1565, anchored at Guam, one of the Ladrones. They "^ '—"•'••"•'•' """"■■"""»" 298 MARITIME DISCOVERY. In' J h 'J r' J! left Guam on the 3rd of February, and, on the 13th, arrived at one of the PhiUppine Islands, called Tandaya by Franz Gaspar, who describes the voyage in his ' Con- quest of the Philippines.' They also visited other islands of the group, and one of their objects being the con- version of the people to Christianity, on May 8, 1565, a colony was established at Zebu, the island which had nominally been converted by Magellan, and where twenty-eight of his followers were ruthlessly massacred. On the 1st of June, Urdaneta returned in the San Pedro to Mexico, and arriv^ed at Acupulco towards the end of September, sixteen of the crew having died on the passage, including the captain, De Salcedo, nephew of the captain -general. That the ship arrived in safety, was due to the seaman-like skill and knowledge of navigation possessed by Urdaneta, who, says Burney, ' proved the practicability of sailing from the East Indies to Mexico, kept journals with the greatest care, and made a chart of those seas which for a long time served as a guide for subsequent navigation.'* Legaspi took possession of the Philippines in the name of his sovereign, and vessels were sent from Mexico to these islands in the years 1566 and 1567, from which date a constant communication was maintained. The Spaniards soon extended their so-called 'pacifications' to other islands, and in 1571 Legaspi founded the city of Manilla, which has ever since been the capital of the Spanish possessions in the Philippines. * The San Lucar, which deserted from the fleet early in the voyage, and after proceeding to Mindanao, arrived at Mexico three months before the San Pedro, made the passage first in point of time, but no journal or chart was kept of the voyage. Arellano, the captain, had the hardihood to proceed to Spain and solicit rewards for his conduct, btit on the arrival of Urdaneta, he was sent back a prisoner to Mexico, to be delivered to Legaspi at the Philippines. DISCOVERY OF JUAN FKllXANnKZ. 291) e 13th, ?andaya s ' Con- f islands :iie con- 1565, a dch had i where assacred. the San ards the died on I, nephew in safety, fledge of i Burney, the East itest care, ,ong time Legaspi le of his to these ich date a jSpaniards to other ,f Manilla, Spanish the voyage, [liree months time, but no ] captain, had his conduct, iv to Mexico, In the year 15G3, according to the Gazetteer of Alcedo, occurred the discovery of an island which, in the estimation of English-speaking people, has heen invested with a halo of romantic interest since the time when I)e Foe made it the scene of that best-known and most wide-read of all fictions, ' Robinson Crusoe,' who, it need scarcely be added, was intended for Alexander Selkirk. A Si)anish pilot, by name Juan Fernandez, was, according to the ' Moi.iorial' of Juan Luis Arias, quoted by Dalrymple, the first to depart from the custom hitherto invariably practised by vessels proceed- ing from one port to another along the coast of Peru and pai't of that of Chili, of keeping close to the land, from an idea that if they lost sight of the coast, the trade- wind would render their return impracticable. Fernandez stood out some distance from the land, and finding the wind favourable for running to the south, sailed in that direction till he was beyond the influence of the trade- mnd, and then made the passage more expeditiously than could be performed by the inshore navigation. Thus several islands* were discovered, one beinof called Juan Fernandez, after the discoverer, and a second, twenty-eight leagues to the westward, Mas-a-fuera (more without). The group of islands, under the equinoctial line, called the Galapagos, from their being frequented by the turtles (the discovery of which is attributed by Harris to Captain Cowley, an Englishman, more than a century later), appear with the same name in the map of America and the South Seas, in the ' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum,' of Ortelius, edition 1570, and, as early as 1510, Martire makes mention of islands to the west of the Pearl * Juan Fernandez is about 115 geographical leagues from the con- tinent, and the writer of Commodore Auson's voyage mentions that the discoverer obtained a grant of the island, and resided in it for some time. I 800 MAllITIME DISCOVKUY. Islands, in the Gulf of Piinanui. The islands called Malpelo (ill-covered or bald) and Cocos, first called Santa Cruz, also appear in the same edition of Ortelius, but not the islands discovered by Fernandez or those called San Felipe and San Ambor, which the same navigator discovered in 1574, and which were visited by the first Englishman, Captain Colnet, in 1593. Old writers attribute to Juan Fernandez the discovery of a southern continent, a belief in which, even up to the time when Captain Cook exploded the notion by his explorations in Antarctic regions, existed throughout Europe, such experienced seamen and scientific geo- graphers as Dalrymple sharing in the delusion. Juan Luis Arias, in his ' Memorial,' which is without date, but was written after the year IGOl), when the English settled in the Bermudas, as that event is mentioned, says : ' The pilot Juan Fernandez sailed from the coast of Chili in a small ship, and navigating upon courses between the west and south-west, arrived in a month's time at a coast, which as far as they could judge appeared to be a continent (iierra jirme).^ He adds that having insufiicient supplies they ' sailed to Chili with the in- tention of again returning to the same land, better pro- vided ; but the matter was delayed from day to day till Juan Fernandez died, and with his death, this important business fell into oblivion.' It is not at all improbable that the land then seen was New Zealand. In 1567 occurred the important voyage of Alvaro de Mendana, or Alvarez de Mendoza, as he is also called (relative of Lopez Garcia de Castro, Governor of Poru), who discovered the Solomon Islands.* Mendana, whose * The original account of this voyage is gi"en by Figueroa in Book V. of a work untitled ' Hechos do Don Garcia Hurtado do MeiK^oca,' printed at Madrid in lGi3, of which Dalrymple and Burnoy give a , called ■j called )rtolius, )r those le same sited by Lscovery n up to ti by his oughout fie geo- L. Juan »ut date, English sntioned, :he coast L courses month's appeared ,t having the in- tter pro- day till mportant iprobable Ivaro de so called Df Poru), la, whose r oa ;n Book :uc.v give a DISroVEKY or TIIK SOLOMON ISLANDS. .SOI chief pilot was Ilernan Gallego, wlio had accompanied Ladrilleros, sailed with two vessels (as is gatiiored by the narrative, though the numbers are not specified), from Callao, on the 10th of January, 1507, and, after sailing, Avith contrary winds, 1450 leagues, discovered a small inhabited island, in 6° 45' S., which Mendana named Isla de Jesus; 160 leagues distant he saw some more small islands, situated amidst reefs, which lie called Baxos de la Candelleria (shoals of Candlemas). He then discovered also another large island, the first of the Solomon group, which he named Santa Isabella. Figueroa gives an account of the remainder of these islands, to each of which Mendana gave names, and he landed and took possession of the Island of Guadalcanar, at a port he called De la Cruz, near a river he named Gallego. Thence Mendana proceeded, stopping occasion- ally ' at different islands and rivers, too many to par- ticularise,' at some of which the natives were hostile. On the 13th of June, the ships sailed from De la Cruz, and came to another island, to which was given the name of San Christoval, where, as at Guadalcanar, they came into collision with the natives. Mendana, having completed his explorations of the group, sailed for Mexico, and arrived on the 22nd of January, 1508, at Santiago, where he was joined, three days later, by his second ship, from which he had been separated by a storm, wherein both vessels lost their mainmasts. According to Lopez Vaz,* Mendana named his discoveries resume in their works. Dalrymple has extracts from tlie works of Acosta, Lopez Vaz and Herrera, on the situation and extent of these islands, which he says are those named New Britain by Uampier. In Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 467, is a short description of the group by an Englishman named Hawks. As is usual with the old Spanish navi- gators and writers, it is difficult to identify their discoveries. * See vol. iii. of Hakluyt, edition of 1600. I >j 302 MAIUTIMK DISCOVKUV. r'i ■ I he ' IsloH of Solomon, to the end that tlic Spaniards, supposing them to be those isles from whence Solomon fetched gold to adorn the Temple of Jerusalem, might be the more desirous to go and inhabit the same.' Herrcra, in the beginning of bis ' Descripcion de las fndias,' rpioted by Dalrymple (vol., i. p. 44), says that * the Solomon Islands are 800 leagues from Peru,' and afterwards he says * they are loOO leagues, and from 7° to 12° S. latitude.' Joseph Acosta and Lopez Vaz also ])lace them 800 leagues from Peru. Arias says in bis * Memorial,' that the Archipelago consists of * thirty- tliree islands, great and small, their middle in 11° S., according to his relation.' Harris, in his account of the voyage of Commodore Roggewein, attributes their dis- covery to Alonzo Saavedra ; and on the whole it may be said that there are few voyages regarding which such a mystery exists as to the identification of the discoveries made in its course, as that of Mendana. In nearly all the Spaiiish voyages, especially those of Si'ivedra, De la Jorre, Urdaneta, and Ladrilleros, one is st^'n.ck with the great loss of hfe sustained by the crews, from the treacherous attacks of savages, and the hard- ships incidental to deprivation for months of fresh pro- visions, or a sufficient supply of water. Every league ol sea traversed, and every square mile of tropic island first visited, has become sacred by the bones of some martyr to the science of Maritime Discovery. In the words of the vigorous translation of Camolus' ' Lusiad,' recently made by my friend. Captain Richard Burton : — * At last, in tangled brake and unknown ground, Our true companious, lost for aye, we leave, Who 'mid such weary ways, such dreary round, Such dread adventures, aidance ever gave. How easy for man's bones a grave is found, Earth's any wrinkle, ocean's any wave.' ■■i ' t miardn, (olonion , might » I de las ys that m,' and d from pez Vaz says in ' thirty- 11° S., t of the leir dis- may be L such a coveries those of ;, one is 3 crews, le hard- ish pro- league island Df some In the (Usiad,' rton : — • 1 • CHAPTKR XIV. Tho English in tho South Seas — Privateering Venture of Oxnam — Memorable Voyage of Circumnavigation by Sir Francis Drake — Sir Thomas Cavendish's Voyage round tho World — Tho disastrous Expedition of Andrew Merick — The second Voyage of Sir Thomas Cavendish — Discovery of tho Falkland Islands by John Davis — The Voyage to the South Saas by Sir Kichard Hawkins. DuuiNG Queen Elizabeth's reign Englishmen entered upon that career of nautical enterj)rise which placed them, at its close, at the head of maritime nations. Hitherto the hardy population who gain a precarious living by launching their fishing-boats in the stormy seas that encircle the coast of this island, were well- known for their skill as seamen, and were engaged largely in the commerce of the Mediterranean, their services being eagerly accepted by Genoese and Venetians alike ; but they were now to render famous the island of their birth by their deeds in every sea. From every port and fishing village along the east and south coast of England, a hardy race of seamen poured forth to reap the fortunes said to be made in the East at the expense of the Portuguese, and in the West at the cost of the Spaniards. The land could boast many 'sucking' Drakes and Frobishers among the juvenile population, who played, like Enoch Arden, ' Among the vfaate and lumber of the shore, Hard coils of cordage, swarthy fishing-nets, Anchors of rusty fluke, and boats updrawn.' • '!( 301 MAniTIME DISCOVERV. Tlio first Kn^^^lisliinan to enter the Soii*:h SeaH under tlie liritiwli iliVff, wuh Oximin or Oxcnhani, wlio had accompanied Sir Francis Drake in 1572-73, when lie Backed the town of Noinhre de Dios, and made an ahor- tiv'e attempt to march across the Isthuuis of Darien to intercept the Spanisli treasure tliat was tr .msj)orted on mules from l*aiuuna to Nombre de Dios. Oxnam, three years later, leaviuf^ his shij) as Drake had done, on the north side of Darien, marched across the isthmus, and, on the banks of a river, built a pinnace, forty-five feet long, in which he sailed into the South Sea ; this darin<^ fciailor then proceeded to the Pearl Islands, in the Gulf of Panama, and, having captured two prizes, in which were 1(50,000 pesos of gold (a peso being equal to eight shil- lings of our money), returned to the river ; but, owing to some disagreement about the division of the booty, they gave the Spaniards in Panama time to send a body of 100 men in pursuit, and the whole of the plunder was recovered, eleven Englishmen being killed. The Governor of Nombre de Dios also seized their small vessel, which had been run ashore and concealed with boughs, the guns and arms having been buried, and, at length, Oxnam and the surviv ^«« of his crew, who had been living with the Indians, were captured, and as the leader had no commission to show, but was a simple buccaneer, the whole of the survivors of the original crew of seventy men, with the exception of five boys, were executed. Thus disastrously ended the first exploit of the English in the South Seas, but Oxnam's old friend and commander, Drake, took an ample revenge for the treatment dealt to his countrymen, though, indeed, as unlicensed freebooters it was not undeserved.* * A narrative of Oxnam's adventure is given in ' An Account of the West Indies and the South Sea,' by Lopez Vaz, which, with its author, VOYAGR OF Sin FRANCIS DRAKE. 305 i iindtT ho had dion lie in abor- aricn to )rted on m, three 1, on the via, and, five feet 8 darinj:^ B Gulf of ich were gilt shil- it, owing le booty, d a body plunder Bd. The eir small aled with i, and, at who had nd as the a simple jinal crew loys, were exploit of old friend ijre for the indeed, as ccount of the th its author, Captain Francis Drake, who had nccompnnled hU kinsman, Sir John Hawkins, to St. .Juan de Ulloa in l.V;7-8, jind, four years later, had sacked the town of Noinbre dc Dios, received a connnission from (^ucen Elizalxith, who, it is related in 'The World Kncom pas.scd,' presented him with a sword, with the words, * We do account that he which striketh at thee, Drake, wtriketh at us.' ]Jut the good queen, though spirited and patriotic, was parsimonious like her grandfather, and the slii|)s with which Drake undertook his memorable voyage of circumnavigation, were supplied by private enterprise. They consisted of the Pelican (the name of which was changed, in the following August, to Golden Ilind)^ 100 tons, his flag-ship ; J'Jlkabcth, 80 tons, Captain John Winter ; Mariijohl, 30 tons. Captain John T'lomas ; Sican (a fly-boat), 50 tons. Captain eTohn Chester ; and Christophev (pinnace), 15 tons. Captain Thomas Moore. The total of the crews was only 1G4 men. On the 15th of November, 1577, Drake, being then in his thirty- eighth year, sailed from Plymouth, but it was not until the following 13th of December, that he finally got to sea, as the Pelican and Marigold lost their masts, and had to return to Plymouth for a refit. The ships visited Mogadore, Cape Blanco, the Cape de Verde Islands, making prizes on the way, and the river La Plata. At a port, in 47° 30' S. lat., the Swan was broken up for firewood, and, at Port San Julian, in foil into the hands of the English at Eio de la Plata, in 1586, Portugal being at that time subject to Spain, which was at ^ar with this country. An abridged translation of the work appears in Hakluyt, vol. iii. p, 778. It may here be mentioned that the first Englishman to embark on the South Sea, was one Chilton who, in 1572, was a passenger in a Spanish vessel from Panama to Peru. According to Hakluyt, vol. iii., another Englishman, Thomas Blake, settled in Mexico in 1536, VOL. I. 20 1 :| 306 MARITIME DISCOVERY. I'i l' u' n:i 49° 30' S., which had been the scene of a mutiny and execution m Magellan's fleet, one Mr. Thomas Doughtie, being accused of plotting against the admiral, was exe- cuted. On the 2 1th of August, the fleet ancliored thirty miles within the Strait of Magellan, and, on the 6th of September, entered the South Sea, seventeen days after making Cape de las Virgenes. On the 30th of Septemljcr, the Marigold was separated from the other two ships^ and was never heard of again, and when at anchor near the south w^est part of the coast of Tierra del Vuego, the Golden Hind was driven out to sea,* upon which Captain Winter, of the Elizabeth, not caring to prosecute the voyage, returned through the Strait, and, visiting the river La Plata, and an island on the coast of Brazil, where he left a pinnace and eight men, arrived in England on the 2nd of June, 1579. f They Avere driven so far to the southward by a succession of gales w^hich continued for fifty-one days that, as appears in ' The World Encompassed' (p. 4-1), they 'fell in with the uttermost part of land towards the South Pole, which stands in the 5Gth degree,' and anchored off the island of Tierra del Fuego, near Cape Horn. On the 30th of October, Drake sailed alone, the other ships having parted company in the storms, and, coast- ing along the American shore, arrived at Valparaiso, on * On this occasion a boat, with eight men, was separated from Drake's ship. Eeturning through the Strait they went to Port Julian, and from there to Rio de la Plata, where they were attacked by the Indians, all being wounded and four taken prisoners. The four others proceeded to an island, where, after enduring the extremity of suffer- ing, two died of their wounds, and the other two returned to the main- land on a plank, their boat having been destroyed. One of these men died, and the survivor, Peter Carder, after nine years' absence returned to England. t The account of this voyage of Captain Winter by Edward Cliffe, mariner, appears in Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. V53. DRAKE EXPLORES THE CALIFORNIAN COAST. 307 ly and ightie, ts exc- thirty he 6th 1 clays ,0th of 3 other rhen at irra del * upon ring to it, and, ijoast of L'ived in 3 driven s which 'The ith the which sland of He other , coast- aiso, on ited from )rt Julian, ed by the our others of suffer- the inain- these men returned ard Cliffe, the 5th of December, where he made a vakiable prize, also visiting Coquimbo, Tarapaca, Arica, Arequipa, and Callao, doing great damage to the shipping, and carry- ing off much treasure. From Callao he proceeded in pursuit of a ship, called the Cacafuego, which had left laden with treasure for Panama, and, crossing the line on the 24th February, overtook the Spanish treasure- ship, and, after a brief action, captured her. The booty taken on this occasion consisted of ' thirteen chests of rials of plates, eighty pounds weight of gold, twenty-six tons of uncoined silver,* and a quantity of jewels and precious stones, the whole being estimated at 360,000 pesos.' After taking out the treasure, the Spanish ship was allowed to proceed to Panama, and Drake, having careened his ship at a small island named Canno, two leagues from the mainland of Nicaragua, sailed to the westward and then to the northward, with the object of discovering a passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Coasting along the shore of California, which he called New Albion, discovered by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Drake reached a point, of which he says in ' The World Encompassed': 'Though we searched the coast dili- gently, even to the forty-eighth degree, yet found we not the land to bend so much as one point in any place towards the east.' Sir William Monson, also, in his ' Naval Tracts' (book iv.), commends Drake's resolu- tion for having, ' after almost two years «pent in un- practised seas, left his known course and ventured upon an unknown sea in 48°, to which latitude he arrived, thinking to find a passage into our seas.' Drake's ship having sprung a leak, he remained refitting her, for a * The uncoined silver, at five shillings per ounce, would be worth X2 12,000. The peso of gold was equal to eight shillings of our money. 20—2 308 MARITIME DISCOVERY. f / period of thirty-six days, in a port called after him, in 38° N. lat.,* and in 38° 30' according to ' The World Encompased,' though Burney is of opinion that it was in the port now known as San Francisco, in 37° 48' N. To Drake belongs the credit of having explored the Californian coast from Cape Mendocino to 48° K. lat., the Spanish navigators, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and Francisco de Ulloa, having discovered all the coast from that Cape to the southern extremity of the peninsula of California. On the 23rd July, Drake, having given up his inten- tion to seek for the fabled Strait of Anian, boldly struck out into the Pacific and steered for the Molucca Islands. On September 30th, having been sixty-eight days at sea without seeing land, he sighted some islands, in 8° N., which he called the Islands of Thieves, supposed to be the Pelew Islands, discovered by Da Rocha, and named by him after De Sequeira. Continuing his course to the westward, on the 16th October he made the Philippine Islands, in 7° 5' N., and, having watered at Mindinao, he sailed to the south wa-d and anchored at Ternate, where he was visited by the king who had expelled the Portuguese from that island. On the 9th November Drake proceeded on his voyage, and, on the 14th, anchored at a small uninhabited island he called Crab Island, near the eastern part of Celebes, where he remained four weeks, +he crew living ashore, and the necessary repairs bein^ done to the ship. On the 12th December, he sailed, and, after narrowly escaping de- struction on a shoal, in 1° 56' S. lat., not far from the co?>st of Celebes, visited Java, and then steered for the Cape of Good Hope, which was reached on the 15th June. On the 22nd July, the Golden Hind put into * See 'The Famous Voyage,' in Hakluyt, vol. iii. VOYAGE OF CAVENDISH. ao9 iim, in World it was 48' N. ed the N". lat., lIo and st from isula of 3 inten- ' struck Islands. days at Is, in 8° posed to ha, and \g his he made watered mchored ho had the 9th 1, on the lie called where he and the the 12th ping de- from the d for the the 15th put into Sierra Leone, and, on the 26th Septemher, 1580, after an absence of nearly three years, anchored at Plymoutli. * How many a rongli sea had ho weather'd in her, Ho knew her as a horseman knows his horse.' Queen Elizabeth dined on board the Golden Hind at Deptford, and knighted Drake. The ship was preserved many years at Deptford, and when she was broken up, a chair was made of one of her planks, which may f^till be seen in the University of Oxford. Drake undertook many voyages to the Spanish main against his old enemies, the Spaniards, whom lie was chiefly instrumental in deferting at the time of the Armada in 1588. During one of tlief:;e expeditions he died at Portobello, of chagrin at his ill-success, on the 28th January, 1595. In person he is described by Harris as ' low of stature, yet extremely well made, his complexion fresh and fair, his eyes large and lively, his hair of a light brown, and his countenance open and cheerful.' The next Fnglishman to circumnavigate the globe was Thomas Cavendish (or Candish, as he is called in Hakluyt), a gentleman of substance, of 'I'rimloy; in Suffolk, who had accompanied Sir Richard Grenville to Virginia, in the Tiger ^ in the year 1585, Cavendish sailed from Plymouth, on the ?lst July, 1586, with three vessels, equipped at his own ex^^cnse, called the De.nre, 120 tons, the Content, sixty tonS; and Ihujh Gcdlant, forty tons, the total number of pers-ons cm- barked being 123.* Visiting Sierra Leone, where they * A short account of this voyage appears in the first publication of Hakluyt (1589), pp. 809-13, and a more detailed narrative, by Francis Petty, who sailed Avith Cavendish, is given in the edition of Hakluyt of the year ICOO. In June, 1586, a second expedition, fitted out for buccaneering purposes at the expense of the Earl of Cumberland, left 310 MARITIME DISCOVEIIY. '^f attacked the people, and burnt 1 50 houseH, and IJrazil, and discovcrinth January, and the Soutli Sea on the 2 1th February. i*roeeedin^ alonpj the coast in the same course taken by Drake, they put in at the island of Mocha, and the J5ay of (^uintero, seven lea;^ues to the north of Valpa- raiso, where they were attacked ]>y the Spaniards, and twelve men killed or captured, the prisoners bein;^ treated as pirates, and all hanged, notwithstanding that the two nations were now at open war. On the r)th A])ril, Cavendish sailed from (^uintero, and visited Aricu, Paita, and the island of Puna, capturing and firing prizes on the way, though they contained little of value. Here, as at (^uintero, the English were suddenly attacked by the Spaniards, and lost nine men killevas pro- posed that twelve should stay behind and form a settle- ment. On the 11th May he arrived ' among the islands SETTLKMENT OF VlRfilXIA. 325 13 22nd rtland of As soon iccdcd in returned, Irinidad, England, L»- cxcccd- 2 reputed I Captain soon after it part of c scene of li's reign, le Gulf of II English > was the wards Sir d Ingram, elled from I to within rere taken I, Captain 3uccaneer- hree small hich, with others he 3 town of r, the Yir- aiold, with t was pro- m a settle- the iblands forming the north side of ]\[assachusetts Bay,' but not finding the place suitable, set sail and landed on a small island on the Xew England coast, which he called Elizabeth, and on another he called Martha's Vineyard. Here he built a fort, and, on the 18th June, sailed for Plymouth, where he arrived on the 23rd July. The last voyage made in Elizabeth's reign was by Captain Samuel Mace, of Weymoutli, fitted out by Sir Walter lialeigh, as appears by u brief account in vol. iv. of Purchas, 'to find those people which wore left there in the year 1587, to whose succour he hath sent five dif- ferent times at his OAvn charges.' But this attempt was as unsuccessful as those preceding it, for after making the land about forty leagues from Cape Ilatteras, they returned througli stress of weather. The unsuccessful attempts by Sir Walter Ualeigh — after whom the capital of Xorth Carolina was named — to colonise America during Elizabeth's reign were re- newed in that of James I. Mr. llichard Hakluyt, author of the most important collection of voyages in the language, at that time Prebend of Bristol Cathedral, a])plied, with other merchants of that city, to Raleigh, who was still regarded as the proprietor of A^irginia, for a license to trade with America, which was granted under his hand and seal. Accordingly two small vessels, the Speedwell, fifty tons, and thirty men and boys, Captain Matthew Pringe, and the J^iseovcrer, twenty- f-ix tons, and eleven men, Mr. William I>rown, sailed from King's Koad, near Bristol, on the 2()th March, 1()03, and, proceeding by the Azores, examined the coast of America between 43° and 11° X. lat., where they landed and built a fort, which they named after Mr. John Wbitson, Mavor of Bristol. On the J)th August thev left the coast, and arrived in Enijland on 32 ({ MAIUTIME DIsroVKIJV. 1^ ' t^e 2ii(l October. On tlic 10th May, in the same year, the Ellzahdh^ fifty tons, Captain Gilbert, who liad sailed with Captain Gosnokl, left Plymouth, and, after tradin^^ at St. Lucia and Dominica, arrived on the 25th July at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, near to which the captain and four men were killed by the natives. After the attainder of Sir A'^alter Raleif^h, Lords Southampton and Arundel of Wardour fitted out a ship lor purposes of discovery and trade, named the Arch- nn(jel, which sailed from J)artmouth, under command of Captain Georlibouring river, and after a stay of six weeks, during Avhich they carried on a very profit- able trade Avitli the natives, sailed on the IGth June, and in thirty days sighted the Land's l^nd. Encouraged by the results of this voyage, two com- panies were formed under King James's letters patent, dated 10th April, IGOG, for settling the Atlantic sea- board of what is now known as the United States, which was divided intoXorth and South A^irginia; one, known as the First Colony, consisting of the adventurers of the city of London — among whom is tlie name of Richard llakluyt, Prebendary of Westminster — were to have the exclusive privilege of settling at any point between 34° and 41° of lat., a distanc ^ of fifty miles north or south along the coast, and 100 miles to the westward inland ; and another company, consisting of the merchants of Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth, including Rnleigh, Gilbert, and Captain W. Parker, called the Second Colony^ or AVestern Company, were to enjoy similar privileges MCWroUT COLUNISMS fllKSAl'KAKi: IJAV. .'J27 c vcfir, I sailed trading July at captain Lords t a ship e Arc/i- Tiand of 1()05. id, and islands, it "svas jcovered I stay of y i)rofit- li June, wo com- 3 patent, itic sea- s, which , known rs of the Richard have the veen 3^° or south inland ; hants of , Gilbert, lonv. or rivileges l)ctwcen 38° and 4.")". These companios were empowered to coin money, raise forces for their defence^, and seize any ships trading within the limits of their respective charters. Tlie London Company, on the 2l)th Decem])er, IGOG, despatched an expedition, consisting of three vessels, of 120, 10, and 20 tons, with 110 colonists, under com- mand of Captain Christopher Newport, which proceeded to the ( ^arihbee Islands, and thence to the north of Chesa- peake I Jay, where they arrived on the 2()th April. They first landed on the southern cai)e of the ])ay, and the fort they constructed was called after Henry, Prince of Wales, while the northern cape was called after Prince Charles, afterwards the unfortunate Charles L The first great river they explored, the Indian name of which was Powhattan, they called James Iviver, after the king, and, some fifty miles from its mouth, they established their first settlement, which received the name of James- ToAvn. The governing body included Bartholomew Gosnold, Christopher Newport, who returned to England in June, and John Smith, whose superior administrative capacity was recognised a few years later by his unani- mous election to the presidency. Other vessels were despatched from England with supplies, and men and provisions for the colony, but upon Captain Smith's returning to England, owing to severe injuries he had received, the colonists became dis- couraged, and Avere on the point of sailing out of Chesa- peake l>ay, AA'lien they met the new Governor, appointed under a fresh lloytd patent, Thomas West, Lord de la Warr, who, witii Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Scmimers, and Captain Newport, and oOO men embarked in nine ships, h.ad left England in July, IGOi), but had been cast away on certain uninhabited islands, known as the ?«^ 111 11 m II ( '■■■«■ 328 ISrAT^ITTM.C DISCMn KHV licrmudaFi, and also cnllcd after Sir Georf^o Sommers. Lord de la Wnrr obliged the colonists to return to »ramcs-Town, and, in the following* year, leaving Mr. Pierce as his deputy, returned to England, where, for eight years, he devoted his time and energies to the service of the Company, and died, in 1618, on the voyage out to Virginia. Sir George Yardly was now appointed Governor, and, in his time, we are told, negroes were first imported into A'irginia as slaves ;* after him came Sir Francis Wyat, Sir John Harvey, and Sir AVilliam licrkeley, who pro- chiimed Charles 11., then in exile, before he was acknow- ledged in the three kingdoms. In l()o2, Charles I. granted all the countr\ north of the Potomac, not then settled, to Cecilius Calvert, i^ord Baltimore, and it received tlij name of IMaryland, in honour of (^ueon Henrietta Maria. On the 22nd November in the follow- ing year, I-eonard Calvert, Lord Baltimore's brother, sailed * About 1674, exclusive permission was granted to the Eoyal African Company to trade in sla^ o ?, and we fiud tliat, in that year, Sir Jonathan Atkins, Governor of Barbadoes, liad orderb to seize and condemn all ships bvii.ging slaves from Africa. After the lievolution of 1688, tlie trade in slave? vas thrown optn to all British merchants on payment of 10 per cent, towards the maintetiauce of tho forts of the African Comjiany. ^mmers. turn to ing Mr. here, for i to the J voyage lor, and, *ted into s Wyat, vho pro- acknow- larles I. not then and it f Queen Q foUoAv- broiher, England, esapeake t a place Charles )f Mary- IX., de- )w called L century :it, dat d the Eoyal that year, ,0 seize and Kevolution . n)erchauts tho forts of SETTLKMKXT OF THK CAROTJN'AS ANH CJKORGIA. 3*29 24th Marcli, 1()()3, granted it to the T.ord Diancellor, l-ldward Hyde, Lord Chirendon, George Monk, Duke of Alhcniarle, and other noblemen ; the grant ihcluded the uhole country between 30° 3U' and 29°, now known as the Carolinas and Georgia. The plan of government elaborated by the famous Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury, wa3 found to be unworkable, and injurious to the interests of the ])lanters, and at the end of sixty years was abolished, and the country surrendered to the Crown. Though the country about New York formed part of what was then known as Virginia, and was within the limits of the ^rant made by James I. to the Western Company, it was sold about the year 1608, by the navigator, Hudson, to the Dutch, who built u town on the island of ^lanhattan, at the mou>h of the Hudson l?i\'<^r, which they named Xew Amsterdam, now known as New York, and the bay to the east of it they called Nassau, and a settlement 150 miles up the river, Orange Fort. During the Dutch War, as a reprisal for the attack made by De lUiyter on our West African colonies. Sir l^obert Carr reduced the whole of the Dutch province tlien known as New Iklgia, and a portion of it received the nauKj of New York from James II. The first Europeans to settle in New Jersey were the Swedes, who had three toA\ns named Christina, Elsin- burg, and Gottenburg ; but the Dutch settled it afresh, and Charles II. gave this tract, in his grant of Nova Belgia, to the Duke of York. Charles II. was very liberal in his grants of land, wliich enabled him some- times to ' raise the wind ' for his follies and dissipations, and was not even above selling to his country's enemies an important place like Dunkirk, which roused the 330 MAinriMi; discovkwv. iinli|;iiiifi<)ii of llic juilhor of llii- ' Seasons,' avIio (It'lKMIlU'eil tlio Tfiisionfil king, Agftiiist liis country lniltcd l»y (lullic goM, Tlio i»iit pLiinioious sold, (lio Stiyllu sinco Ami loll (Jliiir)'ljili.s of Uk; Diitish soas.' Jnnios ir., Avlic'ii Diiko of York, made over his ]>rovnicc of Xew Jersey, uiKlcr tlie name of Xova Caneria, to Sir Gecrgc! Carteret and Tjord lierkeiey. Tliev divided it into two parts, Sir (Jeor/ie Carteret taking' Kast New Jersey, Avlileli borders on Xew York, and namin*^ it after the island of Jei'sey to wliieh his family bel on f^ed ; and liOrd l>erkeley the western portion bordering on Pennsyl- vania. On the 22nil April, 1702. the proprietors of both ])ortions plaeed them in the hands of (^ueen Anne, and ther oovi^n^iucnt ^vas afterwards vested in the Crown. The Ih'st to project settlements on tlic Jfudson's JJay were two Frenclunen, Kadisoi and Gooselier, wlio, having visited the bay, offered to take ships thither, first to the merehants at (^uebee, and then to the King of France, thoagh their proposjds were rejected. The English ambassador at Paris, however, suggested to them to try their fortune in London, and lierc they met -with better success. Some peo])le of quality and mer- chants euuaired Mr. Gillam who was hjna' connected with the Xew l^'ngland trade, and in the year l(i(j7 he sailed m the Aoiisuch, ketch, into Baflfin's Pay to 75°, and thence southward to 51°, when he entered a river Avhich he named after ]*rince Pupert, and finding the natives disposed to trade, erected a small fort which he called after Charles. The success of this expedition was so marked that, on the application of the persons who had iltted out the Nonsuch, Charles IP granted a patent, under date -Uav 2nd, 1G70, to Prince Pupert, Sir James I FOHMATION' (»F TUV. Hl'DSox's IJAV ro.MI'AXV. i]i]l s, AvllO j)roviiicG a, to Sir }(1 it into V Jersey, it after ^ed ; and Pcnnsyl- s of both nne, and Crown, on's ]>ay er, Avlio, tlier, iirst ! King of d. The jested to they met and mer- •onneoted • 1(3()7 he y to 75°, 2d a river tiding tlie which he htion was sons who a patent, Mr James TIaycs, and others, constituting the Hudson's I'a^- Coin- l);iny, wliicli nltiniately a<'([uir(' I an inqxn'tance only second to that of the Knglisli Hast India Company, while its territories were pcrliaps of vaster extent. In 1070 the Company sent Mr. Charles Jiaily as their Iirst Governor, who, with Mr. Radison, settled at Rupert's River, and, in 1086, they had five settlements at Albany River, Hayes Island, Rupert's Kiver, Fort Wilson, and New Severn. In that year, the French from (Quebec, under Chevalier de Troyes, took the three first-named factories ; but, in l(>Ji3, they were retaken by the Company, as- sisted by the Government, though they soon again changed hands. In 1(51)0, King AVilliam sent two men- of-war, the Jjouadcciiture and Sca/onl, under Captain Allen, who retook the forts, but was killed in an cnf^aue- ment with the Afai-i/ Jiose, French ja'ivateer of fifty guns. In the following year the Jfantpshij-e frigate and Oivners Lore, fireship, were lost in Hudson's Ray, and all liands were drowned. During the J'^rench War the Company lost all their settlements but Fort Albany; but by the lOth and 11th Articles of the treaty of Utrecht, they were restored to them. The Western, or Plymouth, Company contented themselves for some 3Tars, after receiving their patent, with trading with the natives of what was called Xorth Virginia, in contradistinction to South Mrginia, which belonged to the London Comj)aiiy. iH 1011, when two ships were employed here fish* ^. under the connnand of the governor, Cai)tain John Smith, and Captain Thomas Hunt, the ibrmer exi)lored the country of Mas- sachusetts, but subsequent attempts to settle there ended in failure, owing to the hostility of the Indians, tlue to the conduct of Captain Harlow, in 1011, and three years later, of Captnin Hunt, who kidnai)ped the natives, 332 MAIMI'I.MK DlsroVKIlV. '; ' t' i tlio latter officer ImviniT enticed twent\-seven on board his ship, wlioni lie sold an slaves at Mala«ra. After the failure of Captain Donner to form a settle- ment in Massachusetts Hay, in 101!), the Company f^avc itp the attempt in disgust; but some Dissenters, in order to enjoy the religious freedom denied to them in Kngland, procured, through Sir Kiibert Nanton, the king's consent to their transporting themselves to America. Accordingly, on the Oth September, 1(120, about 120 persons sailed from Plymouth in the ^fat/ F/onrr, of 180 tons, intending to found the colony in the Hudson's River, but, meeting stormy weather, landed at a place they named New Plymouth in 42° N. hit. The colonists, including women and children, were about 100. The historian of the ' Pilgrim Fathers ' mentions nineteen families, and gives the names of forty- one effective men, including John Carver, governor, and John l>rewster, assistant to their minister, Mr. llobin- son, and ruling elder of their church ; but so great were the fatigues encountered by this infant colony during the first winter, that, of 100 souls, fifty died within the sj)ace of two months. But Providence watched over them, the Indians made no attack on them in their weakness, and the settlement in Plymouth Bay grew and strengthened until it developed into the flourish- ing communities known as the Xew England States. According to Harris (vol. ii. p. 234), the name of Xew England was given to this country by Charles I. (then Prince Charles), before whom Captain Smith, after his visit in 1614, laid a map he had drawn of the country, with full information regarding its products. In the year 1G25, Mr. White, minister of Dorchester, ]irojected a n'^w settlement in Massachusetts ^>ay, and, in 1G30, a fleet of ten ships, with 200 colonists, pro- Tin: PILCiUIM FATIIKRS AT SV.W I'LYMOlTJI. TiSS 111 board a settlc- onipnny liters, ill them in ton, the elves to r, 1(52(), the Mm/ olony in weather, n 42° N. children, Fatliers * offorty- 'nor, and r. llobin- rcat were y during dthin the hed over in their 5ay grew fiourisih- id States. name of Charles I. n Smitli, vvn of the oducts. orchester, T">ay, and, lists, pro- ) cceded thitlier under John Winthrop as gcjvcrnor. These settlers erected Charlestown on the north side of the C'harles River, Dorchester at tlie bottom of Massa- chusetts IJay, and lioston. Divisions l)reaking out among them, one Kogcr WilUams settled a new [)lanta- tion at Providence, which was afterwards united to the government of Rhode Island. In lOiJll, settlements were founded at Hartford, Windsor, Springfield, on the Connecticut River, and, in the following year, colonies were established at Long Island and New Haven. The I^erimidas, so called after Juan JJermudez, a Spaniard, who discovered them in 1527, were fre(piently visited by his countrymen on their passage to the West Indies, but were unknown to us until the year loiKJ, when Henry May was shipwrecked upon them in a French vessel, and gave an account of the grou]).* When Sir George Sommers, or Summers, visited them, two men. Carter and Waters, remained behind on the largest island, called St. George, which is about sixteen miles in length, and, on the occasion of the second visit of Sir George Summers, who died here, they werejtjincd by a third seaman, one Chard. In the following year, the ship Plough, commanded by Captain Matthew Sumers, arrived from England with sixty colonists, under Richard Moor as governor, who built the town of St. George, and, in the year 1614, repulsed an attack of the Spaniards. He was succeeded by Captain Daniel Tucker, an excellent governor, in whose time live men performcl the desperate feat of sailing to Ireland in forty-two days, in a decked boat, of two or three tons, built by themselves. In 1619, a new governor. Captain • Kecently Lioutenaut-Gcnoral Sir llcnry J. Jofroy, K.C.M.G., C.B., has written a history of those islands, of which he has been governor. 334 MAHITIMK DISCOVEHY. i| JUitlcr, arrived with 500 colonists, and established the ^^ovcrnnient of the ' still vexed JJcrnioothcs ' on a suit- able footin*>\ In the year 1018, Sir Samuel Argall, the Governor of \'ir<^inia, went on a cruise round the coast Avithin the limits of the patent of his Company, which included Acadia, now known as Xova Scotia, and, finding a French ship and settlement near Cai)e Cod, captured the former and drove the garrison out of the fort, as well as from a second settk'ment at a place they called Port Royal, on the south-west coast of Xova Scotia. In the year 1G23, Sh* William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Stirling, having secured a grant from James, estab- lished a colony at Luke's Bay, near Cajie Sable in Xova Scotia, and wrote a book descriptive of this plantation, ■while James created a new order, called the Knights of Nova Scotia. Some years afterwards the French pur- chased Sir AVilliam Alexander's grant of this country, and of the northern part from Sir David Kirk, for £5000, but, in 1G90, they were dispossessed by Sir William Phipps, Governor of Xcw England, though the country was returned to them by the terms of the treaty of Kvswick, in 1G07. The island of Cape Breton followed the fate of Nova Scotia, and both continued in the possession of the French, until the year 1710, when Governor Nicholson made himself master of Port Royal, which was called after the queen, Annapolis, and which, Avith Nova Scotia, was confirmed to the English Crown by the 12th Article of the treaty concluded at Utrecht, in 1712. Ultimately, in the year 1759,* the whole of Canada fell * Quebec and the French settlements in Canada were reduced by the Engh'sh in 1G2G, but were restored six years later. Quebec was again unsuccessfully besieged by the English in 1711, and in 1763 its l^ossjsi^iou \v;is liually secured by treaty to this country. bed the I a suit- ernor of thin the included iiding a urcd the ^ well as led Port In the Earl of s, estab- m Nova antation, nights of nch pur- countrv, Kirk, for I by Sir lOugh the :he treaty J of Nova n of the Nicholson vas called ith Nova r the 12th in 1712. Janada fell reduced by Quebec was i iu 1763 its FUKTIIEK ATTEMl'TS TO COLONISK GUIANA. 335 into the hands of the English, the last scene of the tragic drama being the capture of (Quebec, and the heroic deaths of Generals Wolfe and Montcalm. The scheme projected by Sir Walter Raleigh for the colonisation of Guiana, which was said with truth to possess rich gold mines, was not suffered to fall through ; he himself was engaged in the expedition to Cadi/; nnd in the voyages to Virginia, and then his imprisonment mtervened; but, on the 21st March, 1(504, Captain Charles Leigh undertook a voyage to Guiana, at his own and his brother Sir Olive Leigh's charge, in a vessel, of fifty tons, called the Olive Plant, having a crew of forty-six men and boys. Captain Leigli arrived on the 22nd May, at a branch of the Orinoco River, known as the Wyapoco, in 8° 30' N. hit., and made a settlement on the west side of the entrance, to which he gave the name of Mount Howard. In June, of the following year, he sent his ship to England for fresh supplies, retaining thirty-five of the crew; but they were attacked by fevers, of which Captain Leigh and several men died, when the remainder found their way to England. Meantime Sir Olive Leigh had despatched a second vessel, called the Olive Blo.s.^om, on the 14th April, 1G05; but the crew put in at St. Lucia, where they settled, and were treacherously attacked by the natives, when, of sixty-eight sailors and colonists, only nineteen escaj^ed with their lives. The survivors, of whom twelve were wounded, ventured to sea in a miserable boat, with only fi\e gallons of water and a little rice and biscuit, and, after being ten days at sea, arrived at an uninhabited island, whence five men i)roceeded in the boat to the continent, and brought relief to their comi)anions. Ultimately, thirteen reached a Spanish town called Coro, of wliom eight died, and five went to Carthagena, whence they procured a passage to Spain. 35(5 MARITIME DISCOVERY. I In 1G09, afesli attempt to colonise Guiana was made hy Robert Harcourt, who fitted out three vessels — the Iio.se, of eighty tons ; the Patience, of thirty- six tons ; and the Lily, of nine tons — which sailed from Dart- mouth on the 29th March, and arrived in the Bay of Wyapoco on the 17th May. Mr. Harcourt explored the neighbouring country, and his brother and Captain Harvey proceeded by sea to the * Arrawarry,' 100 leagues distant, which they a>?cended for some fifty leagues. On the 18th August Mr. Harcourt sailed to England for supplies, and on his return, obtained a patent for all that coast as far as the river Amazon. Sir Walter Raleigh, on obtaining his release from the Tower, fitted out, at his own expense and that of friends, a fleet of seven vessels,* which, before he left the coast, had increased to fourteen sail, so great was his reputation. On the IDth August, Raleigh sailed from Cork, where he had put in through stress of weather, and arrived at Wyapoco on the 11th November. On the 4th Decem- ber they sailed again, and on the following day arrived at the Triangle Islands, whence he sent up the river to the gold mine five of the small vessels, each Avith fifty men. Captain Keymis who was in chief command, came to the Spanish town of St. Thomas, near the main channel of the Orinoco, and on the 2nd January Avas attacked by the Spaniards ; but though they were re- * The Destiny (built by himself), 440 tons, 36 guns, and 200 men, of whom 80 were gentlemen ; Jason, 240 tons, 25 guns, and SO men, Captain John Pennington; Encounter, 160 tons, 17 guns, Captain Edward Hastings (and on his death Captain Whitney) ; Thunder, 150 tons, 20 guns, 70 men and 6 gentlemen. Captain Sir Warham St. Leger; Flying Joan, 120 tons, 14 guns, and 25 men, Captain John Chidley j Soutlmmpton, 80 tons, 6 guns, 25 men, Captain John Bayley ; and the Page, pinnace, 25 tons, 8 men, Captain Jamea Barker. LAST VOYAGE OF SIR WALTKU RALEIGH. 337 me as made Is — the X tons ; ■n Dart- ]^ay of ored the Captain 100 fifty sailed to tained a Amazon, from the >f friends, the coast, jputation. rk, Avhere irrived at h Decem- ly arrived le river to with fifty command, ' the main luary was ' were re- ad 200 men, ind 60 men, ins, Captain r/iunder, 150 VVarliam St. aptain John aptain John ptain James pulsed with heavy loss, he was obliged to give up the attempt of reaching the mine, and returned, having suf- fered heavily, among the killed being young Walter Raleigh, who fell fighting with a gallantry worthy his sire. On his return, Kejanis committed suicide, and the ships being leaky, and ofldcers and men in mutiny, Sir Walter, disappointed at the failure of his plans, re- turned to England, when he was arrested by the king's order, at the instigation of the Spanish ambassador, Gondomar, and conveyed to the Tower, whence, to the eternal disgrace of James, he was only released by the headsman's axe on the 29th October, 1618. This pedant prince, as has been said of him, ' drank with flattery, dreamt His vain pacific counsels ruled the world ; Though scom'd abroad, bewildor'd in a maze Of fruitless treaties ; while at home enslav'd, And by a worthless crew, insatiate draiu'd, He lost his people's confidence and love.' Thus it happened that James permitted his son-in-law, Frederick the Elector Palatine, who had been chosen King of Bohemia, to be stripped of his dominions by the Emperor Ferdinand, and, baser still, gave over his greatest subject to the executioner for offences against the Spanish Court committed long before, and con- doned by subsequent employment : ' Triumphant Spain the vengeful draught enjoy'd ; Abandon'd Frederick pined, and Baleigh bled.' In old Chaucer's words, Raleigh was ' a very parfit gentle knight,' whom all generations of his countrymen have delighted to honour. He was, says the elder D' Israeli,* the * adored patron ' of Spenser, Ben Jonson * See Isaac D'lsraeli's * Curiosities of Literature,' in which are interesting papers from MS. sources, detailing the circumstances of VOL. I. 22 338 MAKITIME DISCOVEUY. called him his literary • father,' and he left political instructions which Milton ' deigned to edit.' Equally great as a military and naval commander, as a statesman and politician Avho recognised England's mission as the great coloniser of the world, llaleigh was not less remark- able as a poet and writer almost of the first class. This ' great but ill-regulated mind,' as Hume speaks of him, wrote the celebrated fragment, ' The History of the World ' of which that eminent pliiloso^jhic historian says : * They were struck with the extensive genius of the man, who, being educated amidst naval and military enterprises, had surpassed in the pursuits of literature even those of the most recluse and sedentary lives.' But chivalric in life, llaleigh' s heroism shone forth grandly in the time of failure and affliction, and with a still brighter lustre in the hour of death, when his fortitude and irreproachable bearing on the scaffold melted the hearts of the thousands who witnessed the passage of this great soul ' from death unto life eternal.' His poetic feeling, which called forth the admiration of ' rare ' Ben Jonson, is apparent in the solemn h jcs he l)enncd on the night before his execution, which form a fittinu' conclusion to this brief ii'Hioe of one of Enj^land's most- treasured worthies. ' Even such is Time, that takes on trust Oar youth, our joys, our all we have, Air' pays us but with ago and dust ; ^\'^o iu the dark and silent grave, When we have wandered all our ways, Shuts up the story of our days.' The first to make a settlement in Guiana was Lord Willoughby, who, when Governor of Barbadoes, ob- Raleigh's apprehension at Plymouth on his return from liis disastrous expedition to Guiana, of his betrayal by his friend Stucley, aud his last moments. SETTL' .ENT OF THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS. iMV.i lolitical iiqually ,tesman I as tlio •cniark- . This of liini, of the listorian enius of military tcriiture Y lives.' le forth I with a hen his scaffold ssed the iternal.' niiratioii L jes he h form a In inland's vas Lord does, ob- is disastrous ley, aud his tained a grant of this country from Charles II., and established a colony at Surinam.* We find that in 1(566, Guiana was held by the French, Dutch, and Eng- lish ; but in that year the Dutch despatched four ships of war and 300 men, under Commodore Creissen, \' ho sailed three leagues up the Surinam river to the fort at Paramaribo, which he captured. By the peace of Breda, it was agreed that tlie Dutch should retain Surinam, and we New York, which was then called New Amsterdam. It is uncertain when or by whom the island of Bar- badoes was discovered, but the first J^^nglishmen to land here were some sea u en from Sir William Curteen's ships, that were cruising in those seas in the latter pavt of the reign of James. Some adventurers went thither, but soon took their departure, and the island was granted by Charles I. to James, Earl of Carlisle, in the first year of his reign. It was soon after colonised, and in 1647, some of the adherents of Charles settled here, and cutivated sugar, and the chief settlement, called Bridp-j-Town, or St. Michael's, is situated in a bay on the south-west side oi the island, which received the name of Carlisle after the proprietor. The island be- came so rich and prosperous, that in 1651 the Rump Parliament sent a strong squadron of men-of-war, under Sir George Ascue (or Ayscough), who compelled Lord Willoughby to acknowledge its authority, and Mr. Searl was appointe Governor in his place. Charles II. in 1663 purchased the island of Lord Kinnoul, heir to the Earl of Carlisle, and appointed Lord Willoughby of Parham, Governor, and three years later the J^arbadians beat off Admiral de Kuyter, who attempted with a large • British Guiana, as now known, was tiiKcn, iu 1781, by Sir Georgo Rodney, was restored two years hiter, was again captured and restored in 1801, aud finally conquered in 1803. 22—2 340 MA \{ ITI MK DISCOVERY. «;|j r S fleet to surprise the islsmd. Uurbjidoes is the most oast- Wftrd of tlic West hnVui Islands, and the principal of the Windward Islands, which include St. Vinccn;, Grenada, Tobago, and St. Lucia. St. Christojdier, or St. Kitt's, — one of the Leeward Islands, which include Antigua, Nevis, IMontserrat, Dominica, and the N'irgin Islands, — was occu])ied, early in 1G27, by English and French colonists, the former una t Sir Thomas Warner, and the latter under M. Desnambrie, who agreed to articles of division on the 13th May. In 1625), the island was cai)turcd by Frederick de Toledo, who arrived from Spain with a fleet of twenty-four large ships, but it reverted to its original owners the same year ; eventually the English drove out the French, and, by the treaty of Utrecht, St. Kitt's remained in possession of the English Crown. In 1628, Sir Thomas Warner settled Nevis, and at one time this island was in a more flourishing condition than any of the Leeward Islands, and, though scarcely six miles long, was said to maintain a po))ulation of 10,000 Europeans and 20,000 negroes. Montserrat (so called by Columbus from a mountain near Barcelona) was occupied by Sir Thomas Warner in 1032, Dominica and Barbuda about the same time, Anguilla, or Snake Island, in 1G50, and Antigua in 1663, by Lord Willoughby, Governor of Barbadoes. The Lucayos, or Bahamas, — which include New Providence, Great Abaco, Great Bahama, Long Island, Eleuthera, Great Inigua, and St. Salvador, the first land in the New World sighted by Columbus, — were first visited, in 1667, by Captain Sayle, who, when j^roceed- ing to Carolina, was driven by a storm on the island he named New Providence. Charles II. made a grant of the Bahamas to the Duke of Albemarle, Lords Craven, SETTLEMENT OP THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS. 311 most osist- ;ipal of the , Grenadsi, t. Kitt's, — c Antigua, Islands, — md French ler, and the articles of island was from Spain it reverted ntually the he treaty of the English evis, and at no* condition Lio-h scarcely >o))ulation of ontserrat (so f Barcelona) 32, Dominica 11 a, or Snake 3, by Lord include New Long Island, the first land s, — were first rhen proceed- . the island he de a grant of Lords Craven, Ashley, and l>crkeley. Sir George Carteret and others. In 1G72, Mr. Chillingwortli proceeded to colonise New Pro- vidence, and, about 1(U)3, ^Ir. Nicholas Trott, then governor, built the town of Nassau, llie island was captured and plunaer«d by the Spaniards about 1680, and again in July, 1708, after which the English settlers deserted it. The J>ahamas were, however, re-occupied, and twice again plundered by the Spaniards and French, upon which, in ^larch, 1714, the House of Lords addressed (^ucen Anne to })rovide for their defence, but notliing was done. Four years later, a second address was moved to George I., upon which, in 1718, Captain Woods Uogers, who, eight years before, had made an important voyage of discovery to the South Seas, was appointed governor, and sailed for Nassau, with the frigates Uof