tedium of such a course, to the perils of an un

known sea.

With the increase of commerce and civilization, however, the science of navigation improved, and men became more enterprising. The states of Italy, which were further advanced in civilization than other European countries, were the first to extend their maritime voyages. Their ships frequented all the ports of the Mediterranean, and, venturing beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, visited Spain, France, and even England, while to the east they sailed as far as Constantinople, Syria, and Egypt.

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries various enterprising travellers explored the unknown regions of Asia. The most eminent of these travellers was Marco Polo, a rich and noble Venetian. With the view of extending the commerce of his country, he penetrated far into the east of Asia, to Eastern Tartary, and Cathay, the present China, He visited the town of Cambalu, now known as Pekin, the capital of the kingdom of Cathay, where resided the great Khan, or ruler of Tartary, passed through all the chief trading cities of the country, and made several voyages on the Indian Ocean. On his return he astonished his countrymen with the most glowing descriptions of these regions; told them of the precious stones, the pearls, the silks, the spices which abounded there; of the fertility and populousness of the country; of the magnificence of the towns, and the splendour of

the palace of the Great Khan. The accounts of these unknown regions excited general curiosity, and stimulated other adventurers to go in quest of further discoveries. Thus the intercourse with other countries was gradually extended, the means of information were increased, and men's minds consequently grew more enlarged.

Just at this period, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, the wonderful property which the magnet possesses of pointing towards the poles of the earth was discovered, and was applied to navigation in the shape of the mariners' compass, by means of which navigators could discover with certainty the north and south. Before this invention they were obliged to depend for guidance on the light of the stars, and the observation of the sea-coast. Mariners now became bolder in their enterprises: relying on this little guide, they quitted the sea-coast, and even ventured out of sight of land, and, in process of time, explored that dreaded ocean which was soon to prove the high road to undiscovered worlds.

The kingdom of Portugal, from its situation at the western extremity of Europe, was early celebrated as a maritime state. Possessing but a small territory in Europe, and bounded by Spain, a powerful neighbour whom they could never hope to rival by land, the Portuguese perceived that the sea, which was open to all, was the only field of enterprise in which they could distinguish themselves. They were the first to explore the

coast of Africa, though for a long time they never ventured to sail further south than Cape Non. In 1420 some Portuguese ships discovered the island of Madeira, and John I., then king of Portugal, planted a small colony of Portuguese there, and introduced the cultivation of the vine and the sugar-cane, which both throve so well that the sugar and wine of Madeira soon became articles of consequence in the commerce of Portugal.

The great ignorance which prevailed, even among the educated, on all matters relating to geography, proved a formidable barrier to any extensive discoveries southwards. It was thought that the earth was divided into five regions, called zones, which corresponded with imaginary belts in the heavens. The two zones nearest the poles were called frigid zones, and were considered uninhabitable on account of the extreme cold which

zone.

perpetually reigned there. The central region, lying next to the equator, and immediately beneath the track of the sun, was likewise considered uninhabitable and unproductive from being burnt up by excessive heat: it was called the torrid Between these two regions, in both hemispheres, there remained the temperate zones, which, being neither too hot nor too cold, were fertile and healthy, and were supposed to have been given to man for his habitation. This erroneous idea kept the Portuguese for some time from prosecuting their discoveries further south; and when they did enter the torrid zone, and

beheld, for the first time, black men with woolly hair, flat noses, and thick lips, whom we now distinguish as the race of negroes, they attributed this alteration in the appearance of the human race to the influence of heat.

Fortunately for the Portuguese, they were guided in their enterprises by a man of a noble and enlightened mind, Prince Henry of Portugal, son of King John I. He did not believe the theory of the zones, and did his utmost to dispel the fears of the Portuguese, and to encourage them to sail southwards. By studying the works of ancient writers, he discovered proofs that Africa was circumnavigable, and he felt convinced that by sailing along its shores, it would be possible to arrive at India. Anxious to carry out this great idea, and aware of the benefit such a route would be to Portugal, Prince Henry established a naval college, and collected all the geographical and astronomical information of the time, as well as all that was known with regard to navigation. He also obtained a bull from the Pope, granting to the crown of Portugal any land that the Portuguese might discover in the Atlantic Ocean. Encouraged by his assistance, the Portuguese soon began to extend their researches further south, and in the space of a few years they discovered the river Senegal, and all the coast of Africa, from Cape Blanco to Cape de Verde, together with the Azores and Cape de Verde Islands.

Prince Henry did not live to reap the full

reward of his labours. It was not till many years after his death that the truth of his conjectures was proved by Vasquez de Gama, who sailed round the Cape of Good Hope to the southern coast of India.

After Prince Henry's death the Portuguese continued their discoveries with great success. The idea concerning the torrid zone was found to be a mistake. The new lands they discovered brought to them both wealth and importance, while the fame of their discoveries attracted the attention of all Europe, and strangers and adventurers from all countries flocked to Portugal to join in their expeditions.

His

Just at this period, when Europe was, as it were, ripe for discovery, Christopher Columbus was born. His family name in Italian is Colombo. It was latinized into Columbus by himself, and it is by that name that he is now always known. Columbus was born at the town of Genoa, in Italy, about the year 1435. The exact date of his birth is uncertain. father was a woolcomber, who had long lived at Genoa, and he was the eldest of four children, having two brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, and one sister. The little Christopher was sent to school at Pavia, one of the chief seats of learning in Italy, where he studied Latin, geometry, geography, astronomy, and navigation. From his childhood he manifested a passion for the sea and for geographical discovery; and at the age of fourteen, as soon as he had left