Miscellaneous. BARTHOLOMEW DIAS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10657, 10 July 1897, Page 5

Miscellaneous. BARTHOLOMEW DIAS.

; All [aailors and geographers should pronounce with respect the word Portugal, for it wrts that llttlo kingdom whioh led the way in navigating the ocean. But for Portugal Columbus had uovor ■ diacoverod America. It waa the exaniplu of Portuguoso navlgutors that gave him courage to undertake his great voyage, and it was while living In Portugal nnd oxeroising hla vountlon of i map-maker that the conviction grow iv his mind of tho existonco of land in the western hemisphere. Alfonse, the fir.-rt and greatest king of Portugal, was the progenitor of a noble line of kings, who raised one of the smallest of kingdoms to a rank nnd Importance in Europe | scarcely inferior to that of the largest. The first of the series of events which ended in the discovery of a new world waa the introduotlon of tho mariner's compass, withont which it bad never been safe to venture out of sight of land. No one knows who invented this sublime instrument. We only know that it was first used in navigating the seas about the year 1420— Beventy years before Columbus sailed. The whole of that period of seventy . years was filled with eventß of the highest interest to navigators. Then it was that the science of navigation began to exist. In the conr't of a Portuguese king the oompasa was first seriously studied. There, too, were constructed the first tables of the son's declinations, for tailors' use ; and there was first disoloaed the modern mode oF taking observations of the sun. By Portuguese navigators the islands lying off the 1 African coast— the Azores, Madeiras, I Cape Yerdes and others— were discovered. Portuguese sailors first I ventured down along theooaat of Africa ; | first visited the negro in his native ' home; first saw the elephant; first brought to Europe pepper, ivory and gold dust, from the shores of Guinea ; 1 first planted the oross upon those distant coasts ; first saw that remote headland I whioh wan afterwards named the Oape | of Good Hope ; first doubled the oape, " and so reached by sea the East Indies. These were great achievements — second in importance only to the discovery of a Dew continent, and surpassing even that in dlffioalty and danger. Of the Portuguese navigators who proceeded Columbus, Bartholomew Dias was the most famous and successful. It was in 1486— six years before the discovery of America— that Dias made the voyage which Immortalised his name. 1 At that time, the principal islands of the I northern coast of Afrioa were paying tribute to the Portuguese king, and the coast itself" had been explored to a point within 1,100 miles of the southern extremity of tbe continent. Beyond that point all was ass yet unknown; But there existed then in Portugal suoh an enthusiasm for explorations and discoveries, that no sooner had one navigator returned and related his adventures than plans were entertained for new attempts. This was the case in 148 G. A ship returned in that year which had sailed up the river Congo, and brought 1 home a chief of the country to be bap« _ tized a Christian. Religions zeal, the ! deßire of gain and national pridp, all ) concurred to induce the King of Portuj gal to fit out a new expedition, to asoertain if possible, how far Africa extended, > and what there was at the end of It. . They had been working at Afrioa for \ many a year. Great and strange things ' had been discovered ; but they had not , yet reached the bottom of tho mystery. Two vessels, each of fifty tons burthen were equipped and armed, and placed . under the command of Dias, a man of } rank and a member of the king's household. The little vessels put to sea, followed by tho ardent wishes of all Portugal. Columbus was not upou the shore - to see them off ; for, one year before, * after having long endeavoured to obtain the patronage of the King of Portugal, 1 he had left that country and offered his services to the Sling of Spain. How bitterly the King of Portugal regretted thin six years after { ' The two ships sped away before t favorable gales, end quickly reached the southernmost point attained by pre- ' vious navigators. Beyond latitude 22 degrees nothing was known, and Dias had no guide but the line of the ooast. This, however, proved to be a very deceptive guide; for sometimes it stretched away toward the west, then indented eastward ; so that, in attempting to make shortcuts, he often lost the land, Bailed many days oat of his course, and then was obliged to retrace hie steps aad grope about, as it were, until he found the continent again. As the I ships advanced toward the south, the astonishment of the esvigators was unbounded when they found the weather , daily growing colder. This was contrary to sll pant experience. No European bad ever ijafojro gone far enough south of the equator to dis^oyer that the tern" perature lowers bb yotj go son£h of the equator in the same proportion as $?kon yon go north of It. This faot was the first great discovery of Dias and his iotyowero. gsUjpt! aiong (he coast, he, saw at length the iofty promontory, a thousand ! feet abova tbe level of the sea, wtyoh terminates the> continent, He had accomplished his mission, bo/; he knew it not. Still hugging the shore, he .soon observed that the line of coast nowtended northward ; whence he gradually concluded that he had doubled the southern extremity of Afrioa. It is mu«h to the credit of Dias and of the enlightened king whom he served, that, in obedience to his .orders, he treated tbe natives of Africa with all . possible kindness. Four nogro women, ' beguiled from their home by previous explorers, hci carried back to their country, ioadeij wit]} presents. He exchanged gifts, also, with the chiefs whose ' dominions ho visited, and treated t&eoj • with great consideratiou. They reciprocated his kindness and supplied him with provisions. On one occasion, how- , ever, he encountered a hostile tribe, Soon after rounding the great cape, he 1 had occasion to land for a supply of '. water. On reaching the springs he found a great assemblage of natives, who attempted to drive away the sailors , by a shower of stones burled from slings. Dias ordered up one of those enormous bow guns in use at that time, by means of whjch a large stone was thrown into 1 the mob of howling savages, stretched one of them lifeless upon the ground and put the rest to flight. This encounter completed the discouragement of his men. Dias wished to push on in quest of the rioh shores of India, but nothing could overcome . the unwillingness of his crew to proceed ■ farther, and he saw himself, at length, obliged to yield. Ordering the crews of both ships oshore, be set up, with Impos. lug oeremonial, a wooden cross, rudely , fashioned by a ship's carpenter, whioh bore also the royal arms of Portugal. Beneath this cross mass was aaid and. (the .communion administered. When these services were concluded and Dia.B was about to jret.uyn to bis ship and sail for home, his heart w&s overcome with the bitterness of his regrets, fiip thought that he had come so far only to set up a cross, and that he wsa turning back just when complete success seemed within his grasp, shook his frame with emotion. It was long before he could tear himself from the spot. ' You would have fought,' said one of his comrades afterward, ' that he was takiug leave of an only son ejileid forever to that dlataDt shore? It was not till Dias had again doubled the cape that he knew for a oertainty that it was infos/} the end of the continent. He named st the $ape of Storms. ,One strange and nielan.oholyiapidont ocoured on the voyage home. Dias haS stationed a small Btore ship in one of the bays on the coast of Guinea, which he left in charge of f purser and a small crew. During his long ajbsenuo disease had reduced the number of this little band, until none remained but the purser and two or three alek, despairing sailors. ?Vben, at last, the parser saw jn the distant the well-known vessel of his commander, BU oh was the shock of his joy that he fell t?ad upon the deok of hie vessel. The return of the expedition was hailed with delight by king and people. John 11. , comprehending the Importance of the discovery, and foreseeing nil Its probable consequences, would not permit the cape to retain the name given to it by Dias. Ho called it the Capo of Good Hope, which it has ever since retained. He meant by this appellation to express the feeling that now there waa good hope of reaching India by sea; good hope of Portugal sharing in tbe commerce whioh had enriched Venice ; good hope of making up for the small territory of Portugal by great possessions on another continent; and, not

least, good hope of adding to the realm of the cross countless hosts of heathen. All these good hopes were abundantly realized ere many years had gone by. For Bomo reason unknown Dias did not receive cither tho honors or the l'Gwardn dno to so eminent a service. Ho waR novor ugain in command of an expedition, though ho lived long enough to see the results of his discovery. In the year 1500 a fleet of twelve Portuguese ships was voyaging toward India. Dias, who had never jot set foot 011 tho land to which ho had shown the way, was in conjuiaud of one of thoso vetraels. One cloar, still afternoon In May, when the fleet was coursing gently along In close company, a hurricane suddenly struok them. The fleet was dispersed, and four of the vessels immediately filled and sunk. Not a man on board of them was resoued. One of the four ships thus ongnlfed was commanded by Bartholomew Dius.