Africa did not end, according to the common belief, at Cape Nam
[Portuguese for "not"], but that there was a region beyond that forbidding
negative, seems never to have rested until he had made known that quarter
of the world to his own. He fixed his abode upon the promontory of Sagres,
at the southern part of Portugal, whence, for many a year, he could watch
for the rising specks of white sail bringing back his captains to tell him
of new countries and new men.

One night, in the year 1418, he is thought to have had a dream of promise,
for on the ensuing morning he suddenly ordered two vessels to be got ready
forthwith, and placed them under the command of two gentlemen of his
household, Zarco and Vaz, whom he directed to proceed down the Barbary
coast on a voyage of discovery. A contemporary chronicler, Azurara, tells
the story more simply, and merely states that these captains were young
men, who, after the ending of the Ceuta campaign, were as eager for
employment as the prince for discovery; and that they were ordered on a
voyage having for its object the general molestation of the Moors as well
as the prosecution of discoveries beyond Cape Nam.


DISCOVERY OF PORTO SANTO.

The Portuguese mariners had a proverb about the Cape, "He who would pass
Cape Not either will return or not," [Quem passar o Cabo de Nam, ou
tornara ou nam], intimating that if he did not turn before passing the
Cape he would never return at all. On this occasion it was not destined to
be passed, for the two captains were driven out of their course by storms,
and accidentally discovered a little island, where they took refuge, and
which, from that circumstance, they called Porto Santo. On their return
their master was delighted with the news they brought him, more on account