it had left him the day before, he having watched throughout the whole arc
of the night without any rest."

Altogether, whether we consider this prince's motives, his objects, his
deeds, or his mode of life, we must acknowledge him to be one of the most
notable men, not merely of his own country and period, but of modern times
and of all nations, and one upon whose shoulders might worthily rest the
arduous beginnings of continuous maritime discovery. Would that such men
remained to govern the lands they have the courageous foresight to
discover! Then, indeed, they might take to themselves the motto talant de
bien jaire, which this prince, their great leader, caused to be inscribed
by his captains in many a land, that as yet, at least, has not found much
good from its introduction, under his auspices, to the civilization of an
older world.


PRESTER JOHN

Hurrying over this preliminary sketch, we may briefly note that about six
years after Prince Henry's death, the Gold Coast was explored by Fernando
Gomez, and the Portuguese fort was built there which Columbus afterwards
visited; that Fernando Po discovered an island which was then called
Formosa, but which is now known by the name of its discoverer; and that
Diego Cam, accompanied, it is said, by Martin Behaim (Martin of Bohemia),
the most celebrated geographer of those times--to whom, by the way, some
of the credit exclusively due to Columbus has been rather unfairly
given--discovered the kingdom of Congo. About this time an ambassador sent
to the King of Portugal by the sovereign of Benin, a territory between the
Gold Coast and Congo, happened to speak about a greater power in Africa
than his master, to whom indeed his master was but the vassal. This