BEMOIN'S FATE

It must not be forgotten to mention, that the king made great rejoicings
in honor of Bemoin's conversion, on which occasion the negro prince's
attendants performed singular feats on horseback.

Bemoin maintained his favour at the Portuguese court, and succeeded in his
object of obtaining military assistance. He was sent back to his own
country with a Portuguese squadron of twenty caravels, which had for its
instructions, besides his restitution, to found a fort on the banks of the
river Senegal.

The Portuguese arrived at the river, and began building the fort, but are
said to have chosen an unhealthy spot to build on. Whether they could have
chosen a healthy one is doubtful. The commander, however, Pedro Vaz,
thought that there was treachery on Bemoin's part, and killed him with the
blow of a dagger on board his vessel. The building was discontinued, and
Pedro Vaz returned to Portugal, where he found the king excessively vexed
and displeased at the fate of Bemoin.


PRINCE HENRY'S PERSEVERANCE.

The historian may now stop in his task of tracing Portuguese discovery
along the coast of Africa. We have seen it making its way with quiet
perseverance, for seventy years, from Cape Nam to the Cape of Good Hope, a
distance of some six thousand miles. This long course of discovery has
been almost entirely thrown into shade by the more daring and brilliant
discovery of America, which we have now to enter upon. Yet these
proceedings on the African coast had in them all the energy, perseverance,