[Frontispiece: PTOLEMY'S MAP OF THE WORLD, ORIGINALLY DRAWN ABOUT A. D. 150. From the first printed edition of 1472 (the first book to haveprinted maps) and the famous Rome edition of 1508. It is only necessaryto compare this map with the mythical geography represented in amediaeval map such as the Hereford map of the world, made _elevencenturies_ later to recognise the extraordinary accuracy andscientific value of Ptolemy's geography. ]

A BOOK OF DISCOVERYTHE HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S EXPLORATION, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TOTHE FINDING OF THE SOUTH POLE

By M. B. SYNGE, F. R. Hist. S. AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF THE WORLD""A SHORT HISTORY OF SOCIAL LIFE IN ENGLAND" ETC. 

_FULLY ILLUSTRATED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES AND WITH MAPS_

[Illustration: THE _GOLDEN HIND_ (_From the Chart of "Drake'sVoyages"_)]

LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK, LTD. 35 PATERNOSTER ROW, E. C. , & EDINBURGH

INTRODUCTION

"Hope went before them, and the world was wide. "

Such was the spirit in which the exploration of the world wasaccomplished. It was the inspiration that carried men of old far beyondthe sunrise into those magic and silent seas whereon no boat had eversailed. It is the incentive of those to-day with the wander-thirstin their souls, who travel and suffer in the travelling, though thereare fewer prizes left to win. But

 "The reward is in the doing, And the rapture of pursuing Is the prize. "

"To travel hopefully, " says Stevenson, "is a better thing than toarrive. " This would explain the fact that this Book of Discovery hasbecome a record of splendid endurance, of hardships bravely borne, of silent toil, of courage and resolution unequalled in the annalsof mankind, of self-sacrifice unrivalled and faithful lives laidungrudgingly down. Of the many who went forth, the few only attained. It is of these few that this book tells. 

"All these, " says the poet in Ecclesiastes--"all these were honouredin their generation, and were the glory of their times . .. Their nameliveth for evermore. "

But while we read of those master-spirits who succeeded, let us neverforget those who failed to achieve. 

 "Anybody might have found it, but the Whisper came to Me. "

Enthusiasm too was the secret of their success. Among the best of crewsthere was always some one who would have turned back, but the worldwould never have been explored had it not been for those finer spiritswho resolutely went on--even to the death. 

This is what carried Alexander the Great to the "earth's utmost verge, "that drew Columbus across the trackless Atlantic, that nerved Vascoda Gama to double the Stormy Cape, that induced Magellan to face thedreaded straits now called by his name, that made it possible for mento face without flinching the ice-bound regions of the far North. 

"There is no land uninhabitable, nor sea unnavigable, " asserted themen of the sixteenth century, when England set herself to takepossession of her heritage in the North. Such an heroic temper couldovercome all things. But the cost was great, the sufferings intense. 

"Having eaten our shoes and saddles boiled with a few wild herbs, weset out to reach the kingdom of gold, " says Orellana in 1540. 

"We ate biscuit, but in truth it was biscuit no longer, but a powderfull of worms, --so great was the want of food, that we were forcedto eat the hides with which the mainyard was covered; but we had alsoto make use of sawdust for food, and rats became a great delicacy, "related Magellan, as he led his little ship across the unknown Pacific. 

Again, there is Franklin returning from the Arctic coast, and stillingthe pangs of hunger with "pieces of singed hide mixed with lichen, "varied with "the horns and bones of a dead deer fried with some oldshoes. "

The dangers of the way were manifold. 

For the early explorers had no land map or ocean chart to guide them, there were no lighthouses to warn the strange mariner of dangerouscoast and angry surf, no books of travel to relate the weird doingsof fierce and inhospitable savages, no tinned foods to prevent theterrible scourge of sailors, scurvy. In their little wooden sailingships the men of old faced every conceivable danger, and surmountedobstacles unknown to modern civilisation. 

 "Now strike your Sails ye jolly Mariners, For we be come into a quiet Rode. "

For the most part we are struck with the light-heartedness of the oldensailor, the shout of gladness with which men went forth on thesehazardous undertakings, knowing not how they would arrive, or whatmight befall them by the way, went forth in the smallest of woodenships, with the most incompetent of crews, to face the dangers ofunknown seas and unsuspected lands, to chance the angry storm and thehidden rock, to discover inhospitable shores and savage foes. Foundedon bitter experience is the old saying--

 "A Passage Perilous makyth a Port Pleasant. "

For the early navigators knew little of the art of navigation. 

Pytheas, who discovered the British Isles, was "a greatmathematician. " Diego Cam, who sailed to the mouth of the Congo, was"a knight of the King's household. " Sir Hugh Willoughby, "a mostvaliant gentleman. " Richard Chancellor, "a man of great estimationfor many good parts of wit in him. " Anthony Jenkinson, a "resoluteand intelligent gentleman. " Sir Walter Raleigh, an Elizabethancourtier, and so forth. 

It has been obviously impossible to include all the famous names thatbelong to the history of exploration. Most of these explorers havebeen chosen for some definite new discovery, some addition to theworld's geographical knowledge, or some great feat of endurance whichmay serve to brace us to fresh effort as a nation famous for our seamen. English navigators have been afforded the lion's share in the book, partly because they took the lion's share in exploring, partly becausetranslations of foreign travel are difficult to transcribe. Most ofthese stories have been taken from original sources, and most of theexplorers have been allowed to tell part of their own story in theirown words. 

Perhaps the most graphic of all explorations is that written by a nativeof West Australia, who accompanied an exploring party searching foran English lad named Smith, who had been starved to death. 

"Away, away, away, away; we reach the water of Djunjup; we shoot game. Away, away, away through a forest away, through a forest away; we seeno water. Through a forest away, along our tracks away; hills ascending, then pleasantly away, away, through a forest away. We see awater--along the river away--a short distance we go, then away, away, away through a forest away. Then along another river away, across theriver away. Still we go onwards, along the sea away, through the bushaway, then along the sea away. We sleep near the sea. I see Mr. Smith'sfootsteps ascending a sandhill; onwards I go regarding his footsteps. I see Mr. Smith dead. Two sleeps had he been dead; greatly did I weep, and much I grieved. In his blanket folding him, we scraped away theearth. The sun had inclined to the westward as we laid him in theground. "

The book is illustrated with reproductions from old maps--oldprimitive maps, with a real Adam and Eve standing in the Garden ofEden, with Pillars of Hercules guarding the Straits of Gibraltar, withParadise in the east, a realistic Jerusalem in the centre, the islandof Thule in the north, and St. Brandon's Isles of the Blest in thewest. 

Beautifully coloured were the maps of the Middle Ages, "joyous chartsall glorious with gold and vermilion, compasses and crests and flyingbanners, with mountains of red and gold. " The seas are full ofships--"brave beflagged vessels with swelling sails. " The land isablaze with kings and potentates on golden thrones under canopies ofangels. While over all presides the Madonna in her golden chair. 

The Hereford Mappa Mundi, drawn in the thirteenth century on a finesheet of vellum, circular in form, is among the most interesting ofthe mediaeval maps. It must once have been gorgeous, with its goldletters and scarlet towns, its green seas and its blue rivers. TheRed Sea is still red, but the Mediterranean is chocolate brown, andall the green has disappeared. The mounted figure in the lowerright-hand corner is probably the author, Richard de Haldingham. Themap is surmounted by a representation of the Last Judgment, below whichis Paradise as a circular island, with the four rivers and the figuresof Adam and Eve. In the centre is Jerusalem. The world is divided intothree--Asia, "Affrica, " and Europe. Around this earth-island flowsthe ocean. America is, of course, absent; the East is placed at Paradiseand the West at the Pillars of Hercules. North and South are left tothe imagination. 

And what of the famous map of Juan de la Cosa, once pilot to Columbus, drawn in the fifteenth century, with St. Christopher carrying theinfant Christ across the water, supposed to be a portrait ofChristopher Columbus carrying the gospel to America? It is the firstmap in which a dim outline appears of the New World. 

The early maps of "Apphrica" are filled with camels and unicorns, lionsand tigers, veiled figures and the turrets and spires of strangebuildings--

 "Geographers in Afric maps With savage pictures fill their gaps. "

"Surely, " says a modern writer, --"surely the old cartographer was lessconcerned to fill his gaps than to express the poetry of geography. "

And to-day, there are still gaps in the most modern maps of Africa, where one-eleventh of the whole area remains unexplored. Further, inAsia the problem of the Brahmaputra Falls is yet unsolved; there areshores untrodden and rivers unsurveyed. 

"God hath given us some things, and not all things, that our successorsalso might have somewhat to do, " wrote Barents in the sixteenth century. There may not be much left, but with the words of Kipling's _Explorer_we may fitly conclude--

 "Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges-- Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"

Thanks are due to Mr. S. G. Stubbs for valuable assistance in theselection and preparation of the illustrations, which, with fewexceptions, have been executed under his directions. 

CONTENTS

 CHAP. PAGE I. A LITTLE OLD WORLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 II. EARLY MARINERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 III. IS THE WORLD FLAT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 IV. HERODOTUS--THE TRAVELLER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 V. ALEXANDER THE GREAT EXPLORES INDIA . . . . . . . . . . . 35 VI. PYTHEAS FINDS THE BRITISH ISLES . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 VII. JULIUS CAESAR AS EXPLORER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 VIII. STRABO'S GEOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 IX. THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND PLINY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 X. PTOLEMY'S MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 XI. PILGRIM TRAVELLERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 XII. IRISH EXPLORERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 XIII. AFTER MOHAMMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 XIV. THE VIKINGS SAIL THE NORTHERN SEAS . . . . . . . . . . . 93 XV. ARAB WAYFARERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 XVI. TRAVELLERS TO THE EAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 XVII. MARCO POLO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 XVIII. THE END OF MEDIAEVAL EXPLORATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 XIX. MEDIAEVAL MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 XX. PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 XXI. BARTHOLOMEW DIAZ REACHES THE STORMY CAPE . . . . . . . . 150 XXII. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 XXIII. A GREAT NEW WORLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 XXIV. VASCO DA GAMA REACHES INDIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 XXV. DISCOVERY OF THE SPICE ISLANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 XXVI. BALBOA SEES THE PACIFIC OCEAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 XXVII. MAGELLAN SAILS ROUND THE WORLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 XXVIII. CORTES EXPLORES AND CONQUERS MEXICO . . . . . . . . . . 205 XXIX. EXPLORERS IN SOUTH AMERICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 XXX. CABOT SAILS TO NEWFOUNDLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 XXXI. JACQUES CARTIER EXPLORES CANADA . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 XXXII. SEARCH FOR A NORTH-EAST PASSAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 XXXIII. MARTIN FROBISHER SEARCHES FOR A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE . . . 245 XXXIV. DRAKE'S FAMOUS VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD . . . . . . . . . 249 XXXV. DAVIS STRAIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 XXXVI. BARENTS SAILS TO SPITZBERGEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 XXXVII. HUDSON FINDS HIS BAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273XXXVIII. BAFFIN FINDS HIS BAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 XXXIX. SIR WALTER RALEIGH SEARCHES FOR EL DORADO . . . . . . . 285 XL. CHAMPLAIN DISCOVERS LAKE ONTARIO . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 XLI. EARLY DISCOVERERS OF AUSTRALIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 XLII. TASMAN FINDS TASMANIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 XLIII. DAMPIER DISCOVERS HIS STRAIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 XLIV. BEHRING FINDS HIS STRAIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 XLV. COOK DISCOVERS NEW ZEALAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 XLVI. COOK'S THIRD VOYAGE AND DEATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 XLVII. BRUCE'S TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 XLVIII. MUNGO PARK AND THE NIGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 XLIX. VANCOUVER DISCOVERS HIS ISLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 L. MACKENZIE AND HIS RIVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362 LI. PARRY DISCOVERS LANCASTER SOUND . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 LII. THE FROZEN NORTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 LIII. FRANKLIN'S LAND JOURNEY TO THE NORTH . . . . . . . . . . 382 LIV. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 LV. THE SEARCH FOR TIMBUKTU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 LVI. RICHARD AND JOHN LANDER DISCOVER THE MOUTH OF THE NIGER 399 LVII. ROSS DISCOVERS THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE . . . . . . . . . 403 LVIII. FLINDERS NAMES AUSTRALIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 LIX. STURT'S DISCOVERIES IN AUSTRALIA . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 LX. ROSS MAKES DISCOVERIES IN THE ANTARCTIC SEAS . . . . . . 428 LXI. FRANKLIN DISCOVERS THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE . . . . . . . 432 LXII. DAVID LIVINGSTONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 LXIII. BURTON AND SPEKE IN CENTRAL AFRICA . . . . . . . . . . . 450 LXIV. LIVINGSTONE TRACES LAKE SHIRWA AND NYASSA . . . . . . . 456 LXV. EXPEDITION TO VICTORIA NYANZA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 LXVI. BAKER FINDS ALBERT NYANZA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 LXVII. LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 LXVIII. THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 LXIX. NORDENSKIOLD ACCOMPLISHES THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE . . . . 501 LXX. THE EXPLORATION OF TIBET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511 LXXI. NANSEN REACHES FARTHEST NORTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521 LXXII. PEARY REACHES THE NORTH POLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 LXXIII. THE QUEST FOR THE SOUTH POLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

 DATES OF CHIEF EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS

Ptolemy's Map of the World about A. D. 150 . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ Taken from the first printed edition of 1472 and the Rome edition of 1508. 

 FACING PAGEThe Polos leaving Venice for their Travels to the Far East . . . 118 From a Miniature at the head of a late 14th century MS. Of the _Travels of Marco Polo_, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. 

The Hereford Mappa Mundi of 1280 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 The original, made by RICHARD DE HALDINGHAM, Prebendary of Hereford, hangs in the Chapter House Library, Hereford Cathedral. 

Map of the World drawn in 1500, the first to show America . . . . 168 By JUAN DE LA COSA. 

The Dauphin Map of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 Made by PIERRE DESCELLIERS 1546, by order of Francis I. For the Dauphin (Henri II. ) of France. 

Barents's Ship among the Arctic Ice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 From a coloured woodcut in Barents's _Three Voyages_ (De Veer), published in 1598. 

Ross's Winter Quarters in Felix Harbour . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

The First Communication With Eskimos at Boothia Felix, 1830 . . . 404 From Drawings by ROSS in the _Narrative of his Expedition to the North Magnetic Pole, A Second Voyage in Search of a North-West Passage_, 1829-33. 

Shackleton's Ship, the _Nimrod_, among the Ice in McMurdo Sound . 538 From _The Heart of the Antarctic_ (published by Heinemann), by kind permission of Sir ERNEST SHACKLETON. 

BLACK & WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS

 FACING PAGEThe Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the time of Homer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

The Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the time of Ptolemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

The Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the end of the 13th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

The Best Portrait of Columbus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 From the original Painting by an unknown artist in the Naval Museum, Madrid. 

The Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the time of Columbus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Amerigo Vespucci . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 From the Sculpture by GRAZZINI at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. 

Ferdinand Magellan, the first Circumnavigator . . . . . . . . . . 198 From the Engraving by FERDINAND SELMA. 

Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to sail round the World . 252 After the Engraving attributed to HONDIUS. 

The Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the time of Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Karakakova Bay, where Captain Cook was murdered . . . . . . . . . 334 From the Engraving in the Atlas to COOK'S _Voyages_. 

The Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the time of Cook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Mungo Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 From the Engraving in PARK'S _Travels into the Interior of Africa_, 1799. 

Search for a North-West Passage: Parry's Ships cutting through the Ice into Winter Harbour, 1819 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 From a Drawing by WILLIAM WESTALL, A. R. A. , of a Sketch by Lieut. BEECHEY, a member of the expedition. From PARRY'S _Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery of the North-West Passage_. 

Lhasa and the Potala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 From a Photograph by a member of Younghusband's Expedition to Thibet. 

At the North Pole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 From the Photograph in Admiral PEARY'S book _The North Pole_. 

Captain Roald Amundsen taking Sights at the South Pole . . . . . 544 From a Photograph. 

Acknowledgment is due to the courtesy of Mr. John Murray and the_Illustrated London News_ for the photograph taken at the South Pole, facing page 544; to Admiral Peary for that taken at the North Pole, facing page 534; and to Sir Ernest Shackleton and Mr. Heinemann forthe colour-plate of the _Nimrod_. Permissions have also been grantedby Mr. John Murray (for illustrations from Livingstone's books andAdmiral McClintock's _Voyage of the Fox_); by Messrs. Macmillan (forthe colour-plate of the Polos leaving Venice, from the Bodleian); andby Messrs. Sampson, Low, Marston, & Co. (for illustrations from SirH. M. Stanley's books). 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

 PAGEThe Garden of Eden with its Four Rivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 From the Hereford Map of the World. 

Babylonian Map of the World on Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 In the British Museum. 

The oldest known Ships: between 6000 and 5000 B. C. . . . . . . . 4 From a pre-Egyptian Vase-painting. 

Egyptian Ship of the Expedition to Punt, about 1600 B. C. . . . . 7 From a Rock-carving at Der el Bahari. 

The Ark on Ararat, and the Cities of Nineveh and Babylon . . . . 8 From LEONARDO DATI'S Map of 1422. 

A Phoenician Ship, about 700 B. C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 From a Bas-relief at Nineveh. 

Map of the Voyage of the Argonauts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

The Pillars of Hercules, as shown in a Mediaeval Map . . . . . . 20 HIGDEN'S Map of the World. 1360 A. D. 

The Pillars of Hercules, as shown in the Anglo-Saxon Map of the World, 10th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

A Greek Galley, about 500 B. C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 From a Vase-painting. 

Jerusalem, the Centre of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 From the Hereford Map of the World, 13th century. 

A Merchant-Ship of Athens, about 500 B. C. . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 From a Vase-painting. 

The Coast of Africa, after Ptolemy (Mercator's Edition), showing Hanno's Voyage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

A Sketch Map of Alexander's Chief Exploratory Marches from Athens to Hyderabad and Gaza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Alexandria in Pizzigani's Map, 14th century . . . . . . . . . . . 44

North Britain and the Island of Thule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 From MERCATOR'S edition of Ptolemy's Map. 

A Portion of an old Roman Map of the World, showing the roads through the Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 From the Peutinger Table. 

The World-Island according to Strabo, 18 A. D. . . . . . . . . . . 65

Hull of a Roman Merchant-Ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 From a Roman model at Greenwich. 

A Roman Galley, about 110 A. D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 From Trajan's Column at Rome. 

The First Stages of a Mediaeval Pilgrimage, London to Dover . . . 78 From MATTHEW OF PARIS'S _Itinerary_, 13th century. 

Jerusalem and the East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 From MATTHEW OF PARIS'S _Itinerary_, 13th century. 

Ireland and St. Brandon's Isle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 From the Catalan Map, 1375. 

The Mysterious Isle of St. Brandon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 From MARTIN BEHAIM'S Map, 1492. 

The World-Map of Cosmas, 6th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 The oldest Christian Map. 

The Mountain of Cosmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

A Viking Ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 From Professor MONTELIUS'S book on Scandinavian archaeology. 

A Khalif on his Throne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 From the Ancona Map, 1497. 

A Chinese Emperor giving Audience, 9th century . . . . . . . . . 100 From an old Chinese MS. At Paris. 

The Scene of Sindbad's Voyages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 From EDRISI'S Map, 1154. 

Sindbad's Giant Roc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 From an Oriental Miniature Painting. 

Jerusalem and the Pilgrims' Ways to it, 12th century . . . . . . 109 From a Map of the 12th century at Brussels. 

Two Emperors of Tartary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 From the Catalan Map, 1375. 

A Tartar Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 From the Borgian Map, 1453. 

Initial Letter from the MS. Of Rubruquis at Cambridge . . . . . . 113

How the Brothers Polo set out from Constantinople with their nephew Marco for China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 From a Miniature Painting in 14th century _Livre des Merveilles_. 

Marco Polo lands at Ormuz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 From a Miniature in the _Livre des Merveilles_. 

Kublai Khan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 From an old Chinese Encyclopaedia at Paris. 

Marco Polo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 From a Woodcut in the first printed edition of MARCO POLO'S _Travels_, 1477. 

A Japanese Fight against the Chinese at the time when Marco Polo first saw the Japanese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 From an ancient Japanese Painting. 

Sir John Mandeville on his Travels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 From a MS. In the British Museum. 

An Emperor of Tartary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 From the Map ascribed to SEBASTIAN CABOT, 1544. 

A Caravan in Cathay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 From the Catalan Map, 1375. 

The Turin Map of the World, 8th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

A T-map, 10th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

A T-map, 13th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

The Kaiser holding the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 From a 12th-century MS. 

The "Anglo-Saxon" Map of the World, drawn about 990 A. D. . . . . 137 From the Cotton MSS. In the British Museum. 

Africa--from Ceuta to Madeira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 From FRA MAURO'S Map, 1457. 

The Voyage to Cape Blanco from Cape Bojador . . . . . . . . . . . 142 From FRA MAURO'S Map, 1457. 

A Portion of Africa illustrating Cadamosto's Voyage beyond Cape Blanco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 From FRA MAURO'S Map, 1457. 

Sketch of Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 From FRA MAURO'S Map of the World, 1457. 

Negro Boys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 From CABOT'S Map, 1544. 

The West Coast of Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 From MARTIN BEHAIM'S Map, 1492. 

The Parting of Columbus with Ferdinand and Isabella, 3rd August 1492 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 From DE BRY'S account of the _Voyages to India_, 1601. 

Columbus's Ship, the _Santa Maria_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 From a Woodcut of 1493, supposed to be after a Drawing by COLUMBUS. 

Columbus landing on Hispaniola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 From a Woodcut of 1494. 

The first Representation of the People of the New World . . . . . 163 From a Woodcut published at Augsburg between 1497 and 1504. 

The Town of Isabella and the Colony founded by Columbus . . . . . 166 From a Woodcut of 1494. 

Vasco da Gama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 From a contemporary Portrait. 

Africa as it was known after da Gama's Expeditions . . . . . . . 175 From JUAN DE LA COSA'S Map of 1500. 

Calicut and the Southern Indian Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 From JUAN DE LA COSA'S Map, 1500. 

The Malabar Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 From FRA MAURO'S Map. 

A Ship of Albuquerque's Fleet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 From a very fine Woodcut in the British Museum. 

A Ship of Java and the China Seas in the 16th century . . . . . . 187 From LINSCHOTEN'S _Navigatio ac Itinerarium_, 1598. 

One of the first Maps of the Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 From DIEGO RIBERO'S Map, 1529. 

Magellan's Fleet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 From MERCATOR'S _Mappe Monde_, 1569. 

A Ship of the 16th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 From AMORETTI'S translation of _Magellan's Voyage round the World_. 

"Hondius his Map of the Magellan Streight" . . . . . . . . . . . 201 From a Map by JODOCUS HONDIUS, about 1590. 

The first Ship that sailed round the World . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Magellan's _Victoria_, from HULSIUS'S _Collection of Voyages_, 1602. 

Hernando Cortes, Conqueror of Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 After the original Portrait at Mexico. 

The Battles of the Spaniards in Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 From an ancient Aztec Drawing. 

Pizarro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 From the Portrait at Cuzco. 

Peru and South America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 From the Map of the World, 1544, usually ascribed to SEBASTIAN CABOT. 

Peruvian Warriors of the Inca Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 From an ancient Peruvian Painting. 

Part of North America, showing Sebastian Cabot's Voyage to Newfoundland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 From the Map of 1544, usually ascribed to CABOT. 

Jacques Cartier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 From an old Pen-drawing at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. 

Canada and the River St. Lawrence, showing Quebec . . . . . . . . 231 From LESCARBOT'S _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_, 1609. 

New France, showing Newfoundland, Labrador, and the St. Lawrence 233 From JOCOMO DI GASTALDI'S Map, about 1550. 

Ivan Vasiliwich, King of Muscovie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 From an old Woodcut. 

Anthony Jenkinson's Map of Russia, Muscovy, and Tartary . . . . 242-3 Published in 1562. 

Greenlanders as seen by Martin Frobisher . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 From Captain BESTE'S Account of Frobisher's _Voyages_, 1578. 

Sir Francis Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 From HOLLAND'S _Heroologia_, 1620. 

The Silver Map of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 From Medallion in British Museum. 

The Silver Map of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 From Medallion in British Museum. 

The _Golden Hind_ at New Albion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 From the Chart of Drake's _Voyages_. 

The _Golden Hind_ at Java . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 From the Chart of Drake's _Voyages_. 

An Eskimo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 From a Water-colour Drawing by JOHN WHITE, about 1585. 

A Ship of the late 16th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 From Ortelius, 1598. 

Nova Zembla and the Arctic Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 From a Map in DE BRY'S _Grands Voyages_, 1598. 

Barents in the Arctic--"Hut wherein we wintered" . . . . . . . . 269 From DE VEER'S Account of the _Voyages of Barents_, 1598. 

Hudson's Map of his Voyages in the Arctic . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 From his Book published in 1612. 

A Ship of Hudson's Fleet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 From his _Voyages_, 1612. 

Baffin's Map of his Voyages to the North . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 From original MS. , drawn by BAFFIN, in the British Museum. 

Sir Walter Raleigh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Raleigh's Map of Guinea, El Dorado, and the Orinoco Coast . . . . 289 From the original Map, drawn by RALEIGH, in British Museum. 

The first Settlement at Quebec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 From CHAMPLAIN'S _Voyages_, 1613. 

The Defeat of the Iroquois by Champlain . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 From a Drawing in CHAMPLAIN'S _Voyages_, 1613. 

An early Map of "Terra Australis" called "Java la Grande" . . . . 297 From the "Dauphin" Map of 1546. 

The Wreck of Captain Pelsart's Ship, the _Batavia_, on the Coast of New Holland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 From the Dutch account of PELSART'S _Voyages_, 1647. 

Van Diemen's Land and two of Tasman's Ships . . . . . . . . . . . 304 From the Map drawn by TASMAN in his "Journal. "

Dampier's Ship, the _Cygnet_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 From a Drawing in the Dutch edition of his _Voyage Round the World_, 1698. 

Dampier's Strait and the Island of New Britain . . . . . . . . . 311 From a Map in DAMPIER'S _Voyages_, 1697. 

Chart of Behring's Voyage from Kamtchatka to North America . . . 317 From a Chart drawn in 1741 by Lieut. WAXELL. 

The Island of Otaheite, or St. George . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 From a Painting by WILLIAM HODGES. 

A Maori Fort on the Coast between Poverty Bay and Cape Turnagain 323 From an Engraving in the Atlas to COOK'S first _Voyage_. 

Captain Cook's Vessel beached at the Entrance of Endeavour River 327 From an Engraving in the Atlas to COOK'S first _Voyage_. 

Captain James Cook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 From the Painting by DANCE in the Gallery of Greenwich Hospital. 

Port Jackson and Sydney Cove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 From the Atlas to the _Voyage de l'Astrolabe_. 

A Nile Boat, or Canja . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 From BRUCE'S _Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile_. 

An Arab Sheikh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 From BRUCE'S _Travels_. 

The Camp of Ali, the Mohammedan Chief, at Benown . . . . . . . . 353 From a Sketch by MUNGO PARK. 

Kamalia, a Native Village near the Southern Course of the Niger . 355 From a Sketch by MUNGO PARK. 

A Native Woman washing Gold in Senegal . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 From a Sketch by MUNGO PARK, made on his last expedition. 

Vancouver's Ship, the _Discovery_, on the Rocks in Queen Charlotte's Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 From a Drawing in VANCOUVER'S _Voyage_, 1798. 

Parry's Ships, the _Hecla_ and _Griper_, in Winter Harbour . . . 369 From a Drawing in PARRY'S _Voyage for the North-West Passage_, 1821. 

The North Shore of Lancaster Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 From a Drawing in PARRY'S _Voyage for the North-West Passage_, 1821. 

A Winter View of Fort Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 From a Drawing, by WILLIAM BACK, in Franklin's _Journey to the Polar Sea_, 1823. 

Franklin's Expedition to the Polar Sea on the Ice . . . . . . . . 377 From a Drawing, by WILLIAM BACK, in Franklin's _Journey to the Polar Sea_, 1823. 

An Eskimo watching a Seal Hole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 From a Drawing in PARRY'S _Second Voyage for a North-West Passage_, 1824. 

Fort Franklin, on the Great Bear Lake, in the Winter . . . . . . 383 From a Drawing in FRANKLIN'S _Second Expedition to the Polar Sea_, 1828. 

Franklin's Expedition crossing Back's Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . 385 From a Drawing, by Lieut. BACK, in Franklin's _Second Expedition to the Polar Sea_, 1828. 

The Boats of Parry's Expedition hauled up on the Ice for the Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 From a Drawing in PARRY'S _Attempt to Reach the North Pole_, 1828. 

Major Denham and his Party received by the Sheikh of Bornu . . . 393 From a Drawing by Major DENHAM. 

The first European Picture of Timbuktu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 From a Drawing in CAILLE'S _Tomboctou_, 1829. 

Richard and John Lander paddling down the Niger . . . . . . . . . 401 From a Drawing in the account of LANDER'S _Travels_, 1835. 

The Rosses on their Journey to the North Magnetic Pole . . . . . 407 From a Drawing in ROSS'S _Second Voyage for a North-West Passage_, 1835. 

"Somerset House, " Ross's Winter Quarters on Fury Beach . . . . . 409 From a Drawing in ROSS'S _Second Voyage for a North-West Passage_, 1835. 

Matthew Flinders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Cape Catastrophe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 From FLINDERS' _Voyages_. 

The Huts of the Crew of the _Porpoise_ on the Sandbank, Wreck Reef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418 From FLINDERS' _Voyages_. 

Captain Sturt at the Junction of the Rivers Darling and Murray . 423 From the _Narrative of Sturt's Expedition_. 

The Burke and Wills Expedition leaving Melbourne, 1860 . . . . . 425 From a Drawing by WILLIAM STRUTT, an acquaintance of Burke. 

Burke and Wills at Cooper's Creek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 From a Woodcut in a contemporary Australian account of the expedition. 

Part of the Great Southern Ice Barrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 From ROSS'S _Voyage in the Antarctic Regions_. 

Eskimos at Cape York watching the approach of the _Fox_ . . . . . 434 From McCLINTOCK'S _Voyage in Search of Franklin_. 

The Three Graves on Beechey Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 From McCLINTOCK'S _Voyage in Search of Franklin_. 

Exploring Parties starting from the _Fox_ . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 From McCLINTOCK'S _Voyage in Search of Franklin_. 

Livingstone, with his Wife and Family, at the Discovery of Lake Ngami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441 From LIVINGSTONE'S _Missionary Travels_. 

The "Smoke" of the Zambesi (Victoria) Falls . . . . . . . . . . . 447 After a Drawing in LIVINGSTONE'S _Missionary Travels_. 

Burton in a Dug-out on Lake Tanganyika . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 After a Drawing by BURTON. 

Burton and his Companions on the march to Victoria Nyanza . . . . 453 From a Humorous Sketch by BURTON. 

The _Ma-Robert_ on the Zambesi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 After a Drawing in LIVINGSTONE'S _Expedition to the Zambesi_. 

M'tesa, King of Uganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 From SPEKE'S _Journey to Discover the Source of the Nile_. 

The Ripon Falls on the Victoria Nyanza . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463 From SPEKE'S _Journey to Discover the Source of the Nile_. 

Captains Speke and Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Baker and his Wife crossing the Nubian Desert . . . . . . . . . . 469 From BAKER'S _Travels_. 

Baker's Boat in a Storm on Lake Albert Nyanza . . . . . . . . . . 471 From BAKER'S _Albert Nyanza_. 

The Discovery of Lake Bangweolo, 1868 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479 From LIVINGSTONE'S _Last Journals_, by permission of Mr. John Murray. 

Livingstone at Work on his Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 From a Sketch by H. M. STANLEY. 

Livingstone entering the Hut at Ilala on the Night that he Died . 483 From LIVINGSTONE'S _Last Journals_, by permission of Mr. John Murray. 

The last Entries in Livingstone's Diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Susi, Livingstone's Servant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 From a Sketch by H. M. STANLEY. 

Stanley and his Men marching through Unyoro . . . . . . . . . . . 489 From a Sketch, by STANLEY, in _Through the Dark Continent_. 

"Towards the Unknown": Stanley's Canoes starting from Vinya Njara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495 From _Through the Dark Continent_. 

The Seventh Cataract--Stanley Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 From _Through the Dark Continent_. 

The Fight below the Confluence of the Aruwimi and Livingstone Rivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497 From a Sketch, by STANLEY, in _Through the Dark Continent_. 

Nordenskiold's Ship, the _Vega_, saluting Cape Chelyuskin . . . . 505 From a Drawing in HOVGAARD'S _Nordenskiold's Voyage_. 

Menka, Chief of the Chukches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

The _Vega_ frozen in for the Winter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509 From a Drawing in HOVGAARD'S _Nordenskiold's Voyage_. 

The Potala at Lhasa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513 From KIRCHER'S _China Illustrata_. 

Dr. Nansen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525 After a Photograph. 

The Ship that went Farthest North: the _Fram_ . . . . . . . . . . 527 From a Photograph. 

A BOOK OF DISCOVERY

CHAPTER I

A LITTLE OLD WORLD

No story is complete unless it begins at the very beginning. But whereis the beginning? Where is the dawn of geography--the knowledge ofour earth? What was it like before the first explorers made their wayinto distant lands? Every day that passes we are gaining freshknowledge of the dim and silent past. 

Every day men are patiently digging in the old heaps that were oncethe sites of busy cities, and, as a result of their unwearying toil, they are revealing to us the life-stories of those who dwelt therein;they are disclosing secrets writ on weather-worn stones and tablets, bricks and cylinders, never before even guessed at. 

Thus we read the wondrous story of ancient days, and breathlesslywonder what marvellous discovery will thrill us next. 

For the earliest account of the old world--a world made up apparentlyof a little land and a little water--we turn to an old papyrus, theoldest in existence, which tells us in familiar words, unsurpassedfor their exquisite poetry and wondrous simplicity, of that greatdateless time so full of mystery and awe. 

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earthwas waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: andthe spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. .. . And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it dividethe waters from the waters. And God . .. Divided the waters which wereunder the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. .. . And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into oneplace, and let the dry land appear. .. . And God called the dry landEarth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas. "

Thus beautifully did the children of men express their earliest ideaof the world's distribution of land and water. 

And where, on our modern maps, was this little earth, and what wasit like? Did trees and flowers cover the land? Did rivers flow intothe sea? Listen again to the old tradition that still rings down theages--

"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden . .. And a riverwent out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads. The name of the first is Pison . .. And the nameof the second river is Gihon; the name of the third river is Hiddekel(Tigris). And the fourth river is Euphrates. "

[Illustration: THE GARDEN OF EDEN WITH ITS FOUR RIVERS. From theHereford Map of the World. ]

Now look at a modern map of Asia. Between Arabia and Persia there isa long valley watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, rivers which risein Armenia and flow into the Persian Gulf. This region was thetraditional "cradle of the human race. " Around and beyond was a greatworld, a world with great surging seas, with lands of trees and flowers, a world with continents and lakes and bays and capes, with islandsand mountains and rivers. 

There were vast deserts of sand rolling away to right and to left;there were mountains up which no man had climbed; there were stormyseas over which no ship had ever sailed. But these men of old had neverexplored far. They believed that their world was just a very littleworld with no other occupants than themselves. They believed it tobe flat, with mountains at either end on which rested a solid metaldome known as the "firmament. "

In this shining circle were windows, in and out of which the sun wouldcreep by day and the moon and stars by night. And the whole of thisworld was, they thought, balanced on the waters. There was water above, the "waters that be above the firmament, " and water below, and waterall round. 

[Illustration: BABYLONIAN MAP OF THE WORLD ON CLAY. Showing the oceansurrounding the world and the position of Babylon on the Euphrates. In the British Museum. ]

Long ages pass away. Let us look again at the green valley of theEuphrates and Tigris. It has been called the "nursery ofnations"--names have been given to various regions round about, andcities have arisen on the banks of the rivers. Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, Assyria--all these long names belonged to this region, andaround each centres some of the most interesting history and legendin the world. 

Rafts on the river and caravans on the land carried merchandise farand wide--men made their way to the "Sea of the Rising Sun, " as theycalled the Persian Gulf, and to the "Sea of the Setting Sun, " as theycalled the Mediterranean. They settled on the shores of the CaspianSea, on the shores of the Black Sea, on the shores of the Red Sea. They carried on magnificent trade--cedar, pine, and cypress werebrought from Lebanon to Chaldea, limestone and marble from Syria, copper and lead from the shores of the Black Sea. 

And these dwellers about Babylonia built up a wonderful civilisation. They had temples and brick-built houses, libraries of tabletsrevealing knowledge of astronomy and astrology; they had a literatureof their own. Suddenly from out the city of Ur (Kerbela), near theancient mouth of the Euphrates, appears a traveller. There haddoubtless been many before, but records are scanty and hard to piecetogether, and a detailed account of a traveller with a name is veryinteresting. 

"Abram went . .. Forth to go into the land of Canaan. .. . And Abramjourneyed, going on still toward the South. And there was a faminein the land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there. " He wouldhave travelled by the chief caravan routes of Syria into Egypt. Hereabout the fertile mouth of the Nile he would have found an ancientcivilisation as wonderful as that to which he was accustomed inBabylonia. It was a grain-growing country, and when there was faminein other lands, there was always "corn in Egypt"--thanks to the mightylife-giving Nile. 

But we must not linger over the old civilisation, over the wonderfulEmpire governed by the Pharaohs or kings, first from Memphis (Cairo)and then from the hundred-gated Thebes; must not linger over theseold pyramid builders, the temple, sphinxes, and statues of ancientEgypt. Before even Abram came into their country we find the Egyptiansfamous for their shipping and navigation. Old pictures and tombsrecently discovered tell us this. 

[Illustration: THE OLDEST KNOWN SHIPS: BETWEEN 6000 AND 5000 B. C. Froma pre-Egyptian vase-painting. ]

On the coast of the Red Sea they built their long, narrow ships, whichwere rowed by some twenty paddlers on either side, and steered by threemen standing in the stern. With one mast and a large sail they flewbefore the wind. They had to go far afield for their wood; we findan Egyptian being sent "to cut down four forests in the South in orderto build three large vessels . .. Out of acacia wood. "

Petrie tells us of an Egyptian sailor who was sent to Punt or Somaliland"to fetch for Pharaoh sweet-smelling spices. " He was shipwrecked onthe way, and this is the account of his adventures--

"'I was going, ' he relates, 'to the mines of Pharaoh and I went downon the sea on a ship with a hundred and fifty sailors of the best ofEgypt, whose hearts were stronger than lions. They had said that thewind would be contrary, or that there would be none. But as weapproached the land the wind rose and threw up high waves. As for me, I seized a piece of wood; but those who were in the vessel perished, without one remaining. A wave threw me on an island; after that I hadbeen three days alone without a companion beside my own heart, I laidme in a thicket, and the shadow covered me. I found figs and grapes, all manner of good herbs, berries and grain, melons of all kinds, fishesand birds. I lighted a fire and I made a burnt-offering unto the gods. Suddenly I heard a noise as of thunder, which I thought to be thatof a wave of the sea. The trees shook and the earth was moved. Iuncovered my eyes and I saw that a serpent drew near; his body wasas if overlaid with gold, and his colour as that of true lazuli. '

"'What has brought thee here, little one, to this isle, which is inthe sea and of which the shores are in the midst of the waves?' askedthe serpent. 

"The sailor told his story kneeling on his knees, with his face bowedto the ground. 

"'Fear not, little one, and make not thy face sad, ' continued theserpent, 'for it is God who has brought thee to this isle of the blest, where nothing is lacking and which is filled with all good things. Thou shalt be four months in this isle. Then a ship shall come fromthy land with sailors, and thou shalt go to thy country. As for me, I am a prince of the land of Punt. I am here with my brethren and childrenaround me; we are seventy-five serpents, children and kindred. '

"Then the grateful sailor promised to bring all the treasures of Egyptback to Punt, and 'I shall tell of thy presence unto Pharaoh; I shallmake him to know of thy greatness, ' said the Egyptian stranger. 

"But the strange prince of Punt only smiled. 

"'Thou shalt never more see this isle, ' he said; 'it shall be changedinto waves. '"

Everything came to pass as the serpent said. The ship came, gifts werelavished on the sailor from Egypt, perfumes of cassia, of sweet woods, of cypress, incense, ivory tusks, baboons, and apes, and thus ladenhe sailed home to his own people. 

[Illustration: EGYPTIAN SHIP OF THE EXPEDITION TO PUNT, ABOUT 1600B. C. From a rock-carving at Der el Bahari. ]

Long centuries after this we get another glimpse at the land of Punt. This time it is in the reign of Queen Hatshepsu, who sent a great tradingexpedition into this famous country. Five ships started from Thebes, sailing down the river Nile and probably reaching the Red Sea by meansof a canal. Navigation in the Red Sea was difficult; the coast wassteep and inhospitable; no rivers ran into it. Only a few fishingvillages lay along the coasts used by Egyptian merchants as marketsfor mother-of-pearl, emeralds, gold, and sweet-smelling perfumes. Thence the ships continued their way, the whole voyage taking abouttwo months. Arrived at Punt, the Egyptian commander pitched his tentsupon the shore, to the great astonishment of the inhabitants. 

"Why have ye come hither unto this land, which the people of Egyptknow not?" asked the Chief of Punt. "Have ye come through the sky?Did ye sail upon the waters or upon the sea?"

Presents from the Queen of Egypt were at once laid before the Chiefof Punt, and soon the seashore was alive with people. The ships weredrawn up, gang-planks were very heavily laden with "marvels of thecountry of Punt. " There were heaps of myrrh, resin, of fresh myrrhtrees, ebony and pure ivory, cinnamon wood, incense, baboons, monkeys, dogs, natives, and children. "Never was the like brought to any kingof Egypt since the world stands. " And the ships voyaged safely backto Thebes with all their booty and with pleasant recollections of thepeople of Somaliland. 

[Illustration: THE ARK ON ARARAT AND THE CITIES OF NINEVEH AND BABYLON. From Leonardo Dati's map of 1422. ]

In spite of these little expeditions the Egyptian world seemed stillvery small. The Egyptians thought of the earth with its land and seaas a long, oblong sort of box, the centre of which was Egypt. The skystretched over it like an iron ceiling, the part toward the earth beingsprinkled with lamps hung from strong cables lighted by night andextinguished by day. Four forked trunks of trees upheld the sky roof. But lest some storm should overthrow these tree trunks there were fourlofty peaks connected by chains of mountains. The southern peak wasknown as the "Horn of the Earth, " the eastern, the "Mountain of Birth, "the western, the "Region of Life, " the northern was invisible. Andwhy? Because they thought the Great Sea, the "Very Green, " theMediterranean, lay between it and Egypt. Beyond these mountain peaks, supporting the world, rolled a great river, an ocean stream, and thesun was as a ball of fire placed on a boat and carried round the rampartsof the world by the all-encircling water. 

So we realise that the people living in Babylonia about the riverEuphrates, and those living in Egypt about the river Nile, had verystrange ideas about the little old world around them. 

CHAPTER II

EARLY MARINERS

The law of the universe is progress and expansion, and this littleold world was soon discovered to be larger than men thought. 

Now in Syria--the highway between Babylonia and Egypt--dwelt a tribeof dusky people known as Phoenicians. Some have thought that they wererelated to our old friends in Somaliland, and that long years ago theyhad migrated north to the seacoast of that part of Syria known asCanaan. 

Living on the seashore, washed by the tideless Mediterranean, theysoon became skilful sailors. They built ships and ventured forth onthe deep; they made their way to the islands of Cyprus and Crete andthence to the islands of Greece, bringing back goods from othercountries to barter with their less daring neighbours. They reachedGreece itself and cruised along the northern coast of the Great Seato Italy, along the coast of Spain to the Rock of Gibraltar, and outinto the open Atlantic. 

How their little sailing boats lived through the storms of that greatocean none may know, for Phoenician records are lost, but we have everyreason to believe that they reached the northern coast of France andbrought back tin from the islands known to them as the Tin Islands. In their home markets were found all manner of strange things fromforeign unknown lands, discovered by these master mariners--theadmiration of the ancient world. 

[Illustration: A PHOENICIAN SHIP, ABOUT 700 B. C. From a bas-reliefat Nineveh. ]

"The ships of Tarshish, " said the old poet, "did sing of thee in thymarket, and thou wast replenished and made very glorious in the midstof the seas; thy rowers have brought thee into great waters; the eastwind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas. "

All the world knew of the Phoenician seaports, Tyre and Sidon. Theywere as famous as Memphis and Thebes on the Nile, as magnificent asNineveh on the Tigris and Babylon on the Euphrates. Men spoke of the"renowned city of Tyre, " whose merchants were as princes, whose"traffickers" were among the honourable of the earth. "O thou thatart situate at the entry of the sea, " cries the poet again, when thegreatness of Tyre was passing away, "which art a merchant of the peoplefrom many isles. .. . Thy borders are in the midst of the seas; thybuilders have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy ship-boardsof fir trees . .. They have taken cedars of Lebanon to make masts forthee. Of the oaks of Basan have they made thy oars. .. . Fine linen withbroidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to bethy sail. .. . The inhabitants of Sidon . .. Were thy mariners; thy wisemen were thy pilots. "

As time goes on, early groups round the Euphrates and the Nile continue, but new nations form and grow, new cities arise, new names appear. Centuries of men live and die, ignorant of the great world that liesabout them--"Lords of the eastern world that knew no west. "

England was yet unknown, America undreamt of, Australia still adesolate island in an unknown sea. The burning eastern sun shone downon to vast stretches of desert-land uninhabited by man, great riversflowed through dreary swamps unrealised, tempestuous waves beatagainst their shores, and melancholy winds swept over the face ofendless ocean solitudes. 

And still, according to their untutored minds, the world is flat, theworld is very small and it is surrounded by ever-flowing waters, beyondwhich all is dark and mysterious. 

Around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, revealed by the boundlessenergy and daring skill of the Phoenicians, there were colonies alongthe coasts of Africa and Europe, though they were not yet called bytheir names. They have discovered and explored, but they have kepttheir information to themselves, and they have specially refused todivulge their voyages to the Greeks. 

A story is told at a later date than this of a Phoenician shipmasterwho was bound for the Tin Islands, when he suddenly discovered thathe was being followed by a strange ship evidently bent on finding outwhere these unknown islands lay. The Phoenician purposely ran his shipon to a shoal in order to keep the secret of the discovery. When hereturned home his conduct was upheld by the State!

But though the Phoenicians have left us no record of their travelsand voyages, they had been the carriers of knowledge, and it was fromthem that the Greeks learnt of "the extreme regions of the world" andof the dim "far west. " Indeed, it is highly probable that from thePhoenicians they got material for their famous legend of the Argonautsand their adventures in the Black Sea. Though the story is but legendary, and it has been added to with the growing knowledge of the world, yetit gives an idea of the perils that beset the sailors of those remoteages and of their limitations. 

And again we must remind ourselves that both the Phoenicians and earlyGreeks had, like the Egyptians and Babylonians, childish ideas as tothe form of the earth. To them it was a circular plane, encircled bythe ocean, which they believed to be a broad, deep-running riverflowing round and round the world. Into this ocean stream ran all therivers and seas known to them. Over the earth was raised a solidfirmament of bronze in which the stars were set, and this was supportedon tall pillars "which kept the heaven and the earth asunder. "

The whole delightful story of the Argonauts can be read in Kingsley's"Heroes. " It is the story of brave men who sailed in the ship _Argo_, named after the great shipbuilder Argos, to bring back the GoldenFleece from Colchis in the Black Sea. 

Nowhere in all the history of exploration have we a more poeticalaccount of the launching of a ship for distant lands: "Then they havestored her well with food and water, and pulled the ladder up on board, and settled themselves each man to his oar and kept time to Orpheus'harp; and away across the bay they rowed southward, while the peoplelined the cliffs; and the women wept while the men shouted at thestarting of that gallant crew. " They chose a captain, and the choicefell on Jason, "because he was the wisest of them all"; and they rowedon "over the long swell of the sea, past Olympus, past the wooded baysof Athos and the sacred isle; and they came past Lemnos to theHellespont, and so on into the Propontis, which we call Marmora now. "So they came to the Bosphorus, the "land then as now of bitter blasts, the land of cold and misery, " and a great battle of the winds tookplace. 

[Illustration: A MAP OF THE VOYAGE OF THE ARGONAUTS. Drawn accordingto the principal classical traditions. The voyage through the oceanwhich, according to the ancient idea, surrounded the world will beespecially noted. ]

Then the Argonauts came out into the open sea--the Black Sea. No Greekhad ever crossed it, and even the heroes, for all their courage, feared"that dreadful sea and its rocks and shoals and fogs and bitter freezingstorms, " and they trembled as they saw it "stretching out before themwithout a shore, as far as the eye could see. "

Wearily they sailed on past the coast of Asia; they passed Sinope andthe cities of the Amazons, the warlike women of the east, until atlast they saw the "white snow peaks hanging glittering sharp and brightabove the clouds. And they knew that they were come to Caucasus atthe end of all the earth--Caucasus, the highest of all mountains, thefather of the rivers of the East. And they rowed three days to theeastward, while the Caucasus rose higher hour by hour, till they sawthe dark stream of Phasis rushing headlong to the sea and, shiningabove the treetops, the golden roofs of the Child of the Sun. "

How they reached home no man knows. Some say they sailed up the DanubeRiver and so came to the Adriatic, dragging their ship over the snowcladAlps. Others say they sailed south to the Red Sea and dragged theirship over the burning desert of North Africa. More than once they gavethemselves up for lost, "heartbroken with toil and hunger, " until thebrave helmsman cried to them, "Raise up the mast and set the sail andface what comes like men. "

After days and weeks on the "wide wild western sea" they sailed bythe coast of Spain and came to Sicily, the "three-cornered island, "and after numerous adventures they reached home once more. And theylimped ashore weary and worn, with long, ragged beards and sunburntcheeks and garments torn and weather-stained. No strength had theyleft to haul the ship up the beach. They just crawled out and sat downand wept, till they could weep no more. For the houses and trees wereall altered, and all the faces which they saw were strange; and theirjoy was swallowed up in sorrow while they thought of their youth andall their labour, and the gallant comrades they had lost. And the peoplecrowded round and asked them, "Who are you that sit weeping here?"

"We are the sons of your princes, who sailed away many a year ago. We went to fetch the Golden Fleece and we have brought it back. " Thenthere was shouting and laughing and weeping, and all the kings cameto the shore, and they led the heroes away to their homes and bewailedthe valiant dead. Old and charming as is the story of the Argonauts, it is made up of travellers' tales, probably told to the Greeks bythe Phoenicians of their adventures on unknown seas. 

The wanderings of Ulysses by the old Greek poet Homer shows us that, though they seldom ventured beyond the Mediterranean Sea, yet theGreeks were dimly conscious of an outer world beyond the recognisedlimits. They still dreamt that the earth was flat, and that the oceanstream flowed for ever round and round it. There were no maps or chartsto guide the intrepid mariners who embarked on unknown waters. 

The siege of Troy, famous in legend, was over, and the heroes wereanxious to make their way home. Ulysses was one of the heroes, andhe sailed forth from Asia Minor into the AEgean Sea. But contrary windsdrove him as far south as Cape Malea. 

"Now the gatherer of the clouds, " he says, in telling his story, "aroused the North Wind against our ships with a terrible tempest, and covered land and sea alike with clouds, and down sped night fromheaven. Thus the ships were driven headlong, and their sails were tornto shreds by the might of the wind. So we lowered the sails into thehold in fear of death, and rowed the ships landward apace. "

Throughout all ages Cape Malea has been renowned for sudden and violentstorms, dreaded by early mariners as well as those of later times. 

"Thence for nine whole days was I borne by ruinous winds over theteeming deep; but on the tenth day we set foot on the land of thelotus-eaters who eat a flowery food. "

Now ten days' sail to the south would have brought Ulysses to the coastof North Africa, and here we imagine the lotus-eaters dwelt. But theirstay was short. For as soon as the mariners tasted the "honey-sweetfruit of the lotus" they forgot their homes, forgot their own land, and only wanted to stay with the "mild-eyed melancholy lotus-eaters. "

 "They sat them down upon the yellow sand, Between the sun and moon upon the shore; And sweet it was to dream of Fatherland, Of child, and wife, and slave; but evermore Most weary seem'd the sea, weary the oar, Weary the wandering fields of barren foam. Then someone said: 'We will return no more'; And all at once they sang, 'Our island home Is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam. '"

"Therefore, " said Ulysses, "I led them back to the ships, weeping andsore against their will, and dragged them beneath the benches. Soonthey embarked and, sitting orderly, they smote the grey sea water withtheir oars. Thence we sailed onward, stricken at heart. And we cameto the land of the Cyclops. "

No one knows exactly where the land of the Cyclops is. Some think itmay be Sicily and the slopes of Mount Etna facing the sea. 

The famous rock of Scylla and whirlpool of Charybdis, known to theancients as two sea-monsters, near the Straits of Messina, nextclaimed his attention. Let us see how Ulysses passed them. 

"We began to sail up the narrow strait, " he says, lamenting. "For onthe one side lay Scylla and on the other mighty Charybdis sucking downthe salt sea water. Like a cauldron on a great fire she would seetheup through all her troubled deeps, and overhead the spray fell on thetop of either cliff--the rock around roared horribly, and pale feargat hold on my men. Toward her, then, we looked, fearing destruction;but Scylla meanwhile caught from out my hollow ships six of my company. They cried aloud in their agony, and there she devoured them shriekingat her gates, they stretching forth their hands to me in their deathstruggles. And the most pitiful thing was this, that mine eyes haveseen of all my travail in searching out the paths of the sea. "

Some have thought that the terrifying stories of Scylla, Charybdis, and the Cyclops were stories invented by the Phoenicians to frightentravellers of other nations away from the sea that they wished to keepfor themselves for purposes of trade. 

It would take too long to tell of the great storm that destroyed theships and drowned the men, leaving Ulysses to make a raft on whichhe drifted about for nine days, blown back to Scylla and Charybdisand from thence to the island of Ogygia, "in the centre of the sea. "Finally he reached his home in Ithaca so changed, so aged andweather-worn, that only his dog Argus recognised him. 

This, very briefly, is Homer's world-picture of a bygone age, whenthose who were seized with a thirst for travel sailed about theMediterranean in their primitive ships, landing on unnamed coasts, cruising about unknown islands, meeting strange people, encounteringstrange adventures. 

It all reads like an old fairy tale to us to-day, for we have our mapsand charts and know the whereabouts of every country and island aboutthe tideless Mediterranean. 

[Illustration: "THE UNROLLING OF THE CLOUDS"--I. The world as knownat the time of Homer. ]

CHAPTER III

IS THE WORLD FLAT?

Still, although the men of ancient time were learning fast about theland and sea, they were woefully ignorant. Hesiod, a Greek poet, wholived seven hundred and fifty years before the Christian era, declaredthat the world was flat, and the ocean stream or the "perfect river, "as he called it, flowed round and round, encompassing all things. 

Still, there was something beyond the water--something dim, mysterious, unknowable. It might be the "Islands of the Blest"; itmight be the "sacred isle. " One thing he asserted firmly: "Atlasupholds the broad Heaven . .. Standing on earth's verge with head andunwearied hands, " while the clear-voiced Hesperides guarded theirbeautiful golden apples "beyond the waters of Ocean. "

 "Hesperus and his daughters three That sung about the golden tree. "

But who thinks now of the weary Titan doomed for ever to support theancient world on his head and hands, when the atlas of to-day is broughtforth for a lesson in geography?

About this time comes a story--it may be fact or it may be fiction--thatthe Phoenicians had sailed right round Africa. The voyage was arrangedby Neco, an enterprising Egyptian king, who built his ships in theRed Sea in the year 613 B. C. The story is told by Herodotus, the Greektraveller, many years afterwards. 

"Libya, " he says, "is known to be washed on all sides by the sea, exceptwhere it is attached to Asia. This discovery was first made by Neco, the Egyptian king, who sent a number of ships manned by Phoenicianswith orders to make for the Pillars of Hercules (now known as theStraits of Gibraltar), and return to Egypt through them and by theMediterranean Sea. The Phoenicians took their departure from Egyptby way of the Erythraean Sea, and so sailed into the Southern Ocean. When autumn came (it is supposed they left the Red Sea in August) theywent ashore, wherever that might happen to be, and, having sown a tractof land with corn, waited until the grain was fit to cut. Having reapedit, they set sail, and thus it came to pass that two whole years wentby, and it was not till the third year that they doubled the Pillarsof Hercules and made good their voyage home. On their return theydeclared (I, for my part, says Herodotus, do not believe them, butperhaps others may) that in sailing round Libya they had the sun upontheir right hand. In this way was the extent of Libya first discovered. "

[Illustration: THE PILLARS OF HERCULES, AS SHOWN IN A MEDIAEVAL MAP. Higden's Map of the World, 1360 A. D. ]

To modern students, who have learnt more of Phoenician enterprise, the story does not seem so incredible as it did to Herodotus; and amodern poet, Edwin Arnold, has dreamed into verse a delightful accountof what this voyage may have been like. 

Ithobal of Tyre, Chief Captain of the seas, standing before Neco, Pharaoh and King, Ruler of Nile and its lands, relates the story ofhis two years' voyage, of the strange things he saw, of the hardshipshe endured, of the triumphant end. He tells how, with the help ofmechanics from Tarshish, Tyre, and Sidon, he built three goodly ships, "Ocean's children, " in a "windless creek" on the Red Sea, how he loadedthem with cloth and beads, "the wares wild people love, " food-flourfor the ship, cakes, honey, oil, pulse, meal, dried fish and rice, and salted goods. Then the start was made down the Red Sea, until atlast "the great ocean opened" east and south to the unknown world andinto the great nameless sea, by the coast of that "Large Land whencenone hath come" they sailed. 

Ithobal had undertaken no light task; contrary winds, mutiny on board, want of fresh water, all the hardships that confront the mariner whopilots his crews in search of the unknown. Strange tribes met themon the coast and asked them whither they went. 

 "We go as far as the sun goes As far as the sea rolls, as far as the stars Shine still in sky. To find for mighty Pharaoh what his world Holds hidden. "

South and ever south they sailed, "day after day and night succeedingnight, close clinging to the shore. " New stars appeared, lower andlower sank the sun, moons rose and waned, and still the coast stretchedsouthwards till they reached a "Cape of Storms" and found the coastwas turning north. And now occurred that strange phenomenon mentionedby Herodotus, that while sailing westwards the sun was on their righthand. "No man had seen that thing in Syria or in Egypt. "

A year and a half had now passed away since they left home, but onwardto the north they now made their way, past the mouth of the goldenwaters (Orange River), past the Congo, past the Niger, past the islandof Gorillas described by Hanno, who explored the west coast under Necoeither before or after this time, until at last the little Phoenicianships sailed peacefully into the Mediterranean Sea. 

 "Here is the Ocean-Gate. Here is the Strait Twice before seen, where goes the Middle Sea Unto the Setting Sun and the Unknown-- No more unknown, Ithobal's ships have sailed Around all Africa. Our task is done. These are the Pillars, this the Midland Sea. The road to Tyre is yonder. Every wave Is homely. Yonder, sure, Old Nilus pours Into this Sea, the Waters of the World, Whose secret is his own and thine and mine. "

It will ever remain one of the many disputed points in early geographywhether or not Africa was circumnavigated at this early date. If thePhoenicians did accomplish such a feat they kept their experiencesa secret as usual, and the early maps gave a very wrong idea of SouthAfrica. On the other hand, we know they had good seaworthy ships inadvance of their neighbours. 

[Illustration: THE PILLARS OF HERCULES, AS SHOWN IN THE ANGLO-SAXONMAP OF THE WORLD, TENTH CENTURY. ]

"I remember, " says Xenophon, "I once went aboard a Phoenician ship, where I observed the best example of good order that I ever met with;and especially it was surprising to observe the vast numbers ofimplements which were necessary for the management of such a smallvessel. What numbers of oars, stretchers, ship-hooks, and spikes werethere for bringing the ship in and out of the harbour! What numbersof shrouds, cables, ropes, and other tackling for the ship! What avast quantity of provisions were there for the sustenance and supportof the sailors!" Captain and sailors knew where everything was stowedaway on board, and "while the captain stood upon the deck, he wasconsidering with himself what things might be wanting in his voyage, what things wanted repair, and what length of time his provisions wouldlast; for, as he observed to me, it is no proper time, when the stormcomes upon us, to have the necessary implements to seek, or to be outof repair, or to want them on board; for the gods are never favourableto those who are negligent or lazy; and it is their goodness that theydo not destroy us when we are diligent. "

[Illustration: A GREEK GALLEY ABOUT 500 B. C. From a vase-painting. ]

There is an old story which says that one day the Greeks captured aPhoenician ship and copied it. However this may be, the Greeks soonbecame great colonisers themselves, and we have to thank a Greekphilosopher living in Miletus, on the coast of Asia Minor, for makingthe first map of the ancient world. Of course, the Babylonians andEgyptians had made maps thousands of years before this, but thisGreek--Anaximander introduced the idea of map-making to theastonished world about the year 580 B. C. What was the map like? Itwas "a bronze tablet, whereupon the whole circuit of the Earth wasengraved with all its seas and rivers. "

This is all we know. But this map-making Greek was famous for anotheridea in advance of his time. He used to study the heavens and the earth, and after much study he made up his mind that the earth was round andnot flat. He taught that the world hung free in the midst of the universe, or rather in the midst of the waters. The centre of the earth was atDelphi. In the world of legend there was a reason for this. Two eagleshad been let loose, one from the eastern extremity of the world, theother from the west, and they met at Delphi--hence it was assumed thatDelphi was at the centre of the world. And Delphi at this time wassuch a wonderful city. On the slopes of Mount Parnassus it stood highon a rock--on the heights stood the temple of Apollo with its immenseriches, its golden statue of the great god, and its ever-smoking fireof wood. 

[Illustration: JERUSALEM, THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD. From the HerefordMap of the World, thirteenth century. ]

In the same way, in those days of imperfect geography, as we hear ofDelphi being the centre of the Greek world, so we hear of Jerusalembeing considered the central point of the world. 

"This is Jerusalem, " says Ezekiel, "in the midst of the nations andcountries that are round about her. " In the Mappa Mundi (thirteenthcentury) in Hereford Cathedral, Jerusalem is still the centre of theearth. 

Following close on these ideas came another. It, too, came from Miletus, now famous for its school of thought and its searchers after truth. 

A _Tour of the World_ is the grand-sounding title of the work ofHecataeus, who wrote it about 500 years B. C. It contains an accountof the coast and islands of the Mediterranean Sea and an outline ofall the lands the Greeks thought they knew. In the fragments that havecome down to us, the famous old geographer divides both his work andthe world into two parts. One part he calls Europe, the other Asia, in which he includes Africa bounded by the river Nile. He held thatthese two parts were equal. They were divided from one another by theMediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea, while roundthe whole flat world still flowed the everlasting ocean stream. 

CHAPTER IV

HERODOTUS--THE TRAVELLER

The greatest traveller of olden times now comes upon thescene--Herodotus, the Greek, the "Father of History. "

He is a traveller as well as a writer. He has journeyed as one eagerfor knowledge, with a "hungry heart" and a keen, observant eye. Hetells us what he has seen with his eyes, what he has heard with hisears. He insists that the world is flat, he acknowledges that it isdivided into two parts--Europe and Asia; but he can afford to laughat those who draw maps of the world "without any sense to guide them, "in which they make the whole world round as if drawn with a pair ofcompasses, with the ocean stream running round it, making Europe andAsia of equal size. 

His first journey is to Egypt. 

"I speak at length about Egypt, " he says, "because it contains moremarvellous things than any other country--things too strange for words. Not only is the climate different from that of the rest of the worldand the rivers unlike any other rivers, but the people also, in mostof their manners and customs, reverse the common practice of mankind. The women are employed in trade and business, while the men stay athome to spin and weave. Other nations in weaving throw the woof upthe warp, but an Egyptian throws it down. In other countries, sonsare constrained to make provision for their parents; in Egypt it isnot only the sons, but the daughters. In other countries the priestshave long hair; in Egypt their heads are shaven. Other nations fastentheir ropes and hooks to the outside of their sails, but the Egyptiansto the inside. The Greeks write and read from left to right, but theEgyptians from right to left. "

After sailing for some seven hundred miles up the river Nile from thecoast, past Heliopolis, the once famous city of Ancient Egypt, pastMemphis, the old capital, past Thebes, with its hundred gates, toElephantine, the "ivory island, " opposite to what is now Assuan, heis more than ever puzzled about its course and the reason of itsperiodical floods. 

"Concerning the nature of the river, I was not able to gain anyinformation from the priests. I was particularly anxious to learn fromthem why the Nile, at the commencement of the summer solstice, beginsto rise and continues to increase for a hundred days--and why, as soonas that number is past, it forthwith retires and contracts its stream, continuing low during the whole of the winter until the summer solsticecomes round again. On none of these points could I obtain anyexplanation from the inhabitants, though I made every inquiry. "

The sources of the Nile entirely baffled Herodotus as they baffledmany another later explorer long years after he had passed away. "Ofthe sources of the Nile no one can give any account, since the countrythrough which it passes is desert and without inhabitants, " heexplains, his thirst for knowledge unsatisfied. Some priestvolunteers this explanation. On the frontiers of Egypt are two highmountain-peaks called Crophi and Mophi; in an unfathomable abyssbetween the two rose the Nile. But Herodotus does not believe in Crophiand Mophi; he inclines to the idea that the Nile rises away in thewest and flows eastward right across Libya. 

He travelled a little about Libya himself, little realising the sizeof the great continent of Africa through which he passed. Many a strangetale of these unknown parts did he relate to his people at home. Hehad seen the tallest and handsomest race of men in the world, who livedto the age of one hundred and twenty years--gold was so abundant thatit was used even for the prisoners' chains--he had seen folks who livedon meat and milk only, never having seen bread or wine. 

[Illustration: A MERCHANT-SHIP OF ATHENS, ABOUT 500 B. C. From avase-painting. ]

Some thirty days' journey from the land of the lotus-eaters he hadfound tribes who hunted with four-horse chariots and whose oxen walkedbackwards as they grazed, because their horns curve outwards in frontof their heads, and if they moved forwards these horns would stickin the ground. 

Right across the desolate sandy desert of the north, Herodotus seemsto have made his way. The "region of the wild beasts" must have beentruly perilous, "for this is the tract, " he says, "in which hugeserpents are found, and the lions, the elephants, the bears, and thehorned asses. "

He also tells us of antelopes, gazelles, asses, foxes, wild sheep, jackals, and panthers. There is no end to the quaint sights he records. Here is a tribe whose wives drive the chariots to battle, here anotherwho paint themselves red and eat honey and monkeys, another who growtheir hair long on the right side of their heads and shave it closeon the left. Back through Egypt to Syria went our observant traveller, visiting the famous seaport of Tyre on the way. "I visited the templeof Hercules at that place and found two pillars, one of pure gold, the other of emerald, shining with great brilliancy at night. " Thattemple was already two thousand three hundred years old. 

Herodotus makes some astounding statements about various parts of theworld. He asserts that a good walker could walk across Asia Minor, from north to south, in five days, a distance we know now to be threehundred miles! He tells us that the Danube rises in the PyreneesMountains and flows right through Europe till it empties its watersinto the Black Sea, giving us a long and detailed account of a countryhe calls Scythia (Russia) with many rivers flowing into this same BlackSea. 

But here we must leave the old traveller and picture him reading aloudto his delighted hearers his account of his discoveries andexplorations, discussing with the learned Greeks of the day the sizeand wonders of the world as they imagined it. 

News travelled slowly in these bygone days, and we know the Phoenicianswere very fond of keeping their discoveries secret, but it seemsstrange to think that Herodotus never seems to have heard the storyof Hanno the Carthaginian, who coasted along the west of North Africa, being the first explorer to reach the place we know as "Sierra Leone. "

Hanno's "Periplus, " or the "Coasting Survey of Hanno, " is one of thefew Phoenician documents that has lived through the long ages. In itthe commander of the expedition himself tells his own story. With anidea of colonising, he left Carthage--the most famous of thePhoenician colonies--with sixty ships containing an enormous numberof men and women. 

"When we had set sail, " says Hanno shortly, "and passed the pillars(of Hercules) after two days' voyage, we founded the first city. Belowthis city lay a great plain. Sailing thence westward we came to apromontory of Libya thickly covered with trees. Here we built a templeto the Sea-god and proceeded thence half a day's journey eastward, till we reached a lake lying not far from the sea and filled withabundance of great reeds. Here were feeding elephants and a greatnumber of other wild animals. After we had gone a day's sail beyondthe lakes we founded cities near to the sea. "

Making friends with the tribes along the coast, they reached theSenegal River. Here they fell in with "savage men clothed with theskins of beasts, " who pelted them with stones so that they could notland. Past Cape Verde they reached the mouth of the Gambia, "greatand broad and full of crocodiles and river-horses, " and thence coastedtwelve days to the south and again five days to the south, which broughtthem to Sierra Leone--the Lion Mountain as it was called long yearsafter by the Portuguese. 

Here Hanno and his party landed, but as night approached they saw flamesissuing from the island and heard the sound of flutes and cymbals anddrums and the noise of confused shouts. 

"Great fear then came upon us; we sailed therefore quickly thence muchterrified, and passing on for four days found at night a country fullof fire. In the middle was a lofty fire, greater than all the rest, so that it seemed to touch the stars. When day came on we found thatthis was a great mountain which they called the chariot of the gods. "They had a last adventure before they turned homewards at what theycalled the Isle of Gorillas. Here they found a "savage people"(Gorillas) whom they pursued, but were unable to catch. At last theymanaged to catch three. "But when these, biting and tearing those thatled them, would not follow us, we slew them and, flaying off theirskins, carried them to Carthage. "

Then abruptly this quaint account of the only Phoenician voyage onrecord stops. "Further, " says the commander, "we did not sail, forour food failed us. "

[Illustration: THE COAST OF AFRICA, AFTER PTOLEMY (MERCATOR'SEDITION). This map shows the extent of Hanno's voyage from the Pillarsof Hercules, past the Equator, to what is now called Sierra Leone. ]

Further knowledge of the world was now supplied by the Greeks, whowere rapidly asserting themselves and settling round the coast of theMediterranean as the Phoenicians had done before them. As in moreancient days Babylonians and Egyptians had dominated the little world, so now the power was shifting to the Greeks and Persians. The riseof Persia does not rightly belong to this story, which is not one ofconquest and annexation, but of discovery, so we must contentourselves by stating the fact that Persia had become a very importantcountry with no less than fifty-six subject States paying tribute toher, including the land of Egypt. Efforts to include Greece had failed. 

In the year 401 B. C. One Artaxerxes sat on the throne of Persia, themighty Empire which extended eastwards beyond the knowledge of Greeksor Phoenicians, even to the unknown regions of the Indus. He had reignedfor many years, when Cyrus, his brother, a dashing young prince, attempted to seize the throne. Collecting a huge army, including thefamous Ten Thousand Greeks, he led them by way of Phrygia, Cilicia, and along the banks of the Euphrates to within fifty miles of the gatesof Babylon. The journey took nearly five months, a distance of onethousand seven hundred miles through recognised tracks. Here a battlewas fought and Cyrus was slain. 

It was midwinter when the Ten Thousand Greeks who had followed theirleader so loyally through the plains of Asia Minor found themselvesfriendless and in great danger in the very heart of the enemy's country. 

How Xenophon--a mere Greek volunteer, who had accompanied the armyfrom the shores of Asia Minor--rose up and offered to lead hiscountrymen back to Greece is a matter of history. It would take toolong to tell in detail how they marched northward through the Assyrianplains, past the neighbourhood of Nineveh, till they reached themountain regions which were known to be inhabited by fierce fighters, unconquered even by the powerful Persians. 

Up to this time their line of retreat had followed the "royal road"of merchants and caravans. Their only chance of safety lay in strikingnorth into the mountains inhabited by this warlike tribe who had heldout amid their wild and rugged country against the Persians themselves. They now opposed the Greeks with all their might, and it took sevendays of continuous fighting to reach the valley which lay between themand the high tableland of Armenia. They crossed the Tigris near itssource, and a little farther on they also crossed the Euphrates notfar from its source, so they were informed by the Armenians. They nowfound themselves some five or six thousand feet above sea-level andin the midst of a bitter Armenian winter. Snow fell heavily, coveringall tracks, and day after day a cold north-east wind, "whose bitterblast was torture, " increased their sufferings as they ploughed theirway on and on through such depths of snow as they had never seen before. 

Many died of cold and hunger, many fell grievously sick, and otherssuffered from snow-blindness and frostbite. 

But Xenophon led his army on, making his notes of the country throughwhich they were toiling, measuring distances by the day's march, andat last one day when the soldiers were climbing a steep mountain, acry, growing louder and more joyous every moment, rent the air--

"Thalassa! Thalassa! The sea! The sea!"

True enough, on the distant horizon, glittering in the sunlight, wasa narrow silver streak of sea--the Black Sea--the goal of all theirhopes. The long struggle of five months was over; they could sail homenow along the shores of the Black Sea. They had reached the coast nearthe spot Colchis, where the Argonauts landed to win the Golden Fleecelong centuries before. 

In a work known as the _Anabasis_, Xenophon wrote the adventures ofthe Ten Thousand Greeks, and no geographical explorer ever recordedhis travels through unknown countries more faithfully than did theGreek leader of twenty-three hundred years ago. 

CHAPTER V

ALEXANDER THE GREAT EXPLORES INDIA

Still greater light was shed on the size of the world by Alexanderthe Great on his famous expedition to India, by which he almost doubledthe area of the world known to the people of his time. It was justsixty years after Xenophon had made his way right across Asia to theshores of the Black Sea when Alexander resolved to break, if possible, the power of the Persians. 

The great Persian Empire extended from the shores of the Mediterraneanright away to the east, far beyond the knowledge of the Greeks. Indeed, their knowledge of the interior of Asia was very imperfect, andAlexander's expedition was rather that of an explorer than of aconqueror. How he overthrew the Persians and subdued an area as largeas Europe in the space of twelve years reads like a romance ratherthan fact, and it is not for us to tell the story in detail. Ratherlet us take up the story, after Alexander has fought and conqueredthe Persians twice, besieged Tyre, taken the Phoenician fleet, occupied Egypt, marched across the desert and crossed the Euphrates, passed over the plain and followed the Tigris to near Nineveh, wherehe crossed that river too, fought another famous battle over thePersians, which decided the fate of King and Monarchy and opened tohim the capitals of Babylon and Susa, wherein the immense treasuresof the Persian Empire were stored. King of all Asia, he sat on thethrone of the Persian kings under a golden canopy in the palace ofPersepolis. 

So far the whole expedition was over country known, if imperfectly, to the Greeks. Now we have to follow the conquering hero more closelyas he leads us into an unknown land away to the east, known as "thefarthest region of the inhabited world towards the east, beyond whichlies the endless sandy desert void of inhabitants. " And all the whilethe great land of India lay beyond, and beyond again was China, andaway far over the ocean sea lay America--and they knew it not. 

Alexander was a young man yet, only twenty-six. It was four years sincehe had left Europe, and in that short time he had done wonders. Hehad conquered the whole western half of the Persian Empire. Now heresolutely turned his face to the unknown east and started forth onan expedition of exploration. 

Following the main highway from Media, which to-day leads from Teheran, capital of modern Persia, into the land of the Turkomans and the bordersof Russia, he found himself between the great salt desert and themountains, which to-day mark the frontier of Persia. Suddenly, to hisgreat surprise, the Caspian Sea came into sight. It seemed about thesame size as the Black Sea, and he concluded it was connected withthe Sea of Azof, though the men of his day were certain enough thatit was the most northern of four great gulfs connected with the outerocean which flowed round the world. 

Onwards towards the east he marched with his great army. To conciliatethe tribes through which he passed, he adopted Persian dress. Thisannoyed his Greek countrymen, but, "as they admired his other virtues, they thought he might be suffered to please himself a little and enjoyhis vanity. "

Arrived at the modern boundary between Persia, Afghanistan, and Russia, he and his men pushed on across Afghanistan, by the caravan route thathad long existed from the shores of the Caspian, by modern Herat, Kandahar, [1] which still bears the conqueror's name, and Kabul toIndia. Their way lay through deep snow, deeper than they had ever seenbefore; and by the time they had reached the mountains of Kabul itwas midwinter. 

[Footnote 1: Kandahar = Alexandria in a modern form. ]

Between Alexander and India still lay the lofty range of the HinduKoosh or Indian Caucasus. But before going south toward India, heturned northwards to explore the unknown country which lay about theriver Oxus. They found the Oxus, a mighty stream, swollen with meltingsnows. There were no boats and no wood to build them, so Alexanderpioneered his men across in "life-preservers" made out of theirleather tent coverings and stuffed with straw. This river impressedthe Greeks even more than the Euphrates and Tigris, as it impressedmany an explorer and poet since these early days. Let us recall MatthewArnold's famous description of the Oxus, now seen for the first timeby the Greeks. 

 "But the majestic river floated on, Out of the mist and hum of that low land, Into the frosty starlight, and there moved

 * * * * *

 Brimming, and bright, and large; then sands begin To hem his watery march and dam his streams, And split his currents; that for many a league The shorn and parcell'd Oxus strains along Through beds of sand and matted rushy isles-- Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had, In his high mountain-cradle in Pamere, A foil'd circuitous wanderer--till at last The long'd for dash of waves is heard, and wide His luminous home of waters opens, bright And tranquil, from whose floor the new-bathed stars Emerge, and shine upon the Aral Sea. "

Here in this valley the Greeks met more determined opposition thanthey had yet encountered since entering Asia, and over two years wereoccupied in reducing this single district (now Bokhara and Turkestan)to submission, though it was only some three hundred and fifty milessquare, and in one single year Alexander had conquered a kingdom overone thousand miles in width. 

It was not till the spring of 327 B. C. That he was ready to cross theHindu Koosh and begin the great expedition into India. The night beforethe start Alexander discovered that his troops were now so heavilyladen with spoils that they were quite unfit for the long march. Soin the early morning, when they were all ready to start, he suddenlyset fire to his own baggage, and, giving orders that all his men wereto do the same, the army started for the passes of the lofty mountainrange. And--

 ". .. As a troop of pedlars from Kabul Cross underneath the Indian Caucasus, That vast sky neighbouring mountain of milk snow; Crossing so high, that, as they mount, they pass Long flocks of travelling birds dead on the snow, Choked by the air, and scarce can they themselves Slake their parch'd throats with sugar'd mulberries-- In single file they move, and stop their breath, For fear they should dislodge the o'erhanging snows. "

The banks of the river of Kabul were reached at last. Sending partof the army by the now famous Kyber Pass toward the Indus, Alexanderhimself undertook to subdue the mountain tribes and get control ofthe Chitral passes. The shepherds of this region opposed himvigorously, but swiftly and pitilessly the King of Asia sacked theirpeaceful homes, and city after city fell to him as he advanced towardsthe boundaries of Kashmir. 

At last the valley of the Indus was reached. A bridge of boats washastily thrown over, and Alexander and his army passed to the otherside. 

Porus, the ruler of the country between the Indus and the river Hydaspes(Jehlam), sent presents of welcome to the invader, including threethousand animals for sacrifice, ten thousand sheep, thirty elephants, two hundred talents of silver, and seven hundred horsemen. The newking was also greeted with presents of ivory and precious stones. Evenfrom far Kashmir came greetings to Alexander, whose fame was spreadingrapidly. He now entered the Punjab, the "Land of the Five Rivers. "But on the other side of the river Hydaspes a different receptionawaited him. 

There the king (Porus) had assembled a sturdy, well-disciplined troopto dispute the passage of the river, which still separated the newKing of Asia from his territory. But under cover of a mightythunderstorm Alexander contrived to cross, though the river wasrushing down yellow and fierce after the rains. Secretly the Greeksput together their thirty-oared galleys hidden in a wood, and utterlysurprised Porus by landing on the other side. In their strangewanderings the Greeks had fought under varying conditions, but theyhad never faced elephants before. Nevertheless, they brilliantlyrepulsed an onslaught of these animals, who slowly retreated, "facingthe foe, like ships backing water, and merely uttering a shrill, pipingsound. " Despite the elephants the old story was repeated, civilisedarms triumphed over barbarians, and the army of Porus was annihilated, his chariots shattered, and thirty-three thousand men slain. 

The kingdom beyond the Hydaspes was now Alexander's. Ordering a greatfleet of rafts and boats to be built for his proposed voyage to themouth of the Indus, he pushed on to complete the conquest of the FiveStream Land, or the Punjab--the last province of the great PersianEmpire. This was India--all that was known at this time. The Indiaof the Ganges valley was beyond the knowledge of the Western world--theGanges itself unknown to the Persians. And Alexander saw no reasonto change his mind. 

"The great sea surrounds the whole earth, " he stoutly maintained. 

But when he reached the eastern limit of the Punjab and heard thatbeyond lay a fertile land "where the inhabitants were skilled inagriculture, where there were elephants in yet greater abundance andmen were superior in stature and courage, " the world stretched outbefore him in an unexpected direction, and he longed to explore farther, to conquer new and utterly unknown worlds!

But at last his men struck. They were weary, some were wounded, somewere ill; seventy days of incessant rain had taken the heart out ofthem. 

"I am not ignorant, soldiers, " said Alexander to the hesitating troops, "that during the last few days the natives of this country have beenspreading all sorts of rumours to work upon your fears. The Persiansin this way sought to terrify you with the gates of Cilicia, with theplains of Mesopotamia, with the Tigris and Euphrates, and yet thisriver you crossed by a ford and that by means of a bridge. By my troth, we had long ago fled from Asia could fables have been able to scareus. We are not standing on the threshold of our enterprise, but atthe very close. We have already reached the sunrise and the ocean, and unless your sloth and cowardice prevent, we shall thence returnin triumph to our native land, having conquered the earth to itsremotest bounds. I beseech you that ye desert not your king just atthe very moment when he is approaching the limits of the inhabitedworld. "

But the soldiers, "with their heads bent earthwards, " stood in silence. It was not that they _would_ not follow him beyond the sunset; they_could_ not. Their tears began to flow, sobs reached the ears ofAlexander, his anger turned to pity, and he wept with his men. 

"Oh, sir, " at last cried one of his men, "we have done and sufferedup to the full measure of the capacity of mortal nature. We havetraversed seas and lands, and know them better than do the inhabitantsthemselves. We are standing now almost on the earth's utmost verge, and yet you are preparing to go in quest of an India unknown even tothe Indians themselves. You would fain root out, from their hiddenrecesses and dens, a race of men that herd with snakes and wild beasts, so that you may traverse as a conqueror more regions than the sunsurveys. But while your courage will be ever growing, our vigour isfast waning to its end. See how bloodless be our bodies, pierced withhow many wounds and gashed with how many scars! Our weapons are blunt, our armour worn out! We have been driven to assume the Persian dress!Which of us has a horse? We have conquered all the world, but areourselves destitute of all things. "

The conqueror was at last conquered. The order to turn back wasreluctantly given by the disappointed king and leader. It was receivedwith shouts of joy from the mixed multitudes of his followers, andthe expedition faced for home. Back they marched through the new landswhere no less than two thousand cities had owned his sway, till theycame to the banks of the river where the ships were building. Twothousand boats were ready, including eighty thirty-oared galleys. 

It was now September 326 B. C. 

Nearchus from Crete was made Admiral of the new fleet, which at dawnone October morning pushed out upon the river Hydaspes and set saildownstream towards the unknown sea, Alexander standing proudly on theprow of the royal galley. The trumpets rang out, the oars moved, andthe strange argosy, "such as had never been seen before in these parts, "made its way down the unknown river to the unknown sea. Natives swarmedto the banks of the river to wonder at the strange sight, marvellingspecially to see horses as passengers on board! The greater part ofthe army followed the ships on land, marching along the shores. Atlast the waters of the Hydaspes mingled with those of the Indus, andonwards down this great river floated the Persian fleet. Alexanderhad no pilots, no local knowledge of the country, but with his"unquenchable ambition to see the ocean and reach the boundaries ofthe world, " he sailed on, "ignorant of everything on the way they hadto pass. " In vain they asked the natives assembled on the banks howfar distant was the sea; they had never heard of the sea! At last theyfound a tide mixing its salt waters with the fresh. Soon a flood-tideburst upon them, forcing back the current of the river, and scatteringthe fleet. The sailors of the tideless Mediterranean knew nothing ofthe rise and fall of tides. They were in a state of panic andconsternation. Some tried to push off their ships with long poles, others tried to row against the incoming tide; prows were dashedagainst poops, oars were broken, sterns were bumped, until at lastthe sea had flowed over all the level land near the river mouth. 

Suddenly a new danger appeared! The tide turned and the sea began torecede. Further misfortunes now befell the ships. Many were left highand dry; most of them were damaged in some way or another. Alexandersent horsemen to the seashore with instructions to watch for the returnof the tide and to ride back in haste so that the fleet might beprepared. 

Thus they got safely out to sea on the next high tide. 

Alexander's explorations were now at an end. Leaving Nearchus toexplore the seacoast at the mouth of the Indus, he left the spot nearwhere the town of Hyderabad now stands, and turned his face towardthe home he was never to reach. We must not linger over his terriblecoast journey through the scorching desert of Beluchistan the billowsof sand, the glare of the barren sea, the awful thirst, the long hungrymarches of forty miles a day under the burning Eastern sun. 

[Illustration: A SKETCH-MAP OF ALEXANDER'S CHIEF EXPLORATORY MARCHESFROM ATHENS TO HYDERABAD AND GAZA. The dotted line shows the courseof Nearchus' voyage down the river Indus, along the northern shoresof the Indian Ocean, and up the Persian Gulf to Babylonia. ]

Our story is one of discovery, and we must turn to Nearchus, Admiralof the fleet, left behind at the mouth of the Indus to explore thecoast to the Persian Gulf, where he was to meet Alexander if possible. Shortly after the fleet had emerged from the mouth of the Indus aviolent south-west monsoon began to blow and Nearchus was obliged toseek shelter in a harbour, which he called the port of Alexander, butwhich to-day is known as Karachi, the most western seaport of India. The waters of the Indian Ocean were quite unknown to the Greeks, andthey could only coast along in sight of land, anchoring at differentpoints for the men to land and get water and food. Past the wild barrenshores of Beluchistan they made their way; the natives subsisted onfish entirely even as they do to-day--even their huts being made offish bones and their bread of pounded fish. 

They had but one adventure in their five months' cruise to the PersianGulf, but we have a graphic account of how the terrified Greeks meta shoal of whales and how they frightened the whales away. Here isthe story. One day towards daybreak they suddenly saw water spoutingup from the sea, as if being violently carried upwards by whirlwinds. The sailors, feeling very frightened, asked their native guides whatit meant. The natives replied that it was caused by whales blowingthe water up into the air. At this explanation the Greek sailors werepanic-stricken and dropped the oars from their hands. Nearchus sawthat something must be done at once. So he bade the men draw up theirships in line as if for battle and row forward side by side towardsthe whales, shouting and splashing with their oars. At a given signalthey duly advanced, and when they came near the sea-monsters theyshouted with all their might and blew their trumpets and made allpossible noise with their oars. On hearing which, says the old story, "the whales took fright and plunged into the depths, but not long aftercame to the surface again close to the sterns of the vessels and oncemore spouted great jets of water. Then the sailors shouted aloud attheir happy and unlooked-for escape, " and Nearchus was cheered as thesaviour of the fleet. It is not uncommon to-day for steamers boundfrom Aden to Bombay to encounter what is called a "school of whales"similar to those which alarmed the fleet of Nearchus in the year 323B. C. 

The expedition was completely successful and Nearchus pioneered hisfleet to the mouth of the Euphrates. 

But the death of Alexander the Great and the confusion that followedset back the advance of geographical discovery in this direction forsome time. 

[Illustration: ALEXANDRIA IN PIZZIGANI'S MAP, FOURTEENTH CENTURY. Theriver with the buildings on its bank is the Nile. ]

Alexandria--one of the many towns founded by Alexander--had becomethe world centre of the learned from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Itsposition was unrivalled. Situated at the mouth of the Nile, itcommanded the Mediterranean Sea, while by means of the Red Sea it heldeasy communication with India and Arabia. When Egypt had come underthe sway of Alexander, he had made one of his generals ruler over thatcountry, and men of intellect collected there to study and to write. A library was started, and a Greek, Eratosthenes, held the post oflibrarian at Alexandria for forty years, namely, from 240-196 B. C. During this period he made a collection of all the travels and booksof earth description--the first the world had ever known--and storedthem in the Great Library of which he must have felt so justly proud. But Eratosthenes did more than this. He was the originator ofScientific Geography. He realised that no maps could be properly laiddown till something was known of the size and shape of the earth. 

By this time all men of science had ceased to believe that the worldwas flat; they thought of it as a perfect round, but fixed at the centrein space. Many had guessed at the size of the earth. Some said it wasforty thousand miles round, but Eratosthenes was not content withguessing. He studied the length of the shadow thrown by the sun atAlexandria and compared it with that thrown by the sun at Syene, nearthe first cataract of the Nile, some five hundred miles distant, and, as he thought, in the same longitude. The differences in the lengthof these two shadows he calculated would represent one-fiftieth ofthe circumference of the earth which would accordingly be twenty-fivethousand miles. There was no one to tell him whether he had calculatedright or wrong, but we know to-day that he was wonderfully right. Buthe must know more. He must find out how much of this earth was habitable. To the north and south of the known countries men declared it was toohot or too cold to live. So he decided that from north to south, thatis, from the land of Thule to the land of Punt (Somaliland), thehabitable earth stretched for some three thousand eight hundred miles, while from east to west--that is, from the Pillars of Hercules (Straitsof Gibraltar) to India--would be some eight thousand miles. All therest was ocean. Ignoring the division of the world into threecontinents, he divided it into two, north and south, divided by theMediterranean and by a long range of mountains intersecting the wholeof Asia. 

Then the famous librarian drew a map of the world for his library atAlexandria, but it has perished with all the rest of the valuabletreasure collected in this once celebrated city. We know that he musthave made a great many mistakes in drawing a map of his little islandworld which measured eight thousand miles by three thousand eighthundred miles. It must have been quaintly arranged. The Caspian Seawas connected with a Northern Ocean, the Danube sent a tributary tothe Adriatic, there was no Bay of Biscay, the British Isles lay inthe wrong direction, Africa was not half its right size, the Gangesflowed into the Eastern Ocean, Ceylon was a huge island stretchingeast and west, while across the whole of Asia a mountain chain stretchedin one long unbroken line. And yet, with all his errors, he was nearerthe truth than men three centuries later. 

CHAPTER VI

PYTHEAS FINDS THE BRITISH ISLES

For some centuries past men had been pushing eastward, and to west, vast lands lay unexplored, undreamt of, amongst them a little far-offisland "set in a silver sea. " Pytheas was the first explorer to bringthe world news of the British Isles. 

About the time that Alexander was making his way eastward throughPersia, Pytheas was leaving the Greek colony of Marseilles for thewest and north. The Phoenicians, with their headquarters at Carthage, had complete command of the mineral trade of Spain--the Mexico of theancient world. They knew where to find the gold and silver from therivers--indeed, they said that the coast, from the Tagus to thePyrenees, was "stuffed with mines of gold and silver and tin. " TheGreeks were now determined to see for themselves--the men of Carthageshould no longer have it all their own way. Where were these tin islands, kept so secret by the master-mariners of the ancient world?

A committee of merchants met at Marseilles and engaged the servicesof Pytheas, a great mathematician, and one who made a study of theeffect of the moon on the tides. All sorts of vague rumours had reachedthe ears of Pytheas about the northern regions he was about to visit. He would discover the homes of the tin and amber merchants, he wouldfind the people who lived "at the back of the north wind, " he wouldreach a land of perpetual sunshine, where swans sang like nightingalesand life was one unending banquet. 

So Pytheas, the mathematician of Marseilles started off on hisnorthern trip. Unfortunately, his diary and book called _The Circuitof the Earth_ have perished, and our story of geographical discoveryis the poorer. But these facts have survived. 

The ships first touched at Cadiz, the "Tyre of the West, " a famousport in those days, where Phoenician merchants lived, "careless andsecure" and rich. This was the limit of Greek geographical knowledge;here were the Pillars of Hercules, beyond which all was dim andmysterious and interesting. Five days' sail, that is to say, some threehundred miles along the coast of Spain, brought Pytheas to Cape St. Vincent. 

He thought he was navigating the swift ocean river flowing round theworld. He was, therefore, surprised to find as he rounded the Capethat the current had ceased, or, in his own words, the "ebb came toan end. " Three days more and they were at the mouth of the Tagus. Nearthis part of the coast lay the Tin Islands, according to Greek ideas, though even to-day their exact locality is uncertain. Pytheas musthave heard the old tradition that the Cassiterides were ten in numberand lay near each other in the ocean, that they were inhabited by peoplewho wore black cloaks and long tunics reaching to the feet, that theywalked with long staves and subsisted by their cattle. They led awandering life; they bartered hides, tin, and lead with the merchantsin exchange for pottery, salt, and implements of bronze. 

That these islands had already been visited by Himilco theCarthaginian seems fairly certain. He had started from Cadiz for thenorth when Hanno started for the south. From the Tin Islands his fleethad ventured forth into the open sea. Thick fogs had hidden the sunand the ships were driven south before a north wind till they reached, though they did not know it, the Sargasso Sea, famous for its vastplains of seaweed, through which it was difficult to push the ships. 

"Sea animals, " he tells us, "crept upon the tangled weed. " It has beenthought that with a little good fortune Himilco might have discoveredAmerica two thousand years before the birth of Columbus. But Himilcoreturned home by the Azores or Fortunate Islands, as they were called. 

Leaving the Tin Islands, Pytheas voyaged on to Cape Finisterre, landing on the island of Ushant, where he found a temple served bywomen priests who kept up a perpetual fire in honour of their god. Thence Pytheas sailed prosperously on up the English Channel till hestruck the coast of Kent. Britain, he announced, was several days'journey from Ushant, and about one hundred and seventy miles to thenorth. He sailed round part of the coast, making notes of distances, but these are curiously exaggerated. This was not unnatural, for theonly method of determining distance was roughly based on the numberof miles that a ship could go in an hour along the shore. Measuringin this primitive fashion, Pytheas assures us that Britain is acontinent of enormous size, and that he has discovered a "new world. "It is, he says, three cornered in shape, something like the head ofa battleaxe. The south side, lying opposite the coast of France, iseight hundred and thirty-five miles in length, the eastern coast issixteen hundred and sixty-five miles, the western two thousand twohundred and twenty-two--indeed, the whole country was thought to beover four thousand miles in circumference. These calculations musthave been very upsetting to the old geographers of that age, becauseup to this time they had decided that the whole world was only threethousand four hundred miles long and six thousand eight hundred broad. 

He tells us that he made journeys into the interior of Britain, thatthe inhabitants drink mead, and that there is an abundance of wheatin the fields. 

"The natives, " he says, "collect the sheaves in great barns and thrashout the corn there, because they have so little sunshine that an openthrashing-place would be of little use in that land of clouds and rain. "He seems to have voyaged north as far as the Shetland Islands, buthe never saw Ireland. 

Having returned from the north of the Thames, Pytheas crossed the NorthSea to the mouth of the Rhine, a passage which took about two and ahalf days. He gives a pitiable account of the people living on theDutch coast and their perpetual struggle with the sea. The nativeshad not learnt the art of making dykes and embankments. A high tidewith a wind setting toward the shore would sweep over the low-lyingcountry and swamp their homes. A mounted horseman could barely gallopfrom the rush and force of these strong North Sea tides. 

But the Greek geographers would not believe this; they only knew thetideless Mediterranean, and they thought Pytheas was lying when hetold of the fierce northern sea. Pytheas sailed past the mouth of theElbe, noting the amber cast upon the shore by the high spring tides. But all these interesting discoveries paled before the famous landof Thule, six days' voyage north of Britain, in the neighbourhood ofthe frozen ocean. Grand excitement reigned among geographers when theyheard of Thule, and a very sea of romance rose up around the name. Had Pytheas indeed found the end of the world? Was it an island? Wasit mainland? In the childhood of the world, when so little was knownand so much imagined, men's minds caught at the name of Thule--UltimaThule--far-away Thule, and weaved round it many and beautiful legends. But to-day we ask: Was it Iceland? Was it Lapland? Was it one of theShetland Isles?

[Illustration: NORTH BRITAIN AND THE ISLAND OF THULE. From Mercator'sedition of Ptolemy's map. ]

"Pytheas said that the farthest parts of the world are those whichlie about Thule, the northernmost of the Britannic Isles, but he neversaid whether Thule was an island or whether the world was habitableby man as far as that point. I should think myself"--the speaker isStrabo, a famous Greek traveller who wrote seventeen books ofgeography--"I should think myself that the northern limit of habitudelies much farther to the south, for the writers of our age say nothingof any place beyond Ireland, which is situate in front of the northernparts of Britain. " Pytheas said that Thule was six days' sail northof Britain. "But who in his senses would believe this?" cries Straboagain. "For Pytheas, who described Thule, has been shown to be thefalsest of men. A traveller, starting from the middle of Britain andgoing five hundred miles to the north, would come to a country somewhereabout Ireland, where living would be barely possible. "

The first account of the Arctic regions likewise reads like pureromance to the ignorant and untravelled. "After one day's journey tothe north of Thule, " says Pytheas, "men come to a sluggish sea, wherethere is no separation of sea, land, and air, but a mixture of theseelements like the substance of jelly-fish, through which one canneither walk nor sail. " Here the nights were very short, sometimesonly two hours, after which the sun rose again. This, in fact, wasthe "Sleeping Palace of the Sun. "

With all this wealth of discovery, Pytheas returned home by the Bayof Biscay to the mouth of the Gironde; thence he sailed up the Garonne, and from the modern town of Bordeaux he reached Marseilles by anoverland journey. 

CHAPTER VII

JULIUS CAESAR AS EXPLORER

Our next explorer is Julius Caesar. As Alexander the Great had combinedthe conqueror with the explorer, so now history repeats itself, andwe find the Roman Caesar not only conquering, but exploring. It wasCaesar who first dispelled the mist that lay over the country aboutthe French Seine, the German Rhine, the English Thames--Caesar whogives us the first graphic account of crossing the English Channelfrom France to England. Pytheas had hinted at the fog-bound lands ofthe north--Caesar brought them into the light of day. 

Since the days of Alexander the centre of Empire had shifted from Greeceto Rome, and Rome was now conquering and annexing land, as Persia haddone in the olden days. Hence it was that Julius Caesar was in theyear 58 B. C. Appointed Governor of a new province recently broughtunder Roman sway, stretching from the Alps to the Garonne and northwardto the Lake of Geneva, which at this time marked the frontier of theRoman Empire. Caesar made no secret of his intentions to subdue thetribes to the north of his province and bring all Gaul under thedominion of Rome. His appointment carried with it the command of fourlegions, including some twenty thousand soldiers. His chance soon came, and we find Caesar, with all the ability of a great commander, pushingforward with his army into the very heart of France one hundred andfifty miles beyond the Roman frontier. 

On the banks of the river Saone he defeated a large body of Celticpeople who were migrating from Switzerland to make their homes in thewarmer and roomier plains at the foot of the Pyrenees. 

While the defeated Celts returned to their chilly homes among themountains, victorious Caesar resolved to push on at the head of hisarmy toward the Rhine, where some German tribes under a "ferociousheadstrong savage" threatened to overrun the country. After marchingthrough utterly unknown country for three days, he heard that freshswarms of invaders had crossed the Rhine, intending to occupy the morefertile tracts on the French side. They were making for the town wenow call Besancon--then, as now, strongly fortified, and nearlysurrounded by the river Doubs. By forced marches night and day, Caesarhastened to the town and took it before the arrival of the invaders. 

Accounts of the German tribes even now approaching were brought inby native traders and Gaulish chiefs, until the Roman soldiers wereseized with alarm. Yes, said the traders, these Germans were "men ofhuge stature, incredible valour, and practised skill in wars; manya time they had themselves come across them, and had not been ableto look them in the face or meet the glare of their piercing eyes. "

The Romans felt they were in an unknown land, about to fight againstan unknown foe. Violent panic seized them, "completely paralysingevery one's judgment and nerve. " Some could not restrain their tears;others shut themselves up in their tents and bemoaned their fate. "Allover the camp men were making their wills, " until Caesar spoke, andthe panic ceased. Seven days' march brought them to the plain of Alsace, some fifty miles from the Rhine. A battle was fought with the Germantribes, and "the enemy all turned tail and did not cease their flightuntil they reached the Rhine. " Some swam across, some found boats, many were killed by the Romans in hot pursuit. 

For the first time Romans beheld the German Rhine--that great riverthat was to form a barrier for so long between them and the tribesbeyond. But Caesar's exploration was not to end here. The followingyear found him advancing against the Belgae--tribes living betweenthe Rhine and the Seine. In one brilliant campaign he subdued the wholeof north-eastern Gaul from the Seine to the Rhine. Leaving Romansoldiers in the newly conquered country, he returned to his province, and was some eight hundred miles away when he heard that a generalrebellion was breaking out in that part we now know as Brittany. Heat once ordered ships to be built on the Loire, "which flows into theocean, " oarsmen to be trained, seamen and pilots assembled. 

The spring of 56 B. C. Found Caesar at the seat of war. His ships wereready on the Loire. But the navy of the Veneti was strong. They werea sea-going folk, who knew their own low rocky coast, intersected byshallow inlets of the sea; they knew their tides and their winds. Theirflat-bottomed boats were suitable to shallows and ebbing tides. Bowsand stern stood high out of the water to resist heavy seas and severegales; the hulls were built of oak. Leather was used for sails towithstand the violent ocean storms. The long Roman galleys were nomatch for these, and things would have gone badly had not Caesar deviseda plan for cutting the enemy's rigging with hooks "sharpened at theend and fixed to long poles. " With these, the Romans cut the riggingof the enemy's ships forming the fleet of Brittany; the sails felland the ships were rendered useless. One after another they were easilycaptured, and at sunset the victory lay with the Romans. 

The whole of Gaul, from the Rhine to the Pyrenees, seemed now subdued. Caesar had conquered as he explored, and the skill of hiswell-disciplined army triumphed everywhere over the untrained courageof the barbarian tribes. 

Still, the German tribes were giving trouble about the country of theRhine, and in the words of the famous _Commentaries_, "Caesar wasdetermined to cross the Rhine, but he hardly thought it safe to crossin boats. Therefore, although the construction of a bridge presentedgreat difficulties on account of the breadth, swiftness, and depthof the stream, he nevertheless thought it best to make the attemptor else not cross at all. " Indeed, he wanted to impress the wild Germanpeople on the other side with a sense of the vast power of the RomanEmpire. The barbarian tribes beyond must, indeed, have been impressedwith the skill of the Roman soldier. For in ten days the bridge wascompleted: timber had been hewn from the forest, brought to the banksof the Rhine, worked into shape, piles driven into the bed of the river, beams laid across. And Caesar led his army in triumph to the otherside. They stood for the first time in the land of the Germans, nearthe modern town of Coblenz, and after eighteen days on the fartherside, they returned to Gaul, destroying the bridge behind them. 

Caesar had now a fresh adventure in view. He was going to make hisway to Britain. The summer of 55 B. C. Was passing, and "in these parts, the whole of Gaul having a northerly trend, winter sets in early, "wrote Caesar afterwards. There would be no time to conquer, but hecould visit the island, find out for himself what the people were like, learn about harbours and landing-places, "for of all this the Greeksknew practically nothing. No one, indeed, readily undertakes thevoyage to Britain except traders, and even they know nothing of itexcept the coast. "

Caesar summoned all the traders he could collect and inquired the sizeof the island, what tribes dwelt there, their names, their customs, and the shortest sea passage. Then he sent for the ships which hadvanquished the fleet of Brittany the previous year; he also assembledsome eighty merchant ships on the northern coast of Gaul, probablynot very far from Calais. 

It was near the end of August, when soon after midnight the wind servedand he set sail. A vision of the great Roman--determined, resolute--rises before us as, standing on the deck of the galley, helooks out on to the dark waters of the unknown sea bound for the coastof England. After a slow passage the little fleet arrived under thesteep white cliffs of the southern coast about nine o'clock nextmorning. Armed forces of barbarians stood on the heights above Dover, and, finding it impossible to land, Caesar gave orders to sail someseven miles farther along the coast, where they ran the ships agroundnot far from Deal. 

But the visit of the Romans to Britain on this occasion lasted butthree days, for a violent storm scattered the ships with the horseson board. 

"The same night, " says Caesar, "it happened to be full moon, whichgenerally causes very high tides in the ocean, a fact of which ourmen were not aware. "

Indeed, we may well believe that a night of full moon and an unusuallyhigh tide would be a mystery to those children of the Mediterranean. Their ships had been beached and were lying high and dry when therapidly rising tide overwhelmed them. Cables were broken, anchors lost, panic ensued. 

But Caesar's glory lay in overcoming obstacles, and it is well knownhow he got his troops and ships safely back across the Channel, andhow preparations were hurried on in Gaul for a second invasion ofBritain. This is not the place for the story of his campaign. He wasthe first to raise the curtain on the mysterious islands discoveredby Pytheas. 

 "Far to the west, in the ocean wide, Beyond the realm of Gaul, a land there lies, Sea-girt it lies, where giants dwelt of old. "

Caesar's remarks on this new-found land are interesting for us to-day. He tells us of "a river called the Thames, about eight miles from thesea. " "The interior of Britain, " he says, "is inhabited by a peoplewho, according to tradition, are aboriginal. The population isimmense; homesteads closely resembling those of the Gauls are met withat every turn, and cattle are very numerous. Gold coins are in use, or iron bars of fixed weight. Hares, fowls, and geese they think itwrong to taste; but they keep them for pastime or amusement. The climateis more equable than in Gaul, the cold being less severe. The islandis triangular in shape, one side being opposite Gaul. One corner ofthis side, by Kent--the landing-place for almost all ships fromGaul--has an easterly, and the lower one a westerly, aspect. The extentof this side is about five hundred miles. The second trends off towardsSpain. Off the coast here is Ireland, which is considered only halfas large as Britain. Halfway across is an island called 'Man, ' andseveral smaller islands also are believed to be situated opposite thiscoast, in which there is continuous night for thirty days. The lengthof this side is eight hundred miles. Thus the whole island is twothousand miles in circumference. The people of the interior do not, for the most part, cultivate grain, but live on milk and flesh-meat, and clothe themselves with skins. All Britons, without exception, stain themselves with woad, which produces a bluish tint. They weartheir hair long. "

Caesar crossed the Thames. "The river can only be forded at one spot, "he tells us, "and there with difficulty. " Farther he did not go. Andso this is all that was known of Britain for many a long year to come. 

CHAPTER VIII

STRABO'S GEOGRAPHY

Strabo wrote his famous geography near the beginning of the Christianera, but he knew nothing of the north of England, Scotland, or Wales. He insisted on placing Ireland to the north, and scoffed at Pytheas'account of Thule. 

And yet he boasted a wider range than any other writer on geography, "for that those who had penetrated farther towards the West had notgone so far to the East, and those on the contrary who had seen moreof the East had seen less of the West. "

Like Herodotus, Strabo had travelled himself from Armenia and westernItaly, from the Black Sea to Egypt and up the Nile to Philae. But hisseventeen volumes--vastly important to his contemporaries--read likea romance to us to-day, and a glance at the map laid down accordingto his descriptions is like a vague and distorted caricature of thereal thing. And yet, according to the men of his times, he "surpassesall the geographical writings of antiquity, both in grandeur of planand in abundance and variety of its materials. "

Strabo has summed up for us the knowledge of the ancient world as itwas in the days of the Emperor Caesar Augustus of the great Roman Empire, as it was when in far-off Syria the Christ was born and the greaterpart of the known earth was under the sway of Rome. 

A wall-map had already been designed by order of Augustus to hang ina public place in Rome--the heart of the Empire--so that the youngRomans might realise the size of their inheritance, while a list ofthe chief places on the roads, which, radiating from Rome, formed anetwork over the Empire, was inscribed on the Golden Milestone in theForum. 

[Illustration: A PORTION OF AN OLD ROMAN MAP OF THE WORLD, SHOWINGTHE ROADS THROUGH THE EMPIRE, RIVERS, MOUNTAINS, AND THE SURROUNDINGSEAS. This is a portion--a few inches--taken from the famous PeutingerTable, a long strip map on parchment, of the fourth century, derivedfrom Augustan maps according to the measurements of Caesar AugustusAgrippa. It will be noticed how the roads, beginning with the TwelveWays, which start from Rome in the centre, go in straight lines overall obstacles to the towns of the Empire. Distances are marked in stadia(about 1/9 mile). ]

We may well imagine with what keen interest the schoolmen of Alexandriawould watch the extension of the Roman Empire. Here Strabo had studied, here or at Rome he probably wrote his great work toward the close ofa long life. He has read his Homer and inclines to take every wordhe says as true. Herodotus he will have none of. 

"Herodotus and other writers trifle very much, " he asserts, "when theyintroduce into their histories the marvellous like an interlude ofsome melody. "

In like manner he disbelieves poor Pytheas and his accounts of theland of Ultima Thule and his marvellous walks through Britain, whilehe clings to the writings of Eratosthenes. 

But in common with them all Strabo believes the world to be one vastisland, surrounded on all sides by ocean into which the rivers flow, and the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf are but inlets. So is also theMediterranean or "Our Sea, " as he prefers to call it. This earth-islandreaches north to south, from Ireland, "barely habitable on accountof the cold, " to the cinnamon country (Somaliland), "the mostsoutherly point of the habitable earth. " From west to east it stretchesfrom the Pillars of Hercules right "through the middle of Our Sea"to the shores of Asia Minor, then across Asia by an imaginary chainof mountains to an imaginary spot where the Ganges, lately discovered, emptied its waters into the world-surrounding ocean stream. 

[Illustration: THE WORLD-ISLAND ACCORDING TO STRABO, 18 A. D. The blankspace within the circle is one vast sea surrounding the world. ]

The breadth of the habitable earth is three thousand miles, the lengthabout seven thousand--a little world, indeed, with the greater worldlying all around it, still undreamt of by the old student of geographyand the traveller after truth. 

He begins his book with a detailed account of southern Spain. He tellsof her two hundred towns. "Those best known are situated on the rivers, estuaries, and seas; but the two which have acquired the greatest nameand importance are Cordova and Cadiz. After these Seville is the mostnoted. .. . A vast number of people dwell along the Guadalquivir, andyou may sail up it almost a hundred and twenty miles from the sea toCordova and the places a little higher up. The banks and little inletsof this river are cultivated with the greatest diligence. The eye isalso delighted with groves and gardens, which in this district aremet with in the highest perfection. For fifty miles the river isnavigable for ships of considerable size, but for the cities higherup smaller vessels are employed, and thence to Cordova river-boats. These are now constructed of planks joined together, but they wereformerly made out of a single trunk. A chain of mountains, rich inmetal, runs parallel to the Guadalquivir, approaching the river, sometimes more, sometimes less, toward the north. "

He grows enthusiastic over the richness of this part of southern Spain, famous from ancient days under the name of Tartessus for its wealth. "Large quantities of corn and wine are exported, besides much oil, which is of the first quality, also wax, honey, and pitch . .. Thecountry furnishes the timber for their shipbuilding. They havelikewise mineral salt and not a few salt streams. A considerablequantity of salted fish is exported, not only from hence, but alsofrom the remainder of the coast beyond the Pillars. Formerly theyexported large quantities of garments, but they now send theunmanufactured wool remarkable for its beauty. The stuffsmanufactured are of incomparable texture. There is a superabundanceof cattle and a great variety of game, while on the other hand thereare certain little hares which burrow in the ground (rabbits). Thesecreatures destroy both seeds and trees by gnawing their roots. Theyare met with throughout almost the whole of Spain. It is said thatformerly the inhabitants of Majorca and Minorca sent a deputation tothe Romans requesting that a new land might be given them, as theywere quite driven out of their country by these animals, being no longerable to stand against their vast multitudes. " The seacoast on theAtlantic side abounds in fish, says Strabo. "The congers are quitemonstrous, far surpassing in size those of Our Sea. Shoals of richfat tunny fish are driven hither from the seacoast beyond. They feedon the fruit of stunted oak, which grows at the bottom of the sea andproduces very large acorns. So great is the quantity of fruit, thatat the season when they are ripe the whole coast on either side ofthe Pillars is covered with acorns thrown up by the tides. The tunnyfish become gradually thinner, owing to the failure of their food asthey approach the Pillars from the outer sea. "

He describes, too, the metals of this wondrous land--gold, silver, copper, and iron. It is astonishing to think that in the days of Strabothe silver mines employed forty thousand workmen, and producedsomething like 900 pounds a day in our modern money!

But we cannot follow Strabo over the world in all his detail. He tellsus of a people living north of the Tagus, who slept on the ground, fed on acorn-bread, and wore black cloaks by day and night. He doesnot think Britain is worth conquering--Ireland lies to the north, notwest, of Britain; it is a barren land full of cannibals and wrappedin eternal snows--the Pyrenees run parallel to the Rhine--the Danuberises near the Alps--even Italy herself runs east and west insteadof north and south. His remarks on India are interesting. 

"The reader, " he says, "must receive the accounts of this country withindulgence. Few persons of our nation have seen it; the greater partof what they relate is from report. Very few of the merchants who nowsail from Egypt by the Nile and the Arabian Gulf to India have proceededas far as the Ganges. "

He is determined not to be led astray by the fables of the great sizeof India. Some had told him it was a third of the whole habitable world, some that it took four months to walk through the plain only. "Ceylonis said to be an island lying out at sea seven days' sail from themost southerly parts of India. Its length is about eight hundred miles. It produces elephants. "

Strabo died about the year 21 A. D. , and half a century passed beforePliny wrote _An Account of Countries, Nations, Seas, Towns, Havens, Mountains, Rivers, Distances, and Peoples who now Exist or FormerlyExisted_. Strange to say, he never refers in the most distant way tohis famous predecessor Strabo. He has but little to add to theearth-knowledge of Strabo. But he gives us a fuller account of GreatBritain, based on the fresh discoveries of Roman generals. 

CHAPTER IX

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND PLINY

In the year 43 A. D. The Emperor Claudius resolved to send an expeditionto the British coast, lying amid the mists and fog of the NorthernOcean. 

A gigantic army landed near the spot where Caesar had landed just ahundred years before. The discovery and conquest of Britain now beganin real earnest. The Isle of Wight was overrun by Romans; the southcoast was explored. Roman soldiers lost their lives in the bogs andswamps of Gloucestershire. The eastern counties, after fierceopposition, submitted at the last. The spirit of Caractacus andBoadicea spread from tribe to tribe and the Romans were constantlyassailed. But gradually they swept the island. They reached the banksof the river Tyne; they crossed the Tweed and explored as far as theFirths of Clyde and Forth. From the coast of Galloway the Romans beheldfor the first time the dim outline of the Irish coast. In the year83 A. D. Agricola, a new Roman commander, made his way beyond the Firthof Forth. 

"Now is the time to penetrate into the heart of Caledonia and todiscover the utmost limits of Britain, " cried the Romans, as they begantheir advance to the Highlands of Scotland. While a Roman fleetsurveyed the coasts and harbours, Agricola led his men up the valleyof the Tay to the edge of the Highlands, but he could not follow thesavage Caledonians into their rugged and inaccessible mountains. Tothe north of Scotland they never penetrated, and no part of Irelandever came under Roman sway, in that air "the Roman eagle neverfluttered. " The Roman account of Britain at this time is interesting. "Britain, " says Tacitus, "the largest of all the islands which havecome within the knowledge of the Romans, stretches on the east towardsGermany, on the west towards Spain, and on the south it is even withinsight of France. .. . The Roman fleet, at this period first sailing roundthis remotest coast, gave certain proof that Britain was an island, and at the same time discovered and subdued the Orkney Islands, tillthen unknown. Thule was also distinctly seen, which winter and eternalsnow had hitherto concealed. .. . The sky in this country is deformedby clouds and frequent rains; but the cold is never extremely rigorous. The earth yields gold and silver and other metals--the ocean producespearls. "

The account of Ireland is only from hearsay. "This island, " continuesTacitus, "is less than Britain, but larger than those of Our Sea. Situated between Britain and Spain and lying commodiously to the Bayof Biscay, it would have formed a very beneficial connection betweenthe most powerful parts of the Empire. Its soil, climate, and themanners and dispositions of its inhabitants are little different fromthose of Britain. Its ports and harbours are better known from theconcourse of merchants for the purposes of commerce. "

Not only the British Isles, but a good deal of the wild North Sea andthe low-lying coast on the opposite side were explored by Roman shipsand Roman soldiers. Caesar had crossed the Rhine; he had heard of agreat forest which took a man four months to cross, and in 16 A. D. A Roman general, Drusus, penetrated into the interior of Germany. Drusus crossed the Rhine near the coast, made his way across the riverWeser, and reached the banks of the Elbe. But the fame of Drusus restsmainly on his navigation of the German Ocean or North Sea in a Romanfleet. Near the mouth of the Rhine a thousand ships were quickly builtby expert Romans. "Some were short, with narrow stern and prow andbroad in the middle, the easier to endure the shock of the waves; somehad flat bottoms that without damage they might run aground; many werefitted for carrying horses and provisions, convenient for sails andswift with oars. "

The Roman troops were in high spirits as they launched their splendidfleet on the Northern Ocean and sailed prosperously to the mouth ofthe Elbe, startling the Frisians into submission. But no friendlinessgreeted them on the farther side of the river. The Germans were readyto defend their land, and further advance was impossible. Returningalong the northern coast, the Romans got a taste of the storms of thisnorthern ocean, of which they were in such complete ignorance. 

"The sea, at first calm, " says Tacitus, "resounded with the oars ofa thousand ships; but presently a shower of hail poured down from ablack mass of clouds, at the same time storms raging on all sides inevery variety, the billows rolling now here, now there, obstructedthe view and made it impossible to manage the ships. The whole expanseof air and sea was swept by a south-west wind, which, deriving strengthfrom the mountainous regions of Germany, its deep rivers and boundlesstract of clouded atmosphere, and rendered still harsher by the rigourof the neighbouring north, tore away the ships, scattered and drovethem into the open ocean or upon islands dangerous from precipitousrocks or hidden sandbanks. Having got a little clear of these, butwith great difficulty, the tide turning and flowing in the samedirection as that in which the wind blew, they were unable to rideat anchor or bale out the water that broke in upon them; horses, beastsof burthen, baggage, even arms were thrown overboard to lighten theholds of the ships, which took in water at their sides, and from thewaves, too, running over them. Around were either shores inhabitedby enemies, or a sea so vast and unfathomable as to be supposed thelimit of the world and unbounded by lands. Part of the fleet wasswallowed up; many were driven upon remote islands, where the menperished through famine. The galley of Drusus or, as he was hereaftercalled, Germanicus, alone reached the mouth of the Weser. Both dayand night, amid the rocks and prominences of the shore, he reproachedhimself as the author of such overwhelming destruction, and was hardlyrestrained by his friends from destroying himself in the same sea. At last, with the returning tide and a favouring gale, the shatteredships returned, almost all destitute or with garments spread forsails. "

[Illustration: HULL OF A ROMAN MERCHANT-SHIP. From a Roman model inmarble at Greenwich. ]

The wreck of the Roman fleet in the North Sea made a deep impressionon the Roman capital, and many a garbled story of the "extreme partsof the world" was circulated throughout the Empire. 

Here was new land outside the boundaries of the Empire--country greatwith possibilities. Pliny, writer of the _Natural History_, now arisesand endeavours to clear the minds of his countrymen by some accountof these northern regions. Strabo had been dead some fifty years, andthe Empire had grown since his days. But Pliny has news of land beyondthe Elbe. He can tell us of Scandinavia, "an island of unknown extent, "of Norway, another island, "the inhabitants of which sailed as faras Thule, " of the Seamen or Swedes who lived in the "northern halfof the world. "

"It is madness to harass the mind with attempts to measure the world, "he asserts, but he proceeds to tell us the size of the world as acceptedby him. "Our part of the earth, floating as it were in the ocean, whichsurrounds it, stretching out to the greatest extent from India to thePillars at Cadiz, is eight thousand five hundred and sixty-eightmiles . .. The breadth from south to north is commonly supposed to behalf its length. "

But how little was known of the north of Europe at this time is shownby a startling statement that "certain Indians sailing from India forthe purposes of commerce had been driven by tempests into Germany. "

"Thus it appears, " concludes Pliny, "that the seas flow completelyround the globe and divide it into two parts. "

How Balbus discovered and claimed for the Empire some of the Africandesert is related by Pliny. He tells us, too, how another Roman generalleft the west coast of Africa, marched for ten days, reached Mt. Atlas, and "in a desert of dark-coloured sand met a river which he supposedto be the Niger. "

The home of the Ethiopians in Africa likewise interested Pliny. 

"There can be no doubt that the Ethiopians are scorched by theirvicinity to the sun's heat, and that they are born like persons whohave been burned, with beard and hair frizzled, while in the oppositeand frozen parts of the earth there are nations with white skins andlong light hair. "

Pliny's geography was the basis of much mediaeval writing, and hisknowledge of the course of the Niger remained unchallenged, till MungoPark re-discovered it many centuries after. 

[Illustration: A ROMAN GALLEY, ABOUT 110 A. D. From Trajan's Columnat Rome. ]

CHAPTER X

PTOLEMY'S MAPS

And so we reach the days of Ptolemy--the last geographer of the PaganWorld. This famous Greek was born in Egypt, and the great Roman Empirewas already showing signs of decay, while Ptolemy was searching thegreat Alexandrian library for materials for his book. Alexandria wasnow the first commercial city of the world, second only to Rome. Shesupplied the great population in the heart of the Empire with Egyptiancorn. Ships sailed from Alexandria to every part of the known world. It was, therefore, a suitable place for Ptolemy to listen to the yarnsof the merchants, to read the works of Homer, Herodotus, Eratosthenes, Strabo, Pliny, and others, to study and observe, and finally to write. 

He begins his great geography with the north-west extremities of theworld--the British Isles, Iverna, and Albion as he calls Ireland andEngland. But he places Ireland much too far north, and the shape ofScotland has little resemblance to the original. [2] He realised thatthere were lands to the south of Africa, to the east of Africa, andto the north of Europe, all stretching far away beyond his ken. Heagrees with Pliny about the four islands in the neighbourhood ofScandinavia, and draws the Volga correctly, He realises, too, thatthe Caspian is an inland sea, and unconnected with the surroundingocean. 

[Footnote 2: If Ptolemy's longitudes are adjusted, he becomesextraordinarily correct. ]

[Illustration: "THE UNROLLING OF THE CLOUDS"--II. THE WORLD AS KNOWNTO PTOLEMY AND THE ROMANS. ]

Perhaps the most remarkable part of Ptolemy's geography is that whichtells us of the lands beyond the Ganges. He knows something of the"Golden Chersonese" or Malay Peninsula, something of China, where "faraway towards the north, and bordering on the eastern ocean, there isa land containing a great city from which silk is exported, both rawand spun and woven into textures. "

The wonder is that Ptolemy did not know more of China, for that landhad one of the oldest civilisations in the world, as wondrous as thoseof Assyria and Egypt. But China had had little or no direct intercoursewith the West till after the death of Ptolemy. Merchants had passedbetween China and India for long centuries, and "the Indians had madejourneys in the golden deserts in troops of one or two thousand, andit is said that they do not return from these journeys till the thirdor fourth year. " This was the Desert of Gobi, called golden becauseit opened the way to wealth. 

But perhaps the most interesting part of this great geography, whichwas to inform the world for centuries yet to come, was the constructionof a series of twenty-six maps and a general map of the known world. 

This was one of the most important maps ever constructed, and formsour frontispiece from mediaeval copies of the original. The twelveheads blowing sundry winds on to the world's surface arecharacteristic of the age. The twenty-six maps are in sections. Theyare the first maps to be drawn with lines of latitude and longitude. The measurements are very vague. The lines are never ruled; they aredrawn uncertainly in red; they are neither straight nor regular, though the spaces between the lines indicate degrees of fifty miles. The maps are crowded with towns, each carefully walled in by littlered squares and drawn by hand. The water is all coloured a sombre, greeny blue, and the land is washed in a rich yellow brown. A copycan be seen at the British Museum. 

It is only by looking back that we can realise the progress made inearth-knowledge. Ptolemy wrote just a thousand years after Homer, whenthe little world round the Mediterranean had become a great Empirestretching from the British Isles to China. 

Already the barbaric hordes which haunted the frontiers of the RomanEmpire were breaking across the ill-defended boundaries, desolatingstreams were bursting over the civilised world, until at last the stormbroke, the unity of the Empire was ended, commerce broken up, and thedarkness of ignorance spread over the earth. 

During this time little in the way of progress was made, and for thenext few centuries our only interest lies in filling up some of theshadowy places of the earth, without extending its known bounds. 

CHAPTER XI

PILGRIM TRAVELLERS

Meanwhile a new inspiration had been given to the world, which affectedtravelling to no small extent. 

In far-off Roman province of Syria, the Christ had lived, the Christhad died. And His words were ringing through the land: "Go ye and makedisciples of all the nations, preach the gospel to every creature. "Here at once was a new incentive to travel, a definite reason for mento venture forth into the unknown, to brave dangers, to endure hardship. They must carry their Master's words "unto the ends of the world. "The Roman Empire had brought men under one rule; they must now bebrought to serve one God. So men passed out of Syria; they landed onthe islands in the Mediterranean, they made their way to Asia Minorand across to Greece, until in the year 60 A. D. We get the graphicaccount of Paul the traveller, one of the first and most famous ofthe missionaries of the first century. 

Jerusalem now became, indeed, the world centre. A very stream ofpilgrim travellers tramped to the Holy City from far-away lands tosee for themselves the land where the Christ had lived and died. 

The pilgrim age begins with the journey of a woman--the beautiful andlearned daughter of the King of Britain, Helena, mother of the EmperorConstantine. She was a student of divinity and a devoted Christian. In the year 326 she undertook the difficult journey to Jerusalem, whereshe is reported to have discovered the "true cross, " which had beenburied, with Pilate's inscription in "Hebrew and Greek and Latin. "When the news of her discovery was noised abroad a very rush of pilgrimstook place from every part of the world. Indeed, one pilgrim--his nameis unknown--thought it worth while to write a guide-book for thebenefit of his fellow-travellers. His _Itinerary from Bordeaux toJerusalem_ is very interesting, being the first Christian guide-bookand one of the earliest travel-documents ever written for the use oftravellers. This ancient "Bradshaw" has been translated into Englishand throws light on fourth-century travelling. Enthusiastic indeedmust these early pilgrims have been to undertake the long and toilsomejourney. 

[Illustration: THE FIRST STAGES OF A MEDIAEVAL PILGRIMAGE: LONDON TODOVER. From Matthew of Paris's _Itinerary_, thirteenth century. ]

The guide-book takes them, save for crossing the Bosphorus, entirelyby land. It leads them from the "city of Bordeaux, where is the riverGaronne in which the ocean ebbs and flows for one hundred leagues moreor less, " to Arles, with thirty changes and eleven halts in threehundred and seventy-two miles. There were milestones along the Romanroads to guide them, and houses at regular intervals where horses werekept for posting. From Arles the pilgrim goes north to Avignon, crossesthe Alps, and halts at the Italian frontier. Skirting the north ofItaly by Turin, Milan, and Padua, he reaches the Danube at Belgrade, passes through Servia and Bulgaria and so reaches Constantinople--thegreat new city of Constantine. "Grand total from Bordeaux toConstantinople, two thousand two hundred and twenty-one miles, withtwo hundred and thirty changes and one hundred and twelve halts. "

"From Constantinople, " continues the guide-book, "you cross thestrait and walk on through Asia Minor, passing the spot where liesKing Hannibal, once King of the Africans. " Thus onward through thelong dreary miles to Tarsus, where "was born the Apostle Paul, " tillSyria is reached at last. 

Then the "Bradshaw" becomes a "Baedeker. " Long and detailed accountsare given of the country through which the pilgrim has to pass. FromCaesarea he is led to Jezreel by the spot "where David slew Goliath, "by "Job's country house" to Sichem, "where Joseph is laid, " and thenceto Jerusalem. Full accounts follow of the Holy City and Mount Sion, "the little hill of Golgotha where the Lord was crucified, " the Mountof Olives, Jericho, Jordan, Bethlehem, and Hebron. "Here is a monumentof square form built of stone of wondrous beauty, " in which lie Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sara, Rebecca, and Leah. 

"From Constantinople to Jerusalem is one thousand one hundred andfifty-nine miles, with sixty-nine changes and fifty-eight halts. "

Here the guide-book ends abruptly with a brief summary of distances. Thither then flocked the pilgrims, some by land and some by sea, menand women from all parts of the world. 

"Even the Briton, separated from our world, leaves the setting sunand seeks a place known to him only by fame and the narrative of theScriptures. "

One of the earliest was Paula of Rome--a weak, fragile woman accustomedto a life of luxury and ease, but, fired with the enthusiasm of herreligion, she resolved to brave the dangers and hardships of a journeyto the East. Her travels were written by St. Jerome. 

"When the winter was spent and the sea was open, " he writes, "she longedand prayed to sail. .. . She went down to the harbour, accompanied byher brother, her relatives, her connections and, more than these, byher children, who strove to surpass the affection of the kindest ofmothers. Soon the sails were swelling in the breeze, and the ship, guided by the oars, gained the open sea. Little Lexotinus piteouslystretched forth his hands from the shore. Rufina, a grown-up girl, by her tears silently besought her mother to stay until she was married. Yet she herself, without a tear, turned her eyes heavenward, overcoming her love for her children by her love for God. .. . Meanwhilethe ship was ploughing the sea--the winds were sluggish and all speedslow. " But the ship passed between Scylla and Charybdis and reachedAntioch in safety. From this spot she followed the guide-bookdirections until she arrived at Jerusalem. How Paula and one of heryoung daughters walked over the rough ground, endured the hardshipsof desert-life, and finally lived twenty years at Bethlehem, wouldtake too long to tell. And she was but one of many. 

[Illustration: JERUSALEM AND THE EAST. From Matthew of Paris's_Itinerary_, thirteenth century. ]

Sylvia of Aquitaine, travelling at the same time, wrote a strangelyinteresting account of her travels. The early part of her manuscriptis lost, and we find her first in Arabia. All was new and strange. 

"Meanwhile as we walked we arrived at a certain place, where themountains between which we were passing opened themselves out andformed a great valley, very flat and extremely beautiful; and beyondthe valley appeared Sinai, the holy mount of God. .. . This is the samegreat and flat valley in which the children of Israel waited duringthe days when holy Moses went up into the Mount of God. .. . It was lateon the Sabbath when we came to the mountain, and, arriving at a certainmonastery, the kindly monks who lived there entertained us, showingus all kindliness. " Sylvia had to ascend the mountain on foot "becausethe ascent could not be made in a chair, " but the view over "Egyptand Palestine and the Red Sea and the Mediterranean which leads toAlexandria, also the boundless territory of the Saracens, we saw belowus, hard though it is to believe, all of which things these holy menpointed out to us. "

But we must not follow her to Jerusalem, or to Mesopotamia, where shesaw "the great river Euphrates, rushing down in a torrent like theRhine, but greater. " She reached Constantinople by the guide-bookroute, having spent four years in travel, and walked two thousand milesto the very "limit of the Roman Empire. " Her boundless energy is notexhausted yet. "Ladies, my beloved ones, " she writes, "whilst Iprepare this account for your pious zeal, it is already my purposeto go to Asia. "

But we must turn away for a moment from the stream of pilgrim travellerswending their weary way from Britain, France, Spain, and the east toJerusalem, to follow the travels of St. Patrick through the wilds ofIreland. 

CHAPTER XII

IRISH EXPLORERS

Patrick had been a pilgrim to Rome from the banks of the Clyde, wherehe lived, and, having seen the Pope, he had returned to Ireland bysea, landing on the Wicklow coast in the year 432. Hungry and tiredafter the long voyage, he tried to get some fish from the fishermen, but they replied by throwing stones at him, and he put out to sea againand headed north. Past Bray Head, past the Bay of Malahide he sailed, but he could get neither fish nor food till he reached a spot betweenthe Liffey and the Boyne, where he built his first Christian church. 

Now in the fifth century, when light first breaks over Ireland, itbreaks over a land torn by perpetual tribal strife, a land in the chaosof wild heathendom. It was reserved for St. Patrick to save her fromincreasing gloom. 

Patrick and his companions now sailed on past Louth, by the low-lyingshore with long stretches of sandy flats, on under the shadow of greatpeaks frowning over the sea. He landed near Downpatrick, foundedanother church, and spent the winter in these parts, for the autumnwas far advanced. Spring found him sailing back to the Boyne andattacking the fierce heathen king at Tara, the capital of Ireland. From Tara five great roads led to different parts of the island. St. Patrick now made his way through Meath to the very heart of the country, building churches as he went. Thence he crossed the Shannon, enteredthe great plain of Roscommon, passed by Mayo, and at length reachedthe western sea. He had now been eight years in Ireland, eight laboriousyears, climbing hills, wading through waters, camping out by night, building, organising, preaching. He loved the land on the western sea, little known as yet. 

 "I would choose To remain here on a little land, After faring around churches and waters. Since I am weary, I wish not to go further. "

St. Patrick climbed the great peak, afterwards called Croaghpatrick, and on the summit, exposed to wind and rain, he spent the forty daysof Lent. From here he could look down on to one of the most beautifulbays in Ireland, down on to the hundred little islands in the glancingwaters below, while away to the north and south stretched the ruggedcoast-line. And he tells us how the great white birds came and sangto him there. It would take too long to tell how he returned to Taraand started again with a train of thirteen chariots by the greatnorth-western road to the spot afterwards known as Downpatrick Head;he passed along the broken coast to the extreme north where the greatocean surf breaks on the rugged shore, returning again to the Irishcapital. He travelled over a great part of Ireland, founded threehundred and fifty churches, converted heathen tribes to Christianityand civilisation, and finally died at Armagh in 493. His work wascarried on by St. Columba, a native of Ireland, who, "deciding to goabroad for Christ, " sailed away with twelve disciples to a low rockyisland off the west coast of Scotland, where he founded the famousmonastery of Iona, about 563. Thence he journeyed away to the Highlands, making his way through rugged and mountainous country that had stayedthe warlike Romans long years before. He even sailed across the stormynorthern sea to the Orkney Islands. 

Let us picture the Scotland of the sixth century in order to realisethose long lonely tramps of St. Columba and his disciples across therough mountains, through the dense forests, across bleak moors andwet bogs, till after dreary wanderings they reached the coast, andin frail ships boldly faced the wild seas that raged round the northernislands. 

"We can see Columba and his disciples journeying on foot, as poor andas barely provided as were Christ and His disciples, with neithersilver nor gold nor brass in their purses, and over a wilder countryand among a wilder people. "

[Illustration: IRELAND AND ST. BRANDON'S ISLE. From the Catalan map, 1375. ]

These pilgrims tramped to and fro clad in simple tunics over a monkishdress of undyed wool, bound round the waist by a strong cord, all theirworldly goods on their backs and a staff in their hands. The hermitinstinct was growing, and men were sailing away to lonely islands whereGod might be better served apart from the haunts of men. Perhaps itwas this instinct that inspired St. Brandon to sail away across thetrackless ocean in search of the Island of Saints reported in thewestern seas. His voyage suggests the old expedition of Ulysses. Agood deal of it is mythical, some is added at a later date, but itis interesting as being an attempt to cross the wide Atlantic Oceanacross which no man had yet sailed. For seven years St. Brandon sailedon the unknown sea, discovering unknown islands, until he reached theIsland of Saints--the goal of his desires. And the fact remains thatfor ten centuries after this an island, known as Brandon's Isle, wasmarked on maps somewhere to the west of Ireland, though to the endit remained as mysterious as the island of Thule. 

Here is the old story. Brandon, abbot of a large Irish monasterycontaining one thousand monks, sailed off in an "osier boat coveredwith tanned hides and carefully greased, " provisioned for seven years. After forty days at sea they reached an island with steep sides, wherethey took in fresh supplies. Thence the winds carried the ship toanother island, where they found sheep--"every sheep was as great asan ox. "

"This is the island of sheep, and here it is ever summer, " they wereinformed by an old islander. 

This may have been Madeira. They found other islands in theneighbourhood, one of which was full of singing-birds, and the passingyears found them still tossing to and fro on the unknown sea, untilat last the end came. "And St. Brandon sailed forty days south in fullgreat tempest, " and another forty days brought the ship right intoa bank of fog. But when the fog lifted "they saw the fairest countryeastward that any man might see, it was so clear and bright that itwas a heavenly sight to behold; and all the trees were charged withripe fruit. " And they walked about the island for forty days and couldnot find the end. And there was no night there, and the climate wasneither hot nor cold. 

"Be ye joyful now, " said a voice, "for this is the land ye have sought, and our Lord wills that you laden your ship with the fruit of thisland and hie you hence, for ye may no longer abide here, but thou shaltsail again into thine own country. "

[Illustration: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLE OF ST. BRANDON IN MARTIN BEHAIM'SMAP, 1492. As geographical knowledge increased, map-makers werecompelled to put Brandon's Isle farther and farther away from Ireland, until here we find it off the coast of Africa and near the Equator. ]

So the monks took all the fruit they could carry, and, weeping thatthey might stay no longer in this happy land, they sailed back toIreland. Hazy, indeed, was the geography of the Atlantic in the sixthcentury. Nor can we leave St. Brandon's story without quoting a modernpoet, who believed that the voyage was to the Arctic regions and notin the Atlantic. 

 "Saint Brandon sails the Northern Main, The brotherhood of saints are glad. He greets them once, he sails again: So late! Such storms! The saint is mad. He heard across the howling seas Chime convent bells on wintry nights; He saw, on spray-swept Hebrides, Twinkle the monastery lights: But north, still north, Saint Brandon steered, And now no bells, no convents more, The hurtling Polar lights are reached, The sea without a human shore. "

Some three hundred years were to pass away before further discoveriesin these quarters revealed new lands, three hundred years before thegreat energy of the Vikings brought to light Iceland, Greenland, andeven the coast of America. 

CHAPTER XIII

AFTER MOHAMMED

So once more we turn back to the East. Jerusalem is still the centreof the earth. But a change has passed over the world, which influencednot a little the progress of geography. Mohammed in the seventh centurylived and died in Arabia. "There is but one God, and Mohammed is Hisprophet, " proclaimed his followers, the Arabs or Saracens as they werecalled. And just as men had travelled abroad to preach Christianityto those who knew it not, so now the Mohammedans set forth to teachthe faith of their Lord and Master. But whereas Christianity was taughtby peaceful means, Mohammedanism was carried by the sword. The Romanprovinces of Syria and Egypt had been conquered by the Arabs, and thefamous cities of Jerusalem and Alexandria were filled with teachersof the new faith. The Mohammedans had conquered Spain and were pressingby Persia towards India. 

What deep root their preaching took in these parts is still evident. Still the weary fight between the two religions continues. 

The first traveller of note through this distracted Europe was aFrenchman named Arculf, a Christian bishop. When he had visited theHoly Land and Egypt his ship was caught in a violent storm and drivenon to the west coast of Scotland. After many adventures Arculf foundhimself at the famous convent of Iona, made welcome by an Irish monkAdamnan, who was deeply interested in Arculf's account of hiswanderings, and wrote them down at his dictation, first on waxedtablets, copied later on to parchment. How tenderly the two monks dwellon all the glories of Jerusalem. "But in that beautiful place whereonce the Temple had been, the Saracens now frequent a four-sided houseof prayer, which they have built, rudely constructing it by raisingboards and great beams on some remains of ruins, which house can holdthree thousand men at once. " And Arculf draws on the waxed tablet thepicture of some church or tomb to make his narrative clearer to hisfriend Adamnan. 

Perhaps the most interesting part of all the travels is the accountof the lofty column that Arculf describes in the midst of Jerusalem. 

"This column, " he says, "as it stands in the centre of the heaven, shining straight down from above, proves that the city of Jerusalemis situated in the middle of the earth. "

Arculf's journey aroused great interest among the newly convertedChristians of the north, and Willibald, a high-born Englishman, started off in 721 to explore farther. But the road through Europewas now full of danger. The followers of Mohammed were strong, andit required true courage to face the perils of the long journey. Willibald was undaunted, and with his father and two brothers he sailedfrom Southampton, crossed to France, sailed up the Seine to Rouen, and reached Italy. Here the old father died. Willibald and his brotherstravelled on through "the vast lands of Italy, through the depths ofthe valleys, over the steep brows of the mountains, over the levelsof the plains, climbing on foot the difficult passes of the Alps, overthe icebound and snow-capped summits, " till they arrived at Rome. Thence they made their way to Syria, where they were at once throwninto prison by Mohammedan conquerors. They were brought before theruler of the Mohammedan world, or Khalif, whose seat was at Damascus. He asked whence they came. 

"These men come from the western shore, where the sun sets: and weknow not of any land beyond them, but water only, " was the answer. 

Such was Britain to the Mohammedans. They never got a footing in thatcountry: their Empire lay to the east, and their capital was even nowshifting to Bagdad. 

[Illustration: THE WORLD-MAP OF COSMAS, SIXTH CENTURY. This is theoldest Christian map. It shows the flat world surrounded by the ocean, with the four winds and the four sacred rivers running out of theterrestrial Paradise; beyond all is the "terra ultra oceanum, " "theworld beyond the ocean, where men dwelt before the flood. "]

But before turning to their geographical discoveries we must see howCosmas, the Egyptian merchant-monk, set the clock back by his quainttheories of the world in the sixth century. Cosmas hailed from"Alexander's great city. " His calling carried him into seas andcountries remote from home. He knew the Mediterranean Sea, the PersianGulf, and the Red Sea. He had narrowly escaped shipwreck in the IndianOcean, which in those days was regarded with terror on account of itsviolent currents and dense fogs. As the ship carrying the merchantapproached this dread region, a storm gathered overhead, and flocksof albatross, like birds of ill-omen, hovered about the masts. 

"We were all in alarm, " relates Cosmas, "for all the men of experienceon board, whether passengers or sailors, began to say that we werenear the ocean and called out to the pilot: 'Steer the ship to portand make for the gulf, or we shall be swept along by the currents andcarried into the ocean and lost. ' For the ocean rushing into the gulfwas swelling with billows of portentous size, while the currents fromthe gulf were driving the ship into the ocean, and the outlook wasaltogether so dismal that we were kept in a state of great alarm. "

That he eventually reached India is clear, for he relates strangethings concerning Ceylon. "There is a large oceanic island lying inthe Indian Sea, " he tells us. "It has a length of nine hundred milesand it is of the like extent in breadth. There are two kings in theisland, and they are at feud the one with the other. The island, beingas it is in a central position, is much frequented by ships from allparts of India, and from Persia and Ethiopia, and from the remotestcountries, it receives silk, aloes, cloves, and other products . .. Farther away is the clove country, then Tzinista (China), whichproduces silk. Beyond this there is no other country, for the oceansurrounds it on the east. "

Cosmas was the first to realise that China was bounded on the eastby the ocean. He tells us a good story about the "Lord of India, " whoalways went to war with two thousand elephants. "Once upon a time thisking would lay siege to an island city of the Indians, which was onevery side protected by water. A long while he sat down before it, until, what with his elephants, his horses, and his soldiers, all thewater had been drunk up. He then crossed over to the city dryshod andtook it. "

[Illustration: THE MOUNTAIN OF COSMAS, CAUSING NIGHT AND DAY AND THESEASONS. ]

But, strange as are the travels and information of Cosmas, stillstranger is his _Christian Topography_. His commercial travellingdone he retired, became a devout Christian monk, and devoted hisleisure time in trying to reconcile all the progress of geographicalknowledge with old Biblical ideas. 

He assures us that the world is flat and not round, and that it issurrounded by an immense wall supporting the firmament. Indeed, ifwe compare the maps of Cosmas in the sixth century with those of theBabylonians thousands of years before, there is mighty littledifference. With amazing courage he refutes all the old theories anddraws the most astounding maps, which, nevertheless, are the oldestChristian maps which survive. 

CHAPTER XIV

THE VIKINGS SAIL THE NORTHERN SEAS

A more interesting force than the pilgrim travellers now claims ourattention, and we turn to the frozen north, to the wild region at theback of the north wind, for new activity and discovery. Out of thisland of fable and myth, legend and poetry, the fierce inhabitants ofScandinavia begin to take shape. Tacitus speaks of them as "mightyin fame, " Ptolemy as "savage and clothed in the skins of wild beasts. "

From time to time we have glimpses of these folk sailing about in theBaltic Sea. They were known to the Finns of the north as "sea-rovers. ""The sea is their school of war and the storm their friend; they aresea-wolves that live on the pillage of the world, " sang an old Romanlong years ago. The daring spirit of their race had already attractedthe attention of Britons across the seas. The careless glee with whichthey seized either sword or oar and waged war with the stormy seasfor a scanty livelihood, raiding all the neighbouring coasts, hadearned them the name of Vikings or creek men. Their black-sailed shipsstood high out of the water, prow and stern ending in the head andtail of some strange animal, while their long beards, their looseshirts, and battleaxe made them conspicuous. "From the fury of theNorthmen save us, Lord, " prayed those who had come in contact withthese Vikings. 

In the ninth century they spring into fame as explorers by the discoveryof Iceland. It was in this wise. The chief of a band of pirates, oneNaddod, during a voyage to the Faroe Islands was driven by a stormupon the eastern coast of an unknown land. Not a soul was to be seen. He climbed a high mountain covered with snow and took a look round, but though he could see far and wide, not a human being could he detect. So he named it Snow-land and sailed home to relate his adventures. 

A few years later another Viking, Gardar, bound for the west coastof Scotland, was likewise blown by a storm on to the coast of Snow-land. He sailed right round and found it to be an island. Considering thatit was unsafe to navigate the icy northern seas in winter, he builthimself a hut on the island, lived there till the spring, and returnedhome. His account of the island fired the enthusiasm of an old Vikingcalled Floki, who sailed away, meaning to take possession of the newlydiscovered country. At the Faroe Islands he let fly three ravens. Thefirst returned, the second came back to the ship, the third guidedthe navigator to the island which he sought. He met a quantity of driftice about the northern part of the island and called it Ice-land, thename it has borne ever since. But amid the Arctic ice he spent a desolatewinter; the island seemed full of lofty mountains covered with eternalsnow. His companions, however, were delighted with the climate andthe soil. 

"Milk drops from every plant and butter from every twig, " they said;"this was a land where men might live free from the tyranny of kings. "Free, indeed, for the island was totally uninhabited. 

[Illustration: A VIKING SHIP. A reconstruction (from Prof. Montelius's book on Scandinavian archaeology) of an actual Viking shipfound, almost complete, at Gokstad, Norway. ]

Iceland soon became a refuge for pirates and other lawless characters. Among these was a young Viking called Erik the Red. He was too lawlesseven for Iceland, and, being banished for three years, he sailed awayin 985 in search of new lands. At the end of his three years he returnedand reported that he had discovered land with rich meadows, fine woods, and good fishing, which he had named Green-land. So glowing was hisdescription that soon a party of men and women, with household goodsand cattle, started forth in twenty-five ships to colonise the newland. Still the passion for discovery continued, and Erik's son Lieffitted out a vessel to carry thirty-five men in quest of land alreadysighted to the west. 

It was in the year 1000 that they reached the coast of North America. It was a barren and rocky shore to which Lief gave the name of Rock-land. Sailing farther, they found a low coast wooded to its edge, to whichthey gave the simple name of Woody-land. Two days later an islandappeared, and on the mainland they discovered a river up which theysailed. On low bushes by the banks of the river they found sweet berriesor wild grapes from which a sort of wine was made, so Lief called theland Vin-land. It is now supposed that Vinland and Woodyland are reallyNewfoundland and Labrador on the shores of North America. After this, shipload followed shipload from Iceland to colonise Vinland. Butwithout success. 

So the Viking discoveries in these cold and inhospitable regions werebut transitory. The clouds lifted but for a moment to settle down againover America, till it was rediscovered some five hundred years later. 

Before leaving these northern explorers let us remind ourselves ofthe old saga so graphic in its description of their ocean lives--

 "Down the fiord sweep wind and rain; Our sails and tackle sway and strain; Wet to the skin We're sound within. Our sea-steed through the foam goes prancing, While shields and spears and helms are glancing From fiord to sea, Our ships ride free, And down the wind with swelling sail We scud before the gathering gale. "

Now, while these fierce old Vikings were navigating unknown seas, Alfred the Great was reigning over England. Among his many and variedinterests he was deeply thrilled in the geography of the world. Hewas always ready to listen to those who had been on voyages of discovery, and in his account of the geography of Europe he tells us of a famousold sea captain called Othere, who had navigated the unknown seas tothe north of Europe. 

"Othere told his lord, King Alfred, that he dwelt northmost of allNorthmen, on the land by the western sea. He said that the land isvery long thence to the north; but it is all waste save that in a fewplaces here and there Finns reside. He said that he wished to findout how far the land lay right north, or whether any man dwelt to thenorth of the waste. Then he went right north near the land, and heleft all the way the waste land on the right and the wide sea on theleft for three days. There was he as far north as the whale-huntersever go. He then went yet right north, as far as he could sail in thenext three days. After sailing for another nine days he came to a greatriver; they turned up into the river, but they durst not sail beyondit on account of hostility, for the land was all inhabited on the otherside. He had not before met with any inhabited land since he came fromhis own home, for the land was uninhabited all the way on his rightsave by fishermen, hunters, and fowlers, and they were all Finns, andthere was always a wide sea on his left. "

And as a trophy of distant lands and a proof of his having reachedfarthest north, Othere presented the King with a "snow-white walrustooth. "

But King Alfred wanted his subjects to know more of the world aroundthem, and even in the midst of his busy life he managed to write abook in Anglo-Saxon, which sums up for us the world's knowledge somenine hundred years after Ptolemy--nine hundred barren years as faras much geographical progress was concerned. Alfred does not evenallude to Iceland, Greenland, or Vinland. The news of thesediscoveries had evidently not reached him. He repeats the old legendof Thule to the north-west of Ireland, "which is known to few, onaccount of its very great distance. "

So ends the brief but thrilling discoveries of the Northmen, who knewnot fear, and we turn again to landsmen and the east. 

CHAPTER XV

ARAB WAYFARERS

And now we leave the fierce energy of the Northmen westwards and turnto another energy, which was leading men toward the east, to the landsbeyond the Euphrates, to India, across central Asia, even into farCathay. 

These early travellers to the east were for the most part Arabs. Mohammed had bidden his followers to spread his teaching far and wide;this teaching had always appealed more to the eastern than to thewestern mind. So farther and farther to the east travelled the Arabs, converting the uncivilised tribes that Christianity had not reached. 

What a contrast are these Arabs to the explorers of the vigorous north. They always travelled by land and not by that sea which was life tothe Viking folk. To the Arabs the encircling ocean was a very "Seaof Darkness"; indeed, the unknown ocean beyond China was called the"Sea of Pitchy Darkness. " Their creed taught that the ocean wasboundless, so that ships dared not venture out of sight of land, forthere was no inhabited country beyond, and mariners would assuredlybe lost in mists and fogs. So, while the Vikings tossed fearlesslyabout the wild northern seas, the Arab wayfarers rode eastward bywell-known caravan tracks, trading and teaching the ways of Mohammed. Arabic enterprise had pushed on far beyond Ptolemy's world. The Arabcentre lay in the city of Bagdad, the headquarters of the ruler orKhalif of the Mohammedan world. They had already opened up aconsiderable trade with the rapidly rising Mongol Empire, which noEuropean had yet reached. 

[Illustration: A KHALIF ON HIS THRONE. From the Ancona map, 1497. ]

But as this country was to play a large part in the travels of thenear future, it will be interesting to hear the account given by twoMohammedan friends who journeyed thither in the year 831, just fourhundred years before Marco Polo's famous account. The early part oftheir story is missing, and we raise the curtain when they have arrivedin the land of China itself, then a very small empire compared withwhat it is now. 

"The Emperor of China reckons himself next after the King of the Arabs, who they all allow to be the first and beyond all dispute the mostpowerful of kings, because he is the head of a great religion. In thisgreat kingdom of China they tell us there are over two hundred cities;each city has four gates, at each of which are five trumpets, whichthe Chinese sound at certain hours of the day and of the night. Thereare also within each city ten drums, which they beat at the same timeas a public token of their obedience to the Emperor, as also to signifythe hour of the day and of the night, to which end they also have dialsand clocks with weights. 

"China is a pleasant and fruitful country; the air is much better thanthe Indian provinces: much rain falls in both these countries. In Indiaare many desert tracts, but China is inhabited and peopled throughoutits whole extent. The Chinese are handsomer than the Indians, and comenearer the Arabs, not only in countenance, but in dress, in their wayof riding, in their manners, and in their ceremonies. They wear longgarments and girdles in form of belts. The Chinese are dressed in silkboth winter and summer, and this kind of dress is common to the princeand the peasant. Their food is rice, which they often eat with a brothwhich they pour upon the rice. They have several sorts of fruits, apples, lemons, quinces, figs, grapes, cucumbers, walnuts, almonds, plums, apricots, and cocoanuts. "

[Illustration: A CHINESE EMPEROR GIVING AUDIENCE, NINTH CENTURY. Froman old Chinese MS. At Paris, showing an Emperor of the dynasty thatwas ruling when the two Mohammedans visited China in 831. ]

Here, too, we get the first mention of tea, which was not introducedinto Europe for another seven hundred years, but which formed a Chinesedrink in the ninth century. This Chinese drink "is a herb or shrub, more bushy than the pomegranate tree an of a more pleasant scent, butsomewhat bitter to the taste. The Chinese boil water and pour it inscalding hot upon this leaf, and this infusion keeps them from alldistempers. "

Here, too, we get the first mention of china ware. "They have anexcellent kind of earth, wherewith they make a ware of equal finenesswith glass and equally transparent. "

There is no time here to tell of all the curious manners and customsrelated by these two Mohammedans. One thing struck them as indeed itmust strike us to-day. "The Chinese, poor and rich, great and small, learn to read and write. There are schools in every town for teachingthe poor children, and the masters are maintained at public charge. .. . The Chinese have a stone ten cubits high erected in the public squaresof their cities, and on this stone are engraved the names of all themedicines, with the exact price of each; and when the poor stand inneed of physic they go to the treasury where they receive the priceeach medicine is rated at. "

It was out of such travels as these that the famous romance of "Sindbadthe Sailor" took shape--a true story of Arab adventures of the ninthand tenth centuries in a romantic setting. As in the case of Ulysses, the adventures of many voyages are ascribed to one man and relatedin a collection of tales which bears the title of _The Arabian Nights_. 

Of course, Sindbad was a native of Bagdad, the Arab centre of everythingat this time, and of course he journeyed eastwards as did mostMohammedans. 

"It occurred to my mind, " says Sindbad, "to travel to the countriesof other people; then I arose and collected what I had of effects andapparel and sold them, after which I sold my buildings and all thatmy hand possessed and amassed three thousand pieces of silver. So Iembarked in a ship, and with a company of merchants we traversed thesea for many days and nights. We had passed by island after islandand from sea to sea and land to land, and in every place we sold andbought and exchanged merchandise. We continued our voyage until wearrived at an island like one of the gardens of Paradise. "

Here they anchored and lit fires, when suddenly the master of the shipcried aloud in great distress: "Oh, ye passengers, come up quicklyinto the ship, leave your merchandise and flee for your lives, forthis apparent island, upon which ye are, is not really an island, butit is a great fish that hath become stationary in the midst of thesea, and the sand hath accumulated upon it and trees have grown uponit, and when ye lighted a fire it felt the heat, and now it will descendwith you into the sea and ye will all be drowned. " As he spoke theisland moved and "descended to the bottom of the sea with all thatwere upon it, and the roaring sea, agitated with waves, closed overit. "

Let Sindbad continue his own story: "I sank in the sea with the rest. But God delivered me and saved me from drowning and supplied me witha great wooden bowl, and I laid hold upon it and gat into it and beatthe water with my feet as with oars, while the waves sported with me. I remained so a day and a night, until the bowl came to a stoppageunder a high island whereupon were trees overhanging the sea. So Ilaid hold upon the branch of a lofty tree and clung to it until I landedon the island. Then I threw myself upon the island like one dead. "

After wandering about he found servants of the King of Borneo, andall sailed together to an island beyond the Malay Peninsula. And theKing of Borneo sent for Sindbad and heaped him with honours. He gavehim costly dress and made him superintendent of the seaport and adviserof affairs of state. And Sindbad saw many wonders in this far-distantsea. At last "one day I stood upon the shore of the sea, with a staffin my hand, as was my custom, and lo! a great vessel approached whereinwere many merchants. " They unloaded their wares, telling Sindbad thatthe owner of their goods, a man from Bagdad, had been drowned and theywere selling his things. 

"What was the name of the owner of the goods?" asked Sindbad. 

"His name was Sindbad of the Sea. "

Then Sindbad cried: "Oh, master, know that I am the owner of the goodsand I am Sindbad of the Sea. "

Then there was great rejoicing and Sindbad took leave of this Kingof Borneo and set sail for Bagdad--the Abode of Peace. 

[Illustration: THE SCENE OF SINDBAD'S VOYAGES AS SHOWN IN EDRISI'SMAP, 1154. The romance of "Sindbad the Sailor" is really a true storyof Arab adventures at sea during the ninth and tenth centuries, putinto a romantic setting and ascribed to one man. In the above map, which is a portion of the map of the world made by the famous Arabgeographer, Edrisi, in 1154 A. D. , many of the places to which Sindbad'sstory relates have been identified. Their modern names are asfollows:--

Kotroba is (probably) Socotra. Rami, the "Island of Apes, "Koulam Meli is Coulan, near Cape is Sumatra. Comorin. Maid Dzaba, the "island with theHIND is INDIA. Volcano, " is Banca. Serendib is Ceylon. Senf is Tsiampa, S. Cochin--China. Murphili (or Monsul), the "Valley Mudza (or Mehrage) is Borneo. Of Diamonds, " is Masulipatam. Kamrun is Java. Roibahat, the "Clove Islands, " are Maid, the Camphor Island, is the Maldive Islands. Formosa. Edrisi's names are those which are used in the _Arabian Nights_. ]

But the spirit of unrest was upon him and soon he was off again. Indeed, he made seven voyages in all, but there is only room here to note afew of the most important points in each. This time he sailed to thecoast of Zanzibar, East Africa, and, anchoring on the beautiful islandof Madagascar, amid sweet-smelling flowers, pure rivers, and warblingbirds, Sindbad fell asleep. He awoke to find the ship had sailed away, leaving him without food or drink, and not a human being was to beseen on the island. 

"Then I climbed up into a lofty tree and began to look from it to theright and left, but saw nothing save sky and water and trees and birdsand islands and sands. "

At last he found an enormous bird. Unwinding his turban, he twistedit into a rope and, tying one end round his wrist, tied the other toone of the bird's great feet. Up flew the giant bird high into thesky and Sindbad with it, descending somewhere in India in the Valleyof Diamonds. This bird was afterwards identified as an enormous eagle. 

"And I arose and walked in that valley, " says Sindbad, "and I beheldits ground to be composed of diamonds, with which they perforateminerals and jewels, porcelain, and the onyx, and it is a stone sohard that neither iron nor rock have any effect upon it. All that valleywas likewise occupied by serpents and venomous snakes. "

Here Sindbad found the camphor trees, "under each of which trees ahundred men might shade themselves. " From these trees flowed liquidcamphor. "In this island, too, is a kind of wild beast, calledrhinoceros--it is a huge beast with a single horn, thick, in the middleof its head, and it lifteth the great elephant upon its horn. "

Thus, after collecting heaps of diamonds, Sindbad returned toBagdad--a rich man. 

[Illustration: SINDBAD'S GIANT ROC. From an Oriental miniaturepainting. ]

Again his soul yearns for travel. This time he starts for China, buthis ship is driven out of its course and cast on the Island of Apes, probably Sumatra. These apes, "the most hideous of beasts, coveredwith hair like black felt, " surrounded the ship. They climbed up thecables and severed them with their teeth to Sindbad's great alarm. He escaped to the neighbouring islands known as the Clove Islands, and again reached Bagdad safely. Again and yet again he starts forthon fresh adventures. Now he is sailing on the seas beyond Ceylon, nowhis ship is being pursued by a giant roc whose young have been killedand eaten by Sindbad. Sindbad as usual escapes upon a plank, and sailsto an island, where he meets the "Old Man of the Sea, " probably a hugeape from Borneo. On he passed to the "Island of Apes, " where, everynight, the people who reside in it go forth from the doors of the citythat open upon the sea in their fear of the apes lest they should comedown upon them in the night from the mountains. After this we findSindbad trading in pepper on the Coromandel coast of modern India anddiscovering a wealth of pearls by the seashore of Ceylon. But at lasthe grew tired of seafaring, which was never congenial to Arabs. 

 "Hateful was the dark blue sky, Vaulted o'er the dark blue sea; Sore task to heart, worn out by many wars; And eyes grown dim with gazing on the pilot stars. "

So he leaves private adventuring alone and is appointed by the Khalifof Bagdad to convey a letter and present to the Indian prince ofCeylon--an expedition that lasts him twenty-seven years. The presentswere magnificent. They included a horse worth ten thousand pieces ofgold, with its saddle adorned with gold set with jewels, a book, asplendid dress, and some beautiful white Egyptian cloth, Greek carpets, and a crystal cup. Having duly delivered these gifts, he took his leave, meaning to return to his own country. But the usual adventures befellhim. This time his ship was surrounded by a number of boats on boardof which were men like little devils with swords and daggers. Theseattacked the ship, captured Sindbad, and sold him to a rich man asa slave. He set him to shoot elephants from a tree with bows and arrows. At last, after many other adventures and having made seven long voyages, poor Sindbad reached his home. 

CHAPTER XVI

TRAVELLERS TO THE EAST

But if the Sindbad saga is based on the stories of Mohammedan travellersand sum up Arab adventure by sea in the tenth century, we must turnto another Arab--Massoudy by name--for land travel of the same period. Massoudy left his home at Bagdad very young and seems to have penetratedinto every Mohammedan country from Spain to farther India. In hisfamous _Meadows of Gold_, with its one hundred and thirty-two chapters, dedicated to "the most illustrious Kings, " he describes the variouslands through which he has travelled, giving us at the same time agood deal of incorrect information about lands he has never seen. 

 "I have gone so far towards the setting sun That I have lost all remembrance of the east, And my course has taken me so far towards the rising sun That I have forgotten the very name of west. "

One cannot but look with admiration on the energetic Arab traveller, when one remembers the labour of travel even in the tenth century. There were the long, hot rides through central Asia, under a burningsun, the ascent of unknown mountains, the crossing of unbridged rivers. From his lengthy work we will only extract a few details. Though hehad "gone so far toward the setting sun, " his knowledge of the Westwas very limited, and while Vikings tossed on the Atlantic westwards, Massoudy tells us that it is "impossible to navigate beyond the Pillarsof Hercules, for no vessel sails on that sea; it is without cultivationor inhabitant, and its end, like its depth, is unknown. " Such was the"Green Sea of Darkness" as it was called by the Arabs. Massoudy ismore at home when he journeys towards the rising sun to the East, buthis descriptions of China, the "Flowery Land, " the "CelestialCountry, " were to be excelled by others. 

We must pass over Edrisi, who in 1153 wrote on "The going abroad ofa curious Man to explore all the Wonders of the World, " which wondershe explored very imperfectly, though he has left us a map of the world, which may be seen to-day at the Bodleian Library at Oxford. 

But we cannot pass over Benjamin of Tudela in so few words. "OurBenjamin" he is called by Pinkerton, who in the eighteenth centurymade a wonderful collection of voyages and travels of all ages. "OurBenjamin" was a Jew hailing from Tudela in Spain, and he started forthon his travels with a view to ascertaining the condition and numbersof Jews living in the midst of the great Mohammedan Empire. Benjaminmade his way in the year 1160 to the "exceeding great city" ofConstantinople, which "hath none to compare with it except Bagdad--themighty city of the Arabs. " With the great temple of St. Sophia andits pillars of gold and silver, he was immensely struck. In wraptadmiration he gazed at the Emperor's palace with its walls of beatengold, its hanging crown suspended over the Imperial throne, blazingwith precious stones, so splendid that the hall needed no other light. No less striking were the crimson embroidered garments worn by theGreeks, who rode to and from the city like princes on horseback. Benjamin turns sadly to the Jewish quarter. No Jew might ride onhorseback here. All were treated as objects of contempt; they wereherded together, often beaten in the streets. 

[Illustration: JERUSALEM AND THE PILGRIMS' WAYS TO IT IN THE TWELFTHCENTURY. From a map of the twelfth century at Brussels. ]

From the wealth and luxury of Constantinople Benjamin makes his wayto Syria. At Jerusalem he finds some two hundred Jews commanding thedyeing trade. And here we must remind ourselves that the second crusadewas over and the third had not yet taken place, that Jerusalem, theCity of Peace, had been in the hands of the Mohammedans or Saracenstill 1099, when it fell into the hands of the Crusaders. From Jerusalem, by way of Damascus, Benjamin entered Persia, and he gives us aninteresting account of Bagdad and its Khalifs. The Khalif was the headof the Mohammedans in the same way that the Pope was the head of theChristians. "He was, " says "Our Benjamin, " "a very dignified personage, friendly towards the Jews, a kind-hearted man, but never to be seen. "Pilgrims from distant lands, passing through Bagdad on their way toMecca, prayed to be allowed to see "the brightness of his face, " butthey were only allowed to kiss one end of his garment. Now, althoughBenjamin describes the journey from Bagdad to China, it is verydoubtful if he ever got to China himself, so we will leave himdelighting in the glories of Bagdad, with its palm trees, its gardensand orchards, rejoicing in the statistics of Jews, and turn to theadventures of one, Carpini, who really did reach Tartary. 

This Carpini, or Friar John, was a Franciscan who was chosen by thePope to go to the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which was threateningto overrun Christendom. On 16th April 1245, Friar John left thecloister for the unknown tract of country by which he had to pass intoChina. By way of Bohemia he passed into Russia, and, having annexedBrother Benedict in Poland and Brother Stephen in Bohemia, togetherwith a guide, Carpini made his way eastwards. It was mid-winter; thetravellers had to ride on Tartar horses, "for they alone could findgrass under the snow, or live, as animals must in Tartary, withouthay or straw. " Sometimes Friar John fell so ill that he had to be placedin a cart and carried through the deep snow. 

[Illustration: TWO EMPERORS OF TARTARY. From the Catalan map, 1375. ]

It was Easter 1246, just a year after their start, that Friar Johnand his companions began the last section of their journey beyond theVolga, and "most tearfully we set out, " not knowing whether it was"for life or for death. " So thin had they all become that not one ofthem could ride. Still they toiled on, till one July day they enteredMongolia and found the headquarters of the Great Khan about half aday's journey from Karakorum. They arrived in time to witness theenthronement of the new Khan in August. Here were crowds of ambassadorsfrom Russia and Persia as well as from outlying parts of the growingMongol Empire. These were laden with gifts--indeed, there were no lessthan five hundred crates full of silks, satins, brocades, fur, goldembroidery. Friar John and his companions had no gifts to offer savethe letter from the Pope. 

Impressive, indeed, in the eyes of the once cloistered friar must havebeen this first sight of Eastern splendour. High on a neighbouringhill stood the Khan's tent, resting on pillars plated with gold, topand sides covered with silk brocades, while the great ceremony tookplace. But the men of the West were not welcomed by the new Emperorof the East. It was supposed that he intended shortly to unfurl hisStandard against the whole of the Western world, and in November FriarJohn and his companions found themselves formally dismissed with amissive from the Great Khan to the Pope, signed and sealed by the Khanhimself. 

[Illustration: A TARTAR CAMP. From the Borgian map, 1453. ]

The return journey was even more trying; winter was coming on, andfor nearly seven months the Pope's faithful envoys struggled on acrossthe endless open plains of Asia towards Russia, resting their eyeson vast expanses of snow. At last they reached home, and Friar Johnwrote his _Book of the Tartars_, in which he informs us that Mongoliais in the east part of the world and that Cathay is "a country in theeast of Asia. " To the south-west of Mongolia he heard of a vast desert, where lived certain wild men unable to speak and with no joints intheir legs. These occupy themselves in making felt out of camel's hairfor garments to protect them from the weather. 

Again Carpini tells us about that mythical character figuring in thetravel books of this time--Prester John. "The Mongol army, " he says, "marched against the Christians dwelling in the greater India, andthe king of that country, known by the name of Prester John, came forthwith his army to meet them. This Prester John caused a number of hollowcopper figures to be made, resembling men, which were stuffed withcombustibles and set upon horses, each having a man behind on the horse, with a pair of bellows to stir up the fire. At the first onset of thebattle these mounted figures were sent forward to the charge; the menwho rode behind them set fire to the combustibles and then stronglyblew with the bellows; immediately the Mongol horses and men were burntwith wild-fire and the air was darkened with smoke. "

We shall hear of Prester John again. For within a few years of thereturn of Friar John, another Franciscan friar, William de Rubruquis, was sent forth, this time by the French king, Louis, to carry lettersto the Great Khan begging him to embrace Christianity and acknowledgethe supremacy of the Pope. William and his chosen companions had apainful and difficult journey of some months before they reached thecamps on the Volga of one of the great Mongol lords. Indeed, "if ithad not been for the grace of God and the biscuit which we broughtwith us, we had surely perished, " remarks the pious friar in the historyof his adventures. Never once did they enjoy the shelter of a houseor tent, but passed the nights in the open air in a cart. At last theywere ordered to appear at the Court of the great ruler with all theirbooks and vestments. 

"We were commanded to array ourselves in our sacred vestments to appearbefore the prince. Putting on, therefore, our most precious ornaments, I took a cushion in my arms, together with the Bible I had from theKing of France and the beautiful Psalter which the Queen bestowed uponme: my companion at the same time carried the missal and a crucifix;and the clerk, clothed in his surplice, bore a censer in his hand. In this order we presented ourselves . .. Singing the Salve Regina. "It is a strange picture this--the European friars, in all the vestmentsof their religion, standing before the Eastern prince of this far-offcountry. They would fain have carried home news of his conversion, but they were told in angry tones that the prince was "not a Christian, but a Mongol. "

[Illustration: INITIAL LETTER FROM THE MS. OF RUBRUQUIS AT CAMBRIDGE. Probably representing the friars starting on their journey. ]

They were dismissed with orders to visit the Great Khan at Karakorum. Resuming their journey early in August, the messengers did not arriveat the Court of the Great Khan till the day after Christmas. They weremiserably housed in a tiny hut with scarcely room for their beds andbaggage. The cold was intense. The bare feet of the friars caused greatastonishment to the crowds of onlookers, who stared at the strangefigures as though they had been monsters. However, they could not keeptheir feet bare long, for very soon Rubruquis found that his toes werefrozen. 

Chanting in Latin the hymn of the Nativity, the visitors were at lastadmitted to the Imperial tent, hung about with cloth of gold, wherethey found the Khan. He was seated on a couch--a "little man of moderateheight, aged about forty-five, and dressed in a skin spotted and glossylike a seal. " The Mongol Emperor asked numerous questions about thekingdom of France and the possibility of conquering it, to therighteous indignation of the friars. They stayed in the country tillthe end of May, when they were dismissed, having failed in their mission, but having gained a good deal of information about the great MongolEmpire and its somewhat mysterious ruler. 

But while the kingdoms in Europe trembled before the growing expansionof the Mongol Empire and the dangers of Tartar hordes, the merchantsof Venice rejoiced in the new markets which were opening for them inthe East. 

CHAPTER XVII

MARCO POLO

Now Venice at this time was full of enterprising merchants--merchantssuch as we hear of in Shakspere's _Merchant of Venice_. Among thesewere two Venetians, the brothers Polo. Rumours had reached them ofthe wealth of the mysterious land of Cathay, of the Great Khan, ofEuropeans making their way, as we have seen, through barrenwildernesses, across burning deserts in the face of hardshipsindescribable, to open up a highway to the Far East. 

So off started Maffio and Niccolo Polo on a trading enterprise, and, having crossed the Mediterranean, came "with a fair wind and theblessing of God" to Constantinople, where they disposed of a largequantity of their merchandise. Having made some money, they directedtheir way to Bokhara, where they fell in with a Tartar nobleman, whopersuaded them to accompany him to the Court of the Great Khan himself. Ready for adventure, they agreed, and he led them in a north-easterlydirection; now they were delayed by heavy snows, now by the swellingof unbridged rivers, so that it was a year before they reached Pekin, which they considered was the extremity of the East. They werecourteously received by the Great Khan, who questioned them closelyabout their own land, to which they replied in the Tartar languagewhich they had learnt on the way. 

Now since the days of Friar John there was a new Khan named Kublai, who wished to send messengers to the Pope to beg him to send a hundredwise men to teach the Chinese Christianity. He chose the Polo brothersas his envoys to the Pope, and accordingly they started off to fulfilhis behests. After an absence of fifteen years they again reachedVenice. The very year they had left home Niccolo's wife had died, andhis boy, afterwards to become the famous traveller, Marco Polo, hadbeen born. The boy was now fifteen. 

[Illustration: HOW THE BROTHERS POLO SET OUT FROM CONSTANTINOPLE WITHTHEIR NEPHEW MARCO FOR CHINA. From a miniature painting in thefourteenth century _Livre des Merveilles_. ]

The stories told by his father and uncle of the Far East and the Courtof the greatest Emperor on earth filled the boy with enthusiasm, andwhen in 1271 the brothers Polo set out for their second journey toChina, not only were they accompanied by the young Marco, but alsoby two preaching friars to teach the Christian faith to Kublai Khan. 

[Illustration: MARCO POLO LANDS AT ORMUZ. From a miniature in the_Livre des Merveilles_. ]

Their journey lay through Armenia, through the old city of Ninevehto Bagdad, where the last Khalif had been butchered by the Tartars. Entering Persia as traders, the Polo family passed on to Ormuz, hopingto take ship from here to China. But, for some unknown reason, thiswas impossible, and the travellers made their way north-eastwards tothe country about the sources of the river Oxus. Here young Marco fellsick of a low fever, and for a whole year they could not proceed. Resuming their journey at last "in high spirits, " they crossed thegreat highlands of the Pamirs, known as the "roof of the world, " and, descending on Khotan, found themselves face to face with the greatGobi Desert. For thirty days they journeyed over the sandy wastes ofthe silent wilderness, till they came to a city in the province ofTangut, where they were met by messengers from the Khan, who had heardof their approach. But it was not till May 1275 that they actuallyreached the Court of Kublai Khan after their tremendous journey of"one thousand days. " The preaching friars had long since turnedhomewards, alarmed at the dangers of the way, so only the threestout-hearted Polos were left to deliver the Pope's message to theruler of the Mongol Empire. 

[Illustration: THE POLOS LEAVING VENICE FOR THEIR TRAVELS TO THE FAREAST. From a miniature which stands at the head of a late 14th centuryMS. Of the _Travels of Marco Polo_ (or the Book of the Grand Khan)in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The drawing shows the Piazzetta atVenice, with the Polos embarking, and in the foreground indicationsof the strange lands they visited. ]

"The lord of all the earth, " as he was called by his people, receivedthem very warmly. He inquired at once who was the young man with them. 

"My lord, " replied Niccolo, "he is my son and your servant. "

"Then, " said the Khan, "he is welcome. I am much pleased with him. "

So the three Venetians abode at the Court of Kublai Khan. His summerpalace was at Shang-tu, called Xanadu by the poet Coleridge--

 "In Xanadu did Kublai Khan A stately pleasure dome decree, Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sacred sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground, With walls and towers were girdled round: And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossom'd many an incense-bearing tree; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery. "

So the three Venetians abode at the Court of the Chinese Emperor forno less than seventeen years. Young Marco displayed so greatintelligence that he was sent on a mission for the Khan some six months'journey distant; and so well did he describe the things he had seenand the lands through which he had passed, that the Khan heaped onhim honours and riches. Let us hear what Marco says of his lord andmaster. 

[Illustration: KUBLAI KHAN. From an old Chinese Encyclopaedia atParis. ]

"The Great Khan, lord of lords, named Kublai, is of middle stature, neither too full nor too short: he has a beautiful fresh complexion, his colour is fair, his eyes dark. "

The capital of the Empire, Pekin, two days' journey from the sea, andthe residence of the Court during the months of December, January, and February, called out the unbounded enthusiasm of the Polos. Thecity, two days' journey from the ocean, in the extreme north-east ofCathay, had been newly rebuilt in a regular square, six miles on eachside, surrounded by walls of earth and having twelve gates. 

"The streets are so broad and so straight, " says Marco, "that fromone gate another is visible. It contains many beautiful houses andpalaces, and a very large one in the midst, containing a steeple witha large bell which at night sounds three times, after which no manmust leave the city. At each gate a thousand men keep guard, not fromdread of any enemy, but in reverence of the monarch who dwells withinit, and to prevent injury by robbers. "

This square form of Pekin, the great breadth of the straight streets, the closing of the gates by sound of a bell--the largest in theworld--is noted by all travellers to this far-eastern city of Cathay. 

But greater even than Pekin was the city of Kin-sai (Hang-tcheou-fou), the City of Heaven, in the south of China. It had but lately falleninto the hands of Kublai Khan. 

"And now I will tell you all its nobleness, " says Marco, "for withoutdoubt it is the largest city in the world. The city is one hundredmiles in circumference and has twelve thousand stone bridges, andbeneath the greater part of these a large ship might pass. And youneed not wonder there are so many bridges, because the city is whollyon the water and surrounded by it like Venice. The merchants are sonumerous and so rich that their wealth can neither be told nor believed. They and their ladies do nothing with their own hands, but live asdelicately as if they were kings. These females also are of most angelicbeauty, and live in the most elegant manner. The people are idolaters, subject to the Great Khan, and use paper money. They eat the fleshof dogs and other beasts, such as no Christian would touch for theworld. In this city, too, are four thousand baths, in which the citizens, both men and women, take great delight and frequently resort thither, because they keep their persons very cleanly. They are the largestand most beautiful baths in the world, insomuch that one hundred ofeither sex may bathe in them at once. Twenty-five miles from thenceis the ocean, and there is a city (Ning-po) which has a very fine port, with large ships and much merchandise of immense value from India andother quarters. "

[Illustration: "THE UNROLLING OF THE CLOUDS"--III. The world as knownat the end of the thirteenth century after the travels of Marco Poloand his contemporaries. ]

But though Marco revels in the description of wonderful cities, heis continually leading us back to the Great Khan himself. His festivalswere splendid. The tables were arranged so that the Emperor sat higherthan all the others, always with his face to the south. His sons anddaughters were placed so that their heads were on a level with hisfeet. Some forty thousand people feast on these occasions, but theKhan himself is served only by his great barons, their mouths wrappedin rich towels embroidered in gold and silver, that their breath mightnot blow upon the plates. His presents were on a colossal scale; itwas no rare occurrence for him to receive five thousand camels, onehundred thousand beautiful horses, and five thousand elephantscovered with cloth of gold and silver. 

"And now I will relate a wonderful thing, " says Marco. "A large lionis led into his presence, which, as soon as it sees him, drops downand makes a sign of deep humility, owning him its lord and moving aboutwithout any chain. "

His kingdom was ruled by twelve barons all living at Pekin. Hisprovinces numbered thirty-four, hence their method of communicationwas very complete. 

"Messengers are sent to divers provinces, " says Marco, "and on allthe roads they find at every twenty-five miles a post, where themessengers are received. At each is a large edifice containing a bedcovered with silk and everything useful and convenient for atraveller . .. Here, too, they find full four hundred horses, whom theprince has ordered to be always in waiting to convey them along theprincipal roads. .. . Thus they go through the provinces, findingeverywhere inns and horses for their reception. Moreover, in theintervals between these stations, at every three miles are erectedvillages of about forty houses inhabited by foot-runners also employedon these dispatches. They wear large girdles set round with bells, which are heard at a great distance. Receiving a letter or packet, one runs full speed to the next village, when his approach beingannounced by bells, another is ready to start and proceed to the next, and so on. By these pedestrian messengers the Khan receives news inone day and night from places ten days' journey distant; in two daysfrom those twenty off, and in ten from those a hundred days' journeydistant. Thus he sends his messengers through all his kingdoms andprovinces to know if any of his subjects have had their crops injuredthrough bad weather; and, if any such injury has happened, he doesnot exact from them any tribute for that season--nay, he gives themcorn out of his own stores to subsist on. "

This first European account of China is all so delightful that it isdifficult to know where to stop. The mention of coal is interesting. "Throughout the whole province of Cathay, " says Marco, "are a kindof black stones cut from the mountains in veins, which burn like logs. They maintain the fire better than wood. If you put them on in theevening they will preserve it the whole night, and it will be foundburning in the morning. Throughout the whole of Cathay this fuel isused. They have also wood, but the stones are much less expensive. "

Neither can we pass over Marco's account of the wonderful stone bridgewith its twenty-four arches of pure marble across the broad river, "the most magnificent object in the whole world, " across which tenhorsemen could ride abreast, or the Yellow River (Hoang-ho), "so largeand broad that it cannot be crossed by a bridge, and flows on evento the ocean, " or the wealth of mulberry trees throughout the land, on which lived the silkworms that have made China so famous for hersilk. 

Then there are the people famous for their manufacture of fineporcelain ware. "Great quantities of porcelain earth were herecollected into heaps and in this way exposed to the action of theatmosphere for some forty years, during which time it was neverdisturbed. By this process it became refined and fitted formanufacture. " Such is Marco's only allusion to china ware. With regardto tea he is entirely silent. 

But he is the first European to tell us about the islands of Japan, fifteen hundred miles from the coast of China, now first discoveredto the geographers of the West. 

"Zipangu, " says Marco, "is an island situated at a distance from themainland. The people are fair and civilised in their manners--theypossess precious metals in extraordinary abundance. The people arewhite, of gentle manners, idolaters in religion under a king of theirown. These folk were attacked by the fleet of Kublai Khan in 1264 fortheir gold, for the King's house, windows, and floors were coveredwith it, but the King allowed no exportation of it. "

[Illustration: MARCO POLO. From a woodcut in the first printed editionof Marco Polo's _Travels_, Nuremburg, 1477. ]

Thus Marco Polo records in dim outline the existence of land beyondthat ever dreamed of by Europeans--indeed, denied by Ptolemy and othergeographers of the West. In the course of his service under KublaiKhan he opened up the eight provinces of Tibet, the whole of south-eastAsia from Canton to Bengal, and the archipelago of farther India. Hetells us, too, of Tibet, that wide country "vanquished and wasted bythe Khan for the space of twenty days' journey"--a great wildernesswanting people, but overrun by wild beasts. Here were great Tibetandogs as large as asses. Still on duty for Kublai Khan, Marco reachedBengal, "which borders upon India. " But he was glad enough to returnto his adopted Chinese home, "the richest and most famous country ofall the East. "

At last the Polo family wearied of Court honours, and they were anxiousto return to their own people at Venice. However, the Khan was veryunwilling to let them go. One day their chance came. The Persian rulerwas anxious to marry a princess of the house of Kublai Khan, and itwas decided to send the lady by sea under the protection of the trustedPolos, rather than to allow her to undergo the hardships of an overlandjourney from China to Persia. 

So in the year 1292 they bade farewell to the great Kublai Khan, andwith the little princess of seventeen and her suite they set sail withan escort of fourteen ships for India. Passing many islands "with goldand much trade, " after three months at sea they reached Java, at thistime supposed to be the greatest island in the world, above threethousand miles round. At Sumatra they were detained five months bystress of weather, till at last they reached the Bay of Bengal. Sailingon a thousand miles westwards, they reached Ceylon--"the finest islandin the world, " remarks Marco. It was not till two years after theirstart and the loss of six hundred sailors that they arrived at theirdestination, only to find that the ruler of Persia was dead. However, they gave the little bride to his son and passed on by Constantinopleto Venice, where they arrived in 1295. 

[Illustration: A JAPANESE FIGHT AGAINST THE CHINESE AT THE TIME WHENMARCO POLO FIRST SAW JAPANESE. From an ancient Japanese painting. ]

And now follows a strange sequel to the story. After their long absence, and in their travel-stained garments, their friends and relationscould not recognise them, and in vain did they declare that they wereindeed the Polos--father, son, and uncle--who had left Venicetwenty-four long years ago. It was no use; no one believed their story. So this is what they did. They arranged for a great banquet to be held, to which they invited all their relations and friends. This theyattended in robes of crimson satin. Then suddenly Marco rose from thetable and, going out of the room, returned with the three coarse, travel-stained garments. They ripped open seams, tore out the lining, and a quantity of precious stones, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, andemeralds poured forth. The company were filled with wonder, and whenthe story spread all the people of Venice came forth to do honour totheir famous fellow-countrymen. 

Marco was surnamed Marco of the Millions, and never tired of tellingthe wonderful stories of Kublai Khan, the great Emperor who combinedthe "rude magnificence of the desert with the pomp and elegance ofthe most civilised empire in the Old World. "

CHAPTER XVIII

THE END OF MEDIAEVAL EXPLORATION

The two names of Ibn Batuta and Sir John Mandeville now conclude ourmediaeval period of travel to the Eastward. Both the Arab and theEnglishman date their travels between the years 1325 and 1355; butwhile Ibn Batuta, the traveller from Tangiers, adds very valuableinformation to our geographical knowledge, we have to lay the travelvolumes of Sir John Mandeville aside and acknowledge sadly that hisbook is made up of borrowed experiences, that he has wantonly addedfiction to fact, and distorted even the travel stories told by othertravellers. And yet, strange to say, while the work of Ibn Batutaremains entirely disregarded, the delightful work of the Englishmanis still read vigorously to-day and translated into nearly everyEuropean language. In it we read strange stories of Prester John, "thegreat Emperor of India, who is served by seven kings, seventy-two dukes, and three hundred and sixty earls"; he speaks of the "isle of Cathay":he repeats the legend of the island near Java on which Adam and Evewept for one hundred years after they had been driven from Paradise;he speaks of giants thirty feet high, and of Pigmies who came dancingto see him. 

[Illustration: SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE ON HIS TRAVELS. From a MS. In theBritish Museum. ]

We turn to the Arab traveller for a solid document, which rings moretrue, and we cannot doubt his accounts of shipwreck and hardshipsencountered by the way. Ibn Batuta left Tangiers in the year 1324 atthe early age of twenty-one on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He made his wayacross the north of Africa to Alexandria. Here history relates he meta learned and pious man named Imam. 

"I perceive, " said Imam, "that you are fond of visiting distantcountries?"

"That is so, " answered Ibn Batuta. 

"Then you must visit my brother in India, my brother in Persia, andmy brother in China, and when you see them present my compliments tothem. "

Ibn Batuta left Alexandria with a resolve to visit these three persons, and indeed, wonderful to say, he found them all three and presentedto them their brother's compliments. 

He reached Mecca and remained there for three years, after which hevoyaged down the Red Sea to Aden, a port of much trade. Coasting alongthe east coast of Africa, he reached Mombasa, from which port, so soonto fall into the hands of the Portuguese, he sailed to Ormuz, a "cityon the seashore, " at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Here he tellsus of the head of a fish "that might be compared to a hill: its eyeswere like two doors, so that people could go in at one eye and outat the other. " Crossing central Arabia and the Black Sea, he foundhimself for the first time in a Christian city, and was much dismayedat all the bells ringing. He was anxious to go north through Russiato the Land of Darkness, of which he had heard such wonderful tales. It was a land where there were neither trees, nor stones, nor houses, where dogs with nails in their feet drew little sledges across theice. Instead he went to Constantinople, arriving at sunset when thebells were ringing so loud "that the very horizon shook with the noise. "Ibn was presented to the Emperor as a remarkable traveller, and a letterof safe conduct was given to him. 

He then made his way through Bokhara and Herat, Kandahar and Kabul, over the Hindu Koosh and across the Indus to Delhi, "the greatest cityin the world. " But at this time it was a howling wilderness, as theinhabitants had fled from the cruelty of the Turkish Emperor. Intohis presence our traveller was now called and graciously received. 

"The lord of the world appoints you to the office of judge in Delhi, "said the Emperor; "he gives you a dress of honour with a saddled horseand a large yearly salary. "

Ibn held this office for eight years, till one day the Emperor calledhim and said: "I wish to send you as ambassador to the Emperor of China, for I know you are fond of travelling in foreign countries. "

The Emperor of China had sent presents of great value to the Emperorof India, who was now anxious to return the compliment. Quaint, indeed, were the gifts from India to China. There were one hundred high-bredhorses, one hundred dancing girls, one hundred pieces of cotton stuff, also silk and wool, some black, some white, blue-green or blue. Therewere swords of state and golden candlesticks, silver basins, brocadedresses, and gloves embroidered with pearls. But so many adventuresdid Ibn Batuta have on his way to China that it is certain that noneof these things ever reached that country, for eighty miles from Delhithe cavalcade was attacked and Ibn was robbed of all he had. For dayshe wandered alone in a forest, living on leaves, till he was rescuedmore dead than alive, and carried back to Delhi. The second start wasalso unfortunate. By a circuitous route he made his way to Calicuton the Malabar coast, where he made a stay of three months till themonsoons should permit him to take ship for China. The harbour ofCalicut was full of great Chinese ships called junks. These junksstruck him as unlike anything he had seen before. "The sails are madeof cane reed woven together like a mat, which, when they put into port, they leave standing in the wind. In some of these vessels there willbe a thousand men, sailors and soldiers. Built in the ports of Chinaonly, they are rowed with large oars, which may be compared to greatmasts. On board are wooden houses in which the higher officials residewith their wives. "

[Illustration: AN EMPEROR OF TARTARY. From the map ascribed toSebastian Cabot, 1544. ]

The time of the voyage came; thirteen huge junks were taken, and theimperial presents were embarked. All was ready for a start on the morrow. Ibn stayed on shore praying in the mosque till starting-time. Thatnight a violent hurricane arose and most of the ships in the harbourwere destroyed. Treasure, crew, and officers all perished, and Ibnwas left alone and almost penniless. He feared to return to Delhi, so he took ship, which landed him on one of a group of a thousand islands, which Ibn calls "one of the wonders of the world. " The chief islandwas governed by a woman. Here he was made a judge, and soon becamea great personage. But after a time he grew restless and set sail forSumatra. Here at the court of the king, who was a zealous discipleof Mohammed, Ibn met with a kind reception, and after a fortnight, provided with provisions, the "restless Mohammedan" again voyagednorthwards into the "Calm Sea, " or the Pacific as we call it now. Itwas so still, "disturbed by neither wind nor waves, " that the shiphad to be towed by a smaller ship till they reached China. 

"This is a vast country, " writes Ibn, "and it abounds in all sortsof good things--fruit, corn, gold, and silver. It is traversed by agreat river--the Waters of Life--which runs through the heart of Chinafor a distance of six months' journey. It is bordered with villages, cultivated plains, orchards, and markets, just like the Nile inEgypt. "

Ibn gives an amusing account of the Chinese poultry. "The cocks andhens are bigger than our geese. I one day bought a hen, " he says, "whichI wanted to boil, but one pot would not hold it and I was obliged totake two. As for the cocks in China, they are as big as ostriches. "

"'Pooh, ' cried an owner of Chinese fowls, 'there are cocks in Chinamuch bigger than that, ' and I found he had said no more than the truth. "

"Silk is very plentiful, for the worms which produce it require littleattention. They have silk in such abundance that it is used for clothingeven by poor monks and beggars. The people of China do not use goldand silver coin in their commercial dealings. Their buying and sellingis carried on by means of pieces of paper about the size of the palmof the hand, carrying the seal of the Emperor. " The Arab travellerhas much to say about the superb painting of China. They study andpaint every stranger that visits their country, and the portrait thustaken is exposed on the city wall. Thus, should a stranger do anythingto make flight necessary, his portrait would be sent out into everyprovince and he would soon be discovered. 

"China is the safest as well as the pleasantest of all the regionson the earth for a traveller. You may travel the whole nine months'journey to which the Empire extends without the slightest cause tofear, even if you have treasure in your charge. But it afforded meno pleasure. On the contrary, my spirit was sorely troubled withinme to see how Paganism had the upper hand. "

[Illustration: A CARAVAN IN CATHAY. From the Catalan map, 1375. ]

Troubles now broke out among the Khan's family, which led to civilwars and the death of the Great Khan. He was buried with great pomp. A deep chamber was dug in the earth, into which a beautiful couch wasplaced, on which was laid the dead Khan with his arms and all his richapparel, the earth over him being heaped to the height of a large hill. 

Batuta now hurried from the country, took a junk to Sumatra, thenceto Calicut and by Ormuz home to Tangier, where he arrived in 1348. He had done what he set forth to do. He had visited the three brothersof Imam in Persia, India, and China. In addition he had travelled fortwenty-four years and accomplished in all about seventy-five thousandmiles. 

With him the history of mediaeval exploration would seem to end, forwithin eighty years of his death the modern epoch opens with theenergies and enthusiasm of Prince Henry of Portugal. 

For the last few centuries we have found all travel undertaken moreor less as a religious crusade. 

So far during the last centuries, travel had been for the most partby land. Few discoveries had been made by sea. Voyages were toodifficult and dangerous. The Phoenicians had ventured far withintrepid courage. The Vikings had tossed fearlessly over their stormynorthern seas to the yet unknown land of America, but this was longago. Throughout the Middle Ages hardly a sail was to be seen on thevast Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, no ships ventured on what was heldto be the Sea of Darkness, no man was emboldened to risk life and moneyon the unknown waters beyond his own safe home. 

CHAPTER XIX

MEDIAEVAL MAPS

We cannot pass from the subject of mediaeval exploration without aword on the really delightful, if ignorant, maps of the period, forthey illustrate better than any description the state of geographyat this time. The Ptolemy map, summing up all the Greek and Romanlearning, with its longitudes and latitudes, with its shapedcontinents and its many towns and rivers, "indicates the high-watermark of a tide that was soon to ebb. "

With the decline of the Roman Empire and the coming of Christianitywe get a new spirit inspiring our mediaeval maps, in which Jerusalem, hitherto totally obscure, dominates the whole situation. 

The _Christian Topography_ of Cosmas in the sixth century sets a newmodel. Figures blowing trumpets representing the winds still blow onto the world, as they did in the days of Ptolemy, but the earth isonce more flat and it is again surrounded by the ocean stream. Roundthis ocean stream, according to Cosmas, is an outer earth, the seatof Paradise, "the earth beyond the ocean where men dwelt before theFlood. "

Although these maps of Cosmas were but the expression of one man'sideas, they served as a model for others. 

There is, at Turin, a delightful map of the eighth century with thefour winds and the ocean stream as usual. The world is divided intothree--Asia, Africa, and Europe. Adam and Eve stand at the top; tothe right of Adam lies Armenia and the Caucasus; to the left of Eveare Mount Lebanon, the river Jordan, Sidon, and Mesopotamia. At theirfeet lie Mount Carmel, Jerusalem, and Babylon. 

[Illustration: THE TURIN MAP OF THE WORLD, EIGHTH CENTURY. ]

In Europe we find a few names such as Constantinople, Italy, France. Britannia and Scotland are islands in the encircling sea. Africa issuitably represented by the Nile. 

Of much the same date is another map known as the Albi, preserved inthe library at Albi in Languedoc. The world is square, with roundedcorners; Britain is an island off the coast of Spain, and a beautifulgreen sea flows round the whole. 

An example of tenth-century map-making, known as the Cottoniana orAnglo-Saxon map, is in the British Museum. Here is a mixture of Biblicaland classical knowledge. Jerusalem and Bethlehem are in their placeand the Pillars of Hercules stand at the entrance of the MediterraneanSea. The British Isles are still distorted, and quantities of littleunnamed islands lie about the north of Scotland. In the extreme eastlies an enormous Ceylon; in the north-east corner of Asia is drawna magnificent lion with mane and curling tail, with the words aroundhim: "Here lions abound. " Africa as usual is made up of the Nile, Alexandria at its mouth, and its source in a lake. 

[Illustration: A T-MAP, TENTH CENTURY. ]

[Illustration: A T-MAP, THIRTEENTH CENTURY. ]

There is another form of these early maps. They are quite small andround. They are known as T-maps, being divided into threeparts--Europe, Asia, and Africa. Jerusalem is always in the centre, and the ocean stream flows round. 

[Illustration: THE HEREFORD MAPPA MUNDI OF 1280. Drawn by Richard deHaldingham and Lafford, who was Prebendary of Lincoln (hence his nameLafford) before 1283, and Prebendary of Hereford in 1305. The originalmap hangs in the Chapter House Library of Hereford Cathedral. In itthe original green of the seas reproduced here as green has becomea dark brown by age. ]

After the manner of these, only on a very large scale, is the famous_Mappa Mundi_, by Richard of Haldingham, on the walls of the HerefordCathedral of the thirteenth century. Jerusalem is in the centre, andthe Crucifixion is there depicted. At the top is the Last Judgment, with the good and bad folk divided on either side. Adam and Eve arethere, so are the Pillars of Hercules, Scylla and Charybdis, the RedSea coloured red, the Nile and the Mountains of the Moon, strange beastsand stranger men. 

With the Hereford map came in that pictorial geography that makes themaps of the later Middle Ages so delightful. 

[Illustration: THE KAISER HOLDING THE WORLD. From a twelfth-centuryMS. ]

"This is indeed the true way to make a map, " says a modern writer. "If these old maps erred in the course of their rivers and the linesof their mountains and space, they are not so misleading as your modernatlas with its too accurate measurements. For even your most primitivemap, with Paradise in the east--a gigantic Jerusalem in thecentre--gives a less distorted impression than that which we obtainfrom the most scientific chart on Mercator's projection. "

[Illustration: THE "ANGLO-SAXON" MAP OF THE WORLD, DRAWN ABOUT 990A. D. This map, which is found in one of the Cotton MSS. In the BritishMuseum, is a geographical achievement remarkable in the age whichproduced it. It may perhaps be the work of an Irish scholar-monk. Itshows real knowledge and scientific insight in one of the gloomiestof the "dark ages" of Europe. ]

CHAPTER XX

PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL

But now a new era was about to begin--a new age was dawning--and weopen a wonderful chapter in the history of discovery, perhaps the mostwonderful in all the world. In Portugal a man had arisen who was toawaken the slumbering world of travel and direct it to the high seas. 

And the name of this man was Henry, a son of King John of Portugal. His mother was an Englishwoman, daughter of "John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster. " The Prince was, therefore, a nephew of HenryIV. And great-grandson of Edward III. Of England. But if English bloodflowed in his veins he, too, was the son of the "greatest King thatever sat on the throne of Portugal, " and at the age of twenty he hadalready learned something of the sea that lay between his father'skingdom and the northern coast of Africa. Thus, when in the year 1415King John planned a great expedition across the narrow seas to Ceuta, an important Moorish city in North Africa, it fell to Prince Henryhimself to equip seven triremes, six biremes, twenty-six ships ofburden, and a number of small craft. These he had ready at Lisbon whennews reached him that the Queen, his mother, was stricken ill. TheKing and three sons were soon at her bedside. It was evident that shewas dying. 

"What wind blows so strongly against the side of the house?" she askedsuddenly. 

"The wind blows from the north, " replied her sons. 

"It is the wind most favourable for your departure, " replied Philippa. And with these words the English Queen died. 

This is not the place to tell how the expedition started at once asthe dead Queen had wished, how Ceuta was triumphantly taken, and howPrince Henry distinguished himself till all Europe rang with his fame. Henry V. Of England begged him to come over and take command of hisforces. The Emperor of Germany sent the same request. But he had otherschemes for his life. He would not fight the foes of England or ofGermany, rather would he fight the great ocean whose waves dashed highagainst the coast of Portugal. He had learned something of inlandAfrica, of the distant coast of Guinea, and he was fired with the ideaof exploring along this west coast of Africa and possibly reachingIndia by sea. 

Let us recall what was known of the Atlantic only six centuries ago. "It was, " says an old writer, "a vast and boundless ocean, on whichships dared not venture out of sight of land. For even if the sailorsknew the direction of the winds they would not know whither those windswould carry them, and, as there is no inhabited country beyond, theywould run great risk of being lost in mist and vapour. The limit ofthe West is the Atlantic Ocean. "

The ocean was a new and formidable foe, hitherto unconquered andunexplored. At last one had arisen to attempt its conquest. As menhad lifted the veil from the unknown land of China, so now the mistswere to be cleared from the Sea of Darkness. 

On the inhospitable shores of southern Portugal, amid the "sadnessof a waste of shifting sand, in a neighbourhood so barren that onlya few stunted trees struggled for existence, on one of the coldest, dreariest spots of sunny Portugal, " Prince Henry built his navalarsenal. In this secluded spot, far from the gaieties of Court life, with the vast Atlantic rolling measureless and mysterious before him, Prince Henry took up the study of astronomy and mathematics. Here hegathered round him men of science; he built ships and trainedPortuguese sailors in the art of navigation, so far as it was knownin those days. 

Then he urged them seawards. In 1418 two gentlemen of his household, Zarco and Vaz, volunteered to sail to Cape Bojador towards the south. They started off and as usual hugged the coast for some way, but aviolent storm arose and soon they were driven out to sea. They hadlost sight of land and given themselves up for lost when, at breakof day, they saw an island not far off. Delighted at their escape, they named it Porto Santo and, overjoyed at their discovery, hastenedback to Portugal to relate their adventures to Prince Henry. Theydescribed the fertile soil and delicious climate of the newly foundisland, the simplicity of its inhabitants, and they requested leaveto return and make a Portuguese settlement there. To reward them, Prince Henry gave them three ships and everything to ensure successin their new enterprise. But unfortunately he added a rabbit and herfamily. These were turned out and multiplied with such astonishingrapidity that in two years' time they were numerous enough to destroyall the vegetation of the island. 

So Porto Santo was colonised by the Portuguese, and one Perestrellowas made Governor of the island; and it is interesting to note thathis daughter became the wife of Christopher Columbus. But the originalfounders, Zarco and Vaz, had observed from time to time a dark spoton the horizon which aroused their curiosity. Sailing towards it, theyfound an island of considerable size, uninhabited and very attractive, but so covered with woods that they named it Madeira, the Island ofWoods. 

But although these two islands belong to Portugal to-day, and althoughPortugal claimed their discovery, it has been proved that already anEnglishman and his wife had been there, and the names of the islandsappear on an Italian map of 1351. 

[Illustration: AFRICA--FROM CEUTA TO MADEIRA, THE CANARIES, AND CAPEBOJADOR. From Fra Mauro's map, 1457. ]

The story of this first discovery is very romantic. In the reign ofEdward III. A young man named Robert Machin sailed away from Bristolwith a very wealthy lady. A north-east wind carried them out of theircourse, and after thirteen days' driving before a storm they were caston to an island. It was uninhabited and well wooded and watered. Butthe sufferings and privations proved too much for the poor Englishlady, who died after three days, and Machin died a few days later ofgrief and exposure. The crew of the ship sailed away to the coast ofAfrica, there to be imprisoned by the Moors. Upon their escape in 1416they made known their discovery. 

So Zarco and Vaz divided the island of Madeira, calling half of itFunchal (the Portuguese for fennel, which grew here in greatquantities) and the other half Machico after the poor Englishdiscoverer Machin. The first two Portuguese children born in theisland of Madeira were called Adam and Eve. 

Year after year Prince Henry launched his little ships on the yetunknown, uncharted seas, urging his captains to venture farther andever farther. He longed for them to reach Cape Bojador, and bitterwas his disappointment when one of his squires, dismayed bytravellers' tales, turned back from the Canary Islands. 

"Go out again, " urged the enthusiastic Prince, "and give no heed totheir opinions, for, by the grace of God, you cannot fail to derivefrom your voyage both honour and profit. "

[Illustration: THE VOYAGE TO CAPE BLANCO FROM CAPE BOJADOR. From FraMauro's map, 1457. ]

And the squire went forth from the commanding presence of the Princeresolved to double the Cape, which he successfully accomplished in1434. Seven years passed away, till in 1441 two men--Gonsalves, masterof the wardrobe (a strange qualification for difficult navigation), and Nuno Tristam, a young knight--started forth on the Prince'sservice, with orders to pass Cape Bojador where a dangerous surf, breaking on the shore, had terrified other navigators. There was astory, too, that any man who passed Cape Bojador would be changed fromwhite into black, that there were sea-monsters, sheets of burningflame, and boiling waters beyond. The young knight Tristam discoveredthe white headland beyond Cape Bojador, named it Cape Blanco, and tookhome some Moors of high rank to the Prince. A large sum was offeredfor their ransom, so Gonsalves conveyed them back to Cape Blanco andcoasted along to the south, discovering the island of Arguin of theCape Verde group and reaching the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, reached by Hanno many centuries before this. 

Here he received some gold dust, and with this and some thirty negroeshe returned to Lisbon, where the strange black negroes "caused themost lively astonishment among the people. " The small quantity of golddust created a sensation among the Portuguese explorers, and thespirit of adventure grew. No longer had the Prince to urge hisnavigators forth to new lands and new seas; they were ready and willingto go, for the reward was now obvious. The news was soon noised abroad, and Italians, then reckoned among the most skilful seamen of the time, flocked to Portugal, anxious to take service under the Prince. 

"Love of gain was the magic wand that drew them on and on, into unknownleagues of waters, into wild adventures and desperate affrays. "

The "Navigator" himself looked beyond these things. He would find away to India; he would teach the heathen to be Christians. He was alwaysready to welcome those with superior knowledge of navigation; so in1454 he sent an Italian, known to history as Cadamosto, to sail theAfrican seas. The young Venetian was but twenty-one, and he tells hisstory simply. 

"Now I--Luigi Ca da Mosto--had sailed nearly all the Mediterraneancoasts, but, being caught by a storm off Cape St. Vincent, had to takerefuge in the Prince's town, and was there told of the glorious andboundless conquests of the Prince, the which did exceedingly stir mysoul--eager it was for gain above all things else. My age, my vigour, my skill are equal to any toil; above all, my passionate desire tosee the world and explore the unknown set me all on fire witheagerness. "

In 1455 Cadamosto sailed from Portugal for Madeira, now "thicklypeopled with Portuguese. " From Madeira to the Canaries, from theCanaries to Cape Blanco, "natives black as moles were dressed in whiteflowing robes with turbans wound round their heads. " Here was a greatmarket of Arab traders from the interior, here were camels laden withbrass, silver, and gold, as well as slaves innumerable. 

But Cadamosto pushed on for some four hundred miles by the low, sandyshore to the Senegal River. The Portuguese had already sailed by thispart of the coast, and the negroes had thought their ships to be greatbirds from afar cleaving the air with their white wings. When the crewsfurled their sails and drew into shore the natives changed their mindsand thought they were fishes, and all stood on the shore gazing stupidlyat this new wonder. 

Cadamosto landed and pushed some two hundred and fifty miles up theSenegal River, where he set up a market, exchanging cotton and clothfor gold, while "the negroes came stupidly crowding round me, wondering at our white colour, which they tried to wash off, our dress, our garments of black silk and robes of blue cloth. "

Joined by two other ships from Portugal, the Italian explorer nowsailed on to Cape Verde, so called from its green grass. 

"The land here, " he tells us, "is all low and full of fine, large trees, which are continually green. The trees never wither like those inEurope; they grow so near the shore that they seem to drink, as itwere, the water of the sea. The coast is most beautiful. Many countrieshave I been in, to East and West, but never did I see a prettier sight. "

But the negroes here--big, comely men--were lawless and impossibleto approach, shooting at the Portuguese explorers with poisoned arrows. They discovered that the capital of the country was called Gambra, where lived a king, but the negroes of the Gambra were unfriendly;there was little gold to be had; his crews fell sick and ill, andCadamosto turned home again. But he had reached a point beyond allother explorers of the time, a point where "only once did we see theNorth Star, which was so low that it seemed almost to touch the sea. "We know that he must have been to within eleven degrees of the Equator, and it is disappointing to find the promising young Italiandisappearing from the pages of history. 

[Illustration: A PORTION OF AFRICA FROM FRA MAURO'S MAP ILLUSTRATINGCADAMOSTO'S VOYAGE BEYOND CAPE BLANCO. ]

And now we come to the last voyage planned by Prince Henry, that ofDiego Gomez, his own faithful servant. It followed close onCadamosto's return. 

No long time after, the Prince equipped a ship called the _Wren_ andset over it Diego Gomez, with two other ships, of which he wascommander-in-chief. Their orders were to go as far as they could. Gomezwrote his own travels, and his adventures are best told in his ownwords. We take up his story from the far side of Cape Blanco. 

"After passing a great river beyond Rio Grande we met such strongcurrents in the sea that no anchor could hold. The other captains andtheir men were much alarmed, thinking we were at the end of the ocean, and begged me to put back. In the mid-current the sea was very clear, and the natives came off from the shore and brought us their merchandise. As the current grew even stronger we put back and came to a land, wherewere groves of palms near the shore, with their branches broken. Therewe found a plain covered with hay and more than five thousand animalslike stags, but larger, who showed no fear of us. Five elephants withtwo young ones came out of a small river that was fringed by trees. We went back to the ships, and next day made our way from Cape Verdeand saw the broad mouth of a great river, which we entered and guessedto be the Gambia. We went up the river as far as Cantor (some fivehundred miles). Farther than this the ships could not go, because ofthe thick growth of trees and underwood. When the news spread throughthe country that the Christians were in Cantor, they came from Timbuktuin the north, from Mount Gelu in the south. Here I was told there isgold in plenty, and caravans of camels cross over there with goodsfrom Carthage, Tunis, Fez, Cairo, and all the land of the Saracens. I asked the natives of Cantor about the road to the gold country. Theytold me the King lived in Kukia and was lord of all the mines on theright side of the river of Cantor, and that he had before the doorof this palace a mass of gold just as it was taken from the earth, so large that twenty men could hardly move it, and that the King alwaysfastened his horse to it. While I was thus trafficking with thesenegroes, my men became worn out with the heat, and so we returnedtowards the ocean. "

[Illustration: SKETCH OF AFRICA FROM FRA MAURO'S GREAT MAP OF THE WORLD, 1457. In the African portions of Fra Mauro's map which have alreadybeen given they are shown exactly as Fra Mauro drew them, with thenorth at the _bottom_ and the south at the _top_, as is nearly alwaysthe case in mediaeval maps. In this outline of Africa, which isgenerally supposed to show the results of Prince Henry's labours, themap has been put the right way up. It was prepared between 1457 and1459. ]

But Diego Gomez had succeeded in making friends with the hostilenatives of this part. He left behind him a better idea of Christianmen than some of the other explorers had done. His own account of theconversion of the Mohammedan King who lived near the mouth of the riverGambia, which was visited on the return voyage, is most interesting. 

"Now the houses here are made of seaweed, covered with straw, and whileI stayed here (at the river mouth) three days, I learned all themischief that had been done to the Christians by a certain King. SoI took pains to make peace with him and sent him many presents by hisown men in his own canoes. Now the King was in great fear of theChristians, lest they should take vengeance upon him. When the Kingheard that I always treated the natives kindly he came to the river-sidewith a great force, and, sitting down on the bank, sent for me. Andso I went and paid him all respect. There was a Bishop there of hisown faith, who asked me about the God of the Christians, and I answeredhim as God had given me to know. At last the King was so pleased withwhat I said that he sprang to his feet and ordered the Mohammedan Bishopto leave his country within three days. "

So when the Portuguese returned home, Prince Henry sent a priest anda young man of his own household to the black King at the mouth ofthe Gambia. This was in 1458. 

"In the year of our Lord 1460, Prince Henry fell ill in his town onCape St. Vincent, " says his faithful explorer and servant, Diego Gomez, "and of that sickness he died. "

Such was the end of the man who has been called the "originator ofmodern discovery. " What had he done? He had inspired and financed thePortuguese navigators to sail for some two thousand miles down theWest African coast. "From his wave-washed home he inspired the courageof his men and planned their voyages, and by the purity of his actionsand the devotion of his life really lived up to his inspiring motto, 'Talent de bien faire. '" And more than this. For each successivediscovery had been carefully noted at the famous Sagres settlement, and these had been worked up by an Italian monk named Fra Mauro intoan enormous wall-map over six feet across, crammed with detail--thework of three years' incessant labour. 

CHAPTER XXI

BARTHOLOMEW DIAZ REACHES THE STORMY CAPE

But though Prince Henry was dead, the enthusiasm he had aroused amongPortuguese navigators was not dead, and Portuguese ships still stoleforth by twos and threes to search for treasure down the West Africancoast. In 1462 they reached Sierra Leone, the farthest point attainedby Hanno of olden days. Each new headland was now taken in the nameof Portugal: wooden crosses already marked each successive discovery, and many a tree near the coast bore the motto of Prince Henry carvedroughly on its bark. Portugal had officially claimed this "Kingdomof the Seas" as it was called, and henceforth stone crosses some sixfeet high, inscribed with the arms of Portugal, the name of thenavigator, and the date of discovery, marked each newly found spot. 

It was not until 1471 that the navigators unconsciously crossed theEquator, "into a new heaven and a new earth. " They saw stars unknownin the Northern Hemisphere, and the Northern Pole star sank nearlyout of sight. Another thirteen years and Diego Cam, a knight of theKing's household, found the mouth of the Congo and erected a greatPortuguese pillar on the famous spot. It was in the year 1484 thatDiego Cam was ordered to go "as far to the south as he could. " He crossedthe Equator, which for past years had been the limit of knowledge, and, continuing southwards he reached the mouth of the mighty riverCongo, now known as the second of all the African rivers for size. The explorer ascended the river, falling in with peacefully inclinednatives. But they could not make themselves understood, so Cam tookback four of them to Portugal, where they learned enough Portugueseto talk a little. They were much struck with Portugal and the kindtreatment they received from the King, who sent them back to theircountry laden with presents for their black King at home. So with DiegoCam they all sailed back to the Congo River. They were received bythe King in royal state. Seated on a throne of ivory raised on a loftywooden platform, he could be seen from all sides, his "black andglittering skin" shining out above a piece of damask given to him towear by the Portuguese explorer. From his shoulder hung a dressedhorse's tail, a symbol of royalty; on his head was a cap of palm leaves. 

It was here in this Congo district that the first negro was baptizedin the presence of some twenty-five thousand heathen comrades. Theceremony was performed by Portuguese priests, and the negro Kingordered all idols to be destroyed throughout his dominions. Here, too, a little Christian church was built, and the King and Queen becamesuch earnest Christians that they sent their children to Portugal tobe taught. 

[Illustration: NEGRO BOYS, FROM CABOT'S MAP, 1544. ]

But even the discoveries of Diego Cam pale before the great achievementof Bartholomew Diaz, who was now to accomplish the great task whichPrince Henry the Navigator had yearned to see fulfilled--the roundingof the Cape of Storms. 

The expedition set sail for the south in August 1486. Passing the spotwhere Diego Cam had erected his farthest pillar, Diaz reached aheadland, now known as Diaz Point, where he, too, placed a Portuguesepillar that remained unbroken till about a hundred years ago. Stillto the south he sailed, struggling with wind and weather, to Cape Voltas, close to the mouth of the Orange River. Then for another fortnightthe little ships were driven before the wind, south and ever south, with half-reefed sails and no land in sight. Long days and longer nightspassed to find them still drifting in an unknown sea, knowing not whatan hour might bring forth. At last the great wind ceased to blow andit became icy cold. They had sailed to the south of South Africa. Steering north, Diaz now fell in with land--land with cattle near theshore and cowherds tending them, but the black cowherds were so alarmedat the sight of the Portuguese that they fled away inland. 

We know now, what neither Diaz nor his crew even suspected, that hehad actually rounded, without seeing, the Cape of Good Hope. The coastnow turned eastward till a small island was reached in a bay we nowcall Algoa Bay. Here Bartholomew Diaz set up another pillar with itscross and inscription, naming the rock Santa Cruz. This was the firstland beyond the Cape ever trodden by European feet. Unfortunately thenatives--Kafirs--threw stones at them, and it was impossible to makefriends and to land. The crews, too, began to complain. They were wornout with continual work, weary for fresh food, terrified at the heavyseas that broke on these southern shores. With one voice they protestedagainst proceeding any farther. But the explorer could not bear toturn back; he must sail onwards now, just three days more, and thenif they found nothing he would turn back. They sailed on and came tothe mouth of a large river--the Great Fish River. Again the keenexplorer would sail on and add to his already momentous discoveries. But the crews again began their complaints and, deeply disappointed, Diaz had to turn. "When he reached the little island of Santa Cruzand bade farewell to the cross which he had there erected, it was withgrief as intense as if he were leaving his child in the wildernesswith no hope of ever seeing him again. " To him it seemed as thoughhe had endured all his hardships in vain. He knew not what he had reallyaccomplished as yet. But his eyes were soon to be opened. Sailingwestward, Diaz at last came in sight of "that remarkable Cape whichhad been hidden from the eyes of man for so many centuries. "

[Illustration: THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. From Martin Behaim's map, 1492. ]

Remembering their perils past, he called it "the Stormy Cape" andhastened home to the King of Portugal with his great news. The Kingwas overjoyed, but he refused to name it the Cape of Storms. Wouldnot such a name deter the seamen of the future? Was not this thelong-sought passage to India? Rather it should be called the Cape ofGood Hope, the name which it has held throughout the centuries. Inthe course of one voyage, Diaz had accomplished the great task whichfor the past seventy years Prince Henry had set before his people. He had lifted for the first time in the history of the world the veilthat had hung over the mysterious extremity of the great Africancontinent. The Phoenicians may have discovered it some seventeenhundred years before Diaz, but the record of tradition alone exists. 

Now with the new art of printing, which was transforming the wholeaspect of life, the brilliant achievement of Bartholomew Diaz was madeknown far and wide. 

It was shortly to be followed by a yet more brilliant feat by a yetmore brilliant navigator, "the most illustrious that the world hasseen. " The very name of Christopher Columbus calls up the vision ofa resolute man beating right out into the westward unknown seas andfinding as his great reward a whole new continent--a New World of whoseexistence mankind had hardly dreamt. 

CHAPTER XXII

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

Every event in the eventful life of Christopher Columbus is of supremeinterest. We linger over all that leads up to the momentous startwestwards: we recall his birth and early life at Genoa towards themiddle of the fifteenth century, his apprenticeship to his father asa weaver of cloth, his devotion to the sea, his love of the littlesailing ships that passed in and out of the busy Genoese harbour fromall parts of the known world. At the age of fourteen the littleChristoforo went to sea--a red-haired, sunburnt boy with bright blueeyes. He learnt the art of navigation, he saw foreign countries, helearnt to chart the seas, to draw maps, and possibly worked with someof the noted Italian draughtsmen. At the age of twenty-eight, in 1474, he left Genoa for Portugal, famous throughout the world for her recentdiscoveries, though as yet the Stormy Cape lay veiled in mystery. Columbus wanted to learn all he could about these discoveries; he madevoyages to Guinea, Madeira, and Porto Santo. He also went to Englandand "sailed a hundred leagues to the island of Thule in 1477. "

He was now a recognised seaman of distinction, with courteous mannersand fine appearance. He set himself to study maps and charts at Lisbon, giving special attention to instruments for making observations atsea. For many long years he had been revolving a scheme for reachingIndia by sailing westward instead of the route by Africa. The morehe studied these things the more convinced he became that he was right. 

 "What if wise men had, as far back as Ptolemy, Judged that the earth like an orange was round. None of them ever said, 'Come along, follow me, Sail to the West and the East will be found. '"

It was not till the year 1480 that Columbus proposed to the King ofPortugal his idea of sailing westwards. He explained his reasons: howthere were grounds for thinking there was an unknown land to the west, how artistically sculptured pieces of wood had been driven across theocean by the west wind, suggesting islands not yet discovered, howonce the corpses of two men with broad faces, unlike Europeans, hadbeen washed ashore, how on the west coast of Ireland seeds of tropicalplants had been discovered. 

The King listened and was inclined to believe Columbus. But hiscouncillors persuaded him to get from the Genoese navigator his plans, and while they kept Columbus waiting for the King's answer they sentoff some ships privately to investigate the whole matter. The shipsstarted westward, encountered a great storm, and returned to Lisbon, scoffing at the scheme of the stranger. When this news reached hisears, Columbus was very angry. He would have nothing more to do withPortugal, but left that country at once for Spain to appeal to theKing and Queen of that land. 

Ferdinand and Isabella were busy with affairs of state and could notgive audience to the man who was to discover a New World. It was nottill 1491 that he was summoned before the King and Queen. Once morehis wild scheme was laughed at, and he was dismissed the Court. Notonly was he again indignant, but his friends were indignant too. Theybelieved in him, and would not rest till they had persuaded the Queento take up his cause. He demanded a good deal. He must be made Admiraland Viceroy of all the new seas and lands he might discover, as wellas receiving a large portion of his gains. The Queen was prevailedon to provide means for the expedition, and she became so enthusiasticover it that she declared she would sell her own jewels to providethe necessary supplies. Columbus was created Admiral of the Ocean inall the islands and continents he might discover; two little shipswere made ready, and it seemed as though the dream of his life mightbe fulfilled. The explorer was now forty-six; his red hair had becomegrey with waiting and watching for the possibility of realising hisgreat scheme. 

[Illustration: THE PARTING OF COLUMBUS WITH FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, 3RD AUGUST 1492. From De Bry's account of the _Voyages to India_, 1601. ]

At last the preparations were complete. The _Santa Maria_ was to leadthe way with the Admiral on board; she was but one hundred tons' burden, with a high poop and a forecastle. It had been difficult enough tofind a crew; men were shy about venturing with this stranger from Genoaon unknown seas, and it was a motley party that finally took serviceunder Columbus. The second ship, the _Pinta_, was but half the sizeof the flagship; she had a crew of eighteen and was the fastest sailerof the little squadron, while the third, the _Nina_ of forty tons, also carried eighteen men. 

[Illustration: COLUMBUS'S SHIP, THE _SANTA MARIA_. From a woodcut of1493 supposed to be after a drawing by Columbus himself. ]

On 3rd August 1492 the little fleet sailed forth from Spain on a questmore perilous perhaps than any yet on record. No longer could theysail along with a coast always in sight; day after day and night afternight they must sail on an unknown sea in search of an unknown land. No one ever expected to see them again. It has well been said that, "looking back at all that has grown out of it in the four centuriesthat have elapsed, we now know that the sailing of those three littleboats over the bar was, since the Fall of Rome, the most momentousevent in the world's history. " The ships steered for the Canary Islands, and it was not till 9th September that the last land faded from theeyes of that daring little company. 

[Illustration: THE BEST PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS. From the originalpainting (by an unknown artist) in the Naval Museum at Madrid. ]

Something of a panic among the sailors ensued when they realised theirhelpless position; some even burst into tears, begging to be takenhome. The days passed on. By the 16th they had come within the influenceof the trade winds. 

"The weather was like April, " says Columbus in his journal. Stillwestward they sailed, eagerly looking for signs of land. Now they seetwo pelicans, "an indication that land was near, " now a large darkcloud to the north, another "sign that land is near. "

As the days pass on, their hopes die away and "the temper of the crewswas getting uglier and uglier as the three little vessels forgedwestward through the blue weed-strewn waters. " On 9th October hoperevives; all night they hear birds passing through the still air. 

On the evening of the 11th a light was seen glimmering in the distance;from the high stern deck of the _Santa Maria_ it could be plainly seen, and when the sun rose on that memorable morning the low shores of landa few miles distant could be plainly seen. "Seabirds are wheelingoverhead heedless of the intruders, but on the shore human beings areassembling to watch the strange birds which now spread their wingsand sail towards the island. 

"The _Pinta_ leads and her crew are raising the 'Te Deum. ' The crewsof the _Santa Maria_ and the _Nina_ join in the solemn chant and manyrough men brush away tears. Columbus, the two Pinzons, and some ofthe men step into the cutter and row to the shore. " Columbus, fullyarmed under his scarlet cloak, sprang ashore, the unclothed nativesfleeing away at sight of the first white man who had ever stepped ontheir shores. Then, unfurling the royal standard of Spain and settingup a large cross, the great navigator fell on his knees and gave thanksto God for this triumphant ending to his perilous voyage. He namedthe island San Salvador and formally took possession of it for Spain. It was one of the Bahama group, and is now known as Watling Island(British). 

"Thus was the mighty enterprise achieved, mighty in its conception, still more important in its results. "

But Columbus thought he had discovered the Indies, a new route to theeast and the Cathay of Marco Polo. He had done more than this; he haddiscovered another continent. He had sailed over three thousand mileswithout seeing land, a feat unparalleled in the former history ofdiscovery. 

He made friends with the natives, who resembled those of the CanaryIslands. "I believe they would easily become Christians, " wroteColumbus. "If it please our Lord at the time of my departure, I willtake six from here that they may learn to speak. " He also notes thatthey will make good slaves. 

[Illustration: COLUMBUS LANDING ON HISPANIOLA. From a woodcut of1494. ]

From island to island he now made his way, guided by natives. He hopedto find gold; he hoped to find Cathay, for he had a letter from Ferdinandand Isabella to deliver to the Great Khan. The charm and beauty ofthese enchanted islands were a source of joy to the explorer: "Thesinging of the little birds is such that it appears a man would wishnever to leave here, and the flocks of parrots obscure the sun. " Theisland of Cuba "seemed like heaven itself, " but Columbus could notforget that he was searching for gold, for Oriental spices, for theland of Marco Polo, as he hastened from point to point, from islandto island. Already the _Pinta_ under Martin Pinzon had gone offindependently in search of a vague land of gold, to the vexation ofthe Admiral. A worse disaster was now to befall him. On Christmas Day, off the island of Hayti, the _Santa Maria_ struck upon a reef and wentover. Columbus and his crew escaped on board the little _Nina_. Butshe was too small to carry home the double crew, and Columbus madea little fortress on the island where the native King was friendly, and left there a little colony of Spaniards. 

He now prepared for the homeward voyage, and one January day in 1493he left the newly discovered islands and set his face for home incompany with the _Pinta_, which by this time had returned to him. Forsome weeks they got on fairly well. Then the wind rose. A violent stormcame on; the sea was terrible, the waves breaking right over the littlehomeward-bound ships, which tossed about helplessly for long days andnights. Suddenly the _Pinta_ disappeared. The wind and sea increased. The little forty-ton _Nina_ was in extreme peril, and the crew gavethemselves up for lost; their provisions were nearly finished. Columbus was agonised lest he should perish and the news of his greatdiscovery should never reach Spain. Taking a piece of parchment, henoted down as best he could amid the tossing of the ship a brief accountof his work, and, wrapping it in a waxed cloth, he put it into an emptycask and threw it overboard. Then, while the mountainous seasthreatened momentary destruction, he waited and prayed. 

Slowly the storm abated, and on 18th February they reached the Azores. A few days for refreshment and on he sailed again, feverishly anxiousto reach Spain and proclaim his great news. But on 3rd March the windagain rose to a hurricane and death stared the crew in the face. Still, "under bare poles and in a heavy cross-sea, " they scudded on, untilthey reached the mouth of the Tagus. The news of his arrival soon spread, and excited crowds hurried to see the little ship that had crossedthe fierce Atlantic. Bartholomew Diaz came aboard the _Nina_, and fora short time the two greatest explorers of their century were together. An enthusiastic welcome awaited him in Spain. Was he not the "Admiralof the Ocean Sea, Viceroy of the Western Indies, " the only man whohad crossed the unknown for the sake of a cherished dream?

"Seven months had passed since Columbus had sailed from Spain in thedim light of that summer morning. Now he was back. Through tempestuousseas and raging winter gales he had guided his ship well, and Spainknew how to do him honour. His journey from the coast to the Courtwas like a royal progress. The roads were lined with excited people;the air was rent with shouts of joy. "

[Illustration: THE FIRST REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE OF THE NEW WORLD. From a woodcut published at Augsburg between 1497 and 1504. The onlycopy known is in the British Museum. The inscription states that theAmericans "eat each other, " "become a hundred and fifty years of age, and have no government. "]

On Palm Sunday, 1493, he passed through the streets of Seville. Aprocession preceded him in which walked the six natives, or Indiansas they were called, brought home by Columbus; parrots and other birdswith strange and radiant colouring were also borne before thetriumphant explorer, who himself rode on horseback among the mountedchivalry of Spain. From windows and roofs a dense throng watchedChristopher Columbus as he rode through the streets of Seville. Fromhere he passed on to Barcelona, to be received by the King and Queen. 

 "The city decked herself To meet me, roar'd my name: the king, the queen, Bad me be seated, speak, and tell them all The story of my voyage, and while I spoke The crowd's roar fell as at the 'Peace be still. ' And when I ceased to speak, the king, the queen, Sank from their thrones, and melted into tears, And knelt, and lifted hand and heart and voice In praise to God who led me thro' the waste. And then the great 'Laudamus' rose to heaven. "

It is curious to think what a strange mistake caused all their rejoicing. Not only Spain, but the whole civilised world firmly believed thatColumbus had discovered some islands off the coast of Asia, not farfrom the land of the Great Khan, in the Indian seas. Hence the islandswere called the West Indies, which name they have kept to this day. 

CHAPTER XXIII

A GREAT NEW WORLD

The departure of Columbus six months later on his second voyage wasa great contrast to the uncertain start of a year ago. The new fleetwas ready by September 1493. The three largest ships were some fourhundred tons' burden, with fourteen smaller craft and crews of fifteenthousand men. There was no dearth of volunteers this time. High-bornSpaniards, thirsting for the wealth of the Indies, offered theirservices, while Columbus took his brother James and a Benedictine monkchosen by the Pope. They took orange and lemon seeds for planting inthe new islands, horses, pigs, bulls, cows, sheep, and goats, besidesfruit and vegetables. 

So, full of hope and joyful expectation, they set sail; and so wellhad Columbus calculated his distance and direction with but imperfectinstruments at his disposal, that he arrived at the islands again on3rd November. It was another new island, which he named Domenica, asthe day was Sunday. Making for the island of Hayti, where he had lefthis little Spanish colony, he passed many islands, naming Guadeloupe, San Martin, Santa Cruz, and others. Porto Rico was also found, butthey arrived at Hayti to find no trace of Spaniards. Disaster hadovertaken the colony, and the deserted men had been killed by thenatives who had apparently been so friendly. Another spot was selectedby Columbus, and a town was soon built to which he gave the name ofIsabella. 

[Illustration: THE TOWN OF ISABELLA AND THE COLONY FOUNDED BY COLUMBUS. From a woodcut of 1494. ]

This is not the place to tell of the miserable disputes and squabblesthat befell the little Spanish colony. We are here concerned with thefuller exploration of the West Indies by Columbus. Taking three shipsprovisioned for six months, with a crew of fifty-two, he set out forthe coast of Cathay. Instead of this, he found the island of Jamaica, with its low, hazy, blue coast of extreme beauty. Still convinced thathe was near the territory of the Great Khan, he explored the coastof Cuba, not realising that it was an island. He sailed about amongthe islands, till he became very ill, fever seized him, and at lasthis men carried him ashore at Isabella, thinking that he must die. He recovered to find a discontented colony, members of which hadalready sent back stories to Spain of the misdeeds of their founder. Columbus made up his mind to return to Spain to carry a true reportof the difficulties of colonisation in the Indies. 

"It was June 1496 before he found himself again in the harbour of Cadiz. People had crowded down to greet the great discoverer, but insteadof a joyous crew, flushed with new success and rich with the spoilsof the golden Indies, a feeble train of wretched men crawled onshore--thin, miserable, and ill. Columbus himself was dressed as amonk, in a long gown girded with a cord. His beard was long and unshaven. The whole man was utterly broken down with all he had been through. "

But after a stay of two years in Spain, Columbus again started offon his third voyage. With six ships he now took a more southerlydirection, hoping to find land to the south of the West Indies. Andthis he did, but he never lived to know that it was the great continentof South America. Through scorching heat, which melted the tar of theirrigging, they sailed onwards till they were rewarded by the sight ofland at last. Columbus had promised to dedicate the first land he sawto the Holy Trinity. What, then, was his surprise when land appearedfrom which arose three distinct peaks, which he at once named LaTrinidad. The luxuriance of the island pleased the Spaniards, and asthey made their way slowly along the shore their eyes rested for thefirst time, and unconsciously, on the mainland of South America. Itappeared to the explorer as a large island which he called Isla Santa. Here oysters abounded and "very large fish, and parrots as large ashens. " Between the island and the mainland lay a narrow channel throughwhich flowed a mighty current. While the ships were anchoring herea great flood of fresh water came down with a great roar, nearlydestroying the little Spanish ships and greatly alarming both Columbusand his men. It was one of the mouths of the river Orinoco, to whichthey gave the name of the Dragon's Mouth. The danger over, they sailedon, charmed with the beautiful shores, the sight of the distantmountains, and the sweetness of the air. 

[Illustration: "THE UNROLLING OF THE CLOUDS"--IV. The world as knownat the end of the fifteenth century after the discoveries of Columbusand his age. ]

Columbus decided that this must be the centre of the earth's surface, and with its mighty rivers surely it was none other than the earthlyParadise with the rivers of the Garden of Eden, that "some of theFathers had declared to be situated in the extreme east of the OldWorld, and in a region so high that the flood had not overwhelmed it. "The world then, said Columbus, could not be a perfect round, butpear-shaped. With these conclusions he hastened across to Hayti wherehis brother was ruling over the little colony in his absence. Buttreachery and mutiny had been at work. Matters had gone ill with thecolony, and Columbus did not improve the situation by his presence. He was a brilliant navigator, but no statesman. Complaints reachedSpain, and a Spaniard was sent out to replace Columbus. Thishigh-handed official at once put the poor navigator in chains andplaced him on board a ship bound for Spain. Queen Isabella wasoverwhelmed with grief when the snowy-haired explorer once again stoodbefore her, his face lined with suffering. He was restored to royalfavour and provided with ships to sail forth on his fourth and lastvoyage. But his hardships and perils had told upon him, and he wasnot really fit to undertake the long voyage to the Indies. However, he arrived safely off the coast of Honduras and searched for the straitsthat he felt sure existed, but which were not to be found till someeighteen years later by Magellan. The natives brought him cocoanuts, which the Spaniards now tasted for the first time; they also broughtmerchandise from a far land denoting some high civilisation. Columbusbelieved that he had reached the golden east, whence the gold had beenobtained for Solomon's temple. 

Had Columbus only sailed west he might have discovered Mexico withall its wealth, and "a succession of splendid discoveries would haveshed fresh glory on his declining age, instead of his sinking amidstgloom, neglect, and disappointment. " At the isthmus of Darien, Columbus gave up the search. He was weary of the bad weather. Incessantdownpours of rain, storms of thunder and lightning with terrificseas--these discouraged him. Disaster followed disaster. The food wasnearly finished; the biscuit "was so full of maggots that the peoplecould only eat it in the dark, when they were not visible. " Columbushimself seemed to be at the point of death. "Never, " he wrote, "wasthe sea seen so high, so terrific, so covered with foam; the watersfrom heaven never ceased--it was like a repetition of the deluge. "

He reached Spain in 1504 to be carried ashore on a litter, and to learnthat the Queen of Spain was dead. He was friendless, penniless, andsick unto death. 

"After twenty years of toil and peril, " he says pitifully, "I do notown a roof in Spain. "

 "I, lying here, bedridden and alone, Cast off, put by, scouted by count and king, The first discoverer starves. "

And so the brilliant navigator, Christopher Columbus, passed away, all unconscious of the great New World he had reached. Four centurieshave passed away, but--

 "When shall the world forget The glory and the debt, Indomitable soul, Immortal Genoese? Not while the shrewd salt gale Whines amid shroud and sail, Above the rhythmic roll And thunder of the seas. "

It has been well said, "injustice was not buried with Columbus, " andsoon after his death an attempt was made, and made successfully, toname the New World after another--a Florentine pilot, AmerigoVespucci. 

[Illustration: MAP OF THE WORLD, DRAWN IN 1500, THE FIRST TO SHOWAMERICA. By Juan de la Cosa, who is supposed to have been the pilotof Columbus. At the top, between the two green masses representingAmerica, La Cosa has drawn Columbus as St. Christopher carrying theinfant Christ, according to the legend. ]

It was but natural that when the first discoveries by Columbus of landto westward had been made known, that others should follow in the trackof the great navigator. Among these was a handsome young Spaniard--oneHojeda--who had accompanied Columbus on his second voyage. Soon after, he fitted out an expedition, 1499, reaching the mainland of the yetunknown continent near the Trinidad of Columbus. With him was AmerigoVespucci. Here they found a native village with houses built on treetrunks and connected by bridges. It was so like a bit of old Venicethat the explorers named it Little Venice or Venezuela, which nameit bears to-day. 

Nothing was publicly known of this voyage till a year after the deathof Columbus, when men had coasted farther to the south of Venezuelaand discovered that this land was neither Asia nor Africa, that itwas not the land of Marco Polo, but a new continent indeed. 

"It is proper to call it a New World, " says Amerigo Vespucci. "Menof old said over and over again that there was no land south of theEquator. But this last voyage of mine has proved them wrong, sincein southern regions I have found a country more thickly inhabited bypeople and animals than our Europe or Asia or Africa. "

[Illustration: AMERIGO VESPUCCI. From the sculpture by Grazzini inthe Uffizi Gallery, Florence. ]

These words among others, and an account of his voyages published inParis, 1507, created a deep impression. A letter from Columbusannouncing his discoveries had been published in 1493, but he saidnothing, because he knew nothing, of a New World. Men therefore saidthat Amerigo Vespucci had discovered a new continent, "wherefore thenew continent ought to be called America from its discoverer Amerigo, a man of rare ability, inasmuch as Europe and Asia derived their namesfrom women. "

CHAPTER XXIV

VASCO DA GAMA REACHES INDIA

Thus the name of America was gradually adopted for the New World, thoughthe honour and glory of its first discovery must always belong toChristopher Columbus. 

But while all this wonderful development westwards was thrilling theminds of men, other great discoveries were being made to the East, whither the eyes of the Portuguese were still straining. Portugal hadlost Columbus; she could lay no claim to the shores of Americadiscovered by Spaniards, but the sea-route to India by the East wasyet to be found by one of her explorers, Vasco da Gama. His achievementstands out brilliantly at this time; for, within a few years of thediscovery of the New World, he had been able to tell the world thatIndia and the East could be reached by the Cape of Good Hope!

The dream of Prince Henry the Navigator was fulfilled!

How Vasco da Gama was chosen for the great command has been graphicallydescribed by a Portuguese historian, whose words are received withcaution by modern authorities. The King of Portugal--DomManuel--having set his kingdom in order, "being inspired by the Lord, took the resolution to inform himself about the affairs of India. "He knew that the province of India was very far away, inhabited bydark people who had great riches and merchandise, and there was muchrisk in crossing the wide seas and land to reach it. But he felt ita sacred duty to try and reach it. He ordered ships to be built accordingto a design of Bartholomew Diaz, the Hero of the Cape, "low amidships, with high castles towering fore and aft; they rode the water likeducks. " The ships ready, the King prayed the Lord "to show him theman whom it would please Him to send upon this voyage. " Days passed. One day the King was sitting in his hall with his officers when heraised his eyes and saw a gentleman of his household crossing the hall. It suddenly occurred to the King that this was the man for his command, and, calling Vasco da Gama, he offered him the command at once. Hewas courageous, resolute, and firm of purpose. On his knees he acceptedthe great honour. A silken banner blazing with the Cross of the Orderof Christ was bestowed upon him; he chose the _S. Gabriel_ for hisflagship, appointed his brother to the _S. Raphael_, and prepared forhis departure. Books and charts were supplied, Ptolemy's geographywas on board, as well as the _Book of Marco Polo_. All being ready, Vasco da Gama and his captains spent the night in the little chapelby the sea at Belem, built for the mariners of Henry the Navigator. 

Next morning--it was July--they walked in solemn procession to theshore, lighted candles in their hands, priests chanting a solemnlitany as they walked. The beach was crowded with people. Under theblazing summer sun they knelt once more before taking leave of theweeping multitudes. Listen to the Portuguese poet, Camoens, who makesVasco da Gama the hero of his "Lusiad"--

 "The neighbouring mountains murmur'd back the sound, As if to pity moved for human woe; Uncounted as the grains of golden sand, The tears of thousands fell on Belem's strand. "

So the Portuguese embarked, weighed anchor, and unfurled the sailsthat bore the red cross of the Order of Christ. The four little shipsstarted on what was to be the longest and most momentous voyage onrecord, while crowds stood on the shore straining their eyes till thefleet, under full sail, vanished from their sight. 

[Illustration: VASCO DA GAMA. From a contemporary portrait. ]

After passing Cape Verde, in order to escape the currents of the Gulfof Guinea, Vasco da Gama steered south-west into an unknown part ofthe South Atlantic. He did not know that at one time he was withinsix hundred miles of the coast of South America. Day after day, weekafter week passed in dreary monotony as they sailed the wide oceanthat surrounds St. Helena, "a lonely, dreary waste of seas andboundless sky. " Everything ends at last, and, having spent ninety-sixdays out of sight of land and sailed some four thousand five hundredmiles, they drifted on to the south-west coast of Africa. It was arecord voyage, for even Columbus had only been two thousand six hundredmiles without seeing land. November found them in a broad bay, "and, "says the old log of the voyage, "we named it St. Helena, " which nameit still retains. After a skirmish with some tawny-coloured Hottentotsthe explorers sailed on, putting "their trust in the Lord to doublethe Cape. "

But the sea was all broken with storm, high rolled the waves, and soshort were the days that darkness prevailed. The crews grew sick withfear and hardship, and all clamoured to put back to Portugal. 

With angry words Vasco da Gama bade them be silent, though "he wellsaw how much reason they had at every moment to despair of their lives";the ships were now letting in much water, and cold rains soaked themall to the skin. 

"All cried out to God for mercy upon their souls, for now they no longertook heed of their lives. " At last the storm ceased, the seas grewcalm, and they knew that, without seeing it, they had doubled thedreaded Cape, "on which great joy fell upon them and they gave greatpraise to the Lord. "

But their troubles were not yet over. The sea was still very rough, "for the winter of that country was setting in, " and even the pilotsuggested turning back to take refuge for a time. When Vasco da Gamaheard of turning backward he cried that they should not speak suchwords, because as he was going out of the bar of Lisbon he had promisedGod in his heart not to turn back a single span's breadth of the way, and he would throw into the sea whosoever spoke such things. None couldwithstand such an iron will, and they struggled on to Mossel Bay, already discovered by Diaz. Here they landed "and bought a fat ox forthree bracelets. This ox we dined off on Sunday; we found him veryfat, and his meat nearly as toothsome as the beef of Portugal"--apleasant meal, indeed, after three months of salted food. Here, too, they found "penguins as large as ducks, which had no feathers on theirwings and which bray like asses. "

But there was no time to linger here. They sailed onwards till theyhad passed and left behind the last pillar erected by Diaz, near themouth of the Great Fish River. All was new now. No European had sailedthese seas, no European had passed this part of the African coast. On Christmas Day they found land to which, in commemoration of Christ'sNativity, they gave the name of Natal. Passing Delagoa Bay and Sofalawithout sighting them, Vasco da Gama at last reached the mouth of abroad river, now known as Quilimane River, but called by the wearymariners the River of Mercy or Good Tokens. Here they spent a monthcleaning and repairing, and here for the first time in the historyof discovery the fell disease of scurvy broke out. The hands and feetof the men swelled, their gums grew over their teeth, which fell outso that they could not eat. This proved to be one of the scourges ofearly navigation--the result of too much salted food on the high seas, and no cure was found till the days of Captain Cook. Arrived atMozambique--a low-lying coral island--they found no less than fourocean-going ships belonging to Arab traders laden with gold, silver, cloves, pepper, ginger, rubies, and pearls from the East. 

[Illustration: AFRICA AS IT WAS KNOWN AFTER DA GAMA'S EXPEDITIONS. From Juan de la Cosa's map of 1500. ]

There were rumours, too, of a land belonging to Prester John whereprecious stones and spices were so plentiful that they could becollected in baskets. His land could only be reached by camels. "Thisinformation rendered us so happy that we cried with joy, and prayedGod to grant us health that we might behold what we so desired, " relatesthe faithful journal. But difficulties and delays prevented theirreaching the ever-mythical land of Prester John. Their nextlanding-place was Mombasa. Here they were nearly killed by sometreacherous Mohammedans, who hated these "dogs of Christians" as theycalled them. And the Portuguese were glad to sail on to Melindi, wherethe tall, whitewashed houses standing round the bay, with theircoco-palms, maize fields, and hop gardens, reminded them of one oftheir own cities on the Tagus. Here all was friendly. The King ofMelindi sent three sheep and free leave for the strangers to enterthe port. Vasco, in return, sent the King a cassock, two strings ofcoral, three washhand basins, a hat, and some bells. Whereupon theKing, splendidly dressed in a damask robe with green satin and anembroidered turban, allowed himself to be rowed out to the flagship. He was protected from the sun by a crimson satin umbrella. 

Nine days were pleasantly passed in the port at Melindi, and then, with a Christian pilot provided by the King, the most thrilling partof the voyage began with a start across the Arabian Gulf to the westcoast of India. For twenty-three days the ships sailed to thenorth-east, with no land visible. Suddenly the dim outline of landwas sighted and the whole crew rushed on deck to catch the first glimpseof the unknown coast of India. They had just discerned the outlineof lofty mountains, when a thunderstorm burst over the land and adownpour of heavy rain blotted out the view. 

[Illustration: CALICUT AND THE SOUTHERN INDIAN COAST. From Juan dela Cosa's map, 1500. ]

At last on 21st May--nearly eleven months after the start fromPortugal--the little Portuguese ships anchored off Calicut. 

"What has brought you hither?" cried the natives, probably surprisedat their foreign dress; "and what seek ye so far from home?"

"We are in search of Christians and spice, " was the ready answer. 

"A lucky venture. Plenty of emeralds. You owe great thanks to God forhaving brought you to a country holding such riches, " was theMohammedan answer. 

"The city of Calicut, " runs the diary, "is inhabited by Christians. They are of a tawny complexion. Some of them have big beards and longhair, whilst others clip their hair short as a sign that they areChristians. They also wear moustaches. "

Within the town, merchants lived in wooden houses thatched with palmleaves. It must have been a quaint sight to see Vasco da Gama, accompanied by thirteen of his Portuguese, waving the flag of theircountry, carried shoulder high through the densely crowded streetsof Calicut on his way to the chief temple and on to the palace of theKing. Roofs and windows were thronged with eager spectators anxiousto see these Europeans from so far a country. Many a scuffle took placeoutside the palace gates; knives were brandished, and men were injuredbefore the successful explorer reached the King of Calicut. The royalaudience took place just before sunset on 28th May 1498. The King layon a couch covered with green velvet under a gilt canopy, while Vascoda Gama related an account of Portugal and his King, the "lord of manycountries and the possessor of great wealth exceeding that of any Kingof these parts, adding that for sixty years the Portuguese had beentrying to find the sea-route to India. The King gave leave for theforeigners to barter their goods, but the Indians scoffed at theiroffer of hats, scarlet hoods, coral, sugar, and oil. 

"That which I ask of you is gold, silver, corals, and scarlet cloth, "said the King, "for my country is rich in cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, and precious stones. "

Vasco da Gama left India with a scant supply of Christians and spices, but with his great news he now hurried back to Portugal. What if hehad lost his brother Paul and over one hundred of his men after histwo years' absence, he had discovered the ocean-route to India--adiscovery more far-reaching than he had any idea of at this time. 

"And the King, " relates the old historian, "overjoyed at his coming, sent a Nobleman and several Gentlemen to bring him to Court; where, being arrived through Crowds of Spectators, he was received withextraordinary honour. For this Glorious Price of Service, thePrivilege of being called Don was annexed to his Family: To his Armswas added Part of the King's. He had a Pension of three thousand Ducatsyearly, and he was afterwards presented to greater Honours for hisServices in the Indies, where he will soon appear again. "

CHAPTER XXV

DISCOVERY OF THE SPICE ISLANDS

It was but natural that the Portuguese, flushed with victory, shouldat once dispatch another expedition to India. 

Was there some vexation in the heart of the "Admiral of India" whenthe command of the new fleet was given to Pedro Cabral? History issilent. Anyhow, in the March of 1500 we find this "Gentleman of GreatMerit" starting off with thirteen powerfully armed ships and somefifteen hundred men, among them the veteran explorer Bartholomew Diaz, a party of eight Franciscan friars to convert the Mohammedans, eightchaplains, skilled gunners, and merchants to buy and sell in the King'sname at Calicut. The King himself accompanied Cabral to the waterside. He had already adopted the magnificent title, "King, by the Grace ofGod, of Portugal, and of the Algarves, both on this side the sea andbeyond it in Africa, Lord of Guinea and of the Conquest, Navigation, and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India. "

Then Cabral, flying a banner with the royal arms of Portugal, startedon a voyage which was to secure for Portugal "an empire destined tobe richer and greater than all her dominions in Asia. " Sailing farto the west, he fell in with the South American continent and wascarried to a new land. The men went on shore and brought word that"it was a fruitful country, full of trees and well inhabited. The peoplewere swarthy and used bows and arrows. " That night a storm arose andthey ran along the coast to seek a port. Here Mass was said and parrotsexchanged for paper and cloth. Then Cabral erected a cross (which wasstill shown when Lindley visited Brazil three hundred years later)and named the country the "Land of the Holy Cross. " This name was, however, discarded later when the new-found land was identified withBrazil already sighted by Pinzon in one of the ships of ChristopherColumbus. 

Meanwhile, unconscious of the importance of this discovery, Cabralsailed on towards the Cape of Good Hope. There is no time to tell ofthe great comet that appeared, heralding a terrific storm thatsuddenly burst upon the little fleet. In the darkness and tempest fourships went down with all hands--amongst them old Bartholomew Diaz, the discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope, who thus perished in the watershe had been the first to navigate. 

September found Cabral at last at anchor off Calicut. He found theKing yet more resplendent than Vasco da Gama the year before. The oldhistorians revel in their descriptions of him. "On his Head was a Capof Cloth of Gold, at his Ears hung Jewels, composed of Diamonds, Sapphires, and Pearls, two of which were larger than Walnuts. His Arms, from the Elbow to the Wrist and from the knees downwards, were loadedwith bracelets set with infinite Precious Stones of great Value. HisFingers and Toes were covered with Rings. In that on his great Toewas a large Rubie of a surprising Lustre. Among the rest there wasa Diamond bigger than a large Bean. But all this was nothing, incomparison to the Richness of his Girdle, made with precious stonesset in Gold, which cast a Lustre that dazzled every Body's Eyes. "

He allowed Cabral to establish a depot at Calicut for European goods, so a house was selected by the waterside and a flag bearing the armsof Portugal erected on the top. For a time all went well, but theMohammedans proved to be difficult customers, and disputes soon arose. A riot took place; the infuriated native traders stormed the depotand killed the Portuguese within. Cabral in revenge bombarded the city, and, leaving the wooden houses in flames, he sailed away to Cochinand Cananor on the coast of Malabar. Soon after this he returned homewith only six out of the thirteen ships, and from this time hedisappears from the pages of history. 

Just before his return, the King of Portugal, thinking trade was wellestablished between India and his own country, dispatched a "valiantgentleman" in command of four ships to carry merchandise to the newlydiscovered country. But his voyage and adventures are only importantinasmuch as he discovered the island of Ascension when outward boundand the island of St. Helena on the way home. So favourable was theaccount of this island that all Portugal admirals were ordered forthe future to touch there for refreshments. 

The news of Cabral's adventures at Calicut inspired a yet largerexpedition to the East, and Vasco da Gama, now Admiral of the Easternseas, was given command of some fifteen ships which sailed from theTagus in February 1502. The expedition, though avowedly Christian, was characterised by injustice and cruelty. Near the coast of Malabarthe Portuguese fleet met with a large ship full of Mohammedan pilgrimsfrom Mecca. The wealth on board was known to be enormous, and Don Vascocommanded the owners to yield up their riches to the King of Portugal. This they somewhat naturally refused to do. Whereupon the Portuguesefired, standing calmly to watch the blazing ships with their humanfreight of men, women, and children. True, one historian declares thatall the children were removed to the Portuguese ship to be convertedinto good little Catholics. Another is more nearly concerned with themoney. "We took a Mecca ship on board of which were three hundred andeighty men and many women and children, and we took from it fully twelvethousand ducats, with goods worth at least another ten thousand. Andwe burned the ship and all the people on board with gunpowder on thefirst day of October. "

[Illustration: THE MALABAR COAST. From Fra Mauro's map. ]

Their instructions to banish every Mohammedan in Calicut wasfaithfully obeyed. Don Vasco seized and hanged a number of helplessmerchants quietly trading in the harbour. Cutting off their heads, hands, and feet, he had them flung into a boat, which was allowed todrift ashore, with a cruel suggestion that the severed limbs wouldmake an Indian curry. Once more Calicut was bombarded and Don Vascosailed on to other ports on the Malabar coast, where he loaded hisships with spices taken from poor folk who dared not refuse. He thensailed home again, reaching Portugal "safe and sound, _Deo gratias_, "but leaving behind him hatred and terror and a very quaint idea ofthese Christians who felt it their duty to exterminate all followersof Mohammed. 

Conquest usually succeeds discovery, and the Portuguese, havingdiscovered the entire coast of West, South, and a good deal of EastAfrica and western coast of India, now proceeded to conquer it fortheir own. It was a far cry from Portugal to India in these days, andthe isolated depots on the coast of Malabar were obviously in danger, when the foreign ships laden with spoil left their shores. True, Vascoda Gama had left six little ships this time under Sodrez to cruiseabout the Indian seas, but Sodrez wanted treasure, so he cruisednorthwards and found the southern coasts of Arabia as well as the islandof Socotra. He had been warned of the tempestuous seas that raged aboutthese parts at certain seasons, but, heeding not the warning, heperished with all his knowledge and treasure. 

Expedition after expedition now left Portugal for the east coast ofAfrica and India. There were the two cousins Albuquerque, who builta strong fort of wood and mud at Cochin, leaving a garrison of onehundred and fifty trained soldiers under the command of one Pacheco, who saved the fort and kept things going under great difficulties. On the return of Albuquerque, the hero of Cochin, the King decidedto appoint a Viceroy of India. He would fain have appointed Tristand'Acunha, --the discoverer of the island that still bears hisname, --but he was suddenly struck with blindness, and in his steadDom Francisco Almeida, "a nobleman of courage and experience, " sailedoff with the title of Viceroy. Not only was he to conquer, but to command, not only to sustain the sea-power of Portugal, but to form a government. 

There is a story told of the ignorance of the men sent to man the shipsunder Almeida. So raw were they that they hardly knew their right handfrom their left, still less the difference between starboard andlarboard, till their captain hit on the happy notion of tying a bundleof garlic over one side of the ship and a handful of onions over theother, so the pilot gave orders to the helmsman thus: "Onion your helm!"or "Garlic your helm!"

[Illustration: A SHIP OF ALBUQUERQUE'S FLEET. From a very fine woodcut, published about 1516, of Albuquerque's siege and capture of Aden. Inthe British Museum. ]

On the way out, Almeida built a strong fortress near Zanzibar, organised a regular Portuguese Indian pilot service, and establishedhis seat of government at Cochin. Then he sent his son, a daring youthof eighteen, to bombard the city of Quilon, whose people wereconstantly intriguing against the Portuguese. Having carried out hisorders, young Lorenzo, ordered to explore the Maldive Islands, wasdriven by a storm to an "island opposite Cape Comorin, called Ceylon, and separated from thence by a narrow sea, " where he was warmly receivedby the native King, whose dress sparkled with diamonds. Lorenzoerected here a marble pillar with the arms of Portugal carved thereonand took possession of the island. He also sent back to Portugal thefirst elephant ever sent thither. 

Ceylon was now the farthest point which flew the flag of Portugal towardthe east. Doubtless young Lorenzo would have carried it farther, buthe was killed at the early age of twenty-one, his legs being shatteredby a cannon-ball during a sea-fight. He sat by the mainmast andcontinued to direct the fighting till a second shot ended his shortbut brilliant career. The Viceroy, "whose whole being was centred inhis devotion to his only son, received the tidings with outwardstoicism. " "Regrets, " he merely remarked, "regrets are for women. "

Nevertheless he revenged the death of his son by winning a victoryover the opposing fleet and bidding his captains rejoice over "thegood vengeance our Lord has been pleased, of His mercy, to grant us. "

But the days of Almeida were numbered. He had subdued the Indian coast, he had extended Portuguese possessions in various directions, his termof office was over, and he was succeeded by the famous Albuquerque, who had already distinguished himself in the service of Portugal byhis efforts to obtain Ormuz for the Portuguese. Now Viceroy of India, he found full scope for his boundless energy and vast ambition. Hefirst attacked Calicut and reduced it to ashes. Then he turned hisattention to Goa, which he conquered, and which became the commercialcapital of the Portuguese in India for the next hundred years. Notonly this, but it was soon the wealthiest city on the face of the earthand the seat of the government. Albuquerque's next exploit was yetmore brilliant and yet more important. 

[Illustration: A SHIP OF JAVA AND THE CHINA SEAS IN THE SIXTEENTHCENTURY. From Linschoten's _Navigatio ac Itinerarium_, 1598. ]

In 1509 he had sent a Portuguese explorer Sequira with a small squadronto make discoveries in the East. He was to cross the Bay of Bengaland explore the coast of Malacca. Sequira reached the coast and foundit a centre for trade from east and west, "most rich and populous. "But he had reason to suspect the demonstrations of friendship by theking of these parts, and refused to attend a festival prepared in hishonour. This was fortunate, for some of his companions who landed fortrade were killed. He sailed about the island of Sumatra, "the firstland in which we knew of men's flesh being eaten by certain peoplein the mountains who gild their teeth. In their opinion the flesh ofthe blacks is sweeter than that of whites. " Many were the strange talesbrought back to Cochin by Sequira from the new lands--rivers ofoil--hens with flesh as black as ink--people with tails like sheep. 

Anyhow, Albuquerque resolved that Malacca should belong to thePortuguese, and with nineteen ships and fourteen hundred fighting menhe arrived off the coast of Sumatra, spreading terror and dismay amongthe multitudes that covered the shore. The work of destruction wasshort, though the King of Pahang and King Mahomet came out in personon huge elephants to help in the defence of their city. At last everyinhabitant of the city was driven out or slain, and the Portugueseplundered the city to their hearts' content. The old historian waxeseloquent on the wealth of the city, and the laden ships started back, leaving a fort and a church under the care of Portuguese conquerors. The amount of booty mattered little, as a violent storm off the coastof Sumatra disposed of several ships and a good deal of treasure. 

The fall of Malacca was one of vast importance to the Portuguese. Wasit not the key to the Eastern gate of the Indian Ocean--the gate throughwhich the whole commerce of the Spice Islands, the Philippines, Japan, and far Cathay passed on its road to the Mediterranean? Was it notone of the largest trade markets in Asia, where rode the strange shipsof many a distant shore? The fame of Albuquerque spread throughoutthe Eastern world. But he was not content with Malacca. The SpiceIslands lay beyond--the Spice Islands with all their cloves andnutmegs and their countless riches must yet be won for Portugal. 

Up to this year, 1511, they had not been reached by the Portuguese. But now Francisco Serrano was sent off from Malacca to explore farther. Skirting the north of Java, he found island after island rich in clovesand nutmeg. So struck was he with his new discoveries that he wroteto his friend Magellan: "I have discovered yet another new world largerand richer than that found by Vasco da Gama. "

It is curious to remember how vastly important was this little groupof islands--now part of the Malay Archipelago and belonging to theDutch--to the explorers of the sixteenth century. Strange tales asusual reached Portugal about these newly found lands. Here lived menwith "spurs on their ankles like cocks, " hogs with horns, hens thatlaid their eggs nine feet under ground, rivers with living fish, yetso hot that they took the skin off any man that bathed in their waters, poisonous crabs, oysters with shells so large that they served as fontsfor baptizing children. 

Truly these mysterious Spice Islands held more attractions for thePortuguese explorers than did the New World of Columbus and Vespucci. Their possession meant riches and wealth and--this was not the end. Was there not land beyond? Indeed, before the Spice Islands wereconquered by Portugal, trade had already been opened up with Chinaand, before the century was half over, three Portuguese seamen hadvisited Japan. 

CHAPTER XXVI

BALBOA SEES THE PACIFIC OCEAN

It is said that Ferdinand Magellan, the hero of all geographicaldiscovery, with his circumnavigation of the whole round world, hadcruised about the Spice Islands, but what he really knew of them frompersonal experience no one knows. He had served under Almeida, andwith Albuquerque had helped in the conquest of Malacca. After sevenyears of a "vivid life of adventure by sea and land, a life of siegeand shipwreck, of war and wandering, " inaction became impossible. Hebusied himself with charts and the art of navigation. He dreamt ofreaching the Spice Islands by sailing _west_, and after a time he laidhis schemes before the King of Portugal. Whether he was laughed atas a dreamer or a fool we know not. His plans were received with coldrefusal. History repeats itself. Like Christopher Columbus twentyyears before, Magellan now said good-bye to Portugal and made his wayto Spain. 

Since the first discovery of the New World by Spain, that country hadbeen busy sending out explorer after explorer to discover and annexnew portions of America. Bold navigators, Pinzon, Mendoza, Bastidas, Juan de la Cosa, and Solis--these and others had almost completed thediscovery of the east coast, indeed, Solis might have been the firstto see the great Pacific Ocean had he not been killed and eaten atthe mouth of the river La Plata. This great discovery was left to VascoNunez de Balboa, who first saw beyond the strange New World from thePeak of Darien. Now his discovery threw a lurid light on to thelimitation of land that made up the new country and illuminated thescheme of Magellan. 

Balboa was "a gentleman of good family, great parts, liberal education, of a fine person, and in the flower of his age. " He had emigrated tothe new Spanish colony of Hayti, where he had got into debt. No debtorwas allowed to leave the island, but Balboa, the gentleman of goodfamily, yearned for further exploration; he "yearned beyond thesky-line where the strange roads go down. " And one day the yearninggrew so great that he concealed himself in a bread cask on board aship leaving the shores of Hayti. For some days he remained hidden. When the ship was well out to sea he made his appearance. Angry, indeed, was the captain--so angry that he threatened to land the stowaway ona desert island. He was, however, touched by the entreaties of thecrew, and Balboa was allowed to sail on in the ship. It was a fortunatedecision, for when, soon after, the ship ran heavily upon a rock, itwas the Spanish stowaway Balboa who saved the party from destruction. He led the shipwrecked crew to a river of which he knew, named Darienby the Indians. He did _not_ know that they stood on the narrow neckof land--the isthmus of Panama--which connects North and South America. The account of the Spanish intrusion is typical: "After havingperformed their devotions, the Spaniards fell resolutely on theIndians, whom they soon routed, and then went to the town, which theyfound full of provisions to their wish. Next day they marched up thecountry among the neighbouring mountains, where they found housesreplenished with a great deal of cotton, both spun and unspun, platesof gold in all to the value of ten thousand pieces of fine gold. "

A trade in gold was set up by Balboa, who became governor of the newcolony formed by the Spaniards; but the greed of these foreigners quitedisgusted the native prince of these parts. 

"What is this, Christians? Is it for such a little thing that youquarrel? If you have such a love of gold, I will show you a countrywhere you may fulfil your desires. You will have to fight your waywith great kings whose country is distant from our country six suns. "

So saying, he pointed away to the south, where he said lay a greatsea. Balboa resolved to find this great sea. It might be the oceansought by Columbus in vain, beyond which was the land of great richeswhere people drank out of golden cups. So he collected some two hundredmen and started forth on an expedition full of doubt and danger. Hehad to lead his troops, worn with fatigue and disease, through deepmarshes rendered impassable with heavy rains, over mountains coveredwith trackless forest, and through defiles from which the Indiansshowered down poisoned arrows. 

At last, led by native guides, Balboa and his men struggled up theside of a high mountain. When near the top he bade his men stop. Healone must be the first to see the great sight that no European hadyet beheld. With "transports of delight" he gained the top and, "silentupon a peak in Darien, " he looked down on the boundless ocean, bathedin tropical sunshine. Falling on his knees, he thanked God for hisdiscovery of the Southern Sea. Then he called up his men. "You seehere, gentlemen and children mine, the end of our labours. "

The notes of the "Te Deum" then rang out on the still summer air, and, having made a cross of stones, the little party hurried to the shore. Finding two canoes, they sprang in, crying aloud joyously that theywere the first Europeans to sail on the new sea, whilst Balboa himselfplunged in, sword in hand, and claimed possession of the Southern Oceanfor the King of Spain. The natives told him that the land to the southwas _without end_, and that it was possessed by powerful nations whohad abundance of gold. And Balboa thought this referred to the Indies, knowing nothing as yet of the riches of Peru. 

[Illustration: ONE OF THE FIRST MAPS OF THE PACIFIC. From DiegoRibero's map, 1529. ]

It is melancholy to learn that the man who made this really greatdiscovery was publicly hanged four years later in Darien. But his newshad reached Magellan. There was then a great Southern Ocean beyondthe New World. He was more certain than ever now that by this sea hecould reach the Spice Islands. Moreover, he persuaded the young Kingof Spain that his country had a right to these valuable islands, andpromised that he would conduct a fleet round the south of the greatnew continent westward to these islands. His proposal was acceptedby Charles V. , and the youthful Spanish monarch provided Spanish shipsfor the great enterprise. The voyage was not popular, the pay was low, the way unknown, and in the streets of Seville the public crier calledfor volunteers. Hence it was a motley crew of some two hundred andeighty men, composed of Spaniards, Portuguese, Genoese, French, Germans, Greeks, Malays, and one Englishman only. There were fiveships. "They are very old and patched, " says a letter addressed tothe King of Portugal, "and I would be sorry to sail even for the Canariesin them, for their ribs are soft as butter. "

Magellan hoisted his flag on board the _Trinidad_ of one hundred andten tons' burden. The largest ship, _S. Antonio_, was captained bya Spaniard--Cartagena; the _Conception_, ninety tons, by GasparQuesada; the _Victoria_ of eighty-five tons, who alone bore home thenews of the circumnavigation of the world, was at first commanded bythe traitor Mendoza; and the little _Santiago_, seventy-five tons, under the brother of Magellan's old friend Serrano. 

What if the commander himself left a young wife and a son of six monthsold? The fever of discovery was upon him, and, flying the Spanish flagfor the first time in his life, Magellan, on board the _Trinidad_, led his little fleet away from the shores of Spain. He never saw wifeor child again. Before three years had passed all three were dead. 

Carrying a torch or faggot of burning wood on the poop, so that theships should never lose sight of it, the _Trinidad_ sailed onwards. 

"Follow the flagship and ask no questions. "

Such were his instructions to his not too loyal captains. 

CHAPTER XXVII

MAGELLAN SAILS ROUND THE WORLD

They had left Seville on 20th September 1519. A week later they wereat the Canaries. Then past Cape Verde, and land faded from their sightas they made for the south-west. For some time they had a good runin fine weather. Then "the upper air burst into life" and a month ofheavy gales followed. The Italian count, who accompanied the fleet, writes long accounts of the sufferings of the crew during theseterrific Atlantic storms. 

"During these storms, " he says, "the body of St. Anselm appeared tous several times; one night that it was very dark on account of thebad weather the saint appeared in the form of a fire lighted at thesummit of the mainmast and remained there near two hours and a half, which comforted us greatly, for we were in tears only expecting thehour of perishing; and, when that holy light was going away from us, it gave out so great a brilliancy in the eyes of each, that we werelike people blinded and calling out for mercy. For without any doubtnobody hoped to escape from that storm. "

Two months of incessant rain and diminished rations added to theirmiseries. The spirit of mutiny now began to show itself. Already theSpanish captains had murmured against the Portuguese commander. 

"Be they false men or true, I will fear them not; I will do my appointedwork, " said the commander firmly. 

It was not till November that they made the coast of Brazil in SouthAmerica, already sighted by Cabral and explored by Pinzon. But thedisloyal captains were not satisfied, and one day the captain of the_S. Antonio_ boarded the flagship and openly insulted Magellan. Hemust have been a little astonished when the Portuguese commanderseized him by the collar, exclaiming: "You are my prisoner!" givinghim into custody and appointing another in his place. 

Food was now procurable, and a quantity of sweet pine-apples must havehad a soothing effect on the discontented crews. The natives tradedon easy terms. For a knife they produced four or five fowls; for acomb, fish for ten men; for a little bell, a basket full of sweetpotatoes. A long drought had preceded Magellan's visit to these parts, but rain now began with the advent of the strangers, and the nativesmade sure that they had brought it with them. Such an impression oncemade there was little difficulty in converting them to the Christianfaith. The natives joined in prayer with the Spaniards, "remainingon their knees with their hands joined in great reverence so that itwas a pleasure to see them, " writes one of the party. 

The day after Christmas again found them sailing south by the coast, and early in the New Year they anchored at the mouth of the Rio dela Plata, where Solis had lost his life at the hands of the cannibalssome five years before. He had succeeded Vespucci in the service ofSpain, and was exploring the coast when a body of Indians, "with aterrible cry and most horrible aspect, " suddenly rushed out upon them, killed, roasted, and devoured them. 

Through February and March, Magellan led his ships along the shoresof bleak Patagonia seeking for an outlet for the Spice Islands. Winterwas coming on and no straits had yet been found. Storm after stormnow burst over the little ships, often accompanied by thunder andlightning; poops and forecastles were carried away, and all expecteddestruction, when "the holy body of St. Anselm appeared andimmediately the storm ceased. "

[Illustration: AN ATLANTIC FLEET OF MAGELLAN'S TIME. From Mercator's_Mappe Monde_, 1569, where the drawing is spoken of as "Magellan'sships. "]

It was quite impossible to proceed farther to the unknown south, so, finding a safe and roomy harbour, Magellan decided to winter there. Port St. Julian he named it, and he knew full well that there theymust remain some four or five months. He put the crew on diminishedrations for fear the food should run short before they achieved theirgoal. This was the last straw. Mutiny had long been smouldering. Thehardships of the voyage, the terrific Atlantic storms, the prospectof a long Antarctic winter of inaction on that wild Patagoniancoast--these alone caused officers and men to grumble and to demandan immediate return to Spain. 

But the "stout heart of Magellan" was undaunted. 

On Easter Day the mutiny began. Two of the Spanish captains boardedthe _S. Antonio_, seized the Portuguese captain thereof, and put himin chains. Then stores were broken open, bread and wine generouslyhanded round, and a plot hatched to capture the flagship, kill Magellan, seize his faithful Serrano, and sail home to Spain. 

The news reached Magellan's ears. He at once sent a messenger withfive men bearing hidden arms to summon the traitor captain on boardthe flagship. Of course he stoutly refused. As he did so, the messengersprang upon him and stabbed him dead. As the rebellious captain felldead on the deck of his ship, the dazed crew at once surrendered. ThusMagellan by his prompt measures quelled a mutiny that might have losthim the whole expedition. No man ever tried to mutiny again while helived and commanded. 

The fleet had been two whole months in the Port S. Julian without seeinga single native. 

"However, one day, without any one expecting it, we saw a giant, whowas on the shore of the sea, dancing and leaping and singing. He wasso tall that the tallest of us only came up to his waist; he was wellbuilt; he had a large face, painted red all round, and his eyes alsowere painted yellow around them, and he had two hearts painted on hischeeks; he had but little hair on his head and it was painted white. "

The great Patagonian giant pointed to the sky to know whether theseSpaniards had descended from above. He was soon joined by othersevidently greatly surprised to see such large ships and such littlemen. Indeed, the heads of the Spaniards hardly reached the giants'waists, and they must have been greatly astonished when two of themate a large basketful of biscuits and rats without skinning them anddrank half a bucket of water at each sitting. 

With the return of spring weather in October 1520, Magellan led thelittle fleet upon its way. He was rewarded a few days later by findingthe straits for which he and others had been so long searching. 

[Illustration: FERDINAND MAGELLAN, THE FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATOR OF THEWORLD. After the engraving by Selma in Navarrete's _Coleccion de losViages_. ]

"It was the straight, " says the historian simply, "now cauled thestraight of Magellans. "

A struggle was before them. For more than five weeks the Spanishmariners fought their way through the winding channels of the unknownstraits. On one side rose high mountains covered with snow. The weatherwas bad, the way unknown. Do we wonder to read that "one of the shipsstole away privily and returned into Spain, " and the remaining menbegged piteously to be taken home? Magellan spoke "in measured andquiet tones": "If I have to eat the leather of the ships' yards, yetwill I go on and do my work. " His words came truer than he knew. Onthe southern side of the strait constant fires were seen, which ledMagellan to give the land the name it bears to-day--Tierra del Fuego. It was not visited again for a hundred years. 

[Illustration: A SHIP OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. From Amoretti'stranslation of _Magellan's Voyage round the World_. ]

At last the ships fought their way to the open sea--Balboa's SouthernOcean--and "when the Captain Magellan was past the strait and saw theway open to the other main sea he was so glad thereof that for joythe tears fell from his eyes. "

The expanse of calm waters seemed so pleasant after the heavy tiringstorms that he called the still waters before him the Pacific Ocean. Before following him across the unknown waters, let us recall thequaint lines of Camoens--

 "Along these regions, from the burning zone To deepest south, he dares the course unknown. A land of giants shall his eyes behold, Of camel strength, surpassing human mould; And, onward still, thy fame his proud heart's guide, Beneath the southern stars' cold gleam he braves And stems the whirls of land-surrounded waves, For ever sacred to the hero's fame, These foaming straits shall bear his deathless name. Through these dread jaws of rock he presses on Another ocean's breast, immense, unknown, Beneath the south's cold wings, unmeasur'd, wide, Received his vessels, through the dreary tide, In darkling shades, where never man before Heard the waves howl, he dares the nameless shore. "

Three little ships had now emerged, battered and worn, manned by crewsgaunt and thin and shivering. Magellan took a northerly course to avoidthe intense cold, before turning to cross the strange obscure ocean, which no European had yet realised. Just before Christmas the coursewas altered and the ships were turned to the north-west, in whichdirection they expected soon to find the Spice Islands. No one hadany idea of the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. 

[Illustration: "HONDIUS HIS MAP OF THE MAGELLAN STREIGHT. " From a mapby Jodocus Hondius, about 1590. It gives a particularly clear pictureof the ideas held by the age following Magellan's discovery of theland which, it was supposed, enveloped the southern point of SouthAmerica. ]

"Well was it named the Pacific, " remarks the historian, "for duringthree months and twenty days we met with no storm. "

Two months passed away, and still they sailed peacefully on, day afterday, week after week, across a waste of desolate waters. 

 "Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide, wide sea. "

At last one January day they sighted a small wooded island, but itwas uninhabited; they named it S. Paul's Island and passed on theirway. They had expected to find the shores of Asia close by those ofAmerica. The size of the world was astounding. Another island waspassed. Again no people, no consolation, only many sharks. There wasbitter disappointment on board. They had little food left. "We atebiscuit, but in truth it was biscuit no longer, but a powder full ofworms. So great was the want of food that we were forced to eat thehides with which the main yard was covered to prevent the chafingagainst the rigging. These hides we exposed to the sun first to softenthem by putting them overboard for four or five days, after which weput them on the embers and ate them thus. We had also to make use ofsawdust for food, and rats became a great delicacy. " No wonder scurvybroke out in its worst form--nineteen died and thirteen lay too illto work. 

For ninety-eight days they sailed across the unknown sea, "a sea sovast that the human mind can scarcely grasp it, " till at last theycame on a little group of islands peopled with savages of the lowesttype--such expert thieves that Magellan called the new islands theLadrones or isle of robbers. Still, there was fresh food here, andthe crews were greatly refreshed before they sailed away. The foodcame just too late to save the one Englishman of the party--MasterAndrew of Bristol--who died just as they moved away. Then they foundthe group afterwards known as the Philippines (after Philip II. OfSpain). Here were merchants from China, who assured Magellan that thefamous Spice Islands were not far off. Now Magellan had practicallyaccomplished that he set out to do, but he was not destined to reapthe fruits of his victory. 

With a good supply of fresh food the sailors grew better, and Magellanpreferred cruising about the islands, making friends of the nativesand converting them to Christianity, to pushing on for the SpiceIslands. Here was gold, too, and he busied himself making the nativerulers pay tribute to Spain. Easter was drawing near, and the Easterservices were performed on one of the islands. A cross and a crownof thorns was set upon the top of the highest mountain that all mightsee it and worship. Thus April passed away and Magellan was still busywith Christians and gold. But his enthusiasm carried him too far. Aquarrel arose with one of the native kings. Magellan landed with armedmen, only to be met by thousands of defiant natives. A desperate fightensued. Again and again the explorer was wounded, till "at last theIndians threw themselves upon him with iron-pointed bamboo spears andevery weapon they had and ran him through--our mirror, our light, ourcomforter, our true guide--until they killed him. "

Such was the tragic fate of Ferdinand Magellan, "the greatest ofancient and modern navigators, " tragic because, after dauntlessresolution and unwearied courage, he died in a miserable skirmish atthe last on the very eve of victory. 

[Illustration: THE FIRST SHIP THAT SAILED ROUND THE WORLD. Magellan's_Victoria_, from Hulsius's _Collection of Voyages_, 1602. ]

With grief and despair in their hearts, the remaining members of thecrew, now only one hundred and fifteen, crowded on to the _Trinidad_and _Victoria_ for the homeward voyage. It was September 1522 whenthey reached the Spice Islands--the goal of all their hopes. Here theytook on board some precious cloves and birds of Paradise, spent somepleasant months, and, laden with spices, resumed their journey. Butthe _Trinidad_ was too overladen with cloves and too rotten toundertake so long a voyage till she had undergone repair, so the little_Victoria_ alone sailed for Spain with sixty men aboard to carry hometheir great and wonderful news. Who shall describe the terrors of thathomeward voyage, the suffering, starvation, and misery of the wearycrew? Man after man drooped and died, till by the time they reachedthe Cape Verde Islands there were but eighteen left. 

When the welcome shores of Spain at length appeared, eighteen gaunt, famine-stricken survivors, with their captain, staggered ashore totell their proud story of the first circumnavigation of the world bytheir lost commander, Ferdinand Magellan. 

We miss the triumphal return of the conqueror, the audience with theKing of Spain, the heaped honours, the crowded streets, the titles, and the riches. The proudest crest ever granted by a sovereign--theworld, with the words: "Thou hast encompassed me"--fell to the lotof Del Cano, the captain who brought home the little _Victoria_. ForMagellan's son was dead, and his wife Beatrix, "grievously sorrowing, "had passed away on hearing the news of her husband's tragic end. 

CHAPTER XXVIII

CORTES EXPLORES AND CONQUERS MEXICO

One would have thought that the revelation of this immense sheet ofwater on the far side of America would have drawn other explorers tofollow, but news was slowly assimilated in those days, and it was nottill fifty-three years later that the Pacific was crossed a secondtime by Sir Francis Drake. 

In the maps of the day, Newfoundland and Florida were both placed inAsia, while Mexico was identified with the Quinsay of Marco Polo. Foreven while Magellan was fighting the gales of the Atlantic _en route_for his long-sought strait, another strange and wonderful country wasbeing unveiled and its unsurpassed wealth laid at the feet of Spain. The starting-place for further Spanish exploration had been, from thedays of Columbus, the West Indies. From this centre, the coast ofFlorida had been discovered in 1513; from here, the same year, Balboahad discovered the Pacific Ocean; from here in 1517 a little fleetwas fitted out under Francisco Hernando de Cordova, "a man very prudentand courageous and strongly disposed to kill and kidnap Indians. " Aspilot he had been with Columbus on his fourth voyage some fourteenyears before. He suggested that his master had heard rumours of landto the West, and sure enough, after sailing past the peninsula ofYucatan, they found signs of the Eastern civilisation so long soughtin vain. 

"Strange-looking towers or pyramids, ascended by stone steps, greetedtheir eyes, and the people who came out in canoes to watch the shipswere clad in quilted cotton doublets and wore cloaks and brilliantplumes. "

They had heard of the Spaniards. Indeed, only one hundred miles ofsea divided Yucatan from Cuba, and they were anything but pleased tosee these strangers off their coast. 

"Couez cotoche" (Come to my house), they cried, for which reasonCordova called the place Cape Catoche, as it is marked in our mapsto-day. Along the coast sailed the Spaniards to a place called by theIndians Quimpeche, now known as Campechy Bay. They were astonishedto find how civilised were these natives, and how unlike any othersthey had met in these parts. But the inhabitants resented the landingof Cordova and his men, and with arrows and stones and darts they killedor wounded a great number of Spaniards, including the commanderhimself, who sent an account of his voyage to the Governor of Cubaand died a few days later. 

His information was interesting and inspiring, and soon young JuanGrijalva was on his way to the same land, accompanied by "two hundredand fifty stout soldiers" and the old pilot, Alvarado, who had ledboth Columbus and Cordova. Grijalva explored for the first time thecoast of this great new country. 

"Mexico, Mexico, " repeated the Indians with whom they conversed. Gold, too, was produced, gold ornaments, gold workmanship, until the youngand handsome Grijalva was fitted out completely with a complete suitof gold armour. He returned enthusiastic over the new land where liveda powerful ruler over many cities. Surely this was none other thanthe Great Khan of Marco Polo fame, with the riches and magnificenceof an Eastern potentate--a land worthy of further exploration. 

The conqueror of Mexico now comes upon the scene--young, bold, devout, unscrupulous, "a respectable gentleman of good birth"--HernandoCortes. Great was the enthusiasm in Cuba to join the new expeditionto the long-lost lands of the Great Khan; men sold their lands to buyhorses and arms, pork was salted, armour was made, and at last Cortes, a plume of feathers and a gold medal in his cap, erected on board hisship a velvet flag with the royal arms embroidered in gold and thewords: "Brothers, follow the cross in faith, for under its guidancewe shall conquer. "

[Illustration: HERNANDO CORTES, CONQUEROR OF MEXICO. After theoriginal portrait at Mexico. ]

His address to his men called forth their devotion: "I hold out toyou a glorious prize, but it is to be won by incessant toil. Greatthings are achieved only by great exertions, and glory was never thereward of sloth. If I have laboured hard and staked my all on thisundertaking, it is for the love of that renown, which is the noblestrecompense of man. But if any among you covet riches more, be but trueto me, as I will make you masters of such as our countrymen have neverdreamed of. You are few in number, but strong in resolution; doubtnot but that the Almighty, who has never deserted the Spaniard in hiscontest with the infidel, will shield you, for your cause is a justcause, and you are to fight under the banner of the Cross. "

In this spirit of enthusiasm the fleet sailed from the shores of Cubaon 18th February 1519, and was soon on its way to the land of Mexico. The pilot Alvarado was with this expedition also. Rounding CapeCatoche and coasting along the southern shores of Campechy Bay, witha pleasant breeze blowing off the shore, Cortes landed with all hisforce--some five hundred soldiers--on the very spot where now standsthe city of Vera Cruz. "Little did the conqueror imagine that thedesolate beach on which he first planted his foot was one day to becovered by a flourishing city, the great mart of European and Orientaltrade--the commercial capital of New Spain. "

On a wide, level plain Cortes encamped, his soldiers driving in stakesand covering them with boughs to protect themselves from the scorchingrays of the fierce, tropical sun. Natives came down to the shore, bringing their beautiful featherwork cloaks and golden ornaments. Cortes had brought presents for the great King--the Khan as hethought--and these he sent with a message that he had come from theKing of Spain and greatly desired an audience with the Great Khan. The Indians were greatly surprised to hear that there was another Kingin the world as powerful as their Montezuma, who was more god thanking, who ate from dishes of gold, on whose face none dared look, inwhose presence none dared speak without leave. 

To impress the messengers of the King, Cortes ordered his soldiersto go through some of their military exercises on the wet sands. Thebold and rapid movement of the troops, the glancing of the weapons, and the shrill cry of the trumpet filled the spectators withastonishment; but when they heard the thunder of the cannon andwitnessed the volumes of smoke and flame issuing from these terribleengines, the rushing of the balls as they hissed through the treesof the neighbouring forest shivering their branches, they were filledwith consternation. 

To the intense surprise of the Spaniards, these messengers sketchedthe whole scene on canvas with their pencils, not forgetting theSpanish ships or "water-houses" as they called them, with their darkhulls and snow-white sails reflected in the water as they swung lazilyat anchor. 

Then they returned to the King and related the strange doings of thewhite strangers who had landed on their shores; they showed him theirpicture-writing, and Montezuma, king of the great Mexican empire whichstretched from sea to sea, was "sore troubled. " He refused to see theSpaniards--the distance of his capital was too great, since thejourney was beset with difficulties. But the presents he sent wereso gorgeous, so wonderful, that Cortes resolved to see for himselfthe city which produced such wealth, whatever its ruler might decree. Here was a plate of gold as large as a coach wheel representing thesun, one in silver even larger, representing the moon; there werenumbers of golden toys representing dogs, lions, tigers, apes, ducks, and wonderful plumes of green feathers. 

The man who had sailed across two thousand leagues of ocean held lightlythe idea of a short land journey, however difficult, and Cortes beganhis preparations for the march to Mexico. He built the littlesettlement at Vera Cruz, "The Rich Town of the True Cross, " on theseashore as a basis for operations. Although the wealth allured them, there were many who viewed with dismay the idea of the long anddangerous march into the heart of a hostile land. After all they werebut a handful of men pitted against a powerful nation. Murmurs arosewhich reached the ears of Cortes. He was equal to the occasion andresolutely burnt all the ships in the harbour save one. Then panicensued. Mutiny threatened. 

"I have chosen my part!" cried Cortes. "I will remain here while thereis one to bear me company. If there be any so craven as to shrink fromsharing the dangers of our glorious enterprise, let them go home. Thereis still one vessel left. Let them take that and return to Cuba. Theycan tell there how they have deserted their commander and theircomrades, and patiently wait till we return loaded with the spoilsof Mexico. "

He touched the right chord. Visions of future wealth and glory roseagain before them, confidence in their leader revived, and, shoutingbravely, "To Mexico! to Mexico!" the party started off on theirperilous march. It was 16th August 1519 when the little army, "buoyantwith high hopes and lofty plans of conquest, " set forth. The firstpart of the way lay through beautiful country rich in cochineal andvanilla, with groves of many-coloured birds and "insects whoseenamelled wings glistened like diamonds in the blazing sun of thetropics. "

Then came the long and tedious ascent of the Cordilleras leading tothe tableland of Mexico. Higher and higher grew the mountains. Heavyfalls of sleet and hail, icy winds, and driving rain drenched the littleSpanish party as they made their way bravely upwards, till at lastthey reached the level of seven thousand feet to find the greattableland rolling out along the crest of the Cordilleras. 

Hitherto they had met with no opposition among the natives they hadmet. Indeed, as the little army advanced, it was often found that theinhabitants of the country fled awestruck from before them. Now thereason was this. The Mexicans believed in a god called the Bird-Serpent, around whom many a legend had grown up. Temples had been built in hishonour and horrible human sacrifices offered to appease him, for washe not the Ruler of the Winds, the Lord of the Lightning, the Gathererof the Clouds? But the bright god had sailed away one day, saying hewould return with fair-skinned men to possess the land in the fulnessof time. Surely, then, the time had come and their god had come again. Here were the fair-skinned men in shining armour marching back to theirown again, and Cortes at their head--was he not the god himself? Thecross, too, was a Mexican symbol, so Cortes was allowed to put it upin the heathen temples without opposition. 

The inhabitants of Tlascala--fierce republicans who refused to ownthe sway of Montezuma--alone offered resistance, and how Cortes foughtand defeated them with his handful of men is truly a marvel. 

It was three months before they reached the goal of all theirhopes--even the golden city of Mexico. The hardships and horrors ofthe march had been unsurpassed, but as the beautiful valley of Mexicounfolded itself before them in the early light of a July morning, theSpaniards shouted with joy: "It is the promised land! Mexico!Mexico!"

"Many of us were disposed to doubt the reality of the scene beforeus and to suspect we were in a dream, " says one of the party. "I thoughtwe had been transported by magic to the terrestrial paradise. "

Water, cultivated plains, shining cities with shadowy hills beyondlay like some gorgeous fairyland before and below them. At every stepsome new beauty appeared in sight, and the wonderful City of the Waterswith its towers and shining palaces arose out of the surrounding mists. 

The city was approached by three solid causeways some five miles long. It was crowded with spectators "eager to behold such men and animalsas had never been seen in that part of the world. "

At any moment the little army of four hundred and fifty Spaniards mighthave been destroyed, surrounded as they were by overwhelming numbersof hostile Indian foes. It was a great day in the history of Europeandiscovery, when the Spaniard first set foot in the capital of theWestern world. Everywhere was evidence of a crowded and thrivingpopulation and a high civilisation. At the walls of the city they weremet by Montezuma himself. Amid a crowd of Indian nobles, preceded byofficers of state bearing golden wands, was the royal palanquinblazing with burnished gold. It was borne on the shoulders of the nobles, who, barefooted, walked slowly with eyes cast to the ground. Descending from his litter, Montezuma then advanced under a canopyof gaudy featherwork powdered with jewels and fringed with silver. His cloak and sandals were studded with pearls and precious stonesamong which emeralds were conspicuous. Cortes dismounted, greeted theKing, and spoke of his mission to the heathen and of his master, themighty ruler of Spain. Everywhere Cortes and his men were receivedwith friendship and reverence, for was he not the long-lost Child ofthe Sun? The Spanish explorer begged Montezuma to give up his idolsand to stop his terrible human sacrifices. The King somewhat naturallyrefused. Cortes grew angry. He was also very anxious. He felt theweakness of his position, the little handful of men in this greatpopulous city, which he had sworn to win for Spain. The King must go. "Why do we waste time on this barbarian? Let us seize him and, if heresists, plunge our swords into his body!" cried the exasperatedcommander. 

This is no place for the pathetic story of Montezuma's downfall. Prescott's _Conquest of Mexico_ is within the reach of all. It tellsof the Spanish treachery, of the refusal of the Mexican ruler to acceptthe new faith, of his final appeal to his subjects, of chains, degradation, and death. It tells of the three great heaps of gold, pearls, and precious stones taken by Cortes, of the final siege andconquest. 

[Illustration: THE BATTLES OF THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO. From an ancientAztec drawing, showing a leader of the Spaniards with his native alliesdefeating the Mexicans. ]

The news of this immense Mexican Empire, discovered and conquered forSpain, brought honours from the King, Charles V. , to the triumphantconqueror. 

Nor did Cortes stop even after this achievement. As Governor andCaptain-General of Mexico, he sent off ships to explore theneighbouring coasts. Hearing that Honduras possessed rich mines andthat a strait into the Pacific Ocean might be found, Cortes led anexpedition by land. Arrived at Tabasco, he was provided with an Indianmap of cotton cloth, whereon were painted all the towns, rivers, mountains, as far as Nicaragua. With this map and the mariner's compass, he led his army through gloomy woods so thick that no sun everpenetrated, and after a march of one thousand miles reached theseacoast of Honduras, took over the country for Spain to be governedwith Mexico by himself. 

This enormous tract of country was known to the world as "New Spain. "

CHAPTER XXIX

EXPLORERS IN SOUTH AMERICA

The success of Cortes and his brilliant conquest of Mexico gave a newimpulse to discovery in the New World. The spirit of explorationdominated every adventurous young Spaniard, and among those livingin the West Indies there were many ready to give up all for the goldencountries in the West, rumours of which were always reaching theirears. 

No sooner had these rich lands been realised than the news of Magellan'sgreat voyage revealed the breadth of the ocean between America andAsia, and destroyed for ever the idea that the Spice Islands were near. Spanish enterprise, therefore, lay in the same direction as heretofore, and we must relate the story of how Pizarro discovered Peru for theKing of Spain. He had accompanied Balboa to Darien, and had with himgazed out on to the unknown waters of the Pacific Ocean below. WithBalboa after crossing the isthmus of Darien he had reached Panama onthe South Sea, where he heard of a great nation far to the south. LikeMexico, it was spoken of as highly civilised and rich in mines of goldand silver. Many an explorer would have started off straightway forthis new country, but there was a vast tract of dark forest and tangledunderwood between Panama and Peru, which had damped the ardour of eventhe most ardent of Spanish explorers. 

But Pizarro was a man of courage and dauntless resolution, and he wasready to do and dare the impossible. He made a bad start. A singleship with some hundred men aboard left Panama under the command ofPizarro in 1526. He was ignorant of southern navigation, the Indiansalong the shore were hostile, his men died one by one, the rich landof Peru was more distant than they had thought, and, having at lengthreached the island of Gallo near the Equator, they awaitedreinforcements from Panama. Great, then, was the disappointment ofPizarro when only one ship arrived and no soldiers. News of hardshipsand privations had spread through Panama, and none would volunteerto explore Peru. By this time the handful of wretched men who hadremained with Pizarro, living on crabs picked up on the shore, beggedto be taken home--they could endure no longer. Then came one of thosetremendous moments that lifts the born leader of men above his fellows. Drawing his sword, Pizarro traced a line on the sand from east to west. "Friends, " he cried, turning to the south, "on that side are toil, hunger, nakedness, the drenching storm, desertion, and death, and onthis side ease and pleasure. There lies Peru with its riches, herePanama and its poverty. For my part, I go south. "

So saying, he stepped across the line. Twelve stout-hearted menfollowed him. The rest turned wearily homewards. The reduced butresolute little party then sailed south, and a voyage of two daysbrought them within sight of the long-sought land of Peru. Communication with the natives assured them that here was wealth andfortune to be made, and they hurried back to Panama, whence Pizarrosailed for Spain, for permission to conquer the empire of Peru. Itis interesting to find Cortes contributing some of his immense wealthfrom Mexico towards this new quest. 

In February 1531 three small ships with one hundred and eighty soldiersand thirty-six horses sailed south under Pizarro. It was not till theautumn of 1532 that he was ready to start on the great march to theinterior. A city called Cuzco was the capital--the Holy City with itsgreat Temple of the Sun, the most magnificent building in the New World, had never yet been seen by Europeans. But the residence of the Kingwas at Caxamalea, and this was the goal of the Spaniards for thepresent. 

Already the news was spreading through the land that "white and beardedstrangers were coming up from the sea, clad in shining panoply, ridingupon unearthly monsters, and wielding deadly thunderbolts. "

[Illustration: PIZARRO. From the portrait at Cuzco. ]

Pizarro's march to the heart of Peru with a mere handful of men wasnot unlike that of Cortes' expedition to Mexico. Both coveted the richempire of unknown monarchs and dared all--to possess. Between Pizarroand his goal lay the stupendous mountain range of the Andes or SouthAmerican Cordilleras, rock piled upon rock, their crests ofeverlasting snow glittering high in the heavens. Across these and overnarrow mountain passes the troops had now to pass. So steep were thesides that the horsemen had to dismount and scramble up, leading theirhorses as best they might. Frightful chasms yawned below them, terrific peaks rose above, and at any moment they might be utterlydestroyed by bodies of Peruvians in overwhelming numbers. It wasbitterly cold as they mounted higher and higher up the dreary heights, till at last they reached the crest. Then began thedescent--precipitous and dangerous--until after seven days of thisthe valley of Caxamalea unrolled before their delighted eyes, and thelittle ancient city with its white houses lay glittering in the sun. But dismay filled the stoutest heart when, spread out below for thespace of several miles, tents as thick as snowflakes covered the ground. It was the Peruvian army. And it was too late to turn back. "So, withas bold a countenance as we could, we prepared for our entrance intoCaxamalea. "

The Peruvians must already have seen the cavalcade of Spaniards, aswith banners streaming and armour glistening in the rays of the eveningsun Pizarro led them towards the city. As they drew near, the King, Atahualpa, covered with plumes of feathers and ornaments of gold andsilver blazing in the sun, was carried forth on a throne followed bythirty thousand men to meet the strangers. It seemed to the Spanishleader that only one course was open. He must seize the person of thisgreat ruler at once. He waved his white scarf. Immediately the cavalrycharged and a terrible fight took place around the person of the rulerof Peru until he was captured and taken prisoner. Atahualpa tried toregain his liberty by the offer of gold, for he had discovered--amidall their outward show of religious zeal--a greed for wealth amongthese strange white men from over the stormy seas. He suggested thathe should fill with gold the room in which he was confined as highas he could reach. Standing on tiptoe, he marked the wall with hishand. Pizarro accepted the offer, and the Spaniards greedily watchedthe arrival of their treasure from the roofs of palace and temple. They gained a sum of something like three million sterling and thenput the King to death. Pizarro was the conqueror of Peru, and he hadno difficulty in controlling the awestruck Peruvians, who regardedthe relentless Spaniards as supernatural--the Children of the Sunindeed. 

[Illustration: PERU AND SOUTH AMERICA. From the Map of the World of1544, usually ascribed to Sebastian Cabot. At the top is shown theriver Amazon, discovered by Orellana in 1541. ]

A year later these Children of the Sun entered the old town ofCuzco--the capital of this rich empire--where they found a city oftreasure surpassing all expectation. Meanwhile Almagro, one of themost prominent among the Spanish explorers, had been granted a coupleof hundred miles along the coast of Chili, which country he nowpenetrated; but the cold was so intense that men and horses were frozento death, while the Chilians, clad in skins, were difficult to subdue. Almagro decided that Cuzco belonged to him, and miserable disputesfollowed between him and Pizarro, ending in the tragic end of theveteran explorer, Almagro. 

As the shiploads of gold reached the shores of Spain, more and moreadventurers flocked over to the New World. They swarmed into "GoldenCastile, " about the city of Panama, and journeyed into the interiorof the yet new and unknown world. There are terrible stories of theirgreed and cruelty to the native Indians. One story says that the Indianscaught some of these Spaniards, tied their hands and feet together, threw them on the ground, and poured liquid gold into their mouths, crying, "Eat, eat gold, Christian!"

Amongst other adventurers into South America at this time was Orellana, who crossed the continent from ocean to ocean. He had accompanied oneof Pizarro's brothers into the land of the cinnamon forests, and withhim had crossed the Andes in search of another golden kingdom beyondQuito. The expedition under Pizarro, consisting of some three hundredand fifty Spaniards, half of whom were horsemen, and four thousandIndians, set forward in the year 1540 to penetrate to the remote regionsin the Hinterland, on the far side of the Andes. Their sufferings wereintense. Violent thunderstorms and earthquakes terrified man andbeast; the earth opened and swallowed up five hundred houses; rainfell in such torrents as to flood the land and cut off all communicationbetween the explorers and cultivated regions; while crossing the loftyridge of the Andes the cold was so intense that numbers of the partywere literally frozen to death. At length they reached the land ofthe cinnamon trees, and, still pushing on, came to a river which mustbe crossed to reach the land of gold. They had finished their provisions, and had nothing to subsist on now save the wild fruit of the country. After following the course of the river for some way, Pizarro decidedto build a little vessel to search for food along the river. All setto work, Pizarro and Orellana, one of his chief captains, working ashard as the men. They set up a forge for making nails, and burnt charcoalwith endless trouble owing to the heavy rains which prevented thetinder from taking fire. They made nails from the shoes of the horseswhich had been killed to feed the sick. For tar they used the resinfrom the trees, for oakum they used blankets and old shirts. Then theylaunched the little home-made boat, thinking their troubles would beat an end. For some four hundred miles they followed the course ofthe river, but the supply of roots and berries grew scarcer and menperished daily from starvation. So Pizarro ordered Orellana to goquickly down the river with fifty men to some inhabited land of whichthey had heard, to fill the boat with provisions, and return. 

Off started Orellana down the river, but no villages or cultivatedlands appeared; nothing was to be seen save flooded plains and gloomy, impenetrable forests. The river turned out to be a tributary of a muchlarger river. It was, indeed, the great river Amazon. Orellana nowdecided to go on down this great river and to desert Pizarro. True, his men were utterly weary, the current was too strong for them torow against, and they had no food to bring to their unhappy companions. There was likewise the possibility of reaching the kingdom of goldfor which they were searching. There were some among his party whoobjected strongly to the course proposed by Orellana, to whom heresponded by landing them on the edge of the dense forest and thereleaving them to perish of hunger. 

It was the last day of 1540 that, having eaten their shoes and saddlesboiled with a few wild herbs, they set out to reach the kingdom ofgold. It was truly one of the greatest adventures of the age, andhistoric, for here we get the word El Dorado, used for the first timein the history of discovery--the legendary land of gold which was neverfound, but which attracted all the Elizabethan sailors to thisromantic country. It would take too long to tell how they had to fightIndian tribes in their progress down the fast-flowing river, how theyhad to build a new boat, making bellows of their leather buskins andmanufacturing two thousand nails in twenty days, how they found womenon the banks of the river fighting as valiantly as men, and named thenew country the Amazon land, and how at long last, after incrediblehardship, they reached the sea in August 1541. They had navigated sometwo thousand miles. They now made their rigging and ropes of grassand sails of blankets, and so sailed out into the open sea, reachingone of the West India islands a few days later. 

And the deserted Pizarro? Tired of waiting for Orellana, he made hisway sorrowfully home, arriving after two years' absence in Peru, witheighty men left out of four thousand three hundred and fifty, all therest having perished in the disastrous expedition. And so we must leavethe Spanish conquerors for the present, still exploring, stillconquering, in these parts, ever adding glory and riches to Spain. Indeed, Spain and Portugal, as we have seen, entirely monopolise thehorizon of geographical discovery till the middle of the sixteenthcentury, when other nations enter the arena. 

[Illustration: PERUVIAN WARRIORS OF THE INCA PERIOD. From an ancientPeruvian painting. ]

CHAPTER XXX

CABOT SAILS TO NEWFOUNDLAND

It was no longer possible for the Old World to keep secret the wealthof the New World. English eyes were already straining across the seas, English hands were ready to grasp the treasure that had been Spain'sfor the last fifty years. While Spain was sending Christopher Columbusto and fro across the Atlantic to the West Indies, while Portugal wasrejoicing in the success of Vasco da Gama, John Cabot, in the serviceof England, was making his way from Bristol to the New World. Newsof the first voyage of Columbus had been received by the Cabots--Johnand his son Sebastian--with infinite admiration. They believed withthe rest of the world that the coast of China had been reached by sailingwestward. Bristol was at this time the chief seaport in England, andthe centre of trade for the Iceland fisheries. The merchants of thecity had already ventured far on to the Atlantic, and various littleexpeditions had been fitted out by the merchants for possiblediscovery westward, but one after another failed, including the "mostscientific mariner in all England, " who started forth to find theisland of Brazil to the west of Ireland, but, after nine miserableweeks at sea, was driven back to Ireland again by foul weather. 

Now Columbus had crossed the Atlantic, Cabot got leave from the EnglishKing, Henry VII. , "to sail to the east, west, or north, with five shipscarrying the English flag, to seek and discover all the islands, countries, regions, or provinces of pagans in whatever part of theworld. "

Further, the King was to have one-fifth of the profits, and at allrisks any conflict with Spain must be avoided. Nothing daunted, Cabotstarted off to fulfil his lord's commands in a tiny ship with eighteenmen. We have the barest outlines of his proceedings. Practically allis contained in this one paragraph. "In the year 1497 John Cabot, aVenetian, and his son Sebastian discovered on the 24th of June, aboutfive in the morning, that land to which no person had before venturedto sail, which they named Prima Vista or first seen, because, as Ibelieve, it was the first part seen by them from the sea. Theinhabitants use the skins and furs of wild beasts for garments, whichthey hold in as high estimation as we do our finest clothes. The soilyields no useful production, but it abounds in white bears and deermuch larger than ours. Its coasts produce vast quantities of largefish--great seals, salmons, soles above a yard in length, andprodigious quantities of cod. "

[Illustration: PART OF NORTH AMERICA, SHOWING SEBASTIAN CABOT'SVOYAGE TO NEWFOUNDLAND. From the Map of 1544, usually ascribed to Cabot. The names in brackets are inserted in order to make this extract andits reference to Cabot's discoveries clear. ]

So much for the contemporary account of this historic voyage. A letterfrom England to Italy describes the effect of the voyage on England. "The Venetian, our countryman, who went with a ship from Bristol inquest of new islands, is returned and says that seven hundred leagueshence he discovered land, the territory of the Great Khan. He coastedfor three hundred leagues and landed; he saw no human beings, but hehas brought hither to the King certain snares which had been set tocatch game and a needle for making nets. He also found some felledtrees. Wherefore he supposed there were inhabitants, and returned tohis ships in alarm. He was there three months on the voyage, and onhis return he saw two islands to starboard, but would not land, timebeing precious, as he was short of provisions. He says the tides areslack and do not flow as they do here. The King of England is muchpleased with this intelligence. The King has promised that in thespring our countryman shall have ten ships to his order, and at hisrequest has conceded to him all the prisoners to man his fleet. TheKing has also given him money wherewith to amuse himself till then, and he is now at Bristol with his wife and sons. His name is Cabot, and he is styled the great Admiral. Vast honour is paid to him; hedresses in silk, and the English run after him like mad people. "

Yet another letter of the time tells how "Master John Cabot has wona part of Asia without a stroke of the sword. " This Master John, too, "has the description of the world in a chart and also in a solid globewhich he has made, and he shows where he landed. And they say thatit is a good and temperate country, and they think that Brazil woodand silks grow there, and they affirm that that sea is covered withfishes. "

But "Master John" had set his heart on something greater. Constantlyhugging the shore of America, he expected to find the island of Cipango(Japan) in the equinoctial region, where he should find all the spicesof the world and any amount of precious stones. 

But after all this great promise Master John disappears from the pagesof history and his son Sebastian continues to sail across the Atlantic, not always in the service of England, though in 1502 we find himbringing to the King of England three men taken in the Newfoundland, clothed in beasts' skins and eating raw flesh, and speaking a languagewhich no man could understand. They must have been kindly dealt withby the King, for two years later the poor savages are "clothed likeEnglishmen. "

Though England claimed the discovery of this Newfoundland, thePortuguese declared that one of their countrymen, Cortereal--agentleman of the royal household--had already discovered the "landof the cod-fish" in 1463. But then had not the Vikings alreadydiscovered this country five hundred years before?

CHAPTER XXXI

JACQUES CARTIER EXPLORES CANADA

All the nations of Europe were now straining westward for new landsto conquer. French sailors had fished in the seas washing the westerncoast of North America; Verazzano, a Florentine, in the service ofFrance, had explored the coast of the United States, and a good dealwas known when Jacques Cartier, a Frenchman, steps upon the scene andwins for his country a large tract of land about the river St. Lawrence. His object was to find a way across America to Cathay. With two littleships of sixty tons and sixty-one "chosen men, " Cartier left St. Maloon 20th April 1534. With prosperous weather he tells us he made thecoast of Newfoundland in three weeks, which would mean sailing overone hundred miles a day. He was a little too early in the season, forthe easterly winds which had helped him on his way had blocked theeast coast of the island with Arctic ice. Having named the point atwhich he first touched land Cape Bona Vista, he cruised about till, the ice having melted, he could sail down the straits of Belle Islebetween the mainland of Labrador and Newfoundland, already discoveredby Breton fishermen. Then he explored the now familiar Gulf of St. Lawrence--the first European to report on it. All through June thelittle French ships sailed about the Gulf, darting across from islandto island and cape to cape. Prince Edward Island appealed to himstrongly. "It is very pleasant to behold, " he tells us. "We foundsweet-smelling trees as cedars, yews, pines, ash, willow. Where theground was bare of trees it seemed very fertile and was full of wildcorn, red and white gooseberries, strawberries, and blackberries, asif it had been cultivated on purpose. " It now grew hotter, and Cartiermust have been glad of a little heat. He sighted Nova Scotia and sailedby the coast of New Brunswick, without naming or surveying them. Hedescribes accurately the bay still called Chaleur Bay: "We named thisthe Warm Bay, for the country is warmer even than Spain and exceedinglypleasant. " They sailed up as far as they could, filled with hope thatthis might be the long-sought passage to the Pacific Ocean. Hope Capethey named the southern point, but they were disappointed by findingonly a deep bay, and to-day, by a strange coincidence, the pointopposite the northern shore is known as Cape Despair--the Cap d'Espoirof the early French mariners. Sailing on to the north amid strongcurrents and a heavy sea, Cartier at last put into a shelter (GaspeBay). Here, "on the 24th of July, we made a great cross thirty feethigh, on which we hung up a shield with three fleurs-de-lis, andinscribed the cross with this motto: 'Vive le roi de France. ' Whenthis was finished, in presence of all the natives, we all knelt downbefore the cross, holding up our hands to heaven and praising God. "

[Illustration: JACQUES CARTIER. From an old pen drawing at theBibliotheque Nationale, Paris. ]

Storms and strong tides now decided Cartier to return to France. Heknew nothing of the Cabot Strait between Newfoundland and the landafterwards called Nova Scotia, so he guided his little ships rightthrough the Straits of Belle Isle, and after being "much tossed bya heavy tempest from the east, which we weathered by the blessing ofGod, " he arrived safely home on 5th September, after his six months'adventure. He was soon commissioned to continue the navigation ofthese new lands, and in May 1535 he safely led three ships slightlylarger than the last across the stormy Atlantic. Contrary winds, heavygales, and thick fogs turned the voyage of three weeks into five--theships losing one another not to meet again till the coast of Labradorwas reached. Coasting along the southern coast, Cartier now entereda "very fine and large bay, full of islands, and with channels ofentrance and exit in all winds. " Cartier named it "Baye Saint Laurens, "because he entered it on 10th August--the feast of St. Lawrence. 

Do any of the English men and women who steam up the Gulf of St. Lawrencein the great ocean steamers to-day, on their way to Canada, ever givea thought to the little pioneer French ships that four hundred yearsago thought they were sailing toward Cathay?

"Savages, " as Cartier calls the Indians, told him that he was nearthe mouth of the great river Hochelaga (now the St. Lawrence), whichbecame narrower "as we approach towards Canada, where the water isfresh. "

"On the first day of September, " says Cartier, "we set sail from thesaid harbour for Canada. " Canada was just a native word for a townor village. It seems strange to read of the "lord of Canada" comingdown the river with twelve canoes and many people to greet the firstwhite men he had ever seen; strange, too, to find Cartier arrivingat "the place called Hochelaga--twenty-five leagues above Canada, "where the river becomes very narrow, with a rapid current and verydangerous on account of rocks. For another week the French explorerssailed on up the unknown river. The country was pleasant, well-wooded, with "vines as full of grapes as they would hang. " On 2nd October, Cartier arrived at the native town of Hochelaga. He was welcomed byhundreds of natives, --men, women, and children, --who gave thetravellers as "friendly a welcome as if we had been of their own nationcome home after a long and perilous absence. " The women carried theirchildren to him to touch them, for they evidently thought that somesupernatural being had come up from the sea. All night they dancedto the light of fires lit upon the shore. 

[Illustration: CANADA AND THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE, SHOWING QUEBEC(KEBEC). From Lescarbot's _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_, 1609. ]

The next morning Cartier, "having dressed himself splendidly, " wentashore with some of his men. All were well armed, though the nativesseemed peacefully disposed. They marched along a well-beaten trackto the Indian city, which stood in the midst of cultivated fields ofIndian corn and maize. Again the inhabitants met them with signs ofjoy and gladness, and the King was carried shoulder high, seated ona large deer-skin with a red wreath round his head made of the skinsof hedgehogs instead of a crown. 

A curious scene then took place. The King placed his crown on the headof the French explorer, before whom he humbled himself as before agod. Thus evidently did the people regard him, for they brought tohim their blind, their lame, and their diseased folk that he mightcure them. Touched with pity at the groundless confidence of thesepoor people, Cartier signed them with the sign of the cross. "He thenopened a service book and read the passion of Christ in an audiblevoice, during which all the natives kept a profound silence, lookingup to heaven and imitating all our gestures. He then caused our trumpetsand other musical instruments to be sounded, which made the nativesvery merry. "

Cartier and his men then went to the top of the neighbouring mountain. The extensive view from the top created a deep impression on the Frenchexplorer; he grew enthusiastic over the beauty of the level valleybelow and called the place Mont Royal--a name communicated to the busycity of Montreal that lies below. 

Winter was now coming on, and Cartier decided against attempting thehomeward voyage so late in the year; but to winter in the country hechose a spot between Montreal and Quebec, little thinking what thelong winter months would bring forth. The little handful of Frenchmenhad no idea of the severity of the Canadian climate; they little dreamtof the interminable months of ice and snow when no navigation waspossible. Before Christmas had come round the men were down withscurvy; by the middle of February, "out of one hundred and ten personscomposing the companies of our three ships, there were not ten inperfect health. Eight were dead already. The sickness increased tosuch a pitch that there were not above three sound men in the wholecompany; we were obliged to bury such as died under the snow, as theground was frozen quite hard, and we were all reduced to extremeweakness, and we lost all hope of ever returning to France. " FromNovember to March four feet of snow lay upon the decks of their littleships. And yet, shut up as they were in the heart of a strange andunknown land, with their ships icebound and nought but savages around, there is no sound of murmur or complaint. "It must be allowed thatthe winter that year was uncommonly long" is all we hear. 

[Illustration: NEW FRANCE, SHOWING NEWFOUNDLAND, LABRADOR, AND THEST. LAWRENCE. From Jocomo di Gastaldi's Map, about 1550. The "Isolade Demoni" is Labrador, and "Terra Nuova" and the islands south ofit make up Newfoundland. The snaky-like line represents a sandbank, which was then thought, and agreed, to be the limit of fishing. Montreal(Port Real) will be noticed on the coast. ]

May found them free once more and making for home with the great newsthat, though they had not found the way to Cathay, they had discoveredand taken a great new country for France. 

A new map of the world in 1536 marks Canada and Labrador, and givesthe river St. Lawrence just beyond Montreal. A map of 1550 goes further, and calls the sea that washes the shores of Newfoundland and Labradorthe "Sea of France, " while to the south it is avowedly the "Sea ofSpain. "

[Illustration: THE "DAUPHIN" MAP OF THE WORLD. MADE BY PIERREDESCELIERS, 1546, TO THE ORDER OF FRANCIS I. , FOR THE DAUPHIN (HENRIII. OF FRANCE). This map gives a remarkably clear and interesting viewof geographical knowledge in the first half of the sixteenth century. (It is to be noted that all objects on one side of the Equinoctialare reversed. )]

CHAPTER XXXII

SEARCH FOR A NORTH-EAST PASSAGE

England was now awaking from her sleep--too late to possess the SpiceIslands--too late for India and the Cape of Good Hope--too late, itwould seem, for the New World. The Portuguese held the eastern route, the Spaniards the western route to the Spice Islands. But what if therewere a northern route? All ways apparently led to Cathay. Why shouldEngland not find a way to that glorious land by taking a northerncourse?

"If the seas toward the north be navigable we may go to these SpiceIslands by a shorter way than Spain and Portugal, " said Master Thorneof Bristol--a friend of the Cabots. 

"But the northern seas are blocked with ice and the northern landsare too cold for man to dwell in, " objected some. 

"_There is no land uninhabitable, nor sea unnavigable_, " was theheroic reply. 

"It was in this belief, and in this heroic temper, that England setherself to take possession of her heritage, the north. But it was nottill the reign of Edward VI. That a Company of Merchant Adventurerswas formed for the discovery of Regions, Dominions, Islands, andplaces unknown, " with old Sebastian Cabot as its first governor, andnot till the year 1553 that three little ships under Sir Hugh Willoughbyand Richard Chancellor were fitted out for a northern cruise. Theycarried letters of introduction from the boy-king of England to "allKings, Princes, Rulers, Judges, and Governors of the Earth in allplaces under the universal heaven, " including those "inhabiting thenorth-east parts of the world toward the mighty Empire of Cathay. "

Sir Hugh Willoughby, "a most valiant gentleman, " hoisted the Englishflag on the _Bona Esperanza_, a good little ship of one hundred andtwenty tons. The next in command was Richard Chancellor, "a man ofgreat estimation for many good parts of wit in him, " who sailed the_Edward Bonadventure_, which though not so fast as the flag-ship, wasslightly larger. So certain were the promoters that the ships wouldreach the hot climates beyond Cathay that they had them sheathed withlead to protect them from worms which had proved so destructive inthe tropics before. 

The account of the start of these first English Arctic explorers istoo quaint to be passed in silence. "It was thought best that by the20th of May the Captains and Mariners should take shipping and departif it pleased God. They, having saluted their acquaintance, one hiswife, another his children, another his kinsfolk, and another hisfriends dearer than his kinsfolk, were ready at the day appointed. The greater ships are towed down with boats and oars, and the mariners, being all apparelled in sky-coloured cloth, made way with diligence. And being come near to Greenwich (where the Court then lay), theCourtiers came running out and the common people flocked together, standing very thick upon the shore: the Privy Council, they lookedout of the windows of the Court, and the rest ran up to the tops ofthe towers, and the mariners shouted in such sort that the sky rangagain with the noise thereof. But, alas! the good King Edward--he onlyby reason of his sickness was absent from this show. "

The ships dropped down to Woolwich with the tide and coasted alongthe east coast of England till "at the last with a good wind they hoistedup sail and committed themselves to the sea, giving their last adieuto their native country--many of them could not refrain from tears. "Richard Chancellor himself had left behind two little sons, and hispoor mind was tormented with sorrow and care. 

By the middle of July the North Sea had been crossed, and the threesmall ships were off the shores of Norway, coasting among the islandsand fiords that line that indented kingdom. Coasting still northward, Willoughby led his ships to the Lofoten Islands, "plentifullyinhabited by very gentle people" under the King of Denmark. They sailedon--

 "To the west of them was the ocean, To the right the desolate shore. "

till they had passed the North Cape, already discovered by Othere, the old sea-captain who dwelt in Helgoland. 

A terrible storm now arose, and "the sea was so outrageous that theships could not keep their intended course, but some were driven oneway and some another way to their great peril and hazard. " Then SirHugh Willoughby shouted across the roaring seas to Richard Chancellor, begging him not to go far from him. But the little ships got separatedand never met again. Willoughby was blown across the sea to Nova Zembla. 

 "The sea was rough and stormy, The tempest howled and wailed, And the sea-fog like a ghost Haunted that dreary coast. But onward still I sailed. "

The weather grew more and more Arctic, and he made his way over toa haven in Lapland where he decided to winter. He sent men to explorethe country, but no signs of mankind could be found; there were bearsand foxes and all manner of strange beasts, but never a human being. It must have been desperately dreary as the winter advanced, with iceand snow and freezing winds from the north. What this little handfulof Englishmen did, how they endured the bitter winter on the desolateshores of Lapland, no man knows. Willoughby was alive in January1554--then all is silent. 

And what of Richard Chancellor on board the _Bonadventure_? "Pensive, heavy, and sorrowful, " but resolute to carry out his orders, "MasterChancellor held on his course towards that unknown part of the world, and sailed so far that he came at last to the place where he foundno night at all, but a continual light and brightness of the Sun, shining clearly upon the huge and mighty Sea. " After a time he foundand entered a large bay where he anchored, making friends with thefisher folk on the shores of the White Sea to the north of Russia. So frightened were the natives at the greatness of the English shipsthat at first they ran away, half-dead with fear. Soon, however, theyregained confidence and, throwing themselves down, they began to kissthe explorer's feet, "but he (according to his great and singularcourtesy) looked pleasantly upon them. " By signs and gestures hecomforted them until they brought food to the "new-come guests, " andwent to tell their king of the arrival of "a strange nation of singulargentleness and courtesy. "

Then the King of Russia or Muscovie--Ivan Vasiliwich--sent for MasterChancellor to go to Moscow. The journey had to be made in sledges overthe ice and snow. A long and weary journey it must have been, for hisguide lost the way, and they had travelled nearly one thousand fivehundred miles before Master Chancellor came at last to Moscow, thechief city of the kingdom, "as great as the city of London with allits suburbs, " remarks Chancellor. Arrived at the King's palace, MasterChancellor was received by one hundred Russian courtiers dressed incloth of gold to the very ankles. The King sat aloft on a high throne, with a crown of gold on his head, holding in his hand a glitteringsceptre studded with precious stones. The Englishman and hiscompanions saluted the King, who received them graciously and readthe letter from Edward VI. With interest. They did not know that theboy-king was dead, and that his sister Mary was on the throne of England. The King was much interested in the long beards grown by the Englishmen. That of one of the company was five foot two inches in length, "thick, broad, and yellow coloured. " "This is God's gift, " said the Russians. 

[Illustration: IVAN VASILIWICH, KING OF MUSCOVIE. From a sixteenthcentury woodcut. ]

To Edward VI. Of England the King sent a letter by the hands of RichardChancellor, giving leave readily for England to trade with Russia. 

Master Chancellor seems to have arrived home again safely with hisaccount of Russia, which encouraged the Merchant Adventurers to sendforth more ships to develop trade with this great new country of whichthey knew so little. 

To this end Anthony Jenkinson, "a resolute and intelligent gentleman, "was selected, and "with four tall, well-appointed ships he sailed on12th May 1557 toward the land of Russia. " He reached Cape North on2nd July, and a few days later he passed the spot where Sir HughWilloughby and all his company had perished. Anchoring in the Bay ofSt. Nicholas, he took a sledge for Moscow, where he delivered hisletters safely to the King. So icebound was the country that it wasApril 1558 before he was able to leave Moscow for the south, toaccomplish, if possible, the orders of the Merchant Adventurers tofind an overland route to Cathay. With letters of introduction fromthe Russian King to the princes and kings through whose dominions hewas to pass, Master Jenkinson made his way to the Volga, whence hecontinued his voyage with a Russian captain who was travelling southin great style to take up a command at Astrakan with five hundred boatsladen with soldiers, stores, food, and merchandise. 

After three months' travelling, and having passed over some onethousand two hundred miles, the Englishman reached the south. The cityof Astrakan offered no attractions and no hope of trade, so Jenkinsonboldly took upon himself to navigate the mouth of the Volga and toreach the Caspian Sea. He was the first Englishman to cross Russiafrom the White Sea to the Caspian. Never before on the Caspian hadthe red cross of St. George been seen flying from the masthead of aship sailed by Englishmen. After three weeks' buffeting by contrarywinds, they found themselves on the eastern shores, and, gettingtogether a caravan of one thousand camels, they went forward. No soonerhad they landed than they found themselves in a land of thieves androbbers. Jenkinson hastened to the Sultan of these parts, a notedrobber himself, to be kindly received by the Tartar Prince, who setbefore him the flesh of a wild horse and some mare's milk. Then thelittle English party travelled on for three weeks through desolateland with no rivers, no houses, no inhabitants, till they reached thebanks of the Oxus. "Here we refreshed ourselves, " says the explorer, "having been three days without water and drink, and tarried thereall the next day making merry with our slain horses and camels. " Fora hundred miles they followed the course of this great river untilthey reached another desert, where they were again attacked by bandsof thieves and robbers. 

It was Christmas Eve when they at last reached Bokhara, only to findthat the merchants were so poor that there was no hope of any tradeworth following, though the city was full of caravans from India andthe Far East. And here they heard that the way to Cathay was barredby reason of grievous wars which were going on. Winter was coming on;so Jenkinson remained for a couple of months before starting on hislong journey home. With a caravan of six hundred camels he made hisway back to the Caspian, and on 2nd September he had reached Moscowsafely with presents of "a white cow's tail of Cathay and a drum ofTartary" for the King, which seemed to give that monarch the greatestpleasure. He evidently stayed for a time in Russia, for it is not tillthe year 1560 that we find him writing to the Merchant Adventurersthat "at the next shipping I embark myself for England. "

[Illustration: ANTHONY JENKINSON'S MAP OF RUSSIA, MUSCOVY, ANDTARTARY, PUBLISHED IN 1562. ]

While Jenkinson was endeavouring to reach the Far East by land, aPortuguese named Pinto had succeeded in reaching it by sea. Thediscovery of Japan is claimed by three people. Antonio de Mota hadbeen thrown by a storm on to the island of Nison, called by the ChineseJepwen--Japan--in the year 1542. Pinto claims to have discovered itthe same year. It seems that the Japanese were expecting the returnof a god, and as the white men hove in sight they exclaimed: "Theseare certainly the Chinchi cogies spoken of in our records, who, flyingover the waters, shall come to be lords of the lands where God hasplaced the greatest riches of the world. It will be fortunate for usif they come as friends. "

Now men of the time refused to believe in the travels of Mendex Pinto. "He should be called Mendax Pinto, " said one, "whose book is onecontinued chain of monstrous fiction which deserves no credit, " whilea hundred and fifty years later Congreve wrote--

 "Ferdinando Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, Thou liar of the first magnitude. "

CHAPTER XXXIII

MARTIN FROBISHER SEARCHES FOR A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE

So far the expeditions of Willoughby, Chancellor, and Jenkinson hadall failed to reach the Far East. The Spanish had a way thither byMagellan's Strait, the Portuguese by the Cape of Good Hope. Englandin the middle of the sixteenth century had no way. What about aNorth-West Passage leading round Labrador from the Atlantic to thePacific? England was waking up to possibilities of future exploration. She was also ready and anxious to annoy Spain for having monopolisedthe riches and wealth of the New World. And so it was that QueenElizabeth turned with interest to the suggestions of one of hersubjects--Martin Frobisher--"a mariner of great experience andability, " when he enthusiastically consulted her on the navigationof the North-West Passage. For the last fifteen years he had been tryingto collect ships and men for the enterprise. "It is the only thingin the world left undone whereby a notable mind might be made famousand fortunate, " he affirmed. 

But it was not till the year 1576 that he got a chance of fitting outtwo small ships--two very small ships--the _Gabriel_ of twenty tons, the _Michael_ of twenty-five tons, to explore the icy regions of thenorth. A wave of the Queen's hand gladdened his heart as he sailedpast the palace of Greenwich, where the Court resided, and he was soonsailing northward harassed and battered by many storms. His littleten-ton pinnace was lost, and the same storm that overtook the littlefleet to the north of Scotland so terrified the captain of the _Michael_that he deserted and turned home with the news that Frobisher hadperished with all hands. 

Meanwhile Frobisher, resolute in his undertaking, was nearing thecoast of Greenland--alone in the little _Gabriel_ with a mere handfulof men all inexperienced in the art of navigating the Polar seas. 

 "And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold"

as Frobisher sailed his storm-beaten ship across the wintry seas. But"I will sacrifice my life to God rather than return home withoutdiscovering a north-west passage to Cathay, " he told his eighteen menwith sublime courage. Passing Cape Farewell, he sailed north-west withthe Greenland current, which brought him to the icebound shores nearHudson's Bay. He did not see the straits afterwards discovered byHudson, but, finding an inlet farther north, he sailed some hundredmiles, in the firm belief that this was the passage for which he wassearching, that America lay on his left and Asia on his right. Magellanhad discovered straits in the extreme south; Frobisher made sure thathe had found corresponding straits to the extreme north, andFrobisher's Straits they were accordingly named, and as such theyappeared on the maps of the day till they had to be renamed Lumley'sInlet. The snow and ice made further navigation impossible for thisyear, and full of their great news they returned home accompanied byan Eskimo. These natives had been taken for porpoises by our Englishexplorers, but later they were reported to be "strange infidels whoselike was never seen, read, or heard of before. "

[Illustration: GREENLANDERS AS SEEN BY MARTIN FROBISHER. From CaptainBeste's account of Frobisher's voyages, 1578. ]

Martin Frobisher was received with enthusiasm and "highly commendedof all men for his great and notable attempt, but specially famousfor the great hope he brought of the passage to Cathay. " Besides theEskimo the explorers carried home a black stone, which, when thrownon the fire by one of the sailor's wives, glittered like gold. Thegold refiners of London were hastily called in, and they reported thatit contained a quantity of gold. 

A new incentive was now given to Polar exploration. The Queen herselfcontributed a tall ship of some two hundred tons to the new expeditionthat was eagerly fitted out, and the High Admiral of all seas and waters, countries, lands, and isles, as Frobisher was now called, sailed awayagain for the icy north, more to search for gold than to discover theNorth-West Passage. He added nothing more to the knowledge of the world, and though he sailed through the strait afterwards known as Hudson'sStrait, he never realised his discovery. His work was hampered by thequest for gold, for which England was eagerly clamouring, and hedisappears from our history of discovery. 

The triumphant return of Francis Drake in 1580 laden with treasurefrom the Spice Islands put into the shade all schemes for a north-westpassage for the moment. 

Nevertheless, this voyage of Martin Frobisher is important in thehistory of exploration. It was the first attempt of an Englishman tomake search amid the ice of the Arctic regions--a search in which somany were yet to lay down their lives. 

CHAPTER XXXIV

DRAKE'S FAMOUS VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD

 "Call him on the deep sea, call him up the sound, Call him when ye sail to meet the foe; Where the old trade's plyin' and the old flag flyin', They shall find him ware an' wakin', as they found him long ago!" HENRY NEWBOLT. 

Drake's famous voyage, as it is known to history (1577-1580), wasindeed famous, for although Magellan's ship had sailed round the worldfifty years before, Drake was the first Englishman to do so, and, further, he discovered for us land to the south of Magellan's Straitround which washed the waters of Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, showingthat the mysterious land marked on contemporary maps as TerraAustralis and joined to South America was a separate land altogether. He also explored the coast of America as far north as Vancouver Island, and disclosed to England the secret of the Spice Islands. The veryname of Drake calls up a vision of thrilling adventure on the highseas. He had been at sea since he was a boy of fifteen, when he hadbeen apprenticed to the master of a small ship trading between Englandand the Netherlands, and many a time he had sailed on the grey NorthSea. "But the narrow seas were a prison for so large a spirit bornfor greater undertakings, " and in 1567 we find Drake sailing forthon board the _Judith_ in an expedition over to the Spanish settlementsin America under his kinsman, John Hawkins. Having crossed theAtlantic and filled his ships with Spanish treasure from "the SpanishMain, " and having narrowly escaped death from the hands of theSpaniards, Drake had hurried home to tell of the riches of this newcountry still closed to all other nations. Two years later Drake wasoff again, this time in command himself of two ships with crews ofseventy-three young men, their modest aim being nothing less than toseize one of the Spanish ports and empty into their holds the "TreasureHouse of the World. " What if this act of reckless daring wasunsuccessful? The undertaking was crowned with a higher success thanthat of riches, for Drake was the first Englishman to see the watersof the Pacific Ocean. His expedition was not unlike that of Balboasome sixty years before, as with eighteen chosen companions he climbedthe forest-clad spurs of the ridge dividing the two great oceans. Arrived at the top, he climbed up a giant tree, and the Golden Seaof which he had so often heard--the Pacific Ocean of Magellan, thewaters washing the golden shores of Mexico and Peru--all lay belowhim. Descending from the heights, he sank upon his knees and "humblybesought Almighty God of His goodness to give him life and leave tosail once in an English ship in that sea. "

[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. From Holland's _Heroologia_, 1620. ]

Jealously had the Spanish guarded this beautiful Southern Sea, nowher secrets were laid bare, for an Englishman had gazed upon it andhe was not likely to remain satisfied with this alone. 

In 1573 Drake came home with his wonderful news, and it was not longbefore he was eagerly talking over with the Queen a project for a raidinto this very Golden Sea guarded by the Spaniards. Elizabeth promisedhelp on condition that the object of the expedition should remain asecret. Ships were bought for "a voyage to Egypt"; there was the_Pelican_ of one hundred tons, the _Marygold_ of thirty tons, and aprovision ship of fifty tons. A fine new ship of eighty tons, namedthe _Elizabeth_, mysteriously added itself to the little fleet, andthe crews numbered in all some one hundred and fifty men. No expensewas spared in the equipment of the ships. Musicians were engaged forthe voyage, the arms and ammunition were of the latest pattern. Theflagship was lavishly furnished: there were silver bowls and mugs anddishes richly gilt and engraved with the family arms, while thecommander's cabin was full of sweet-smelling perfumes presented bythe Queen herself. Thus, complete at last, Drake led his gay littlesquadron out of Plymouth harbour on 15th November 1577, bound forAlexandria--so the crews thought. 

Little did Drake know what was before him, as, dressed in his seaman'sshirt, his scarlet cap with its gold band on his head, he waved farewellto England. Who could foresee the terrible beginning, with treacheryand mutiny at work, or the glorious ending when the young Englishmansailed triumphantly home after his three years' voyage--the worldencompassed?

Having reached the Cape de Verde Islands in safety, the object of theexpedition could no longer remain a secret, and Drake led his squadronboldly across the Atlantic Ocean. 

On 5th April the coast of Brazil appeared, but fogs and heavy weatherscattered the ships and they had to run into the mouth of the La Platafor shelter. Then for six weary weeks the ships struggled southward, battered by gales and squalls during which nothing but the daringseamanship of the English navigators saved the little vessels fromdestruction. It was not till 20th June that they reached Port St. Julianof Magellan fame, on the desolate shores of Patagonia. As they enteredthe harbour, a grim sight met their eyes. On that windswept shore wasthe skeleton of the man hung by Magellan years before. 

[Illustration: THE SILVER MAP OF THE WORLD. From the medallion in theBritish Museum, probably struck in 1581, showing the line of Drake'svoyage from England in 1577 westwards through the Magellan Strait toCalifornia and New Albion. ]

History was to repeat itself, and the same fate was now to befall anunhappy Englishman guilty of the same conduct. 

Drake had long had reason to suspect the second in command, Doughty, though he was his dear friend. He had been guilty of worse thandisobedience, and the very success of the voyage was threatened. SoDrake called a council together and Doughty was tried according toEnglish law. After two days' trial he was found guilty and condemnedto die. One of the most touching scenes in the history of explorationnow took place. One sees the little English crews far away on thatdesolate shore, the ships lying at anchor in the harbour, the blockprepared, the altar raised beside it, the two old friends, Drake andDoughty, kneeling side by side, then the flash of the sword and Drakeholding up the head of his friend with the words, "Lo, this is theend of traitors. "

It was now midwinter, and for six weeks they remained in harbour tillAugust came, and with three ships they emerged to continue their wayto the Straits of Magellan. At last it was found and boldly they entered. From the towering mountains that guarded the entry, tempests of windand snow swept down upon the "daring intruders. " As they made theirway through the rough and winding waters, they imagined with all theother geographers of their time that the unknown land to the southwas one great continent leading beyond the boundaries of the world. Fires lit by the natives on this southern coast added terror to thewild scene. But at the end of sixteen days they found themselves oncemore in the open sea. They were at last on the Pacific Ocean. But itwas anything but pacific. A terrible tempest arose, followed by otherstorms no less violent, and the ships were driven helplessly southwardand westward far beyond Cape Horn. When they once more reached thecoast they found in the place of the great southern continent anindented wind-swept shore washed by waves terrific in their heightand strength. In the ceaseless gale the _Marygold_ foundered with allhands and was never heard of again. A week later the captain of the_Elizabeth_ turned home, leaving the _Pelican_, now called the _GoldenHind_, to struggle on alone. After nearly two months of storm, Drakeanchored among the islands southward of anything yet known to thegeographers, where Atlantic and Pacific rolled together in oneboisterous flood. Walking alone to the farthest end of the island, Drake is said to have laid himself down and with his arms embracedthe southernmost point of the known world. 

[Illustration: THE SILVER MAP OF THE WORLD. The reverse half, showingthe route of Drake's voyage home from California in 1579-1580, throughthe Spice Islands and the Indian Ocean. The end of the homeward track, round the Azores, will be seen on the previous Silver Mapillustration. ]

He showed that the Tierra del Fuego, instead of being part of a greatcontinent--the Terra Australis--was a group of islands with open seato east, south, and west. This discovery was first shown on a Dutchsilver medallion struck in Holland about 1581, known as The SilverMap of the world, and may be seen to-day in the British Museum. 

[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, THE FIRST ENGLISHMAN TO SAIL ROUNDTHE WORLD. After the engraving attributed to Hondius. ]

Remarking that the ocean he was now entering would have been bettercalled "Mare Furiosum" than "Mare Pacificum, " Drake now directed hiscourse along the western coast of South America. He found the coastof Chili, but not as the general maps had described it, "whereforeit appeareth that this part of Chili hath not been truly hithertodiscovered, " remarked one on board the _Golden Hind_. Bristling withguns, the little English ship sailed along the unknown coast, tillthey reached Valparaiso. Here they found a great Spanish ship ladenwith treasure from Peru. Quickly boarding her, the English sailorsbound the Spaniards, stowed them under the hatches, and hastilytransferred the cargo on to the _Golden Hind_. They sailed onnorthwards to Lima and Panama, chasing the ships of Spain, plunderingas they went, till they were deeply laden with stolen Spanish treasureand knew that they had made it impossible to return home by that coast. So Drake resolved to go on northward and discover, if possible, a wayhome by the north. He had probably heard of Frobisher's Strait, andhoped to find a western entrance. 

As they approached the Arctic regions the weather grew bitterly cold, and "vile, thick, stinking fogs" determined them to sail southward. They had reached a point near what we now know as Vancouver Islandwhen contrary winds drove them back and they put in at a harbour, nowknown as San Francisco, to repair the ship for the great voyage acrossthe Pacific and home by the Cape of Good Hope. Drake had sailed pastseven hundred miles of new coast-line in twelve days, and he now turnedto explore the new country, to which he gave the name of New Albion. The Indians soon began to gather in large quantities on the shore, and the King himself, tall and comely, advanced in a friendly manner. Indeed, he took off his crown and set it on the head of Drake and, hanging chains about his neck, the Indians made him understand thatthe land was now his and that they were his vassals. 

[Illustration: THE _GOLDEN HIND_ AT NEW ALBION. From the Chart ofDrake's Voyages. 1589. ]

Little did King Drake dream, as he named his country New Albion, thatCalifornian gold was so near. His subjects were loving and peaceable, evidently regarding the English as gods and reverencing them as such. The chronicler is eloquent in his detailed description of all the royaldoings. 

"Before we left, " he says, "our General caused to be set up a monumentof our being there, as also of Her Majesty's right and title to thatkingdom, namely, a plate of brass, fast nailed to a great and firmpost, whereon is engraved Her Grace's name and the day and year ofour arrival here, and of the free giving up of the province, both bythe people and king, into Her Majesty's hands, together with HerHighness' picture and arms in a piece of sixpence current money. TheSpanish never so much as set foot in this country--the utmost of theirdiscoveries reaching only to many degrees southward of this place. 

"And now, as the time of our departure was perceived by the people, so did the sorrows and miseries seem to increase upon them--not onlydid they lose on a sudden all mirth, joy, glad countenance, pleasantspeeches, agility of body, but with signs and sorrowings, with heavyhearts and grieved minds, they poured out woeful complaints and moans, with bitter tears and wringing of their hands, tormenting themselves. And, as men refusing all comfort, they only accounted themselves asthose whom the gods were about to forsake. "

Indeed, the poor Indians looked on these Englishmen as gods, and, whenthe day came for them to leave, they ran to the top of the hills tokeep the little ship in sight as long as possible, after which theyburnt fires and made sacrifices at their departure. 

Drake left New Albion on 23rd July 1579, to follow the lead of Magellanand to pass home by the southern seas and the Atlantic Ocean. Aftersixty-eight days of quick and straight sailing, with no sight of land, they fell in with the Philippine Islands, and on 3rd November withthe famous Spice Islands. Here they were well received by the King--amagnificent person attired in cloth of gold, with bare legs and shoesof Cordova skins, rings of gold in his hair, and a chain "of perfectgold" about his neck. The Englishmen were glad enough to get freshfood after their long crossing, and fared sumptuously on rice, hens, "imperfect and liquid sugar, " sugar-canes, and a fruit they call figo, with plenty of cloves. On a little island near Celebes the _GoldenHind_ was thoroughly repaired for her long voyage home. But the littletreasure-laden ship was nearly wrecked before she got away from thedangerous shoals and currents of these islands. 

"Upon the 9th of January we ran suddenly upon a rock, where we stuckfast from eight of the clock at night till four of the clock in theafternoon the next day, being, indeed, out of all hope to escape thedanger; but our General, as he had always hitherto showed himselfcourageous, so now he and we did our best endeavours to save ourselves, which it pleased God so to bless, that in the end we cleared ourselvesmost happily of the danger. "

[Illustration: THE _GOLDEN HIND_ AT JAVA. From the Chart of Drake'sVoyages. ]

Then they ran across the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hopein calm weather, abusing the Portuguese for calling it the mostdangerous Cape in the world for intolerable storms, for "This Cape, "said the English, "is a most stately thing and the finest Cape we sawin the whole circumference of the earth. "

And so they came home. After nearly three years' absence Draketriumphantly sailed his little _Golden Hind_ into Plymouth harbour, where he had long ago been given up as lost. Shouts of applause rangthrough the land at the news that an Englishman had circumnavigatedthe world. The Queen sent for Drake to tell his wonderful story, towhich she listened spellbound. A great banquet was held on board thelittle ship, at which Elizabeth was present and knighted Drake, whileshe ordered that the _Golden Hind_ should be preserved "as a worthyrival of Magellan's _Victoria_" and as "a monument to all posterityof that famous and worthy exploit of Sir Francis Drake. " It wasafterwards taken to pieces, and the best parts of wood were made intoa chair at Oxford, commemorated by Cowley's lines--

 "To this great ship, which round the world has run And matched in race the chariot of the sun;

 * * * * *

 Drake and his ship could ne'er have wished from fate A happier station or more blest estate; For lo, a seat of endless rest is given To her in Oxford and to him in Heaven. "

Sir Francis Drake died at sea in 1596. 

 "The waves became his winding sheet, the waters were his tomb, But for his fame the ocean sea was not sufficient room. "

[Illustration: "THE UNROLLING OF THE CLOUDS"--V. The world as knownafter its circumnavigation by Sir Francis Drake in the years1577-1580. ]

CHAPTER XXXV

DAVIS STRAIT

But even while Drake was sailing round the world, and Frobisher'ssearch for a north-west passage had been diverted into a quest forgold, men's minds were still bent on the achievement of reaching Cathayby some northern route. A discourse by Sir Humphrey Gilbert to provethe existence of a passage by the north-west to Cathay and the EastIndies, in ten chapters, was much discussed, and the Elizabethanseamen were still bent on its discovery. 

"When I gave myself to the study of geography, " said Sir Humphrey, "and came to the fourth part of the world, commonly called America, which by all descriptions I found to be an island environed round bysea, having on the south side of it the Strait of Magellan, on thewest side the Sea of the South, which sea runneth toward the north, separating it from the east parts of Asia, and on the north side thesea that severeth it from Greenland, through which Northern Seas thePassage lieth which I take now in hand to discover. "

The arguments of Sir Humphrey seemed conclusive, and in 1585 they choseJohn Davis, "a man well grounded in the principles of the art ofnavigation, " to search for the North-West Passage to China. They gavehim two little ships, the _Sunshine_ of fifty tons, with a crew ofseventeen seamen, four musicians, and a boy, and the _Moonshine_ ofthirty-five tons. It was a daring venture, but the expedition wasill-equipped to battle with the icebound seas of the frozen north. The ships left Dartmouth on 7th June, and by July they were well outon the Atlantic with porpoises and whales playing round them. Thencame a time of fog and mist, "with a mighty great roaring of the sea. "On 20th July they sailed out of the fog and beheld the snow-coveredmountains of Greenland, beyond a wide stream of pack-ice--so gloomy, so "waste, and void of any creatures, " so bleak and inhospitable thatthe Englishmen named it the Land of Desolation and passed on to thenorth. Rounding the point, afterwards named by Davis Cape Farewell, and sailing by the western coast of Greenland, they hoped to find thepassage to Cathay. Landing amid the fiords and the "green and pleasantisles" about the coast, they anchored a while to refresh, and namedtheir bay Gilbert Sound, after Sir Humphrey and Davis' own little boy, Gilbert, left at home. 

"The people of the country, " says Davis, "having espied our ships, came down unto us in their canoes, holding up their right hand towardthe sun. We doing the like, the people came aboard our ships, men ofgood stature, unbearded, small-eyed, and of tractable conditions. Webought the clothes from their backs, which were all made of seals'skins and birds' skins, their buskins, their hose, their gloves, allbeing commonly sewed and well dressed. "

[Illustration: AN ESKIMO. From a water-colour drawing by John White, about 1585, who may have seen Eskimo either in Frobisher's or Davis'svoyages. ]

These simple Greenlanders who worshipped the sun gave Davis tounderstand that there was a great and open sea to the north-west, andfull of hope he sailed on. But he soon abandoned the search, for theseason was advancing, and, crossing the open sea, he entered the broadchannel named after him Davis Strait, crossed the Arctic Circle, andanchored under a promontory, "the cliffs whereof were orient as gold, "naming it Mount Raleigh. Here they found four white bears of "amonstrous bigness, " which they took to be goats or wolves, till onnearer acquaintance they were discovered to be great Polar bears. There were no signs of human life, no wood, no grass, no earth, nothingbut rock, so they coasted southwards, and to their joy they found anopen strait to the west free from ice. Eagerly they sailed the little_Moonshine_ and _Sunshine_ up the opening, which they calledCumberland Sound, till thick fogs and adverse winds drove them back. Winter was now advancing, the six months' provisions were ended, and, satisfied with having found an open passage westward, Davis sailedhome in triumph to fit out another expedition as soon as spring cameround. His news was received with delight. "The North-West Passageis a matter nothing doubtful, " he affirmed, "but at any time almostto be passed, the sea navigable, void of ice, the air tolerable, andthe waters very deep. "

With this certainty of success the merchants readily fitted outanother expedition, and Davis sailed early in May 1586 with four ships. The little _Moonshine_ and _Sunshine_ were included in the new fleet, but Davis himself commanded the _Mermaid_ of one hundred and twentytons. The middle of June found him on the west coast of Greenland, battling his way with great blocks of ice to his old quarters at GilbertSound. What a warm welcome they received from their old Eskimo friends;"they rowed to the boat and took hold on the oars and hung about withsuch comfortable joy as would require a long discourse to be uttered. "Followed by a wondering crowd of natives eager to help him up and downthe rocks, Davis made his way inland to find an inviting country, "withearth and grass such as our moory and waste grounds of England are";he found, too, mosses and wild flowers in the sheltered places. Buthis business lay in the icy waters, and he boldly pushed forward. Butice and snow and fog made further progress impossible; shrouds, ropes, and sails were turned into a frozen mass, and the crew was filled withdespair. "Our men began to grow sick and feeble and hopeless of goodsuccess, and they advised me that in conscience I ought to regard thesafety of mine own life with the preservation of theirs, and that Ishould not through my over-boldness leave their widows and fatherlesschildren to give me bitter curses. "

So Davis rearranged his crews and provisions, and with the _Moonshine_and a selection of his best men he determined to voyage on "as Godshould direct him, " while the _Mermaid_ should carry the sick andfeeble and fainthearted home. Davis then crossed over the straitcalled by his name and explored the coast about Cumberland Sound. Againhe tried here to discover the long-sought passage, but the brief summerseason was almost past and he had to content himself with exploringthe shores of Labrador, unconsciously following the track made by JohnCabot eighty-nine years before. 

But on his return home the merchants of London were disappointed. Davishad indeed explored an immense extent of coast-line, and he had broughtback a cargo of cod-fish and five hundred seal skins, but Cathay seemedas far off as ever. One merchant prince, Sanderson by name, was stillvery keen, and he helped Davis to fit out yet another expedition. Withthree ships, the _Sunshine_, the _Elizabeth_, and the _Helen_, theundaunted Arctic explorer now found himself for the third summer insuccession at his old halting-place, Gilbert's Sound, on the westcoast of Greenland. 

Leaving his somewhat discontented crews to go fishing off the coastof Labrador, he took the little twenty-ton pinnace, with a small partyof brave spirits like his own, and made his way northwards in a freeand open sea. The weather was hot, land was visible on both sides, and the English mariners were under the impression that they weresailing up a gulf. But the passage grew wider and wider, till Davisfound himself with the sea all open to west and north. He had crossedthe Arctic Circle and reached the most northerly point ever yet reachedby an explorer. Seeing on his right a lofty cliff, he named it"Sanderson his Hope, " for it seemed to give hope of the long-soughtpassage to Cathay. 

It was a memorable day in the annals of discovery, 30th June 1587, when Davis reached this famous point on the coast of Greenland. "Abright blue sea extended to the horizon on the north and west, obstructed by no ice, but here and there a few majestic icebergs withpeaks snowy shooting up into the sky. " To the eastward were the granitemountains of Greenland, and beyond them the white line of the mightiestglacier in the world. Rising immediately above the tiny vessel wasthe beetling wall of Hope Sanderson, with its summit eight hundredand fifty feet above sea-level. At its base the sea was a sheet offoam and spray. It must have been a scene like fairyland, for, as Davisremarked, there was "no ice towards the north, but a great sea, free, large, very salt and blue, and of an unsearchable depth. "

But again disappointment awaited him. That night a wind from the northbarred further advance as a mighty bank of ice some eight feet thickcame drifting down toward the Atlantic. Again and again he attemptedto get on, but it was impossible, and reluctantly enough he turnedthe little ship southwards. 

"This Davis hath been three times employed; why hath he not found thepassage?" said the folk at home when he returned and reported his doings. How little they realised the difficulties of the way. The commanderof the twenty-ton _Ellen_ had done more than any man had done beforehim in the way of Arctic exploration. He had discovered seven hundredand thirty-two miles of coast from Cape Farewell to Sanderson's Hope;he had examined the whole coast of Labrador; he had "converted theArctic regions from a confused myth into a defined area. " "He lightedBaffin into his bay. He lighted Hudson into his strait. He lightedHans Egede to the scene of his Greenland labour. " And more than this, says his enthusiastic biographer: "His true-hearted devotion to thecause of Arctic discovery, his patient scientific research, hisloyalty to his employers, his dauntless gallantry and enthusiasm forman example which will be a beacon-light to maritime explorers for alltime to come. "

 "And Davis three times forth for the north-west made, Still striving by that course t'enrich the English trade; And as he well deserved, to his eternal fame, There, by a mighty sea, immortalised his name. "

CHAPTER XXXVI

BARENTS SAILS TO SPITZBERGEN

With the third failure of John Davis to find the North-West Passagethe English search for Cathay came to an end for the present. But themerchants of Amsterdam took up the search, and in 1594 they fittedout an expedition under William Barents, a burgher of Amsterdam anda practical seaman of much experience. The three voyages of Barentsform some of the most romantic reading in the history of geographicaldiscovery, and the preface to the old book compiled for the Dutch afterthe death of Barents sums up in pathetic language the tragic storyof the "three Voyages, so strange and wonderful that the like hathnever been heard of before. " They were "done and performed threeyears, " says the old preface, "one after the other, by the ships ofHolland, on the North sides of Norway, Muscovy, and Tartary, towardsthe kingdoms of Cathay and China, showing discoveries of the Countrylying under 80 degrees: which is thought to be Greenland; where neverany man had been before, with the cruel Bears and other Monsters ofthe sea and the unsupportable and extreme cold that is found to bein these places. And how that in the last Voyage the Ship was enclosedby the Ice, that it was left there, whereby the men were forced tobuild a house in the cold and desert country of Nova Zembla, whereinthey continued ten months together and never saw nor heard of any man, in most great cold and extreme misery; and how after that, to savetheir lives, they were constrained to sail about one thousand milesin little open boats, along and over the main Seas in most great dangerand with extreme labour, unspeakable troubles, and great hunger. "

Surely no more graphic summary of disaster has ever appeared than thesewords penned three hundred and fourteen years ago, which cry to usdown the long, intervening ages of privation and suffering enduredin the cause of science. 

[Illustration: A SHIP OF THE LATE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. From Ortelius, 1598. ]

In the year 1594, then, four ships were sent forth from Amsterdam withorders to the wise and skilful pilot, William Barents, that he wasto sail into the North Seas and "discover the kingdoms of Cathay andChina. " In the month of July the Dutch pilot found himself off thesouth coast of Nova Zembla, whence he sailed as the wind pleased totake him, ever making for the north and hugging the coast as closeas possible. On 9th July they found a creek very far north to whichthey gave the name of Bear Creek, because here they suddenly discoveredtheir first Polar bear. It tried to get into their boat, so they shotit with a musket, "but the bear showed most wonderful strength, for, notwithstanding that she was shot into the body, yet she leapt up andswam in the water; the men that were in the boat, rowing after her, cast a rope about her neck and drew her at the stern of the boat, for, not having seen the like bear before, they thought to have carriedher alive in the ship and to have showed her for a strange wonder inHolland; but she used such force that they were glad they were ridof her, and contented themselves with her skin only. " This they broughtback to Amsterdam in great triumph--their first white Polar bear. Butthey went farther north than this, until they came to a plain fieldof ice and encountered very misty weather. Still they kept sailingon, as best they might, round about the ice till they found the landof Nova Zembla was covered with snow. From "Ice Point" they made theirway to islands which they named Orange Islands after the Dutch Prince. Here they found two hundred walrus or sea-horses lying on the shoreand basking in the sun. 

[Illustration: NOVA ZEMBLA AND THE ARCTIC REGIONS. From a map in DeBry's _Grands Voyages_, 1598. ]

"The sea-horse is a wonderful strong monster of the sea, " they broughtback word, "much bigger than an ox, having a skin like a seal, withvery short hair, mouthed like a lion; it hath four feet, but no ears. "The little party of Dutchmen advanced boldly with hatchets and pikesto kill a few of these monsters to take home, but it was harder workthan they thought. The wind suddenly rose, too, and rent the ice intogreat pieces, so they had to content themselves by getting a few oftheir ivory teeth, which they reported to be half an ell long. Withthese and other treasures Barents was now forced to return from thesehigh latitudes, and he sailed safely into the Texel after three anda half months' absence. 

His reports of Nova Zembla encouraged the merchants of Amsterdam topersevere in their search for the kingdoms of Cathay and China by thenorth-east, and a second expedition was fitted out under Barents thefollowing year; but it started too late to accomplish much, and wemust turn to the third expedition for the discovery which has for evermade famous the name of William Barents. It was yet early in the Mayof 1596 when he sailed from Amsterdam with two ships for the thirdand last time, bound once more for the frozen northern seas. By 1stJune he had reached a region where there was no night, and a few dayslater a strange sight startled the whole crew, "for on each side ofthe sun there was another sun and two rainbows more, the one compassinground about the suns and the other right through the great circle, "and they found they were "under 71 degrees of the height of the Pole. "

Sighting the North Cape of Lapland, they held on a north-westerlycourse till on 9th June they came upon a little island which they namedBear Island. Here they nearly met their end, for, having ascended asteep snow mountain on the island to look around them, they found ittoo slippery to descend. "We thought we should all have broken ournecks, it was so slippery, but we sat up on the snow and slid down, which was very dangerous for us, and break both our arms and legs forthat at the foot of the hill there were many rocks. " Barents himselfseems to have sat in the boat and watched them with intense anxiety. They were once more amid ice and Polar bears. In hazy weather theymade their way north till on the 19th they saw land, and the "landwas very great. " They thought it was Greenland, but it was reallySpitzbergen, of which he was thus the discoverer. 

Many things astonished the navigators here. Although they were in suchhigh latitudes, they saw grass and leafy trees and such animals asbucks and harts, while several degrees to the south "there growethneither leaves nor grass nor any beasts that eat grass or leaves, butonly such beasts as eat flesh, as bears and foxes. "

[Illustration: BARENTS IN THE ARCTIC: "HUT WHEREIN WE WINTERED. " FromDe Veer's account of the voyages of Barents, 1598. ]

By 1st July he had explored the western shore and was sailing southto Bear Island. He never landed on the coast of Spitzbergen: so wehave no further account of this Arctic discovery. Sailing across thewide northern sea now known as Barents Sea, he made land again in thenorth of Nova Zembla, and, hugging the western shore, came to Ice Point. Here they were sorely harassed by Polar bears and floating ice andbitter gales of wind. Still they coasted on till they had rounded thenorthern end of Nova Zembla and unexpectedly sailed into a good harbourwhere they could anchor. The wind now blew with redoubled vigour, the"ice came mightily driving in" until the little ship was nearlysurrounded, "and withal the wind began more and more to rise and theice still drave harder and harder, so that our boat was broken in piecesbetween the ship and the ice, and it seemed as if the ship would becrushed in pieces too. "

As the August days passed on, they tried to get out of their prison, but it was impossible, and there was nothing for it but to winter "ingreat cold, poverty, misery, and grief" in this bleak and barren spot. The successful pilot was to explore no more, but the rest of the tragictale must be shortly told. With the ice heaping high, "as the salthills that are in Spain, " and the ship in danger of going to pieces, they collected trees and roots driven on to the desolate shores fromTartary, "wherewith as if God had purposely sent them unto us we weremuch comforted. " Through the September days they drew wood across theice and snow to build a house for the winter. Only sixteen men couldwork and they were none too strong and well. 

[Illustration: BARENTS'S SHIP AMONG THE ARCTIC ICE. From a colouredwoodcut in the account of Barents's three voyages by Gerard de Veer, published in 1598. ]

Throughout October and November they were snowed up in their winterhut, with "foul stormie weather" outside, the wind blowing ceaselesslyout of the north and snow lying deep around. They trapped a few foxesfrom day to day to eat, making warm caps out of their fur; they heatedstones and took them into their cabin beds, but their sheets frozeas they washed them and at last their clock froze too. 

"They looked pitifully upon one another, being in great fear that ifthe extremity of the cold grew to be more and more we should all diethere with the cold. " Christmas came and went and they comforted oneanother by remembering that the sun was as low as it could go, andthat it must begin to come to them again; but "as the day lengthens, so the cold strengthens, " and the snow now lay deeper until it coveredthe roof of their house. 

The New Year found them still imprisoned, "with great cold, danger, and disease. " January, February, March, April passed and still thelittle ship was stuck fast in the ice. But as the sun began to gainpower, hope revived, and they began to repair their boats, to makenew sails, and repair tackle. They were too weak and ill to do muchwork, but by the middle of June the boats were fairly ready and theycould cut a way through the ice to the open sea. This was their onlyhope of escape, to leave the ship behind and embark in two little openboats for the open sea. 

"Then William Barents wrote a letter, which he put into a musket'scharge and hanged it up in the chimney, showing how we came out ofHolland to sail to the kingdom of China, and how we had been forcedin our extremity to make that house and had dwelt ten months therein, and how we were forced to put to sea in two small open boats, for thatthe ship lay fast in the ice. "

Barents himself was now too ill to walk, so they carried him to oneof the little boats, and on 14th June 1597 the little party put offfrom their winter quarters and sailed round to Ice Point. But the pilotwas dying. "Are we about Ice Point?" he asked feebly. "If we be, thenI pray you lift me up, for I must view it once again. "

Then suddenly the wind began to rise, driving the ice so fast uponthem "that it made our hair stand upright upon our heads, it was sofearful to behold, so that we thought verily that it was a foreshadowingof our last end. "

They drew the boats up on to the ice and lifted the sick commanderout and laid him on the icy ground, where a few days later he died--"ourchief guide and only pilot on whom we reposed ourselves next underGod. " The rest of the story is soon told. 

On 1st November 1597 some twelve gaunt and haggard men, still wearingcaps of white fox and coats of bearskin, having guided their littleopen boats all the way from Nova Zembla, arrived at Amsterdam and toldthe story of their exploration to the astonished merchants, who hadlong since given them up as dead. 

It was not till 1871 that Barents' old winter quarters on Nova Zemblawere discovered. "There stood the cooking-pans over the fireplace, the old clocks against the wall, the arms, the tools, the drinkingvessels, the instruments and the books that had beguiled the wearyhours of that long night, two hundred and seventy-eight years ago. "Among the relics were a pair of small shoes and a flute which hadbelonged to a little cabin-boy who had died during the winter. 

CHAPTER XXXVII

HUDSON FINDS HIS BAY

Henry Hudson was another victim to perish in the hopeless search fora passage to China by the north. John Davis had been dead two years, but not till after he had piloted the first expedition undertaken bythe newly formed East India Company for commerce with India and theEast. It was now more important than ever to find a short way to thesecountries other than round by the Cape of Good Hope. So Henry Hudsonwas employed by the Muscovy Company "to discover a shorter route toCathay _by sailing over the North Pole_. " He knew the hardships ofthe way; he must have realised the fate of Willoughby, the failureof Frobisher, the sufferings of Barents and his men, the difficultiesof Davis--indeed, it is more than probable that he had listened toDavis speaking on the subject of Arctic exploration to the merchantsof London at his uncle's house at Mortlake. 

Never did man start on a bolder or more perilous enterprise than didthis man, when he started for the North Pole in a little boat of eightytons, with his little son Jack, two mates, and a crew of eight men. 

"Led by Hudson with the fire of a great faith in his eyes, the mensolemnly marched to St. Ethelburga Church, off Bishopsgate Street, London, to partake of Holy Communion and ask God's aid. Back to themuddy water front, opposite the Tower, a hearty God-speed from thegentlemen of the Muscovy Company, pompous in self-importance and laceruffles--and the little crew steps into a clumsy river-boat withbrick-red sails. "

After a six weeks' tumble over a waste of waters, Hudson arrived offthe coast of Greenland, the decks of the little _Hopewell_ coated withice, her rigging and sails hard as boards, and a north-east gale ofwind and snow against her. A barrier of ice forbade further advance;but, sailing along the edge of this barrier--the first navigator todo so--he made for the coast of Spitzbergen, already roughly chartedby Barents. Tacking up the west coast to the north, Hudson now exploredfurther the fiords, islands, and harbours, naming some ofthem--notably Whale Bay and Hakluyt Headland, which may be seen onour maps of to-day. By 13th July he had reached his Farthest North, farther than any explorer had been before him, farther than any tobe reached again for over one hundred and fifty years. It was a landof walrus, seal, and Polar bear; but, as usual, ice shut off all furtherattempts to penetrate the mysteries of the Pole, thick fog hung aroundthe little ship, and with a fair wind Hudson turned southward. "Itpleased God to give us a gale and away we steered, " says the old shiplog. Hudson would fain have steered Greenland way and had another tryfor the north. But his men wanted to go home, and home they went, through"slabbie" weather. 

But the voice of the North was still calling Hudson, and he persuadedthe Muscovy Company to let him go off again. This he did in the followingyear. Only three of his former crew volunteered for service, and oneof these was his son. But this expedition was devoid of result. Theicy seas about Nova Zembla gave no hope of a passage in this direction, and, "being void of hope, the wind stormy and against us, much icedriving, we weighed and set sail westward. "

[Illustration: HUDSON'S MAP OF HIS VOYAGES IN THE ARCTIC. From hisbook published in 1612. ]

Hudson's voyages for the Muscovy Company had already come under thenotice of the Dutch, who were vying with the English for the discoveryof this short route to the East. Hudson was now invited to undertakean expedition for the Dutch East India Company, and he sailed fromAmsterdam in the early spring of 1609 in a Dutch ship called the_Half-Moon_, with a mixed crew of Dutch and English, including oncemore his own son. Summer found the enthusiastic explorer off the coastof Newfoundland, where some cod-fishing refreshed the crews beforethey sailed on south, partly seeking an opening to the west, partlylooking for the colony of Virginia, under Hudson's friend, CaptainJohn Smith. In hot, misty weather they cruised along the coast. Theypassed what is now Massachusetts, "an Indian country of great hills--avery sweet land. " On 7th August, Hudson was near the modern town ofNew York, so long known as New Amsterdam, but mist hid the low-lyinghills and the _Half-Moon_ drifted on to James River; then, driven backby a heat hurricane, he made for the inlet on the old charts, whichmight lead yet east. 

It was 2nd September when he came to the great mouth of the river thatnow bears his name. He had been beating about all day in gales andfogs, when "the sun arose and we saw the land all like broken islands. From the land which we had first sight of, we came to a large lakeof water, like drowned land, which made it to rise like islands. Themouth hath many shores and the sea breaketh on them. This is a verygood land to fall in with, and a pleasant land to see. At three ofthe clock in the afternoon we came to three great rivers. We founda very good harbour and went in with our ship. Then we took our netsto fish and caught ten great mullets of a foot and a half long each, and a ray as great as four men could haul into the ship. The peopleof the country came aboard of us, seeming very glad of our coming, and brought green tobacco--they go in deer skins, well-dressed, theydesire clothes and are very civil--they have great store of maize, whereof they make good bread. The country is full of great and talloaks. " To this he adds that the women had red copper tobacco pipes, many of them being dressed in mantles of feathers or furs, but thenatives proved treacherous. Sailing up the river, Hudson found it amile broad, with high land on both sides. By the night of 19th Septemberthe little _Half-Moon_ had reached the spot where the river widensnear the modern town of Albany. He had sailed for the first time thedistance covered to-day by magnificent steamers which ply dailybetween Albany and New York city. Hudson now went ashore with an oldchief of the country. "Two men were dispatched in quest of game, " sorecords Hudson's manuscript, "who brought in a pair of pigeons. Theylikewise killed a fat dog and skinned it with great haste with shells. The land is the finest for cultivation that ever I in my life set footupon. "

Hudson had not found a way to China, but he had found the great andimportant river that now bears his name. Yet he was to do greater thingsthan these, and to lose his life in the doing. The following year, 1610, found him once more bound for the north, continuing the endlesssearch for a north-west passage--this time for the English, and notfor the Dutch. On board the little _Discovery_ of fifty-five tons, with his young son, Jack, still his faithful companion, with atreacherous old man as mate, who had accompanied him before, with agood-for-nothing young spendthrift taken at the last moment "becausehe wrote a good hand, " and a mixed crew, Hudson crossed the wideAtlantic for the last time. He sailed by way of Iceland, where "freshfish and dainty fowl, partridges, curlew, plover, teale, and goose"much refreshed the already discontented crews, and the hot baths ofIceland delighted them. The men wanted to return to the pleasant landdiscovered in the last expedition, but the mysteries of the frozenNorth still called the old explorer, and he steered for Greenland. He was soon battling with ice upon the southern end of "Desolation, "whence he crossed to the snowy shores of Labrador, sailing into thegreat straits that bear his name to-day. For three months they sailedaimlessly about that "labyrinth without end" as it was called by AbacukPrickett who wrote the account of this fourth and last voyage of HenryHudson. But they could find no opening to the west, no way of escape. 

[Illustration: A SHIP OF HUDSON'S FLEET. From his _Voyages_, 1612. ]

Winter was coming on, "the nights were long and cold, and the earthwas covered with snow. " They were several hundred miles south of thestraits, and no way had been found to the Pacific; they had followedthe south shore "to the westernmost bay of all, " James Bay, but lo!there was no South Sea. Hudson recognised the fact that he wasland-bound and winter-bound in a desolate region, with a discontentedcrew, and that the discontent was amounting to mutiny. On 1st Novemberthey hauled up the ship and selected a wintering place. Ten days laterthey were frozen in, and snow was falling continuously every day. "Wewere victualled for six months, and of that which was good, " runs therecord. For the first three months they shot "partridges as white asmilk, " but these left with the advent of spring, and hunger seizedon the handful of Englishmen wintering in this unknown land. "Thenwe went into the woods, hills, and valleys--and the moss and the frogwere not spared. " Not till the month of May did the ice begin to meltand the men could fish. The first day this was possible they caught"five hundred fish as big as good herrings and some trout, " whichrevived their hopes and their health. Hudson made a last despairingeffort to find a westward passage. But now the men rose in mutiny. "We would rather be hanged at home than starved abroad!" they criedmiserably. 

So Hudson "fitted all things for his return, and first delivered allthe bread out of the bread room (which came to a pound apiece for everyman's share), and he wept when he gave it unto them. " It was barelysufficient for fourteen days, and even with the fourscore small fishthey had caught it was "a poor relief for so many hungry bellies. "

With a fair wind in the month of June, the little _Discovery_ was headedfor home. A few days later she was stopped by ice. Mutiny now burstforth. The "master" and his men had lost confidence in each other. There were ruffians on board, rendered almost wild by hunger andprivation. There is nothing more tragic in the history of explorationthan the desertion of Henry Hudson and his boy in their newly discoveredbay. Every detail of the conspiracy is given by Prickett. We know howthe rumour spread, how the crew resolved to turn the "master" and thesick men adrift and to share the remaining provisions among themselves. And how in the early morning Hudson was seized and his arms bound behindhim. 

"What does this mean?" he cried. 

"You will know soon enough when you are in the shallop, " they replied. 

The boat was lowered and into it Hudson was put with his son, whilethe "poor, sick, and lame men were called upon to get them out of theircabins into the shallop. " Then the mutineers lowered some powder andshot, some pikes, an iron pot, and some meal into her, and the littleboat was soon adrift with her living freight of suffering, starvingmen--adrift in that icebound sea, far from home and friends and allhuman help. At the last moment the carpenter sprang into the driftingboat, resolved to die with the captain sooner than desert him. Thenthe _Discovery_ flew away with all sail up as from an enemy. 

And "the master" perished--how and when we know not. 

Fortunately the mutineers took home Hudson's journals and charts. Ships were sent out to search for the lost explorer, but the silencehas never been broken since that summer's day three hundred years ago, when he was deserted in the waters of his own bay. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII

BAFFIN FINDS HIS BAY

Two years only after the tragedy of Henry Hudson, another Arcticexplorer appears upon the scene. William Baffin was already anexperienced seaman in the prime of life; he had made four voyages tothe icy north, when he was called on by the new Company of Merchantsof London--"discoverers of the North-West Passage"--formed in 1612, to prepare for another voyage of discovery. Distressed beyond measureat the desertion of Henry Hudson, the Muscovy Company had dispatchedSir Thomas Button with our old friend Abacuk Prickett to show him theway. Button had reached the western side of Hudson's Bay, and afterwintering there returned fully convinced that a north-west passageexisted in this direction. Baffin returned from an expedition toGreenland the same year. The fiords and islets of west Greenland, theice-floes and glaciers of Spitzbergen, the tidal phenomena of Hudson'sStrait, and the geographical secrets of the far-northern bay were allfamiliar to him. "He was, therefore, chosen as mate and associate"to Bylot, one of the men who had deserted Hudson, but who had sailedthree times with him previously and knew well the western seas. Soin "the good ship called the _Discovery_, " of fifty-five tons, witha crew of fourteen men and two boys, William Baffin sailed for thenorthern seas. May found the expedition on the coast of Greenland, with a gale of wind and great islands of ice. However, Baffin crossedDavis Strait, and after a struggle with ice at the entrance to Hudson'sStrait he sailed along the northern side till he reached a group ofislands which he named Savage Islands. For here were Eskimosagain--very shy and fearful of the white strangers. "Among theirtents, " relates Baffin, "all covered with seal skins, were runningup and down about forty dogs, most of them muzzled, about the bignessof our mongrel mastiffs, being a brindled black colour, looking almostlike wolves. These dogs they used instead of horses, or rather as theLapps do their deer, to draw their sledges from place to place overthe ice, their sledges being shod or lined with bones of great fishesto keep them from wearing out, and the dogs have furniture and collarsvery fitting. "

The explorers went on bravely till they were stopped by masses of ice. They thought they must be at the mouth of a large bay, and, seeingno prospect of a passage to the west, they turned back. When, twohundred years later, Parry sailed in Baffin's track he named this placeBaffin Land "out of respect to the memory of that able and enterprisingnavigator. "

The _Discovery_ arrived in Plymouth Sound by September, _without theloss of one man_--a great achievement in these days of salt junk andscurvy. 

"And now it may be, " adds Baffin, "that some expect I should give myopinion concerning the Passage. To these my answer must be thatdoubtless there _is_ a Passage. But within this Strait, which is calledHudson Strait, I am doubtful, supposing to the contrary. "

Baffin further suggested that if there was a Passage it must now besought by Davis Strait. 

Accordingly another expedition was fitted out and Baffin had hisinstructions: "For your course, you must make all possible haste toCape Desolation; and from hence you, William Baffin, as pilot, keepalong the coast of Greenland and up Davis Strait, until you come towardthe height of 80 degrees, if the land will give you leave. Then shapeyour course west and southerly, so far as you shall think it convenient, till you come to the latitude of 60 degrees, then direct your courseto fall in with the land of _Yedzo_, leaving your further sailingsouthward to your own discretion: although our desires be if yourvoyage prove so prosperous that you may have the year before you thatyou go far south as that you may touch the north part of Japan fromwhence we would have you bring home one of the men of the country andso, God blessing you, with all expedition to make your return homeagain. "

The _Discovery_ had proved a good little ship for exploration, so shewas again selected by Baffin for this new attempt in the far north. Upon 26th March 1616 she sailed from Gravesend, arriving off the coastof Greenland in the neighbourhood of Gilbert Sound about the middleof May. Working against terrible winds, they plied to the northward, the old ship making but slow progress, till at last they sighted"Sanderson his Hope, " the farthest point of Master Davis. Once moreEnglish voices broke the silence of thirty years. The people whoappeared on the shore were wretchedly poor. They lived on seals' flesh, which they ate raw, and clothed themselves in the skins. Stillnorthwards they sailed, cruising along the western coast. Though theice was beginning to disappear the weather kept bitterly cold, andon Midsummer Day the sails and ropes were frozen too hard to be handled. Stormy weather now forced them into a sound which they named WhaleSound from the number of whales they discovered here. It was declaredby Baffin to be the "greatest and largest bay in these parts. "

But beyond this they could not go; so they sailed across the end ofwhat we now know as Baffin's Bay and explored the opposite coast ofAmerica, naming one of the greater openings Lancaster Sound, afterSir James Lancaster of East India Company fame. 

"Here, " says Baffin pitifully, "our hope of Passage began to grow lessevery day. "

It was the old story of ice, advancing season, and hasty conclusions. 

[Illustration: BAFFIN'S MAP OF HIS VOYAGES TO THE NORTH. From theoriginal MS. , drawn by Baffin, in the British Museum. ]

"There is no hope of Passage to the north of Davis' Straits, " theexplorer further asserts; but he asserts wrongly, for Lancaster Soundwas to prove an open channel to the West. 

So he returned home. He had not found the Passage, but he had discoveredthe great northern sea that now bears his name. The size of it wasfor long plunged in obscurity, and the wildest ideas centred roundthe extent of this northern sea. A map of 1706 gives it an indefiniteamount of space, adding vaguely: "Some will have Baffin's Bay to runas far as this faint Shadow, " while a map of 1818 marks the bay, butadds that "it is not now believed. "

For the next two hundred years the icebound regions of the north werepractically left free from invasion, silent, inhospitable, unapproachable. 

But while these Arctic explorers were busy battling with the northernseas to find a passage which should lead them to the wealth of theEast, others were exploring the New World and endeavouring by landand river to attain the same end. 

CHAPTER XXXIX

SIR WALTER RALEIGH SEARCHES FOR EL DORADO

It is pleasant to turn from the icy regions of North America to thesunny South, and to follow the fortunes of that fine Elizabethangentleman, Sir Walter Raleigh, to "the large, rich, and beautifulEmpire of Guiana and the Great and Golden City of Manoa (which theSpaniards call El Dorado). " Ever since the conquest of Peru, sixtyyears before, there had floated about rumours of a great kingdomabounding in gold. The King of this Golden Land was sprinkled dailywith gold dust, till he shone as the sun, while Manoa was full of goldenhouses and golden temples with golden furniture. The kingdom waswealthier than Peru; it was richer than Mexico. Expedition afterexpedition had left Spain in search of this El Dorado, but the regionwas still plunged in romantic mists. Raleigh had just failed toestablish an English colony in Virginia. To gain a rich kingdom forhis Queen, to extend her power and enrich her treasury was now hisgreatest object in life. What about El Dorado?

"Oh, unwearied feet, travelling ye know not whither! Soon, soon, itseems to you, you must come forth on some conspicuous hilltop, andbut a little way further, against the setting sun, descry the spiresof El Dorado. "

February 1595 found him ready and leaving England with five ships and, after a good passage of forty-six days, landing on the island ofTrinidad, and thence making his way to the mouth of the Orinoco. HereRaleigh soon found that it was impossible to enter the Orinoco withhis English ships, but, nothing daunted, he took a hundred men andprovisions for a month in three little open boats, and started forwardto navigate this most difficult labyrinth of channels, out of whichthey were guided by an old Indian pilot named Ferdinando. They hadmuch to observe. The natives, living along the river-banks, dwelt inhouses all the summer, but in the winter months they constructed smallhuts to which they ascended by means of ladders. 

These folk were cannibals, but cannibals of a refined sort, who "beatthe bones of their lords into powder" and mixed the powder with theirdrinks. The stream was very strong and rapid, and the men rowed againstit in great discomfort, "the weather being extreme hot, the riverbordered with very high trees that kept away the air, and the currentagainst us every day stronger than the other, " until they became, asRaleigh tells us, "wearied and scorched and doubtful. "

The heat increased as they advanced, and the crews grew weaker as theriver "ran more violently against them. " But Raleigh refused to returnyet, lest "the world would laugh us to scorn. "

Fortunately delicious fruits hung over the banks of the Orinoco, and, having no bread and for water only the thick and troubled water ofthe river, they refreshed themselves gladly. So they rowed on up thegreat river, through province after province of the Indians, but noEl Dorado appeared. Suddenly the scene changed as if by magic, thehigh banks giving way to low-lying plains; green grass grew close tothe water's edge, and deer came down to feed. 

"I never saw a more beautiful country, " says Raleigh, "nor more livelyprospects, hills raised here and there over the valleys, the riverwinding into different branches, plains without bush or stubble, allfair green grass, deer crossing our path, the birds towards eveningsinging on every tree with a thousand several tunes, herons of white, crimson, and carnation perching on the riverside, the air fresh witha gentle wind, and every stone we stooped to pick up promised eithergold or silver. " His account of the great cataract at the junctionof the tributary Caroni is very graphic. They had already heard theroar, so they ran to the tops of some neighbouring hills, discoveringthe wonderful "breach of waters" which ran down Caroli, and from that"mountain see the river how it ran in three parts, about twenty milesoff, and there appeared some ten or twelve overfalls in sight, everyone as high over the other as a church tower, which fell with thatfury that the rebound of waters made it seem as if it had been allcovered over with a great shower of rain; and in some places we tookit at the first for a smoke that had risen over some great town. "

[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH. ]

The country was the province of Guiana, but it was not El Dorado, theobject of their quest. And though it was very beautiful, it wasinhabited by cannibals; moreover, winter was advancing, and they werealready some four hundred miles from their ships in little open boatsand in the heart of a strange country. 

Suddenly, too, the river began to rise, to "rage and overflow veryfearfully, " rain came down in torrents accompanied by great gusts ofwind, and the crews with no change of clothes got wet through, sometimesten times a day. "Whosoever had seen the fury of that river after itbegan to rise would perchance have turned his back somewhat soonerthan we did if all the mountains had been gold or precious stones, "remarked Raleigh, who indeed was no coward. So they turned the boatsfor home, and at a tremendous rate they spun down the stream, sometimesdoing as much as one hundred miles a day, till after sundry adventuresthey safely reached their ships at anchor off Trinidad. Raleigh hadnot reached the golden city of Manoa, but he gave a very glowing accountof this country to his Queen. 

"Guiana, " he tells her, "is a country that hath yet her maidenhood. The face of the earth hath not been torn, the graves have not beenopened for gold. It hath never been entered by any army of strength, and never conquered by any Christian prince. Men shall find here morerich and beautiful cities, more temples adorned with gold, than eitherCortes found in Mexico or Pizarro in Peru, and the shining glory ofthis conquest will eclipse all those of the Spanish nation. "

But Raleigh had brought back no gold, and his schemes for a conquestof Guiana were received coldly by the Queen. She could not share hisenthusiasm for the land--

 "Where Orinoco, in his pride, Rolls to the main no tribute tide, But 'gainst broad Ocean wages far A rival sea of roaring war; While in ten thousand eddies driven The billows fling their foam to heaven; And the pale pilot seeks in vain Where rolls the river, where the main. "

But, besides the Orinoco in South America, there was the St. Lawrencein North America, still very imperfectly known. Since Jacques Cartierhad penetrated the hitherto undisturbed regions lying about the "riverof Canada, " little had been explored farther west, till SamuelChamplain, one of the most remarkable men of his day, comes upon thescene, and was still discovering land to the west when Raleigh wasmaking his second expedition to Guiana in the year 1617. 

[Illustration: RALEIGH'S MAP OF GUINEA, EL DORADO, AND THE ORINOCOCOAST. From the original map, drawn by Raleigh, in the British Museum. This map, like so many of the older charts, is drawn upside down, theSouth being at the top and the East on the left, while the Panama Isthmusis at the bottom on the right. The river above the "Lake of Manoa"is the Amazon. ]

CHAPTER XL

CHAMPLAIN DISCOVERS LAKE ONTARIO

To discover a passage westward was still the main object of those whomade their way up the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. This, too, was theobject of Samuel Champlain, known as "the Father of New France, " whenhe arrived with orders from France to establish an industrial colony"which should hold for that country the gateway of the Golden East. "He had already ascended the river Saguenay, a tributary of the St. Lawrence, till stopped by rapids and rocks, and the natives had toldhim of a great salt sea to the north, which was Hudson's Bay, discoveredsome seven years later, in 1610. He now made his way to a spot calledby the natives Quebec, a word meaning the strait or narrows, this beingthe narrowest place in the whole magnificent waterway. He had longbeen searching for a suitable site for a settlement, but "I could findnone more convenient, " he says, "or better situated than the pointof Quebec, so called by the savages, which was covered with nut trees. "Accordingly here, close to the present Champlain market, arose thenucleus of the city of Quebec--the great warehouse of New France. 

[Illustration: THE FIRST SETTLEMENT AT QUEBEC. From Champlain's_Voyages_, 1613. The bigger house in front is Champlain's ownresidence. ]

Having passed the winter of 1608 at Quebec, the passion of explorationstill on him, in a little two-masted boat piloted by Indians, he wentup the St. Lawrence, towards Cartier's Mont Royal. From out the thickforest land that lined its banks, Indians discovered the steel-cladstrangers and gazed at them from the river-banks in speechless wonder. The river soon became alive with Indian canoes, but the Frenchmen madetheir way to the mouth of the Richelieu River, where they encampedfor a couple of days' hunting and fishing. Then Champlain sailed on, his little two-masted boat outstripping the native canoes, till theunwelcome sound of rapids fell on the silent air, and through the darkfoliage of the islet of St. John he could see "the gleam of snowy foamand the flash of hurrying waters. " The Indians had assured him thathis boat could pass unobstructed through the whole journey. "Itafflicted me and troubled me exceedingly, " he tells us, "to be obligedto return without having seen so great a lake, full of fair islandsand bordered with the fine countries which they had described to me. "He could not bear to give up the exploration into the heart of a landunvisited by white men. So, sending back his party, accompanied onlyby two Frenchmen as brave as himself, he stepped into an Indian canoeto be carried round the rapids and so continue his perilousjourney--perilous, indeed, for bands of hostile natives lurked in theprimeval forests that clothed the river-banks in dense masses. 

As they advanced the river widened out; the Indian canoes carried themsafely over the broad stream shimmering in the summer sun till theycame to a great silent lake over one hundred miles long, hithertounexplored. The beauty of the new country is described with enthusiasmby the delighted explorer, but they were now in the Mohawk countryand progress was fraught with danger. They travelled only by nightand lay hidden by day in the depth of the forest, till they had reachedthe far end of the lake, named Lake Champlain after its discoverer. They were near the rocky promontory where Fort Ticonderoga wasafterwards built, when they met a party of Iroquois; war-cries pealedacross the waters of the lake, and by daybreak battle could no longerbe averted. Champlain and his two companions, in doublet and hose, buckled on their breastplates, cuisses of steel and plumed helmets, and with sword and arquebus advanced. Their firearms won the day, butall hope of further advance was at an end, and Champlain returned toQuebec with his great story of new lands to the south. It was not tillthe spring of 1611 that he was again free to start on another exploringexpedition into the heart of Canada. 

[Illustration: THE DEFEAT OF THE IROQUOIS BY CHAMPLAIN AND HIS PARTYON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. From a drawing in Champlain's _Voyages_, 1613. ]

His journey to the rapids of the St. Louis has been well described:"Like specks on the broad bosom of the waters, two pigmy vessels heldtheir course up the lonely St. Lawrence. They passed abandonedTadoussac, the channel of Orleans, the tenantless rock of Quebec, thewide Lake of St. Peter with its crowded archipelago, and the forestplain of Montreal. All was solitude. Hochelaga had vanished, and ofthe savage population that Cartier had found sixty-eight years before, no trace remained. "

In a skiff with a few Indians, Champlain tried to pass the rapids ofSt. Louis; but oars, paddles, and poles alike proved vain against thefoaming surges, and he was forced to return, but not till the Indianshad drawn for him rude plans of the river above, with its chain ofrapids and its lakes and its cataracts. They were quite impassable, said the natives, though, indeed, to these white strangers everythingseemed possible. 

"These white men must have fallen from the clouds, " they said. "Howelse could they have reached us through the woods and rapids whicheven we find it hard to pass?" Champlain wanted to get to the upperwaters of the Ottawa River, to the land of the cannibal Nipissings, who dwelt on the lake that bears their name; but they were enemies, and the natives refused to advance into their country. 

Two years later he accomplished his desire, and found himself at lastin the land of the Nipissings. He crossed their lake and steered hiscanoes down the French river. Days passed and no signs of human lifeappeared amid the rocky desolation, till suddenly three hundredsavages, tattooed, painted, and armed, rushed out on them. Fortunatelythey were friendly, and it was from them that Champlain learned thegood news that the great freshwater lake of the Hurons was close athand. 

What if the Friar Le Caron, one of Champlain's party, had precededhim by a few days, Champlain was the first white man to give an accountof it, if not the first to sail on its beautiful waters. For over onehundred miles he made his way along its eastern shores, until he reacheda broad opening with fields of maize and bright patches of sunflower, from the seeds of which the Indians made their hair-oil. After stayinga few days at a little Huron village where he was feasted by friendlynatives, Champlain pushed on by Indian trails, passing village aftervillage till he reached the narrow end of Lake Simcoe. A "shrill clamourof rejoicing and the screaming flight of terrified children" hailedhis approach. The little fleet of canoes pursued their course alongthe lake and then down the chain of lakes leading to the river Trent. The inhabited country of the Hurons had now given place to a desolateregion with no sign of human life, till from the mouth of the Trent, "like a flock of venturous wild fowl, " they found themselves floatingon the waters of Lake Ontario, across which they made their way safely. 

It was a great day in the life of Champlain when he found himself inthe very heart of a hostile land, having discovered the chain of inlandlakes of which he had heard so much. But they were now in the landof the Iroquois--deadly foes of the Hurons. There was nothing for itbut to fight, and a great battle now took place between the rival tribes, every warrior yelling at the top of his voice. Champlain himself waswounded in the fray, and all further exploration had to be abandoned. He was packed up in a basket and carried away on the back of a Huronwarrior. "Bundled in a heap, " wrote the explorer, "doubled andstrapped together after such a fashion that one could move no morethan an infant in swaddling clothes, I never was in such torment inmy life, for the pain of the wound was nothing to that of being boundand pinioned on the back of one of our savages. As soon as I couldbear my weight, I got out of this prison. " How Champlain wintered withthe Hurons, who would not allow him to return to Quebec, how he gotlost while hunting in one of the great forests in his eagerness toshoot a strange-looking bird, how the lakes and streams froze, andhow his courage and endurance were sorely tried over the toilsomemarches to Lake Simcoe, but how finally he reached Montreal by wayof Nipissing and the Ottawa River, must be read elsewhere. Champlain'swork as an explorer was done. Truly has he been called the Father ofNew France. He had founded Quebec and Montreal; he had explored Canadaas no man has ever done before or since. Faithful to the passion ofhis life, he died in 1635 at Quebec--the city he had founded and loved. 

CHAPTER XLI

EARLY DISCOVERERS OF AUSTRALIA

While the French and English were feverishly seeking a way to the East, either by the North Pole or by way of America, the Dutch were busydiscovering a new land in the Southern Seas. 

And as we have seen America emerging from the mist of ages in thesixteenth century, so now in the seventeenth we have the great IslandContinent of Australia mysteriously appearing bit by bit out of theyet little-known Sea of the South. There is little doubt that bothPortuguese and Spanish had touched on the western coast early in thesixteenth century, but gave no information about it beyond sketchingcertain rough and undefined patches of land and calling it TerraAustralis in their early maps; no one seems to have thought thismysterious land of much importance. The maritime nations of thatperiod carefully concealed their knowledge from one another. The proudSpaniard hated his Portuguese neighbour as a formidable rival in therace for wealth and fame, and the Dutchman, who now comes on the scene, was regarded by both as a natural enemy by land or sea. 

Magellan in 1520 discovered that the Terra Australis was not joinedto South America, as the old maps had laid down; and we find Frobisherremarking in 1578 that "Terra Australis seemeth to be a great, firmland, lying under and about the South Pole, not thoroughly discovered. It is known at the south side of the Strait of Magellan and is calledTerra del Fuego. It is thought this south land about the pole Antarcticis far bigger than the north land about the pole Arctic; but whetherit be so or not, we have no certain knowledge, for we have no particulardescription thereof, as we have of the land about the North Pole. "

[Illustration: AN EARLY MAP OF "TERRA AUSTRALIS, " CALLED "JAVA LAGRANDE" IN ITS SUPPOSED EASTERN PART. From the "Dauphin" map of 1546. There was then supposed to be a great mainland of Java, separated fromthe island of "Java Minor" by a narrow strait. See the copy of thewhole of this map in colour, where it will be seen that the "TerraAustralis" was supposed to stretch from east to west. ]

And even one hundred years later the mystery was not cleared up. "Thisland about the straits is not perfectly discovered whether it becontinent or islands. Some take it for continent, esteeming that TerraAustralis or the Southern Continent may for the largeness thereof takea first place in the division of the whole world. "

The Spaniards were still masters of the sea, when one Lieutenant Torresfirst sailed through the strait dividing Australia from New Guinea, already discovered in 1527. As second in command, he had sailed fromAmerica under a Spaniard, De Quiros, in 1605, and in the Pacific theyhad come across several island groups. Among others they sighted theisland group now known as the New Hebrides. Quiros supposed that thiswas the continent for which he was searching, and gave it the nameof "Terra Australis del Espirito Santo. " And then a curious thinghappened. "At one hour past midnight, " relates Torres in his accountof the voyage, "the _Capitana_ (Quiros' ship) departed without anynotice given us and without making any signal. "

After waiting for many days, Torres at last set sail, and, havingdiscovered that the supposed land was only an island, he made his wayalong the dangerous coast of New Guinea to Manila, thus passing throughthe straits that were afterwards named after him, and unconsciouslypassing almost within sight of the very continent for which he wassearching. 

This was the end of Spanish enterprise for the present. The rivalsfor sea-power in the seventeenth century were England and Holland. Both had recently started East India Companies, both were keen to takea large part in East Indian trade and to command the sea. For a timethe Dutch had it all their own way; they devoted themselves to foundingsettlements in the East Indies, ever hoping to discover new islandsin the South Seas as possible trade centres. Scientific discovery heldlittle interest for them. 

As early as 1606 a Dutch ship--the little _Sun_--had been dispatchedfrom the Moluccas to discover more about the land called by theSpaniards New Guinea, because of its resemblance to the West Africancoast of Guinea. But the crews were greeted with a shower of arrowsas they attempted a landing, and with nine of their party killed, theyreturned disheartened. 

A more ambitious expedition was fitted out in 1617 by privateadventurers, and two ships--the _Unity_ and the _Horn_--sailed fromthe Texel under the command of a rich Amsterdam merchant named IsaacLe Maire and a clever navigator, Cornelius Schouten of Horn. Havingbeen provided with an English gunner and carpenter, the ships weresteered boldly across the Atlantic. Hitherto the object of theexpedition had been kept a secret, but on crossing the line the crewswere informed that they were bound for the Terra Australis del EspiritoSanto of Quiros. The men had never heard of the country before, andwe are told they wrote the name in their caps in order to rememberit. By midwinter they had reached the eastern entrance of the Straitsof Magellan, through which many a ship had passed since the days ofMagellan, some hundred years before this. Unfortunately, whileundergoing some necessary repairs here, the little _Horn_ caught fireand was burnt out, the crews all having to crowd on to the _Unity_. Instead of going through the strait they sailed south and discoveredStaaten Land, which they thought might be a part of the southerncontinent for which they were seeking. We now know it to be an island, whose heights are covered with perpetual snow. It was named by Schoutenafter the Staaten or States-General of Holland. Passing through thestrait which divided the newly discovered land from the Terra del Fuego(called later the Straits of Le Maire after its discoverer), theDutchmen found a great sea full of whales and monsters innumerable. Sea-mews larger than swans, with wings stretching six feet across, fled screaming round the ship. The wind was against them, but afterendless tacking they reached the southern extremity of land, whichSchouten named after his native town and the little burntship--_Horn_--and as Cape Horn it is known to-day. 

But the explorers never reached the Terra Australis. Their little shipcould do no more, and they sailed to Java to repair. 

Many a name on the Australian map to-day testifies to Dutch enterpriseabout this time. In 1616, Captain Dirck Hartog of Amsterdam discoveredthe island that bears his name off the coast of Western Australia. A few years later the captain of a Dutch ship called the _Lewin_ or_Lioness_ touched the south-west extremity of the continent, callingthat point Cape Lewin. Again a few years and we find Captain Nuytsgiving his name to a part of the southern coast, though the discoveryseems to have been accidental. In 1628, Carpentaria received its namefrom Carpenter, a governor of the East India Company. Now, one daya ship from Carpenter's Land returned laden with gold and spice;and though certain men had their suspicions that these riches had beenfished out of some large ship wrecked upon the inhospitable coast, yet a little fleet of eleven ships was at once dispatched to reconnoitrefurther. Captain Pelsart commanded the _Batavia_, which in a greatstorm was separated from the other ships and driven alone on to theshoals marked as the Abrolhos (a Portuguese word meaning "Open youreyes, " implying a sharp lookout for dangerous reefs) on the west coastof Australia. It was night when the ship struck, and Captain Pelsartwas sick in bed. He ran hastily on to the deck. The moon shone bright. The sails were up. The sea appeared to be covered with white foam. Captain Pelsart charged the master with the loss of the ship, and askedhim "in what part of the world he thought they were. "

"God only knows that, " replied the master, adding that the ship wasfast on a bank hitherto undiscovered. Suddenly a dreadful storm ofwind and rain arose, and, being surrounded with rocks and shoals, theship was constantly striking. "The women, children, and sick peoplewere out of their wits with fear, " so they decided to land these onan island for "their cries and noise served only to disturb them. "The landing was extremely difficult owing to the rocky coast, wherethe waves were dashing high. When the weather had moderated a bit, Captain Pelsart took the ship and went in search of water, therebyexploring a good deal of coast, which, he remarked, "resembled thecountry near Dover. " But his exploration amounted to little, and theaccount of his adventures is mostly taken up with an account of thedisasters that befell the miserable party left on the rock-boundislands of Abrolhos--conspiracies, mutinies, and plots. His was onlyone of many adventures on this unknown and inhospitable coast, whichabout this time, 1644, began to take the name of New Holland. 

[Illustration: THE WRECK OF CAPTAIN PELSART'S SHIP THE _BATAVIA_ ONTHE COAST OF NEW HOLLAND, 1644. From the Dutch account of Pelsart's_Voyages_, 1647. ]

CHAPTER XLII

TASMAN FINDS TASMANIA

At this time Anthony Van Diemen was governor at Batavia, and one ofhis most trusted commanders was Abel Tasman. In 1642, Tasman was givencommand of two ships "for making discoveries of the Unknown SouthLand, " and, hoisting his flag on board the _Sea-Hen_, he sailed southfrom Batavia without sighting the coast of Australia. Despite foggyweather, "hard gales, and a rolling sea, " he made his way steadilysouth. It was three months before land was sighted, and high mountainswere seen to the southeast. The ship stood in to shore. "As the landhas not been known before to any European, we called it Anthony VanDiemen's Land in honour of our Governor-General, who sent us out tomake discoveries. I anchored in a bay and heard the sound of peopleupon the shore, but I saw nobody. I perceived in the sand the marksof wild beasts' feet, resembling those of a tiger. "

Setting up a post with the Dutch East India Company's mark, and leavingthe Dutch flag flying, Tasman left Van Diemen's Land, which was notto be visited again for over one hundred years, when it was calledafter its first discoverer. He had no idea that he was on an island. Tasman now sailed east, and after about a week at sea he discovereda high mountainous country, which he named "Staaten Land. " "We foundhere abundance of inhabitants: they had very hoarse voices and werevery large-made people; they were of colour between brown and yellow, their hair long and thick, combed up and fixed on the top of theirheads with a quill in the very same manner that Japanese fastened theirhair behind their heads. "

Tasman anchored on the north coast of the south island of New Zealand, but canoes of warlike Maoris surrounded the ships, a conflict tookplace in which several Dutch seamen were killed, the weather grewstormy, and Tasman sailed away from the bay he named Murderer'sBay--rediscovered by Captain Cook about a hundred years later. 

"This is the second country discovered by us, " says 'Tasman. "We namedit Staaten Land in honour of the States-General. It is possible thatit may join the other Staaten Land (of Schouten and Le Maire to thesouth of Terra del Fuego), but it is uncertain; it is a very fine country, and we hope it is part of the unknown south continent. " Is it necessaryto add that this Staaten Land was really New Zealand, and the bay wherethe ships anchored is now known as Tasman Bay? When the news of Tasman'sdiscoveries was noised abroad, all the geographers, explorers, anddiscoverers at once jumped to the conclusion that this was the sameland on whose coast Pelsart had been wrecked. "It is most evident, "they said, "that New Guinea, Carpentaria, New Holland, Van Diemen'sLand make all one continent, from which New Zealand seems to beseparated by a strait, and perhaps is part of another continentanswering to Africa as this plainly does to America, making indeeda very large country. "

After a ten months' cruise Tasman returned to Batavia. He had foundVan Diemen's Land and New Zealand, without sighting Australia. 

A second expedition was now fitted out. The instructions for thecommodore, Captain Abel Jansen Tasman, make interesting reading. Theorders are detailed and clear. He will start the end of January 1644, and "we shall expect you in July following attended with good success. "

"Of all the lands, countries, islands, capes, inlets, bays, rivers, shoals, reefs, sands, cliffs, and rocks which you pass in thisdiscovery you are to make accurate maps--be particularly careful aboutlongitude and latitude. But be circumspect and prudent in landing withsmall craft, because at several times New Guinea has been found tobe inhabited by cruel, wild savages. When you converse with any ofthese savages behave well and friendly to them, and try by all meansto engage their affection to you. You are to show the samples of thegoods which you carry along with you, and inquire what materials andgoods they possess. To prevent any other European nation from reapingthe fruits of our labour in these discoveries, you are everywhere totake possession in the name of the Dutch East India Company, to putup some sign, erect a stone or post, and carve on them the arms ofthe Netherlands. The yachts are manned with one hundred and elevenpersons, and for eight months plentifully victualled. Manageeverything well and orderly, take notice you see the ordinary portionof two meat and two pork days, and a quarter of vinegar and ahalf-quarter of sweet oil per week. "

[Illustration: VAN DIEMAN'S LAND AND TWO OF TASMAN'S SHIPS. From themap drawn by Tasman in his "Journal. "]

He was to coast along New Guinea to the farthest-known spot, and tofollow the coast _despite adverse winds_, in order that the Dutch mightbe sure "whether this land is not divided from the great known SouthContinent or not. "

What he accomplished on this voyage is best seen in "The complete mapof the Southern Continent surveyed by Captain Abel Tasman, " which wasinlaid on the floor of the large hall in the Stadthouse at Amsterdam. The Great South Land was henceforth known as New Holland. 

CHAPTER XLIII

DAMPIER DISCOVERS HIS STRAIT

It was not long before the great stretch of coast-line carefullycharted by Tasman became known to the English, and while the Dutchwere yet busy exploring farther, Dampier--the first Englishman tovisit the country--had already set foot on its shores. 

"We lie entirely at the mercy of the Dutch East India Company'sgeography for the outline of this part of the coast of New Holland:for it does not appear that the ships of any other nation have everapproached it, " says an old history of the period. 

Some such information as this became known in South America, in whichcountry the English had long been harassing the Spaniards. It reachedthe ears of one William Dampier, a Somersetshire man, who had liveda life of romance and adventure with the buccaneers, pillaging andplundering foreign ships in these remote regions of the earth. He hadrun across the Southern Pacific carrying his life in his hand. He hadmarched across the isthmus of Panama--one hundred and ten miles intwenty-three days--through deep and swiftly flowing rivers, densegrowths of tropical vegetation full of snakes, his only food beingthe flesh of monkeys. Such was the man who now took part in aprivateering cruise under Captain Swan, bound for the East Indies. 

On 1st March 1686, Swan and Dampier sailed away from the coast of Mexicoon the voyage that led to Dampier's circumnavigation of the globe. For fifty days they sailed without sighting land, and when at lastthey found themselves off the island of Guam, they had only three days'food left, and the crews were busy plotting to kill Captain Swan andeat him, the other commanders sharing the same fate in turn. 

"Ah, Dampier, " said Captain Swan, when he and all the men had refreshedthemselves with food, "you would have made but a poor meal, " for Dampierwas as lean as the Captain was "fat and fleshy. " Soon, however, freshtrouble arose among the men. Captain Swan lost his life, and Dampieron board the little _Cygnet_ sailed hurriedly for the Spice Islands. 

[Illustration: DAMPIER'S SHIP THE _CYGNET_. From a drawing in theDutch edition of his _Voyage Round the World_, 1698. ]

He was now on the Australian parallels, "in the shadow of a world lyingdark upon the face of the ocean. " It was January 1688 when Dampiersighted the coast of New Holland and anchored in a bay, which theynamed Cygnet Bay after their ship, somewhere off the northern coastof eastern Australia. Here, while the ship was undergoing repairs, Dampier makes his observations. 

"New Holland, " he tells us, "is a very large tract of land. It is notyet determined whether it is an island or a main continent, but I amcertain that it joins neither to Africa, Asia, or America. "

"The inhabitants of this country, " he tells us, "are the miserablestpeople in the world. They have no houses, but lie in the open air withoutany covering, the earth being their bed and the heaven their canopy. Their food is a small sort of fish, which they catch at low tide, whilethe old people that are not able to stir abroad by reason of theirage and the tender infants wait their return, and what Providence hasbestowed on them they presently broil on the coals and eat it in common. They are tall and thin, and of a very unpleasing aspect; their hairis black, short, and curled, like that of the negroes of Guinea. "

This Englishman's first description of the Australian natives cannotfail to be interesting. "After we had been here a little while, weclothed some of the men, designing to have some service from them forit; for we found some wells of water here, and intended to carry twoor three barrels of it aboard. But it being somewhat troublesome tocarry to the canoes, we thought to have made these men to have carry'dit for us, and therefore we gave them some clothes; to one an old pairof breeches, to another a ragged shirt, to a third a jacket that wasscarce worth owning. We put them on, thinking that this finery wouldhave brought them to work heartily for us; and our water being filledin small, long barrels, about six gallons in each, we brought theseour new servants to the wells and put a barrel on each of their shoulders. But they stood like statues, without motion, but grinn'd like so manymonkeys staring one upon another. So we were forced to carry the waterourselves. "

They had soon had enough of the new country, weighed anchor, and steeredaway to the north. Dampier returned to England even a poorer man thanhe had left it twelve years before. After countless adventures andhairbreadth escapes, after having sailed entirely round the world, he brought back with him nothing but one unhappy black man, "PrinceJeoly, " whom he had bought for sixty dollars. He had hoped to recouphimself by showing the poor native with his rings and bracelets andpainted skin, but he was in such need of money on landing that he gladlysold the poor black man on his arrival in the Thames. 

But Dampier had made himself a name as a successful traveller, andin 1699 he was appointed by the King, William III. , to command the_Roebuck_, two hundred and ninety tons, with a crew of fifty men andprovisions for twenty months. Leaving England in the middle of January1699, he sighted the west coast of New Holland toward the end of July, and anchored in a bay they called Sharks Bay, not far from the rockswhere the _Batavia_ was wrecked with Captain Pelsart in 1629. He givesus a graphic picture of this place, with its sweet-scented trees, itsshrubs gay as the rainbow with blossoms and berries, its many-colouredvegetation, its fragrant air and delicious soil. The men caught sharksand devoured them with relish, which speaks of scarce provisions. Inside one of the sharks (eleven feet long) they found a hippopotamus. "The flesh of it was divided among my men, " says the Captain, "andthey took care that no waste should be made of it, but thought it, as things stood, good entertainment. "

As it had been with Pelsart, so now with Dampier, fresh water was thedifficulty, and they sailed north-east in search of it. They fell inwith a group of small rocky islands still known as Dampier'sArchipelago, one island of which they named Rosemary Island, because"there grow here two or three sorts of shrubs, one just like rosemary. "Once again he comes across natives--"very much the same blinkingcreatures, also abundance of the same kind of flesh-flies teasing them, with the same black skins and hair frizzled. " Indeed, he writes asthough the whole country of New Holland was a savage and worthlessland inhabited by dreadful monsters. 

"If it were not, " he writes, "for that sort of pleasure which resultsfrom the discovery even of the barrenest spot upon the globe, thiscoast of New Holland would not have charmed me much. " His first sightof the kangaroo--now the emblem of Australia--is interesting. Hedescribes it as "a sort of raccoon, different from that of the WestIndies, chiefly as to the legs, for these have very short fore-legs, but go jumping upon them as the others do, and like them are very goodmeat. " This must have been the small kangaroo, for the large kind wasnot found till later by Captain Cook in New South Wales. 

But Dampier and his mates could not find fresh water, and soon weariedof the coast of New Holland; an outbreak of scurvy, too, decided themto sail away in search of fresh foods. Dampier had spent five weekscruising off the coast; he had sailed along some nine hundred milesof the Australian shore without making any startling discoveries. Afew months later the _Roebuck_ stood off the coast of New Guinea, "ahigh and mountainous country, green and beautiful with tropicalvegetation, and dark with forests and groves of tall and statelytrees. " Innumerable dusky-faced natives peeped at the ship from behindthe rocks, but they were not friendly, and this they showed by climbingthe cocoanut trees and throwing down cocoanuts at the English, withpassionate signs to them to depart. But with plenty of fresh water, this was unlikely, and the crews rowed ashore, killed and salted agood load of wild hogs, while the savages still peeped at them fromafar. 

Thus then they sailed on, thinking they were still coasting New Guinea. So doing, they arrived at the straits which still bear the name ofthe explorer, and discovered a little island which he called NewBritain. He had now been over fifteen months at sea and the _Roebuck_was only provisioned for twenty months, so Dampier, who never had thetrue spirit of the explorer in him, left his discoveries and turnedhomewards. The ship was rotten, and it took three months to repairher at Batavia before proceeding farther. With pumps going night andday, they made their way to the Cape of Good Hope; but off the islandof Ascension the _Roebuck_ went down, carrying with her many ofDampier's books and papers. But though many of the papers were lost, the "Learned and Faithful Dampier" as he is called, the "Prince ofVoyagers, " has left us accounts of his adventures unequalled in thosestrenuous ocean-going days for their picturesque and graphic details. 

[Illustration: DAMPIER'S STRAITS AND THE ISLAND OF NEW BRITAIN. Froma map in Dampier's _Voyages_, 1697. ]

CHAPTER XLIV

BEHRING FINDS HIS STRAIT

In the great work of Arctic exploration during the eighteenth andnineteenth centuries, it is to England and Russia that we owe ourknowledge at the present day. It is well known how Peter the Greatof Russia journeyed to Amsterdam to learn shipbuilding under the Dutch, and to England to learn the same art under the English, and how theRussian fleet grew in his reign. Among the Danish shipbuilders atPetersburg was one Vitus Behring, already a bold and able commanderon the high seas. 

The life of the great Russian Czar was drawing to its close--he wasalready within a few weeks of the end--when he planned an expeditionunder this same Vitus Behring, for which he wrote the instructionswith his own hands. 

"(1) At Kamtchatka two decked boats are to be built. (2) With theseyou are to sail northward along the coast and, as the end of the coastis not known, this land is undoubtedly America. (3) For this reasonyou are to inquire where the American coast begins, and go to someEuropean colony and, when European ships are seen, you are to ask whatthe coast is called, note it down, make a landing, and after havingcharted the coast return. "

Were Asia and America joined together, or was there a strait betweenthe two? The question was yet undecided in 1725. Indeed, the east coastof Asia was only known as far as the island of Yezo, while the Pacificcoast of America had been explored no farther than New Albion. 

Peter the Great died on 28th January 1725. A week later Behring startedfor Kamtchatka. Right across snow-covered Russia to the boundary ofSiberia he led his expedition. March found him at Tobolsk. With raftsand boats they then made their way by the Siberian rivers till theyreached Yakutsk, where they spent their first winter. Not till themiddle Of June 1726 did Behring reach the capital of East Siberia. The rest of the journey was through utterly unknown land. It was somesix hundred and eighty-five miles eastwards to Okhotsk through a roughand mountainous country, cut up by deep and bridgeless streams; thepath lay over dangerous swamps and through dense forest. 

The party now divided. Behring, with two hundred horses, travelledtriumphantly, if painfully, to Okhotsk in forty-five days. The townconsisted of eleven huts containing Russian families who lived byfishing. Snow lay deep on the frozen ground, and the horses died oneby one for lack of food, but the undaunted explorer had soon got hutsready for the winter, which was to be spent in felling trees and pushingforward the building of his ship, the _Fortuna_, for the coming voyageof discovery. Behring himself had made a successful journey to thecoast, but some of the party encountered terrible hardships, and itwas midsummer 1727 before they arrived, while others were overtakenby winter in the very heart of Siberia and had to make their way forthe last three hundred miles on foot through snow in places six feetdeep. Their food was finished, famine became a companion to cold, andthey were obliged to gnaw their shoes and straps and leathern bags. Indeed, they must have perished had they not stumbled on Behring'sroute, where they found his dead horses. But at last all was readyand the little ship _Fortuna_ was sailing bravely across the Sea ofOkhotsk some six hundred and fifty miles to the coast of Kamtchatka. This she did in sixteen days. The country of Kamtchatka had now tobe crossed, and with boats and sledges this took the whole winter. It was a laborious undertaking following the course of the KamtchatkaRiver; the expedition had to camp in the snow, and few natives wereforthcoming for the transport of heavy goods. 

It was not till March 1728 that Behring reached his goal, Ostrog, avillage near the sea, inhabited by a handful of Cossacks. From thispoint, on the bleak shores of the Arctic sea, the exploring party wereordered to start. It had taken over three years to reach thisstarting-point, and even now a seemingly hopeless task lay beforethem. 

After hard months of shipbuilding, the stout little _Gabriel_ waslaunched, her timber had been hauled to Ostrog by dogs, while therigging, cable, and anchors had been dragged nearly two thousand milesthrough one of the most desolate regions of the earth. As to the foodon which the explorers lived: "Fish oil was their butter and driedfish their beef and pork. Salt they were obliged to get from the sea. "Thus supplied with a year's provisions, Behring started on his voyageof discovery along an unknown coast and over an unknown sea. On 13thJuly 1728 the sails of the _Gabriel_ were triumphantly hoisted, andBehring, with a crew of forty-four, started on the great voyage. Hiscourse lay close along the coast northwards. The sea was alive withwhales, seals, sea-lions, and dolphins as the little party made theirway north, past the mouth of the Anadir River. The little _Gabriel_was now in the strait between Asia and America, though Behring knewit not. They had been at sea some three weeks, when eight men camerowing towards them in a leathern boat. They were the Chukches--awarlike race living on the north-east coast of Siberia, unsubdued andfierce. They pointed out a small island in the north, which Behringnamed the Isle of St. Lawrence in honour of the day. Then he turnedback. He felt he had accomplished his task and obeyed his orders. Moreover, with adverse winds they might never return to Kamtchatka, and to winter among the Chukches was to court disaster. After a cruiseof three months they reached their starting-point again. Had he onlyknown that the coast of America was but thirty-nine miles off, theresults of his voyage would have been greater. As it was, he ascertainedthat "there really does exist a north-east passage, and that from theLena River it is possible, provided one is not prevented by Polar ice, to sail to Kamtchatka and thence to Japan, China, and the East Indies. "

The final discovery was left for Captain Cook. As he approached thestraits which he called after Behring, the sun broke suddenly throughthe clouds, and the continents of Asia and America were visible ata glance. 

There was dissatisfaction in Russia with the result of Behring'svoyage, and though five years of untold hardship in the "extremestcorner of the world" had told on the Russian explorer, he was willingand anxious to start off again. He proposed to make Kamtchatka againhis headquarters, to explore the western coast of America, and to chartthe long Arctic coast of Siberia--a colossal task indeed. 

So the Great Northern Expedition was formed, with Behring in command, accompanied by two well-known explorers to help, Spangberg andChirikoff, and with five hundred and seventy men under him. It wouldtake too long to follow the various expeditions that now left Russiain five different directions to explore the unknown coasts of the OldWorld. "The world has never witnessed a more heroic geographicalenterprise than these Arctic expeditions. " Amid obstaclesindescribable the north line of Siberia, hitherto charted as astraight line, was explored and surveyed. Never was greater courageand endurance displayed. If the ships got frozen in, they were hauledon shore, the men spent the long winter in miserable huts and startedoff again with the spring, until the northern coast assumed shape andform. 

One branch of the Great Northern Expedition under Behring was composedof professors to make a scientific investigation of Kamtchatka! Thesethirty learned Russians were luxuriously equipped. They carried alibrary with several hundred books, including _Robinson Crusoe_ and_Gulliver's Travels_, seventy reams of writing-paper, and artists'materials. They had nine wagonloads of instruments, carryingtelescopes fifteen feet long. A surgeon, two landscape painters, oneinstrument maker, five surveyors accompanied them, and "the convoygrew like an avalanche as it worked its way into Siberia. " Behringseems to have moved this "cumbersome machine" safely to Yakutsk, though it took the best part of two years. Having left Russia in 1733, it was 1741 when Behring himself was ready to start from the harbourof Okhotsk for the coast of America with two ships and provisions forsome months. He was now nearly sixty, his health was undermined withvexation and worry, and the climate of Okhotsk had nearly killed him. 

On 18th July--just six weeks after the start--Behring discovered thecontinent of North America. The coast was jagged, the land coveredwith snow, mountains extended inland, and above all rose a peaktowering into the clouds--a peak higher than anything they knew inSiberia or Kamtchatka, which Behring named Mount St. Elias, after thepatron saint of the day. He made his way with difficulty through thestring of islands that skirt the great peninsula of Alaska. Throughthe months of August and September they cruised about the coast indamp and foggy weather, which now gave way to violent storms, andBehring's ship was driven along at the mercy of the wind. He himselfwas ill, and the greater part of his crew were disabled by scurvy. At last one day, in a high-running sea, the ship struck upon a rockand they found themselves stranded on an unknown island off the coastof Kamtchatka. Only two men were fit to land; they found a dead whaleon which they fed their sick. Later on sea-otters, blue and white foxes, and sea-cows provided food, but the island was desolate andsolitary--not a human being was to be seen. 

[Illustration: THE CHART OF BEHRING'S VOYAGE FROM KAMTCHATKA TO NORTHAMERICA. From a chart drawn in 1741 by Lieut. Waxell, a member ofBehring's expedition. It is also interesting for the drawing of thesea-cow, one of the very few authentic drawings of this curious animal, which has long been extinct, and is only known by these drawings. ]

Here, however, the little party was forced to winter. With difficultythey built five underground huts on the sandy shore of the island nowknown as Behring Island. And each day amid the raging snowstorms andpiercing winds one man went forth to hunt for animal food. 

Man after man died, and by December, Behring's own condition had becomehopeless. Hunger and grief had added to his misery, and in his sand-huthe died. He was almost buried alive, for the sand rolled down fromthe pit in which he lay and covered his feet. He would not have itremoved, for it kept him warm. Thirty more of the little expeditiondied during that bitter winter on the island; the survivors, someforty-five persons, built a ship from the timbers of the wreck, andin August 1742 they returned to Kamtchatka to tell the story ofBehring's discoveries and of Behring's death. 

CHAPTER XLV

COOK DISCOVERS NEW ZEALAND

But while the names of Torres, Carpenter, Tasman, and Dampier are stillto be found on our modern maps of Australia, it is the name of CaptainCook that we must always connect most closely with the discovery ofthe great island continent--the Great South Land which only becameknown to Europe one hundred and fifty years ago. 

Dampier had returned to England in 1701 from his voyage to New Holland, but nearly seventy years passed before the English were prepared tosend another expedition to investigate further the mysterious landin the south. 

James Cook had shown himself worthy of the great command that was givento him in 1768, although exploration was not the main object of theexpedition. Spending his boyhood in the neighbourhood of Whitby, hewas familiar with the North Sea fishermen, with the colliers, evenwith the smugglers that frequented this eastern coast. In 1755 heentered the Royal Navy, volunteering for service and entering H. M. S. _Eagle_ as master's mate. Four years later we find him taking his shareon board H. M. S. _Pembroke_ in the attack on Quebec by Wolfe, and latertransferred to H. M. S. _Northumberland_, selected to survey the riverand Gulf of St. Lawrence. So satisfactory was his work that a few yearslater he was instructed to survey and chart the coasts of Newfoundlandand Labrador. While engaged on this work, he observed an eclipse ofthe sun, which led to the appointment that necessitated a voyage tothe Pacific Ocean. It had been calculated that a Transit of Venus wouldoccur in June 1769. A petition to the King set forth: "That, the Britishnation being justly celebrated in the learned world for theirknowledge of astronomy, in which they are inferior to no nation uponearth, ancient or modern, it would cast dishonour upon them shouldthey neglect to have correct observations made of this importantphenomenon. " The King agreed, and the Royal Society selected JamesCook as a fit man for the appointment. A stout, strongly built collierof three hundred and seventy tons was chosen at Whitby, manned withseventy men, and victualled for twelve months. With instructions toobserve the Transit of Venus at the island of Georgeland (Otaheite), to make further discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean and to exploreNew Zealand if possible, Cook hoisted his flag on H. M. S. _Endeavour_and started in May 1768. 

It was an interesting party on board, joined at the last moment byMr. Joseph Banks, a very rich member of the Royal Society and a studentof Natural History. He had requested leave to sail in "the ship thatcarries the English astronomers to the new-discovered country in theSouth Sea. " "No people ever went to sea better fitted out for thepurpose of Natural History, nor more elegantly, " says a contemporarywriter. "They have a fine library, they have all sorts of machinesfor catching and preserving insects, they have two painters anddraughtsmen--in short, this expedition will cost Mr. Banks 10, 000pounds. "

Their astronomical instruments were of the best, including a portableobservatory constructed for sixteen guineas. But most important ofall was the careful assortment of provisions, to allay, if possible, that scourge of all navigators, the scurvy. A quantity of malt wasshipped to be made into wort, mustard, vinegar, wheat, orange and lemonjuice and portable soup was put on board, and Cook received specialorders to keep his men with plenty of fresh food whenever this waspossible. He carried out these orders strenuously, and at Madeira wefind him punishing one of his own seamen with twelve lashes for refusingto eat fresh beef. Hence they left Rio de Janeiro "in as good a conditionfor prosecuting the voyage as on the day they left England. "

[Illustration: THE ISLAND OF OTAHEITE, OR ST. GEORGE. From a paintingby William Hodges, who accompanied Captain Cook. ]

Christmas Day was passed near the mouth of the river Plate, and, earlyin the New Year of 1769, the _Endeavour_ sailed through the Straitof Le Maire. The wealthy Mr. Banks landed on Staaten Island and hastilyadded a hundred new plants to his collection. Then they sailed on toSt. George's Island. It had been visited by Captain Wallis in the_Dolphin_ the previous year; indeed, some of Cook's sailors had servedon board the _Dolphin_ and knew the native chiefs of the island. Allwas friendly, tents were soon pitched, a fort built with mounted gunsat either side, the precious instruments landed, and on 3rd June, witha cloudless sky and in intolerable heat, they observed the wholepassage of the planet Venus over the sun's disk. 

After a stay of three months they left the island, taking Tupia, anative, with them. Among other accomplishments this Tupia roasted dogsto perfection, and Cook declares that dogs' flesh is "next only toEnglish lamb. "

They visited other islands in the group--now known as the SocietyIslands and belonging to France--and took possession of all in thename of His Britannic Majesty, George III. 

All through the month of September they sailed south, till on 7thOctober land was sighted. It proved to be the North Island of NewZealand, never before approached by Europeans from the east. It wasone hundred and twenty-seven years since Tasman had discovered thewest coast and called it Staaten Land, but no European had ever setfoot on its soil. Indeed, it was still held to be part of the TerraAustralis Incognita. 

The first to sight land was a boy named Nicholas Young, hence the pointwas called "Young Nick's Head, " which may be seen on our maps to-day, covering Poverty Bay. The natives here were unfriendly, and Cook wasobliged to use firearms to prevent an attack. The Maoris had neverseen a great ship before, and at first thought it was a very largebird, being struck by the size and beauty of its wings (sails). Whena small boat was let down from the ship's side they thought it mustbe a young unfledged bird, but when the white men in theirbright-coloured clothes rowed off in the boat they concluded thesewere gods. 

Cook found the low sandy coast backed by well-wooded hills rising tomountains on which patches of snow were visible, while smoke couldbe seen through the trees, speaking of native dwellings. The nativeswere too treacherous to make it safe landing for the white men, sothey sailed out of Poverty Bay and proceeded south. Angry Maoris shooktheir spears at the Englishmen as they coasted south along the eastcoast of the North Island. But the face of the country was unpromising, and Cook altered his course for the north at a point he named CapeTurnagain. Unfortunately he missed the only safe port on the east coastbetween Auckland and Wellington, but he found good anchorage in whatis now known as Cook's Bay. Here they got plenty of good fish, wildfowl, and oysters, "as good as ever came out of Colchester. " Takingpossession of the land they passed in the name of King George, Cookcontinued his northerly course, passing many a river which seemed toresemble the Thames at home. A heavy December gale blew them off thenorthernmost point of land, which they named North Cape, and Christmaswas celebrated off Tasman's islands, with goose-pie. 

[Illustration: AN IPAH, OR MAORI FORT, ON THE COAST BETWEEN POVERTYBAY AND CAPE TURNAGAIN. From an engraving in the Atlas to Cook's first_Voyage_. ]

The New Year of 1770 found Cook off Cape Maria van Diemen, sailingsouth along the western coast of the North Island, till the _Endeavour_was anchored in Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte's Sound, only about seventymiles from the spot where Tasman first sighted land. 

Here the English explorer landed. The country was thickly wooded, buthe climbed a hill, and away to the eastward he saw that the seas washingboth east and west coasts of the northern island were united. He hadsolved one problem. Tasman's Staaten Land was not part of a greatsouthern continent. He now resolved to push through his newlydiscovered straits between the two islands, and, having done this, he sailed north till he reached Cape Turnagain. And so he proved beyonda doubt that this was an island. The men thought they had done enough. But Cook, with the true instinct of an explorer, turned a deaf earto the murmurings of his crew for roast beef and Old England, anddirected his course again south. From the natives he had learned ofthe existence of two islands, and he must needs sail round the southernas he had sailed round the northern isle. Storms and gales harassedthe navigators through the month of February as they made their wayslowly southwards. Indeed, they had a very narrow escape from deathtowards the end of the month, when in a two days' gale, with heavysqualls of rain, their foresail was split to pieces and they lost sightof land for seven days, nearly running on to submerged rocks whichCook named The Traps. 

It was nearly dark on 14th March when they entered a bay which theysuitably christened Dusky Bay, from which they sailed to Cascade Point, named from the four streams that fell over its face. 

"No country upon earth, " remarks Cook, "can appear with a more ruggedand barren aspect than this does from the sea, for, as far inland asthe eye can reach, nothing is to be seen but the summit of these rockymountains. " At last on 24th March they rounded the north point of theSouth Island. Before them lay the familiar waters of Massacre Bay, Tasman Bay, and Queen Charlotte Sound. 

"As we have now circumnavigated the whole of this country, it is timefor me to think of quitting it, " Cook remarks simply enough. 

Running into Admiralty Bay, the _Endeavour_ was repaired for hercoming voyage home. Her sails, "ill-provided from the first, " saysBanks, "were now worn and damaged by the rough work they had gonethrough, particularly on the coast of New Zealand, and they gave nolittle trouble to get into order again. "

While Banks searched for insects and plants, Cook sat writing up his_Journal_ of the circumnavigation. He loyally gives Tasman the honourof the first discovery, but clearly shows his error in supposing itto be part of the great southern land. 

The natives he describes as "a strong, raw-boned, well-made, activepeople rather above the common size, of a dark brown colour, with blackhair, thin black beards, and white teeth. Both men and women painttheir faces and bodies with red ochre mixed with fish oil. They wearornaments of stone, bone, and shells at their ears and about theirnecks, and the men generally wear long white feathers stuck uprightin their hair. They came off in canoes which will carry a hundredpeople; when within a stone's throw of the ship, the chief of the partywould brandish a battleaxe, calling out: 'Come ashore with us and wewill kill you. ' They would certainly have eaten them too, for theywere cannibals. "

The ship was now ready and, naming the last point of land Cape Farewell, they sailed away to the west, "till we fall in with the east coastof New Holland. " They had spent six and a half months sailing aboutin New Zealand waters, and had coasted some two thousand four hundredmiles. 

Nineteen days' sail brought them to the eagerly sought coast, and on28th April, Cook anchored for the first time in the bay known afterwardsto history as Botany Bay, so named from the quantity of plants foundin the neighbourhood by Mr. Banks. Cutting an inscription on one ofthe trees, with the date and name of the ship, Cook sailed north earlyin May, surveying the coast as he passed and giving names to the variousbays and capes. Thus Port Jackson, at the entrance of Sydney harbour, undiscovered by Cook, was so named after one of the Secretaries ofthe Admiralty--Smoky Cape from smoke arising from nativedwellings--Point Danger by reason of a narrow escape on someshoals--while Moreton Bay, on which Brisbane, the capital ofQueensland, now stands, was named after the President of the RoyalSociety. As they advanced, the coast became steep, rocky, andunpromising. 

"Hitherto, " reports Cook, "we had safely navigated this dangerouscoast, where the sea in all parts conceals shores that project suddenlyfrom the shore and rocks that rise abruptly like a pyramid from thebottom more than one thousand three hundred miles. But here we becameacquainted with misfortune, and we therefore called the point whichwe had just seen farthest to the northward, Cape Tribulation. "

It was the 10th of May. The gentlemen had left the deck "in greattranquillity" and gone to bed, when suddenly the ship struck andremained immovable except for the heaving of the surge that beat heragainst the crags of the rock upon which she lay. Every one rushedto the deck "with countenances which sufficiently expressed thehorrors of our situation. " Immediately they took in all sails, loweredthe boats, and found they were on a reef of coral rocks. Two days ofsickening anxiety followed, the ship sprang a leak, and they werethreatened with total destruction. To their intense relief, however, the ship floated off into deep water with a high tide. Repairs werenow more than ever necessary, and the poor battered collier was takeninto the "Endeavour" river. Tupia and others were also showing signsof scurvy; so a hospital tent was erected on shore, and with a supplyof fresh fish, pigeons, wild plantains, and turtles they began toimprove. Here stands to-day the seaport of Cooktown, where a monumentof Captain Cook looks out over the waters that he discovered. 

[Illustration: CAPTAIN COOK'S VESSEL BEACHED AT THE ENTRANCE OFENDEAVOUR RIVER, WHERE THE SEAPORT OF COOKTOWN NOW STANDS. From anengraving in the Atlas to Cook's first _Voyage_. ]

The prospect of further exploration was not encouraging. "In whateverdirection we looked, the sea was covered with shoals as far as theeye could see. " As they sailed out of their little river, they couldsee the surf breaking on the "Great Barrier Reef. " Navigation nowbecame very difficult, and, more than once, even Cook himself almostgave up hope. Great, then, was their joy when they found themselvesat the northern promontory of the land which "I have named York Capein honour of His late Royal Highness the Duke of York. We were in greathopes that we had at last found out a passage into the Indian Seas. "And he adds an important paragraph: "As I was now about to quit theeastern coast of New Holland, which I am confident no European hadever seen before, I once more hoisted the English colours, and I nowtook possession of the whole eastern coast in right of His MajestyKing George III. , by the name of New South Wales, with all the bays, harbours, rivers, and islands situated upon it. "

This part of the new land was called by the name of New South Wales. 

So the _Endeavour_ sailed through the straits that Torres hadaccidentally passed one hundred and sixty-four years before, and, justsighting New Guinea, Cook made his way to Java, for his crew were sicklyand "pretty far gone with longing for home. " The ship, too, was inbad condition; she had to be pumped night and day to keep her freefrom water, and her sails would hardly stand the least puff of wind. They reached Batavia in safety and were kindly received by the Dutchthere. 

Since leaving Plymouth two years before, Cook had only lost seven menaltogether--three by drowning, two frozen, one from consumption, onefrom poisoning--none from scurvy--a record without equal in thehistory of Navigation. But the climate of Batavia now wrought havocamong the men. One after another died, Tupia among others, and so manywere weakened with fever that only twenty officers and men were lefton duty at one time. 

Glad, indeed, they were to leave at Christmas time, and gladder stillto anchor in the Downs and to reach London after their three years'absence. The news of his arrival and great discoveries seems to havebeen taken very quietly by those at home. "Lieutenant Cook of the Navy, "says the _Annual Register_ for 1771, "who sailed round the globe, wasintroduced to His Majesty at St. James's, and presented to His Majestyhis _Journal_ of his voyage, with some curious maps and charts ofdifferent places that he had drawn during the voyage; he was presentedwith a captain's commission. "

CHAPTER XLVI

COOK'S THIRD VOYAGE AND DEATH

Although the importance of his discoveries was not realised at thistime, Cook was given command of two new ships, the _Resolution_ and_Adventure_, provisioned for a year for "a voyage to remote parts, "a few months later. And the old _Endeavour_ went back to her collierwork in the North Sea. 

Perhaps a letter written by Cook to a friend at Whitby on his returnfrom the second voyage is sufficient to serve our purpose here; for, though the voyage was important enough, yet little new was discovered. And after spending many months in high latitudes, Cook decided thatthere was no great southern continent to the south of New Holland andNew Zealand. 

"DEAR SIR, "--he writes from London in September 1775--"I now sit downto fulfil the promise I made you to give you some account of my lastvoyage. I left the Cape of Good Hope on 22nd November 1772 and proceededto the south, till I met with a vast field of ice and much foggy weatherand large islets or floating mountains of ice without number. Aftersome trouble and not a little danger, I got to the south of the fieldof ice; and after beating about for some time for land, in a sea strewedwith ice, I crossed the Antarctic circle and the same evening (17thJanuary 1773) found it unsafe, or rather impossible, to stand fartherto the south for ice. 

"Seeing no signs of meeting with land in these high latitudes, I stoodaway to the northward, and, without seeing any signs of land, I thoughtproper to steer for New Zealand, where I anchored in Dusky Bay on 26thMarch and then sailed for Queen Charlotte's Sound. Again I put to seaand stood to the south, where I met with nothing but ice and excessivecold, bad weather. Here I spent near four months beating about in highlatitudes. Once I got as high as seventy-one degrees, and farther itwas not possible to go for ice which lay as firm as land. Here we sawice mountains, whose summits were lost in clouds. I was now fullysatisfied that there was no Southern Continent. I neverthelessresolved to spend some time longer in these seas, and with thisresolution I stood away to the north. "

In this second voyage Cook proved that there was no great land to thesouth of Terra Australis or South America, except the land of ice lyingabout the South Pole. 

But he did a greater piece of work than this. He fought, and foughtsuccessfully, the great curse of scurvy, which had hitherto carriedoff scores of sailors and prevented ships on voyages of discovery, or indeed ships of war, from staying long on the high seas withoutconstantly landing for supplies of fresh food. It was no uncommonoccurrence for a sea captain to return after even a few months' cruisewith half his men suffering from scurvy. Captain Palliser on H. M. S. _Eagle_ in 1756 landed in Plymouth Sound with one hundred and thirtysick men out of four hundred, twenty-two having died in a month. Cookhad resolved to fight this dreaded scourge, and we have already seenthat during his three years' cruise of the _Endeavour_ he had onlyto report five cases of scurvy, so close a watch did he keep on hiscrews. In his second voyage he was even more particular, with the resultthat in the course of three years he did not lose a single man fromscurvy. He enforced cold bathing, and encouraged it by example. Theallowance of salt beef and pork was cut down, and the habit of mixingsalt beef fat with the flour was strictly forbidden. Salt butter andcheese were stopped, and raisins were substituted for salt suet; wildcelery was collected in Terra del Fuego and breakfast made from thiswith ground wheat and portable soup. The cleanliness of the men wasinsisted on. Cook never allowed any one to appear dirty before him. He inspected the men once a week at least, and saw with his own eyesthat they changed their clothing; equal care was taken to keep theship clean and dry between decks, and she was constantly "cured withfires" or "smoked with gunpowder mixed with vinegar. "

For a paper on this subject read before the Royal Society in 1776, James Cook was awarded a gold medal (now in the British Museum). 

But although the explorer was now forty-eight, he was as eager foractive adventure as a youth of twenty. He had settled the questionof a southern continent. Now when the question of the North-WestPassage came up again, he offered his services to Lord Sandwich, firstLord of the Admiralty, and was at once accepted. It was more than twohundred years since Frobisher had attempted to solve the mystery, which even Cook--the first navigator of his day--with improved shipsand better-fed men, did not succeed in solving. He now received hissecret instructions, and, choosing the old _Resolution_ again, he setsail in company with Captain Clerke on board the _Discovery_ in theyear 1776 for that voyage from which there was to be no return. Hewas to touch at New Albion (discovered by Drake) and explore any riversor inlets that might lead to Hudson's or Baffin's Bay. 

After once more visiting Tasmania and New Zealand, he made a prolongedstay among the Pacific Islands, turning north in December 1777. Soonafter they had crossed the line, and a few days before Christmas, alow island was seen on which Cook at once landed, hoping to get a freshsupply of turtle. In this he was not disappointed. Some three hundred, "all of the green kind and perhaps as good as any in the world, " wereobtained; the island was named Christmas Island, and the _Resolution_and _Discovery_ sailed upon their way. A few days later they came upona group of islands hitherto unknown. These they named after the Earlof Sandwich, the group forming the kingdom of Hawaii--the chief island. Natives came off in canoes bringing pigs and potatoes, and ready toexchange fish for nails. Some were tempted on board, "the wildnessof their looks expressing their astonishment. " Anchorage being found, Cook landed, and as he set foot on shore a large crowd of natives pressedforward and, throwing themselves on their faces, remained thus tillCook signed to them to rise. 

[Illustration: CAPIAIN JAMES COOK. From the painting by Dance in thegallery of Greenwich Hospital. ]

With a goodly supply of fresh provisions, Cook sailed away from theSandwich Islands, and after some five weeks' sail to the north the"longed-for coast of New Albion was seen. " The natives of the countrywere clad in fur, which they offered for sale. They exacted paymentfor everything, even for the wood and water that the strangers tookfrom their shores. The weather was cold and stormy, and the progressof the little English ships was slow. By 22nd March they had passedCape Flattery; a week later they named Hope Bay, "in which we hopedto find a good harbour, and the event proved we were not mistaken. "All this part of the coast was called by Cook King George's Sound, but the native name of Nootka has since prevailed. We have an amusingaccount of these natives. At first they were supposed to be darkcoloured, "till after much cleaning they were found to have skins likeour people in England. " Expert thieves they were. No piece of ironwas safe from them. "Before we left the place, " says Cook, "hardlya bit of brass was left in the ship. Whole suits of clothes were strippedof every button, copper kettles, tin canisters, candlesticks, all wentto wreck, so that these people got a greater variety of things fromus than any other people we had visited. "

It was not till 26th April that Cook at last managed to start forwardagain, but a two days' hard gale drove him from the coast and onwardsto a wide inlet to which he gave the name of Prince William's Sound. Here the natives were just like the Eskimos in Hudson's Bay. The shipsnow sailed westward, doubling the promontory of Alaska, and on 9thAugust they reached the westernmost point of North America, which theynamed Cape Prince of Wales. They were now in the sea discovered byBehring, 1741, to which they gave his name. Hampered by fog and ice, the ships made their way slowly on to a point named Cape North. Cookdecided that the eastern point of Asia was but thirteen leagues fromthe western point of America. They named the Sound on the Americanside Norton Sound after the Speaker of the House of Commons. Havingpassed the Arctic Circle and penetrated into the Northern Seas, whichwere never free from ice, they met Russian traders who professed tohave known Behring. Then having discovered four thousand miles of newcoast, and refreshed themselves with walrus or sea-horse, theexpedition turned joyfully back to the Sandwich Islands. 

On the last day of November, Cook discovered the island of Owhyhee(Hawaii), which he carefully surveyed, till he came to anchor inKarakakooa Bay. 

The tragic death of Captain Cook at the hands of these natives is wellknown to every child. The reason for his murder is not entirelyunderstood to-day, but the natives, who had hitherto proved friendly, suddenly attacked the English explorer and slew him, and "he fell intothe water and spoke no more. "

[Illustration: CAPTAIN COOK, THE DISCOVERER OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS, WITH HIS SHIPS IN KEALAKEKUA BAY, HAWAII, WHERE HE WAS MURDERED. Froman engraving in the Atlas to _Cook's Voyages_, 1779. ]

Such was the melancholy end of England's first great navigator--JamesCook--the foremost sailor of his time, the man who had circumnavigatedNew Zealand, who had explored the coast of New South Wales, namedvarious unknown islands in the Pacific Ocean, and discovered theSandwich Islands. He died on 14th February 1779. It was not till 11thJanuary 1780 that the news of his death reached London, to be recordedin the quaint language of the day by the _London Gazette_. 

"It is with the utmost concern, " runs the announcement, "that we informthe Public, that the celebrated Circumnavigator, Captain Cook, waskilled by the inhabitants of a new-discover'd island in the South Seas. The Captain and crew were first treated as deities, but, upon theirrevisiting that Island, hostilities ensued and the above melancholyscene was the Consequence. This account is come from Kamtchatka byLetters from Captain Clerke and others. But the crews of the Shipswere in a very good state of health, and all in the most desirablecondition. His successful attempts to preserve the Healths of hisCrews are well known, and his Discoveries will be an everlasting Honourto his Country. "

_Cook's First Voyages_ were published in 1773, and were widely read, but his account of the new country did not at once attract Europeansto its shores. We hear of "barren sandy shores and wild rocky coastinhabited by naked black people, malicious and cruel, " on the one hand, "and low shores all white with sand fringed with foaming surf, " withhostile natives on the other. 

[Illustration: "THE UNROLLING OF THE CLOUDS"--VI. The world as knownafter the voyages of Captain Cook (1768-1779). ]

It was not till eighteen years after Cook's death that Banks--his oldfriend--appealed to the British Government of the day to make someuse of these discoveries. At last the loss of the American coloniesin 1776 induced men to turn their eyes toward the new land in the SouthPacific. Banks remembered well his visit to Botany Bay with CaptainCook in 1770, and he now urged the dispatch of convicts, hithertotransported to America, to this newly found bay in New South Wales. 

So in 1787 a fleet of eleven ships with one thousand people on boardleft the shores of England under the command of Captain Phillip. Aftera tedious voyage of thirty-six weeks, they reached Botany Bay inJanuary 1788. 

Captain Phillip had been appointed Governor of all New South Wales, that is from Cape York to Van Diemen's Land, still supposed to be partof the mainland. But Phillip at once recognised that Botany Bay wasnot a suitable place for a settlement. No white man had described theseshores since the days of Captain Cook. The green meadows of which Banksspoke were barren swamps and bleak sands, while the bay itself wasexposed to the full sweep of violent winds, with a heavy sea breakingwith tremendous surf against the shore. 

"Warra, warra!" (begone, begone), shouted the natives, brandishingspears at the water's edge as they had done eighteen years before. In an open boat--for it was midsummer in these parts--Phillip surveyedthe coast; an opening marked Port Jackson on Cook's chart attractedhis notice and, sailing between two rocky headlands, the explorerfound himself crossing smooth, clear water with a beautiful harbourin front and soft green foliage reaching down to the water's edge. Struck with the loveliness of the scene, and finding both wood andwater here, he chose the spot for his new colony, giving it the nameof Sydney, alter Lord Sydney, who as Home Secretary had appointed himto his command. 

[Illustration: PORT JACKSON AND SYDNEY COVE A FEW YEARS AFTER COOKAND PHILLIP. From the Atlas to the _Voyage de l'Astrolabe_. ]

"We got into Port Jackson, " he wrote to Lord Sydney, "early in theafternoon, and had the satisfaction of finding the finest harbour inthe world, in which a thousand sail of the line may ride in perfectsecurity. "

"To us, " wrote one of his captains, "it was a great and important day, and I hope will mark the foundation of an empire. "

But, interesting as it is, we cannot follow the fortunes of this firstlittle English colony in the South Pacific Ocean. 

The English had not arrived a day too soon. A few days later the Frenchexplorer, La Perouse, guided hither by Cook's chart, suddenly madehis appearance on the shores of Botany Bay. The arrival of two Frenchmen-of-war caused the greatest excitement among the white strangersand the black natives. 

La Perouse had left France in 1785 in command of two ships with ordersto search for the North-West Passage from the Pacific side--a featattempted by Captain Cook only nine years before--to explore the Chinaseas, the Solomon Islands, and the Terra Australis. He had reachedthe coast of Alaska in June 1786, but after six weeks of bad weatherhe had crossed to Asia in the early part of the following year. 

Thence he had made his way by the Philippine Islands to the coastsof Japan, Korea, and "Chinese Tartary. " Touching at Quelpart, hereached a bay near our modern Vladivostock, and on 2nd August 1787he discovered the strait that bears his name to-day, between Saghalienand the North Island of Japan. Fortunately, from Kamtchatka, wherehe had landed, he had sent home his journals, notes, plans, and mapsby Lesseps--uncle of the famous Ferdinand de Lesseps of Suez Canalfame. 

On 26th January 1788 he landed at Botany Bay. From here he wrote hislast letter to the French Government. After leaving this port he wasnever seen again. Many years later, in 1826, the wreck of his two shipswas found on the reefs of an island near the New Hebrides. 

CHAPTER XLVII

BRUCE'S TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA

Perhaps one of the strangest facts in the whole history of explorationis that Africa was almost an unknown land a hundred years ago, andstranger still, that there remains to-day nearly one-eleventh of thewhole area still unexplored. And yet it is one of the three oldcontinents that appear on every old chart of the world in ancient days, with its many-mouthed Nile rising in weird spots and flowing in sundryimpossible directions. Sometimes it joins the mysterious Niger, andtogether they flow through country labelled "Unknown" or "Desert" or"Negroland, " or an enterprising cartographer fills up vacant spaceswith wild animals stalking through the land. 

The coast tells a different tale. The west shores are studded withtrading forts belonging to English, Danes, Dutch, and Portuguese, where slaves from the interior awaited shipment to the variouscountries that required negro labour. The slave trade was the great, in fact the only, attraction to Africa at the beginning of theeighteenth century. In pursuit of this, men would penetrate quite along way into the interior, but through the long centuries fewexplorers had travelled to the Dark Continent. 

Towards the end of the century we suddenly get one man--a young Scottishgiant, named James Bruce, thirsting for exploration for its own sake. He cared not for slaves or gold or ivory. He just wanted to discoverthe source of the Nile, over which a great mystery had hung since thedays of Herodotus. The Mountains of the Moon figure largely on theOld World maps, but Bruce decided to rediscover these for himself. Herodotus had said the Nile turned west and became the Niger, otherssaid it turned east and somehow joined the Tigris and Euphrates. Indeed, such was the uncertainty regarding its source that to discover thesource of the Nile seemed equivalent to performing the impossible. 

James Bruce, athletic, daring, standing six feet four, seemed at theage of twenty-four made for a life of travel and adventure. His businesstook him to Spain and Portugal. He studied Arabic and the ancientlanguage of Abyssinia. He came under the notice of Pitt, and was madeconsul of Algiers. The idea of the undiscovered sources of the Niletook strong hold of Bruce's imagination. 

"It was at this moment, " he says, "that I resolved that this greatdiscovery should either be achieved by me or remain--as it has donefor three thousand years--a defiance to all travellers. "

A violent dispute with the old bey of Algiers ended Bruce's consulate, and in 1765, the spirit of adventure strong upon him, he sailed alongthe North African coast, landed at Tunis, and made his way to Tripoli. On the frontier he found a tribe of Arabs set apart to destroy thelions which beset the neighbourhood. These people not only killed butate the lions, and they prevailed on Bruce to share their repast. Butone meal was enough for the young explorer. 

In burning heat across the desert sands he passed on. Once a greatcaravan arrived, journeying from Fez to Mecca, consisting of threethousand men with camels laden with merchandise. But this religiouspilgrimage was plundered in the desert soon after. Arrived at Bengazi, Bruce found a terrible famine raging, so he embarked on a little Greekship bound for Crete. It was crowded with Arabs; the captain wasignorant; a violent storm arose and, close to Bengazi, the ship struckupon a rock. Lowering a boat, Bruce and a number of Arabs sprang inand tried to row ashore. But wave after wave broke over them, and atlast they had to swim for their lives. The surf was breaking on theshore, and Bruce was washed up breathless and exhausted. Arabsflocking down to plunder the wreck, found Bruce, and with blows andkicks stripped him of all his clothes and left him naked on the barrenshore. At last an old Arab came along, threw a dirty rag over him, and led him to a tent, whence he reached Bengazi once more, and soonafter crossed to Crete. 

[Illustration: A NILE BOAT, OR CANJA. From Bruce's _Travels toDiscover the Source of the Nile_. ]

It was not till July 1768 that the explorer at last reached Cairo _enroute_ for Abyssinia, and five months later embarked on board a Nileboat, or canja. His cabin had close latticed windows made not onlyto admit fresh air, but to be a defence against a set of robbers onthe Nile, who were wont to swim under water in the dark or on goatskinsto pilfer any passing boats. Then, unfurling her vast sails, the canjabore Bruce on the first stage of his great journey. The explorer spentsome time in trying to find the lost site of old Memphis, but thiswas difficult. "A man's heart fails him in looking to the south, " hesays; "he is lost in the immense expanse of desert, which he sees fullof pyramids before him. Struck with terror from the unusual scene ofvastness opened all at once upon leaving the palm trees, he becomesdispirited from the effect of the sultry climate. "

For some days the canja, with a fair wind, stemmed the strong currentof the Nile. "With great velocity" she raced past various villagesthrough the narrow green valley of cultivation, till the scene changedand large plantations of sugar-canes and dates began. "The wind hadnow become so strong that the canja could scarcely carry her sails;the current was rapid and the velocity with which she dashed againstthe water was terrible. " Still she flew on day after day, till earlyin January they reached the spot "where spreading Nile partshundred-gated Thebes. " Solitude and silence reigned over themagnificent old sepulchres; the hundred gates were gone, robbersswarmed, and the traveller hastened away. So on to Luxor and Karnacto a great encampment of Arabs, who held sway over the desert whichBruce had now to cross. The old sheikh, whose protection was necessary, known as the Tiger from his ferocious disposition, was very ill inhis tent. Bruce gave him some lime water, which eased his pain, and, rising from the ground, the old Arab stood upright and cried: "Cursedbe those of my people that ever shall lift up their hand against youin the desert. "

He strongly advised Bruce to return to Kenne and cross the desert fromthere instead of going on by the Nile. Reluctantly Bruce turned back, and on 16th February 1769 he joined a caravan setting out to crossthe desert to the shores of the Red Sea. 

"Our road, " he says, "was all the way in an open plain bounded byhillocks of sand and fine gravel--perfectly hard, but without trees, shrubs, or herbs. There are not even the traces of any living creature, neither serpent, lizard, antelope, nor ostrich--the usual inhabitantsof the most dreary deserts. There is no sort of water--even the birdsseem to avoid the place as pestilential--the sun was burning hot. "In a few days the scene changed, and Bruce is noting that in four dayshe passes more granite, porphyry, marble, and jasper than would buildRome, Athens, Corinth, Memphis, Alexandria, and half a dozen more. At last after a week's travel they reached Cossier, the littlemud-walled village on the shores of the Red Sea. Here Bruce embarkedin a small boat, the planks of which were sewn together instead ofnailed, with a "sort of straw mattress as a sail, " for the emeraldmines described by Pliny, but he was driven back by a tremendous storm. Determined to survey the Red Sea, he sailed to the north, and afterlanding at Tor at the foot of Mount Sinai, he sailed down the bleakcoast of Arabia to Jidda, the port of Mecca. 

[Illustration: AN ARAB SHEIKH. From Bruce's _Travels_. ]

By this time he was shaking with ague and fever, scorched by the burningsun, and weather-beaten by wind and storm--moreover, he was stilldressed as a Turkish soldier. He was glad enough to find kindly Englishat Jidda, and after two months' rest he sailed on to the Straits ofBabelmandeb. Being now on English ground, he drank the King's healthand sailed across to Masuah, the main port of Abyssinia. Although hehad letters of introduction from Jidda he had some difficulty withthe chief of Masuah, but at last, dressed in long white Moorish robes, he broke away, and in November 1769 started forth for Gondar, thecapital of Abyssinia. 

It was nearly one hundred and fifty years since any European of notehad visited the country, and it was hard to get any information. 

His way led across mountainous country--rugged and steep. "Far abovethe top of all towers that stupendous mass, the mountain of Taranta, probably one of the highest in the world, the point of which is buriedin the clouds and very rarely seen but in the clearest weather; atother times abandoned to perpetual mist and darkness, the seat oflightning, thunder, and of storm. " Violent storms added to the terrorsof the way, trees were torn up by the roots, and swollen streams rushedalong in torrents. 

Bruce had started with his quadrant carried by four men, but the taskof getting his cumbersome instruments up the steep sides of Tarantawas intense. However, they reached the top at last to find a huge plain, "perhaps one of the highest in the world, " and herds of beautiful cattlefeeding. "The cows were completely white, with large dewlaps hangingdown to their knees, white horns, and long silky hair. " Afterninety-five days' journey, on 14th February Bruce reached Gondar, thecapital, on the flat summit of a high hill. 

Here lived the King of Abyssinia, a supposed descendant of KingSolomon; but at the present time the country was in a lawless andunsettled condition. Moreover, smallpox was raging at the palace, andthe royal children were smitten with it. Bruce's knowledge of medicinenow stood him again in good stead. He opened all the doors and windowsof the palace, washed his little patients with vinegar and warm water, sent away those not already infected, and all recovered. Bruce hadsprung into court favour. The ferocious chieftain, Ras Michael, whohad killed one king, poisoned another, and was now ruling in the nameof a third, sent for him. The old chief was dressed in a coarse, dirtygarment wrapped round him like a blanket, his long white hair hungdown over his shoulders, while behind him stood soldiers, their lancesornamented with shreds of scarlet cloth, one for every man slain inbattle. 

Bruce was appointed "Master of the King's horse, " a high office andrichly paid. 

But "I told him this was no kindness, " said the explorer. "My onlywish was to see the country and find the sources of the Nile. "

But time passed on and they would not let him go, until, at last, hepersuaded the authorities to make him ruler over the province wherethe Blue Nile was supposed to rise. Amid great opposition he at lastleft the palace of Gondar on 28th October 1770, and was soon on hisway to the south "to see a river and a bog, no part of which he couldtake away"--an expedition wholly incomprehensible to the royal folkat Gondar. Two days' march brought him to the shores of the great LakeTsana, into which, despite the fact that he was tremendously hot andthat crocodiles abounded there, the hardy young explorer plunged fora swim. And thus refreshed he proceeded on his way. He had now toencounter a new chieftain named Fasil, who at first refused to givehim leave to pass on his way. It was not until Bruce had shown himselfan able horseman and exhibited feats of strength and prowess that leavewas at last granted. Fasil tested him in this wise. Twelve horses werebrought to Bruce, saddled and bridled, to know which he would liketo ride. Selecting an apparently quiet beast, the young travellermounted. 

"For the first two minutes, " he says, "I do not know whether I wasmost in the earth or in the air; he kicked behind, reared before, leapedlike a deer all four legs off the ground--he then attempted to gallop, taking the bridle in his teeth; he continued to gallop and ran awayas hard as he could, flinging out behind every ten yards, till he hadno longer breath or strength and I began to think he would scarce carryme to the camp. "

On his return Bruce mounted his own horse, and, taking hisdouble-barrelled gun, he rode about, twisting and turning his horsein every direction, to the admiration of these wild Abyssinian folk. Not only did Fasil now let him go, but he dressed him in a fine, loosemuslin garment which reached to his feet, gave him guides and a handsomegrey horse. 

"Take this horse, " he said, "as a present from me. Do not mount ityourself; drive it before you, saddled and bridled as it is; no manwill touch you when he sees that horse. " Bruce obeyed his orders, andthe horse was driven in front of him. The horse was magic; the peoplegave it handfuls of barley and paid more respect to it than to Brucehimself, though in many cases the people seemed scared by theappearance of the horse and fled away. 

On 2nd November the Nile came into sight. It was only two hundred andsixty feet broad; but it was deeply revered by the people who livedon its banks. They refused to allow Bruce to ride across, but insistedon his taking off his shoes and walking through the shallow stream. It now became difficult to get food as they crossed the scorching hotplains. But Bruce was nearing his goal, and at last he stood at thetop of the great Abyssinian tableland. "Immediately below us appearedthe Nile itself, strangely diminished in size, now only a brook thathad scarcely water to turn a mill. " Throwing off his shoes, tramplingdown the flowers that grew on the mountain-side, falling twice in hisexcitement, Bruce ran down in breathless haste till he reached the"hillock of green sod" which has made his name so famous. 

"It is easier to guess than to describe the situation of my mind atthat moment, standing in that spot which had baffled the genius, industry, and inquiry of both ancients and moderns for the course ofnear three thousand years. Kings had attempted this discovery at theheads of their armies--fame, riches, and honour had been held out fora series of ages without having produced one man capable of wipingoff this stain upon the enterprise and abilities of mankind or addingthis desideratum for the encouragement of geography. Though a mereprivate Briton, I triumphed here over kings and their armies. I wasbut a few minutes arrived at the source of the Nile, through numberlessdangers and sufferings, the least of which would have overwhelmed mebut for the continual goodness and protection of Providence. I was, however, but then half through my journey, and all those dangers whichI had already passed awaited me again on my return. I found adespondency gaining ground fast upon me and blasting the crown oflaurels I had too rashly woven for myself. "

Bruce then filled a large cocoa-nut shell, which he had brought fromArabia, full of the Nile water, and drank to the health of His MajestyKing George III. 

CHAPTER XLVIII

MUNGO PARK AND THE NIGER

Bruce died in the spring of 1794. Just a year later another Scotsman, Mungo Park, from Selkirk, started off to explore the great riverNiger--whose course was as mysterious as that of the Nile. Most ofthe early geographers knew something of a great river running throughNegroland. Indeed, Herodotus tells of five young men, the Nasamones, who set out to explore the very heart of Africa. Arrived at the edgeof the great sandy desert, they collected provisions and suppliedthemselves with water and plunged courageously into the unknown. Forweary days they made their way across to the south, till they wererewarded by finding themselves in a fertile land well watered by lakesand marshes, with fruit trees and a little race of men and women whomthey called pigmies. 

And a large river was flowing from west to east--probably the Niger. But the days of Herodotus are long since past. It was centuries laterwhen the Arabs, fiery with the faith of Mohammed, swept over theunexplored lands. "With a fiery enthusiasm that nothing couldwithstand, and inspired by a hope of heaven which nothing could shake, they swept from district to district, from tribe to tribe, " everywhereproclaiming to roving multitudes the faith of their master. In thisspirit they had faced the terrors of the Sahara Desert, and in thetenth century reached the land of the negroes, found the Niger, andestablished schools and mosques westward of Timbuktu. 

Portugal had then begun to play her part, and the fifteenth centuryis full of the wonderful voyages inspired by Prince Henry of Portugal, which culminated in the triumph of Vasco da Gama's great voyage toIndia by the Cape of Good Hope. 

Then the slave trade drew the Elizabethan Englishmen to the shoresof West Africa, and the coast was studded with forts and stations inconnection with it. Yet in the eighteenth century the Niger andTimbuktu were still a mystery. 

In 1778 the African Association was founded, with our old friend SirJoseph Banks as an active member inquiring for a suitable man to followup the work of the explorer Houghton, who had just perished in thedesert on his way to Timbuktu. 

The opportunity produced the man. Mungo Park, a young Scotsman, bittenwith the fever of unrest, had just returned from a voyage to the Easton board an East India Company's ship. He heard of this new venture, and applied for it. The African Association instantly accepted hisservices, and on 22nd May 1795, Mungo Park left England on board the_Endeavour_, and after a pleasant voyage of thirty days landed at themouth of the river Gambia. The river is navigable for four hundredmiles from its mouth, and Park sailed up to a native town, where the_Endeavour_ was anchored, while he set out on horseback for a littlevillage, Pisania, where a few British subjects traded in slaves, ivory, and gold. Here he stayed a while, to learn the language of the country. Fever delayed him till the end of November, when the rains were over, the native crops had been reaped, and food was cheap and plentiful. On 3rd December he made a start, his sole attendants being a negroservant, Johnson, and a slave boy. Mungo Park was mounted on a strong, spirited little horse, his attendants on donkeys. He had provisionsfor two days, beads, amber, and tobacco for buying fresh food, anumbrella, a compass, a thermometer and pocket sextant, some pistolsand firearms, and "thus attended, thus provided, thus armed, MungoPark started for the heart of Africa. "

[Illustration: MUNGO PARK. From the engraving in Park's _Travels intothe Interior of Africa_, 1799. ]

Three days' travelling brought him to Medina, where he found the oldking sitting on a bullock's hide, warming himself before a large fire. He begged the English explorer to turn back and not to travel intothe interior, for the people there had never seen a white man and wouldmost certainly destroy him. Mungo Park was not so easily deterred, and taking farewell of the good old king, he took a guide and proceededon his way. 

A day's journey brought him to a village where a curious customprevailed. Hanging on a tree, he found a sort of masquerading dressmade out of bark. He discovered that it belonged to a strange bugbearknown to all the natives of the neighbourhood as Mumbo Jumbo. Thenatives or Kafirs of this part had many wives, with the result thatfamily quarrels often took place. If a husband was offended by hiswife he disappeared into the woods, disguised himself in the dressof Mumbo Jumbo, and, armed with the rod of authority, announced hisadvent by loud and dismal screams near the town. All hurried to theaccepted meeting-place, for none dare disobey. The meeting opened withsong and dance till midnight, when Mumbo Jumbo announced the offendingwife. The unlucky victim was then seized, stripped, tied to a post, and beaten with Mumbo's rod amid the shouts of the assembled company. 

A few days before Christmas, Park entered Fatticonda--the place whereMajor Houghton had been robbed and badly used. He therefore took someamber, tobacco, and an umbrella as gifts to the king, taking care toput on his best blue coat, lest it should be stolen. The king wasdelighted with his gifts; he furled and unfurled his umbrella to thegreat admiration of his attendants. "The king then praised my bluecoat, " says Park, "of which the yellow buttons seemed particularlyto catch his fancy, and entreated me to give it to him, assuring methat he would wear it on all public occasions. As it was against myinterests to offend him by a refusal, I very quietly took off mycoat--the only good one in my possession--and laid it at his feet. "Then without his coat and umbrella, but in peace, Park travelled onwardto the dangerous district which was so invested with robbers that thelittle party had to travel by night. The howling of wild beasts alonebroke the awful silence as they crept forth by moonlight on their way. But the news that a white man was travelling through their land spread, and he was surrounded by a party of horsemen, who robbed him of nearlyall his possessions. His attendant Johnson urged him to return, forcertain death awaited him. But Park was not the man to turn back, andhe was soon rewarded by finding the king's nephew, who conducted himin safety to the banks of the Senegal River. 

Then he travelled on to the next king, who rejoiced in the name ofDaisy Korrabarri. Here Mungo learnt to his dismay that war was goingon in the province that lay between him and the Niger, and the kingcould offer no protection. Still nothing deterred the resoluteexplorer, who took another route and continued his journey. Again hehad to travel by night, for robbers haunted his path, which now layamong Mohammedans. He passed the very spot where Houghton had beenleft to die of starvation in the desert. As he advanced through theseinhospitable regions, new difficulties met him. His attendants firmlyrefused to move farther. Mungo Park was now alone in the great desertNegroland, between the Senegal and the Niger, as with magnificentresolution he continued his way. Suddenly a clear halloo rang out onthe night air. It was his black boy, who had followed him to sharehis fate. Onward they went together, hoping to get safely through theland where Mohammedans ruled over low-caste negroes. Suddenly a partyof Moors surrounded him, bidding him come to Ali, the chief, who wishedto see a white man and a Christian. Park now found himself the centreof an admiring crowd. Men, women, and children crowded round him, pulling at his clothes and examining his waistcoat buttons till hecould hardly move. Arrived at Ali's tent, Mungo found an old man witha long white beard. "The surrounding attendants, and especially theladies, were most inquisitive; they asked a thousand questions, inspected every part of my clothes, searched my pockets, and obligedme to unbutton my waistcoat and display the whiteness of my skin--theyeven counted my toes and fingers, as if they doubted whether I wasin truth a human being. " He was lodged in a hut made of corn stalks, and a wild hog was tied to a stake as a suitable companion for thehated Christian. He was brutally ill-treated, closely watched, andinsulted by "the rudest savages on earth. " The desert winds scorchedhim, the sand choked him, the heavens above were like brass, the earthbeneath as the floor of an oven. Fear came on him, and he dreaded deathwith his work yet unfinished. At last he escaped from this awfulcaptivity amid the wilds of Africa. Early one morning at sunrise, hestepped over the sleeping negroes, seized his bundle, jumped on tohis horse, and rode away as hard as he could. Looking back, he sawthree Moors in hot pursuit, whooping and brandishing theirdouble-barrelled guns. But he was beyond reach, and he breathed again. Now starvation stared him in the face. To the pangs of hunger wereadded the agony of thirst. The sun beat down pitilessly, and at lastMungo fell on the sand. "Here, " he thought--"here after a short butineffectual struggle I must end all my hopes of being useful in myday and generation; here must the short span of my life come to anend. "

[Illustration: THE CAMP OF ALI, THE MOHAMMEDAN CHIEF, AT BENOWN. Froma sketch by Mungo Park. ]

But happily a great storm came and Mungo spread out his clothes tocollect the drops of rain, and quenched his thirst by wringing themout and sucking them. After this refreshment he led his tired horse, directing his way by the compass, lit up at intervals by vivid flashesof lightning. It was not till the third week of his flight that hisreward came. "I was told I should see the Niger early next day, " hewrote on 20th July 1796. "We were riding through some marshy ground, when some one called out 'See the water!' and, looking forwards, Isaw with infinite pleasure the great object of my mission--thelong-sought-for majestic Niger glittering to the morning sun, as broadas the Thames at Westminster, and flowing slowly _to the eastward_. I hastened to the brink and, having drunk of the water, lifted up myfervent thanks in prayer to the Great Ruler of all things, for havingthus far crowned my endeavours with success. The circumstance of theNiger's flowing towards the east did not excite my surprise, foralthough I had left Europe in great hesitation on this subject, I hadreceived from the negroes clear assurances that its general coursewas _towards the rising sun_. "

He was now near Sego--the capital of Bambarra--on the Niger, a cityof some thirty thousand inhabitants. "The view of this extensive city, the numerous canoes upon the river, the crowded population, and thecultivated state of the surrounding country, formed altogether aprospect of civilisation and magnificence which I little expected tofind in the bosom of Africa. " The natives looked at the poor, thin, white stranger with astonishment and fear, and refused to allow himto cross the river. All day he sat without food under the shade ofa tree, and was proposing to climb the tree and rest among its branchesto find shelter from a coming storm, when a poor negro woman took pityon his deplorable condition. She took him to her hut, lit a lamp, spreada mat upon the floor, broiled him a fish, and allowed him to sleep. While he rested she spun cotton with other women and sang: "The windsroared and the rains fell. The poor white man, faint and weary, cameand sat under our tree. He has no mother to bring him milk, no wifeto grind his corn"; and all joined in the chorus: "Let us pity thewhite man, no mother has he. "

[Illustration: KAMALIA, A NATIVE VILLAGE NEAR THE SOUTHERN COURSE OFTHE NIGER. From a sketch by Mungo Park. ]

Mungo Park left in the morning after presenting his landlady with twoof his last four brass buttons. But though he made another gallanteffort to reach Timbuktu and the Niger, which, he was told, "ran tothe world's end, " lions and mosquitoes made life impossible. His horsewas too weak to carry him any farther, and on 29th July 1796 he sadlyturned back. "Worn down by sickness, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, half-naked, and without any article of value by which I might getprovisions, clothes, or lodging, I felt I should sacrifice my lifeto no purpose, for my discoveries would perish with me. " Joining acaravan of slaves, he reached the coast after some nineteen hundredmiles, and after an absence of two years and nine months he found asuit of English clothes, "disrobed his chin of venerable encumbrance, "and sailed for home. He published an account of the journey in 1799, after which he married and settled in Scotland as a doctor. But hisheart was in Africa, and a few years later he started off again toreach Timbuktu. He arrived at the Gambia early in April 1805. "If allgoes well, " he wrote gaily, "this day six weeks I expect to drink allyour healths in the water of the Niger. " He started this time withforty-four Europeans, each with donkeys to carry baggage and food, but it was a deplorable little party that reached the great river on19th August. Thirty men had died on the march, the donkeys had beenstolen, the baggage lost. And the joy experienced by the explorer inreaching the waters of the Niger, "rolling its immense stream alongthe plain, " was marred by the reduction of his little party to seven. Leave to pass down the river to Timbuktu was obtained by the gift oftwo double-barrelled guns to the King, and in their old canoes patchedtogether under the magnificent name of "His Majesty's schooner the_Joliba_" (great water), Mungo Park wrote his last letter home. 

[Illustration: A NATIVE WOMAN WASHING GOLD IN SENEGAL. From a sketchby Mungo Park made on his last expedition. ]

"I am far from desponding. I have changed a large canoe into a tolerablygood schooner, on board of which I shall set sail to the east witha fixed resolution to discover the termination of the Niger or perishin the attempt; and though all the Europeans who are with me shoulddie, and though I myself were half-dead, I would still persevere; andif I could not succeed in the object of my journey, I would at leastdie on the Niger. "

It was in this spirit that the commander of the _Joliba_ and a crewof nine set forth to glide down a great river toward the heart of savageAfrica, into the darkness of the unexplored. 

The rest is silence. 

CHAPTER XLIX

VANCOUVER DISCOVERS HIS ISLAND

While Mungo Park was attempting to find the course of the Niger, theEnglish were busy opening up the great fur-trading country in NorthAmerica. Although Captain Cook had taken possession of Nootka Sound, thinking it was part of the coast of New Albion, men from other nationshad been there to establish with the natives a trade in furs. TheSpaniards were specially vigorous in opening up communications on thisbleak bit of western coast. Great Britain became alarmed, and decidedto send Captain Vancouver with an English ship to enforce her rightsto this valuable port. 

Vancouver had already sailed with Cook on his second southern voyage;he had accompanied him on the _Discovery_ during his last voyage. Hetherefore knew something of the coast of North-West America. "On the15th of December 1790, I had the honour of receiving my commissionas commander of His Majesty's sloop the _Discovery_, then lying atDeptford, where I joined her, " says Vancouver. "Lieutenant Broughtonhaving been selected as a proper officer to command the _Chatham_, he was accordingly appointed. At day dawn on Friday the 1st of Aprilwe took a long farewell of our native shores. Having no particularroute to the Pacific Ocean pointed out in my instructions, I did nothesitate to prefer the passage by way of the Cape of Good Hope. "

In boisterous weather Vancouver rounded the Cape, made somediscoveries on the southern coast of New Holland, surveyed part ofthe New Zealand coast, discovered Chatham Island, and on 17th April1792 he fell in with the coast of New Albion. It was blowing and raininghard when the coast, soon after to be part of the United States ofAmerica, was sighted by the captains and crews of the _Discovery_ and_Chatham_. Amid gales of wind and torrents of rain they coasted alongthe rocky and precipitous shores on which the surf broke with a dullroar. It was dangerous enough work coasting along this unsurveyedcoast, full of sunken rocks on which the sea broke with great violence. Soon they were at Cape Blanco (discovered by Martin D'Aguilar), anda few days later at Cape Foulweather of Cook fame, close to theso-called straits discovered by the Greek pilot John da Fuca in 1592. Suddenly, relates Vancouver, "a sail was discovered to the westward. This was a very great novelty, not having seen any vessel during thelast eight months. She soon hoisted American colours, and proved tobe the ship _Columbia_, commanded by Captain Grey, belonging to Boston. He had penetrated about fifty miles into the disputed strait. He spokeof the mouth of a river that was inaccessible owing to breakers. " (Thiswas afterwards explored by Vancouver and named the Columbia River onwhich Washington now stands. )

Having examined two hundred and fifteen miles of coast, Vancouver andhis two ships now entered the inlet--Da Fuca Straits--now the boundarybetween the United States and British Columbia. All day they made theirway up the strait, till night came, and Vancouver relates with pridethat "we had now advanced farther up this inlet than Mr. Grey or anyother person from the civilised world. "

"We are on the point of examining an entirely new region, " he adds, "and in the most delightfully pleasant weather. " Snowy ranges of hills, stately forest trees, vast spaces, and the tracks of deer remindedthe explorers of "Old England. " The crews were given holiday, and greatjoy prevailed. Natives soon brought them fish and venison for sale, and were keen to sell their children in exchange for knives, trinkets, and copper. As they advanced through the inlet, the fresh beauty ofthe country appealed to the English captain: "To describe the beautiesof this region will be a very grateful task to the pen of a skilfulpanegyrist--the serenity of the climate, the pleasing landscapes, andthe abundant fertility that unassisted nature puts forth, require onlyto be enriched by the industry of man with villages, mansions, andcottages to render it the most lovely country that can be imagined. "

A fortnight was spent among the islands of this inlet, which "I havedistinguished by the name of Admiralty Inlet, " and on 4th June 1792they drank the health of the King, George III. , in a double allowanceof grog, and on his fifty-fourth birthday took formal possession ofthe country, naming the wider part of the strait the Gulf of Georgiaand the mainland New Georgia. The two ships then made their way throughthe narrow and intricate channels separating the island of Vancouverfrom the mainland of British Columbia, till at last, early in August, they emerged into an open channel discovered by an Englishman fouryears before and named Queen Charlotte's Sound. Numerous rocky isletsmade navigation very difficult, and one day in foggy weather the_Discovery_ suddenly grounded on a bed of sunken rocks. The _Chatham_was near at hand, and at the signal of distress lowered her boats forassistance. For some hours, says Vancouver, "immediate and inevitabledestruction presented itself. " She grounded at four in the p. M. Tilltwo next morning all hands were working at throwing ballast overboardto lighten her, till, "to our inexpressible joy, " the return of thetide floated her once more. Having now satisfied himself that thiswas an island lying close to the mainland, Vancouver made for NootkaSound, where he arrived at the end of August. 

[Illustration: VANCOUVER'S SHIP, THE _DISCOVERY_, ON THE ROCKS INQUEEN CHARLOTTE'S SOUND. From a drawing in Vancouver's _Voyage_, 1798. ]

At the entrance of the Sound he was visited by a Spanish officer witha pilot to lead them to a safe anchorage in Friendly Cove, where theSpanish ship, under one Quadra, was riding at anchor. Civilities wereinterchanged "with much harmony and festivity. As many officers ascould be spared from the vessel, and myself dined with Senor Quadra, and were gratified with a repast we had lately been little accustomedto. A dinner of five courses, consisting of a superfluity of the bestprovisions, was served with great elegance; a royal salute was firedon drinking health to the sovereigns of England and Spain, and a saluteof seventeen guns to the success of the service in which the _Discovery_and _Chatham_ were engaged. " But when the true nature of Vancouver'smission was disclosed, there was some little difficulty, for theSpaniards had fortified Nootka, built houses, laid out gardens, andevidently intended to stay. Vancouver sent Captain Broughton home toreport the conduct of the Spaniards, and spent his time surveying thecoast to the south. Finally all was arranged satisfactorily, andVancouver sailed off to the Sandwich Islands. When he returned homein the autumn of 1794 he had completed the gigantic task of surveyingnine thousand miles of unknown coast chiefly in open boats, with onlythe loss of two men in both crews--a feat that almost rivalled thatof Captain Cook. 

It has been said that Vancouver "may proudly take his place with Drake, Cook, Baffin, Parry, and other British navigators to whom Englandlooks with pride and geographers with gratitude. "

CHAPTER L

MACKENZIE AND HIS RIVER

Even while Vancouver was making discoveries on the western coast ofNorth America, Alexander Mackenzie, an enthusiastic young Scotsman, was making discoveries on behalf of the North-Western Company, whichwas rivalling the old Hudson Bay Company in its work of expansion. His journey right across America from sea to sea is worthy of note, and it has well been said that "by opening intercourse between Atlanticand Pacific Oceans and forming regular establishments through theinterior and at both extremes, as well as along the coasts and islands, the entire command of the fur trade of North America might be obtained. To this may be added the fishing in both seas and the markets of thefour quarters of the globe. "

Mackenzie had already explored the great river flowing through NorthAmerica to the Arctic seas in 1789. He had brought back news of itsgreat size, its width, its volume of water, only to be mistrusted, till many years later it was found that every word was true, andtributes were paid not only to his general accuracy, but to his generalintelligence as an explorer. 

In 1792 he started off again, and this time he discovered the immensecountry that lay hidden behind the Rocky Mountains, known to-day asBritish Columbia. He ascended the Peace River, which flows from theRocky Mountains, and in the spring of 1793, having made his way withmuch difficulty across this rugged chain, he embarked on a riverrunning to the south-west. Through wild mountainous country on eitherside he paddled on; the cold was still intense and the strong mountaincurrents nearly dashed the canoes to pieces. His Indian guides wereobstinate, ignorant, and timid. Mackenzie relates some of hisdifficulties in graphic language: "Throughout the whole of this daythe men had been in a state of extreme ill-humour, and as they didnot choose to vent it openly upon me, they disputed and quarrelledamong themselves. About sunset the canoe struck upon the stump of atree, which broke a large hole in her bottom, a circumstance that gavethem an opportunity to let loose their discontents without reserve. I left them as soon as we had landed and ascended an elevated bank. It now remained for us to fix on a proper place for building anothercanoe, as the old one was become a complete wreck. At a very earlyhour of the morning every man was employed in making preparations forbuilding another canoe, and different parties went in search of woodand gum. " While the boat was building, Mackenzie gave his crew a goodlecture on their conduct. "I assured them it was my fixed unalterabledetermination to proceed in spite of every difficulty and danger. "

The result was highly satisfactory. "The conversation dropped and thework went on. "

In five days the canoe was ready and they were soon paddling happilyonwards towards the sea, where the Indians told him he would find whitemen building houses. They reached the coast some three weeks later. The Salmon River, as it is called, flows through British Columbia andreaches the sea just north of Vancouver Island, which had beendiscovered by Vancouver the year before. 

Alexander Mackenzie had been successful. Let us hear the end of histale: "I now mixed up some vermilion in melted grease, and inscribedin large characters, on the south-east face of the rock on which wehad slept last night, this brief memorial--'Alexander Mackenzie, fromCanada, by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundredand ninety three. '"

CHAPTER LI

PARRY DISCOVERS LANCASTER SOUND

The efforts of Arctic explorers of past years, Frobisher, Davis, Baffin, Behring, and Cook, had all been more or less frustrated bythe impenetrable barrier of ice, which seemed to stretch across thePolar regions like a wall, putting an end to all further advance. 

Now, early in the nineteenth century, this impenetrable bar of icehad apparently moved and broken up into detached masses and icebergs. The news of a distinct change in the Polar ice was brought home byvarious traders in the Greenland waters, and soon gave rise to a revivalof these voyages for the discovery of the North Pole and a passageround the northern coast of America to the Pacific Ocean. For thiscoast was totally unknown at this time. Information was collected fromcasual travellers, whale-fishers, and others, with the result thatEngland equipped two ships for a voyage of discovery to the disputedregions. These were the _Isabella_ (385 tons) and the _Alexander_ (252tons), Commander Ross being appointed to one and Lieutenant Parry tothe other. 

Parry had served on the coast of North America, and had written a littletreatise on the stars in the Northern Hemisphere. He was thinking ofoffering his services for African discovery when he caught sight ofa paragraph in a paper about an expedition for the discovery of theNorth-West Passage. He wrote at once that "he was ready for hot orfor cold--Africa or the Polar regions. " And he was at once appointedto the latter. The object of the voyage was clearly set forth. Theyoung explorers were to discover a passage from Davis Strait alongthe northern coast of America and through the Behring Strait into thePacific Ocean. Besides this, charts and pictures were to be broughtback, and a special artist was to accompany the expedition. Rosshimself was an artist, and he has delightfully illustrated his ownjournals of the expedition. The ships were well supplied with books, and we find the journals of Mackenzie, Hearne, Vancouver, Cook, andother old travelling friends taken for reference--thirty Bibles andsixty Testaments were distributed among the crews. For making friendswith the natives, we find a supply of twenty-four brass kettles, onehundred and fifty butchers' knives, three hundred and fifty yards ofcoloured flannel, one hundred pounds of snuff, one hundred and fiftypounds of soap, forty umbrellas, and much gin and brandy. Theexpedition left on 18th April 1818, and "I believe, " says Ross, "therewas not a man who did not indulge after the fashion of a sailor infeeling that its issue was placed in His hands whose power is mostvisible in the Great Deep. "

Before June had set in, the two ships were ploughing their way up thewest coast of Greenland in heavy snowstorms. They sailed through DavisStrait, past the island of Disco into Baffin's undefined bay. Icebergsstood high out of the water on all sides, and navigation was verydangerous. Towards the end of July a bay to which Ross gave the nameof Melville Bay, after the first Lord of the Admiralty, was passed. "Very high mountains of land and ice were seen to the north side ofMelville's Bay, forming an impassable barrier, the precipices nextthe sea being from one thousand to two thousand feet high. "

The ships were sailing slowly past the desolate shores amid these highicebergs when suddenly several natives appeared on the ice. Now Rosshad brought an Eskimo with him named Sacheuse. 

"Come on!" cried Sacheuse to the astonished natives. 

"No--no--go away!" they cried. "Go away; we can kill you!"

"What great creatures are these?" they asked, pointing to the ships. "Do they come from the sun or the moon? Do they give us light by nightor by day?"

Pointing southwards, Sacheuse told them that the strangers had comefrom a distant country. 

"That cannot be; there is nothing but ice there, " was the answer. 

Soon the Englishmen made friends with these people, whom they calledArctic Highlanders, giving the name of the Arctic Highlands to allthe land in the north-east corner of Baffin's Bay. Passing Cape York, they followed the almost perpendicular coast, even as Baffin had done. They passed Wolstenholme Sound and Whale Sound; they saw Smith's Sound, and named the capes on either side Isabella and Alexander after theirtwo ships. And then Ross gave up all further discovery for the timebeing in this direction. "Even if it be imagined that some narrow straitmay exist through these mountains, it is evident that it must for everbe unnavigable, " he says decidedly. "Being thus satisfied that therecould be no further inducement to continue longer in this place, Ishaped my course for the next opening which appeared in view to thewestward. " This was the Sound which was afterwards called "JonesSound. "

"We ran nine miles among very heavy ice, until noon, when, a very thickfog coming on, we were obliged to take shelter under a large iceberg. "Sailing south, but some way from land, a wide opening appeared whichanswered exactly to the Lancaster Sound of Baffin. Lieutenant Parryand many of his officers felt sure that this was a strait communicatingwith the open sea to westward, and were both astonished and dismayedwhen Ross, declaring that he was "perfectly satisfied that there wasno passage in this direction, " turned back. He brought his expeditionback to England after a seven months' trip. But, though he was certainenough on the subject, his officers did not agree with him entirely, and the subject of the North-West Passage was still discussed ingeographical circles. 

When young Lieutenant Parry, who had commanded the _Alexander_ inRoss' expedition, was consulted, he pressed for further explorationof the far north. And two expeditions were soon fitted out, one underParry and one under Franklin, who had already served with Flindersin Australian exploration. Parry started off first with instructionsto explore Lancaster's Sound; failing to find a passage, to exploreAlderman Jones Sound, failing this again, Sir Thomas Smith's Sound. If he succeeded in getting through to the Behring Strait, he was togo to Kamtchatka and on to the Sandwich Islands. "You are tounderstand, " ran the instructions, "that the finding of a passage fromthe Atlantic to the Pacific is the main object of this expedition. "

On board the _Hecla_, a ship of three hundred and seventy-five tons, with a hundred-and-eighty-ton brig, the _Griper_, accompanying, Parrysailed away early in May 1819. The first week in July found him crossingthe Arctic Circle amid immense icebergs against which a heavysoutherly swell was violently agitated, "dashing the loose ice withtremendous force, sometimes raising a white spray over them to theheight of more than a hundred feet, accompanied with a loud noiseexactly resembling the roar of distant thunder. "

The entrance to Lancaster Sound was reached on 31st July, and, saysParry: "It is more easy to imagine than to describe the almostbreathless anxiety which was now visible in every countenance, while, as the breeze increased to a fresh gale, we ran quickly up the Sound. "Officers and men crowded to the masthead as the ships ran on and ontill they reached Barrow's Strait, so named by them after the Secretaryof the Admiralty. 

"We now began to flatter ourselves that we had fairly entered the PolarSea, and some of the most sanguine among us had even calculated thebearing and distance of Icy Cape as a matter of no very difficultaccomplishment. "

Sailing westward, they found a large island, which they named MelvilleIsland after the first Lord of the Admiralty, and a bay which stillbears the name of Hecla and Griper Bay. "Here, " says Parry, "the ensignsand pendants were hoisted, and it created in us no ordinary feelingsof pleasure to see the British flag waving, for the first time, inthose regions which had hitherto been considered beyond the limitsof the habitable world. "

[Illustration: PARRY'S SHIPS, THE _HECLA_ AND _GRIPER_, IN WINTERHARBOUR, DECEMBER 1819. From a drawing in Parry's _Voyage for theNorth-West Passage_, 1821. ]

Winter was now quickly advancing, and it was with some difficulty thatthe ships were forced through the newly formed ice at the head of theBay of the Hecla and Griper. Over two miles of ice, seven inches thick, had to be sawn through to make a canal for the ships. As soon as theywere moored in "Winter Harbour" the men gave three loud and heartycheers as a preparation for eight or nine months of long and drearywinter. By the end of September all was ready; plenty of grouse anddeer remained as food through October, after which there were foxesand wolves. To amuse his men, Parry and his officers got up a play;_Miss in her Teens_ was performed on 5th November, the last day ofsun for ninety-six days to come. He also started a paper, _The NorthGeorgian Gazette and Winter Chronicle_, which was printed in Englandon their return. The New Year, 1819, found the winter growing gloomier. Scurvy had made its appearance, and Parry was using every device inhis power to arrest it. Amongst other things he grew mustard and cressin boxes of earth near the stove pipe of his cabin to make freshvegetable food for the afflicted men. Though the sun was beginningto appear again, February was the coldest part of the year, and noone could be long out in the open without being frostbitten. It wasnot till the middle of April that a slight thaw began, and thethermometer rose to freezing point. On 1st August the ships were ableto sail out of Winter Harbour and to struggle westward again. But theycould not get beyond Melville Island for the ice, and after the shipshad been knocked about by it, Parry decided to return to LancasterSound once more. Hugging the western shores of Baffin's Bay, the twoships were turned homewards, arriving in the Thames early in November1820. "And, " says Parry, "I had the happiness of seeing every officerand man on board both ships--ninety-three persons--return to theirnative country in as robust health as when they left it, after anabsence of nearly eighteen months. "

[Illustration: THE SEARCH FOR A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE: THE CREWS OFPARRY'S SHIPS, THE _HECLA_ AND _GRIPER_, CUTTING THROUGH THE ICE FORA WINTER HARBOUR, 1819. Drawn by William Westall, A. R. A. , after asketch by Lieut. Beechey, a member of the expedition. ]

Parry had done more than this. He not only showed the possibility ofwintering in these icy regions in good health and good spirits, buthe had certainly discovered straits communicating with the Polar sea. 

[Illustration: THE NORTH SHORE OF LANCASTER SOUND. From a drawing inParry's _Voyage for the North-West Passage_, 1821. ]

CHAPTER LII

THE FROZEN NORTH

Meanwhile Franklin and Parry started on another expedition in the samemonth and year. While Parry's orders were to proceed from east to west, Franklin was to go from west to east, with a chance--if remote--thatthey might meet. He was to go by Hudson's Bay to the mouth of the CopperMine River and then make his way by sea eastward along the coast. Franklin had made himself a name by work done in the Spitzbergen waters;he was to succeed in the end where others had failed in finding theNorth-West Passage. The party selected for this work consisted ofCaptain Franklin, Dr. Richardson, a naval surgeon, two midshipmen, Back and Hood, one of whom was afterwards knighted, and an Englishsailor named John Hepburn. 

Just a fortnight after Parry's start these five English explorerssailed on board a ship belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, but itwas the end of August before they arrived at the headquarters of theCompany. They were cordially received by the Governor, and providedwith a large boat well stored with food and arms. Amid a salute ofmany guns and much cheering the little party, with some Canadian rowers, started off for Cumberland House, one of the forts belonging to theHudson Bay Company. Six weeks' hard travelling by rivers and lakes, now dragging the boats round rapids, now sleeping in "buffalo-robes"on the hard ground, brought the party to the first stage of theirjourney. Snow was now beginning to fall, and ice was thick on the rivers, when Franklin resolved to push on to Lake Athabasca that he might havemore time to prepare for the coming voyage in the summer. LeavingRichardson and Hood at the fort, he started off with Back and thefaithful Hepburn on 18th January 1820, in the very heart of the Arcticwinter. Friends at the fort had provided him with Indian snowshoesturned up at the toes like the prow of a boat--with dog sledges, furs, leather trousers, drivers, and food for a fortnight. The snow was verydeep, and the dogs found great difficulty in dragging their heavyburdens through the snow. But the record was good. A distance of eighthundred and fifty-seven miles was accomplished in sixty-eight days, with the thermometer at fifty degrees below zero. The hardshipsendured are very briefly recorded: "Provisions becoming scarce; dogswithout food, except a little burnt leather; night miserably cold;tea froze in the tin pots before we could drink it. "

Lake Athabasca was reached on the 26th of March and preparations forthe voyage were pushed forward. Four months later they were joinedby Richardson and Hood. "This morning Mr. Back and I had the sinceregratification of welcoming our long-separated friends, Dr. Richardsonand Mr. Hood, who arrived in perfect health with two canoes. " Thisis the simple entry in Franklin's journal. 

Everything was now ready. Spring in these northern climates wasenchanting. "The trees quickly put on their leaves after the long, hard winter months, and the whole vegetable world comes forth witha luxuriance no less astonishing than agreeable. " At the same timeclouds of mosquitoes and stinging sand-flies made the nights horrible. On 18th July the little party in high glee set forward in canoes rowedby Canadian boatmen, hoping to reach the Copper Mine River beforewinter set in. But the difficulties of the way were great, provisionswere scarce, the boatmen grew discontented, ice appeared early, andFranklin had to satisfy himself with wintering at a point five hundredand fifty miles from Lake Athabasca, which he called Fort Enterprise. Here there was prospect of plenty, for large herds of reindeer weregrazing along the shores of the lake, and from their flesh "pemmican"was made; but the winter was long and cheerless, and Franklin soonrealised that there was not enough food to last through it. So hedispatched the midshipman Back to Lake Athabasca for help. Back'sjourney was truly splendid, and we cannot omit his simple summary:"On the 17th of March, " he says, "at an early hour we arrived at FortEnterprise, having travelled about eighteen miles a day. I had thepleasure of meeting my friends all in good health, after an absenceof nearly five months, during which time I had travelled one thousandone hundred and four miles on snow-shoes and had no other coveringat night than a blanket and deer skin, with the thermometer frequentlyat forty degrees below zero, and sometimes two or three days withouttasting food. " By his courage and endurance he saved the whole partyat Fort Enterprise. By June the spring was sufficiently advanced toset out for the Copper Mine River, and on July they reached the mouthafter a tedious journey of three hundred and thirty-four miles. 

[Illustration: A WINTER VIEW OF FORT ENTERPRISE. From a drawing, byWm. Back, in Franklin's _Journey to the Polar Sea_, 1823. ]

The real work of exploration was now to begin, and the party embarkedin two canoes to sail along the southern coast of the Polar sea, withthe possibility always of meeting the Parry expedition. But the poorCanadian boatmen were terrified at the sight of the sea on which theyhad never yet sailed, and they were with difficulty persuaded to embark. Indeed, of the two crews, only the five Englishmen had ever been onthe sea, and it has been well said that this voyage along the shoresof the rock-bound coast of the Arctic sea must always take rank asone of the most daring and hazardous exploits that have ever beenaccomplished in the interest of geographical research. The two canoeshugged the icy coast as they made their way eastward, and Franklinnamed the bays, headlands, and islands for a distance of five hundredand fifty-five miles, where a point he called Cape Turnagain markshis farthest limit east. Here is George IV. Coronation Gulf studdedwith islands, Hood's River, Back's River, Bathurst's Inlet, namedafter the Secretary of State, and Parry Bay after "my friend, CaptainParry, now employed in the interesting research for a North-WestPassage. "

[Illustration: FRANKLIN'S EXPEDITION TO THE POLAR SEA ON THE ICE. Froma drawing, by Wm. Back, in Franklin's _Journey to the Polar Sea_, 1823. ]

The short season for exploration was now over; rough weather and wantof food turned them home, only half satisfied with their work. Theworst part of their journey was yet to come. Perhaps never, even inthe tragic history of Arctic exploration, had greater hardships beenendured than Franklin and his handful of men were to endure on theirhomeward way. On 22nd August the party left Point Turnagain, hopingby means of their newly discovered Hood River to reach Fort Enterprise. The ground was already covered with snow, and their food was reducedto one meal a day when they left the shores of the Arctic sea for theirlong inland tramp. Needless to say, the journey had to be performedon foot, and the way was stony and barren. For the first few days nothingwas to be found save lichen to eat, and the temperature was far belowfreezing-point. An uncooked cow after six days of lichen "infusedspirit into our starving party, " relates Franklin. But things grewno better, and as they proceeded sadly on their way, starvation staredthem in the face. One day we hear of the pangs of hunger being stilledby "pieces of singed hide mixed with lichen"; another time the hornsand bones of a dead deer were fried with some old shoes and the "putridcarcase of a deer that had died the previous spring was demolishedby the starving men. "

At last things grew so bad that Franklin and the most vigorous of hisparty pushed on to Fort Enterprise to get and send back food if possibleto Richardson and Hood, who were now almost too weak and ill to getalong at all. Bitter disappointment awaited them. 

"At length, " says Franklin, "we reached Fort Enterprise, and to ourinfinite disappointment and grief found it a perfectly desolatehabitation. There were no provisions--no Indians. It would beimpossible for me to describe our sensations after entering thismiserable abode and discovering how we had been neglected; the wholeparty shed tears, not so much for our own fate as for that of our friendsin the rear, whose lives depended entirely on our sending immediaterelief from this place. " A few old bones and skins of reindeer werecollected for supper and the worn-out explorers sat round a fire madeby pulling up the flooring of the rooms. It is hardly a matter ofsurprise to find the following entry in Franklin's journal: "When Iarose the following morning my body and limbs were so swollen thatI was unable to walk more than a few yards. "

Before November arrived another tragedy happened. Hood was murderedby one of the party almost mad with hunger and misery. One after anothernow dropped down and died, and death seemed to be claiming Franklin, Richardson, Back, and Hepburn when three Indians made their appearancewith some dried deer and a few tongues. It was not a moment too soon. The Indians soon got game and fish for the starving men, until theywere sufficiently restored to leave Fort Enterprise and make theirway to Moose Deer Island, where, with the Hudson Bay officers, theyspent the winter recovering their health and strength and spirits. 

When they returned to England in the summer of 1822 they hadaccomplished five thousand five hundred and fifty miles. They had alsoendured hardships unsurpassed in the history of exploration. WhenParry returned to England the following summer and heard of Franklin'ssufferings he cried like a child. He must have realised better thanany one else what those sufferings really were, though he himself hadfared better. 

While Franklin had been making his way to the Copper Mine River, Parryon board the _Fury_, accompanied by the _Hecla_, started for Hudson'sStrait, by which he was to penetrate to the Pacific, if possible. Owingto bad weather, the expedition did not arrive amid the icebergs tillthe middle of June. Towering two hundred feet high, the explorerscounted fifty-four at one time before they arrived at ResolutionIsland at the mouth of Hudson Strait. There were already plenty ofwell-known landmarks in the region of Hudson's Bay, and Parry soonmade his way to Southampton Island and Frozen Strait (over which anangry discussion had taken place some hundred years before). He wasrewarded by discovering "a magnificent bay, " to which he gave the nameof the "Duke of York's Bay. " The discovery, however, was one of littleimportance as there was no passage. The winter was fast advancing, the navigable season was nearly over, and the explorers seemed to beonly at the beginning of their work. The voyage had been dangerous, harassing, unproductive. 

They had advanced towards the Behring Strait; they had discovered twohundred leagues of North American coast, and they now prepared to spendthe winter in these icebound regions. As usual Parry arranged bothfor the health and amusement of his men during the long Arcticmonths--even producing a "joint of English roast beef" for Christmasdinner, preserved "by rubbing the outside with salt and hanging iton deck covered with canvas. " There were also Eskimos in theneighbourhood, who proved a never-ceasing source of interest. 

[Illustration: AN ESKIMO WATCHING A SEAL HOLE. From a drawing inParry's _Second Voyage for a North-West Passage_, 1824. ]

One day in April--snow had been falling all night, news spread thatthe Eskimos "had killed something on the ice. " "If the women, " saysParry, "were cheerful before, they were now absolutely frantic. Ageneral shout of joy re-echoed through the village; they ran into eachothers' huts to communicate the welcome intelligence, and actuallyhugged one another in an ecstasy of delight. When the first burst ofjoy had at last subsided the women crept one by one into the apartmentwhere the sea-horses had been conveyed. Here they obtained blubberenough to set all their lamps alight, besides a few scraps of meatfor their children and themselves. Fresh cargoes were continuallyarriving, the principal part being brought in by the dogs and the restby the men, who tied a thong round their waist and dragged in a portion. Every lamp was now swimming with oil, the huts exhibited a blaze oflight, and never was there a scene of more joyous festivity than whilethe cutting up of the walruses continued. " For three solid hours theEskimos appeared to be eating walrus flesh. "Indeed, the quantity theycontinued to get rid of is almost beyond belief. "

It was not till early in July that the ship could be moved out of theirwinter's dock to renew their efforts towards a passage. They were nota little helped by Eskimo charts, but old ice blocked the way, andit was the middle of August before Parry discovered the Strait he calledafter his two ships, "the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, " betweenMelville Peninsula and Cockburn Island. Confident that the narrowchannel led to the Polar seas, Parry pushed on till "our progress wasonce more opposed by a barrier of the same impenetrable and hopelessice as before. " He organised land expeditions, and reports, "Theopening of the Strait into the Polar sea was now so decided that Iconsidered the principal object of my journey accomplished. "

September had come, and once more the ships were established in theirwinter quarters. A second month in among the ice must have been a severetrial to this little band of English explorers, but cheerfully enoughthey built a wall of snow twelve feet high round the _Fury_ to keepout snowdrifts. The season was long and severe, and it was August beforethey could get free of ice. The prospect of a third winter in the icecould not be safely faced, and Parry resolved to get home. Octoberfound them at the Shetlands, all the bells of Lerwick being set ringingand the town illuminated with joy at the arrival of men who had beenaway from all civilisation for twenty-seven months. On 14th November1823 the expedition arrived home in England. 

Still the restless explorer was longing to be off again; he was stillfascinated by the mysteries of the Arctic regions, but on his thirdvoyage we need not follow him, for the results were of no greatimportance. The _Fury_ was wrecked amid the ice in Prince Regent'sInlet, and the whole party had to return on board the _Hecla_ in 1825. 

CHAPTER LIII

FRANKLIN'S LAND JOURNEY TO THE NORTH

The northern shores of North America were not yet explored, andFranklin proposed another expedition to the mouth of the MackenzieRiver, where the party was to divide, half of them going to the eastand half to the west. Nothing daunted by his recent sufferings, Franklin accepted the supreme command, and amid the foremostvolunteers for service were his old friends, Back and Richardson. Theofficers of the expedition left England in February 1825, and, travelling by way of New York and Canada, they reached Fort Cumberlandthe following June; a month later they were at Fort Chipewyan on theshores of Lake Athabasca, and soon they had made their way to the banksof the Great Bear Lake River, which flows out of that lake into theMackenzie River, down which they were to descend to the sea. Theydecided to winter on the shores of the Bear Lake; but Franklin couldnever bear inaction, so he resolved to push on to the mouth of theGreat River with a small party in order to prospect for the comingexpedition. 

So correct had been Mackenzie's survey of this Great River, as it wascalled, that Franklin, "in justice to his memory, " named it theMackenzie River after its "eminent discoverer, " which name it hasborne ever since. In a little English boat, with a fair wind and aswift current, Franklin accomplished three hundred and twelve milesin about sixty hours. The saltness of the water, the sight of aboundless horizon, and the appearance of porpoises and whales wereencouraging signs. They had reached the Polar sea at last--the "seain all its majesty, entirely free from ice and without any visibleobstruction to its navigation. "

On reaching the coast a silken Union Jack worked by Franklin's dyingwife was unfurled. She had died a few days after he left England, butshe had insisted on her husband's departure in the service of hiscountry, only begging him not to unfurl her flag till he arrived atthe Polar shores. As it fluttered in the breeze of these desolate shores, the little band of Englishmen cheered and drank to the health of theKing. 

"You can imagine, " says Franklin, "with what heartfelt emotion I firstsaw it unfurled; but in a short time I derived great pleasure in lookingat it. "

It was too late to attempt navigation for this year, although theweather in August was "inconveniently warm, " so on 5th September, Franklin returned to winter quarters on the Great Bear Lake. Duringhis absence a comfortable little settlement had grown up toaccommodate some fifty persons, including Canadian and Indian hunterswith their wives and children. In honour of the commander it had beencalled Fort Franklin, and here the party of explorers settled downfor the long months of winter. 

[Illustration: FORT FRANKLIN, ON THE GREAT BEAR LAKE, IN THE WINTER. From a drawing in Franklin's _Second Expedition to the Polar Sea_, 1828. ]

"As the days shortened, " says Franklin, "it was necessary to findemployment during the long evenings for those resident at the house, and a school was established from seven to nine for their instructionin reading, writing, and arithmetic, attended by most of the Britishparty. Sunday was a day of rest, and the whole party attended DivineService morning and evening. If on other evenings the men felt thetime tedious, the hall was at their service to play any game they mightchoose, at which they were joined by the officers. Thus the men becamemore attached to us, and the hearts and feelings of the whole partywere united in one common desire to make the time pass as agreeablyas possible to each other, until the return of spring should enableus to resume the great object of the expedition. "

April brought warmer weather, though the ground was still covered withsnow, and much boat-building went on. In May swans had appeared onthe lake, then came geese, then ducks, then gulls and singing birds. By June the boats were afloat, and on the 24th the whole party embarkedfor the Mackenzie River and were soon making their way to the mouth. Here the party divided. Franklin on board the _Lion_, with a crew ofsix, accompanied by Back on board the _Reliance_, started westwards, while Richardson's party was to go eastwards and survey the coastbetween the mouth of the Mackenzie River and the Copper Mine. On 7thJuly, Franklin reached the sea, and, with flags flying, the _Lion_and the _Reliance_ sailed forth on the unknown seas, only to grounda mile from shore. Suddenly some three hundred canoes full of Eskimoscrowded towards them. These people had never seen a white man before, but when it was explained to them that the English had come to finda channel for large ships to come and trade with them, they "raisedthe most deafening shout of applause. " They still crowded round thelittle English boats, till at last, like others of their race, theybegan to steal things from the boats. When detected they grew furiousand brandished knives, they tore the buttons off the men's coats, andfor a time matters looked serious till the English showed theirfirearms, when the canoes paddled away and the Eskimos hid themselves. 

With a fair wind the boats now sailed along the coast westward, tillstopped by ice, which drove them from the shore. Dense fogs, stormywinds, and heavy rain made this Polar navigation very dangerous; butthe explorers pushed on till, on 27th July, they reached the mouthof a broad river which, "being the most westerly river in the Britishdominions on this coast and near the line of demarcation between GreatBritain and Russia, I named it the Clarence, " says Franklin, "in honourof His Royal Highness the Lord High Admiral. " A box containing a royalmedal was deposited here, and the Union Jack was hoisted amid heartycheers. 

[Illustration: FRANKLIN'S EXPEDITION CROSSING BACK'S INLET. From adrawing, by Lieut. Back, in Franklin's _Second Expedition to the PolarSea_, 1828. ]

Still fogs and storms continued; the farther west they advanced, thedenser grew the fog, till by the middle of August, winter seemed tohave set in. The men had suffered much from the hard work of pullingand dragging the heavy boats; they also endured torments fromcountless swarms of mosquitoes. They were now some three hundred andseventy-four miles from the mouth of the Mackenzie River and onlyhalf-way to Icy Cape; but Franklin, with all his courage and with allhis enthusiasm, dared not risk the lives of his men farther. "ReturnReef" marks his farthest point west, and it was not till long afterthat he learnt that Captain Beechey, who had been sent in the _Blossom_by way of Behring Strait, had doubled Icy Cape and was waiting forFranklin one hundred and sixty miles away. 

On 21st September, Fort Franklin was reached after three months'absence. Dr. Richardson had already returned after a successful coastvoyage of some eight hundred miles. 

When he had left Franklin he had, on board the _Dolphin_, accompaniedby the _Union_, sailed along the unknown coast eastward. LikeFranklin's party, his expedition had also suffered from fogs, gales, and mosquitoes, but they had made their way on, naming inlets, capes, and islands as they passed. Thus we find Russell Inlet, Point Bathurst, Franklin's Bay, Cape Parry, the Union and Dolphin Straits, named afterthe two little ships, where the _Dolphin_ was nearly wrecked betweentwo masses of ice. They had reached Fort Franklin in safety just beforeFranklin's party, and, being too late to think of getting home thisyear, they were all doomed to another winter at the Fort. They reachedEngland on 26th September 1827, after an absence of two years and ahalf. 

Franklin had failed to find the North-West Passage, but he andRichardson had discovered a thousand miles of North American coast, for which he was knighted and received the Paris GeographicalSociety's medal for "the most important acquisition to geographicalknowledge" made during the year. It was a curious coincidence thatthe two Arctic explorers, Franklin and Parry, both arrived in Englandthe same month from their various expeditions, and appeared at theAdmiralty within ten minutes of one another. 

CHAPTER LIV

PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE

Parry had left England the preceding April in an attempt to reach theNorth Pole by means of sledges over the ice. To this end he had sailedto Spitzbergen in his old ship the _Hecla_, many of his old shipmatessailing with him. They arrived off the coast of Spitzbergen about themiddle of May 1827. Two boats had been specially built in England, covered with waterproof canvas and lined with felt. The _Enterprise_and _Endeavour_ had bamboo masts and paddles, and were constructedto go on sledges, drawn by reindeer, over the ice. 

"Nothing, " says Parry, "can be more beautiful than the training ofthe Lapland reindeer. With a simple collar of skin round his neck, a single trace of the same material attached to the sledge and passingbetween his legs, and one rein fastened like a halter round his neck, this intelligent and docile animal is perfectly under the command ofan experienced driver, and performs astonishing journeys over thesoftest snow. Shaking the rein over his back is the only whip thatis required. "

Leaving the _Hecla_ in safe harbour on the Spitzbergen coast, Parryand James Ross, a nephew of John Ross, the explorer, with food fortwo months, started off in their two boat-sledges for the north. Theymade a good start; the weather was calm and clear, the sea smooth asa mirror--walruses lay in herds on the ice, and, steering due north, they made good progress. 

Next day, however, they were stopped by ice. Instead of finding a smooth, level plain over which the reindeer could draw their sledges with ease, they found broken, rugged, uneven ice, which nothing but the keenenthusiasm of the explorer could have faced. The reindeer were useless, and they had to be relinquished; it is always supposed that they wereeaten, but history is silent on this point. The little party had todrag their own boats over the rough ice. They travelled by night tosave snow-blindness, also that they could enjoy greater warmth duringthe hours of sleep by day. 

[Illustration: THE BOATS OF PARRY'S EXPEDITION HAULED UP ON THE ICEFOR THE NIGHT. From a drawing in Parry's _Attempt to Reach the NorthPole_, 1828. ]

Parry describes the laborious journey: "Being 'rigged' fortravelling, " he says, "we breakfasted upon warm cocoa and biscuit, and after stowing the things in the boats we set off on our day's journey, and usually travelled about five and a half hours, then stopped anhour to dine, and again travelled five or six hours. After this wehalted for the night as we called it, though it was usually early inthe morning, selecting the largest surface of ice we happened to benear for hauling the boats on. The boats were placed close alongsideeach other, and the sails supported by bamboo masts placed over themas awnings. Every man then put on dry socks and fur boots and wentto supper. Most of the officers and men then smoked their pipes, whichserved to dry the awnings. We then concluded our day with prayers and, having put on our fur dresses, lay down to sleep, " alone in the greatice desert. Progress was slow and very tedious. One day it took themfour hours to cover half a mile. On 1st July they were still labouringforward; a foot of soft snow on the ground made travelling veryexhausting. Some of the hummocks of ice were as much as twenty-fivefeet above sea-level; nothing was to be seen but ice and sky, bothoften hidden by dense fog. Still the explorers pushed on, Parry andRoss leading the way and the men dragging the boat-sledges after. July12th was a brilliant day, with clear sky overhead--"an absoluteluxury. " For another fortnight they persevered, and on 23rd July theyreached their farthest point north. It was a warm, pleasant day, withthe thermometer at thirty-six in the shade; they were a hundred andseventy-two miles from Spitzbergen, where the _Hecla_ lay at anchor. 

"Our ensigns and pendants were displayed during the day, and severelyas we regretted not having been able to hoist the British flag in thehighest latitude to which we had aspired, we shall perhaps be excusedin having felt some little pride in being the bearers of it to a parallelconsiderably beyond that mentioned in any other well-authenticatedrecord. " On 27th July they reluctantly turned to the south, and on21st August they arrived on board the _Hecla_ after an absence ofsixty-one days, every one of the party being in good health. Soon afterthey sailed for England, and by a strange coincidence arrived in Londonat the same time as Franklin. 

Many an attempt was yet to be made to reach the North Pole, till atlast it was discovered by Peary, an American, in 1909. 

CHAPTER LV

THE SEARCH FOR TIMBUKTU

It is a relief to turn from the icy north to the tropical climate ofCentral Africa, where Mungo Park had disappeared in 1805. The mysteryof Timbuktu and the Niger remained unsolved, though more than oneexpedition had left the coast of Africa for the "mystic city" lying"deep in that lion-haunted inland. " Notwithstanding disaster, death, and defeat, a new expedition set forth from Tripoli to cross the greatSahara Desert. It was under Major Denham, Lieutenant Clapperton, andDr. Oudney. They left Tripoli in March 1822. "We were the first Englishtravellers, " says Denham, "who had determined to travel in our realcharacter as Britons and Christians, and to wear our English dress:the buttons on our waistcoats and our watches caused the greatestastonishment. " It was the end of November before they were ready toleave the frontier on their great desert journey. The long enforcedstay in this unhealthy border town had undermined their health; feverhad reduced Denham, Dr. Oudney was suffering from cough and pains inhis chest, Clapperton was shivering with ague--a state of health"ill-calculated for undertaking a long and tedious journey. " A longescort of men and camels accompanied them into the merciless desert, with its burning heat and drifting sands--"the Sea of Sahara" as theold cartographer calls it. December found them still slowly advancingover the billowy sand, deeply impressed and horrified at the numberof slave skeletons that lay about the wind-swept desert. The new yearbrought little relief. "No wood, no water, " occurs constantly inDenham's journal. "Desert as yesterday; high sandhills. " Still theypersevered, until, on 4th February 1823, they were rewarded by seeinga sheet of water, "the great Lake Tchad, glowing with the golden raysof the sun in its strength. " Was this, after all, the source of theNiger? Its low shores were surrounded with reedy marshes and clumpsof white water-lilies, there were flocks of wild ducks and geese, birdswith beautiful plumage were feeding on the margin of the lake, pelicans, cranes, immense white spoonbills, yellow-legged plover--all weredwelling undisturbed in this peaceful spot. And this most remarkablelake lay eight hundred feet above the Atlantic, between the watershedsof Nile, Niger, and Congo. 

But Lake Tchad was not their goal; they must push on over new countrywhere no European had been before. A fortnight later they reachedKukawa, the capital of Bornu, once a great Mohammedan empire. "We wereabout to become acquainted with a people who had never seen or scarcelyheard of a European, " says Denham, "and to tread on ground, theknowledge and true situation of which had hitherto been wholly unknown. We advanced towards the town of Kuka in a most interesting state ofuncertainty, whether we should find its chief at the head of thousands, or be received by him under a tree, surrounded by a few naked slaves. "

Their doubts were soon set at rest by the sight of several thousandcavalry, drawn up in line. They were received by an Arab general, "anegro of noble aspect, dressed in a figured silk robe and mounted ona beautiful horse. " They had passed from the region of hidden hutsto one of great walled cities, from the naked pagan to the cultivatedfollower of Mohammed, from superstition to mosques and schools, fromignorance to knowledge. The Sheikh, who received the travellers ina small room with armed negroes on either side, asked the reason oftheir long and painful journey across the desert. "To see the country, "answered the Englishmen, "and to give an account of its inhabitants, produce, and appearance, as our sultan was desirous of knowing everypart of the globe. "

[Illustration: MAJOR DENHAM AND HIS PARTY RECEIVED BY THE SHEIKH OFBORNU. From a drawing by Major Denham. ]

The Sheikh's hospitality was overwhelming; he had huts built for them, "which, " says Denham, "were so crowded with visitors that we had nota moment's peace, and the heat was insufferable. " He sent presentsof bullocks, camel-loads of wheat and rice, leather skins of butter, jars, and honey. The market of Kuka was famous. It was attended bysome fifteen thousand persons from all parts, and the produce soldthere was astonishing. Here Clapperton and Dr. Oudney stayed allthrough the summer months, for both were ill, and Oudney was growingrapidly worse. Denham meanwhile went off on exploring expeditions inthe neighbourhood. 

On 14th December, Clapperton and Oudney left the friendly Sheikh andmade their way to Kano. But the rough travelling proved too much forOudney; each day found him weaker, but he valiantly journeyed on. On12th January he ordered the camels to be loaded as usual, and he wasdressed by Clapperton, but he was too ill to be lifted on to his camel, and a few hours later he died. 

Clapperton was now alone "amid a strange people" in a land "hithertonever trodden by European foot, " and very ill himself. But he reachedKano, the famous trading centre of the Haussas, containing some fortythousand inhabitants. Here again the market impressed him deeply, sofull was it of cosmopolitan articles from far-distant lands. Aftera month's stay at Kano, now the capital of the northern province ofNigeria of that name, he set out for Sokoto, though very ill and weakat the time. He was assured of kind treatment by the Sultan. He arrivedon 16th March, and "to impress them with my official importance Iarrayed myself in my lieutenant's coat trimmed with gold lace, whitetrousers, and silk stockings, and, to complete my finery, I woreTurkish slippers and a turban. " Crowds collected on his arrival, andhe was conducted to the Sultan, who questioned him closely about Europe. "I laid before him a present in the name of His Majesty the King ofEngland, consisting of two new blunderbusses, an embroidered jacket, some scarlet breeches, cloves and cinnamon, gunpowder, razors, looking-glasses, snuff-boxes, and compasses. "

"Everything is wonderful!" exclaimed the Sultan; "but you are thegreatest curiosity of all! What can I give that is acceptable to theKing of England?"

"Co-operate with His Majesty in putting a stop to the slave trade, "was Clapperton's answer. 

"What, have you no slaves in England?" The Englishman replied, "No!"to which the Sultan answered: "God is great; you are a beautifulpeople. " But when Clapperton asked for leave in order to solve themystery of the Niger, the Sultan refused, and he was obliged to returnto Kuka, where he arrived on 8th July. A week later he was joined byDenham. "It was nearly eight months since we had separated, " saysDenham, "and I went immediately to the hut where he was lodged; butso satisfied was I that the sunburnt, sickly person that lay extendedon the floor, rolled in a dark-blue shirt, was not my companion, thatI was about to leave the place, when he convinced me of my error bycalling me by my name. Our meeting was a melancholy one, for he hadburied his companion. Notwithstanding the state of weakness in whichI found Captain Clapperton, he yet spoke of returning to Sudan afterthe rains. " But this was not to be, and a month later we find the twoexplorers turning homewards to Tripoli, where they arrived at the endof January. 

But, with all his long travelling in Africa, Clapperton had not seenthe Niger, and, although the effects of his fever had not worn away, he spent but two months in England before he was off again. This timehe sailed to the Gulf of Guinea, and from a place on the coast nearthe modern Lagos he started by a new and untried route to reach theinterior of the great Dark Continent. It was September 1825 when heleft the coast with his companions. Before the month was over, theother Europeans had died from the pestilential climate of Nigeria, and Clapperton, alone with his faithful servant, Richard Lander, pushed on. At last he saw the great Niger near the spot where MungoPark and his companions had perished. At Bussa they made out the tragicstory of his end. They had descended the river from Timbuktu to Bussa, when the boat struck upon some rocks. Natives from the banks shot atthem with arrows; the white men then, seeing all was lost, jumped intothe river and were drowned. The Niger claimed its explorer in the end, and the words of Mungo Park must have occurred to Clapperton as hestood and watched: "Though I myself were half-dead, I would stillpersevere; and if I could not succeed in the object of my journey, I would at least die on the Niger. "

From Bussa, Clapperton made his way to Kano and Sokoto; but on 13thApril 1827, broken down by fever, he died in the arms of his faithfulservant. With his master's papers and journal, Lander made his wayhome, thus establishing for the first time a direct connection betweenBenin and Tripoli, the west coast and the north. 

Still the mouth of the Niger had not been found. This discovery wasreserved for this very Richard Lander and his brother John. 

Just a year after the death of Clapperton a young Frenchman, Rene Caille, tempted by the offer of ten thousand francs offered by the FrenchGeographical Society for the first traveller who should reach thatmysterious city, entered Timbuktu 20th April 1829, after a year'sjourney from Sierra Leone. And from his pen we get the first directaccount of the once important city. "At length, " he says, "we arrivedsafely at Timbuktu, just as the sun was touching the horizon. I nowsaw this capital of the Sudan, to reach which had so long been theobject of my wishes. To God alone did I confide my joy. I looked aroundand found that the sight before me did not answer my expectations. I had formed a totally different idea of the grandeur and wealth ofit. The city presented nothing but a mass of ill-looking houses, builtof earth. Nothing was to be seen in all directions but immense plainsof quicksand of a yellowish white colour. The sky was a pale red asfar as the horizon, all nature wore a dreary aspect, and the mostprofound silence prevailed: not even the warbling of a bird was tobe heard. The heat was oppressive; not a breath of air freshened theatmosphere. This mysterious city, which has been the object ofcuriosity for many ages, and of whose civilisation, population, andtrade with the Sudan such exaggerated notions have prevailed, issituated in an immense plain of white sand, having no vegetation butstunted trees and shrubs, and has no other resources save its tradein salt. "

[Illustration: THE FIRST EUROPEAN PICTURE OF TIMBUKTU. From a drawingin Caille's _Tomboctou_, 1829. ]

It is curious to note what a burst of interest was aroused in Englandat this time with regard to Timbuktu. Thackeray wrote in 1829--

 "In Africa (a quarter of the world) Men's skins are black, their hair is crisp and curl'd; And somewhere there, unknown to public view, A mighty city lies, called Timbuktu. "

while the same year Tennyson's poem on Timbuktu won for him the prizeat Cambridge University for the best poem of the year. 

CHAPTER LVI

RICHARD AND JOHN LANDER DISCOVER THE MOUTH OF THE NIGER

Lander, the "faithful attendant of the late Captain Clapperton, " ashe is called in his instructions, was burning to be off again to explorefurther the mysterious Niger. No pecuniary reward was to be his; hewas a poor man, and just for the love of exploring the unknown he startedoff. He had inspired his brother with a desire to solve the greatmystery; so on 22nd February 1830 the two brothers arrived at CapeCoast Castle and made their way to Bussa, which place they enteredon 18th June. Sitting on a rock overlooking the spot where Mungo Parkhad perished, the brothers resolved to "set at rest for ever the greatquestion of the course and termination of the great Niger. "

It was 20th September before preparations were completed for theeventful voyage from Bussa to the mouth of the Niger. For provisionsthey took three large bags of corn and one of beans, a couple of fowls, and two sheep to last a month, while the king added rice, honey, onions, and one hundred pounds of vegetable butter. Then in two native canoesthe Landers embarked on the great river, the "Dark Water" as it wasmore often called, while the crowds who came down to the riversideto bid them farewell knelt with uplifted hands, imploring for theexplorers the protection of Allah and their prophet. It was indeeda perilous undertaking; sunken reefs were an ever-present danger, while the swift current ran them dangerously near many jagged rocks. For nearly a month they paddled onward with their native guides inanxiety and suspense, never knowing what an hour might bring forth. On 7th October a curious scene took place when the King of the DarkWater came forth in all his pomp and glory to see the white strangerswho were paddling down the great river. Waiting under the shade ofa tree, for the morning was very hot, the Landers observed a largecanoe paddled by twenty young black men singing as they rowed. In thecentre of the boat a mat awning was erected: in the bows sat four littleboys "clad with neatness and propriety, " while in the stern satmusicians with drums and trumpets. Presently the king stepped forth. He was coal black, dressed in an Arab cloak, Haussa trousers, and acap of red cloth, while two pretty little boys about ten years of age, acting as pages, followed him, each bearing a cow's tail in his handto brush away flies and other insects. Six wives, jet black girls inneat country caps edged with red silk, accompanied him. To make someimpression on this pompous king, Lander hoisted the "Union flag. ""When unfurled and waving in the wind, it looked extremely pretty, and it made our hearts glow with pride and enthusiasm as we lookedat the solitary little banner. I put on an old naval uniform coat, and my brother dressed himself in as grotesque and gaudy a manner asour resources would afford; our eight attendants also put on new whiteMohammedan robes. " Other canoes joined the royal procession and thelittle flotilla moved down the river. "Never did the British flag leadso extraordinary a squadron, " remarks Lander. As the King of the DarkWater stepped on shore the Englishmen fired a salute, which frightenedhim not a little till the honour was explained. Having now exchangedtheir two canoes for one of a larger size, they continued their journeydown the river. 

[Illustration: RICHARD AND JOHN LANDER PADDLING DOWN THE NIGER. Froma drawing in the account of Lander's _Travels_, 1835. ]

On 25th October they found the waters of the Niger were joined byanother large river known to-day as the Benue, the Mother of Waters, flowing in from the east. After this the banks of the river seemedto grow hilly, and villages were few and far between. "Our canoe passedsmoothly along the Niger, and everything was silent and solitary; nosound could be distinguished save our own voices and the plashing ofthe paddles with their echoes; the song of birds was not heard, norcould any animal whatever be seen; the banks seemed to be entirelydeserted, and the magnificent Niger to be slumbering in its owngrandeur. "

"One can imagine the feelings, " says a modern writer, "in suchcircumstances of the brothers, drifting they knew not whither, inintolerable silence and loneliness on the bosom of a river which hadcaused the death of so many men who had endeavoured to wrest from itits secret. " Two days later a large village appeared, and suddenlya cry rang through the air: "Holloa, you Englishmen! You come here!"It came from a "little squinting fellow" dressed in an Englishsoldier's jacket, a messenger from the Chief of Bonney on the coast, buying slaves for his master. He had picked up a smattering of Englishfrom the Liverpool trading ships which came to Bonney for palm-oilfrom the river. There was no longer any doubt that the mouth of theNiger was not far off, and that the many-mouthed delta was well knownto Europeans under the name of the "Oil Rivers" flowing into the Bightof Benin. 

Lander pushed on till he had paddled down the Brass River, as one ofthe many branches was called, when he heard "the welcome sound of thesurf on the beach. "

The mystery of the Niger, after a lapse of two thousand five hundredyears since its existence had been recorded by Herodotus, was solvedat last. 

CHAPTER LVII

ROSS DISCOVERS THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE

The first attempt to discover the North-West Passage by means of steaminstead of sail was made by Captain Ross, who, since his expeditionin 1819, had been burning to set off again for the Arctic regions. The reward of 20, 000 pounds held out to the discoverer of a north-westpassage had been repealed, but an old friend, Felix Booth, decidedto finance Ross, the Government having refused. "After examiningvarious steamships advertised for sale, " says Ross, "I purchased the_Victory_, which had been once employed as a packet. " With food andfuel for one thousand days, and accompanied by his nephew, James Ross, who had been with Parry on his recent Polar voyage, he left Englandthe end of May 1829, not to return for many a long year. Disasterssoon began. The _Victory_ began to leak, her engines were defective, and there was nothing for it but to heave up her paddles and trustto sail. Sailing to the northward, they found the sea smooth and theweather so warm that they could dine without a fire and with theskylights off. Entering Lancaster Sound, they sailed up PrinceRegent's Inlet. They soon discovered the spot where the _Fury_ hadbeen wrecked four years before and abandoned by Captain Parry withwhom was James Ross, who now found the stores which had been safelyhidden on that occasion. As they made their way up the inlet, strongcurrents and vast masses of ice hard and solid as granite more thanonce threatened them with destruction. 

"Imagine, " says Captain Ross, "these mountains hurled through a narrowstrait by a rapid tide, meeting with the noise of thunder, breakingfrom each other's precipices huge fragments, till, losing their formerequilibrium, they fall over headlong, lifting the sea around inbreakers and whirling it in eddies. "

Escaping these perils, Ross entered a fine harbour. Here he landed, hoisted the colours, and took possession of the new land he had found, and, drinking the King's health, called the land Boothia, after hispatron. For the next two months, August and September, he carefullyexplored the coast of this newly discovered Boothia for some threehundred miles, naming points and capes and islands after friends athome and on board. Heavy squalls of snow and ever-thickening icepointed out the necessity of winter quarters, and 1st October foundthe _Victory_ imprisoned by thick immovable ice. "The prison door wasshut upon us for the first time, " says Ross sadly. "Nothing was tobe seen but one dazzling, monotonous extent of snow. It was indeeda dull prospect. Amid all its brilliancy, this land of ice and snowhas ever been, and ever will be, a dull, dreary, heart-sinking, monotonous waste, under the influence of which the very mind isparalysed. Nothing moves and nothing changes, but all is for ever thesame--cheerless, cold, and still. "

The explorers little thought that this was to be their home for thenext three years. They spent a fairly cheerful Christmas with mincepies and "iced cherry brandy" taken from the stores of the _Fury_, and early in 1830 the monotony was broken by the appearance of Eskimos. These were tremendously dressed up in furs, a shapeless mass, and Rossdescribes one as resembling "the figure of a globe standing on twopins. " They soon became friendly, taking the Englishmen to see theirsnow huts, drawing them charts of Boothia Gulf beyond Felix Harbour, while in exchange the explorers taught English to the little Eskimochildren and ministered to their ailments, the ship's carpenter evenmaking a wooden leg for one of the natives. 

[Illustration: ROSS'S WINTER QUARTERS IN FELIX HARBOUR. ]

[Illustration: THE FIRST COMMUNICATION WITH ESKIMOS AT BOOTHIA FELIX, JANUARY 1830. SIR JOHN ROSS'S EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE, 1829-1833. From drawings by Ross in his _Narrative of a Second Voyagein Search of a North-West Passage_. ]

So the long winter passed away. A few land journeys with sledges onlyended in disappointment, but at last the vessel was free of ice andjoyfully they hoisted her sails. But worse disappointment was in store. She had sailed for three miles when they met a ridge of ice, and asolid sea forbade any further advance. In vain did they try to sawthrough the ice. November found the poor _Victory_ hopelessly iceboundand her crew doomed to another winter in the same region. 

It was not till May that a journey across the land of Boothia to thewest coast was possible. Ross and his nephew had been calculating theposition of the North Magnetic Pole all the long winter, and with signsof spring they set forth. 

"Our journey had a very new appearance. The mother of two Eskimos ledthe way with a staff in her hand, my sledge following with the dogsand one of the children, guided by one of the wives with a child onher back. After a native sledge came that of Commander Ross, followedby more Eskimos. Many halts were made, as our burdens were heavy, thesnow deep, and the ice rough. "

After a fortnight's travelling past the chain of great lakes--thewoman still guiding them--the Rosses, uncle and nephew, separated. James Ross now made for the spot where the Magnetic Pole was supposedto be. His own account shows with what enthusiasm he found it. "Wewere now within fourteen miles of the calculated position of theMagnetic Pole and now commenced a rapid march, and, persevering withall our might, we reached the calculated place at eight in the morningof the 1st of June. I must leave it to others to imagine the elationof mind with which we found ourselves now at length arrived at thisgreat object of our ambition. It almost seemed as if we had accomplishedeverything that we had come so far to see and to do; as if our voyageand all its labours were at an end, and that nothing remained for usbut to return home and be happy for the rest of our days. Amid mutualcongratulation we fixed the British flag on the spot and tookpossession of the North Magnetic Pole and its adjoining territory inthe name of Great Britain and King William IV. We had plenty ofmaterials for building, and we therefore erected a cairn of somemagnitude under which we buried a canister containing a record of theinteresting fact. " Another fortnight found the successful explorersstaggering back to the _Victory_ with their great news, after anabsence of twenty-eight days. 

Science has shown that the Magnetic Pole revolves, and that Ross'scairn will not again mark its exact position for many a long year tocome. 

[Illustration: THE ROSSES ON THEIR JOURNEY TO THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE. From a drawing in Ross's _Second Voyage for a North-West Passage_, 1835. ]

By the end of August the ice had broken and the _Victory_ was oncemore in full sail, but gales of wind drove her into harbour, whichshe never left again. Despite their colossal efforts, it soon becameapparent that yet another winter would have to be passed in the frozenseas. The entries in Ross's journal become shorter and more despondentday by day. "The sight of ice to us is a plague, a vexation, a torment, an evil, a matter of despair. Could we have skated, it would not havebeen an amusement; we had exercise enough and, worst of all, the icewhich surrounds us obstructed us, imprisoned us, annoyed us in everypossible manner, had become odious to our sight. " By October therewas no open water to be seen; "the hopeful did not hope more, and thedespondent continued to despair. "

This was their third winter in the ice--food was growing scarce, themeat was so hard frozen that it had to be cut with a saw or thawedin warm cocoa. Snow-blindness afflicted many of the men badly. At lastcame the summer of 1833, but the _Victory_ was still fast in her winterquarters, and all attempts to release her had failed. They now decidedto abandon her and to drag their boats over the ice to the wreck ofthe _Fury_, replenishing their stores and trusting to some whaler totake them home. We get a pathetic picture. "The colours were hoisted, "says Ross, "and nailed to the mast, we drank a parting glass to ourpoor old ship, and, having seen every man out, I took my own adieuof the _Victory_ in the evening. She had deserved a better fate. Itwas like parting with an old friend. "

On 23rd April the weary explorers began dragging their boats and thelast month's provisions over the ice in the face of wind and snow. The journey was painful and distressing. They found Barrow's Straitfull of impenetrable ice, and resolved to pass the winter on Fury beach, which seemed almost like home to the half-starved men. Erecting a housewhich they called "Somerset House, " they prepared for a fourth winter. For severity it was unequalled, the crew developed scurvy, and allwere suffering sorely when, in the following August, the unfortunateparty was rescued by the whaler, "_Isabella_ of Hull, once commandedby Captain Ross. " It was the ship in which Ross had made his firstArctic exploration. At first the mate refused to believe the storyof these "bear-like" men. The explorers and Ross had been lost thesetwo years. But, almost frantic with delight, the explorers climbedon board the _Isabella_ to be received with the heartiest of cheerswhen their identity was disclosed. "That we were a repulsive-lookingpeople, none could doubt, " says poor Ross, "unshaven since I know notwhen, dirty, dressed in rags of wild beasts, and starved to the verybones, our gaunt and grim looks, when contrasted with those of thewell-dressed and well-fed men around us, made us all feel what we reallywere, as well as what we seemed to others. " Then followed a wild sceneof "washing, dressing, shaving, eating, all intermingled, " while inthe midst of all there were questions to be asked and the news fromEngland to be heard. Long accustomed to a cold bed on the hard snowor the bare rock, few of them could sleep that night in the comfortof the new accommodation. 

They were soon safely back in England, large crowds collecting to geta glimpse of Captain Ross. His own words best end the account of histravels. "On my arrival in London, " he says, "on the 20th of October1883, it became my first duty to repair to the royal palace at Windsor, with an account of my voyage, and to lay at the feet of His Majestythe British flag which had been hoisted on the Magnetic Pole. "

[Illustration: "SOMERSET HOUSE, " ROSS'S WINTER QUARTERS ON FURY BEACH. From a drawing in Ross's _Second Voyage for a North-West Passage_, 1835. ]

CHAPTER LVIII

FLINDERS NAMES AUSTRALIA

We must now return to Australia, as yet so imperfectly explored, andtake up the story of the young colony at Sydney. 

For seven years it thrived under the careful management of GovernorPhillips, who was then replaced by one Hunter. With the new governorfrom England arrived two young men destined to distinguish themselvesin the exploration of New South Wales. They were midshipman MatthewFlinders and surgeon George Bass. The reading of _Robinson Crusoe_had created in young Flinders a passion for sea-adventure, and nosooner had the _Reliance_ anchored in Sydney harbour than the two youngfriends resolved on an exploring expedition to the south. For therewere rumours afloat that Van Diemen's Land did not join the maincontinent of New South Wales. Little enough help was forthcoming forthe expedition, and the friends had to content themselves with a littleboat eight feet long--the _Tom Thumb_--and only a boy to help them. But with all the eager enthusiasm of youth they sailed from Port Jacksonon 25th March 1796. It is impossible to follow all their adventuresas they attempted the survey of the coast. A storm on the 29th nearlyswallowed up the little _Tom Thumb_ and her plucky sailors. 

"At ten o'clock, " says Flinders, "the wind, which had been unsettledand driving electric clouds in all directions, burst out in a gale. In a few minutes the waves began to break, and the extreme danger towhich this exposed our little bark was increased by the darkness ofthe night and the uncertainty of finding any place of shelter. Mr. Bass kept the sheet of the sail in his hand, drawing in a few inchesoccasionally, when he saw a particularly heavy sea following. I wassteering with an oar. A single wrong movement or a moment's inattentionwould have sent us to the bottom. After running near an hour in thiscritical manner, some huge breakers were distinguished ahead; it wasnecessary to determine what was to be done at once, for our bark couldnot live ten minutes longer. On coming to what appeared to be theextremity of the breakers, the boat's head was brought to the wind, the mast and sail taken down, and the oars taken out. Pulling thentowards the reef during the intervals of the heaviest seas, in threeminutes we were in smooth water--a nearer approach showed us the beachof a well-sheltered cove in which we anchored for the rest of the night. We thought Providential Cove a well-adapted name for the place. "

[Illustration: MATTHEW FLINDERS. ]

Important local discoveries were made by the young explorers, andtheir skill and courage earned for them a better equipment for furtherexploration. A whale-boat provisioned for six weeks, and a crew ofsix, were placed at the disposal of Bass in order that he might discoverwhether Van Diemen's Land was joined to the mainland or whether therewas a strait between. Cook had declared that there was no strait. Flinders now tells the story of his friend's triumphant success infinding the straits that now bear his name. He tells how Bass foundthe coast turning westward exposed to the billows of a great ocean, of the low sandy shore, of the spacious harbour which "from its relativeposition to the hitherto known parts of the coasts was called PortWestern. " His provisions were now at an end and, though he was keento make a survey of his new discovery, he was obliged to return. Thisvoyage of six hundred miles in an open boat on dangerous and unknownshores is one of the most remarkable on record. It added another threehundred miles of known coast-line, and showed that the shores of NewHolland were divided from Van Diemen's Land. So highly did thecolonists appreciate this voyage of discovery that the whale-boat inwhich Bass sailed was long preserved as a curiosity. 

A small boat of twenty-five tons, provisioned for twelve weeks, wasnow put at the disposal of the two friends, Flinders and Bass, tocomplete the survey of Van Diemen's Land, and in October 1798 theysailed for the south. With gales and strong winds blowing across thechannel now known as Bass Strait, they made their way along thecoast--the northern shores of Van Diemen's Land--till they found awide inlet. Here they found a quantity of black swans, which they atewith joy, and also kangaroos, mussels, and oysters. This inlet theycalled Port Dalrymple, after the late hydrographer to the Admiraltyin England. On 9th December, still coasting onward, they passedThree-Hummock Island and then a whole cluster of islands, to which, "in honour of His Excellency the Governor of New South Wales, I gavethe title of Hunter's Isles. " And now a long swell was noticed fromthe south-west. "It broke heavily upon a small reef and upon all thewestern shores, but, although it was likely to prove troublesome andperhaps dangerous, Mr. Bass and myself hailed it with joy and mutualcongratulation, as announcing the completion of our long-wished-fordiscovery of a passage into the southern Indian Ocean. "

Calling the point where the island coast turned Cape Grime, they sailedalong the western shores, their little boat exposed to the swell ofthe southern ocean. Sailing joyfully from point to point and namingthem at will, the two explorers reached the extreme west, which theycalled South-West Cape. This had been already sighted by one of Cook'sparty in 1773. South Cape and Tasman's Head had been likewise chartedas points at the extreme south of New South Wales. So the explorerssailed right round the island on which Tasman had landed one hundredand fifty-six years before, and after an absence of five months theyreached Sydney with their important news. Bass now disappears fromthe annals of exploration, but his friend Flinders went off to Englandand found in our old friend Banks a powerful friend. He was given astout north-country ship, H. M. S. _Investigator_ of three hundred andthirty-four tons, with orders to return to New Holland and make acomplete survey of the coast, and was off again in July 1801 with youngJohn Franklin, his nephew, aboard. 

The _Investigator_ arrived at Cape Leuwin in December and anchoredin King George's Sound, discovered by Vancouver some ten years before. By the New Year he was ready to begin his great voyage round the TerraAustralis, as the new country was still called. Indeed, it was Flinderswho suggested the name of Australia for the tract of land hithertocalled New Holland. His voyage can easily be traced on our maps to-day. Voyaging westward through the Recherches group of islands, Flinderspassed the low, sandy shore to a cape he named Cape Pasley, after hislate Admiral; high, bleak cliffs now rose to the height or some fivehundred feet for a distance of four hundred and fifty miles--the greatAustralian Bight. Young Franklin's name was given to one island, Investigator to another, Cape Catastrophe commemorated a melancholyaccident and the drowning of several of the crew. Kangaroo Islandspeaks for itself. Here they killed thirty-one dark-brown kangaroos. "The whole ship's company was employed this afternoon skinning andcleaning the kangaroos, and a delightful regale they afforded afterfour months' privation from almost any fresh provisions. Half ahundredweight of heads, forequarters, and tails were stewed down intosoup for dinner, and as much steaks given to both officers and menas they could consume by day and night. "

[Illustration: CAPE CATASTROPHE. From Flinders' _Voyages_. ]

In April 1802 a strange encounter took place, when suddenly thereappeared a "heavy-looking ship without any top-gallant masts up, "showing a French ensign. Flinders cleared his decks for action in caseof attack, but the strangers turned out to be the French ship _LeGeographe_, which, in company with _Le Naturaliste_, had left France, 1800, for exploration of the Australian coasts. 

Now it was well known that Napoleon had cast longing eyes upon theTerra Australis--indeed, it is said that he took with him to Egypta copy of _Cook's Voyages_. Flinders, too, knew of this Frenchexpedition, but he was not specially pleased to find French explorersengaged on the same work as himself. The commanders met as friends, and Baudin, the French explorer, told how he had landed also near CapeLeuwin in May 1801, how he had given the names of his two ships toCape Naturaliste and Geographe Bay, and was now making his way roundthe coast. Flinders little guessed at this time that the French weregoing to claim the south of New South Wales as French territory underthe name of Terra Napoleon, though it was common knowledge that thisdiscovery was made by Englishmen. 

"Ah, captain, " said one of the French crew to Flinders, "if we hadnot been kept so long picking up shells and catching butterflies atVan Diemen's Land you would not have discovered this coast before us. "

When Baudin put in at Port Jackson a couple of months later, he inquiredof the Governor the extent of British claims in the Pacific. 

"The whole of Tasmania and Australia are British territory, " was thefirm answer. 

After this encounter Flinders discovered and named Port Phillip, atthe head of which stands the famous city of Melbourne to-day, and thenmade his way on to Port Jackson. He had managed his crews so well thatthe inhabitants of Port Jackson declared they were reminded of Englandby the fresh colour of the men amongst the _Investigator_ ship'scompany. The Frenchmen had not fared so well. One hundred and fiftyout of one hundred and seventy were down with scurvy and had to betaken to the hospital at Sydney. 

Before the end of July, Flinders was off again, sailing northwardsalong the eastern coast of New South Wales. October found him passingthe Great Barrier reefs, and on the 21st he had reached the northernmostpoint, Cape York. Three days of anxious steering took the_Investigator_ through Torres Strait, and Flinders was soon sailinginto the great Gulf of Carpentaria. Still hugging the coast, hediscovered a group of islands to the south of the gulf, which he namedthe Wellesley Islands, after General Wellesley, afterwards Duke ofWellington. Here he found a wealth of vegetation; cabbage palm wasabundant, nutmegs plentiful, and a sort of sandal-wood was growingfreely. He spent one hundred and five days exploring the gulf; thenhe continued his voyage round the west coast and back to Port Jacksonby the south. He returned after a year's absence with a sickly crewand a rotten ship. Indeed, the _Investigator_ was incapable of furtherservice, and Flinders decided to go back to England for another ship. As passenger on board the _Porpoise_, early in August 1802, he sailedfrom Sydney for the Torres Strait accompanied by two returningtransports. All went well for the first four days, and they had reacheda spot on the coast of Queensland, when a cry of "Breakers ahead!"fell on the evening air. In another moment the ship was carried amongstthe breakers and struck upon a coral reef. So sudden was the disasterthat there was no time to warn the other ships closely following. Asthe _Porpoise_ rolled over on her beam ends, huge seas swept over herand the white foam leapt high. Then the mast snapped, water rushedin, and soon the _Porpoise_ was a hopeless wreck. A few minutes later, one of the transports struck the coral reef: she fell on her side, her deck facing the sweeping rollers, and was completely wrecked. Theother transport escaped, sailed right away from the scene of disaster, and was never seen again by the crew of the _Porpoise_. The dawn ofday showed the shipwrecked crew a sandbank, to which some ninety-fourmen made their way and soon set sailcloth tents on the barren shore. They had saved enough food for three months. Flinders as usual wasthe moving spirit. A fortnight later in one of the ship's boats, withtwelve rowers and food for three weeks, he left Wreck Reef amid ringingcheers to get help from Sydney for the eighty men left on the sandbank. 

"The reader, " says the hero of this adventure, "has perhaps never gonetwo hundred and fifty leagues at sea in an open boat or along a strangecoast inhabited by savages; but, if he recollect the eighty officersand men upon Wreck Reef, and how important was our arrival to theirsafety and to the saving of the charts, journals, and papers of the_Investigator's_ voyage, he may have some idea of the pleasure we felt, particularly myself, at entering our destined port. "

Half-starved, unshaven, deplorable indeed were the men when theystaggered into Sydney, and "an involuntary tear started from the eyeof friendship and compassion" when the Governor learnt how nearlyFlinders and his friends had lost their lives. 

[Illustration: THE HUTS OF THE CREW OF THE _PORPOISE_ ON THE SANDBANK, WRECK REEF. From Flinders' _Voyages_. ]

A few days later Flinders left Sydney for the last time, in a littlehome-built ship of twenty-nine tons, the _Cumberland_. It was thefirst ship ever built in the colony, and the colonists were glad itshould be of use to the man who had done so much for their country. With all his papers and his beloved journals, Flinders put to seaaccompanied by a ship to rescue the men left on Wreck Reef. Three monthslater, owing to the leaky condition of the ship, he landed at Mauritius. Here he was taken prisoner and all his papers and journals were seizedby the French. During his imprisonment a French_ Voyage of Discovery_was issued, Napoleon himself paying a sum of money to hastenpublication. All the places discovered by Flinders, or "MonsieurFlinedore" as the French called him, were called by French names. Fortunately before reaching Mauritius, Flinders had sent duplicatecopies of his charts home, and the whole fraud was exposed. Flindersdid not reach home till 1810. A last tragedy awaited him. For he diedin 1814, on the very day that his great book, _The Voyage to TerraAustralis_, was published. Flinders was a true explorer, and as helay dying he cried, "I know that in future days of exploration my spiritwill rise from the dead and follow the exploring ship!"

CHAPTER LIX

STURT'S DISCOVERIES IN AUSTRALIA

Since the days of Flinders, much discovery had been done in the greatnew island-continent of Australia. The Blue Mountains had been crossed, and the river Macquarie discovered and named after the governor ofthat name. But Sturt's famous discovery of the river Darling and hisdescent of the Murray River rank among the most noteworthy of abewildering number of lesser expeditions. 

Captain Sturt landed with his regiment, the 39th, at Sydney in theyear 1827, "to guard the convicts. " His first impressions of Sydneyare interesting. "Cornfield and orchard, " he says, "have supplantedwild grass and brush; on the ruins of the forest stands a flourishingtown; and the stillness of that once desert shore is now broken bythe bugle and by the busy hum of commerce. It is not unusual to seefrom thirty to forty vessels from every quarter of the globe ridingat anchor at one time. "

Sir Ralph Darling, Governor of New South Wales, soon formed a highopinion of Sturt's ability, and when an expedition was proposed intothe interior for further exploration, he appointed him leader. 

There was a universal opinion in the colony that in the middle of theunknown continent lay a large inland sea. Oxley had made his way toa shallow ocean of reeds where the river Macquarie disappeared;natives spoke of "large waters" containing "great fish. " To open upthe country and to ascertain the truth of these rumours were the objectsof this new expedition which left Sydney in November 1828. It consistedof Hamilton Hume, the first Australian-born explorer, two soldiers, eight convicts, fifteen horses, ten bullocks, and a small boat on awheeled carriage. Across the roadless Blue Mountains they started, followed the traces of Oxley, who had died just a week before theystarted, and about Christmas time they passed his last camp and beganto break new ground. Through thickets of reeds and marshy swamps theypushed on; the river Macquarie had entirely disappeared, but on 2ndFebruary they suddenly found a large river some eighty yards broadenclosing an unbroken sheet of deep water. "Our surprise and delight, "says Sturt, "are better imagined than described. Our difficultiesseemed at an end. The banks were too steep to allow of watering thecattle, but the men eagerly descended to quench a thirst increasedby the powerful sun. Never shall I forget their cry of amazement, northe terror and disappointment with which they called out that the waterwas too salt to drink!" Leaving his party, Sturt pushed on, but nofresh water was to be found, so he named the river the Darling, afterthe Governor, and returned, but not till he had discovered brinesprings in the bed of the river, which accounted for its saltness. Sturt had found no inland sea, but in the Darling he had discovereda main channel of the western watershed. 

He now proposed to follow the line of the Murrumbidgee, "a river ofconsiderable size and impetuous current, " and to trace it if possibleinto the interior. Several of his old party again joined him, and oncemore he rode out of Sydney on this new quest. 

The journey to the banks of the Murrumbidgee lay through wild andromantic country, but as they journeyed farther, broad reed beltsappeared by the river, which was soon lost in a vast expanse of reeds. For a moment or two Sturt was as one stunned; he could neither sleepnor rest till he had regained the river again. When at last he didso he found the water was deep, the current rapid, and the banks high. But he turned on all hands to build the whale-boat which he had designedat Sydney for the purpose. Early in January he writes home: "I waschecked in my advance by high reeds spreading as far as the eye canreach. The Murrumbidgee is a magnificent stream. I do not yet knowits fate, but I have taken to the boats. Where I shall wander to Godonly knows. I have little doubt, however, that I shall ultimately makethe coast. "

By 6th January the boat was ready and Sturt started on his memorablevoyage. After passing the junction of the Lachlan, the channelgradually narrowed; great trees had been swept down by the floods andnavigation rendered very dangerous. Still narrower grew the stream, stronger the current. "On a sudden, the river took a general southerndirection. We were carried at a fearful rate down its gloomy banks, and at such a moment of excitement had little time to pay attentionto the country through which we were passing. At last we found we wereapproaching a junction, and within less than a minute we were hurriedinto a broad and noble river. It is impossible to describe the effectupon us of so instantaneous a change. We gazed in silent wonder onthe large channel we had entered. "

The Murrumbidgee had joined the great Murray River as Sturt now calledit, after Sir George Murray of the Colonial Department. 

To add to the unknown dangers of the way, numbers of natives nowappeared in force on the banks of the river, threatening the whitemen with "dreadful yells and with the beating of spears and shields. "

Firearms alone saved the little crew, and the rage of the natives wasturned to admiration as they watched the white men paddling on theirgreat river while some seventy black men swam off to the boat like"a parcel of seals. "

The explorers now found a new and beautiful stream flowing into theMurray from the north, up which the boat was now turned, nativesanxiously following along the grassy banks, till suddenly a netstretched across the stream checked their course. Sturt instinctivelyfelt he was on the river Darling again. "I directed that the UnionJack should be hoisted, and we all stood up in the boat and gave threedistinct cheers. The eye of every native was fixed upon that beautifulflag as it waved over us in the heart of a desert. "

While they were still watching, Sturt turned the head of the boat andpursued his way down the great Murray River. Stormy weather at theend of January set in; though they were yet one hundred and fifteenmiles from the coast, the river increased in breadth, cliffs toweredabove them, and the water dashed like sea-waves at their base. 

On the 5th of February they were cheered by the appearance of sea-gullsand a heavy swell up the river, which they knew must be nearing thesea. On the twenty-third day of their voyage they entered a great lake. Crossing to the southern shore, they found to their bitter grief thatshoals and sandbanks made it impossible for them to reach the sea. They found that the Murray flowed into Encounter Bay, but thither theycould not pass. The thunder of the surf upon the shore brought no hopeto the tired explorers. They had no alternative but to turn back andretrace their way. Terrible was the task that lay before them. Onhalf-rations and with hostile natives to encounter they must fighttheir way against wind and stream. And they did it. They reached thecamp on the Murrumbidgee just seventy-seven days after leaving it;but to their dismay it was deserted. The river, too, had risen in floodand "poured its turbid waters with great violence. "

[Illustration: CAPTAIN STURT AT THE JUNCTION OF THE RIVERS DARLINGAND MURRAY. From the _Narrative of Sturt's Expedition_. ]

"For seventeen days, " says Sturt, "we pulled against stream withdetermined perseverance, but in our short daily journeys we made buttrifling way against it. " The effects of severe toil were painfullyevident. The men lost the muscular jerk with the oars. Their arms werenerveless, their faces haggard, their persons emaciated, theirspirits wholly spent. From sheer weariness they fell asleep at theoar. No murmur, however, escaped them. 

"I must tell the captain to-morrow, " said one, thinking that Sturtwas asleep, "that I can pull no more. " But when the morrow came hesaid no word, but pulled on with his remaining strength. One man wentmad. The last ounce of flour was consumed when relief arrived, andthe weary explorers at last reached Sydney with their great news. 

The result of this discovery was soon seen. In 1836 a shipload ofEnglish emigrants arrived off Kangaroo Island, and soon a flourishingcolony was established at the mouth of the Murray River, the site ofthe new capital being called Adelaide, after the wife of William IV. 

After this Sturt tried to cross Australia from south to north; butthough he opened up a good deal of new country, he failed to reachthe coast. He was rewarded by the President of the Royal GeographicalSociety, who described him as "one of the most distinguished explorersand geographers of our age. "

The feat of crossing Australia from south to north, from shore to shore, was reserved for an Irishman called Burke in the year 1861. The storyof his expedition, though it was successful, is one of the saddestin the history of discovery. The party left Melbourne in the highestspirits. No expense had been spared to give them a good outfit; camelshad been imported from India, with native drivers, and food wasprovided for a year. The men of Melbourne turned out in their hundredsto see the start of Burke with his four companions, his camels, andhis horses. Starting in August 1860, the expedition arrived atCooper's Creek in November with half their journey done. But it wasnot till December that the party divided, and Burke with his companions, Wills, King, and Gray, six camels, and two horses, with food for threemonths, started off for the coast, leaving the rest at Cooper's Creekto await their return in about three months. After hard going theyreached a channel with tidal waters flowing into the Gulf ofCarpentaria on 28th March, but they could not get a view of the openocean because of boggy ground. 

[Illustration: THE BURKE AND WILLS EXPEDITION LEAVING MELBOURNE, 1860. From a drawing by Wm. Strutt, an acquaintance of Burke. ]

They accomplished their task, but the return journey was disastrous. Short rations soon began to tell, for they had taken longer than theyhad calculated, and no food was to be found by the way. Gray was thefirst to fail and to die. Heavy rains made the ground impossibly heavy, and the camels sank to the ground exhausted. Finally they had to bekilled and eaten. Then the horses went. At long last the three wearymen and two utterly worn-out camels dragged themselves to Cooper'sCreek, hoping to find their companions and the food they had left therefour months ago. It was 21st April. Not a soul was to be seen!

"King, " cried Wills, in utter despair, "they are _gone_!"

As the awful truth flashed on them Burke--their leader--threw himselfon to the ground, realising their terrible situation. They lookedround. On a tree they saw the word "Dig. " In a bottle they found aletter: "We leave the camp to-day, 21st April 1861. We have left yousome food. We take camels and horses. "

[Illustration: BURKE AND WILLS AT COOPER'S CREEK. From a woodcut ina contemporary Australian account of the expedition. ]

Only a few hours ago the party had left Cooper's Creek! And theexplorers were too weak and tired to follow! They ate a welcome supperof oatmeal porridge and then, after resting a couple of days; theystruggled on their way, three exhausted men and two tired camels. Theirfood was soon finished, and they had to subsist on a black seed likethe natives called "nardoo. " But they grew weaker and weaker, and theway was long. The camels died first. Then Wills grew too ill to walk, and there was nothing for it but to leave him and push on for help. The natives were kind to him, but he was too far gone, and he diedbefore help could arrive. Burke and King sadly pushed on without him, but a few days later Burke died, and in the heart of Australia theone white man, King, was left alone. It was not till the followingSeptember that he was found "sitting in a hut that the blacks had madefor him. He presented a melancholy appearance, wasted to a shadow andhardly to be distinguished as a civilised being except by the remnantsof clothes on him. "

So out of that gay party of explorers who left Melbourne in the summerof 1860 only one man returned to tell the story of success and thesadder story of suffering and disaster. 

CHAPTER LX

ROSS MAKES DISCOVERIES IN THE ANTARCTIC SEAS

Now, while explorers were busy opening up Australian inland, Ross wasleaving the Australian waters for his voyage to the south. Four yearsafter the return of the Ross polar expedition, Sir John Franklin hadbeen made Governor of Van Diemen's Land, where he was visited by theships sent out from England on the first Antarctic expedition underthe command of Sir James Ross, who had returned to find himself famousfor his discovery of the North Magnetic Pole. 

An expedition had been fitted out, consisting of the _Erebus_ and the_Terror_--ships which later on made history, for did they not carrySir John Franklin to his doom in the Arctic regions some years later?The ships sailed in the autumn of 1839 by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and excited great interest at Hobart Town, where the commanders, Rossand Crozier, were warmly received by the Governor. In a bay, afterwardscalled Ross Cove, the ships were repaired after the long voyage, whilean observatory was built by the convicts under the personalsupervision of Sir John Franklin. Interesting news awaited theexplorers, too, at Hobart Town. Exploration had taken place in thesouthern regions by a French expedition under D'Urville and anAmerican, Lieutenant Wilkes--both of which had made considerablediscoveries. Ross was somewhat surprised at this, for, as he said, "England had ever _led_ the way of discovery in the southern as wellas in the northern regions, " but he decided to take a more easterlycourse, and, if possible, to reach the South Magnetic Pole. 

On 5th November 1840 the ships were off again, shaping their coursefor Auckland Island, nine hundred miles from Hobart Town. The islandhad been discovered in 1806 by Captain Bristow. He had left some pigs, whose rapid increase filled the explorers with surprise. ChristmasDay found them still sailing south, with strong gales, snow, and rain. The first iceberg was seen a few days later, and land on 11th January. 

"It was a beautifully clear evening, " says Ross, "and we had a mostenchanting view of the two magnificent ranges of mountains whose loftypeaks, perfectly covered with eternal snow, rose to elevations of tenthousand feet above the level of the ocean. " These icy shores wereinhospitable enough, and the heavy surf breaking along its edgeforbade any landing. Indeed, a strong tide carried the ships rapidlyand dangerously along the coast among huge masses of ice. "The ceremonyof taking possession of these newly discovered lands in the name ofour Most Gracious Sovereign Queen Victoria was proceeded with, andon planting the flag of our country amid the hearty cheers of our party, we drank to the health, long life, and happiness of Her Majesty andHis Royal Highness Prince Albert. "

The end of the month found them farther south than any explorer hadsailed before. Everything was new, and they were suddenly startledto find two volcanoes, one of which was active; steam and smoke risingto a height of two thousand feet above the crater and descending asmist and snow. Mount Erebus and Mount Terror, Ross called them, inmemory of his two ships. They sailed on, but soon were stopped by ahuge barrier of solid ice like a great white wall, one thousand feetthick and one hundred and eighty feet above sea-level. They knew nowthey could get no farther this season--they had reached a point onehundred and sixty miles from the Pole. Could they but have winteredhere "in sight of the brilliant burning mountain and at so short adistance from the Magnetic Pole, " they might easily have reached itthe following spring, --so they thought, --but reluctantly Ross had toturn. "Few can understand the deep feelings of regret with which Ifelt myself compelled to abandon the perhaps too ambitious hope I hadso long cherished of being permitted to plant the flag of my countryon both Magnetic Poles of our globe. "

The whole of the great southern land they had discovered received thename of Queen Victoria, which name it keeps to-day. They had been southof the Antarctic Circle for sixty-three days, when they recrossed iton 4th March. A few days later they narrowly escaped shipwreck. Aneasterly wind drove them among some hundreds of icebergs. "For eighthours, " says Ross, "we had been gradually drifting towards what tohuman eyes appeared inevitable destruction; the high waves and deeprolling of our ships rendered towing with boats impossible, and oursituation was the more painful from our inability to make any effortto avoid the dreadful calamity that seemed to await us. The roar ofthe surf, which extended each way as far as we could see, and the dashingof the ice fell upon the ear with painful distinctness as wecontemplated the awful destruction that threatened in one short hourto close the world and all its hopes and joys and sorrows upon us forever. In this deep distress we called upon the Lord . .. And our crycame before Him. A gentler air of wind filled our sails; hope againrevived, and before dark we found ourselves far removed from everydanger. "

[Illustration: PART OF THE GREAT SOUTHERN ICE BARRIER, 450 MILES LONG, 180 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL, AND 1000 FEET THICK. From Ross's _Voyagein Antarctic Regions_. ]

April found them back again in Van Diemen's land, and though Ross sailedagain the following autumn into southern latitudes, he only reacheda point some few miles farther than before--being again stopped bya great wall barrier of thick ice. After this he took his ship homeby way of Cape Horn, and "the shores of Old England came into viewon the 2nd of September 1843. " After an absence of four years Rosswas welcomed home, and honours were showered on him, including theaward of the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of Paris. 

 "Till then they had deemed that the Austral earth, With a long, unbroken shore, Ran on to the Pole Antarctic, For such was the old sea lore. "

CHAPTER LXI

FRANKLIN DISCOVERS THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE

The whole coast-line of North America had now been charted, but thefamous North-West Passage, for which so many lives had been laid down, had yet to be found. Sir John Barrow, "the father of modern Arcticdiscovery, " Secretary to the Admiralty, now decided to dispatchanother expedition to forge this last link and to connect, if possible, the chain of all former discoveries. 

Many were the volunteers who came forward to serve in the new Arcticexpedition. But Sir John Franklin claimed the command as his specialright. 

"No service, " he declared, "is nearer to my heart. "

He was reminded that rumour put his age at sixty, and that after along life of hard work he had earned some rest. 

"No, no!" cried the explorer; "I am only fifty-nine!"

This decided the point, and Franklin was appointed to the _Erebus_and _Terror_, recently returned from the Antarctic expedition of SirJames Ross. The ships were provisioned for three years, and with acrew of one hundred and twenty-nine men and several officers, Sir JohnFranklin left England for the last time on 19th May 1845. He was neverseen again!

All were in the highest spirits, determined to solve the mystery ofthe North-West Passage once and for all! So certain were they of successthat one of the officers wrote to a friend: "Write to Panama and theSandwich Islands every six months. "

On 4th July the ships anchored near the island of Disco on the westcoast of Greenland. After which all is silence. The rest of the story, "one of the saddest ever told in connection with Arctic exploration, "is dovetailed together from the various scraps of information thathave been collected by those who sailed in search of the lost expeditionyear by year. 

In 1848, Sir James Ross had sailed off in search of his missing friend, and had reached a spot within three hundred miles of the _Erebus_ and_Terror_ four months after they had been abandoned, but he returnedwith no news of Franklin. 

Then Sir John Richardson started off, but found no trace! Othersfollowed. The Government offered 20, 000 pounds, to which Lady Franklinadded 3000 pounds, to any one who should bring news of Franklin. Bythe autumn of 1850 there were fifteen ships engaged in the search. A few traces were found. It was discovered that Sir John Franklin hadspent his first winter (1845-46) at Beechey Island. Captain McCluresailed along the north coast of America and made his way from thePacific to the Atlantic Ocean--thus showing the existence of anorth-west passage, for which he and his men were highly rewarded, for at this time no one knew that Franklin had already found a passagethough he had not lived to tell the story of triumph and success. Butit was not till after years of silence that the story of the missingexpedition was cleared up. Lady Franklin purchased and fitted out alittle steam yacht, the _Fox_, of one hundred and seventy-seven tons. The command was given to Captain McClintock, known to be an able andenthusiastic Arctic navigator. He was to rescue any "possible survivorof the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, and to try and recover any records ofthe lost expedition. "

[Illustration: ESKIMOS AT CAPE YORK WATCHING THE APPROACH OF THE _FOX_. From McClintock's _Voyage in Search of Franklin_. ]

The 12th August found the little _Fox_ in Melville Bay made fast toan iceberg, and a few days later she was frozen firmly into an ice-pack. For two hundred and forty-two days she was beset, drifting all throughthe long, bitter winter with the ice, till on 25th April 1858, afterhaving been carried over a thousand miles, she was released. McClintock, undaunted by danger, turned northwards, and by May he hadreached Melville Bay. Thence up Lancaster Sound, he reached BeecheyIsland in August and found there three lonely graves of three sailorsfrom the _Erebus_ and _Terror_. Here the English commander erecteda tablet sent out by Lady Franklin. 

[Illustration: THE THREE GRAVES ON BEECHEY ISLAND. From McClintock's_Voyage in Search of Franklin_. ]

On the morning of 16th August, McClintock sailed from Beechey Island, but the short summer was passing quickly and they had no fresh newsof the Franklin expedition. Half-way through Bellot Strait the _Fox_was again icebound, and another long winter had to be faced. By themiddle of February 1859 there was light enough to start some sledgingalong the west coast of Boothia Felix. Days passed and McClintockstruggled on to the south, but no Eskimos appeared and no traces ofthe lost explorers were to be found. Suddenly they discovered fourmen walking after them. 

A naval button on one of the Eskimos attracted their attention. 

"It came, " said the Eskimo, "from some white people who were starvedupon an island where there are salmon, but none of them had seen thewhite men. "

Here was news at last--McClintock travelled on some ten miles to CapeVictoria, where the Eskimos built him a "commodious snow-hut in halfan hour. " Next morning the entire village of Eskimos arrived--someforty-five people--bringing relics of the white men. There were silverspoons, part of a gold chain, buttons, knives made of the iron andwood of the wrecked ships. But none of these people had seen the whitemen--one man said he had seen their bones upon the island where theydied, but some were buried. They said a ship "having three masts hadbeen crushed by the ice out in the sea to the west of King William'sIsland. " One old man made a rough sketch of the coast-line with hisspear upon the snow; he said it was eight journeys to where the shipsank. 

McClintock hastened back to the ship with his news--he had by hissleigh-journey added one hundred and twenty miles to the old chartsand "completed the discovery of the coast-line of ContinentalAmerica. "

[Illustration: EXPLORING PARTIES STARTING FROM THE _FOX_. FromMcClintock's _Voyage of the_ "Fox" _in Search of Franklin_. ]

On 2nd April more sledge-parties started out to reach King William'sIsland--the cold was still intense, the glare of the sun painful totheir eyes. The faces and lips of the men were blistered and cracked;their fingers were constantly frostbitten. After nearly three weeks'travelling they found snow-huts and Eskimos at Cape Victoria. Herethey found more traces of Franklin's party--preserved meat tins, brassknives, a mahogany board. In answer to their inquiries, they heardthat two ships had been seen by the natives of King William's Island;one had been seen to sink in deep water, the other was forced on shoreand broken up. "It was in the fall of the year (August or September), "they said, when the ships were destroyed, that all the white peoplewent away to the large river, taking a boat with them, and that inthe following winter their bones were found there. 

McClintock now made his way to the opposite coast of King William'sIsland. Here he found Eskimos with pieces of silver-plate bearing thecrest and initials of Sir John Franklin and some of his officers. Theysaid it was five days' journey to the wreck, of which little nowremained. There had been many books, said the Eskimos, but they hadbeen destroyed by the weather. One woman volunteered a statement. "Many of the white men, " she said, "dropped by the way as they wentto the Great River. Some were buried and some were not. Their bodieswere discovered during the winter following. " Moving onwards, McClintock reached the Great Fish River on the morning of 12th May. A furious gale was raging and the air was heavy with snow, but theyencamped there to search for relics. With pickaxes and shovels theysearched in vain. No Eskimos were to be found, and at last in despairthe little party of explorers faced homewards. McClintock was slowlywalking near the beach, when he suddenly came upon a human skeleton, lying face downwards, half buried in the snow. It wore a blue jacketwith slashed sleeves and braided edging and a greatcoat ofpilot-cloth. 

The old woman was right. "They fell down and died as they walked along. "And now the reward of the explorers was at hand. On the north-westcoast of King William's Island was found a cairn and a blue ship'spaper, weatherworn and ragged, relating in simple language, writtenby one of the ship's officers, the fate of the Franklin expedition. The first entry was cheerful enough. In 1846 all was well. His Majesty'sships, _Erebus_ and _Terror_, wintered in the ice--at Beechey Island, after having ascended Wellington Channel and returned to the west sideof Cornwallis Island. Sir John Franklin was commanding the expedition. The results of their first year's labour was encouraging. In 1846 theyhad been within twelve miles of King William's Island, when winterstopped them. But a later entry, written in April 1848, states thatthe ships were deserted on 22nd April, having been beset in ice sinceSeptember 1846--that Sir John Franklin had died on 11th June 1847, and that Captain Crozier was in command. 

Then came the last words, "And start to-morrow twenty-sixth for Back'sFish River. " That was all. 

After a diligent search in the neighbourhood for journals or relics, McClintock led his party along the coast, till on 30th May they foundanother relic in the shape of a large boat, with a quantity of tatteredclothing lying in her. She had been evidently equipped for the ascentof the Great Fish River. She had been built at Woolwich Dockyard; nearher lay two human skeletons, a pair of worker slippers, some watches, guns, a _Vicar of Wakefield_, a small Bible, New Testament, and PrayerBook, seven or eight pairs of boots, some silk handkerchiefs, towels, soap, sponge, combs, twine, nails, shot, and cartridges, needle andthread cases, some tea and chocolate, and a little tobacco. 

Everything was carefully collected and brought back to the ship, whichwas reached on 19th June. Two months later the little _Fox_ was freefrom ice and McClintock reached London towards the end of September, to make known his great discovery. 

The rest of the story is well known. Most of us know the interestingcollection of Franklin relics in the United Service Institution inLondon, and the monument in Waterloo Place to "the great navigatorand his brave companions who sacrificed their lives in completing thediscovery of the North-West Passage. "

It was acknowledged "that to Sir John Franklin is due the priorityof discovery of the North-West Passage--that last link to forge whichhe sacrificed his life. "

And on the marble monument in Westminster Abbey, Tennyson, a nephewof Sir John Franklin, wrote his well-known lines--

 "Not here, the white north hath thy bones, and thou, Heroic Sailor Soul, Art passing on thy happier voyage now Towards no earthly pole. "

CHAPTER LXII

DAVID LIVINGSTONE

"I shall open up a path to the interior or perish. "

Such were the words of one of the greatest explorers of Africa in thenineteenth century. Determination was the keynote of his charactereven as a young boy. At the age of ten he was at work in a cotton factoryin Scotland: with his first week's wages he bought a Latin grammar. Fourteen hours of daily work left little time for reading, but heeducated himself, till at nineteen he was resolved to be a medicalmissionary. 

"In the glow of love which Christianity inspires, I resolved to devotemy life to the alleviation of human misery. " He was accepted for serviceby the London Missionary Society, and in the year 1840 he sailed forSouth Africa. After a voyage of three months he arrived at Cape Townand made his way in a slow ox-waggon seven hundred miles to Kuruman, a small mission station in the heart of Bechuanaland where Dr. Moffathad laboured for twenty years. He did well, and two years later hewas sent north to form another mission station at Mabotsa (Transvaal). Having married Moffat's daughter Mary, he worked in these parts tillJune 1849, when, with his wife and three children, he started withoxen and waggon for a journey northwards. Across the great KalahariDesert moved the exploring family, till they came to the river calledZouga, which, said the natives, led to a large lake named Lake Ngami. In native canoes, Livingstone and his little family ascended thisbeautifully wooded river, "resembling the river Clyde above Glasgow, "till on 1st August 1849, Lake Ngami appeared, "and for the first time, "says Livingstone, "this fine sheet of water was beheld by Europeans. "The lake was two thousand eight hundred feet above the sea, but theclimate was terribly unhealthy. The children grew feverish, andmosquitoes made life a misery to them, while the tsetse fly made furtherexploration for the moment impossible. So the family journeyed backto headquarters for a time. But Livingstone was unsatisfied, and oncemore in 1851 we find him starting again with wife and children to seekthe great river Zambesi, known to exist in central Africa, though thePortuguese maps represented it as rising far to the east ofLivingstone's discovery. 

[Illustration: LIVINGSTONE, WITH HIS WIFE AND FAMILY, AT THE DISCOVERYOF LAKE NGAMI. From Livingstone's _Missionary Travels_. ]

"It was the end of June 1851, " he tells us, "that we were rewardedby the discovery of the Zambesi in the centre of the continent. Thiswas an important point, for that river was not previously known toexist there at all. As we were the very first white men the inhabitantshad ever seen, we were visited by prodigious numbers of Makololo ingarments of blue, green, and red baize. " Livingstone wanted to knowmore of this unknown river, but he now decided that exploring witha wife and family was not only perilous, but difficult, so he returnedto the coast, put them on a homeward-bound ship for England, andreturned to central Africa to continue his work of exploration alone. 

It was 11th November 1853 when Livingstone left the town of Linyantiin the very heart of central Africa for his great journey to the westcoast to trace the course of the Zambesi. 

 "The Zambesi. Nobody knows Whence it comes and whither it goes. "

So ran an old canoe-song of the natives. 

With twenty-seven faithful black Makololos, with "only a few biscuits, a little tea and sugar, twenty pounds of coffee and three books, " witha horse rug and sheepskin for bedding and a small gipsy tent and atin canister, fifteen inches square, filled with a spare shirt, trousers, and shoes for civilised life, and a few scientificinstruments, the English explorer started for a six months' journey. Soon his black guides had embarked in their canoes and were makingtheir way up the Zambesi. "No rain has fallen here, " he writes on 30thNovember, "so it is excessively hot. The atmosphere is oppressive bothin cloud and sunshine. " Livingstone suffered badly from fever duringthe entire journey. But the blacks took fatherly care of him. "As soonas we land, " he says, "the men cut a little grass for my bed, whilethe poles of my little tent are planted. The bed is made and boxesranged on each side of it, and then the tent pitched over all. TwoMakololos occupy my right and left both in eating and sleeping as longas the journey lasts, but my head boatman makes his bed at the doorof the tent as soon as I retire. "

As they advanced up the Barotse valley, rains had fallen and the woodshad put on their gayest hue. Flowers of great beauty grew everywhere. "The ground begins to swarm with insect life, and in the cool, pleasantmornings the place rings with the singing of birds. "

On 6th January 1854 they left the river and rode oxen through the denseparts of the country through which they had now to pass. Through heavyrains and with very little food, they toiled on westward through milesand miles of swamp intersected by streams flowing southward to theZambesi basin. One day Livingstone's ox, Sindbad, threw him, and hehad to struggle wearily forward on foot. His strength was failing. His meagre fare varied by boiled zebra and dried elephant, frequentwettings and constant fever, were reducing him to a mere skeleton. At last on 26th March he arrived at the edge of the high land overwhich he had so long been travelling. "It is so steep, " he tells us, "that I was obliged to dismount, and I was so weak that I had to beled by my companions to prevent my toppling over in walking down. Belowus lay the valley of the Kwango in glorious sunlight. " Anotherfortnight and they were in Portuguese territory. The sight of whitemen once more and a collection of traders' huts was a welcome sightto the weary traveller. The commandant at once took pity on Livingstone, but after a refreshing stay of ten days the English explorer startedoff westward to the coast. For another month he pursued his way. Itwas 31st May 1854. As the party neared the town of Loanda, the blackMakololos began to grow nervous. "We have stood by each other hithertoand will do so to the last, " Livingstone assured them, as they allstaggered into the city by the seashore. Here they found one Englishmansent out for the suppression of the slave trade, who at once gave uphis bed to the stricken and emaciated explorer. "Never shall I forget, "he says, "the luxury I enjoyed in feeling myself again on a good Englishbed after six months' sleeping on the ground. "

Nor were the Makololos forgotten. They were entertained on board anEnglish man-of-war lying off the coast. Livingstone was offered apassage home, but he tells us: "I declined the tempting offers of myfriends, and resolved to take back my Makololo companions to theirChief, with a view of making a path from here to the east coast bymeans of the great river Zambesi. "

With this object in view, he turned his back on home and comfort, andon 20th September 1854 he left Loanda and "the white man's sea, " asthe black guides called the Atlantic Ocean that washes the shores ofWest Africa. Their way lay through the Angola country, rich in wildcoffee and cotton plantations. The weather was as usual still andoppressive, but slowly Livingstone made his way eastward. He sufferedbadly from fever as he had done on the outward journey. It had takenhim six months to reach Loanda from central Africa; it took a yearto complete the return journey, and it was September 1855 beforeLinyanti was again reached. Waggons and goods left there eighteenmonths before were safe, together with many welcome letters from home. The return of the travellers after so long an absence was a cause ofgreat rejoicing. All the wonderful things the Makololos had seen andheard were rehearsed many times before appreciative audiences. Livingstone was more than ever a hero in their eyes, and his kindnessto his men was not forgotten. He had no difficulty in getting recruitsfor the journey down the Zambesi to the sea, for which he was now makingpreparations. 

On 3rd November he was ready to resume his long march across Africa. He was much better equipped on this occasion; he rode a horse insteadof an ox, and his guide, Sekwebu, knew the river well. The first nightout they were unfortunately caught in a terrific thunderstormaccompanied by sheet-lightning, which lit up the whole country andflooded it with torrents of tropical rain. 

A few days' travelling brought the party to the famous Zambesi Falls, called by the natives "where smoke sounds, " but renamed by Livingstoneafter the Queen of England, Victoria. The first account of these nowfamous Falls is very vivid. "Five columns of vapour, appropriatelynamed smoke, bending in the direction of the wind, appeared to minglewith the clouds. The whole scene was extremely beautiful. It had neverbeen seen before by European eyes. When about half a mile from theFalls, I left the canoe and embarked in a lighter one with men wellacquainted with the rapids, who brought me to an island in the middleof the river and on the edge of the lip over which the water rolls. Creeping with care to the verge, I peered down into a large rent whichhad been made from bank to bank of the broad Zambesi. In looking downinto the fissure one sees nothing but a dense white cloud; from thiscloud rushed up a great jet of vapour exactly like steam, and it mountedtwo or three hundred feet high. "

[Illustration: THE "SMOKE" OF THE ZAMBESI (VICTORIA) FALLS. After adrawing in Livingstone's _Missionary Travels_. ]

Livingstone now continued his perilous journey with his hundred menalong the Zambesi, the country once densely populated, now desolateand still. The Bakota tribes, "the colour of coffee and milk, " werefriendly, and "great numbers came from all the surrounding villagesand expressed great joy at the appearance of a white man and harbingerof peace. " They brought in large supplies of food, and expressed greatdelight when Livingstone doctored their children, who were sufferingfrom whooping-cough. As they neared the coast, they became aware ofhostile forces. This was explained when they were met by a Portuguesehalf-caste "with jacket and hat on, " who informed them that for thelast two years they had been fighting the natives. Plunging thusunconsciously into the midst of a Kafir war rendered travellingunpleasant and dangerous. In addition, the party of explorers foundtheir animals woefully bitten by the tsetse fly, rhinoceroses andelephants were too plentiful to be interesting, and the great whiteant made itself tiresome. 

It was 3rd March before Livingstone reached Tete, two hundred and sixtymiles from the coast. The last stages of the journey had been verybeautiful. Many of the hills were of pure white marble, and pink marbleformed the bed of more than one of the streams. Through this countrythe Zambesi rolled down toward the coast at the rate of four milesan hour, while flocks of water-fowl swarmed upon its banks or flewover its waters. Tete was the farthest outpost of the Portuguese. Livingstone was most kindly received by the governor, but fever againlaid him low, and he had to remain here for three weeks before he wasstrong enough to start for the last stage of his journey to the coast. He left his Makololos here, promising to return some day to take themhome again. They believed in him implicitly, and remained there threeyears, when he returned according to his word. Leaving Tete, he nowembarked on the waters of the Zambesi, high with a fourth annual rise, which bore him to Sena in five days. So swift is the current at timesthat twenty-four hours is enough to take a boat from Tete to Sena, whereas the return journey may take twenty days. 

"I thought the state of Tete quite lamentable, " says Livingstone, butthat of Sena was ten times worse. "It is impossible to describe themiserable state of decay into which the Portuguese possessions herehave sunk. "

Though suffering badly from fever, Livingstone pushed on; he passedthe important tributary of the Zambesi, the Shire, which he afterwardsexplored, and finally reached Quilimane on the shores of the IndianOcean. It was now 20th May 1856, just four years after he had leftCape Town on his great journey from west to east, since when he hadtravelled eleven thousand miles. After waiting six weeks on the "greatmud bank, surrounded by extensive swamps and rice grounds, " which formthe site of Quilimane, Livingstone embarked on board a gunboat, the_Frolic_, for England. He had one Makololo with him--the faithfulSekwebu. The poor black man begged to be allowed to follow his masteron the seas. 

"But, " said Livingstone, "you will die if you go to such a cold countryas mine. "

"Let me die at your feet, " pleaded the black man. 

He had not been to Loanda, so he had never seen the sea before. Waveswere breaking over the bar at Quilimane and dashing over the boat thatcarried Sekwebu out to the brig. He was terribly alarmed, but he livedto reach Mauritius, where he became insane, hurled himself into thesea, and was drowned!

On 12th December 1856, Livingstone landed in England after an absenceof sixteen years. He had left home as an obscure missionary; he returnedto find himself famous. The Royal Geographical Society awarded himits gold medal; France and Scotland hastened to do him honour. Banquetsand receptions were given for him, and finally this "plain, single-minded man, somewhat attenuated by years of toil, and with hisface tinged by the sun of Africa, " was received by the Queen at Windsor. The enthusiasm aroused by this longest expedition in the history ofAfrican travel was unrivalled, and the name of Livingstone was on everylip. But meanwhile others were at work in central Africa, and we mustturn from the discoveries of Livingstone for the moment. 

CHAPTER LXIII

BURTON AND SPEKE IN CENTRAL AFRICA

Livingstone had just left Loanda and was making his way across Africafrom west to east, when an English expedition set forth to find theGreat Lakes still lying solitary and undiscovered, although they wereknown to exist. If we turn to the oldest maps of Africa, we find, rudelydrawn and incorrectly placed, large inland waters, that maynevertheless be recognised as these lakes just about to be revealedto a wondering world. Ptolemy knew of them, the Arabs spoke of them, Portuguese traders had passed them, and a German missionary had caughtsight of the Mountains of the Moon and brought back strange storiesof a great inland lake. 

The work of rediscovering the lakes was entrusted to a remarkable mannamed Richard Burton, a man whose love of adventure was well known. He had already shown his metal by entering Mecca disguised as a Persian, and disguised as an Arab he had entered Harar, a den of slave traders, the "Timbuktu of Eastern Africa. " On his return he was attacked bythe Somalis; one of his companions was killed, another, Speke, escapedwith terrible spear-wounds, and he himself was badly wounded. 

Such were the men who in 1856 were dispatched by the Royal GeographicalSociety for the exploration of the mysterious lakes in the heart ofcentral Africa. Speke gives us an idea of the ignorance prevailingon this subject only fifty-six years ago: "On the walls of the Society'srooms there hung a large diagram constructed by two missionariescarrying on their duties at Zanzibar. In this section map, swallowingup about half of the whole area of the ground included in it, therefigured a lake of such portentous size and such unseemly shape, representing a gigantic slug, that everybody who looked at itincredulously laughed and shook his head--a single sheet of sweetwater, upwards of eight hundred miles long by three hundred broad, equal in size to the great salt Caspian. "

It was April 1857 before Burton and Speke had collected an escort andguides at Zanzibar, the great slave market of East Africa, and wereready to start for the interior. "We could obtain no useful informationfrom the European merchants of Zanzibar, who are mostly ignorant ofeverything beyond the island, " Burke wrote home on 22nd April. 

At last on 27th June, with thirty-six men and thirty donkeys, the partyset out for the great malarious coast-belt which had to be crossedbefore Kaze, some five hundred miles distant, could be reached. Afterthree months' arduous travelling--both Burton and Speke were badlystricken with fever--they reached Kaze. Speke now spread open the mapof the missionaries and inquired of the natives where the enormouslake was to be found. To their intense surprise they found themissionaries had run three lakes into one, and the three lakes wereLake Nyassa, Tanganyika, and Victoria Nyanza. They stayed over a monthat Kaze, till Burton seemed at the point of death, and Speke had himcarried out of the unhealthy town. It was January before they madea start and continued their journey westward to Ugyi. 

"It is a wonderful thing, " says Drummond, "to start from thecivilisation of Europe, pass up these mighty rivers, and work yourway alone and on foot, mile after mile, month after month, among strangebirds and beasts and plants and insects, meeting tribes which haveno name, speaking tongues which no man can interpret, till you havereached its sacred heart and stood where white man has never trodbefore. "

[Illustration: BURTON IN A DUG-OUT ON LAKE TANGANYIKA. After a drawingby Burton. ]

As the two men tramped on, the streams began to drain to the west andthe land grew more fertile, till one hundred and fifty miles from Kazethey began to ascend the slope of mountains overhanging the northernhalf of Lake Tanganyika. "This mountain mass, " says Speke, "I considerto be the True Mountains of the Moon. " From the top of the mountainsthe lovely Tanganyika Lake could be seen in all its glory by Burton. But to Speke it was a mere mist. The glare of the sun and oft-repeatedfever had begun to tell on him, and a kind of inflammation had producedalmost total blindness. But they had reached the lake and they feltsure they had found the source of the Nile. It was a great day whenSpeke crossed the lake in a long canoe hollowed out of the trunk ofa tree and manned by twenty native savages under the command of acaptain in a "goatskin uniform. " On the far side they encamped on theopposite shore, Speke being the first white man to cross the lake. 

Having retired to his hut for the night, Speke proceeded to light acandle and arrange his baggage, when to his horror he found the wholeinterior swarming with black beetles. Tired of trying to brush themaway, he put out his light and, though they crawled up his sleevesand down his back, he fell asleep. Suddenly he woke to find one crawlinginto his ear, and in spite of his frantic efforts it crept in fartherand farther till it reached the drum, which caused the tired explorerintense agony. Inflammation ensued, his face became drawn, he couldwith difficulty swallow a little broth, and he was quite deaf. Hereturned across the lake to find his companion, Burton, still veryill and unfit for further exploration. 

So Speke, although still suffering from his ear, started off again, leaving Burton behind, to find the great northern lake spoken of asthe sea of Ukerewe, where the Arabs traded largely in ivory. Therewas a great empire beyond the lake, they told him, called Uganda. 

But it was July 1858 when the caravan was ready to start from Kaze. Speke himself carried Burton's large elephant gun. "I commenced thejourney, " he says, "at 6 p. M. , as soon as the two donkeys I took withme to ride were caught and saddled. It was a dreary beginning. Theescort who accompanied me were sullen in their manner and walked withheavy gait and downcast countenance. The nature of the track increasedthe general gloom. 

"For several weeks the caravan moved forward, till on 3rd August itbegan to wind up a long but gradually inclined hill, until it reachedits summit, when the vast expanse of the pale blue waters of the Nyanzaburst suddenly upon my eyes! It was early morning. The distant sea-lineof the north horizon was defined in the calm atmosphere, but I couldget no idea of the breadth of the lake, as an archipelago of islands, each consisting of a single hill rising to a height of two or threehundred feet above the water, intersected the line of vision to theleft. A sheet of water extended far away to the eastward. The viewwas one which even in a well-known country would have arrested thetraveller by its peaceful beauty. But the pleasure of the mere viewvanished in the presence of those more intense emotions called up bythe geographical importance of the scene before me. I no longer feltany doubt that the lake at my feet gave birth to that interesting river(Nile), the source of which has been the subject of so much speculationand the object of so many explorers. This is a far more extensive lakethan Tanganyika; it is so broad that you could not see across it, andso long that nobody knew its length. This magnificent sheet of waterI have ventured to name Victoria after our gracious sovereign. "

[Illustration: BURTON AND HIS COMPANIONS ON THE MARCH TO THE VICTORIANYANZA. From a humorous sketch by Burton. ]

Speke returned to Kaze after his six weeks' eventful journey, havingtramped no less than four hundred and fifty-two miles. He receiveda warm welcome from Burton, who had been very uneasy about his safety, for rumours of civil war had reached him. "I laughed over the matter, "says Speke, "but expressed my regret that he did not accompany me, as I felt quite certain in my mind I had discovered the source of theNile. "

Together the two explorers now made their way to the coast and crossedto Aden, where Burton, still weak and ill, decided to remain for alittle, while Speke took passage in a passing ship for home. 

When he showed his map of Tanganyika and Victoria Nyanza to thePresident of the Royal Geographical Society in London, Sir RoderickMurchison was delighted. 

"Speke, we must send you there again, " he said enthusiastically. 

And the expedition was regarded as "one of the most notable discoveriesin the annals of African discovery. "

CHAPTER LXIV

LIVINGSTONE TRACES LAKE SHIRWA AND NYASSA

Burton and Speke had not yet returned from central Africa, whenLivingstone left England on another expedition into the interior, withorders "to extend the knowledge already attained of the geography ofeastern and central Africa and to encourage trade. " Leaving Englandon 10th March 1858, he reached the east coast the following May asBritish Consul of Quilimane, the region which lies about the mouthof the Zambesi. Livingstone had brought out with him a smallsteam-launch called by the natives the _Ma-Robert_ after Mrs. Livingstone, the mother of Robert, their eldest child. In this littlesteam-launch he made his way up the Shire River, which flows into theZambesi quite near its mouth. "The delight of threading out themeanderings of upwards of two hundred miles of a hitherto unexploredriver must be felt to be appreciated, " says Livingstone in his diary. At the end of this two hundred miles further progress became impossiblebecause of rapids which no boat could pass. "These magnificentcataracts we called the Murchison Cataracts, after one whose name hasalready a world-wide fame, " says Livingstone. Leaving their boat here, they started on foot for the Great Lake described by the natives. Ittook them a month of hard travelling to reach their goal. Their waylay over the native tracks which run as a network over this part ofthe world. "They are veritable footpaths, never over a foot in breadth, beaten as hard as adamant by centuries of native traffic. Like theroads of the old Romans, they run straight on over everything, ridgeand mountain and valley. "

[Illustration: THE _MA-ROBERT_ ON THE ZAMBESI. After a drawing inLivingstone's _Expedition to the Zambesi_. ]

On 18th April, Lake Shirwa came into sight, "a considerable body ofbitter water, containing leeches, fish, crocodiles, and hippopotami. The country around is very beautiful, " adds Livingstone, "and clothedwith rich vegetation, and the waves breaking and foaming over a rock, added to the beauty of the picture. Exceedingly lofty mountains standnear the eastern shore. "

No white man had gazed at the lake before. Though one of the smallerAfrican lakes, Shirwa is probably larger than all the lakes of GreatBritain put together. Returning to Tete, the explorer now preparedfor his journey to the farther Lake Nyassa. This was to be no newdiscovery. The Portuguese knew the locality of Lake Shirwa, and atthe beginning of the seventeenth century Nyassa was familiar to themunder another name. Landing at the same spot on the Shire banks asbefore, Livingstone, with thirty-six Makololo porters and two nativeguides, ascended the beautiful Shire Highlands, some twelve hundredfeet above sea-level, and crossed the range on which Zomba, theresidence of the British Commissioner for Nyassaland, now stands. Whenwithin a day's march of their goal they were told that no lake hadever been heard of in the neighbourhood, but, said the natives, theriver Shire stretched on, and it would take two months to reach theend, which came out of perpendicular rocks which towered almost tothe skies. 

"Let us go back to the ship, " said the followers; "it is no use tryingto find the lake. "

But Livingstone persevered, and he was soon rewarded by finding a sheetof water, which was indeed the beginning of Lake Nyassa. It was 16thSeptember 1859. 

"How far is it to the end of the lake?" he asked. 

"The other end of the lake? Who ever heard of such a thing? Why, ifone started when a mere boy to walk to the other end of the lake, hewould be an old grey-headed man before he got there, " declared oneof the natives. Livingstone knew that he had opened up a great waterwayto the interior of Africa, but the slave trade in these parts wasterrible, gangs being employed in carrying the ivory from countriesto the north down to the east coast. The English explorer saw thatif he could establish a steamer upon this Lake Nyassa and buy ivoryfrom the natives with European goods he would at once strike a deadlyblow at the slave trade. His letters home stirred several missionariesto come out and establish a settlement on the banks of the Shire River. Bishop Mackenzie and a little band of helpers arrived on the riverShire two years later, and in 1862 Mrs. Livingstone joined them, bringing out with her a little new steamer to launch on the Lake Nyassa. But the unhealthy season was at its height, and "the surrounding lowland, rank with vegetation and reeking from the late rainy season, exhaled the malarious poison in enormous quantities. " Mrs. Livingstone fell ill, and in a week she was dead. She was buried undera large baobab tree at Shapunga, where her grave is visited by manya traveller passing through this once solitary region first penetratedby her husband. 

The blow was a crushing one for Livingstone, and for a time he wasquite bewildered. But when his old energy returned he superintendedthe launching of the little steamer, the _Lady Nyassa_. Butdisappointment and failure awaited him, and at last, just two yearsafter the death of his wife, he took the _Lady Nyassa_ to Zanzibarby the Rovuma River and set forth to reach Bombay, where he hoped tosell her, for his funds were low. 

On the last day of April 1864 he started on his perilous journey. Thoughwarned that the monsoon would shortly break, he would not be deterred. And after sailing two thousand five hundred miles in the little boatbuilt only for river and lake, "a forest of masts one day loomed throughthe haze in Bombay harbour, " and he was safe. After a brief stay here, Livingstone left his little launch and made his way to England on amail-packet. 

But no one realised at this time the importance of his new discoveries. No one foresaw the value of "Nyassaland" now under Britishprotectorate. Livingstone had brought to light a lake fifteen hundredand seventy feet above the sea, three hundred and fifty miles longand forty broad, up and down which British steamers make their wayto-day, while the long range of mountains lining the eastern bank, known as the Livingstone range, testify to the fact that he had donemuch, even if he might have done more. 

CHAPTER LXV

EXPEDITION TO VICTORIA NYANZA

While Livingstone was discovering Lake Nyassa, Speke was busypreparing for a new expedition to find out more about the great sheetof water he had named Victoria Nyanza and to solve the vexed question:Was this the source of the Nile?

In April 1860, accompanied by Captain Grant, an old friend and brothersportsman, he left England, and by way of the Cape reached Zanzibarsome five months later. The two explorers started for their greatinland journey early in October, with some hundred followers, boundfor the great lake. But it was January 1861 before they had coveredthe five hundred miles between the coast and Kaze, the oldhalting-station of Burton and Speke. Through the agricultural plainsknown as Uzarana, the country of Rana, where many negro portersdeserted, because they believed the white men were cannibals andintended to eat them when safe away from the haunts of men; throughUsagara, the country of Gara, where Captain Grant was seized withfever; through Ugogo's great wilderness, where buffalo and rhinocerosabounded, where the country was flooded with tropical rains, on tothe land of the Moon, three thousand feet above sea-level, till theslowly moving caravan reached Kaze. Here terrible accounts of famineand war reached them, and, instead of following Speke's route of 1858, they turned north-west and entered the Uzinza country, governed bytwo chieftains of Abyssinian descent. Here Speke was taken desperatelyill. His cough gave him no rest day or night; his legs were "reducedto the appearance of pipe-sticks. " But, emaciated as he was, he madehis way onwards, till the explorers were rewarded by finding a"beautiful sheet of water lying snugly within the folds of the hills, "which they named the Little Windermere, because they thought it wasso like "our own English lake of that name. To do royal honours tothe king of this charming land, I ordered my men, " says Speke, "toput down their loads and fire a volley. "

The king, whom they next visited, was a fine-looking man, who, withhis brother, sat cross-legged on the ground, with huge pipes of blackclay by their sides, while behind them, "squatting quiet as mice, "were the king's sons, six or seven lads, with little dream-charms undertheir chins! The king shook hands in true English fashion and was fullof inquiries. Speke described the world, the proportions of land andwater, and the large ships on the sea, and begged to be allowed topass through his kingdom to Uganda. The explorers learnt much aboutthe surrounding country, and spent Christmas Day with a good feastof roast beef. The start for Uganda was delayed by the serious illnessof Grant, until at last Speke reluctantly decided to leave him withthe friendly king, while he made his way alone to Uganda and the LakeVictoria Nyanza. It was the end of January 1861 when the Englishexplorer entered the unknown kingdom of Uganda. Messengers from theking, M'tesa, came to him. "Now, " they said, "you have really enteredthe kingdom of Uganda, for the future you must buy no more food. Atevery place that you stop for the day, the officer in charge will bringyou plantains. "

[Illustration: M'TESA, KING OF UGANDA. From Speke's _Journey toDiscover the Source of the Nile_. ]

The king's palace was ten days' march; the way lay along the westerncoast of the Lake Victoria Nyanza, the roads were "as broad as ourcoach roads cut through the long grass straight over the hills anddown through the woods. The temperature was perfect. The whole landwas a picture of quiescent beauty, with a boundless sea in thebackground. "

On 13th February, Speke found a large volume of water going to thenorth. "I took off my clothes, " he says, "and jumped into the stream, which I found was twelve yards broad and deeper than my height. I wasdelighted beyond measure, for I had, to all appearance, found one ofthe branches of the Nile's exit from the Nyanza. "

But he had not reached the Nile yet. It was not till the end of Julythat he reached his goal. 

"Here at last, " he says, "I stood on the brink of the Nile, mostbeautiful was the scene, nothing could surpass it--a magnificentstream from six hundred to seven hundred yards wide, dotted with isletsand rocks, the former occupied by fishermen's huts, the latter bycrocodiles basking in the sun. I told my men they ought to bathe inthe holy river, the cradle of Moses. "

Marching onwards, they found the waterfall, which Speke named theRipon Falls, "by far the most interesting sight I had seen in Africa. "The arm of the water from which the Nile issued he named "NapoleonChannel, " out of respect to the French Geographical Society for thehonour they had done him just before leaving England in presentingtheir gold medal for the discovery of Victoria Nyanza. 

[Illustration: THE RIPON FALLS ON THE VICTORIA NYANZA. From Speke's_Journey to Discover the Source of the Nile_. ]

The English explorers had now spent six months in Uganda. Thecivilisation in this country of M'tesa's has passed into history. Every one was clothed, and even little boys held their skin-cloakstightly round them lest their bare legs might by accident be seen!Everything was clean and orderly under the all-powerful ruler M'tesa. Grant, who arrived in the end of May, carried in a litter, found Spekehad not yet obtained leave from the king to "open the country to thenorth, that an uninterrupted line of commerce might exist betweenEngland and Uganda by means of the Nile. " But at last on 3rd July hewrites with joy: "The moment of triumph has come at last and suddenlythe road is granted. "

The explorers bid farewell to M'tesa. "We rose with an English bow, placing the hand on the heart, whilst saying adieu; and whatever wedid M'tesa in an instant mimicked with the instinct of a monkey. "

In five boats of five planks each tied together and caulked with rags, Speke started with a small escort and crew to reach the palace of theneighbouring king, Kamrasi, "father of all the kings, " in the provinceof Unyoro. After some fierce opposition they entered the palace ofthe king, a poor creature. Rumours had reached him that these two whitemen were cannibals and sorcerers. His palace was indeed a contrastto that of M'tesa. It was merely a dirty hut approached by a laneankle-deep in mud and cow-manure. The king's sisters were not allowedto marry; their only occupation was to drink milk from morning to night, with the result that they grew so fat it took eight men to lift oneof them, when walking became impossible. Superstition was rife, andthe explorers were not sorry to leave Unyoro _en route_ for Cairo. Speke and Grant now believed that, except for a few cataracts, thewaterway to England was unbroken. The Karuma Falls broke the monotonyof the way, and here the party halted a while before plunging intothe Kidi wilderness across which they intended to march to save a greatbend of the river. Their path lay through swampy jungles and high grass, while great grassy plains, where buffaloes were seen and the roar oflions was heard, stretched away on every side. 

[Illustration: CAPTAINS SPEKE AND GRANT. ]

Suddenly they reached a huge rock covered with huts, in front of whichgroups of black men were perched like monkeys, evidently awaiting thearrival of the white men. They were painted in the most brilliantcolours, though without clothes, for the civilisation of Uganda hadbeen left far behind. Pushing on, they reached the Madi country, whereagain civilisation awaited them in the shape of Turks. It was on 3rdDecember that they saw to their great surprise three large red flagscarried in front of a military procession which marched out of campwith drums and fifes playing. 

"A very black man named Mohammed, in full Egyptian regimentals, witha curved sword, ordered his regiment to halt, and threw himself intomy arms endeavouring to kiss me, " says Speke. "Having reached his huts, he gave us two beds to sit upon, and ordered his wives to advance ontheir knees and give us coffee. "

"I have directions to take you to Gondokoro as soon as you come, " saidMohammed. 

Yet they were detained till 11th January, when in sheer desperationthey started off, and in two days reached the Nile. Having no boats, they continued their march overland till 15th February, when the mastsof Nile boats came in sight, and soon after the two explorers walkedinto Gondokoro. Then a strange thing happened. "We saw hurrying ontowards us the form of an Englishman, and the next moment my old friendBaker, famed for his sports in Ceylon, seized me by the hand. Whatjoy this was I can hardly tell. We could not talk fast enough, sooverwhelmed were we both to meet again. Of course we were his guests, and soon learned everything that could be told. I now first heard ofthe death of H. R. H. The Prince Consort. Baker said he had come up withthree vessels fully equipped with armed men, camels, horses, donkeys, and everything necessary for a long journey, expressly to look afterus. Three Dutch ladies also, with a view to assist us (God bless them!), had come here in a steamer, but were driven back to Khartum by sickness. Nobody had dreamt for a moment it was possible we could come through. "

Leaving Baker to continue his way to central Africa, Speke and Grantmade their way home to England, where they arrived in safety afteran absence of three years and fifty-one days, with their great newsof the discovery of Uganda and their further exploration of VictoriaNyanza. When Speke reached Alexandria he had telegraphed home: "TheNile is settled. " But he was wrong. The Nile was not settled, and manyan expedition was yet to make its way to the great lakes before theproblem was to be solved. 

CHAPTER LXVI

BAKER FINDS ALBERT NYANZA

Baker had not been long at Gondokoro when the two English explorersarrived from the south. 

"In March 1861, " he tells us, "I commenced an expedition to discoverthe sources of the Nile, with the hope of meeting the East Africanexpedition of Captains Speke and Grant that had been sent by the EnglishGovernment from the south _via_ Zanzibar for that object. From my youthI had been innured to hardship and endurance in tropical climates, and when I gazed upon the map of Africa I had a wild hope that I mightby perseverance reach the heart of Africa. "

These are the opening lines of the published travels of Samuel Baker, famous as an elephant-hunter in Ceylon and engineer of the firstrailway laid down in Turkey. Like Livingstone, in his earlyexplorations, Baker took his wife with him. "It was in vain that Iimplored her to remain, and that I painted the difficulties and perilsstill blacker than I supposed they really would be; she was resolvedto share all dangers and to follow me through each rough footstep ofthe wild life before me. "

On 15th April 1861, Baker and his wife left Cairo to make their waysouthward to join the quest for the source of the Nile. They reachedKorosko in twenty-six days, and crossed the Nubian desert on camels, a "very wilderness of scorching sand, the simoon in full force andthe thermometer in the shade standing at 114 degrees Fahr. " By AbuHamed and Berber they reached Atbara. It now occurred to Baker thatwithout some knowledge of Arabic he could do little in the way ofexploration, so for a whole year he stayed in northern Abyssinia, thecountry explored by Bruce nearly ninety years before. 

[Illustration: BAKER AND HIS WIFE CROSSING THE NUBIAN DESERT. FromBaker's _Travels_. ]

It was therefore 18th December 1862 before he and Mrs. Baker leftKhartum for their journey up the Nile through the slave-driven Sudan. It was a fifty days' voyage to Gondokoro. In the hope of finding Spekeand Grant, he took an extra load of corn as well as twenty-two donkeys, four camels, and four horses. Gondokoro was reached just a fortnightbefore the two explorers returned from the south. 

Baker's account of the historical meeting between the white men inthe heart of Africa is very interesting: "Heard guns firing in thedistance--report that two white men had come from the sea. Could theybe Speke and Grant? Off I ran and soon met them; hurrah for Old England. They had come from the Victoria Nyanza from which the Nile springs. The mystery of ages solved! With a heart beating with joy I took offmy cap and gave a welcome hurrah as I ran towards them! For the momentthey did not recognise me; ten years' growth of beard and moustachehad worked a change, and my sudden appearance in the centre of Africaappeared to them incredible. As a good ship arrives in harbour batteredand torn by a long and stormy voyage, so both these gallant travellersarrived in Gondokoro. Speke appeared to me the more worn of the two. He was excessively lean; he had walked the whole way from Zanzibar, never having ridden once during that wearying march. Grant was in rags, his bare knees projecting through the remnants of trousers. "

Baker was now inclined to think that his work was done, the sourceof the Nile discovered, but after looking at the map of their route, he saw that an important part of the Nile still remained undiscovered, and though there were dangers ahead he determined to go on his wayinto central Africa. 

"We took neither guide nor interpreter, " he continues. "We commencedour desperate journey in darkness about an hour after sunset. I ledthe way, Mrs. Baker riding by my side and the British flag followingclose behind us as a guide for the caravan of heavily laden camelsand donkeys. And thus we started on our march in central Africa onthe 26th of March 1863. "

It would take too long to tell of their manifold misfortunes anddifficulties before they reached the lake they were in search of on16th March 1864. How they passed through the uncivilised country solately traversed by Speke and Grant, how in the Obbo country all theirporters deserted just a few days before they reached the Karuma Falls, how Baker from this point tried to follow the Nile to the yet unknownlake, how fever seized both the explorer and his wife and they hadto live on the common food of the natives and a little water, howsuddenly Mrs. Baker fell down with a sunstroke and was carried forseven days quite unconscious through swamp and jungle, the raindescending in torrents all the time, till Baker, "weak as a reed, "worn out with anxiety, lay on the ground as one dead. 

It seemed as if both must die, when better times dawned and theyrecovered to find that they were close to the lake. 

Baker's diary is eloquent: "The day broke beautifully clear, and, having crossed a deep valley between the hills, we toiled up theopposite slope. I hurried to the summit. The glory of our prize burstsuddenly upon me! There, like a sea of quicksilver, lay far beneathus the grand expanse of water, a boundless sea-horizon on the southand south-west, glittering in the noonday sun, while at sixty miles'distance, blue mountains rose from the lake to a height of about seventhousand feet above its level. It is impossible to describe the triumphof that moment; here was the reward for all our labour! England hadwon the sources of the Nile! I looked from the steep granite cliffupon those welcome waters, upon that vast reservoir which nourishedEgypt, upon that great source so long hidden from mankind, and Idetermined to honour it with a great name. As an imperishable memorialof one loved and mourned by our gracious Queen, I called this greatlake 'the Albert Nyanza. ' The Victoria and the Albert Lakes are thetwo sources of the Nile. "

Weak and spent with fever, the Bakers descended tottering to thewater's edge. "The waves were rolling upon a white pebbly beach. Irushed into the lake and, thirsty with heat and fatigue, I drank deeplyfrom the sources of the Nile. My wife, who had followed me so devotedly, stood by my side pale and exhausted--a wreck upon the shores of thegreat Albert Lake that we had long striven to reach. No European foothad ever trod upon its sand, nor had the eyes of a white man ever scannedits vast expanse of water. "

[Illustration: BAKER'S BOAT IN A STORM ON LAKE ALBERT NYANZA. FromBaker's _Albert Nyanza_. ]

After some long delay, the Bakers procured canoes, "merely singletrees neatly hollowed out, " and paddled along the shores of the newlyfound lake. The water was calm, the views most lovely. Hippopotamisported in the water; crocodiles were numerous. Day after day theypaddled north, sometimes using a large Scotch plaid as sail. It wasdangerous work. Once a great storm nearly swamped them. The littlecanoe shipped heavy seas; terrific bursts of thunder and vividlightning broke over the lake, hiding everything from view. Then downcame the rain in torrents, swept along by a terrific wind. They reachedthe shore in safety, but the discomforts of the voyage were great, and poor Mrs. Baker suffered severely. On the thirteenth day they foundthemselves at the end of the lake voyage, and carefully examined theexit of the Nile from the lake. They now followed the river in theircanoe for some eighteen miles, when they suddenly heard a roar of water, and, rounding a corner, "a magnificent sight suddenly burst upon us. On either side of the river were beautifully wooded cliffs risingabruptly to a height of three hundred feet and rushing through a gapthat cleft the rock. The river pent up in a narrow gorge roaredfuriously through the rock-bound pass, till it plunged in one leapof about one hundred and twenty feet into a dark abyss below. Thiswas the greatest waterfall of the Nile, and in honour of thedistinguished President of the Royal Geographical Society I named itthe Murchison Falls. " Further navigation was impossible, and with oxenand porters they proceeded by land. Mrs. Baker was still carried ina litter, while Baker walked by her side. Both were soon attacked againwith fever, and when night came they threw themselves down in a wretchedhut. A violent thunderstorm broke over them, and they lay there utterlyhelpless, and worn out till sunrise. Worse was to come. The nativesnow deserted them, and they were alone and helpless, with a wildernessof rank grass hemming them in on every side. Their meals consistedof a mess of black porridge of bitter mouldy flour "that no Englishpig would notice" and a dish of spinach. For nearly two months theyexisted here, until they became perfect skeletons. 

"We had given up all hope of Gondokoro, " says Baker, "and I had toldmy headman to deliver my map and papers to the English Consul atKhartum. "

But they were not to die here. The king, Kamrasi, having heard of theirwretched condition, sent for them, treated them kindly, and enabledthem to reach Gondokoro, which they did on 23rd March 1865, after anabsence of two years. They had long since been given up as lost, andit was an immense joy to reach Cairo at last and to find that, in thewords of Baker, "the Royal Geographical Society had awarded me theVictoria Gold Medal at a time when they were unaware whether I wasalive or dead and when the success of my expedition was unknown. "

CHAPTER LXVII

LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY

In the year 1865 "the greatest of all African travellers" started onhis last journey to central Africa. 

"I hope, " he said, "to ascend the Rovuma, and shall strive, by passingalong the northern end of Lake Nyassa and round the southern end ofLake Tanganyika, to ascertain the watershed of that part of Africa. "

Arrived at Zanzibar in January 1866, he reached the mouth of the RovumaRiver some two months later, and, passing through dense thickets oftrees, he started on his march along the northern bank. The expeditionconsisted of thirteen sepoys from Bombay, nine negroes from one ofthe missions, two men from the Zambesi, Susi, Amoda, and othersoriginally slaves freed by Livingstone. As beasts of burden, they hadsix camels, three Indian buffaloes, two mules, four donkeys, whilea poodle took charge of the whole line of march, running to see thefirst man in the line and then back to the last, and barking to hastenhim up. 

"Now that I am on the point of starting on another trip into Africa, "wrote Livingstone from Rovuma Bay, "I feel quite exhilarated. The mereanimal pleasure of travelling in a wild, unexplored country is verygreat. Brisk exercise imparts elasticity to the muscles, fresh andhealthy blood circulates through the brain, the mind works well, theeye is clear, the step firm, and a day's exertion makes the evening'srepose thoroughly enjoyable. "

But misfortunes soon began. As they marched along the banks of theRovuma the buffaloes and camels were badly bitten by the tsetse fly, and one after another died. The cruelty of the followers to the animalswas terrible. Indeed, they were thoroughly unsatisfactory. 

One day a party of them lagged behind, killed the last young buffalo, and ate it. They told Livingstone that it had died and tigers had comeand devoured it. 

"Did you see the stripes of the tiger?" asked Livingstone. 

Yes; all declared that they had seen them distinctly--an obvious lie, as there are no striped tigers in Africa. 

On 11th August, Livingstone once more reached Lake Nyassa. "It wasas if I had come back to an old home I never expected again to see, and pleasant it was to bathe in the delicious waters again. I feelquite exhilarated. "

Having sent word to the Arab chief of Kota-Kota on the opposite coast, and having received no reply to his request to be ferried across thelake, he started off and marched by land round the southern end, crossing the Shire River at its entrance. He continued his journeyround the south-western gulf of Lake Nyassa, till rumours of Zulu raidsfrightened his men. They refused to go any farther, but just threwdown their loads and walked away. He was now left with Susi and Chumaand a few boys with whom he crossed the end of a long range of mountainsover four thousand feet in height, and, pursuing a zigzag track, reached the Loangwa River on 16th December 1866, while his unfaithfulfollowers returned to the coast to spread the story that Livingstonehad been killed by the Zulus!

Meanwhile the explorer was plodding on towards Lake Tanganyika. Thebeauty of the way strikes the lonely explorer. The rainy season hadcome on in all its force, and the land was wonderful in its early green. "Many gay flowers peep out. Here and there the scarlet lily, red, yellow, and pure white orchids, and pale lobelias. As we ascended higher onthe plateau, grasses which have pink and reddish brown seed-vesselswere grateful to the eye. "

Two disasters clouded this month of travel. His poor poodle was drownedin a marsh and his medicine-chest was stolen. The land was famine-boundtoo; the people were living on mushrooms and leaves. "We get someelephants' meat, but it is very bitter, and the appetite in this countryis always very keen and makes hunger worse to bear, the want of saltprobably making the gnawing sensation worse. "

On 28th January, Livingstone crossed the Tshambezi, "which may almostbe regarded as the upper waters of the Congo, " says Johnstone, thoughthe explorer of 1867 knew it not. 

"Northwards, " says Livingstone, "through almost trackless forest andacross oozing bogs"; and then he adds the significant words, "I amfrightened at my own emaciation. " March finds him worse. "I have beenill of fever; every step I take jars in my chest, and I am very weak;I can scarcely keep up the march. " At last, on 1st April, "blue waterloomed through the trees. " It was Lake Tanganyika lying some twothousand feet below them. Its "surpassing loveliness" struckLivingstone. "It lies in a deep basin, " he says, "whose sides are nearlyperpendicular, but covered well with trees, at present all green; downsome of these rocks come beautiful cascades, while buffaloes, elephants, and antelopes wander and graze on the more level spots, and lions roar by night. In the morning and evening huge crocodilesmay be observed quietly making their way to their feeding-grounds, and hippopotami snort by night. "

Going westwards, Livingstone met a party of Arabs amongst whom heremained for over three months, till he could make his way on to LakeMeoro, reported to be only three days' journey. It took him sixteendays to reach it. "Lake Meoro seems of goodly size, " he says, "andis flanked by ranges of mountains on the east and west. Its banks areof coarse sand and slope gradually down to the water. We slept in afisherman's cottage on the north shore. "

After a stay of six weeks in the neighbourhood, Livingstone returnedto the Arabs, until the spring of 1868, when he decided to explorethe Lake Bangweolo. In spite of opposition and the desertion of moremen, he started with five attendants and reached this--one of thelargest of the central African lakes--in July. Modestly enough heasserts the fact. "On the 18th I saw the shores of the lake for thefirst time. The name Bangweolo is applied to the great mass of water, though I fear that our English folks will bogle at it or call itBungyhollow. The water is of a deep sea-green colour. It was bitterlycold from the amount of moisture in the air. "

This moisture converted the surrounding country into one huge bog orsponge, twenty-nine of which Livingstone had to cross in thirty miles, each taking about half an hour to cross. 

[Illustration: THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE BANGWEOLO, 1868: LIVINGSTONE ONTHE LAKE WITH HIS MEN. From Livingstone's _Last Journals_, bypermission of Mr. John Murray. ]

The explorer was still greatly occupied on the problem of the Nile. "The discovery of the sources of the Nile, " he says, "is somewhat akinin importance to the discovery of the North-West Passage. " It seemedto him not impossible that the great river he found flowing throughthese two great lakes to the west of Tanganyika might prove to be theUpper Nile. 

It was December before he started for Tanganyika. The new year of 1868opened badly. Half-way, he became very ill. He was constantly wetthrough; he persistently crossed brooks and rivers, wading throughcold water up to his waist. "Very ill all over, " he enters in his diary;"cannot walk. Pneumonia of right lung, and I cough all day and allnight. I am carried several hours a day on a frame. The sun is vertical, blistering any part of the skin exposed, and I try to shelter my faceand head as well as I can with a bunch of leaves. "

On 14th February 1869 he arrived on the western shores of the lake, and after the usual delay he was put into it canoe for Ujiji. Thoughbetter, he was still very ill, and we get the pathetic entry, "Hopeto hold out to Ujiji. "

At last he reached the Arab settlement on the eastern shores, wherehe found the goods sent to him overland from Zanzibar, and though muchhad been stolen, yet warm clothes, tea, and coffee soon revived him. After a stay of three months he grew better, and turned westwards forthe land of the Manyuema and the great rivers reported to be flowingthere. 

He was guided by Arabs whose trade-route extended to the great LualabaRiver in the very heart of Africa some thousand miles west of Zanzibar. It was an unknown land, unvisited by Europeans when Livingstonearrived with his Arab escort at Bambarra in September 1869. 

"Being now well rested, " he enters in his diary, "I resolved to gowest to Lualaba and buy a canoe for its exploration. The Manyuemacountry is all surpassingly beautiful. Palms crown the highest heightsof the mountains, and the forests about five miles broad areindescribable. Climbers of cable size in great numbers are hung amongthe gigantic trees, many unknown wild fruits abound, some the sizeof a child's head, and strange birds and monkeys are everywhere. "

With the Arab caravan he travelled almost incessantly zigzaggingthrough the wonderful Manyuema country until, after a year's wandering, he finally reached the banks of the Lualaba (Congo) on 31st March 1871. 

It was a red-letter day in his life. "I went down, " he says, "to takea good look at the Lualaba here. It is a mighty river at least threethousand yards broad and always deep. The banks are steep; the currentis about two miles an hour away to the north. " Livingstone was gazingat the second-largest river in the world--the Congo. But he thoughtit was the Nile, and confidently relates how it overflows all its banksannually as the Nile does. 

At Nyangwe, a Manyuema village, Livingstone stayed for four months. The natives were dreadful cannibals. He saw one day a man with tenhuman jaw-bones hung by a string over his shoulder, the owners of whichhe had killed and eaten. Another day a terrible massacre took place, arising from a squabble over a fowl, in which some four hundred perished. The Arabs too disgusted him with their slave-raiding, and he decidedthat he could no longer travel under their protection. So on 20th July1871 he started back for Ujiji, and after a journey of seven hundredmiles, accomplished in three months, he arrived, reduced to a skeleton, only to find that the rascal who had charge of his stores had stolenthe whole and made away. 

But when health and spirit were failing, help was at hand. The meetingof Stanley and Livingstone on the shores of the Lake Tanganyika isone of the most thrilling episodes in the annals of discovery. Letthem tell their own story: "When my spirits were at their lowest ebb, "says Livingstone, "one morning Susi came running at the top of hisspeed and gasped out, 'An Englishman! I see him!' and off he dartedto meet him. The American flag at the head of a caravan told of thenationality of the stranger. Bales of goods, baths of tin, huge kettles, and cooking-pots made me think, 'This must be a luxurious travellerand not one at his wits' end, like me. '"

It was Henry Morton Stanley, the travelling correspondent of the _NewYork Herald_, sent at an expense of more than 4000 pounds to obtainaccurate information about Dr. Livingstone if living, and if dead tobring home his bones. 

[Illustration: LIVINGSTONE AT WORK ON HIS JOURNAL. From a sketch byH. M. Stanley. ]

And now Stanley takes up the story. He has entered Ujiji and heardfrom the faithful Susi that the explorer yet lives. Pushing back thecrowds of natives, Stanley advanced down "a living avenue of people"till he came to where "the white man with the long grey beard wasstanding. "

"As I advanced slowly towards him, " says Stanley, "I noticed he waspale, looked worried, wore a bluish cap with a faded gold band roundit, had on a red-sleeved waistcoat and a pair of grey tweed trousers. I walked deliberately to him, took off my hat, and said, 'Dr. Livingstone, I presume?'

"'Yes, ' said he, with a kind smile, lifting his cap slightly. 

"Then we both grasp hands and I say aloud, 'I thank God, Doctor, Ihave been permitted to see you. '

"'You have brought me new life--new life, ' murmured the tiredexplorer, " and for the next few days it was enough for the twoEnglishmen to sit on the mud verandah of Livingstone's house, talking. Livingstone soon grew better, and November found the two explorerssurveying the river flowing from the north of Tanganyika and decidingthat it was not the Nile. 

Stanley now did his best to persuade Livingstone to return home withhim to recruit his shattered health before finishing his work ofexploration. But the explorer, tired and out of health though he was, utterly refused. He must complete the exploration of the sources ofthe Nile before he sought that peace and comfort at home for whichhe must have yearned. 

So the two men parted--Stanley to carry Livingstone's news of thediscovery of the Congo back to Europe, Livingstone to end his dayson the lonely shores of Lake Bangweolo, leaving the long-soughtmystery of the Nile sources yet unsolved. 

On 25th August 1872 he started on his last journey. He had awell-equipped expedition sent up by Stanley from the coast, includingsixty men, donkeys, and cows. He embarked on his fresh journey withall his old eagerness and enthusiasm, but a few days' travel showedhim how utterly unfit he was for any more hardships. He suffered fromintense and growing weakness, which increased day by day. He managedsomehow to ride his donkey, but in November his donkey died and hestruggled along on foot. Descending into marshy regions north of LakeBangweolo, the journey became really terrible. The rainy season wasat its height, the land was an endless swamp, and starvation threatenedthe expedition. To add to the misery of the party, there were swarmsof mosquitoes, poisonous spiders, and stinging ants by the way. Still, amid all the misery and suffering, the explorer made his way on throughthe dreary autumn months. Christmas came and went; the new year of1873 dawned. He could not stop. April found him only just alive, carriedby his faithful servants. Then comes the last entry in his diary, 27thApril: "Knocked up quite. We are on the banks of R. Molilamo. "

[Illustration: LIVINGSTONE ENTERING THE HUT AT ILALA ON THE NIGHT THATHE DIED. From Livingstone's _Last Journals_, by permission of Mr. JohnMurray. ]

[Illustration: THE LAST ENTRIES IN LIVINGSTONE'S DIARY. ]

They laid him at last in a native hut, and here one night he died alone. They found him in the early morning, just kneeling by the side of therough bed, his body stretched forward, his head buried in his handsupon the pillow. The negroes buried his heart on the spot where hedied in the village of Ilala on the shores of Lake Bangweolo underthe shadow of a great tree in the still forest. Then they wrapped hisbody in a cylinder of bark wound round in a piece of old sailcloth, lashed it to a pole, and a little band of negroes, including Susi andChuma, set out to carry their dead master to the coast. For hundredsof miles they tramped with their precious burden, till they reachedthe sea and could give it safely to his fellow-countrymen, who conveyedit to England to be laid with other great men in Westminster Abbey. 

 "He needs no epitaph to guard a name Which men shall praise while worthy work is done. He lived and died for good, be that his fame. Let marble crumble: this is living-stone. "

[Illustration: SUSI, LIVINGSTONE'S SERVANT. From a sketch by H. M. Stanley. ]

CHAPTER LXVIII

THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT

The death of Livingstone, the faithfulness of his native servants incarrying his body and journals across hundreds of miles of wild countryto the coast, his discovery of the great river in the heart of Africa, and the great service in Westminster Abbey roused public interest inthe Dark Continent and the unfinished work of the great explorer. "Never had such an outburst of missionary zeal been known, never didthe cause of geographical exploration receive such an impetus. "

The dramatic meeting between Livingstone and Stanley on the shoresof Lake Tanganyika in 1871 had impressed the public in England andAmerica, and an expedition was now planned by the proprietors of twogreat newspapers, the _London Daily Telegraph_ and the _New YorkHerald_. Stanley was chosen to command it. And perhaps there is hardlya better-known book of modern travels than _Through the DarkContinent_, in which he has related all his adventures and discoverieswith regard to the Congo. Leaving England in August 1874 with threeEnglishmen and a large boat in eight sections, the _Lady Alice_, forthe navigation of lake and river, the little exploring party reachedZanzibar a few weeks later and started on their great inland journey. The way to Victoria Nyanza lay through what is now known as GermanEast Africa. They reached Ugogo safely and turned to the north-west, entering an immense and silent bush-field, where no food wasobtainable. On the eighth day five people died of starvation and therest of the expedition was only saved by the purchase of some grainfrom a distant village. But four more died and twenty-eight miles undera hot sun prostrated one of the white men, who died a few days later. Thus they entered Ituru, "a land of naked people, whose hills drainedinto a marsh, whence issue the southernmost waters of the Nile. "

Here they were surrounded by angry savages on whom they had to fire, and from whose country they were glad to escape. 

On 27th February 1875, after tramping for one hundred and three days, they arrived at their destination. One of the white men who was stridingforward suddenly waved his hat, and with a beaming face shouted out, "I have seen the lake, sir; it is grand. "

Here, indeed, was the Victoria Nyanza, "which a dazzling suntransformed into silver, " discovered by Speke sixteen years before, and supposed to be the source of the Nile. The men struck up a songof triumph--

 "Sing, O friends, sing; the journey is ended. Sing aloud, O friends; sing to the great Nyanza. Sing all, sing loud, O friends, sing to the great sea; Give your last look to the lands behind, and then turn to the sea. Lift up your heads, O men, and gaze around. Try if you can to see its end. See, it stretches moons away, This great, sweet, fresh-water sea. "

"I thought, " says Stanley, "there could be no better way of settling, once and for ever, the vexed question, than by circumnavigating thelake. "

So the _Lady Alice_ was launched, and from the shores of Speke Gulf, as he named the southern end, the explorer set forth, leaving the tworemaining Englishmen in charge of the camp. 

"The sky is gloomy, " writes Stanley, "the rocks are bare and rugged, the land silent and lonely. The rowing of the people is that of menwho think they are bound to certain death; their hearts are full ofmisgivings as slowly we move through the dull dead waters. " The waterswere not dead for long. A gale rose up and the lake became wild beyonddescription. "The waves hissed as we tore along, the crew collapsedand crouched into the bottom of the boat, expecting the end of thewild venture, but the _Lady Alice_ bounded forward like a wild courserand we floated into a bay, still as a pond. "

So they coasted along the shores of the lake. Their guide told themit would take years to sail round their sea, that on the shores dweltpeople with long tails, who preferred to feed on human beings ratherthan cattle or goats. But, undaunted, the explorer sailed on, acrossthe Napoleon Channel, through which flowed the superfluous waters ofthe lake rushing northward as the Victoria Nile. "On the western sideof the Channel is Uganda, dominated by an Emperor who is supreme overabout three millions of people. He soon heard of my presence on thelake and dispatched a flotilla to meet me. His mother had dreamed thenight before that she had seen a boat sailing, sailing like a fish-eagleover the Nyanza. In the stern of the boat was a white man gazingwistfully towards Uganda. "

On reaching the port a crowd of soldiers, "arrayed in crimson and blackand snowy white, " were drawn up to receive him. "As we neared the beach, volleys of musketry burst out from the long lines. Numerous kettlesand brass drums sounded a noisy welcome, flags and banners waved, andthe people gave a great shout. "

[Illustration: STANLEY AND HIS MEN MARCHING THROUGH UNYORO. From asketch, by Stanley, in _Through the Dark Continent_. ]

Such was Stanley's welcome to M'tesa's wonderful kingdom of Uganda, described by Speke sixteen years before. The twelve days spent at thecourt of this monarch impressed Stanley deeply. Specially was the kinginterested in Christianity, and the English explorer told the storyof the Creation and the birth of the Messiah to this intelligent paganand his courtiers. "Ten days after we left the genial court, I cameupon the scene of a tragedy. We were coasting the eastern side of alarge island, having been thirty-six hours without food, looking fora port where we could put in and purchase provisions. Natives followedour movements, poising their spears, stringing their bows, pickingout the best rocks for their slings. We were thirteen souls, theybetween three and four hundred. Seeing the boat advance, they smiled, entered the water, and held out inviting hands. The crew shot the boattowards the natives; their hands closed on her firmly, they ran withher to the shore and dragged her high and dry about twenty yards fromthe lake. Then ensued a scene of rampant wildness and hideous ferocityof action beyond description. The boat was surrounded by a forest ofspears and two hundred demons contended for the first blow. I sprangup to kill and be killed, a revolver in each hand, but as I rose tomy feet the utter hopelessness of our situation was revealed to me. "

To make a long story short, the natives seized the oars, and, thinkingthe boat was now in their power, they retired to make their plans. Meanwhile Stanley commanded his crew to tear the bottom boards up forpaddles, and, pushing the boat hastily into the water, they paddledaway, their commander firing the while with his elephant rifle andexplosive bullets. They were saved. 

On 6th May the circumnavigation was finished and the _Lady Alice_ wasbeing dragged ashore in Speke Gulf with shouts of welcome and the wavingof many flags. But sad news awaited him. He could see but one of hiswhite companions. 

"Where is Barker?" he asked Frank Pocock. 

"He died twelve days ago, " was the melancholy answer. 

Stanley now took his whole expedition to Uganda, and after spendingsome months with the King he passed on to Lake Tanganyika, crossingto Ujiji, where he arrived in May 1876. Here five years before he hadfound Livingstone. 

"We launched our boat on the lake and, circumnavigating it, discoveredthat there was only a periodical outlet to it. Thus, by thecircumnavigation of the two lakes, two of the geographical problemsI had undertaken to solve were settled. The Victoria Nyanza had noconnection with the Tanganyika. There now remained the grandest taskof all. Is the Lualaba, which Livingstone had traced along a courseof nearly thirteen hundred miles, the Nile, the Niger, or the Congo?I crossed Lake Tanganyika with my expedition, lifted once more mygallant boat on our shoulders, and after a march of nearly two hundredand twenty miles arrived at the superb river. Where I first sightedit, the Lualaba was fourteen hundred yards wide, pale grey in colour, winding slowly from south and by east. We hailed its appearance withshouts of joy, and rested on the spot to enjoy the view. I likenedit to the Mississippi as it appears before the impetuous, full-volumedMissouri pours its rusty brown water into it. A secret rapture filledmy soul as I gazed upon the majestic stream. The great mystery thatfor all these centuries Nature had kept hidden away from the worldof science was waiting to be solved. For two hundred and twenty milesI had followed the sources of the Livingstone River to the confluence, and now before me lay the superb river itself. My task was to followit to the ocean. "

Pressing on along the river, they reached the Arab city of Nyangwe, having accomplished three hundred and thirty-eight miles inforty-three days. And now the famous Arab Tippu-Tib comes on the scene, a chief with whom Stanley was to be closely connected hereafter. Hewas a tall, black-bearded man with an intelligent face and gleamingwhite teeth. He wore clothes of spotless white, his fez was smart andnew, his dagger resplendent with silver filigree. He had escortedCameron across the river to the south, and he now confirmed Stanleyin his idea that the greatest problem of African geography, "thediscovery of the course of the Congo, " was still untouched. 

"This was momentous and all-important news to the expedition. We hadarrived at the critical point in our travels, " remarks Stanley. "Whatkind of a country is it to the north along the river?" he asked. 

"Monstrous bad, " was the reply. "There are large boa-constrictors inthe forest suspended by their tails, waiting to gobble up travellers. You cannot travel without being covered by ants, and they sting likewasps. There are leopards in countless numbers. Gorillas haunt thewoods. The people are man-eaters. A party of three hundred guns startedfor the forest and only sixty returned. "

Stanley and his last remaining white companion, Frank Pocock, discussed the somewhat alarming situation together. Should they goon and face the dwarfs who shot with poisoned arrows, the cannibalswho regarded the stranger as so much meat, the cataracts androcks--should they follow the "great river which flowed northward forever and knew no end"?

"This great river which Livingstone first saw, and which broke hisheart to turn away from, is a noble field, " argued Stanley. "Afterbuying or building canoes and floating down the river day by day, eitherto the Nile or to some vast lake in the far north or to the Congo andthe Atlantic Ocean. "

"Let us follow the river, " replied the white man. 

So, accompanied by Tippu-Tib, with a hundred and forty guns and seventyspearmen, they started along the banks of the river which Stanley nownamed the Livingstone River. 

"On the 5th of November 1876, " says Stanley, "a force of about sevenhundred people, consisting of Tippu-Tib's slaves and my expeditiondeparted from the town of Nyangwe and entered the dismal forest-landnorth. A straight line from this point to the Atlantic Ocean wouldmeasure one thousand and seventy miles; another to the Indian Oceanwould measure only nine hundred and twenty miles; we had not reachedthe centre of the continent by seventy-five miles. 

"Outside the woods blazed a blinding sunshine; underneath that immenseroof-foliage was a solemn twilight. The trees shed continual showersof tropic dew. As we struggled on through the mud, the perspirationexuded from every pore; our clothes were soon wet and heavy. Everyman had to crawl and scramble as he best could. Sometimes prostrateforest-giants barred the road with a mountain of twigs and branches. For ten days we endured it; then the Arabs declared they could go nofarther. I promised them five hundred pounds if they would escort ustwenty marches only. On our way to the river we came to a village whosesole street was adorned with one hundred and eighty-six human skulls. Seventeen days from Nyangwe we saw again the great river and, viewingthe stately breadth of the mighty stream, I resolved to launch my boatfor the last time. Placing thirty-six of the people in the boat, wefloated down the river close to the bank along which the land-partymarched. Day after day passed on and we found the natives increasingin wild rancour and unreasoning hate of strangers. At every curve andbend they 'telephoned' along the river warning signals; their hugewooden drums sounded the muster for fierce resistance; reed arrowstipped with poison were shot at us from the jungle as we glided by. On the 18th of December our miseries culminated in a grand effort ofthe savages to annihilate us. The cannibals had manned the topmostbranches of the trees above the village of Vinya Njara to shoot atus. "

A camp was hastily constructed by Stanley in defence, and for severaldays there was desperate fighting, at the end of which peace was made. But Tippu-Tib and his escort refused to go a step farther to what theyfelt was certain destruction. Stanley alone was determined to proceed. He bought thirty-three native canoes and, leading with the _LadyAlice_, he set his face towards the unknown country. His men were allsobbing. They leant forward, bowed with grief and heavy hearts at theprospect before them. Dense woods covered both banks and islands. Savages with gaily feathered heads and painted faces dashed out ofthe woods armed with shields and spears, shouting, "Meat! meat! Ha!ha! We shall have plenty of meat!"

"Armies of parrots screamed overhead as they flew across the river;legions of monkeys and howling baboons alarmed the solitudes;crocodiles haunted the sandy points; hippopotami grunted at ourapproach; elephants stood by the margin of the river; there wasunceasing vibration from millions of insects throughout the livelongday. The sun shone large and warm; the river was calm and broad andbrown. "

[Illustration: "TOWARDS THE UNKNOWN": STANLEY'S CANOES STARTING FROMVINYA NJARA. From _Through the Dark Continent_. ]

By January 1877 the expedition reached the first cataract of what isnow known as the Stanley Falls. From this point for some sixty milesthe great volume of the Livingstone River rushed through narrow andlofty banks in a series of rapids. For twenty-two days he toiled alongthe banks, through jungle and forest, over cliffs and rocks exposedall the while to murderous attacks by cannibal savages, till theseventh cataract was passed and the boats were safely below the falls. "We hastened away down river in a hurry, to escape the noise of thecataracts which for many days and nights had almost stunned us withtheir deafening sound. We were once more afloat on a magnificent stream, nearly a mile wide, curving north-west. 'Ha! Is it the Niger or Congo?'I said. "

[Illustration: THE SEVENTH CATARACT, STANLEY FALLS. From _Through theDark Continent_. ]

But day after day as they dropped down stream new enemies appeared, until at last, at the junction of the Aruwimi, a tributary as largeas the main stream, a determined attack was made on them by some twothousand warriors in large canoes. A monster canoe led the way, withtwo rows of forty paddlers each, their bodies swaying to a barbarouschorus. In the bow were ten prime young warriors, their heads gay withthe feathers of the parrot, crimson and grey: at the stern eight menwith long paddles decorated with ivory balls guided the boat, whileten chiefs danced up and down from stem to stern. The crashing of largedrums, a hundred blasts from ivory horns, and a song from two thousandvoices did not tend to assure the little fleet under Stanley. TheEnglishman coolly anchored his boats in mid-stream and received theenemy with such well-directed volleys that the savages were utterlyparalysed, and with great energy they retreated, pursued hotly byStanley's party. 

[Illustration: THE FIGHT BELOW THE CONFLUENCE OF THE ARUWIMI AND THELIVINGSTONE RIVERS. From a sketch, by Stanley, in _Through the DarkContinent_. ]

"Leaving them wondering and lamenting, I sought the mid-channel againand wandered on with the current. In the voiceless depths of the waterywilderness we encountered neither treachery nor guile, and we floateddown, down, hundreds of miles. The river curved westward, thensouth-westward. Ah, straight for the mouth of the Congo. It wideneddaily. The channels became numerous. "

Through the country of the Bangala they now fought their way. Thesepeople were armed with guns brought up from the coast by native traders. It was indeed an anxious moment when, with war-drums beating, sixty-three "beautiful but cruel canoes" came skimming towardsStanley with some three hundred guns to his forty-four. For nearlyfive hours the two fleets fought until the victory rested with theAmerican. "This, " remarks Stanley, "was our thirty-first fight on theterrible river, and certainly the most determined conflict we hadendured. "

They rowed on till the 11th of March; the river had grown narrowerand steep, wooded hills rose on either side above them. Suddenly theriver expanded, and the voyagers entered a wide basin or pool overthirty square yards. "Sandy islands rose in front of us like a seabeach, and on the right towered a long row of cliffs white and glistening, like the cliffs of Dover. "

"Why not call it Stanley Pool and those cliffs Dover Cliffs?" suggestedFrank Pocock. And these names may be seen on our maps to-day. Passingout of the Pool, the roar of a great cataract burst upon their ears. It was the first of a long series of falls and rapids which continuedfor a distance of one hundred and fifty-five miles. To this greatstretch of cataracts and rapids Stanley gave the name of the"Livingstone Falls. " At the fifth cataract Stanley lost his favouritelittle native page-boy, Kalulu. The canoe in which he was rowing shotsuddenly over the rapids, and in the furious whirl of rushing waterspoor little Kalulu was drowned. He had been born a prince and givento Stanley on his first expedition into Africa. Stanley had taken himto Europe and America, and the boy had repaid his kindness by faithfuland tender devotion till that fatal day, when he went to his deathover the wild Livingstone Falls. Stanley named the rapid after him, Kalulu Falls. 

But a yet more heart-rending loss was in store for him. Progress wasnow very slow, for none of the cataracts or rapids could be navigated;canoes as well as stores had to be dragged over land from point topoint. Frank Pocock had fallen lame and could not walk with the rest. Although accidents with the canoes were of daily occurrence, althoughhe might have taken warning by the death of Kalulu, he insisted thathis crew should try to shoot the great Massassa Falls instead of goinground by land. Too late he realised his danger. The canoe was caughtby the rushing tide, flung over the Falls, tossed from wave to wave, and finally dragged into the swirling whirlpool below. The "littlemaster" as he was called was never seen again! Stanley's last whitecompanion was gone! Gloom settled down on the now painfully reducedparty. 

"We are all unnerved with the terrible accident of yesterday, " saysStanley. "As I looked at the dejected woe-stricken servants, a chokingsensation of unutterable grief filled me. This four months had we livedtogether, and true had been his service. The servant had long ago mergedinto the companion; the companion had become the friend. "

Still Stanley persevered in his desperate task, and in spite of dangerfrom cataracts and danger from famine, on 31st July he reached theIsangila cataract. Thus far in 1816 two explorers had made their wayfrom the ocean, and Stanley knew now for certain that he was on themighty Congo. He saw no reason to follow it farther, or to toil throughthe last four cataracts. "I therefore announced to the gallant butwearied followers that we should abandon the river and strike overlandfor Boma, the nearest European settlement, some sixty miles acrosscountry. "

At sunset on 31st July they carried the _Lady Alice_ to the summitof some rocks above the Isangila Falls and abandoned her to her fate. 

"Farewell, brave boat!" cried Stanley; "seven thousand miles up anddown broad Africa thou hast accompanied me. For over five thousandmiles thou hast been my home. Lift her up tenderly, boys--sotenderly--and let her rest. "

Then, wayworn and feeble, half starved, diseased, and suffering, thelittle caravan of one hundred and fifteen men, women, and childrenstarted on their overland march to the coast. 

"Staggering, we arrived at Boma on 9th August 1877; a gathering ofEuropean merchants met me and, smiling a warm welcome, told me kindlythat I had done right well. Three days later I gazed upon the AtlanticOcean and saw the powerful river flowing into the bosom of thatboundless, endless sea. But grateful as I felt to Him who had enabledme to pierce the Dark Continent from east to west, my heart was chargedwith grief and my eyes with tears at the thought of the many comradesand friends I had lost. "

The price paid had indeed been great; he had lost his three Englishcompanions and one hundred and seventy natives besides. But for yearsand years to come, in many a home at Zanzibar, whither Stanley nowtook his party by sea, the story of this great journey was told, andall the men were heroes and the refrain of the natives was chantedagain and again--

 "Then sing, O friends, sing: the journey is ended; Sing aloud, O friends, sing to this great sea. "

Stanley had solved the problem of the Congo River at last. 

CHAPTER LXIX

NORDENSKIOLD ACCOMPLISHES THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE

The North-West Passage, for the accomplishment of which so many bravelives had been laid down, had been discovered. It now remained forsome explorer to sail round the North-East Passage, which was knownto exist, but which, up to this time, no man had done. 

Nordenskiold the Swede was to have this honour. Born in 1832 in Finland, he had taken part in an Arctic expedition in 1861, which attemptedto reach the North Pole by means of dog-sledges from the north coastof Spitzbergen. Three years later he was appointed to lead anexpedition to Spitzbergen, which succeeded in reaching the highestnorthern latitude which any ship had yet attained. In 1870 his famousjourney to Greenland took place, and two years later he left Swedenon another Polar expedition; but misfortunes beset the expedition, and finally the ships were wrecked. The following year he commandeda reconnoitring expedition. He passed Nova Zembla and reached themouth of the Yenisei. This was the first time that a ship hadaccomplished the voyage from the Atlantic Ocean. Thus Nordenskioldhad gained considerable knowledge of the Northern Seas, and he wasnow in a position to lay a plan of his schemes before King Oscar, whohad always interested himself in Arctic discovery. His suggestionsto the King are of singular interest. 

"It is my intention, " he says, "to leave Sweden in July 1878 in a steamerspecially built for navigation among ice, which will be provisionedfor two years at most. The course will be shaped for Nova Zembla, wherea favourable opportunity will be awaited for the passage of the KaraSea. The voyage will be continued to the mouth of the Yenisei, whichI hope to reach in the first half of August. As soon as circumstancespermit, the expedition will continue its voyage along the coast toCape Chelyuskin, where the expedition will reach the only part of theproposed route which has not been traversed by some small vessel, andis rightly considered as that which it will be most difficult for avessel to double during the whole North-East Passage; but our vessel, equipped with all modern appliances, ought not to find insuperabledifficulties in doubling this point, and if that can be accomplished, we will probably have pretty open water towards Behring's Straits, which ought to be reached before the end of September. From BehringStrait the course will be shaped for some Asiatic port and then onwardsround Asia to Suez. "

King Oscar and others offered to pay the expenses of the expedition, and preparations were urged forward. The _Vega_ of 300 tons, formerlyused in walrus-hunting in northern waters, was purchased, and furtherstrengthened to withstand ice. On 22nd June all was ready, and withthe Swedish flag with a crowned O in the middle, the little _Vega_, which was to accomplish such great things, was "peacefully rockingon the swell of the Baltic as if impatient to begin her struggle againstwaves and ice. " She carried food for thirty people for two years, whichincluded over three thousand pounds of bacon, nine thousand poundsof coffee, nine thousand pounds of biscuits. There were pemmican fromEngland, potatoes from the Mediterranean, cranberry juice fromFinland. Fresh bread was made during the whole expedition. A few dayslater the _Vega_ reached Copenhagen and steamed north in the finestweather. 

"Where are you bound for?" signalled a passing ship. 

"To Behring Sea, " was the return signal, and the Swedish crew wavedtheir caps, shouting their joyful news. 

At Gothenburg they took on eight sledges, tents, and cooking utensils, also two Scotch sheep dogs and a little coal-black kitten, which livedin the captain's berth till it grew accustomed to the sea, when itslept in the forecastle by day and ran about stealing the food of thesleeping sailors by night. 

On 16th July they crossed the Polar Circle. "All on board feel theyare entering upon a momentous period of their life, " says the explorer. "Were we to be the fortunate ones to reach this goal, which navigatorsfor centuries had striven to reach?"

The south-west coast of Nova Zembla was reached on 28th July, but theweather being calm and the sea completely free of ice, Nordenskioldsailed onwards through the Kara Strait or Iron Gates, which duringthe winter was usually one sheet of ice, until they anchored outsidethe village of Khabarova. The "village" consisted of a few huts andtents of Russian and Samoyedes pasturing their reindeer on the VaygetsIsland. On the bleak northern shores stood a little wooden church, which the explorers visited with much interest. It seemed strange tofind here brass bas-reliefs representing the Christ, St. Nicholas, Elijah, St. George and the Dragon, and the Resurrection; in front ofeach hung a little oil lamp. The people were dressed entirely inreindeer skin from head to foot, and they had a great collection ofwalrus tusks and skins such as Othere had brought centuries beforeto King Alfred. 

Nordenskiold's account of a short drive in a reindeer sledge is amusing. "Four reindeer were put side by side to each sledge, " he says. "Ivan, my driver, requested me to hold tight; he held the reins of all fourreindeer in one hand, and away we went over the plain! His requestto keep myself tight to the sledge was not unnecessary; at one momentthe sledge jumped over a big tussock, the next it went down into apit. It was anything but a comfortable drive, for the pace at whichwe went was very great. "

On 1st August the _Vega_ was off again, and soon she had entered theKara Sea, known in the days of the Dutch explorers as the "ice-cellar. "Then past White Island and the estuary of the great Obi River, pastthe mouth of the Yenisei to Dickson Island, lately discovered, shesailed. Here in this "best-known haven on the whole north coast ofAsia they anchored and spent time in bear and reindeer hunting. " "Inconsequence of the successful sport we lived very extravagantly duringthese days; our table groaned with joints of venison and bear-hams. "

They now sailed north close bound in fog, till on 20th August "wereached the great goal, which for centuries had been the object ofunsuccessful struggles. For the first time a vessel lay at anchor offthe northernmost cape of the Old World. With colours flying on everymast and saluting the venerable north point of the Old World with theSwedish salute of five guns, we came to an anchor!"

[Illustration: NORDENSKIOLD'S SHIP, THE _VEGA_, SALUTING CAPECHELYUSKIN, THE MOST NORTHERLY POINT OF THE OLD WORLD. From a drawingin Hovgaard's _Nordenskiold's Voyage_. ]

The fog lifting for a moment, they saw a white Polar bear standing"regarding the unexpected guests with surprise. "

When afterwards a member of the expedition was asked which moment wasthe proudest of the whole voyage, he answered, without hesitation:"Undoubtedly the moment when we anchored off Cape Chelyuskin. "

It had been named thus by the "Great Northern Expedition" in 1742 afterLieutenant Chelyuskin, one of the Russian explorers under Laptieff, who had reached this northern point by a land journey which had entailedterrible hardships and suffering. 

"Next morning, " relates Nordenskiold, "we erected a cairn on the shore, and in the middle of it laid a tin box with the following documentwritten in Swedish: 'The Swedish Arctic Expedition arrived hereyesterday, the 19th of August, and proceeds in a few hours eastward. The sea has been tolerably free from ice. Sufficient supply of coals. All well on board. 

 "'A. E. NORDENSKIOLD. '

And below in English and Russian were the words, 'Please forward thisdocument as soon as possible to His Majesty the King of Sweden. '"

Nordenskiold now attempted to steam eastwards towards the New SiberianIslands, but the fog was thick, and they fell in with large ice-floeswhich soon gave place to ice-fields. Violent snowstorms soon set inand "aloft everything was covered with a crust of ice, and the positionin the crow's nest was anything but pleasant. " They reached KhatangaBay, however, and on 27th August the _Vega_ was at the mouth of theLena. 

"We were now in hopes that we should be in Japan in a couple of months;we had accomplished two-thirds of our way through the Polar sea, andthe remaining third had been often navigated at different distances. "

So the _Vega_ sailed on eastwards with an ice-free sea to the NewSiberian Islands, where lie embedded "enormous masses of the bonesand tusks of the mammoth mixed with the horns and skulls of some kindof ox and with the horns of rhinoceros. "

All was still clear of snow, and the New Siberian Islands lying longand low in the Polar seas were safely passed. It was not till 1stSeptember that the first snows fell; the decks of the _Vega_ were whitewith snow when the Bear Islands were reached. Fog now hindered theexpedition once more, and ice was sighted. 

"Ice right ahead!" suddenly shouted the watch on the forecastle, andonly by a hair's-breadth was the _Vega_ saved. On 3rd September a thicksnowstorm came on, the Bear Islands were covered with newly fallensnow, and though the ice was growing more closely packed than any yetencountered they could still make their way along a narrow ice-freechannel near the coast. Snowstorms, fog, and drifting ice compelledcareful navigation, but a pleasant change occurred early in Septemberby a visit from the natives. We have already heard of the Chukchesfrom Behring--the Chukches whom no man had yet vanquished, for whenSiberia was conquered by a Kossack chief in 1579, the Chukches in thisoutlying north-eastern corner of the Old World, savage, courageous, resolute, kept the conquerors at bay. For the last six weeks theexplorers had not seen a human being on that wild and desolate stretchof coast, so they were glad enough to see the little Chukches withtheir coal-black hair and eyes, their large mouths and flat noses. "Although it was only five o'clock in the morning, we all jumped outof our berths and hurried on deck to see these people of whom so littlewas known. The boats were of skin, fully laden with laughing andchattering natives, men, women, and children, who indicated by criesand gesticulations that they wished to come on board. The engine wasstopped, the boats lay to, and a large number of skin-clad, bare-headedbeings climbed up over the gunwale and a lively talk began. Greatgladness prevailed when tobacco and Dutch clay pipes were distributedamong them. None of them could speak a word of Russian; they had comein closer contact with American whalers than with Russian traders. "The Chukches were all very short and dressed in reindeer skins withtight-fitting trousers of seal-skin, shoes of reindeer-skin withseal-skin boots and walrus-skin soles. In very cold weather they worehoods of wolf fur with the head of the wolf at the back. 

[Illustration: MENKA, CHIEF OF THE CHUKCHES. ]

But Nordenskiold could not wait long. Amid snow and ice and fog hepushed on, hoping against hope to get through to the Pacific beforethe sea was completely frozen over. But the ice was beginning to close. Large blocks were constantly hurled against the ship with greatviolence, and she had many a narrow escape of destruction. 

At last, it was 28th September, the little _Vega_ was finally andhopelessly frozen into the ice, and they made her fast to a largeice-block. Sadly we find the entry: "Only one hundred and twenty milesdistant from our goal, which we had been approaching during the lasttwo months, and after having accomplished two thousand four hundredmiles. It took some time before we could accustom ourselves to thethought that we were so near and yet so far from our destination. "

Fortunately they were near the shore and the little settlement ofPitlekai, where in eight tents dwelt a party of Chukches. These littlepeople helped them to pass the long monotonous winter, and many anexpedition inland was made in Chukche sledges drawn by eight or tenwolf-like dogs. Snowstorms soon burst upon the little party of Swedishexplorers who had made the _Vega_ their winter home. "During Novemberwe have scarcely had any daylight, " writes Nordenskiold; "the stormwas generally howling in our rigging, which was now enshrouded in athick coat of snow, the deck was full of large snowdrifts, and snowpenetrated into every corner of the ship where it was possible forthe wind to find an opening. If we put our heads outside the door wewere blinded by the drifting snow. "

Christmas came and was celebrated by a Christmas tree made of willowstied to a flagstaff, and the traditional rice porridge. 

By April large flocks of geese, eider-ducks, gulls, and littlesong-birds began to arrive, the latter perching on the rigging of the_Vega_, but May and June found her still icebound in her winterquarters. 

[Illustration: THE _VEGA_ FROZEN IN FOR THE WINTER. From a drawingin Hovgaard's _Nordenskiold's Voyage_. ]

It was not till 18th July 1879 that "the hour of deliverance came atlast, and we cast loose from our faithful ice-block, which for twohundred and ninety-four days had protected us so well against thepressure of the ice and stood westwards in the open channel, now abouta mile wide. On the shore stood our old friends, probably on the pointof crying, which they had often told us they would do when the shipleft them. "

For long the Chukches stood on the shore--men, women, andchildren--watching till the "fire-dog, " as they called the _Vega_, was out of sight, carrying their white friends for ever away from theirbleak, inhospitable shores. 

"Passing through closely packed ice, the _Vega_ now rounded the EastCape, of which we now and then caught a glimpse through the fog. Assoon as we came out of the ice south of the East Cape, we noticed theheavy swell of the Pacific Ocean. The completion of the North-EastPassage was celebrated the same day with a grand dinner, and the _Vega_greeted the Old and New Worlds by a display of flags and the firingof a Swedish salute. Now for the first time after the lapse of threehundred and thirty-six years was the North-East Passage at lastachieved. "

Sailing through the Behring Strait, they anchored near Behring Islandon 14th August. As they came to anchor, a boat shot alongside and avoice cried out in Swedish, "Is it Nordenskiold?" A Finland carpentersoon stood in their midst, and they eagerly questioned him about thenews from the civilised world!

There is no time to tell how the _Vega_ sailed on to Japan, whereNordenskiold was presented to the Mikado, and an Imperial medal wasstruck commemorating the voyage of the _Vega_, how she sailed rightround Asia, through the Suez Canal, and reached Sweden in safety. Itwas on 24th April 1880 that the little weather-beaten _Vega_, accompanied by flag-decked steamers literally laden with friends, sailed into the Stockholm harbour while the hiss of fireworks and theroar of cannon mingled with the shouts of thousands. The Royal Palacewas ablaze with light when King Oscar received and honoured thesuccessful explorer Nordenskiold. 

CHAPTER LXX

THE EXPLORATION OF TIBET

Perhaps no land in the world has in modern times exercised a greaterinfluence over the imagination of men than the mysterious country ofTibet. From the days of Herodotus to those of Younghusband, travellersof all times and nations have tried to explore this unknown country, so jealously guarded from Europeans. Surrounded by a "great wildernessof stony and inhospitable altitudes" lay the capital, Lhasa, the seatof the gods, the home of the Grand Lama, founded in 639 A. D. , mysterious, secluded, sacred. Kublai Khan, of Marco Polo fame, had annexed Tibetto his vast Empire, and in 1720 the mysterious land was finallyconquered by the Chinese. The history of the exploration of Tibet andthe adjoining country, and of the various attempts to penetrate toLhasa, is one of the most thrilling in the annals of discovery. 

We remember that Benjamin of Tudela in the twelfth century, Carpiniand William de Rubruquis in the thirteenth, all assert that they passedthrough Tibet, but we have no certain records till several ItalianCapuchin friars succeeded in reaching Lhasa. There they lived andtaught for some thirty-eight years, when they were withdrawn. And thelittle "Tibetan Mission, " as it was called, came to an end. 

It was yet early in the eighteenth century. England was taking up hergreat position in India, and Warren Hastings was anxious to open upfriendly relations with Tibet beyond the great Himalaya ranges. Tothis end he sent an Englishman, George Bogle, with these instructions:"I desire you will proceed to Lhasa. The design of your mission isto open a mutual and equal communication of trade between theinhabitants of Tibet and Bengal. You will take with you samples, fora trial of such articles of commerce as may be sent from this country. And you will diligently inform yourself of the manufactures, productions, and goods which are to be procured in Tibet. The followingwill also be proper subjects for your inquiry, the nature of the roadsbetween the borders of Bengal and Lhasa and the neighbouring countries. I wish you to remain a sufficient time to obtain a complete knowledgeof the country. The period of your stay must be left to yourdiscretion. "

Bogle was young; he knew nothing of the country, but in May 1774 hislittle expedition set off from Calcutta to do the bidding of WarrenHastings. By way of Bhutan, planting potatoes at intervals accordingto his orders, Bogle proceeded across the eastern Himalayas towardthe Tibetan frontier, reaching Phari, the first town in Tibet, at theend of October. Thence they reached Gyangtse, a great trade centrenow open to foreigners, crossed the Brahmaputra, which they found was"about the size of the Thames at Putney, " and reached the residenceof the Tashi Lama, the second great potentate of Tibet. This greatdignitary and the young Englishman made great friends. 

"On a carved and gilt throne amid cushions sat the Lama, cross-legged. He was dressed in a mitre-shaped cap of yellow broadcloth with longbars lined with red satin, a yellow cloth jacket without sleeves, anda satin mantle of the same colour thrown over his shoulders. On oneside of him stood his physician with a bundle of perfumed sandal-woodrods burning in his hand; on the other stood his cup-bearer. "

Such was this remarkable man as first seen by the English, "veneratedas God's vice-regent through all the eastern countries of Asia. " Hehad heard much of the power of the "Firinghis, " as he called the English. "As my business is to pray to God, " he said to Bogle, "I was afraidto admit any Firinghis into the country. But I have since learned thatthey are a fair and just people. "

[Illustration: THE POTALA AT LHASA: A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY VIEW. FromKircher's _China Illustrata_. The only good representation of thePotala until photographs were obtainable in the twentieth century. ]

Bogle would have proceeded to Lhasa, the home of the Grand Lama, butthis permission was refused, and he had to return to India with theinformation he had collected. 

The next Englishman to enter Tibet was Thomas Manning, the first toreach the sacred city of Lhasa. He was a private adventurer, who hadlived in China and learnt the language. Attended by a Chinese servant, and wearing a flowing beard of singular length, he left Calcutta, crossed into Bhutan, and arrived at the Tibetan border in October 1811. Then he crossed the Brahmaputra in a large ferry-boat, and arrivedwithin seven miles of Lhasa. On 9th December the first European enteredthe sacred city since the expulsion of the Capuchin friars. The viewof the famous Potala, the lofty towering palace, filled him withadmiration, but the city of which Europe, knowing nothing, had exaltedinto a magnificent place, was very disappointing. 

"We passed under a large gateway, " says Manning, "whose gildedornaments were so ill-fixed that some leaned one way and some another. The road as it winds round the palace is royally broad; it swarmedwith monks, and beggars were basking in the sun. There is nothingstriking in its appearance; the habitations are begrimed with smutand dirt. The avenues are full of dogs--in short, everything seemsmean and gloomy. Having provided himself with a proper hat, Manningwent to the Potala to salute the Grand Lama, taking with him a pairof brass candlesticks with two wax candles, some 'genuine Smith'slavender water, and a good store of Nankin tea, which is a rare delicacyat Lhasa. Ushered into the presence of the Grand Lama, a child of seven, he touched his head three times on the floor, after the custom of thecountry, and, taking off his hat, knelt to be blessed by the littlemonarch. ' He had the simple and unaffected manners of a well-educatedprincely child. His face was affectingly beautiful--his beautifulmouth was perpetually unbending into a graceful smile, whichilluminated his whole countenance. "

Here Manning spent four months, at the end of which time he was recalledfrom Pekin, and reluctantly he was obliged to return the way he came. 

The next man to reach the forbidden city was a Jesuit missionary, theAbbe Huc, who reached Lhasa in 1846 from China. He had adopted thedress of the Tibetan Lama--the yellow cap and gown--and he pilotedhis little caravan across the wide steppes on horseback, while hisfellow-missionary, Gabet, rode a camel and their one Tartar retainerrode a black mule. It took them a year and a half to reach the sacredcity of Lhasa, for many and great were the difficulties of the way. Their first difficulty lay in crossing the Yellow River, which wasin flood. 

"It is quite impossible to cross the Yellow River, " they were told. "Eight days ago the river overflowed its banks and the plains arecompletely flooded. "

"The Tartars only told us the truth, " remarked Huc sadly. "The YellowRiver had become a vast sea, the limits of which were scarcely visible:houses and villages looked as though they were floating upon the waves. What were we to do? To turn back was out of the question. We had vowedthat, God willing, we would go to Lhasa whatever obstacles impeded. "

And so they did. The camels were soon up to their knees in a thickslimy compost of mud and water, over which the poor animals slid ontheir painful way. Their courage was rewarded, native ferry-boats cameto their rescue, and they reached the other side in safety. They werenow on the main caravan route to the Tibetan frontier and the Koko-Nor. Immense caravans were met, with strings of camels extending for milesin length. Three times between the Yellow River and the Koko-Nor Lakedid they pass the Great Wall built in 214 A. D. After over four monthsof travel Huc arrived at the monastery of Kunkum on the borderlandof Tibet. This was the home of four thousand Lamas all clothed in reddresses and yellow mitres, and thither resorted the worshippers ofBuddha from all parts of Tartary and Tibet. 

"The site is one of enchanting beauty, " says Huc. "Imagine in amountain-side a deep, broad ravine adorned with fine trees and alivewith the cawing of rooks and yellow-beaked crows and the amusingchatter of magpies. On the two sides of the ravine and on the slopesof the mountain rise the white dwellings of the Lamas. Amid the dazzlingwhiteness of these modest habitations rise numerous Buddhist templeswith gilt roofs, sparkling with a thousand brilliant colours. Herethe travellers stayed for three months, after which they made theirway on to the Koko-Nor Lake. 

"As we advanced, " says Huc, "the country became more fertile, untilwe reached the vast and magnificent pasturage of Koko-Nor. Herevegetation is so vigorous that the grass rose up to the stomachs ofour camels. Soon we discovered far before us what seemed a broad silverriband. Our leader informed us that this was the Blue Sea. We urgedon our animals, and the sun had not set when we planted our tent withina hundred paces of the waters of the great Blue Lake. This immensereservoir of water seems to merit the title of sea rather than merelythat of lake. To say nothing of its vast extent, its waters are bitterand salt, like those of the ocean. "

After a month spent on the shores of the Blue Lake, an opportunityoffered for the advance. Towards the end of October they found thatan embassy from Lhasa to Pekin was returning in great force. This wouldafford Huc and his companion safe travelling from the hordes ofbrigands that infested the route through Tibet. The caravan wasimmense. There were fifteen hundred oxen, twelve hundred horses, andas many camels, and about two thousand men. The ambassador was carriedin a litter. Such was the multitude which now started for the thousandmiles across Tibet to Lhasa. 

After crossing the great Burkhan Buddha range, the caravan came tothe Shuga Pass, about seventeen thousand feet high, and here theirtroubles began. 

"When the huge caravan first set itself in motion, " says Huc, "thesky was clear, and a brilliant moon lit up the great carpet of snowwith which the whole country was covered. We were able to attain thesummit by sunrise. Then the sky became thickly overcast with cloudsand the wind began to blow with a violence which became more and moreintense. "

Snow fell heavily and several animals perished. They marched in theteeth of an icy wind which almost choked them, whirlwinds of snowblinded them, and when they reached the foot of the mountain at last, M. Gabet found that his nose and ears were frostbitten. As theyproceeded, the cold became more intense. "The demons of snow, wind, and cold were set loose on the caravan with a fury which seemed toincrease from day to day. "

"One cannot imagine a more terrible country, " says poor Huc. 

Not only were the animals dying from cold and exposure, but men werebeginning to drop out and die. Forty of the party died before theplateau of Tangla had been crossed, a proceeding which lasted twelvedays. The track, some sixteen thousand feet above the sea, was borderedby the skeletons of mules and camels, and monstrous eagles followedthe caravan. The scenery was magnificent, line upon line of snow-whitepinnacles stretched southward and westward under a bright sun. Thedescent was "long, brusque, and rapid, like the descent of a giganticladder. " At the lower altitude snow and ice disappeared. It was theend of January 1846, when at last our two travellers found themselvesapproaching the longed-for city of Lhasa. 

"The sun was nearly setting, " says Huc, "when we found ourselves ina vast plain and saw on our right Lhasa, the famous metropolis of theBuddhist world. After eighteen months' struggle with sufferings andobstacles of infinite number and variety, we were at length arrivedat the termination of our journey, though not at the close of ourmiseries. "

Huc's account of the city agrees well with that of Manning: "The palaceof the Dalai Lama, " he says, "merits the celebrity which it enjoysthroughout the world. Upon a rugged mountain, the mountain of Buddha, the adorers of the Lama have raised the magnificent palace whereintheir Living Divinity resides in the flesh. This place is made up ofvarious temples; that which occupies the centre is four storeys high;it terminates in a dome entirely covered with plates of gold. It ishere the Dalai Lama has set up his abode. From the summit of his loftysanctuary he can contemplate his innumerable adorers prostrate at thefoot of the divine mountain. But in the town all was different--allare engaged in the grand business of buying and selling, all is noise, pushing, excitement, confusion. "

Here Huc and his companion resided for two and a half months, openingan oratory in their house and even making a few Christian converts. But soon they were ordered to leave, and reluctantly they travelledback to China, though by a somewhat different route. 

After this the Tibetans guarded their capital more zealously thanbefore. Przhevalsky, "that grand explorer of Russian nationality, "spent years in exploring Tibet, but when within a hundred and sixtymiles of Lhasa he was stopped, and never reached the forbidden city. 

Others followed. Prince Henri of Orleans got to within one hundredmiles of Lhasa, Littledale and his wife to within fifty miles. SvenHedin, the "Prince of Swedish explorers, " who had made so many famousjourneys around and about Tibet, was making a dash for the capitaldisguised as a Mongolian pilgrim when he, too, was stopped. 

"A long black line of Tibetan horsemen rode towards us at full gallop, "he relates. "It was not raining just at that moment, so there wasnothing to prevent us from witnessing what was in truth a verymagnificent spectacle. It was as though a living avalanche weresweeping down upon us. A moment more and we should be annihilated!We held our weapons ready. On came the Tibetans in one long linestretching across the plain. We counted close upon seventy in all. In the middle rode the chief on a big handsome mule, his staff ofofficers all dressed in their finest holiday attire. The wingsconsisted of soldiers armed to the teeth with gun, sword, and lance. The great man, Kamba Bombo, pulled up in front of our tent. " Afterremoving a red Spanish cloak and hood he "stood forth arrayed in asuit of yellow silk with wide arms and a little blue Chinese skull-cap. His feet were encased in Mongolian boots of green velvet. He wasmagnificent. "

"You will not go another step towards Lhasa, " he said. "If you do youwill lose your heads. It doesn't the least matter who you are or whereyou come from. You must go back to your headquarters. "

So an escort was provided and sorrowfully Sven Hedin turned his backon the jealously guarded town he had striven so hard to reach. 

The expedition, or rather mission, under Colonel Younghusband in 1904brings to an end our history of the exploration of Tibet. He made hisway to Lhasa from India; he stood in the sacred city, and "except forthe Potala" he found it a "sorry affair. " He succeeded in getting atrade Treaty signed, and he rode hastily back to India and travelledthence to England. The importance of the mission was accentuated bythe fact that the flag, a Union Jack bearing the motto, "Heaven's Lightour Guide, " carried by the expedition and placed on the table whenthe Treaty was signed in Lhasa, hangs to-day in the Central Hall atWindsor over the statue of Queen Victoria. 

The veil so long drawn over the capital of Tibet had been at last tornaside, and the naked city had been revealed in all its "weirdbarbarity. " Plans of the "scattered and ill-regulated" city are nowfamiliar, the Potala has been photographed, the Grand Lama has beendrawn, and if, with the departure of Younghusband, the gates of Lhasawere once more closed, voices from beyond the snowy Himalayas mustbe heard again ere long. 

[Illustration: THE WORLD'S MOST MYSTERIOUS CITY UNVEILED: LHASA ANDTHE POTALA. From a photograph by a member of Younghusband's expeditionto Tibet and Lhasa, 1909(?). ]

CHAPTER LXXI

NANSEN REACHES FARTHEST NORTH

No names are better known in the history of Arctic exploration thanthose of Nansen and the _Fram_, and although others have done workjust as fine, the name of Nansen cannot be omitted from our _Book ofDiscovery_. 

Sven Hedin had not long returned from his great travels through easternTurkestan and Tibet when Nansen was preparing for his great journeynorthwards. 

He had already crossed Greenland from east to west, a brilliantachievement only excelled by Peary, who a few years later, crossedit at a higher latitude and proved it to be an island. 

Now the movement of ice drift in the Arctic seas was occupying theattention of explorers at this time. A ship, the _Jeannette_, had beenwrecked in 1881 off the coast of Siberia, and three years later thedebris from the wreck had been washed up on the south-west coast ofGreenland. So it occurred to Nansen that a current must flow acrossthe North Pole from Behring Sea on one side to the Atlantic Ocean onthe other. His idea was therefore to build a ship as strong as possibleto enable it to withstand the pressure of the ice, to allow it to becomefrozen in, and then to drift as the articles from the _Jeannette_ haddrifted. He reckoned that it would take three years for the drift ofice to carry him to the North Pole. 

Foolhardy and impossible as the scheme seemed to some, King Oscar cameforward with 1000 pounds toward expenses. The _Fram_ was then designed. The whole success of the expedition lay in her strength to withstandthe pressure of the ice. At last she was ready, even fitted withelectric light. A library, scientifically prepared food, andinstruments of the most modern type were on board. The members of theexpedition numbered thirteen, and on Midsummer Day, 1893, "in calmsummer weather, while the setting sun shed his beams over the land, the _Fram_ stood out towards the blue sea to get its first roll inthe long, heaving swell. " Along the coast of Norway, past Bergen, pastTrondhjem, past Tromso, they steamed, until in a north-westerly galeand driving snow they lost sight of land. It was 25th July when theysighted Nova Zembla plunged in a world of fog. They landed at Khabarovaand visited the little old church seen fifteen years before byNordenskiold, anxiously inquiring about the state of the ice in theKara Sea. Here, amid the greatest noise and confusion, somethirty-four dogs were brought on board for the sledges. On 5th Augustthe explorer successfully passed through the Yugor Strait into theKara Sea, which was fairly free from ice, and five weeks later sailedpast Cape Chelyuskin, the northernmost point of the Old World. 

"The land was low and desolate, " says Nansen. "The sun had long sincegone down behind the sea; only one star was to be seen. It stood straightabove Cape Chelyuskin, shining clearly and sadly in the pale sky. Exactly at four o'clock our flags were hoisted and our last threecartridges sent out a thundering salute over the sea. "

The _Fram_ was then turned north to the west of the New Siberian Islands. "It was a strange thing to be sailing away north, " says Nansen, "tounknown lands, over an open rolling sea where no ship had been before. On to the north, steadily north with a good wind, as fast as steamand sail can take us through unknown regions. "

They had almost reached 78 degrees north when they saw ice shiningthrough the fog, and a few days later the _Fram_ was frozen in. "Autumnwas well advanced, the long night of winter was approaching, therewas nothing to be done except prepare ourselves for it, and we convertedour ship as well as we could into comfortable winter quarters. "

By October the ice was pressing round the _Fram_ with a noise likethunder. "It is piling itself up into long walls and heaps high enoughto reach a good way up the _Fram's_ rigging: in fact, it is tryingits very utmost to grind the _Fram_ into powder. "

Christmas came and went. The New Year of 1894 dawned with thethermometer 36 degrees below zero. By February the _Fram_ had driftedto the 80th degree of latitude. "High festival in honour of the 80thdegree, " writes Nansen. "Hurrah! Well sailed! The wind is whistlingamong the hummocks, the snow flies rustling through the air, ice andsky are melted into one, but we are going north at full speed, andare in the wildest of gay spirits. If we go on at this rate we shallbe at the Pole in fifty months. "

On 17th May the 81st degree of latitude was reached. Five months passedaway. By 31st October they had drifted to the 82nd. "A grand banquetto-day, " says Nansen, "to celebrate the 82nd degree of latitude. Weare progressing merrily towards our goal; we are already half-waybetween the New Siberian Islands and Franz Josef Land, and there isnot a soul on board who doubts that we shall accomplish what we cameout to do; so long live merriment. "

Now Nansen planned the great sledge journey, which has been called"the most daring ever undertaken. " The winter was passed in peacefulpreparation for a start in the spring. When the New Year of 1895 dawnedthe _Fram_ had been firmly frozen in for fifteen months. A few dayslater, the ship was nearly crushed by a fresh ice pressure and allprepared to abandon her if necessary, but after an anxious day of iceroaring and crackling--"an ice pressure with a vengeance, as ifDoomsday had come, " remarked Nansen--it quieted down. They had nowbeaten all records, for they had reached 83 degrees latitude. 

And now preparations for the great sledge journey were complete. Theyhad built kayaks or light boats to sail in open water, and these wereplaced on the sledges and drawn by dogs. Nansen decided only to takeone companion, Johansen, and to leave the others with the _Fram_. 

"At last the great day has arrived. The chief aim of the expeditionis to push through the unknown Polar sea from the region around theNew Siberian Islands, north of Franz Josef Land and onward to theAtlantic Ocean near Spitzbergen or Greenland. " Farewells were said, and then the two men bravely started off over the unknown desert seawith their sledges and twenty-eight dogs. For the first week theytravelled well and soon reached 85 degrees latitude. "The onlydisagreeable thing to face now is the cold, " says Nansen. "Our clothesare transformed more and more into complete suits of ice armour. Thesleeve of my coat actually rubbed deep sores in my wrists, one of whichgot frostbitten; the wound grew deeper and deeper and nearly reachedthe bone. At night we packed ourselves into our sleeping-bags and laywith our teeth chattering for an hour before we became aware of a littlewarmth in our bodies. "

[Illustration: DR. NANSEN. After a photograph. ]

Steadily, with faces to the north, they pressed on over the blocksof rough ice, stretching as far as the horizon, till on 8th Aprilfurther progress became impossible. Nansen strode on ahead and mountedone of the highest hummocks to look around. He saw "a veritable chaosof ice-blocks, ridge after ridge, and nothing but rubble to travelover. " He therefore determined to turn and make for Franz Josef Landsome four hundred and fifty miles distant. They had already reached86 degrees of latitude, farther north than any expedition had reachedbefore. 

As they travelled south, they rejoiced in the warmth of the sun, buttheir food was growing scarce, and they had to kill a dog every otherday to feed the others, till by May they had only thirteen dogs left. June found them having experienced tremendous snowstorms with onlyseven dogs left. Although they were in the latitude of Franz JosefLand, no welcome shores appeared. It was now three months since theyhad left the _Fram_; the food for the dogs was quite finished and thepoor creatures were beginning to eat their harness of sailcloth. Mercifully before the month ended they managed to shoot a seal whichprovided them with food for a month. "It is a pleasing change, " saysNansen, "to be able to eat as much and as often as we like. Blubberis excellent, both raw and fried. For dinner I fried a highly successfulsteak, for supper I made blood-pancakes fried in blubber with sugar, unsurpassed in flavour. And here we lie up in the far north, two grim, black, soot-stained barbarians, stirring a mess of soup in a kettle, surrounded on all sides by ice--ice covered with impassable snow. "

A bear and two cubs were shot and the explorers stayed on at "LongingCamp" as they named this dreary spot, unable to go on, but amply fed. 

On 24th July we get the first cheerful entry for many a long day: "Land!land! after nearly two years we again see something rising above thatnever-ending white line on the horizon yonder--a new life is beginningfor us!"

Only two dogs were now left to drag the sledges, so the two explorerswere obliged to help with the dragging. For thirteen days theyproceeded in the direction of land, dragging and pushing their burdensover the ridges of ice with thawing snow. At last on 7th August theystood at the edge of the ice. Behind lay their troubles; before wasthe waterway home. Then they launched their little kayaks, whichdanced over the open waters, the little waves splashing against theirsides. When the mist cleared they found themselves on the west coastof Franz Josef Land, discovered by an Austro-Hungarian expedition in1874. 

They were full of hope, when a cruel disappointment damped their joy. They had landed and were camping on the shore, when a great storm aroseand the wind blew the drift ice down till it lay packed along the coast. The little ships were frozen in, and there was no hope of reachinghome that winter. Here they were doomed to stay. Fortunately therewere bears and walrus, so they could not starve, and with magnificentpluck they set to work to prepare for the winter. For many a long daythey toiled at the necessary task of skinning and cutting up walrustill they were saturated with blubber, oil, and blood, but soon theyhad two great heaps of blubber and meat on shore well covered overwith walrus hides. 

[Illustration: THE SHIP THAT WENT FARTHEST NORTH: THE _FRAM_. Froma photograph. ]

September was occupied in building a hut amid the frost and snow withwalrus hides and tusks, warmed inside with train-oil lamps. Here underbear skins they slept and passed the long months of winter. In Octoberthe sun disappeared, the days grew darker. Life grew very monotonous, for it was the third Polar winter the explorers had been called onto spend. They celebrated Christmas Day, Nansen by washing himselfin a "quarter of a cup of warm water, " Johansen by turning his shirt. The weather outside was stormy and almost took their breath away withits icy coldness. They longed for a book, but they wiled away the hoursby trying to calculate how far the _Fram_ could have drifted and whenshe was likely to reach home. They were distressed at the dirt of theirclothes, and longed to be able to throw away the heavy oily rags thatseemed glued to their bodies. They had no soap, and water had no effecton the horrible grease. It was May before the weather allowed themto leave the hut at last. Hopefully they dragged their kayaks overthe snow, the sledge runners fastened on to their feet, and so madetheir way southwards down Franz Josef Land. 

Once Nansen was very nearly drowned. The explorers had reached thesouth of the Islands, and, having moored their little boats together, they ascended a hummock close by, when to their horror they saw thekayaks were adrift. Nansen rushed down, threw off some clothes, andsprang into the water after them. He was none too soon, for alreadythe boats were drifting rapidly away. The water was icy cold, but itwas a case of life or death. Without the boats they were lost men. "All we possessed was on board, " says Nansen, "so I exerted myselfto the utmost. I redoubled my exertions though I felt my limbs graduallystiffening; at last I was able to stretch out my hand to the edge ofthe kayak. I tried to pull myself up, but the whole of my body wasstiff with cold. After a time I managed to swing one leg up on to theedge and to tumble up. Nor was it easy to paddle in the double vessel;the gusts of wind seemed to go right through me as I stood there inmy wet woollen shirt. I shivered, my teeth chattered, and I was numball over. At last I managed to reach the edge of the ice. I shook andtrembled all over, while Johansen pulled off the wet things and packedme into the sleeping-bag. The critical situation was saved. "

And now came one of those rare historic days in the history ofexploration. It was 17th June 1896. Nansen was surveying the lonelyline of coast, when suddenly the barking of a dog fell on his ear, and soon in front he saw the fresh tracks of some animal. "It was witha strange mixture of feelings, " he says, "that I made my way amongthe numerous hummocks towards land. Suddenly I thought I heard a humanvoice--the first for three years. How my heart beat and the blood rushedto my brain as I halloed with all the strength of my lungs. Soon Iheard another shout and saw a dark form moving among the hummocks. It was a man. We approached one another quickly. I waved my hat; hedid the same. As I drew nearer I thought I recognised Mr. Jackson, whom I remembered once to have seen. I raised my hat; we extended ahand to one another with a hearty 'How do you do?' Above us a roofof mist, beneath our feet the rugged packed drift ice. "

"Ar'n't you Nansen?" he said. 

"Yes, I am, " was the answer. 

And, seizing the grimy hand of the Arctic explorer, he shook it warmly, congratulating him on his successful trip. Jackson and his companionshad wintered at Cape Flora, the southern point of Franz Josef Land, and they were expecting a ship, the _Windward_, to take them home. On 26th July the _Windward_ steamed slowly in, and by 13th August shereached Norway, and the news of Nansen's safe arrival was made knownto the whole world. A week later the little _Fram_, "strong and broadand weather-beaten, " also returned in safety. And on 9th September1896, Nansen and his brave companions on board the _Fram_ sailed upChristiania Fjiord in triumph. 

He had reached a point farthest North, and been nearer to the NorthPole than had any explorer before. 

CHAPTER LXXII

PEARY REACHES THE NORTH POLE

The 6th April 1909 is a marked day in the annals of exploration, foron that day Peary succeeded in reaching the North Pole, which forcenturies had defied the efforts of man; on that day he attained thegoal for which the greatest nations of the world had struggled forover four hundred years. Indeed, he had spent twenty-three years ofhis own life labouring toward this end. 

He was mainly inspired by reading Nordenskiold's _Exploration ofGreenland_, when a lieutenant in the United States Navy. In 1886 hegot leave to join an expedition to Greenland, and returned with theArctic fever in his veins and a scheme for crossing that continentas far north as possible. This after many hardships he accomplished, being the first explorer to discover that Greenland was an island. Peary was now stamped as a successful Arctic explorer. The idea ofreaching the North Pole began to take shape, and in order to raisefunds the enthusiastic explorer delivered no less than one hundredand sixty-eight lectures in ninety-six days. With the proceeds hechartered the _Falcon_ and left the shores of Philadelphia in June1893 for Greenland. His wife, who accompanied him before, accompaniedhim again, and with sledges and dogs on board they made their way upthe western coast of Greenland. Arrived at Melville Bay, Peary builta little hut; here a little daughter was born who was soon "bundledin soft warm Arctic furs and wrapped in the Stars and Stripes. " NoEuropean child had ever been born so far north as this; the Eskimostravelled from long distances to satisfy themselves she was not madeof snow, and for the first six months of her life the baby lived incontinuous lamplight. 

But we cannot follow Peary through his many Polar expeditions; histoes had been frozen off in one, his leg broken in another, but hewas enthusiastic enough when all preparations were complete for thelast and greatest expedition of all. 

The _Roosevelt_, named after the President of the United States, hadcarried him safely to the north of Greenland in his last expedition, so she was again chosen, and in July 1908, Peary hoisted the Starsand Stripes and steamed from New York. 

"As the ship backed out into the river, a cheer went up from thethousands who had gathered on the piers to see us off. It was aninteresting coincidence that the day on which we started for thecoldest spot on earth was about the hottest which New York had knownfor years. As we steamed up the river, the din grew louder and louder;we passed President Roosevelt's naval yacht, the _Mayflower_, and hersmall gun roared out a parting salute--surely no ship ever startedfor the ends of the earth with more heart-stirring farewells. "

President Roosevelt had himself inspected the ship and shaken handswith each member of the expedition. 

"I believe in you, Peary, " he had said, "and I believe in your success, if it is within the possibility of man. " So the little _Roosevelt_steamed away; on 26th July the Arctic Circle was crossed by Peary forthe twentieth time, and on 1st August, Cape York, the most northerlyhome of human beings in the world, was reached. This was the dividingline between the civilised world on one hand and the Arctic world onthe other. Picking up several Eskimo families and about two hundredand fifty dogs, they steamed on northwards. 

"Imagine, " says Peary--"imagine about three hundred and fifty milesof almost solid ice, ice of all shapes and sizes, mountainous ice, flat ice, ragged and tortured ice; then imagine a little black ship, solid, sturdy, compact, strong, and resistant, and on this little shipare sixty-nine human beings, who have gone out into the crazy, ice-tortured channel between Baffin Bay and the Polar sea--gone outto prove the reality of a dream in the pursuit of which men have frozenand starved and died. "

The usual course was taken, across Smith's Sound and past the desolatewind-swept rocks of Cape Sabine, where, in 1884, Greely's ill-fatedparty slowly starved to death, only seven surviving out oftwenty-four. 

Fog and ice now beset the ship, and on 5th September they were compelledto seek winter quarters, for which they chose Cape Sheridan, wherePeary had wintered before in 1905. Here they unloaded the _Roosevelt_, and two hundred and forty-six Eskimo dogs were at once let loose torun about in the snow. A little village soon grew up, and the Eskimos, both men and women, went hunting as of yore. Peary had decided to startas before from Cape Columbia, some ninety miles away, the mostnortherly point of Grant Land, for his dash to the Pole. 

On 12th October the sun disappeared and they entered cheerfully intothe "Great Dark. "

"Imagine us in our winter home, " says Peary, "four hundred and fiftymiles from the North Pole, the ship held tight in her icy berth onehundred and fifty yards from the shore, ship and the surrounding worldcovered with snow, the wind creaking in the rigging, whistling andshrieking around the corners of the deck houses, the temperatureranging from zero to sixty below, the icepack in the channel outsideus groaning and complaining with the movement of the tides. "

Christmas passed with its usual festivities. There were races for theEskimos, one for the children, one for the men, and one for the Eskimomothers, who carried babies in their fur hoods. These last, lookinglike "animated walruses, " took their race at a walking pace. 

At last, on 15th February 1909, the first sledge-party left the shipfor Cape Columbia, and a week later Peary himself left the _Roosevelt_with the last loads. The party assembled at Cape Columbia for the greatjourney north, which consisted of seven men of Peary's party, fifty-nine Eskimos, one hundred and forty dogs, and twenty-eightsledges. Each sledge was complete in itself; each had its cookingutensils, its four men, its dogs and provisions for fifty or sixtydays. The weather was "clear, calm, and cold. "

On 1st March the cavalcade started off from Cape Columbia in a freezingeast wind, and soon men and dogs became invisible amid drifting snow. Day by day they went forward, undaunted by the difficulties andhardships of the way, now sending back small parties to the depot atCape Columbia, now dispatching to the home camp some reluctantexplorer with a frostbitten heel or foot, now delayed by open water, but on, on, till they had broken all records, passed all tracks evenof the Polar bear, passed the 87th parallel into the region of perpetualdaylight for half the year. It was here, apparently within reach ofhis goal, that Peary had to turn back three years before for want offood. 

Thus they marched for a month; party after party had been sent back, till the last supporting party had gone and Peary was left with hisblack servant, Henson, and four Eskimos. He had five sledges, fortypicked dogs, and supplies for forty days when he started off aloneto dash the last hundred and thirty-three miles to the Pole itself. Every event in the next week is of thrilling interest. After a fewhours of sleep the little party started off shortly after midnighton 2nd April 1909. Peary was leading. 

"I felt the keenest exhilaration as I climbed over the ridge andbreasted the keen air sweeping over the mighty ice, pure and straightfrom the Pole itself. "

They might yet be stopped by open water from reaching the goal. Onthey went, twenty-five miles in ten hours, then a little sleep, andso on again, then a few hours' rest and another twenty miles till theyhad reached latitude 89 degrees. 

Still breathlessly they hurried forward, till on the 5th they werebut thirty-five miles from the Pole. 

"The sky overhead was a colourless pall, gradually deepening to almostblack at the horizon, and the ice was a ghastly and chalky white. "

On 6th April the Pole was reached. 

"The Pole at last!" writes Peary in his diary. "The prize of threecenturies! My dream and goal for twenty years. Mine at last! I cannotbring myself to realise it. It all seems so simple and commonplace. "

Flags were at once hoisted on ice lances, and the successful explorerwatched them proudly waving in the bright Arctic sunlight at the Pole. Through all his perilous expeditions to the Arctic regions, Peary hadworn a silken flag, worked by his wife, wrapped round his body. Henow flew it on this historic spot, "which knows no North, nor West, nor East. "

[Illustration: PEARY'S FLAG FLYING AT THE NORTH POLE, APRIL 1909. Bythe courteous permission of Admiral Peary, from his book _The NorthPole_, published by Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton. ]

Not a vestige of land was to be seen; nothing but ice lay all around. They could not stay long, for provisions would run short, and the icemight melt before their return journey was accomplished. 

So after a brief rest they started off for Cape Columbia, which theyreached after a wild rush of sixteen days. It had taken themthirty-seven days to cover the four hundred and seventy-five milesfrom Cape Columbia to the Pole, from which they had returned at therate of thirty miles a day. 

The whole party then started for the _Roosevelt_, and on 18th Julyshe was taken from her winter quarters and turned towards home. Thencame the day when wireless telegraphy flashed the news through thewhole of the civilised world: "Stars and Stripes nailed to the NorthPole. "

The record of four hundred years of splendid self-sacrifice andheroism unrivalled in the history of exploration had been crowned atlast. 

CHAPTER LXXIII

THE QUEST FOR THE SOUTH POLE

An American had placed the Stars and Stripes on the North Pole in 1909. It was a Norwegian who succeeded in reaching the South Pole in 1911. But the spade-work which contributed so largely to the final successhad been done so enthusiastically by two Englishmen that theexpeditions of Scott and Shackleton must find a place here before weconclude this _Book of Discovery_ with Amundsen's final and brilliantdash. 

The crossing of the Antarctic Circle by the famous _Challenger_expedition in 1874 revived interest in the far South. The practicaloutcome of much discussion was the design of the _Discovery_, a shipbuilt expressly for scientific exploration, and the appointment ofCaptain Scott to command an Antarctic expedition. 

In August 1901, Scott left the shores of England, and by way of NewZealand crossed the Antarctic Circle on 3rd January 1902. Three weekslater he reached the Great Ice Barrier which had stopped Ross in 1840. For a week Scott steamed along the Barrier. Mounts Erebus and Terrorwere plainly visible, and though he could nowhere discover ParryMountains, yet he found distant land rising high above the sea, whichhe named King Edward VII. 's Land. Scott had brought with him a captiveballoon in which he now rose to a height of eight hundred feet, fromwhich he saw an unbroken glacier stream of vast extent stretching tothe south. It was now time to seek for winter quarters, and Scott, returning to McMurdo Bay named by Ross, found that it was not a bayat all, but a strait leading southward. Here they landed their stores, set up their hut, and spent the winter, till on 2nd November 1902 allwas ready for a sledge-journey to the south. For fifty-nine days Scottled his little land-party of three, with four sledges and nineteendogs, south. But the heavy snow was too much for the dogs, and oneby one died, until not one was left and the men had to drag and pushthe sledges themselves. Failing provisions at last compelled them tostop. Great mountain summits were seen beyond the farthest pointreached. 

"We have decided at last we have found something which is fitting tobear the name of him whom we most delight to honour, " says Scott, "andMount Markham it shall be called in memory of the father of theexpedition. "

It was 30th December when a tremendous blizzard stayed their lastadvance. "Chill and hungry, " they lay all day in their sleeping-bags, miserable at the thought of turning back, too weak and ill to go on. With only provisions for a fortnight, they at last reluctantly turnedhome, staggering as far as their depot in thirteen days. Shackletonwas smitten with scurvy; he was growing worse every day, and it wasa relief when on 2nd February they all reached the ship alive, "asnear spent as three persons can well be. " But they had done well: theyhad made the first long land journey ever made in the Antarctic; theyhad reached a point which was farthest south; they had tested newmethods of travel; they had covered nine hundred and sixty miles inninety-three days. Shackleton was now invalided home, but it was nottill 1904 that the _Discovery_ escaped from the frozen harbour to makeher way home. 

Shackleton had returned to England in 1903, but the mysterious SouthPole amid its wastes of ice and snow still called him back, and incommand of the _Nimrod_ he started forth in August 1907 on the nextBritish Antarctic expedition, carrying a Union Jack, presented by theQueen, to plant on the spot farthest south. He actually placed it withinninety-seven miles of the Pole itself!

With a petrol motor-car on board, Eskimo dogs, and Manchurian ponies, he left New Zealand on 1st January 1908, watched and cheered by somethirty thousand of his fellow-countrymen. Three weeks later they werein sight of the Great Ice Barrier, and a few days later the hugemountains of Erebus and Terror came into sight. Shackleton had hopedto reach King Edward VII. 's Land for winter quarters, but a formidableice-pack prevented this, and they selected a place some twenty milesnorth of the _Discovery's_ old winter quarters. Getting the wildlittle Manchurian ponies ashore was no light job; the poor littlecreatures were stiff after a month's constant buffeting, for the_Nimrod's_ passage had been stormy. One after another they were nowled out of their stalls into a horse-box and slung over the ice. Onceon _terra firma_ they seemed more at home, for they immediately beganpawing the snow as they were wont to do in their far-away Manchurianhome. 

[Illustration: SHACKLETON'S SHIP, THE _NIMROD_, AMONG THE ICE INMcMURDO SOUND, THE WINTER LAND QUARTERS OF THE BRITISH ANTARCTICEXPEDITION. _By Sir Ernest Shackleton's permission from his book "TheHeart of the Antarctic, " published by Mr. Heinemann_. ]

The spacious hut, brought out by Shackleton, was soon erected. Neverwas such a luxurious house set up on the bleak shores of the Polarseas. There was a dark room for developing, acetylene gas for lighting, a good stove for warming, and comfortable cubicles decorated withpictures. The dark room was excellent, and never was a book of travelsmore beautifully illustrated than Shackleton's _Heart of theAntarctic_. 

True, during some of the winter storms and blizzards the hut shookand trembled so that every moment its occupants thought it would becarried bodily away, but it stood its ground all right. The long winterwas spent as usual in preparing for the spring expedition to the south, but it was 29th October 1908 before the weather made it possible tomake a start. The party consisted of Shackleton, Adams, Marshall, andWild, each leading a pony which dragged a sledge with food forninety-one days. 

"A glorious day for our start, " wrote Shackleton in his diary, "brilliant sunshine and a cloudless sky. As we left the hut where wehad spent so many months in comfort we had a feeling of real regretthat never again would we all be together there. A clasp of the handsmeans more than many words, and as we turned to acknowledge the men'scheer, and saw them standing on the ice by the familiar cliffs, I feltwe must try to do well for the sake of every one concerned in theexpedition. "

New land in the shape of ice-clad mountains greeted the explorers on22nd November. "It is a wonderful place we are in, all new to the world, "says Shackleton; "there is an impression of limitless solitude aboutit that makes us feel so small as we trudge along, a few dark speckson the snowy plain. "

They now had to quit the Barrier in order to travel south. Fortunatelythey found a gap, called the Southern Gateway, which afforded a directline to the Pole. But their ponies had suffered badly during the march;they had already been obliged to shoot three of them, and on 7thDecember the last pony fell down a crevasse and was killed. They hadnow reached a great plateau some seven thousand feet above the sea;it rose steadily toward the south, and Christmas Day found them "lyingin a little tent, isolated high on the roof of the world, far fromthe ways trodden by man. " With forty-eight degrees of frost, driftingsnow, and a biting wind, they spent the next few days hauling theirsledges up a steep incline. They had now only a month's food left. Pressing on with reduced rations, in the face of freezing winds, theyreached a height of ten thousand and fifty feet. 

It was the 6th of January, and they were in latitude 88 degrees, whena "blinding, shrieking blizzard" made all further advance impossible. For sixty hours the four hungry explorers lay in their sleeping-bags, nearly perished with cold. "The most trying day we have yet spent, "writes Shackleton, "our fingers and faces being continuallyfrostbitten. To-morrow we will rush south with the flag. It is ourlast outward march. "

The gale breaking, they marched on till 9th January, when they stoppedwithin ninety-seven miles of the Pole, where they hoisted the UnionJack, and took possession of the great plateau in the King's name. 

"We could see nothing but the dead-white snow plain. There was no breakin the plateau as it extended towards the Pole. I am confident thatthe Pole lies on the great plateau we have discovered miles and milesfrom any outstanding land. "

And so the four men turned homewards. "Whatever our regret may be, we have done our best, " said the leader somewhat sadly. Blindingblizzards followed them as they made their way slowly back. On 28thJanuary they reached the Great Ice Barrier. Their food was well-nighspent; their daily rations consisted of six biscuits and somehorse-meat in the shape of the Manchurian ponies they had shot andleft the November before. But it disagreed with most of them, and itwas four very weak and ailing men who staggered back to the _Nimrod_toward the end of February 1909. 

Shackleton reached England in the autumn of 1909 to find that anotherAntarctic expedition was to leave our shores in the following summerunder the command of Scott, in the _Terra Nova_. It was one of thebest-equipped expeditions that ever started; motor-sledges had beenspecially constructed to go over the deep snow, which was fatal tothe motor-car carried by Shackleton. There were fifteen ponies andthirty dogs. Leaving England in July 1910, Scott was established inwinter quarters in McMurdo Sound by 26th January 1911. It was Novemberbefore he could start on the southern expedition. 

"We left Hut Point on the evening of 2nd November. For sixty mileswe followed the track of the motors (sent on five days before). Theponies are going very steadily. We found the motor party awaiting usin latitude 80-1/2 degrees south. The motors had proved entirelysatisfactory, and the machines dragged heavy loads over the worst partof the Barrier surface, crossing several crevasses. The sole causeof abandonment was the overheating of the air-cooled engines. We arebuilding snow cairns at intervals of four miles to guide homewardparties and leaving a week's provisions at every degree of latitude. As we proceeded the weather grew worse, and snowstorms were frequent. The sky was continually overcast, and the land was rarely visible. The ponies, however, continued to pull splendidly. "

As they proceeded south they encountered terrific storms of wind andsnow, out of which they had constantly to dig the ponies. Christmaspassed and the New Year of 1912 dawned. On 3rd January when one hundredand fifty miles from the Pole, "I am going forward, " says Scott, "witha party of five men with a month's provisions, and the prospect ofsuccess seems good, provided that the weather holds and no unforeseenobstacles arise. "

Scott and his companions successfully attained the object of theirjourney. They reached the South Pole on 17th January only to find thatthey had been forestalled by others! And it is remarkable to note thatso correct were their observations, the two parties located the Polewithin half a mile of one another. 

Scott's return journey ended disastrously. Blinding blizzardsprevented rapid progress; food and fuel ran short; still the weakenedmen struggled bravely forward till, within a few miles of a depot ofsupplies, death overtook them. 

Scott's last message can never be forgotten. "I do not regret thisjourney which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardship, help oneanother, and meet death with as great fortitude as ever in the past. .. . Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred theheart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies musttell the tale; but surely, surely, a great, rich country like ourswill see that those who are dependent upon us are properly providedfor. "

It was on 14th December 1911 that Captain Amundsen had reached thePole. A Norwegian, fired by the example of his fellow-countryman, Nansen, Amundsen had long been interested in both Arctic and Antarcticexploration. In a ship of only forty-eight tons, he had, with six others, made a survey of the North Magnetic Pole, sailed through the BehringStrait, and accomplished the North-West Passage, for which he wasawarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. On hisreturn he planned an expedition to the North Pole. He had made knownhis scheme, and, duly equipped for North Polar expedition in Nansen'slittle _Fram_, Amundsen started. Suddenly the world rang with the newsthat Peary had discovered the North Pole, and that Amundsen had turnedhis prow southwards and was determined to make a dash for the SouthPole. Landing in Whales Bay some four hundred miles to the east ofScott's winter quarters, his first visitors were the Englishmen onboard the _Terra Nova_, who were taking their ship to New Zealand forthe winter. 

Making a hut on the shore, Amundsen had actually started on his journeyto the Pole before Scott heard of his arrival. 

"I am fully alive to the complication in the situation arising outof Amundsen's presence in the Antarctic, " wrote the English explorer, "but as any attempt at a race might have been fatal to our chance ofgetting to the Pole at all, I decided to do exactly as I should havedone had not Amundsen been here. If he gets to the Pole he will bebound to do it rapidly with dogs, and one foresees that success willjustify him. "

Although the Norwegian explorer left his winter quarters on 8thSeptember for his dash to the Pole, he started too early; three ofhis party had their feet frostbitten, and the dogs suffered severely, so he turned back, and it was not till 20th October, just a week beforeScott's start, that he began in real earnest his historic journey. He was well off for food, for whales were plentiful on the shores ofthe Bay, and seals, penguins, and gulls abounded. The expedition waswell equipped, with eight explorers, four sledges, and thirteen dogsattached to each. 

"Amundsen is a splendid leader, supreme in organisation, and theessential in Antarctic travel is to think out the difficulties beforethey arise. " So said those who worked with him on his most successfuljourney. 

Through dense fog and blinding blizzards the Norwegians now made theirway south, their Norwegian skis and sledges proving a substantial help. The crevasses in the ice were very bad; one dog dropped in and hadto be abandoned; another day the dogs got across, but the sledge fellin, and it was necessary to climb down the crevasse, unpack the sledge, and pull up piece by piece till it was possible to raise the emptysledge. So intense was the cold that the very brandy froze in the bottleand was served out in lumps. 

"It did not taste much like brandy then, " said the men, "but it burntour throats as we sucked it. "

The dogs travelled well. Each man was responsible for his own team;he fed them and made them fond of him. Thus all through November theNorwegians travelled south, till they reached the vast plateaudescribed by Shackleton. One tremendous peak, fifteen thousand feethigh, they named "Frithjof Nansen. "

On 14th December they reached their goal; the weather was beautiful, the ground perfect for sledging. 

"At 3 p. M. We made halt, " says Amundsen. "According to our reckoning, we had reached our destination. All of us gathered round the colours--abeautiful silken flag; all hands took hold of it, and, planting iton the spot, we gave the vast plateau on which the Pole is situatethe name of 'The King Haakon VII. ' It was a vast plain, alike in alldirections, mile after mile. "

Here in brilliant sunshine the little party camped, takingobservations till 17th December, when, fastening to the ground alittle tent with the Norwegian flag and the _Fram_ pennant, they gaveit the name "Polheim" and started for home. 

[Illustration: CAPTAIN ROALD AMUNDSEN TAKING SIGHTS AT THE SOUTH POLE. From a photograph, by permission of Mr. John Murray and the_Illustrated London News_. ]

So the North and South Poles yielded up their well-hoarded secretsafter centuries of waiting, within two and a half years of one another. 

They had claimed more lives than any exploration had done before, oris ever likely to do again. 

And so ends the last of these great earth-stories--stories which havemade the world what it is to-day--and we may well say with one of themost successful explorers of our times, "The future may give usthrilling stories of the conquest of the air, but the spirit of manhas mastered the earth. "

DATES OF CHIEF EVENTS

PAGE DATE 4 The oldest known Ships . . . . . . . . . . . . . B. C. 6000-5000 7 Expedition to Punt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 1600 11 Phoenician Expeditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 700 19 Neco's Fleet built . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 613 23 Anaximander, the Greek, invents Maps . . . . . . " 580 25 Hecataeus writes the First Geography . . . . . . " 500 27 Herodotus describes Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . " 446 30 Hanno sails down West Coast of Africa . . . . . . " 450 32 Xenophon crosses Asia Minor . . . . . . . . . . . " 401 38 Alexander the Great finds India . . . . . . . . . " 327 41 Nearchus navigates the Indian Ocean . . . . . . . " 326 45 The Geography of Eratosthenes . . . . . . . . . . " 240-196 48 Pytheas discovers the British Isles and Thule . . " 333 55 Julius Caesar explores France, Britain, Germany . " 60-54 61 Strabo's Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. D. 18 68 Agricola discovers the Highlands . . . . . . . . " 83 71 Pliny's Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 170 74 Ptolemy's Geography and Maps . . . . . . . . . . " 159 78 The First Guide for Travellers . . . . . . . . . Fourth century 83 St. Patrick explores Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432-93 85 St. Columba reaches the Orkney Isles . . . . . . . . . . . 563 85 St. Brandon crosses the Atlantic . . . . . . . . Sixth century 90 Willibald travels from Britain to Jerusalem . . . . . . . . 721 92 The Christian Topography of Cosmas . . . . . . . Sixth century 94 Naddod the Viking discovers Iceland . . . . . . . . . . . . 861 95 Erik the Red discovers Greenland . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985 95 Lief discovers Newfoundland and North American Coast . . . 1000 97 Othere navigates the Baltic Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890 99 Mohammedan Travellers to China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831103 Edrisi's Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1154108 Benjamin of Tudela visits India and China . . . . . . . . . 1160110 Carpini visits the Great Khan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1246112 William de Rubruquis also visits the Great Khan . . . . . . 1255115 Maffio and Niccolo Polo reach China . . . . . . . . . . 1260-71117 Marco Polo's Travels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1271-95126 Ibn Batuta's Travels through Asia . . . . . . . . . . . 1324-48126 Sir John Mandeville's Travels published . . . . . . . . . . 1372134 Hereford Mappa Mundi appeared . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1280137 Anglo-Saxon Map of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990138 Prince Henry of Portugal encourages Exploration . . . . . . 1418140 Zarco and Vaz reach Porto Santo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1419140 Zarco discovers Madeira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1420142 Nuno Tristam discovers Cape Blanco . . . . . . . . . . . . 1441143 Gonsalves discovers Cape Verde Islands . . . . . . . . . . 1442144 Cadamosto reaches the Senegal River and Cape Verde . . . . 1455145 Diego Gomez reaches the Gambia River . . . . . . . . . . . 1458148 Death of Prince Henry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1460149 Fra Mauro's Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1457150 Diego Cam discovers the Congo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1484152 Bartholomew Diaz rounds the Cape of Good Hope . . . . . . . 1486153 Martin Behaim makes his Globe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1492160 Christopher Columbus discovers West Indies . . . . . . . . 1492166 Columbus finds Jamaica and other Islands . . . . . . . . . 1493167 Columbus finds Trinidad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1498169 Death of Columbus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1504170 Amerigo Vespucci finds Trinidad and Venezuela . . . . . . . 1499175 First Map of the New World by Juan de la Cosa . . . . . . . 1500177 Vasco da Gama reaches India by the Cape . . . . . . . . . . 1497181 Pedro Cabral discovers Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1500188 Francisco Serrano reaches the Spice Islands . . . . . . . . 1511192 Balboa sees the Pacific Ocean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1513203 The First Circumnavigation of the World . . . . . . . . 1519-22206 Cordova discovers Yucatan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1517206 Juan Grijalva discovers Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1518209 Cortes conquers Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1519217 Pizarro conquers Peru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1531221 Orellana discovers the Amazon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1541225 Cabot sails to Newfoundland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1497228 Jacques Cartier discovers the Gulf of St. Lawrence . . . . 1534236 Sir Hugh Willoughby finds Nova Zembla . . . . . . . . . . . 1553238 Richard Chancellor reaches Moscow _via_ Archangel . . . . . 1554240 Anthony Jenkinson crosses Russia to Bokhara . . . . . . . . 1558244 Pinto claims the discovery of Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . 1542245 Martin Frobisher discovers his Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . 1576249 Drake sails round the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1577-80260 Davis finds his Strait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1586269 Barents discovers Spitzbergen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1596275 Hudson sails into his Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1610281 Baffin discovers his Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1616285 Sir Walter Raleigh explores Guiana . . . . . . . . . . . . 1595290 Champlain discovers Lake Ontario . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1615298 Torres sails through his Strait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1605299 Le Maire rounds Cape Horn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1617302 Tasman finds Tasmania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1642306 Dampier discovers his Strait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1698312 Behring finds his Strait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1741322 Cook discovers New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1769326 Cook anchors in Botany Bay, Australia . . . . . . . . . . . 1770333 Cook discovers the Sandwich Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . 1777338 La Perouse makes discoveries in China Seas . . . . . . . 1785-8347 Bruce discovers the source of the Blue Nile . . . . . . . . 1770353 Mungo Park reaches the Niger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1796359 Vancouver explores his Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1792362 Mackenzie discovers his River and British Columbia . . 1789-93366 Ross discovers Melville Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1818368 Parry discovers Lancaster Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1819372 Franklin reaches the Polar Sea by Land . . . . . . . . 1819-22378 Parry's discoveries on North American Coast . . . . . . . . 1822382 Franklin names the Mackenzie River . . . . . . . . . . . . 1825386 Beechey doubles Icy Cape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1826388 Parry attempts the North Pole by Spitzbergen . . . . . . . 1827392 Denham and Clapperton discover Lake Tchad . . . . . . . . . 1822396 Clapperton reaches the Niger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1826397 Rene Caille enters Timbuktu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1829402 Richard and John Lander find the Mouth of the Niger . . . . 1830404 Ross discovers Boothia Felix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1829405 James Ross finds the North Magnetic Pole . . . . . . . . . 1830411 Bass discovers his Strait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1797413 Flinders and Bass sail round Tasmania . . . . . . . . . . . 1798416 Flinders surveys South Coast of Australia . . . . . . . . 1801-4421 Sturt traces the Darling and Murray Rivers . . . . . . 1828-31424 Burke and Wills cross Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1861429 Ross discovers Victoria Land in the Antarctic . . . . . . . 1840432 Franklin discovers the North-West Passage . . . . . . . . . 1847440 Livingstone crosses Africa from West to East . . . . . 1849-56452 Burton and Speke discover Lake Tanganyika . . . . . . . . . 1857454 Speke sees Victoria Nyanza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1858457 Livingstone finds Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa . . . . . . . 1858-64461 Speke and Grant enter Uganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1861468 Baker meets Speke and Grant at Gondokoro . . . . . . . . . 1861470 Baker discovers Albert Nyanza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1864477 Livingstone finds Lakes Meoro and Bangweolo . . . . . . . . 1868482 Stanley finds Livingstone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871484 Livingstone dies at Ilala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1873499 Stanley finds the Mouth of the Congo . . . . . . . . . . . 1877509 Nordenskiold solves the North-East Passage . . . . . . . . 1879519 Younghusband enters Lhasa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904524 Nansen reaches Farthest North . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1895534 Peary reaches the North Pole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909544 Amundsen reaches the South Pole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1911

INDEX

Abram, 4. 

Abyssinia, 344-7. 

Afghanistan, 36. 

Africa, 20-2, 72, 103, 127, 339. 

 " Central, 349-56, 391-402, 442-500. 

 " South, 152, 173-6, 440. 

 " West Coast, 22, 30, 139, 143-51, 349. 

Agricola, 68. 

Alaska, 317, 334, 338. 

Albert Nyanza, 470. 

Albuquerque, Alphonso d', 184-8. 

Alexander the Great, 35-43. 

Alexandria, 45, 74. 

Alfred the Great, 96. 

Almagro, Diego de, 220. 

Almeida, Francisco, 184-6. 

 " Lorenzo, 185-6. 

Alvarado, Pedro de, 206, 208. 

Amazon, 221. 

America (Central), 168, 170, 191, 205. 

 " (North), 95, 228, 255, 275, 316, 358. 

 " (South), 167, 170, 180, 196, 215, 252. 

Amundsen, R. , 542-4. 

_Anabasis_ (of Xenophon), 34. 

Anaximander, 23. 

Andes, 217, 220. 

Antarctic regions, 331, 428-31, 536-44. 

Arab explorers, 98-107, 126. 

_Arabian Nights, The_, 101. 

Arctic regions, 53, 238, 259-84, 312-8, 365-90, 403-9, 501-10, 521-35. 

Arculf, 88-90. 

Argonauts, 13-6. 

Auckland, 429. 

Australia, 296-301, 307-11, 326-38, 410-27. 

Babylonia, 3-4, 32. 

Back, Sir George, 372-4, 382. 

Baffin, William, 280-3. 

Baffin's Bay, 282-3. 

Bagdad, 109. 

Bahamas, 160. 

Baker, Sir Samuel, 465-73. 

Balboa, Vasco Nunez de, 190-3. 

Balbus, 72. 

Bangweolo, Lake, 477. 

Banks, Sir Joseph, 320, 336, 349, 413. 

Barents, William, 265-72. 

Bass, George, 410-3. 

Baudin, Nicholas, 414. 

Behring, Vitus, 312-8. 

Behring's Strait, 312-8, 334. 

Benjamin of Tudela, 108. 

Black Sea, 14. 

Bogle, George, 512. 

_Book of the Tartars_, 97. 

Boothia, 404. 

Borneo, 102. 

Botany Bay, 326, 336. 

Brandon's Isle, 86-7. 

Brazil, 181, 196. 

British Columbia, 358, 362. 

 " Isles, 48, 50-2, 57-60, 66-9, 74. 

Bruce, James, 339-48. 

Burke, R. O'Hara, 424. 

Burton, Sir Richard, 450-5. 

Button, Sir Thomas, 280. 

Cabot, John and Sebastian, 224-7. 

Cabral, Pedro, 180-2. 

Cadamosto, Luigi, 143-5. 

Caille, Rene, 396. 

Calicut, 129, 177-8, 181-3, 186. 

California, 255. 

Cam, Diego, 150-1. 

Canada, 228-34. 

Cano, Juan del, 204. 

Carpentaria, 300, 416. 

Carpini, Johannes, 110. 

Cartier, Jacques, 228-34. 

Caspian Sea, 36, 240. 

Cassiterides, _see_ "Tin Islands. "

Cathay, _see_ China. 

Ceylon, 91, 105, 124, 185-6. 

Champlain, Samuel, 290-5. 

Chancellor, Richard, 235-9. 

Chatham Island, 358. 

Chelyuskin, Cape, 504, 522. 

Chili, 220, 254. 

China, 75, 92, 99-101, 110-24, 130-1. 

Chitral, 38. 

_Christian Topography_, 92, 133. 

Christmas Island, 333. 

Chukches, 315, 507. 

Circumnavigation of Africa, 19-22. 

 " " the World, 196-204, 249-57, 308. 

Clapperton, Lieut. Hugh, 391-6. 

Cochin, 184-5. 

Columbus, Christopher, 155-70. 

Cook, James, 319-35. 

Congo River, 150-1, 480, 491-500. 

Cordova, Francisco Hernando de, 205. 

Cortes, Hernando, 207-14. 

Cosmas, 90-2, 132. 

Cuba, 161, 166. 

Dampier, William, 306-11. 

Darien, 168, 191-2. 

Davis, John, 259-64. 

Davis Strait, 260, 281. 

Delphi, 24. 

Denham, Major, 391-5. 

Diaz, Bartholomew, 151-4, 180-1. 

Drake, Sir Francis, 249-58. 

Drusus (Germanicus), 69-71. 

Edrisi, 108. 

Egypt, 4-8, 26. 

"El Dorado, " 222, 285. 

Eratosthenes, 45-7. 

Erik, 94. 

Eskimos, 246, 262, 281, 367, 379, 385, 405, 435. 

Flinders, Matthew, 410-8. 

Floki, 94. 

Florida, 205. 

France, _see_ Gaul. 

Franklin, Sir John, 368, 372-8, 382-7, 482-9. 

Franz Joseph Land, 526-8. 

"Friar John, " _see_ Carpini. 

Frobisher, Martin, 245-8, 296. 

Gama, Vasco da, 171-9, 182-3. 

Gambia River, 30, 145, 349, 355. 

Gardar, 94. 

Gaul, 53-8. 

Germany, 55-7, 69-71. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 259. 

Gobi Desert, 75, 118. 

Gomez, Diego, 145-8. 

Good Hope, Cape of, 21, 152-4, 174, 181, 257. 

Grant, Captain J. A. , 460-6. 

Greenland, 95, 246, 260-3, 274, 282, 501, 521. 

Grijalva, Juan, 206. 

Guiana, 287-8. 

Hanno, 29-32. 

Hawaii, 333, 335. 

Hawkins, Sir John, 250. 

Hayti, 161, 168, 191. 

Hecataeus, 25. 

Hedin, Sven, 518. 

Helena, 77-8. 

Henry of Portugal, Prince, 138-49. 

Herodotus, 19-22, 26-9. 

Himilco, 49. 

Holland, 51. 

Homer, 16-8. 

Honduras, 213-4. 

Horn, Cape, 253, 300. 

Houghton, Major, 350-1. 

Huc, Abbe, 514-8. 

Hudson, Henry, 273-9. 

Hudson River, 276. 

 " Strait, 248, 277, 281. 

Hudson's Bay, 246, 372. 

Huron Lake, 294. 

Ibn Batuta, 126-32. 

Iceland, 94, 277. 

India, 38-43, 66, 128, 177-86. 

Ireland, 59, 63, 66, 69, 83-6. 

Ithobal, 20-3. 

_Itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem_, 78-9. 

Jamaica, 166. 

Japan, 123, 241, 282. 

Java, 124, 328. 

Jenkinson, Anthony, 240-1. 

Jerusalem, 24, 77-9, 89. 

Julius Caesar, 54-60. 

Kamtchatka, 313-8. 

Kara Sea, 504, 522. 

 " Strait, 503. 

King Edward VII. 's Land, 536. 

Kin Sai, 120. 

Kublai Khan, 115-25. 

Kyber Pass, 38. 

Labrador, 96, 228, 262-4. 

Ladrones Islands, 202. 

Lander, John and Richard, 396, 399-402. 

La Perouse, Comte de, 338. 

Lapland, 238. 

Le Maire, Isaac, 299. 

Lhasa, 511-20. 

Libya, 20, 27-9. 

Lief, 95. 

Livingstone, David, 440-9, 456-9, 474-85. 

Machin, Robert, 141. 

McClintock, Sir Leopold, 433-9. 

McClure, Sir R. J. Le M. , 433. 

Mackenzie, Alexander, 362-4, 382. 

Madagascar, 103. 

Madeira, 86, 140. 

Magellan, Ferdinand, 190, 193-202, 296. 

Magellan's Strait, 198-9, 253. 

Magnetic Poles, 405, 430. 

Malabar, 182-3. 

Malacca, 187-8. 

Malay Archipelago, 188-9. 

Mandeville, Sir John, 126. 

Manilla, 298. 

Manning, Thomas, 513. 

Maoris, 303, 322. 

Maps (ancient), 24, 46, 62, 75, 92, 108, 133-7, 149, 305. 

Massoudy, 107. 

_Meadows of Gold_, 107. 

Mesopotamia, 2-4. 

Mexico, 206-14. 

Mongolia, _see_ China. 

Montreal, 232, 292, 295. 

Mota, Antonio de, 241. 

Mozambique, 176. 

Mumbo Jumbo, 350. 

Murchison Falls, 472. 

Murray River, 421. 

Murrumbidgee River, 420-4. 

Naddod, 94. 

Nansen, Fridtjof, 521-9. 

Natal, 175. 

Nearchus, 41-5. 

Neco, 19-20. 

New Albion, 255, 333, 358. 

Newfoundland, 96, 225-7, 275. 

New Guinea, 298, 303-5, 310. 

New Holland, _see_ Australia. 

New South Wales, 328, 410, 415. 

New Zealand, 303, 322-6. 

Niger River, 72, 348, 353-6, 396, 399-402. 

Nigeria, 394-402. 

Nile, The, 4-9, 27, 339-42, 345-7, 454-62, 468, 470. 

Nordenskiold, Baron, 501-10. 

North-East Passage, 235-40, 315, 501-10. 

North-West Passage, 245-64, 290, 332, 366, 403, 433. 

North Pole, 531-5. 

Nova Scotia, 229. 

Nova Zembla, 237, 265-72, 503. 

Nyassaland (and lake), 458-9, 475. 

Ontario, 294. 

Orellana, Francisco de, 220-2. 

Orinoco, 167, 285-8. 

Otaheite, 320-2. 

Othere, 96. 

Oudney, Dr. , 391-4. 

Oxus, 37, 117, 241. 

Pacific Ocean, 130, 192, 199-203, 250, 253. 

Panama, 191, 250, 306. 

Park, Mungo, 348-56, 396. 

Parry, Sir W. E. , 365-71, 378-81, 388-90. 

Patagonia, 196-9, 252. 

Paula, 80. 

Peary, R. E. , 530-5. 

Pekin, 115, 119. 

Pelsart, Captain, 300, 309. 

_Periplus_ (of Hanno), 29. 

Persia, 32-3, 117. 

Peru, 216-20. 

Philippine Islands, 202, 256. 

Phillip, Captain, 336. 

Phoenicians, 10-3, 19-23, 29-32. 

Pilgrims, 77-92. 

Pinto, Mendex, 241-2. 

Pizarro, Francisco, 215-23. 

Pliny, 66, 71-3. 

Polo, Niccolo, Maffio, and Marco 115-25. 

Prester John, 111, 126, 176. 

Prickett, Abacuk, 277, 280. 

Przhevalsky, N. M. , 518. 

Ptolemy, 74-6. 

Punjab, 39. 

Punt, 5-8. 

Pytheas, 48-53. 

Quebec, 290. 

Quilimane River, 175. 

Quiros, Pedro Fernandez De, 298. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 285-9. 

Red Sea, 5-7, 20-1, 343. 

Richardson, Sir John, 372-87. 

Ripon Falls, 463. 

Ross, Sir James, 388, 403-9, 428-31, 433. 

Ross, Sir John, 365-8, 403-9. 

Rubruquis, William de, 112-4. 

Russia, 238-40, 313. 

Sahara, 391. 

St. Brandon, 85-7. 

St. Columba, 84-5. 

St. Lawrence River, 228, 230, 290. 

St. Louis River, 292. 

St. Patrick, 83-4. 

St. Paul's Island, 200. 

Sandwich Islands, 333, 335. 

San Francisco, 255. 

Sargasso Sea, 50. 

Scandinavia, 72, 93, 97. 

Schouten, Cornelius, 299. 

Scotland, 68, 84-5. 

Scott, Captain R. F. , 536-42. 

Senegal River, 30, 144, 351. 

Sequira, Diogo Lopes de, 186. 

Serrano, Francisco, 188, 194. 

Shackleton, Sir E. H. , 536-40. 

Shirwa, Lake, 457. 

Siberia, 313-8. 

Sierra Leone, 29-30, 143. 

"Sindbad the Sailor, " 101-6. 

Society Islands, 322. 

Socotra, 184. 

Solis, Juan Diaz de, 196. 

Somaliland, _see_ Punt. 

South Pole, 536-44. 

Spain, 49, 64. 

Speke, J. H. , 450-5, 460-6. 

Spice Islands, 188-90, 203, 256. 

Spitzbergen, 269, 274, 388, 501. 

Staaten Land, 299, 303, 324. 

Stanley, Sir H. M. , 480-2, 486-500. 

Stanley Falls, 494. 

Strabo, 52, 61-7. 

Sturt, Captain, 418-24. 

Sudan, The, 468. 

Sumatra, 104, 124, 130, 187. 

Sydney, 337. 

Sylvia of Aquitaine, 80-2. 

Tacitus, 69-71. 

Tanganyika, 452, 476, 491. 

Tartary, 110. 

Tasman, Abel Jansen, 302-5. 

Tasmania, 302-5, 413. 

Tchad, Lake, 392. 

Thule, 51-3, 97. 

Tibet, 123, 511-20. 

Tierra del Fuego, 199, 254. 

Timbuktu, 391-8. 

"Tin Islands, " The, 10, 12, 48-50. 

Tippu Tib, 492. 

Torres, Luiz Vaez de, 298. 

Torres Strait, 298. 

Trinidad, 167. 

Tsana, Lake, 345. 

Tyre, 29. 

Uganda, 461, 488. 

Ulysses, 16-8. 

Vancouver, 255, 357-61. 

Vancouver, Captain, 357-61. 

Van Diemen's Land, 302, 410-2. 

Vasco da Gama, _see_ Gama. 

Vera Cruz, 208-9. 

Vespucci, Amerigo, 169-70. 

Victoria Falls, 445. 

 " Nyanza, 454, 462, 487. 

Vikings, 93-6. 

West Indies, 160-1, 164-8. 

White Sea, 238. 

Willibald, 90. 

Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 235-8. 

Wills, W. J. , 424-6. 

Xenophon, 22-4, 33-4. 

Younghusband, Sir F. E. , 519. 

Zambesi River, 442-8. 

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