t was the
custom of his navigators to leave his motto, _Talent de bien faire_,
wherever they came; and in 1525 Loaya, a Spanish captain, found that
device carved on the bark of a tree in the island of St Matthew, or
Anabon, in the _second_ degree of southern latitude. But this proof is
quite inconclusive, as the navigators long reared in the school of this
great prince might naturally enough continue his impress upon the
countries they visited, even after his lamented death.

About seven years before the decease of Don Henry, two voyages were made
to the African coast by Alvise da Cada Mosto, a Venetian navigator, under
the auspices of the Duke of Viseo; but which we have chosen to separate
from the historical deduction of the Portuguese discoveries, principally
because they contain the oldest nautical journal extant, except those
already given in our First Part from the pen of the great Alfred, and are
therefore peculiarly valuable in a work of this nature. Their
considerable length, likewise, and because they were not particularly
conducive to the grand object of extending the maritime discoveries, have
induced us to detach them from the foregoing narrative, that we might
carry it down unbroken to the death of the great Don Henry. These voyages,
likewise, give us an early picture of the state of population,
civilization, and manners of the Africans, not to be met with elsewhere.

To this we subjoin an abstract of the narrative of a voyage made by Pedro
de Cintra, a Portuguese captain, to the coast of Africa, drawn up for
Cada Mosto, at Lagos, by a young Portuguese who had been his secretary,
and who had accompanied Cintra in his voyage. The exact date of this
voyage is nowhere given; but as the death of Don Henry is mentioned in
the narrative, it probably took place in that year, 1463.

[1] So called from the number of hawks which were seen on these islands
when first discovered, _Acor_ signifying a hawk in the Portuguese
language; hence Acores or Acoras, pronounced Azores, signifies the
Islands of Hawks.--Clarke.

[2] Peripl. of the Erythr. Sea, 193.

[3] Hist. of the Disc. of India, prefixed to the translation of the Lusiad,
I. 158.

CHAPTER IV.

ORIGINAL JOURNALS OF THE VOYAGES OF CADA MOSTO, AND PIEDRO DE CINTRA TO
THE COAST OF AFRICA; THE FORMER IN THE YEARS 1455 AND 1456, AND THE
LATTER SOON AFTERWARDS[1].

INTRODUCTION.

Alvise Da Cada Mosto, a Venetian, in the service of