bly the first to
discover the line of no variation. On the return-voyage the reverse
was observed; the variation westward diminished until the meridian in
question was reached, when the needles again pointed due north. Thence,
as the coast of Europe was approached, the variation was to the
east. Columbus, therefore, came to the conclusion that the line of
no variation was a fixed geographical line, or boundary, between
the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. In the bull of May, 1493, Pope
Alexander VI. accordingly adopted this line as the perpetual boundary
between the possessions of Spain and Portugal, in his settlement of the
disputes of those nations. Subsequently, however, it was discovered that
the line was moving eastward. It coincided with the meridian of London
in 1662.

By the papal bull the Portuguese possessions were limited to the east of
the line of no variation. Information derived from certain Egyptian
Jews had reached that government, that it was possible to sail round the
continent of Africa, there being at its extreme south a cape which could
be easily doubled. An expedition of three ships under Vasco de Gama set
sail, July 9, 1497; it doubled the cape on November 20th, and reached
Calicut, on the coast of India, May 19, 1498. Under the bull, this
voyage to the East gave to the Portuguese the right to the India trade.

Until the cape was doubled, the course of De Gama's ships was in a
general manner southward. Very soon, it was noticed that the elevation
of the pole-star above the horizon was diminishing, and, soon after the
equator was reached, that star had ceased to be visible. Meantime other
stars, some of them forming magnificent constellations, had come into
view--the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. All this was in conformity
to theoretical expectations founded on the admission of the globular
form of the earth.

The political consequences that at once ensued placed the Papal
Government in a position of great embarrassment. Its traditions and
policy forbade it to admit any other than the flat figure of the earth,
as revealed in the Scriptures. Concealment of the facts was impossible,
sophistry was unavailing. Commercial prosperity now left Venice as well
as Genoa. The front of Europe was changed. Maritime power had departed
from the Mediterranean countries, and passed to those upon the Atlantic
coast.

But the Spanish Government did not submit to the advantage thus
gained by its commercial ri