wards 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 already
been given they are shown exactly as Fra Mauro drew them, with the
north at the _bottom_ and the south at the _top_, as is nearly always
the case in mediaeval maps. In this outline of Africa, which is
generally supposed to show the results of Prince Henry's labours, the
map has been put the right way up. It was prepared between 1457 and
1459.]

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

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

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

"In the year of our Lord 1460, Prince Henry fell ill in his town on
Cape 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 of
modern discovery." What had he done? He had inspired and financed the
Portuguese navigators to sail for some two thousand miles down the
West African coast. "From his wave-washed home he inspired the courage
of his men and planned their voyages, and by the purity of his actions
and the devotion of his life really lived up