310, 311

Superstitious fancies 311, 312

Clumsiness of ships in the fifteenth century 312

Dangers from famine and scurvy 313

The mariner's compass; an interesting letter from Brunetto
Latini to Guido Cavalcanti 313-315

Calculating latitudes and longitudes 315

Prince Henry the Navigator 316-326

His idea of an ocean route to the Indies, and what it
might bring 318

The Sacred Promontory 319

The Madeira and Canary islands 320-322

Gil Eannes passes Cape Bojador 323

Beginning of the modern slave-trade, 1442 323

Papal grant of heathen countries to the Portuguese
crown 324, 325

Advance to Sierra Leone 326

Advance to the Hottentot coast 326, 327

Note upon the extent of European acquaintance with
savagery and the lower forms of barbarism previous
to the fifteenth century 327-329

Effect of the Portuguese discoveries upon the theories
of Ptolemy and Mela 329, 330

News of Prester John; Covilham's journey 331

Bartholomew Dias passes the Cape of Good Hope and enters the
Indian ocean 332

Some effects of this discovery 333

Bartholomew Columbus took part in it 333

Connection between these voyages and the work of Christopher
Columbus 334

CHAPTER V.

THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES.

_WESTWARD OR SPANISH ROUTE._

Sources of information concerning the life of Columbus;
Las Casas and Ferdinand Columbus 335

The Biblioteca Colombina at Seville 336, 337

Bernaldez and Peter Martyr 338

Letters of Columbus 338

Defects in