ng
toward the tropic of Capricorn must have been fraught with added
discouragement, for it went to prove that, even if Ptolemy's theory was
wrong, at any rate the ocean route to Asia was indefinitely longer than
had been supposed. But was it possible to imagine any other route that
should be more direct? To a trained mariner of original and imaginative
mind, sojourning in Portugal and keenly watching the progress of African
discovery, the years just following the voyage of Santarem and Escobar
would be a period eminently fit for suggesting such a question. Let us
not forget this date of 1471 while we follow Prince Henry's work to its
first grand climax.

[Sidenote: News of Prester John.]

About the time that Diego Cam was visiting the tribes on the Congo, the
negro king of Benin, a country by the mouth of the Niger, sent an
embassy to John II. of Portugal (Prince Henry's nephew), with a request
that missionary priests might be sent to Benin. It has been thought that
the woolly-haired chieftain was really courting an alliance with the
Portuguese, or perhaps he thought their "medicine men" might have the
knack of confounding his foes. The negro envoy told King John that a
thousand miles or so east of Benin there was an august sovereign who
ruled over many subject peoples, and at whose court there was an order
of chivalry whose badge or emblem was a brazen cross. Such, at least,
was the king's interpretation of the negro's words, and forthwith he
jumped to the conclusion that this African potentate must be Prester
John, whose name was redolent of all the marvels of the mysterious East.
To find Prester John would be a long step toward golden Cathay and the
isles of spice. So the king of Portugal rose to the occasion, and
attacked the problem on both flanks at once. He sent Pedro de Covilham
by way of Egypt to Aden, and he sent Bartholomew Dias, with three
fifty-ton caravels, to make one more attempt to find an end to the
Atlantic coast of Africa.

[Sidenote: Covilham's journey.]

Covilham's journey was full of interesting experiences. He sailed from
Aden to Hindustan, and on his return visited Abyssinia, where the
semi-Christian king took such a liking to him that he would never let
him go. So Covilham spent the rest of his life, more than thirty years,
in Abyssinia, whence he was able now and then to send to Portugal items
of information concerning eastern Africa that were afterwards quite
serviceable in voyages upon