to his inspiring motto,
'Talent de bien faire.'" And more than this. For each successive
discovery had been carefully noted at the famous Sagres settlement,
and these had been worked up by an Italian monk named Fra Mauro into
an enormous wall-map over six feet across, crammed with detail--the
work of three years' incessant labour.

CHAPTER XXI

BARTHOLOMEW DIAZ REACHES THE STORMY CAPE

But though Prince Henry was dead, the enthusiasm he had aroused among
Portuguese navigators was not dead, and Portuguese ships still stole
forth by twos and threes to search for treasure down the West African
coast. In 1462 they reached Sierra Leone, the farthest point attained
by Hanno of olden days. Each new headland was now taken in the name
of Portugal: wooden crosses already marked each successive discovery,
and many a tree near the coast bore the motto of Prince Henry carved
roughly on its bark. Portugal had officially claimed this "Kingdom
of the Seas" as it was called, and henceforth stone crosses some six
feet high, inscribed with the arms of Portugal, the name of the
navigator, and the date of discovery, marked each newly found spot.

It was not until 1471 that the navigators unconsciously crossed the
Equator, "into a new heaven and a new earth." They saw stars unknown
in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Northern Pole star sank nearly
out of sight. Another thirteen years and Diego Cam, a knight of the
King's household, found the mouth of the Congo and erected a great
Portuguese pillar on the famous spot. It was in the year 1484 that
Diego Cam was ordered to go "as far to the south as he could." He crossed
the Equator, which for past years had been the limit of knowledge,
and, continuing southwards he reached the mouth of the mighty river
Congo, now known as the second of all the African rivers for size.
The explorer ascended the river, falling in with peacefully inclined
natives. But they could not make themselves understood, so Cam took
back four of them to Portugal, where they learned enough Portuguese
to talk a little. They were much struck with Portugal and the kind
treatment they received from the King, who sent them back to their
country laden with presents for their black King at home. So with Diego
Cam they all sailed back to the Congo River. They were received by
the King in royal state. Seated on a throne of ivory raised on a lofty
wooden platform, he could be seen from all sides, his "black and
glitterin