ll
river, near the Rio Grande, the Portuguese considered an insular
position to be the most eligible for a settlement, and the island of
Arguin was accordingly fixed upon.

This establishment had been scarcely formed, when an important event
took place, which afforded a favourable opportunity and pretext for
laying the foundation of the Portuguese empire in Africa. Bemoy, a
prince of the Jaloofs, arrived at Arguin, as a suppliant for foreign
aid, in recovering his dominions from a more powerful competitor or
usurper. He was received with open arms, and conveyed to Lisbon,
where he experienced a brilliant reception, his visit being
celebrated by all the festal exhibitions peculiar to that age,
bull-fights, puppet-shows, and even feats of dogs. On that occasion,
Bemoy made a display of the agility of his native attendants, who on
foot, kept pace with the swift horses, mounting and alighting from
these animals at full gallop After being instructed in the Christian
religion, he was baptized, and did homage to the king and the pope,
for the crown, which was to be placed on his head; for this purpose a
powerful armament under the command of Pero vaz d'Acunha, was sent
out with him, to the banks of the Senegal.

The circumstance, which tended more particularly to inflame the pious
zeal of the Christian monarch, was the information, that to the east
of Timbuctoo there was a territory inhabited by a people who were
neither moors nor pagans, but who, in many of their customs resembled
the Christians. It was immediately inferred, that this could be no
other than the kingdom of the mysterious personage known in Europe,
under the uncouth appellation of Prester John. This singular name
seems first to have been introduced by travellers from eastern Asia,
where it had been applied to some Nestorian bishop, who held there a
species of sovereignty, and when rumours arrived of the Christian
king of Abyssinia, he was concluded to be the real Prester John.
His dominions being reported to stretch far inland, and the breadth
of the African continent being very imperfectly understood, the
conclusion was formed, that a mission from the western coast might
easily reach his capital. It does not fully appear, what were the
precise expectations from an intercourse with this great personage,
but it seems to have been thoroughly rooted in the minds of the
Portuguese, that they would be raised to a matchless height of glory
and felicity, if they c