desire to do favor and justice to all the world." The
assembly he was addressing contained none of the slaves he had made. We
are told, however, and that by eye-witnesses, that the poor natives
themselves bitterly regretted his departure, and, wading through the
water, followed his vessel as far as they could. After his visit to
Spain and to Rome, he returned to his paternal domains in Normandy,
where, while meditating another voyage to his colony, he died in 1425.

Maciot de Bethencourt ruled for some time successfully; but afterward,
falling into disputes with the Bishop, and his affairs generally not
prospering, he sold his rights to Prince Henry of Portugal--also, as it
strangely appears, to another person--and afterward settled in Madeira.
The claims to the government of the Canaries were, for many years, in a
most entangled state; and the right to the sovereignty over these
islands was a constant ground of dispute between the crowns of Spain and
Portugal.

Thus ended the enterprise of Juan de Bethencourt, which, though it
cannot be said to have led to any very large or lasting results, yet, as
it was the first modern attempt of the kind, deserves to be chronicled
before commencing with Prince Henry of Portugal's long-continued and
connected efforts in the same direction. The events also which preceded
and accompanied Bethencourt's enterprise need to be recorded, in order
to show the part which many nations, especially the Spaniards, had in
the first discoveries on the coast of Africa.

We now turn to the history of the discoveries made, or rather caused to
be made, by Prince Henry of Portugal. This Prince was born in 1394. He
was the third son of John I of Portugal and Philippa, the daughter of
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. That good Plantagenet blood on the
mother's side was, doubtless, not without avail to a man whose life was
to be spent in continuous and insatiate efforts to work out a great
idea. Prince Henry was with his father at the memorable capture of
Ceuta, the ancient Septem, in 1415. This town, which lies opposite to
Gibraltar, was of great magnificence, and one of the principal marts in
that age for the productions of the East. It was here that the
Portuguese nation first planted a firm foot in Africa; and the date of
this town's capture may, perhaps, be taken as that from which Prince
Henry began to meditate further and far greater conquests. His aims,
however, were directed to a point long b