world into three parts, the middle part inhabited, the north-
ern part he wrote is without inhabitants on account of the ex-
cessive cold, and the southern part on the equator he wrote
was uninhabited on account of the heat. Now of all these
things we found just the contrary, because we saw (or have
seen) the Arctic pole inhabited even beyond where the pole
star is directly overhead, and the equator inhabited by blacks
where there is such a multitude of tribes that it is almost not
to be believed. And that southern part is full of trees and
fruits; but the fruits are different and the trees are incred-
ibly tall and large. And I say this, to be sure, because I
have seen a large part of the world, but never the like of
this."i One wishes that before his death the great prince
might have beheld the wonders of the tropics with his own
eyes.
The opening of the Atlantic to continuous exploration is the most momentous step in the history of man's occupation of the earth. It was destined to change the centre of grav- ity of the civilized world. Western Europe, so many cen- turies the frontier, became the centre, and to London, the Melbourne of Prince Henry's time, was given the fortune for a time at least to be the world's commercial capital, and to England, the inheritance of the Indies that he sought to reach.
The priority of Henry's efforts to explore the coast of Africa has been disputed, but the case with him is much as it is with Columbus and his alleged precursors. Their voy-
^ Gomez, in Schmeller, 23, ** quia polam arcticum vidimus habitatum usque ultra perpendiculum poli," etc. Compare with Columbus' voyage one hundred leagues beyond the island of Tile (Thule). " lo navigai I'anno 1477 nel mese di Febraio oltra Tile isola, cento leghe, la cui parte australe e lontana dall' equino- ttiale settantatre gradi . . . non era congelato il mare, quantunque vi fossero si grosse maree, che in alcuni luoghi ascendeva ventisei bracci, e discendeva altre- tanti in altezza." Historic, cap. VI.
In both statements there is a fabulous element which may simply be the natural exaggeration of a sailor's yarn, coupled with ignorance. There is no good reason, it seems to me, to decline to believe that Columbus made an arctic voyage, because he asserts that he saw tides one hundred and fifty feet high, or that Gomez did not because he asserts that he went beyond the North Pole !
