About the year 1418, when Prince Henry first began his plan of discovery, Cape Nun, in latitude 28 deg. 40’, was the limit of European knowledge on the coast of Africa.  With this part of the coast, the Portuguese had become acquainted in consequence of their wars with the Moors of Barbary.  In 1418, two of Henry’s commanders reached Cape Boyada in latitute 26 deg. 30’; but the Cape was not actually doubled till 1434.  The Canary islands were visited during the same voyage that the Cape was discovered:  Madeira was likewise visited or discovered; it was first called St. Laurence, after the saint of the day on which it was seen, and afterwards Madeira, on account of its woods.  In 1420, the Portuguese set fire to these woods, and afterwards planted the sugar cane, which they brought from Sicily, and the vines which they brought from Cyprus.  Saw mills were likewise erected on it.

About the year 1432, Gonzalos was sent with two small vessels to the coast of Africa on new discoveries.  In 1434, Cape Boyada was doubled:  in 1442, the Portuguese had advanced as far as Rio-do-Ouro, under the tropic of Cancer.  On the return of the ships from this voyage, the inhabitants of Lisbon first saw, with astonishment, negroes of a jet black complexion, and woolly hair, quite different from the slaves which had been hitherto brought from Africa; for, before this time, they had seized, and sold as slaves, the tawny Moors, which they met with on the coast of Africa.  In the year 1442, however, some of these had been redeemed by their friends, in exchange for negroes and gold dust.  This last article stimulated the avarice of the Portuguese to greater exertions, than Prince Henry had been able to excite, and an African company was immediately formed to obtain it, slaves, &c.; but their commerce was exclusively confined to the coast of Africa, to the south of Sierra Leone.  Dr. Vincent justly remarks, that Henry had stood alone for almost forty years, and had he fallen before these few ounces of gold reached his country, the spirit of discovery might have perished with him, and his designs might have been condemned as the dreams of a visionary.  The importation of this gold, and the establishment of the African company in Portugal, to continue the remark of the same author, is the primary date, to which we may refer that turn for adventure which sprung up in Europe, which pervaded all the ardent spirits in every country for the two succeeding centuries, and which never ceased till it had united the four quarters of the globe in commercial intercourse.

In 1445, the Portuguese reached Senegal, where they first saw Pagan negroes:  in 1448 and 1449, their discoveries extended to Cape Verd.  The islands of that name were discovered in 1456.  The exact extent of their discoveries from this time till 1463, when Prince Henry died, is not certainly known.  According to some, Cape Verd, or Rio Grande, was the limit; according to others, one navigator reached as