We enter now a new epoch in maritime discovery. Hitherto, if we exclude the voyages of the Northmen, there had been no attempt worthy the name of systematic ocean exploration. In the words of Major, "the pathways of the human race had been the mountain, the river, and the plain, the strait, the lake, the inland sea," but now a road is open through the trackless ocean, "a road replete with danger, but abundant in promise." Portugal, guided by the genius of Prince Henry the Navigator, was the first to shake off the lethargy which had so long rested on Europe. For some time past the Portuguese had been gradually eclipsing the Italians in maritime enterprise; but not until a prince leaves the pleasures of youth for the perils of the sea, throwing his life into the cause with all the ardor of a devotee, does ocean navigation become anything more than private commercial speculation, with now and then some slight aid from governments. True, others had undertaken the voyage round Africa, but Portugal was perhaps the first to make it. As D'Avesac remarks, _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1846, tom. cx. p. 161: "Les Portugais ne s'y engagèrent point les premiers; mais seuls ils y persevérèrent, et les premiers ils atteignirent le but." Born in the year 1394, at a time when under his father, John, Portugal was already casting wistful glances over the Sea of Darkness, Prince Henry devoted his early life to geographical studies and his later life to discovery. Leaving the pomp and luxury of his father's court, he removed to the coast of Algarve, and from the dreary headland of Sagres let fly his imagination along the unknown shores of Africa. Drawing to him such young noblemen as were willing to share his labors, he established a school of navigation, giving special care to the study of cartography and mathematics. The geographical position of his native land was to the Portuguese, in regard to oceanic adventure, not unlike that of the Italians in regard to Mediterranean navigation. Several causes united to inspire this prince with so noble an ambition. He desired to promote geographical science; to test the theories and traditions of the day; to know the truth concerning the disputed question of the form and extent of southern Africa; to turn the flow of riches, the gold and spices and slaves of India, from Italy into his own country. Nor was this last stimulant lessened by the fact that of late, by reason of Mahometan encroachments on Christian dominions, the old avenues of eastern traffic _via_ the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf, or by the Red Sea and caravans across the deserts, were yearly becoming more insecure, and this too at a time when the taste for eastern luxuries was constantly increasing. Yet other incentives were Christian rivalry and Christian zeal. Spain had carried the cross to the Canaries; rumors kept coming in of Prester John and his Christian kingdom, now supposed to be in Africa instead of in Asia. Prince Henry moreover was grand master of the Order of Christ, and it behooved him to be stirring. _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. i. p. xxvi.; _Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, pp. 33-4.