Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

The

trade, until, by their ruin, it was found to be better policy to leave it perfectly free and unshackled. But although the French companies did not derive much advantage from their patents, they entered upon their speculations with so much ardour as to add not a little to the stock of information; and until the time of the African association, the French held the foremost rank in the career of African discovery. In 1637, Jannequin, a young man of some rank and fortune, impelled by curiosity and the love of travel, undertook a voyage up the Senegal. He advanced no farther up the river than the district called the Terrier Rouge. He found the banks of the river thickly covered with mangoes. forests were full of echoes, occasioned by their length and profound solitude; "which echoes, on sounding of their trumpets, joined to the prospect of the banks ranged with fair palm-trees, whose shade promoted the refreshing breeze, was not the smallest pleasure that they tasted in these sun-burnt countries." The principal kings of the country, according to Jannequin, are the Damel king of Lybia, the Brak king of the Foolies, the Kamalingo chief of the Moors of Barbary, and the grand Samba Lamma king of the Moors and Berbers bordering on Timbuctoo. His geography of the interior rested more on fantastical theories than on any information he had received from the natives. "All the kingdoms before mentioned," he says, are watered by the Niger, which, having crossed the kingdom of Timbuctoo, divides into three branchés. The first passes into Barbary under the tropic of Cancer (a description which it is not easy to understand); the second falls into the sea between the kingdoms of Barbary and Senegal; the third, whose course is longer than that of the other two, enters the sea near the coast of Guinea." The opinion that the Niger and Senegal were identical was prevalent in his day, and continued in vogue in the beginning of the last century.

[ocr errors]

Between the years 1697 and 1715, much information respecting the country on the Senegal was procured by

the activity of Brue, who, during that period, had a large share in the administration of the affairs of the French African companies. In one of his numerous journeys he ascended the Senegal as far as Gallam; and established a fort or factory at Dramanet, a populous and commercial town. The inhabitants carried on a trade as far as Timbuctoo, which they described as situated 500 leagues in the interior. They imported from it gold and ivory, and slaves from Bambarra, which was represented by them as an extensive region between Timbuctoo and Cassan, barren but very populous. The kingdom of Cassan was said to be formed into a sort of island, or rather peninsula, by the branches of the Senegal; gold was so abundant there, that the metal often appeared on the surface of the ground. From these circumstances, it may be concluded that Cassan was in some degree confounded with Bambouk, which borders it on the south. It had long been the ambition of the French to find access to this golden country; but the jealousy of the native merchants presented an obstacle that could not be easily surmounted. At length, encouraged by Brue, a young man named Compagnon ventured to brave the dangers of the journey; he passed the dreaded boundary, and entered Bambouk under the protection of a native prince, whose favour he had procured. His appearance in that country caused, nevertheless, a mingled sensation of terror and amazement. His pru

dent and conciliatory demeanour at length won the favour and confidence of the native chiefs; and Compagnon was enabled in the course of a year and a half to travel to the most important districts of Bambouk. He still found it difficult, nevertheless, to procure specimens of the ghingan or golden earth, which he wanted only, he affirmed, to make a few tobacco pipes. The representations of Compagnon inflamed the desire of the French company to establish their power in the country of Bambouk. But such a measure required more force than they could bring into operation; and Fort St.

Joseph continued to be the farthest limit of the French establishments on the Senegal.

On the south-eastern coast of Africa the Portuguese very soon established their power; but as they made no efforts, or very feeble ones, to reach the interior, geography has derived but little benefit from the extension of their colonies: they overlooked the advantageous position of the Cape of Good Hope; and allowed the Dutch, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, to make that settlement, which, in the hands of the English, promises to become a source of civilisation to the savage inhabitants of southern Africa.

In this, and the two preceding chapters, it has been seen by what steps European nations came to fix themselves permanently on those portions of the globe with which but a few years before they had little or no acquaintance. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries produced a number of eminent travellers, whose writings may be still consulted with pleasure and utility. But to attempt to analyse or review the narratives of even those who are considered by the strictest criticism to hold the first rank in merit, would lead us far beyond the limits prescribed to this work. Besides, to trace the progress of geographical knowledge in minute detail, to point out what is due to various travellers, and to reconcile their differences, would be a labour equally difficult and tedious. It is sufficient for our purpose to attend only to those individual exertions and historical events which have tended unremittingly to advance and to consolidate our knowledge of the globe.

CHAP. XVI.

VOYAGES TO THE SOUTH SEA.

[ocr errors]

C EXPEDITION.

VOYAGE OF ALCAZAVA.-HE SENDS TO EXPLORE THE INTERIOR OF PATAGONIA. MUTINY OF THE CREW.-FAILURE OF THE VOYAGE OF CAMARGO. PERSEVERANCE OF LADRILLERO. DISCOVERIES OF VILLALOBOS. HE ATTEMPTS TO FIX A COLONY AT THE PHILIPPINES. NEW GUINEA. — LEGASPI DESPATCHED TO THE PHILIPPINES. VOYAGE OF URDANETA. -DISCOVERIES OF JUAN FERNANDEZ. --- NEW ZEALAND.

[ocr errors]

FIRST VOYAGE OF MENDANA. — HE DISCOVERS THE SALOMON ISLANDS. SECOND VOYAGE. THE MARQUESAS AND QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S ISLES DISCOVERED. - SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. HE BEHOLDS THE SOUTH SEA FROM THE ISTHMUS OF DARIEN. BOLD ATTEMPT OF JOHN OXNAM.-HIS UNFORTUNATE END. DRAKE'S EXPEDITION. -THE PATAGONIANS. EXECUTION OF DOUGHTIE. VOYAGE THROUGH THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN. DRAKE DRIVEN FAR TO THE SOUTH. HIS SUCCESSES ON THE COAST OF PERU. TAKES A SHIP LADEN WITH TREASURE.-SEEKS A PASSAGE BY THE NORTH. -REACHES A HIGH LATITUDE. NEW ALBION. -THE COUNTRY CEDED TO DRAKE. HE SAILS TO THE MOLUCCAS. -IS WELL RECEIVED BY THE KING OF TERNATE. CRAB ISLAND. NARROW ESCAPE. SAFE RETURN OF DRAKE. — HOW RECEIVED AT HOME.-ADVENTURES OF WILLIAM CARVER.

THE ardour of discovery which had prompted the court of Spain to despatch the well-prepared armaments of Magellan and Loyasa, was much abated by the indifferent success of these expeditions. The embarrassments of European politics, and the exhaustion of his treasury, prevented the emperor from taking energetic measures to extend or develope his distant possessions; and notwithstanding the difficulty with which the Spanish settlements in South America communicated overland, the attempts made by the government to open the navigation and establish an intercourse by the Straits of Magellan were few and ineffectual.

In 1534, Alcazava with two ships attempted to reach Peru by this course. On arriving at the western entrance of the strait, he saw a cross, supposed to have

[blocks in formation]

been erected there by Magellan; and the remains of a wreck, probably of a ship of Loyasa's fleet. The severity of the weather, and the want of water, caused much discontent among the crews; and Alcazava, with a facility which eventually proved fatal to him, yielded to the importunities of his officers, and returned to the port De Leones y Lobos (of (sea) Lions and Wolves, i.e. seals), on the coast of Patagonia. To employ the men, he planned an expedition up the country; but as the weak state of his health did not permit him to conduct it himself, he placed it under the command of Roderigo de la Isla. After a march of twenty-five leagues, the exploring party crossed a fine river, to which they gave the name of the Guadalquivir. When they had penetrated about a hundred leagues into the interior, and had been absent from the ships above three weeks, they found their slender stock of provisions totally consumed. Their Indian guides still tempted them on, assuring them that at no great distance was a populous country, the inhabitants of which wore on their arms large ornaments of gold; but necessity compelled the Spaniards to return. The most shocking extremities of famine were now added to the toils of a wearisome journey. Many perished on the route; and when the famished remnant reached the shore, what was their grief and horror, to find that they were no longer looked upon as friends by those who had remained in the ships, and who, having mutinied and put their commander to death, were preparing to depart, as soon as the weather would permit, to commence a life of piracy. For three weeks Roderigo de la Isla and his unhappy comrades had to endure the miseries of hunger and destitution on shore, at a short distance from the ships. But some of the mutineers at length relented at the sight of so much suffering; they opened their eyes to the heinousness of their guilt and the danger of their situation; and a re-action of feeling taking place among the crews, the ringleaders were given up to De la Isla, who put them to death, took the command of the ships, and returned to Spain. This unfortunate and

« ForrigeFortsett »