had possession of the coast upward of three hundred years; and so it is at Bissaõ, Saint Paul de Loando, Benguela, &c., in West Africa. The Portuguese, under a liberal form of government, unshackled by a state religion, known to be corrupt beyond measure, would prove themselves to be, as they once were, a noble people, zealous in all good works. As it regards the first circumnavigator of the cape of Good Hope and the discoverer of South and East Africa, the world seems willing to award the whole merit of the discovery to Vasco de Gama, and he is held forth in bold relief, at the expense of others, who are entitled at least to a small share of it. In looking into ancient history, there is much light shed upon it. According to Herodotus, it seems that one of the most illustrious of native Egyptian kings, “actuated by the spirit of a great man, which raised him superior to the age in which he lived, eagerly sought the solution of the grand mystery, that involved the _form_ and termination of Africa.” In furtherance of this noble project and to ensure it success if practicable, he employed the boldest of navigators in those days, to wit, certain Phenicians. Having obtained vessels which were thought suitable for the enterprise, they proceeded down the Red sea and boldly launched out into the Indian ocean, and after a voyage of three years, they made the complete circuit of the continent, passing through the Pillars of Hercules (straits of Gibraltar) and up the Mediteranean to Egypt.