Italians continued to make important journeys in the East during the 15th century. Among them was Nicolo Conti, who passed through Persia, sailed along the coast of Malabar, visited Sumatra, Java and the south of China, returned by the Red sea, and got home to Venice in 1444 after an absence of twenty-five years. He related his adventures to Poggio Bracciolini, secretary to Pope Eugenius IV.; and the narrative contains much interesting information. One of the most remarkable of the Italian travellers was Ludovico di Varthema, who left his native land in 1502. He went to Egypt and Syria, and for the sake of visiting the holy cities became a Mahommedan. He was the first European who gave an account of the interior of Yemen. He afterwards visited and described many places in Persia, India and the Malay Archipelago, returning to Europe in a Portuguese ship after an absence of five years. Portuguese exploration--Prince Henry the Navigator. In the 15th century the time was approaching when the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope was to widen the scope of geographical enterprise. This great event was preceded by the general utilization in Europe of the polarity of the magnetic needle in the construction of the mariner's compass. Portugal took the lead along this new path, and foremost among her pioneers stands Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), who was a patron both of exploration and of the study of geographical theory. The great westward projection of the coast of Africa, and the islands to the north-west of that continent, were the principal scene of the work of the mariners sent out at his expense; but his object was to push onward and reach India from the Atlantic. The progress of discovery received a check on his death, but only for a time. In 1462 Pedro de Cintra extended Portuguese exploration along the African coast and discovered Sierra Leone. Fernan Gomez followed in 1469, and opened trade with the Gold Coast; and in 1484 Diogo Cao discovered the mouth of the Congo. The king of Portugal next despatched Bartolomeu Diaz in 1486 to continue discoveries southwards; while, in the following year, he sent Pedro de Covilhao and Affonso de Payva to discover the country of Prester John. Diaz succeeded in rounding the southern point of Africa, which he named Cabo Tormentoso--the Cape of Storms--but King Joao II., foreseeing the realization of the long-sought passage to India, gave it the stimulating and enduring name of the Cape of Good Hope. Payva died at Cairo; but Covilhao, having heard that a Christian ruler reigned in the mountains of Ethiopia, penetrated into Abyssinia in 1490. He delivered the letter which Joao II. had addressed to Prester John to the Negus Alexander of Abyssinia, but he was detained by that prince and never allowed to leave the country. Columbus.