CHAPTER IX.--The Scandinavian Sailors--Their Piracies and Commerce--The Anglo-Saxons--Alfred the Great a Ship-Builder--The Voyage of Beowulf--Discovery of Iceland by the Danes--Discovery of Greenland--The Voyage of Bjarni and Leif to the American Continent--Their Discovery of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Nantucket, and Massachusetts--Adventures of Thorwald and Thorfinn--Comparison of the Discoveries of the Northmen with those of Columbus 99 CHAPTER X.--The Travels of Marco Polo--The First Mention of Japan in History--Kublai Khan--Marco Polo's Voyage from Amoy to Ormuz--Malacca--Sumatra--Pygmies--Singular Stories of Diamonds--The Roc--Polo not recognised upon his Return--His Imprisonment--The Publication of his Narrative--The Interest awakened in China, Japan, and the Islands of Spices 108 CHAPTER XI.--The First Mention of the Loadstone in History--Its Early Names--The First Mention of its Directive Power--A Poem upon the Compass Six Hundred Years Old--Friar Bacon's Magnet--The Loadstone in Arabia--An Eye-Witness of its Efficiency in the Syrian Waters in the Year 1240--The Magnet in China--Early Mention of it in Chinese Works--The Variation noticed in the Twelfth Century--Other Discoveries made by the Chinese--Modern Errors--Flavio Gioia--The Arms of Amalfi--All Records lost of the First Voyage made with the Compass by a European Ship 113 SECTION III. FROM THE APPLICATION OF THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE TO EUROPEAN NAVIGATION TO THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD UNDER MAGELLAN: 1300-1519. CHAPTER XII.--The Portuguese on the Coast of Africa--The Spaniards and the Canary Isles--Don Henry of Portugal--The Terrible Cape, now Cape Bojador--The Sacred Promontory--Discovery of the Madeiras--A Dreadful Phenomenon--A Prolific Rabbit and a Wonderful Conflagration--Hostility of the Portuguese to further Maritime Adventure--The Bay of Horses--The First Gold-Dust seen in Europe--Discovery of Cape Verd and the Azores--The Europeans approach the Equator--Journey of Cada-Mosto--Death of Don Henry--Progress of Navigation under the Auspices of this Prince 122 CHAPTER XIII.--The Portuguese cross the Equator from Guinea to Congo--John II. conceives the idea of a Route by Sea to the Indies--His Artifices to prevent the Interference of other Nations--The Overland Journey of Covillam to India--The Voyage of Bartholomew Diaz--The Doubling of the Tremendous Cape--Its Baptism by the King--Injurious Effects of Success upon Portuguese Ambition 133