In the sketch which we are now about to give of the Portuguese voyages to the African coast, it will be remarked that the compass was already introduced and acclimated. No mention whatever is extant of the first venture made upon the Atlantic under the auspices of this mysterious but unerring guide. Science and history must forever regret that the first European navigator who employed it did not leave a record of the experiment. What would be more interesting to-day than the log of the earliest voyage thus accomplished in European waters? The modern reader would surely give his sympathy, unreservedly, to a narrative in which the navigator should describe his wonder, his terror, his joy, when, throughout the voyage, he saw the tremulous index point invariably north; when, upon the dispersion of the clouds which had concealed the Star from view, it was found precisely where the needle indicated: when, upon its being diverted from the line of direction by some curious and perhaps incredulous experimenter, it slowly but surely returned, remaining fixed and constant through storm and calm, at midnight and at noon. What would be more interesting than the speculations of such a captain upon the cause of the marvellous dispensation? And what more amusing than the commentaries of the forecastle, and the learned explanations of the veteran salts to the raw recruits? But all this absorbing lore has hopelessly disappeared, and the mariner's compass will forever remain mysterious in its principle, mysterious in its origin, mysterious in its history. We shall have occasion to return to the subject from another point of view, when, in describing the Arctic voyages of the present century, we shall find James Clarke Ross standing upon the North Magnetic Pole. [Illustration: SHIP OF FOURTEENTH CENTURY.] [Illustration: TENERIFFE.] 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.