Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1869-05-28


puuled this way aud that by contrary coun-
sells, until at last he gave up in despair. and
received TO let the Arabs and DI CANA fight
II out between the mScyes.
Finally, an embIssador from D. Cana
was detained rs prs 'ucr a. the palace of
the H.moriu, and DA CANA himself was oh.
lged TO retire to his ships for fear Of cap
ture. But the PurIuyCs3 was shortly releas
ed, and the m march sent some of his off
GERS to the little hiet, hearing a letter TO
the King of Portugal. More brief aud tn
the point than most communications be-
tween sovereigns, it ran thus Vasco da
Cana, a gentleman of thy household, came
to my country, of whose coming was glad
In my country there is plenty of cinnamon,
cloves, pepper, aud precious stones. Tue
things which am DESTROYS OF receiving from
thy country are gold, silver, scarlet, and
coral"
DG Cana rather treacherously kept as
prisoners the bearers OF this letter, and set
sail at once for home. The Indignant
Zlm1rin sent feet, in pursuit, from which
DI Cana escaped with some difficulty
Afterward he set one Of his captves on
shore, with a letter for Zamorn, assuring
him that his designs toward all the prisoners
were friendly, that they were to DO well
treated, and that they would shortly dis
cover IL he were the rightful ambassador of
the King Of Portugal or not.
He led back bis feet as nearly as posi-
bic in the same track in which it had come.
la two yeats and two months from the time
Of his setting out, he reached Lisbon. OF
bis -four ships, not one came back to port.
His last-,he San Gabriel-had proved un
seavorthy, and be had been obliged to flush
the voyage in caraval which he chartered
at the Cape Verde colony. Of his one hun
dred and fifty men, only one. third renal led
King Manuel received him with open arms.
He gave him princety honors, and entitled
him &c Lord of the Conquest # Eihiopia and
the Indies" A plan was Immediately form
ed for the establishment OF trading posts all
the way around the continent of Africa, and
Don Pedro Alvarez de Cabral was sent with
thirteen ships. Bartholomew Dias was one
If the captains. At the Cape of Good Hope
hey deserted not Adamastor, but a water
spout, phenomenon which none of thom
had ever before seen. They hailed it as the
,ign Of fair weather. aud sailed joyfully on
ward. In few miuutes, however, the feet
vas struck by q hurricane, and five ships
vent down. One of them was commando ed
hy Diss, who had first made the cape known
to nsvgstors. Thus did the demon, rs the
sailors thought, vindicate his threats to the
unhappy son of Portugal who had first
fathOned the "secrets of his awful reign
The voyage fDL Cana was the culmins.
tiOn Of Eastern discovery. 1t revolution zld
commerce and brought many changes in
navigation. Now for two centuries the
track of Dl Cana has been the word
highway to the Indies. Yet commerce ha,
never been satisfied with it. The overland
route from India and Eastern Afiica which
ctr oh A h.. I,Nt 81 IL.
Mediterranean, and out through the old
gateway of Hercules into the Atlantic, has
been still used for the passage Of m UGH rare
and costly merchandise. Never for q mo.
inert has trade forgotten the track across
| the little strip ofland which tainted ancient
mariners, and where the unfinished channe
Of the PharaOhs still shows its traces in the
| heaped-up slnds.
In the time ofthe first Napoleon the prof
| ect of the Sues Canal was talked over
Even while the First Consul was busy will
the conquest of Egypt, and following il
Syria the the footsteps Of the great Alexan
der, his quick eye found time to see tn,
| value of passage for ships between the
Red Sea and the Mediterranean. But thu
best engineers, no wiser then those of thu
age of RamesCs or that of Necho, still de
CARED that the Red Sea was higher thar
1
again abandoned.
| Ten years ago this belief, which for cen
turtles upon centuries had been a stumbling
block in the way of endeavor was pronoun
ced baseless by the best engineers ofFrlnce
and Paris company undertook the openini
ola passage from sea to sea. Ever sine
through 100 miles Of sand vast steam drive
machines each as high as a church-sIeeple
have been slowly and surely cutting tn
way. Their powerful arms scoop up a hogs
head-full Of sand Of once, and then, turnin
gently, empty tin the desert 100 feet dis
tant. Behind, the canal is being walled /
with an artificial stone made from the ve:
sand through which the channel is cut. a
the vast engines go on, floating upon tn
water which they are making way for, "
can fancy the sad ghots Of the 10000 me
who perished there In Pharaoh's day wal
ing wonderingly on their progress.
Before many weeks, the dream the PHI
roahs, the PtoIomies, the Bonapartes, will |
a reality. Ships will sail freely past EgyI
and Arabia into the Indian Ocean, savii
many thousands OF miles upon the old voyt
ges from Europe TO Asia This is the culm
I nation of ne worlds efforts for route EAs
ward to the Indies. The Suez Canal, b.
gan and ended by French enterprise at
cost Of 800, 900, 900, Is characterized eve
, by The London Times as "a task which hi
, no equal except in mythology when Herc'
, les Joined the Mediterranean to the Alta
tic"
We have just seen the completion of a y
4 greater task, when, at the portals Of Il
, Golden Gate the first locomotive from u
Atlantic streached its triumphant greetii
f to the Pacific. That is the consummatit
ofthe worlds Efforts to get Westward to Il
Indies-another branch of the subject whi,
. must be raserved for aother paper.