New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-03-13
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
LONG BATTLE WITH SUPERSTITION
NARRATED ANEW.

mans SONS
One of the most striking observations 10 DE
made In going the history OF discovery III '"e
a,,oar,b century is that the greatest obstacles
yera those which men placed in their own way
,rhosa NJ them who were without any preconcep-
tons. the early Irish missionaries ana 'he NOE
men sailed the wide ocean devoid of fear to the
Farce Islands. TO Iceland, to Greenland, even 10
,ho ooas, Of the New World But the civilized
races of the Mediterranean had burden Oh SUI
rerst,t,ons about the ocean which could only be
got rid Of by slow and cautious experiments
When Columbus laid his plans before the Por'u-
euese court for opening a westward route ~ '"e
Indies. a dishonest attempt was made TO chea'
,,,,, o,, ~ his enterprise by sending ships out.
Put the mariners soon returned. declaring 'ha'
,,o,, hod ,urned hack on the borders of a region
Of dense fog where the atmosphere was such mat
!. could not no breathed and where the sea was
infested by incredible monsters. FOR 'housa"'s
20 xears tho belief had existed that there was an
ov,,,,no zone Of the ocean where the waters were
and fatal by their fetid odor to all Nv
ING creatures 1t was also supposed that there
No, line not far south of the Straits OF Gloral-
tar frono bevond which return was Impossible.
II sailor could return from beyond the fatal line
=. WAS ,upposed that he would be black ana would
never regain his original color. If he persisted IN
his southwark journey he would come to region
where the sun shot down fierce flames upon the
earth Such things had been said In the orient
for ages they were believed by the Araoans ana
impressed by them on the Western world at the
time when the latter was looking about nope
lessly for something more practicable than new
crusade. The superstitions of the common people
vrera countenanced by men Of learning who had
invented or ,acitly accepted a geography purely
subjective in which the symmetrical arrange
ment proposed by Ptolemy was corrected In ac-
cordance with the Hebrew Scriptures. Actual OBJ
servation went for nothing II 1t contradlcted
the scheme of Ptolemy ran counter to verse
in the Bible it must be wrong. How rigidiy
symmetrical the system can easily be seen by
any one who examines Dante's world. with Jeru-
salem in the exact centre Of the upper side, the
mountain Of purgatory projecting downward d.
rectly beneath the Holy City and the planetary
spheres all in due order If all these things were
true It was rightly felt that Chrlstendom was IN
danger. It had failed after centuries OF EFFORT 10
gain foothod in Asia. Islam was pressing on
ward and the small remnant of the Eastern En-
pire was soon to be the possession OF the TURK.
True. the Saracen power dwndng in the
Spanish peninsula: but every effort to plant
Christian power in Africa had failed and the only
infested by pirates.
The italian cities were more or less contented
with this state of things. They were the markets
of Europe and between their land traffic with
the trading towns Of Northern Europe and their
commerce with the Levant and by the way of
the Levant with the far East they were in
position to be envied by .he people OF the West
There was only one man who had the will. the
power and the intelligence to seek remedy for
the Ills under which the people of the West SUI
fered. With that fact in mind one does not ques-
ton the admiration which Mr.. Beazley accords
to Prince Henry the Hero Of Portugal Yet the
biography Of this benefactor Of Europe has the
ring of tragedy in 1t. His whole life was spent
In teaching other men what could be done. II he
could i've lived few years longer TO share the
triumph OF Vasco da Cana when the Cape OF
Good Hope was rounded and the Indian Ocean
lay open to the ships of Portugal, then his career
would have been ideally complete In order TO
show what the difficulties were, both mental and
material, which Prince Henry had 10 surmount
Mr. Beazey reviews at some length the history Of
exploration and geographical guesswork from the
time of Ptoemy down to the fourteenth century
Practically If the world could have forgotten all
the intervening ages Of speculation and could
have gone back to the less ambitious but more
have done well. for those ideas the result Of
observation What had to be done al last 10
Law theories aside and to start with the working
charts Of practical mariners. These gave the
coast line as far as they went with reasonable
accuracy But Prince Henry had much TO do be-
sides the study of maps. though that alone alb
sorbed the whole life OF many man in those
days. He had to take part in the politics of his
country and he one OF those who never gave
up the hope OF conquering Islam, though his d.
rect efforts to that end were lamentabe failure.
He a diligent and profound student of every
subject connected with the navigation of his
time. How accurate his studies were Is shown
by single incident. Up to 1440 even the Portu-
guese had not discovered all the islands of the
group now known the Azores. In that year or
the one following runaway slave seeking refuge
from his pursuers the highest mountain in St.
Mary Island deserted what he took to be signs
OF land far away on the horizon. In the hope OF
pardon he gave himself up and mentioned what
he had SEEN When Informed of the matter the
Prince sent captain TO look for the strange isl
and The explorer returned unsuccessful.
Then" says Mr. Beazley. came wonderful
test OF Henry's knowledge: he who had never been
within thousand miles of the place proved to
his captain that he had passed between ST. Mary
and the unknown land, and correcting his course
sent him out again to seek ana to find. On the
sth Of May. 1444 the new island was found ON
the day OF the apparition Of ST. Michael and
named after the festival II Is our modern st.
Michael Of the Oranges" or course. in this case.
Prince Henry had the aid Of ancient maps, which
preserved a knowledge that had been lost among
living men
Prince Henry not only mad TO teach himself.
but he also had to educate others to do the work
which he desired to have done. Portugal had
neither ships mariners suited to his purpose
when he took up his self-imposed task He
created both. The caravel as 1t came to him in
Italian models was improved until his were the
swlftest and safest vessels on the sea- Cape st.
Vincent the Sacred (meaning literally &C