The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-29

~
The giant Adamastor was frightful
apparition which appeared to the great
Navigator Vasco da Cana 400 years ago,
according to the story related in that
/ magnificent epic of Camoens which we
Leaf the "Lusiad" The Columbian cele-
hrations of a few years since and the
events of the present time in Africa give
/ a new interest to the subject. Moreover,
| the%splendid qualities of this great classic
deserve the attention of all lovers of lit
/ eratrre for if ever poem of modern
| times deserved to rank with the "Iliad'
of Homer and the "Aeneid' of Vergil,
this immortal creation of the Portuguese
poet must claim that honor.
Scarcely second to the achievement OF
! Columbus in discovering America was
| that of Da Cana, who doubled the
Cape of Good Hope in 1893, and thus open
| ed up to the world a waterway to the
rich lands of India-the goal of Euro
pean ambition. Portugal fairly rivaled
Spain in the glory of her enterprise and
in the wealth which flowed from it.
| The capital city of Lisbon possessed,
moreover, a pride of antiquity scarcely
| paralIeled in Western Europe. While
London claimed to have been founded by
| the Trojan followers of Brut, the great
| grandson of Aeneas, and to be about as
| old as Rome, Lisbon averred that her
foundations were laid by Ulysses himself
and his friend Lusus and that her name
| had been at first Ulyssipolis, which she
7 had borne in honor of her founder.
1iaF6tr hundred years ago both Spain and
I Portugal were filed with delight over
k4heif recent achievements, and were in
| toxieated with the glories of conquests
| opened out before them. Great bards
arose among them, inspired to write
| great poems.
LUZ de Camoens, of Portugal, was
! the greatest poet of his time, and the
one. best fitted to immortalize in verse
/ the grand expedition of Da Cana. Moth
] ing approaching his epic in sublimity
| or%in beauty has ever been written OF
the career of Columbus. Camoens was a
/ native of old Lisbon (born in 1920, and
a student at the University of Coimbra.
| His father was lost in a shipwreck Off
the coast OF Goa, in Southern Asia.
| The young student fell madly in love
with a girl whose beauty inflamed even
the king. The lovers We're cruelty part
| ed. She pinned away and died He lived
a. bachelor for thirty years, apparently
| trying to throw his life away in mad
enterprises, and died, a beggar, in 1879.
When in Punishment at Macao "a Chi
4. nese port belonging to PORTUGAL, and
living like a beast, in cave, he produced
the 'Lusiad,'' which has been the de-
light of the cultured in every generation
| since his time, and which has been rem
dered with more or less success into most
Of the modern languages of Europe.
49,
/ The giant Adamastor described in the
4 Fifth Canto, is by far the best known
feature of his story of Da Gama's expedi-
lion. The apparition formed in air like
q hideous cloud. It spoke in an audible
Il sYoiee with horrifying effect. What ii
4 said. to the explorers was terrifying In
4 It's Import. Whence the poet derived his
Idea of the scene is not known. No one
who is familiar with the folklore Of sail
prs regarding the cape will suppose for
j 81 moment that it was a pure invention
atsssafs Camoens. Who invented the tales OF
4 the Flying Dutchman?" Did they not
'just grow out of the superstitions OF
the sailors and out of the vague sea lor-
tents which they beheld?
II Young Camoens youth was filled with
stories of the supernatural on the ocean.
! Doubtless he only gave finished form and
! expression to one of the many legends of
his time in describing the horrible
wrath, and adorned the tale with en-
! bellishments borrowed from cassie
mythology.
L. The most remarkable fact OF the whole
matter of Adamastor is that it has been
accepted by many as prophecy.
/ When critics began to study it in detail
hthey We're reminded of the visions r~cord-
ed by Daniel and Ezekiel in Holy Writ,
| and they assumed that the future of In
h .dia was set forth in the utterance of
l. this horrible phantom, and that the giant
/ himself was a symbol of some vast his
| toric power or influence. Adamastor, in
his brief recital of his own story, classes
himself with Enceladus and the other
| Titanides. He declares that he was smlt-
i teIuBith the beauty of the sea-nymph,
i Thetis; that knowing she could not but
/ be srepe1led at his formidable appearance,
Z he Welcomed a hint from Doris that he
j might seize her by brute force; that
i Thetfs half dared him to do so, and that
i when he drew her lovely form to him
+ while he likewise had henceforth only
q at bleak headland for his bodily form.
THERE'S in this a little suggestion OF the
j ssLeTeley'' of the Rhine and Of the sirens
Z ofsold But where is the prophecy? Some
q have seized upon the description of Ada.
4 masters face as a type of Mahomet's.
and have declared that Adamastor
stands for the Mohammedan power in
4 India 1t is surprising how generally
interpretations HAS OSSlI ISCSlNSu ny
4 the thoughtless. Time and space would
4 fail me to point out its anachronisms end
4 its pHerility. Others have seemed to see
in Adamastor the power of the British
i empire, developed, of course, since the
4 time ef Camoens. Why may We not ap-
4 ply It to the situation in Africa at this
4 1 very moment? Let Adamastor be the
British power in Africa (for the apparl-
= ton had no connection whatever with
India9. Thetis is then, the Boer republic.
The Boer race was as sea-born a;
Thetis herself, for Holland was literally
raised from the ocean bed. Has not tins
A6aTnastor looked with longing eye:
upon the Transvaal? Did he not mani
fest desire to take her by force? Dix
she not half dare him to it? Did he ro
reach out his strong arms for her? And
has she not turned into dreary waste