they beheld the mountains of Hindostan, in the neighbourhood of Calicut. Gama, transported with ecstacy, returned thanks to Heaven, and ordered all the prisoners to be set at liberty, that every heart might taste the joy of his successful voyage.

On his return, he touched at Melinda, Zanzibar, and Magadoxa. One of his ships was driven on shore and lost, but the crew were saved. When near the Azores, Gama's brother Paul fell dangerously sick, and the admiral, being affectionately attached to him, gave up the command of his own ship to John de Saa, and despatched him to Lisbon, while he himself, in the other, put into the island of Terceira with his brother, in the hope of his recovery. But this hope was vain. Paul de Gama died in that island; and Vasco, who was so much of an enthusiast in this great undertaking, that he would willingly have sacrificed his life in India to secure its success, was so overwhelmed with grief that he arrived at Lisbon a dejected mourner. The compliments of the court, and the applauses of the populace, were incapable of arousing him from his melancholy; as his brother, the companion of his toils and dangers, was not there to participate in the rejoicing. As soon as he had waited on the king, he shut himself up in a lonely house, near the sea-side, at Belem, from which it was a considerable time ere he could be drawn to mingle in public life.

This great expedition occupied two years and two months. Of one hundred and sixty men who went out, only fifty-five returned. They were better rewarded than Columbus and his companions. Gama was ennobled, and appointed admiral of the Eastern

seas, with a suitable salary, and the honor of quartering the royal arms upon his escutcheon. Public thanksgivings to him were celebrated throughout the kingdom, and all sorts of feasts, shows, and chivalrous entertainments demonstrated the joy of the Portuguese nation. The voyage of Gama, next to that of Columbus, must be considered as the most important that ever was accomplished. It not only imparted to the world the most interesting intelligence relative to the continent of Africa, but opened to the nations of Christendom a new route to the rich and populous countries of the East, and led to results of the most momentous consequence to the people of both hemispheres.

TIMBUCTOO.

THE curiosity of geographers has been for many years strongly excited respecting a large city in the interior of Africa, called Tambucto, Tombuctoo, or Timbuctoo. The first mention of it appears to have been made by Leo Africanus, a Spanish Moor, who visited the place in the sixteenth century. He informs us that it was built about the year 1214, by Mansa Suleiman, and that it soon became the capital of a powerful state. The chiefs of Morocco and Fez conquered this territory and rendered it tributary, and from that time the communication of the Arabs with Timbuctoo became more frequent and regular. One of the writers of that nation says of it, "It is the largest city God ever created." Leo states that the grand mosque of the city and the palace of the king were built by an architect from Granada. Down to the sixteenth century, it continued to be known as a very populous city, and the emporium of a flourishing trade; but no European traveller, except Leo, succeeded in penetrating to it.

As early as 1618, a company was formed in England for the express purpose of making an expedition

to Timbuctoo, which was believed to be situated in the gold country, and to be the centre round which revolved all the commerce and wealth of Central Africa. Various attempts were made, by English travellers, to reach this famous city; but they were either killed by the barbarous inhabitants of the countries which lay in their way, or fell victims to the climate, or were compelled by insurmountable obstacles to return. A new era in African discovery commenced in 1788. Former expeditions had been undertaken from mercenary motives, and the adventurers were prompted by no other feeling than the love of gold. A society was formed in England, under the name of the African Association, consisting of men eminent for rank and wealth, and their zeal in the cause of science and humanity. The object was simple; to promote the discovery of the inland parts of Africa, and thus to wipe off the disgrace which a profound ignorance of those vast regions had so long thrown on the civilized nations of Europe. The first person whom they selected for the enterprise was John Ledyard, an American, who, from early youth, stimulated by a passion for exploring unknown countries, had passed the most of his life in voyaging and travelling. He had lived among the American Indians, and studied their habits and character. He had sailed round the world with Captain Cook, and had made this voyage in the humble station of a corporal of marines, rather than relinquish the adventure. On his return from this expedition, he determined to traverse the whole continent of America, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, but was prevented by missing his passage to Nootka Sound. On his arrival in Eng

land, he formed a new design, to travel over land to Kamtschatka. He crossed the British channel to Ostend, took his route through Denmark to Stockholm, and attempted to cross the Gulf of Bothnia on the ice; but as the middle of the gulf was not frozen, he returned to Stockholm, proceeded north to the Arctic circle, walked round the head of the gulf, and descended on the eastern side to St. Petersburg. There his extraordinary appearance, without stockings or shoes, or the means of obtaining either, procured him an invitation to dine with the Portuguese minister, from whom he obtained a supply of twenty guineas, on the credit of Sir Joseph Banks, and by whose interest he was permitted to accompany a detachment of stores to Yakutz, in Siberia, 6,000 miles eastward. From Yakutz he proceeded to Oczakow, on the Sea of Kamtschatka, which he was prevented from crossing by the ice. At Yakutz he was arrested, and conveyed, in the depth of winter, on a sledge, through the deserts of Northern Tartary, to the frontiers of Poland, where he was set at liberty, with the assurance, that, if he returned to Russia, he would be hanged.

On his return to England, Sir Joseph Banks acquainted him with the views of the African Association. Ledyard engaged at once in the adventure. Sir Joseph inquired when he would set out. "To-morrow morning," replied Ledyard. He sailed from London in June, 1788, for Egypt, with instructions to traverse the whole continent of Africa, from east to west, in the supposed latitude of the Niger. At Cairo, he visited the slave markets and conversed with the travelling merchants of the caravans, from whom he obtain