8. The effect of superior weapons is equally striking in our own day, whenever Europeans come in contact with half-civilized people, like the blacks of West Africa. It is true these men are often armed with muskets, but they are of such an out-of-date pattern, that they do little damage compared with ours. Consequently, a few hundred well-armed and well-drilled natives, under British officers, can go to battle with as many thousands of the enemy and carry off the victory.
9. Even when the natives are brave and well-armed, like the Zulus, with their terrible assegais, they cannot stand against one-tenth as many Englishmen armed with repeating rifles, and supported by maxim guns, grinding out bullets by the score. It was never more evident than it is to-day that "Knowledge is Power," and that the greatness of a nation is based on knowledge and character. Of this we shall have repeated evidence in the course of this story.
(3) DISCOVERY OF A SEA-ROUTE TO INDIA.
1. Let me again carry your minds back to the time when Caxton set up his printing-press in England, about 1475; for that date we may take as a convenient starting-point in telling our tale. At that time the larger portion of the earth was unknown to even the best geographers. A glance at the map will enable you to see how limited was their knowledge of the size and surface of the earth. You will look there in vain for the larger portion of the British Empire as we know it to-day. You will find there no Canada, no Australasia, no South Africa.
2. It was known indeed that the earth was round like a globe, but no one had ever gone round it. Mariners in their voyages had always kept near the coasts, and never ventured very far from home. But when men awoke, with the rattle of the printing-press, from the sleep of centuries, a new spirit of enquiry took hold of them. The same spirit that led some men to search out old truths hidden away in musty manuscripts, urged others of a more daring turn of mind to go in search of new lands.
The known World in 1475
3. It was not, I regret to say, our own countrymen that took the lead in the discovery of new lands. That honour belongs to the Portuguese. By the middle of the fifteenth century they had sailed along the coast of Africa as far as Cape Verde, and seen men with skins as black as ebony. At the sight, some of the sailors, it is said, began to fear that if they proceeded still further south, their skins would turn black under the scorching rays of the tropical sun, and their hair become frizzled as the negro's. Before turning back, however, they explored the coast of Guinea, and found the natives ready to traffic in ivory and gold.
4. The wonders that the sailors had to tell on their return, and the sight of the gold and ivory, the monkeys and curiosities they brought with them, kindled an eager spirit of adventure among their countrymen. Lisbon became the headquarters of bold mariners bent on exploring new lands, with the King of Portugal as patron. It was his ardent wish to find a sea-route to India and the East, whence came the rich carpets and shawls, the silks and gems, the drugs and spices so highly valued in Europe.